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| Level Your Life [The Level of Goals][2.31] |
Goals
are like beacons, flashing lights on the horizon that keep you on track during a satisfying and rewarding journey. They shine in the distance, encouraging movement toward the extraordinary. For many people, setting goals in the traditional way creates tension, anxiety, and pressure as the focus shifts from the process to outcomes and results.
We invite you to instead set lofty goals and dream about their realization, then pull back and enjoy being in the moment and involved in doing all the little things that are necessary to keep you on target.
If you should fall short, you will still have achieved more than if your focus had been shortsighted.
The key to success with goals is to remember not to measure your self-worth by any outcome. Let your goals function as that distant lighthouse, guiding you from afar to move and perform in the present moment, one day at a time, and see how close you can get to fulfilling them.
During the 56 Lessons of the Adventurer we learn to set our goals in the spirit of passion, aligning them with what we love, and then enjoying our movement and progress toward the lantern we have set to illuminate our way.
For the potter, the treasure is not found in the finished pot but in the experience of making it.
For the marathoner, the real prize is not completion of the race but the dynamic three months of training.
In the Asian art of archery, the archer focuses on the true bull´s-eye, the dantien or gut center of his physical and emotional being, as he releases the arrow. If he is truly centered and his goal is to be the best he can be ( the real target) , he will experience success no matter where the arrow lands.
The real target is within, and the achievement of the external goal is a mere reflection of his hitting this inner bull´s-eye.
Declaration: I am able to set lofty, passionate goals because they enable me to achieve greater heights as I refuse to measure my self-worth by outcomes. My goals are lanterns that light the way.
Reflection: Following the 56 Lessons of the Adventurer , what goals am I now willing to establish so I can position myself for extraordinary growth ? What do I gain from this new way of setting goals?
