I may not be where I need to be but I thank God I am not where I used to be!

The tweet caught my eye this morning and stayed with me. How often do you look at how far you have to go rather than how far you’ve come? Marketing expert Naomi Dunford who writes IttyBiz suggests writing a Done List to replace your usual To Do List. You’d be amazed at how exhilarating it is to write down your accomplishments as opposed to all the things you have yet to get done. Much more satisfying!

Or how often do you beat yourself up for not reaching some goal when you could be patting yourself on the back for the progress you have made. And progress on the inside is way more meaningful than any outward manifestations of glory. Maybe you weren’t supposed to reach that goal anyway.

Leo Babauta writes, and I concur, that goals can be limiting. Sticking with goals can narrow your focus and prevent you from seeing and taking advantage of opportunities that aren’t directly related to the goal. Goals also have you pushing and forcing and fighting your way toward them. NOT reaching your goal is sometimes the greatest blessing…but you won’t know that if you blindly forge ahead until you reach your target, regardless of the resistance in your path.

That’s why many people attest to reaching a huge goal and then feeling an intense sense of emptiness which leads to the next goal, repeat ad infinitum. It’s a purposeless sort of existence and very self-centred.

“If you live without goals, you’ll explore new territory. You’ll learn some unexpected things. You’ll end up in surprising places. That’s the beauty of this philosophy, but it’s also a difficult transition.” – Leo Babauta

Freeing yourself from stringent goal-setting encourages trust and hope – in yourself because you know that you wont become immobile and useless because you don’t have an immediate goal in mind; and in the world because there is a divine plan for you and it’s not always under your direct control (and that’s a good thing!).

Further reading: Ps 139:16 and Ps 46:10