Having goals is a necessary part of life to help us get to where we want to be, both in our career and our personal life. However, the way you set goals can actually be hurting you, instead of helping you. People with high emotional intelligence have changed their goal setting in these three ways to honor their achievements and experiments.
Reframe your ambition for achievement
While some people think of ambition as a dirty word, there is nothing wrong with being ambitious. However, ambition just for the sake of achievement can cause tunnel vision that leads you to overlook major parts of your life. Spending years of your life hyperfocused on achieving everything on your to-do list will cause you to overlook so many of your achievements because your ambition is getting in the way. When you are hyperfocused on certain achievements, you miss out on many of your other achievements because they look different than you expect. Instead of setting specific goals for yourself to achieve by a certain age, instead, let your ambition lead you to where you actually want to be.
Set intentions for experiences, not goals
After you check off every item on your to-do list, what comes next? Once you get into your dream role, what do you do? Many people don’t think so far ahead because they’re so hyper-focused on achievements. Instead of asking yourself what job title you want to hold, ask yourself what you want to experience. Determine what type of impact you want to have on your coworkers or clients at your job. Outline what types of experiences you would like to have in your career, whether that’s speaking at a conference or planning a press event. Setting intentions allows you to let other people in and be present in every aspect of your life.
Leave some room for things to happen organically
It’s important to work hard to achieve the things you want to throughout your lifetime. However, some things do end up happening on their own. If you spend so long planning and ironing out every detail of how you are going to achieve something, you may miss out on some of the magic that happens to make our dreams come true organically. Sometimes, being so set on something happening can actually work against you because your hyper-focus causes you to miss out on opportunities you would have seen otherwise. Micromanaging your success causes you to miss out on the experience.