How to make the journey towards reaching your goals a blissful one
HEIDI’S JOURNAL ENTRY | 012
HOW TO MAKE the journey TOWARDS REACHING your goals a BLISSFUL one
In this blog post, I want to move from the topic of what you desire to how to get what you desire. John Lennon famously wrote the lyric, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." This poignantly speaks to the reality that the majority of our lives consists of the 99% of experiences that happen between the big achievements we work toward.
In other words, reaching a long-desired goal is a wonderful, but fleeting experience. The space between the peak moments is the true, but underrated, creative grounds for nurturing the happiness and fulfilment we desire.
Success is rarely just about what we achieve. it’s also the way we choose to get there. After reflecting back over my own definition of success, I realised I had outgrown it. The beliefs and values most important to me have recently evolved from those I initially grew my life and career upon. Until not so long ago, I used to define success by the following elements:
A certain level of financial income that would enable me to sustain my own life without needing to rely on others, such as a romantic partner.
A high-ranking role within a widely recognised, respected organisation.
Global responsibilities that required living and working across multiple countries and cultures.
These ambitious goals became part of my identity for many years. While I’m proud of myself for having achieved all of them, a crucial missing element of consciousness only became apparent in hindsight.
How I thought success should be achieved.
The way we define success, whether consciously or subconsciously, is rarely exclusively related to what we do, but often includes the way in which we get there.
For example, we may believe that the only way to be seen as a successful or worthwhile leader is to maintain 80-hour work weeks. Or we may tell ourselves that, to have the ‘perfect’ romance, the other person must chase us or make the first move. Or that anything that comes easy to us isn’t really valuable.
I was long carrying the belief that being a successful career woman meant undivided attention and unquestionable dedication to my work at the expense of a social, family and romantic life.
And guess what? I made sure life unfolded for me in exactly that way… even when it wasn’t necessary. Why? Because this process was attached to a deep-rooted belief about what success has to look and feel like.
TO TRULY EMBODY A NEW DEFINITION OF SUCCESS, YOU MUST ALSO ADDRESS THE PROCESS
Today, my definition of success is quite different and related to the following:
Commitment to authentically expressing myself and living in integrity, even when it’s hard.
Have a positive impact on people and in the world.
Sufficient financial means to sustain and enjoy my life without sacrificing myself and my wider life in the process.
If I were to strive towards these goals/values with the same process - one rooted in self-sacrifice, fight, external validation and always choosing the challenging over the calm path - I wouldn’t get to the core of what I really want to embody. There would be no discernment, little integrity, and zero focus of my energy towards the experiences, people and projects that truly align with my values.
It’s for this reason that I have come up with a more appropriate framework for the way I make decisions to guide my life where I want it to go. For example:
Be led by joy and intuition.
Create and choose from an aligned, connected place.
Prioritise health, nutrition, fitness and sleep over a busy schedule.
Not only do these concepts keep me centred to my core desires, but they also ensure that I enjoy the “life that happens” between the times where I’m actively reaching the achievements I desire.
Remember, this ‘in-between’ time is actually our life. It’s absolutely crucial that we are present and living in a way that makes us feel happy, fulfilled and in alignment today.
NOW LET ME SHOW YOU HOW YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH THIS:
How do you wish to spend your life?
Look back over to your own personal definition of success that you explored in my previous blog post Are you unknowingly chasing someone else’s dreams?
In order to come up with new concepts that make you feel amazing and fit what you need presently, take some time to answer the following questions:
How do you want to feel about yourself and your life (day to day)?
How do you not want to feel?
What are you willing to sacrifice in order to reach your goals?
What are you not willing to sacrifice?
Whose opinions matter to you? Whose don’t?
How do you want to make decisions?
What passion or talent have you been neglecting? How can you tap back into it?
What makes you feel happiest and/or most like yourself?
RELATED Posts
What does the concept of time bring up for you? Do you lean towards feelings of joy connected to how you currently spend it, or feelings of anxiety regarding all the ways you believe you’re not using it ‘well’?