Wouldn’t Be Nice If Goals Were Not A Waste Of Time?

Every January, the world gets all fired up because it’s a new year and we get a fresh start, right? Well, maybe, but what is it that you are really starting? We set goals and start off on a hot streak and then, for many, watch the flame slowly fade away.

John Maxwell has focused his leadership teaching and mentoring around the concept of transformation and he has done so for good reason. You see, John understands that without lasting change, without transformation, there cannot be sustainable achievement in any area.

I have read dozens of blogs recently telling me how to achieve my goals and many of them pack a pretty solid punch. The problem is that most of them are missing a key element. That key element is about the journey. The Maxwell philosophy teaches that the goal is not the goal. The real goal is in who you become achieving that goal.

I have been part of this team for over two and a half years and I have witnessed people change right before my eyes and no one more than myself. I used to think it was all about checking things off a list and to be honest, I did pretty well at that. But nothing ever really changed. I was stuck and I couldn’t figure it out.

I can’t point to any single event that gave me this new understanding but something changed inside of me. I began to realize that when I took the focus off the destination and started to look at what was happening along the way, I could change the outcome as I moved towards the goal.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer

That is one of my favorite quotes and I incorporate it into almost every presentation I deliver because of the power within it. I started to change the way I looked at a lot of things, especially how I had done things in the past. The new success I was finding, albeit in small chunks, was empowering me. It was building my self-confidence and I was transforming into a better and stronger me.

One of the main missions of the John Maxwell Team is to add value and I want to offer up a different look at your goal setting this year. If you are like most, you have set one or more goals as we start out a new year. I want to challenge you to take a hard look at the goals you have set.It doesn’t really matter if they are business related or of a more personal nature, the end result should produce a change in who you are.

For most of my life, I found my identity in what I did. When I shifted that focus to activities that were focused on who I was, all of a sudden that goal became a bi-product of the transformation.

That transformation has produced more progress in my life in the last two years than in the previous twenty. Now, thanks to my Maxwell Team mentors, I have the tools and resources to help facilitate the same transformation in others and that feels pretty good.

So challenge yourself this year to make a new list of goals. This list will be made up of the things you want to become. Once you get that list together, write out how you are going to accomplish those goals.

Remember, the goal is not about the goal, the goal is about who you become in achieving the goal. Who are you going to become in 2014?

About the author

Barry started a leadership development business called Building What Matters in 2011.