Do you need a push to achieve your goals ?

The reality is that all humans procrastinate. There is no need to feel bad about it. In fact, my view is there is nothing bad about any of our emotions. If it happens to all of us, then there must be a reason. What is bad that we feel bad about these emotions for ever instead of accepting that we are only humans.

While there are self-starters who pursue their goals without any push, vast majority of humans need motivation and encouragement to make a start. We procrastinate because of lack of motivation. It is the first step that is the most difficult one.

In one of my posts, I mentioned about a gentleman who explained to me about a chant in Buddhism. He mentioned to me the basic principle is ‘Starting today…’ – hence it doesn’t matter if you have not achieved your goals all these years, start today.

Your goal need not be just about starting a business (which is what this blog is about). Your goal could be anything from maintaining fitness, learning a musical instrument, learning about economy or any skill like improving public speaking, swimming etc.

The lost years isn’t going to come back. Let it be. We have all lost those years. You don’t even have to wait for the new year to make a resolution.

It doesn’t matter how old you are. There is no age limit for learning guitar or swimming. While you may not be able to learn gymnastics if you are in your 60’s, but you can definitely start a business like Ray Kroc did and rest is history.

It is about when you decide to start something and you are ready, just start it. Few years later, you will be proud of yourself that you finally took the plunge and achieved your goals.

I am sure many of you have supportive friends, spouse, family, parents who are offering the support you need.

You must understand though that you are not doing for them. You are doing this for yourself and it is not in their interest to push you.

Many may even question you as to why you did not achieve your goal. Just let them be. Focus on your goals. Don’t be demoralized by people.

If putting pressure on yourself works for you, then you may also post a message on your social media profile that you are going to learn/do  X in the next n months. This puts a pressure on you when someone you know starts asking you what progress you have made with your goal.

While many will advice you to keep deadlines, I would recommend just have a guideline e.g a range of 4-6 months instead of a specific date. The reason being majority of the time when you miss deadline, people just give up. The objective is to achieve your goal and not achieve by a deadline.

This has been my principle all my life. As long as I achieve my goal, I do not care about missing deadlines. My take is that I will not give up however long it takes to achieve my goal. My focus is to get it right.

However, most important thing is to make a start. I am not going to suggest start today. It is not going to happen.

Start when you think you are ready and if you need some push or reminders, let me know.

Good luck !