You Need to Identify Your Motivations for Your Goals

You need to know where you want your time and attention to go.¹ If you don’t, they will go somewhere. But they’re less likely to lead to a place you really want to go. So, you need to identify where you want to be at the end of the year. Doing so will help you use your days toward those ends.

That said, you can all too easily lose important projects and goals amid the frenetic pace of day-to-day life. So, in addition to identifying where you want to go, you also need to identify why you want to go there.

With anything that’s challenging enough to become a goal, clear reasons for it help you keep hold of your aim. They help you push toward it when circumstances press and tempt you to downgrade an important goal to simply an aspiration for “someday.”²

This temptation can be especially strong when you’re mid-way along toward a goal. At that point, your initial enthusiasm for the project has probably declined. But you’re still too far off from the finish line to draw too much encouragement from seeing that end approaching.

Especially during times like these, identifying why you’re pursuing a goal can help you

1. answer your own questions about why you’re continuing to pursue it,
2. focus on achieving your goal amid possible distractions, and
3. take the very next action that’s doable enough not to be overwhelming.

1. Answer Your Own Questions

Maybe you’re in the middle of the large, multi-year project of “doing a PhD.” Or maybe it’s a longer, multi-volume project. Or it could be something shorter like an individual article or essay. Whatever it is, your goal’s scope may well mean that your initial enthusiasm for the project will wane at some point.

The Temptation to Change Directions

At such points, it can be especially tempting to change directions. Sometimes, such change is appropriate. Maybe you see that where you’re going isn’t actually where you want to end up. But you definitely shouldn’t scrap a key goal simply because it’s proving difficult.

From where you are, it’s always easier to take only one step in any variety of directions. I’ts naturally harder to move 26.2 miles in any single direction. But single steps in any given, random direction won’t ever produce a finished marathon.

Often, the temptation to change directions comes from

1. an increase of pressure in other, often more urgent, areas that don’t align with a given goal,
2. a decrease in the apparent, relative importance of your goal, or
3. some combination of these two.

You’re always faced with the question “What should I do now?” But reasons like these don’t necessarily justify changing directions away from a given goal.

When trying to answer the question “What should I do now?” it’s all to easy to actually only answer the question “What will make me feel less overwhelmed in this moment?”

Escaping overwhelm can be a powerful motivator. And in the moment, what’s most prominent (i.e., what’s creating the most overwhelm) can obscure the—perhaps better—reasons for pressing ahead toward your goal.³

An Aid for Memory

Given these dynamics, it can be immensely helpful to have a mechanism for both

• gaining perspective on any increased pressure you’re feeling and
• reminding yourself of your reasons for the goals you’ve chosen.⁴

Doing so allows you to make a more informed decision about what to do with the pressure you’re feeling to change directions. And such a tool is readily available in a simple list.⁵

You might find it useful to make this list in the same place as you’ve written out your goals. But your list doesn’t need to be lengthy or fancy. You just need to write it down and clearly state your most compelling reasons for a given goal.

Once you have the list, you’ll have a backup for your all-too-malleable memory about why you have the goals you do. Your list can remember for you why you found your goal so important in the first place. As the saying goes, “the faintest pencil is better than the strongest memory.”⁶

If you find yourself thinking about throwing in the towel, pull out your list. It can easily remind you about all the reasons you’re forgetting or devaluing because they’re just not quite as much in the front of your mind. Reconsidering these reasons can help you get the perspective you need on why you want to see your goal through.

2. Focus on Achieving Your Goal

Alternatively, you may have plenty of motivation for the goal you’re pursuing. You may just have plenty of motivation for other things too. Whatever’s new and “shiny”—either physically or cognitively—might distract you from where your attention needs to be.

At some point, your a larger goal probably won’t provide the dopamine rush of tackling something that seems more enticing. But you can’t allow your focus to drift simply for the satisfaction of either starting or completing something else that won’t produce the results you’re after.⁷

Instead, confront yourself with why your goal is important. Doing so clarifies what the cost will be if you let yourself get pulled away onto something else. You’ll be trading away progress on your important goal that you adopted for definite reasons. And in return, you’ll be getting … what?

Reviewing why your more demanding goal is worthwhile can help you resist the urge to digress. This review can help you see why your prospective trade isn’t one you actually want to make.⁸

3. Take the Next Non-overwhelming Next Action

According to G. K. Chesterton, “if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.”⁹ Things are worth doing badly not because it wouldn’t be nice if they were done better. Nor is it because we shouldn’t strive to do things well. It’s because having something done is better than leaving it undone.

Similarly, if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing piecemeal. So, if you’re grinding to a halt because your goal seems too big, refresh yourself on why you adopted that goal. Doing so can help you find the next step that will set you moving again.

That step can—and sometimes should—be very small. The step’s size isn’t the point. It just has to be a step in the right direction. Once you take it, you’ll find it that much easier to take the one after it.

Conclusion

Goals can be daunting. They can also be draining. But you have them because you’ve intentionally decided they’re worth doing. So, wherever you’ve written down your goals for the year, leave yourself also some reminders about your main motivations for those goals.

At some point, you might

• question why you’re pursuing one or more of these aims,
• be tempted to dilute your focus into other areas, or
• feel paralyzed by how much remains to be done.

When any of that happens, review why your goal is worthwhile in the first place. Doing so can prompt your memory that all too easily forgets the bigger picture when the merely urgent comes knocking. And with that bigger picture in view, you can better stay on track and see your goals through to the end.