Why you should change your goals

Work Smart Show daily blog.

recently had a discussion with my uncle, who I have the greatest respect for as you may have seen in previous blog posts. He has worked in various areas from construction, sales, his own businesses and even circus promotion. Now in the course of our discussion he described how he and his wife had been intending to go to Thailand but had instead ended taking a cruise through Alaska.

He followed this up by advising my wife and I that we should never be afraid to change our goals. Now excuse me for one moment while I pull an example from the Gilmore Girls to support this. Really, please excuse me.

Rory as a child and young adult had always wanted to attend Harvard and this was the only college that she ever considered. But when it came time to apply and in her last months of high school she began to reconsider. Eventually she chose to attend Yale instead for a variety of reasons including the distance from home, past family attendance and courses offered. SHe realised that what she had always wanted, or thought she wanted, was in fact not what she really wanted now.

A more pedestrian example would be that of driving between cities and planning to stop in the next town at a McDonald's you know to be there. However you see a sign on the side of the road for a Michelin starred country restaurant in the town further along. Are you then obligated to stop in at the McDonald's, fill up and later drive past the restaurant? No, in fact most people would take the opportunity to taste the best, have the best rather than stopping as you had previously intended.

When setting goals we by nature start at the very beginning of our understanding and therefore can choose goals that may evolve or need to change entirely over time. Consider our family goal of visiting Paris in 2026. Since setting this goal just over six months ago we have changed the plans slightly, firstly to include a DisneyLand visit and later to consider saving this for another trip. We are also still aware of the developing nature of the European situation what with Brexit, terrorism and unique situations in countries like Greece and Ukraine. It may be that by 2026 it would not be wise to take children through some of these places for safety reasons, indeed anything could happen.

As soon as you set a goal, you must be consistent in working to achieve it, but you must also be always open to the movement or change of this goal to match your current situation. After all there will be very little pleasure in working to and achieving a goal that you set many years ago but lost interest in or outgrew.

Make your goals work for you as they grow out of you. Rather than a simple linear pathway follow a road map with all its twists and turns to get to the most interesting and fulfilling destination.

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