It Takes a Village to Reach a Goal

Working towards a goal can be a lonely place. It can sometimes feel like, not only are you alone, but that no one understands what you're trying to do. It's enough to make you question yourself and what it is you thought you wanted. Stop. What you want is valid and how you plan to get there, although evolving, is the way to get there.

One thing I've learned from reading countless books about people who have achieved great goals is that no one's path is the same. The only common denominator are three things: a feeling of loneliness in what they were striving towards, having days where they could not always muster the motivation to keep going, and the "how" of the plan changed several times before they got there. If this sounds discouraging, I don't mean for it to be. I mean it to be an honest look at where it is you're trying to go.

It will not happen over night. It will take strategic thinking, having a plan and everyday doing something towards your goal. Somedays you'll put hours towards it through networking and meetings. Other days, you'll find a training to increase your skills or some afterhours work to better understand a process at work. In between it all, you'll read a couple of pages here and there from a book that was suggested to you. It's just like the saying "if you want to be a millionaire, hang around millionaires". Well, if you want to reach your goal, surround yourself with people who have reached their goals. During the limitations of gathering due to COVID that may mean surrounding yourself with these people through books.

There are so many ways to get what you need, you just have to go about it in a different way. Listening to a Speakers Series at CMU with Shellye Archambeau, she made the comment "homework doesn't stop because you're out of school". Sure we all know this, since we put in countless hours learning new things at work. What we have forgotten to do is the homework to reach our goals.

One of the quotes that I have drilled into my head for the days I lack motivation comes from Janice Bryant Howroyd, "Invest everything you have into studying your opportunities", this means, my time, money, my thoughts and my energy all should be moving towards the goal. They will not always be moving at the same speed or level but on any given day one of those elements is moving.

Don't allow the days of flux and limitations keep you stagnant in the pursuit of your goals. There is always another way to get there. You just have to be willing to seek it out.