Money and Success Goals Are Social, Not Personal

Money and Success Goals Are Social, Not Personal

By Steve Pavlina

One of the biggest traps(traps) is life is trying to achieve goals that only you will care about, such as making money or achieving success in your career. Yes, those kinds of goals can still create some ripples(ˈripəl) for others, but if your intention is mostly about you and your personal gains(gān), I’d predict(prəˈdikt) a lot of stuckness and stagnation(staɡˈnāSH(ə)n) for you.

I fell(fel) into this trap as well. In my 20s I thought my goals were well-intentioned enough. I was trying to get my computer games business going, make some money, and have a nice life in the field of game development. I certainly wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. But I didn’t really care much about what happened beyond my immediate(iˈmēdēət) sphere(sfi(ə)r). That seemed logical at the time, but I realized later that it was an irrational(iˈraSHənl) approach(əˈprōCH).

When I thought about goals back then, they were personal goals. I set fitness goals and financial goals and relationship goals. I achieved some of them, but the money and success goals always eluded(ēˈlo͞od) me, even though at the time I made them a high priority.

What I didn’t realize back then was that money and business success goals are social goals, not personal goals. Do you see that?

Suppose you lived on an island by yourself. What sense does it make to set financial and business or career goals? There’s no economy(iˈkänəmē). There are no social constructs. Such goals are meaningless.

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2020/01/money-and-success-goals-are-social-not-personal/