Honoring Your Hidden Goals

Honoring(ˈänər) Your Hidden Goals

By Steve Pavlina

When you look back on the past calendar(ˈkaləndər) quarter(ˈkwôrdər), consider what you actually got done, even if your actions and behaviors didn’t align(əˈlīn) well with your stated(ˈstādəd) goals. Your time went somewhere, so where did it actually go?

Use the lens of seeing everything you did as an accomplishment, even if your main achievement was watching Game of Thrones(THrōn). Instead of beating(ˈbēdiNG) yourself up for what you didn’t do, take a deeper look at what you did do.

So then your achievements might actually look like:

Watch Game of Thrones.
Spend two hours per day on Facebook.
Exercise sporadically(spəˈradək(ə)lē), averaging about 30 minutes per week, mostly Yoga with Adriene(ā) videos.
Gain(ɡān) 10 pounds of fat(fat).
And so on…

Now consider what goals you would have set at the start of the quarter if you wanted to match what you actually did during those three months. Take a step back from the actions, and see if you can connect them with a grander meaning. Why did you do these items? What did you gain from them? These are your hidden goals.

For example, your hidden goals based on the actions above might be:

Take a break from the world each day with a deep dive into fantasy(ˈfan(t)əsē) entertainment(ˌen(t)ərˈtānmənt).
Leverage(ˈlev(ə)rij) the benefits of online socializing each day, so I can feel connected to people while also keeping my distance(ˈdistəns), thereby allowing me to have plenty(ˈplen(t)ē) of flexible alone time.
Let my body go a bit, so I can use that as a reason for not going out as much instead of having to focus on the virus situation(ˌsiCHəˈwāSH(ə)n). Also give me a reason to continue staying home even when the virus situation clears up.

Try to put a semi(ˈsemī)-positive frame on each hidden goal. Consider that you may have done what you did because you overlooked important desires that weren’t represented in your stated goals.


https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2020/09/honoring-your-hidden-goals/