Here's How Your Goals Are Holding You Back From Success We need to switch our attention away from the future and focus on today.
By Jon Nastor Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As entrepreneurs, we have a tendency to set goals, accomplish them and immediately set five bigger goals in their place. How many times have we caught ourselves setting new goals even before we've reached the existing ones?
We project our success into the future and wait for the next big win. We dream that our next project might win us the entrepreneurial lottery and be an overnight success.
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The entrepreneurial gap
Thinking big is what makes us entrepreneurs. But it's also what makes us, at times, unhappy and relentlessly striving for more, more, more. We do this without ever taking the time to stop, turn around and see what we've accomplished to get to where we are.
This, the space between today's goals and the horizon, is the entrepreneurial gap.
What causes the gap?
When our next product launches, everything will be great. As soon as we get seven figures in sales, we'll take that vacation. The moment we hit 250,000 downloads of our new podcast, the sponsors will be banging down our doors.
We set goals one week, six months, five years into the future. Our ambitions are always moving forward. Our projections are up and to the right. We're always walking toward the horizon, looking forward and refusing to turn around to notice the way we've come.
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How can we close the gap?
It's essential to the well-being of our businesses -- and our lives -- that we strive to close this gap.
If we're constantly walking toward the horizon and never turning around to recognize each of our goals as we achieve them, we'll never see our own successes. And we'll never close the gap.
Much has been said about living in the present and enjoying today for today, because this is where satisfaction and happiness tend to be. We need to start doing this in our businesses, or we'll end up on a never-ending journey that will ultimately lead to unhappiness and failing businesses.
Yes, we still need to set goals and continue to grow, but remember that where you are today is worth celebrating.
What we've accomplished to get here wasn't easy. Sure, it's not where we'll be in six months or a year from today, but it's where we are at this moment.
Make where you are today where you want to be.
This is important because no matter how hard we focus on the future, our thoughts will never be enough to take us there. Tomorrow needs goals, and yesterday needs to be celebrated.
Today needs our attention.
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