Keeping Things Simple – part two
In yesterday’s post, I proposed the idea that the smart way to begin the pursuit of a goal or achievement is to be perfectly clear about the fact that you are going to experience failure, unless you’ve just selected goal that’s too simple anyway.
Understanding that failure is inevitable in the pursuit of any worthwhile goal, that it’s just part of the process instead of a final destination, should help give us the perspective we need to take the failures in stride and not quit.
The other simple idea that we should keep in mind is that we can only do one thing at a time. Period. It’s been proven over and over that taking on too much, trying to do too many things at once, dramatically raises the likelihood that nothing will be accomplished.
“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art. They seem to be the purpose of God for his whole creation.” Richard Holloway, Scottish writer and broadcaster
The smart, simple way to pursue your goals are to take them one at a time, and focus relentlessly on them until they’ve been achieved.
Most goals are inherently very doable, provided we concentrate sufficient awareness and energy on them until they’ve been achieved. But trying to accomplish two goals at once, e.g. lose weight and get a new relationship, just dilutes the attention, energy and concentration you can devote to either of them. That dilution reduces the likelihood that either will occur.
So my advice for your 2011 New Year’s Resolution is (1) to go into it understanding that you are going to experience some failure in the pursuit of it and that you can’t think that means you should quit, and (2) pick one and only one goal to work on, so that your awareness, attention and energy are not diluted and can focus like a laser beam on the one thing that you most want to achieve.
