Remember to Enjoy the Journey for Maximum Achievement

There have been numerous articles written on the effectiveness of setting goals.  One of the criteria that has been repeated about goals is that they should be SMART; that is:  Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound.  The reasons are to ensure that the goals are not so vague and unachievable that they become ineffective. 

All of these are excellent criteria, though there is some discussion on how attainable the goal should be.  Too attainable, and there may not be enough growth, too far-fetched, and they may cause the person making the goal to become discouraged and give up.

So, how does one achieve massive goals in the long term, but continue on the daily journey without feeling discouraged?  By setting goals and using affirmations that lock in the short-term steps of our journey to success while having much bigger goals and affirmations for our long-term success.

Why is this effective?  Why can’t we just “fake until we make it?”  It has been claimed for many years that setting big goals is effective because the brain cannot tell the difference.  While it is true that the brain cannot tell the difference, there are steps that must be taken to achieve those big goals, so only visualizing the completed goal can cause us to become discouraged, particularly if the goal is many years away.

It can also be a miserable way to live if we are always thinking about the future and not living in the present.  Having patience and investing our resources for the long-term is vital for success but enjoying the journey of our lives is just as important. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger became the most famous bodybuilder and actor of his time, and he certainly set huge goals for himself, but he also enjoyed the journey of becoming a bodybuilder.  In the short-term he set daily goals and used affirmations to imagine the results he would get in the gym while at the same time imagining himself as the best bodybuilder in the world.  The short-term goals pushed him daily as he pictured his arms growing as big as mountains and his legs as big as big as tree-trunks.  He had competitions with his training partners and created games in the gym like seeing if he could lift more weight than the last time or do more repetitions.  This made the exercises in the gym and his daily activities more enjoyable.

If we only concentrate on large, long-term goals and affirmations, we may become disconnected from them, but if we have both short and long-term goals, our brains will become used to setting and achieving them while keeping them relatable. 

Once we get into a routine of setting goals and enjoying the process of achieving them, our daily journey will be as entertaining as the achievement of the long-term plans we have.  That way we will keep going with the knowledge that the process of achieving our goals and dreams can be as fulfilling as the achievement of the goals themselves.

Having a good mix of short and long-term goals and locking those in our brains with positive affirmations and visualization will build momentum both in our enjoyment of the journey and towards the achievement of both sets of goals.  By doing this, our brains will become better accustomed to goal setting, visualizing and achieving and we will enjoy our lives today AND in the future.