“Examine yourselves … Test yourselves…” II Corinthians 13:5 NKJV
The average Changemaker wants to solve all the problems of the earth, or at least the one perceived to be most important. The Content Creator wants to be heard and so strives to ramp up the reach of each piece of content fast. The Entrepreneur wants to create an offer that becomes a household name. All are viable goals.
Eventually, these different people get started on their projects, putting in the work. After a while, discouragement sets in. The Changemaker starts to feel slow because the problems of the world are still there. The Content Creator sees poor engagement and feels the content is worthless. The Entrepreneur’s brand-new offer doesn’t make a single sale. The reason for this discouragement is because all these goals haven’t been met…yet.
Most importantly, these goals are influenced by the response of the target group. If they respond positively to what you’re putting out there and it’s in line with your goals, you’re happy. If they don’t, you’re sad. Eventually, you abandon the project or find extra motivation to continue.
I have a hypothesis which is; if we shifted our smaller, short-term goals from being extrinsic to intrinsic, will we stay longer on the journey to achieving them?
Going back to our examples, the Changemaker decides that the goal is to derive a sense of fulfilment from helping just one person. The Content Creator decides to start that project to overcome a weakness while using social media as a platform for accountability. The Entrepreneur decides to set a curious goal to improve offer creation skills.
One goal for starting a newsletter was to put in motion a morning routine I always desired. The resultant effect was that I was never discouraged about the number of subscribers but always felt I met my goal once I hit “Publish”. So, it became easier to put in the work daily.
I want to believe that when we focus on setting goals that develop something in us first, we still enjoy the external benefits that the people we serve have to offer. Meeting the goals becomes easier, and more realistic and puts us in control of the outcome. But when we flip it and give power to others to decide if we met our goal, the passion dies faster when we get a negative response because we have almost no control over what could happen.
This is how I like to approach work. It may help you too if you’re more driven internally than externally.
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