Are Your Life Goals Flexible?

From where I stand, doing too much is clearly connected to the absolutely natural norm of setting goals for ourselves.

Sometimes, fueled by the flawed perception of achievement that convinces us to take on far more than we can handle (or equally bad, spend our lives hunting for breakthroughs), we set impractical goals that do not take our limitations into consideration. Everyone wants to ‘find purpose’, but we never want to accept that the most effectual life we could live may be a simple, unglamorous one.

I’m not going to tell you how to define your success (even though we all urgently need to rethink what it means), but have you asked yourself what will happen to you if your dreams don’t come true the exact way you want them to? Will you be able to go on if you don’t live up to your expectations?

It’s ridiculous and quite dangerous to expect life to turn out according to plan and to stick obsessively to a view of some ideal future even when your gut tells you there’s another way for you to live your definition of a good life.

As scary and pessimistic as it may seem, everything good may not come. Also, working hard (and praying) is no guarantee that you’ll have all you want. Life offers no such assurances. Accept that.

And because goals can be overrated, you’ll do well to become flexible enough to bend with life’s uncertainties without breaking. Adapt to thrive, please.

Excerpted from Issue 3 of relea:se, my bimonthly newsletter. Join the mailing list.