Setting & achieving humble goals to regain control, build momentum & improve confidence

When there are so many things clamouring for your attention and you don’t know where to direct yourself, it can feel overwhelming. This is especially so when one is juggling multiple responsibilities at work and at home, while at the same time still trying to improve oneself in life. Often the lack of focus appears in tandem with messiness; whether it is in the environment or within ourselves. The noise pulls us in many different directions. Setting humble goals can help make the simple shift required to refocus our attention in the right direction.

Redefining how we look at goals

A goal is defined as an aim that one works towards with effort and determination. It seems contradictory, that in our attempt to become free in our lives, we have to set goals. Most people look upon them as something that we put all our effort into to achieve. A final place of success. However, this is where the sentence, “It is the journey not the destination that counts”, comes in. Indeed, here’s another way to look at it; goal setting is only a means to an end, rather than the end itself. Goals become tools that we use to move forwards in life instead of the master that controls our focus and attention. 

This shift in how we look at goals is fundamental to our sense of control, and therefore freedom in life. 

Regaining a sense of control

When we set goals, we become focused in a certain direction. This helps to put boundaries against things that are not useful for us. For example, when we become focused on eating healthy, we start to pay attention to our food, saying yes to healthy options and no to the deep fried ones. Such focus is very liberating especially when one is in the middle of a lot of messy confusion. Focus helps to define the things you want and the things you don’t want. It can bring the much needed clarity required to recenter oneself. 

Building momentum

The best kind of goals are those that are broken down into easily, achievable and digestible stages. They form two purposes; an anchor point to aim towards and a marker to define how far one has travelled. When we know where to aim, we focus and direct our energy towards it in clarity, instead of wasting it on confusion. This means we become very efficient on our journey. 

At each point of achievement that we get to, we can see how far we’ve come, giving us a sense of distance. Knowing our distance travelled is very important for motivation. Since motivation is about the ability to keep our spirit up even during challenging times, having a sense of where we are on our journey, can help us manage our spirit and energy levels. It also puts a marker around where we’ve travelled, such that if and when one does fail, it is limited only to the area defined; minimising the intensity of each failure and allowing us to manage it more effectively.

And while you are at it, why not do a jiggly dance of celebration at each marker point of success?

Increasing confidence

With every step we arrive at, we gain the knowledge and confidence of being able to go through and succeed on our journey. This can be especially encouraging and empowering. The intimate knowledge of our abilities, strengths and weaknesses is what gives us the confidence to know how much we can push ourselves and how far we can go. It gives us the roadmap for future adventures, challenges and trials of life. When we are faced with a new and unknown situation, as surely happens day-to-day, year-to-year, instead of running away in fear, we are now equipped and empowered to face it head on, with the knowledge of our successes. 

Having both clarity and a sense of control helps us to gain confidence on our journey. In many ways, confidence is not something that just appears willy nilly. It comes about through an orchestrated, disciplined and focused effort in one’s journey of life. The trials of life are never kind and people are not always there to help us. While it may be scary and also harsh, it is still a reality of life. Setting goals as a means to an end allows us to become focused, clear, centered and motivated, no matter what happens on our journey. 

These become our tool sets that we keep under our belt to empower us to survive and navigate through life’s messy but also very exciting journey.