It’s August. We are already at the second half of the year, and if there’s anything the past couple of months have taught us, it’s that the ability to adapt and persist are perhaps the two most important skills that can help us get through the rest of the year.
It has not been an easy year—to say the least. There have been disasters both on global and local scale left and right, issues about race and politics seem to be dividing us, and the world’s economy is heavily impacted by the emergence of Covid-19. At best, people’s holiday plans and fitness goals have been ruined by this series of unfortunate events. At worst, lives are lost leaving nothing but a trail of grief.
But then again, humans are both agile and resilient. Time and again, we have proven that as a species, we have the ability to overcome many things. This is why despite everything that’s happening, it’s important to keep setting goals for yourself. Doing so helps you to keep moving forward, and to do so with clarity and purpose.
It has been a practice by many of us to set goals at the start of the year to help us push for progress. But for some reason, we do not take the time to sit down and revisit those goals every so often to check not just on our progress, but our lack of. Goals are goals. They are never set in stone and no one should punish himself for not being able to achieve his in a short period of time.
Truth is, goals—as they are determined solely by us—provide us nothing more than guidance. When we tell ourselves, “I want to be able to achieve this by X period of time,” we lay down the track to get to ourselves to our desired point in the near future. The questions that follow then are always, “How do I achieve this?” and “What are the skills and resources that I need?” Once we’ve determined these, we start to get to work.
But during the course of our work, do we ever stop and assess if our goals are still as achievable today as they were when we set them?
Things happen, and in the context of 2020, a LOT of bad things have happened, and are still happening. They are never reasons to let go of our goals, but they are enough reasons to reassess and adjust. They are reasons to sit down and ask ourselves, “Is my goal still achievable within the timeframe I set?” “Should I perhaps set smaller goals for this year—smaller but just as important in helping me get to my bigger goal?”
Learn how to tweak your goals based on the things you can’t control. Especially for this year, doing this will allow you to focus more on the ‘now’ and enjoy the little things that you can. It will also help you to be kinder to yourself.
Do not change the destination but change the track. Pushing forward head-on is not always the best principle. Sometimes, the best way to achieve something is by taking a step back and looking for other ways to get to where you want to get. And there are other ways. Years of human history will tell us that there is never only one way to get to a result. Be agile, be open to learning new things, be willing to adapt, embrace change, be kind, and never take your eyes away from the ultimate prize.
