Fall in Love With Your Journey: How To Achieve Your Goals Without Chasing Them

It has been burned into our psyche since childhood that in order to achieve long-term success, it is vital to set goals. We are constantly bombarded with self-help books, blogs and gurus devoted to coaching us on how to set goals and accomplish them. However, there’s a paradox here: whilst focusing on the end goal it is easy to lose sight of what genuinely matters - the journey.

Despite best intentions, often goals don’t come from a healthy place. It’s all too easy to focus on the aesthetics and chase the ideal of the perfect life. For most people, achieving goals becomes a means to an end, and they enter the “hyper focus” zone where they will stop at nothing to get what they want.

The problem with focusing on the end goal, is that often life gets in the way. We beat ourselves up because we didn't lose a stone in two weeks like we had hoped to, or get the promotion at work we wanted, or perhaps the person we are obsessing over isn't interested in us.

Life is not defined by an end point but by a series of smaller destinations. The goal is not to achieve, acquire or have other people complete you. Focusing on the end goal forfeits the beauty of the journey and the lessons you learn along the way in those 'in-between' places.

What no one is telling you, is that the journey is BETTER than the destination. Achieving your goals is a natural by-product of your journey. Losing weight or getting abs like Shakira is inevitable when you eat correctly and exercise properly. Attracting love and success into your life is inevitable when you put energy into positivity and your personal development. If you do something you love and enjoy, you will accomplish more in the process.

The journey is so much more than your goals, because it is about the person you develop into along the way, the lessons you learn, the connections you make, and the continuous commitment to improvement. Your life is defined by the meaning you assign it, and it is directed by your passion and purpose.

So throw out the rulebook, and start afresh. Forget exercise programs you can’t sustain and don’t enjoy, and start having fun. Instead of concentrating on what you want in the future, focus on enjoying your present. Your journey starts today. Fall in love with it and become your potential.