In today's fast-paced world, where everyone's business is everyone else's business too, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant pressure to achieve big, ambitious goals.
Whether you're a working mom juggling career and family responsibilities or a childless cat lady looking to make a significant impact, setting lofty aspirations can sometimes feel overwhelming and impossible.
In this blog post, I'm sharing how small, achievable goals can be just as fulfilling and impactful as those glamorous, out-of-touch goals that seem to be everywhere you look. We'll discuss:
Strategies for overcoming anxiety and stress that come from trying to create and reach your goals.
Redefining ambition.
How breaking down your goals, no matter the size, can help you not only stop overthinking and stay motivated but also open more doors to help you keep moving forward and finding joy, freedom, and fun in your life.
Overcoming Overwhelm and Anxiety
When you're stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious, it's difficult to imagine achieving anything significant. One of the biggest obstacles to goal-setting is allowing yourself to believe that your goals are worthy and achievable. The entire goal-setting process can make you feel overwhelmed and anxious. Maybe you've noticed this as well.
Getting lost in the details, wondering where to start, questioning if your goal is attainable, or even judging yourself for wanting too much or not enough are all normal parts of the process for my clients. It's not uncommon for clients to tell me what they want, then give me all the reasons why their goal is too big, or to completely change their mind and tell me they aren't sure what they want at all.
Brains don't like change, even changes you want to make. To overcome this block, I help my clients practice mindfulness. They learn to calm the anxiety in their bodies so they can imagine life the way they want it to be instead of how it is now. This includes not judging the size or value of what they want.
Defining Ambition
I recently helped a client through a goal re-evaluation. They're making incredible progress in achieving the goals they set just three months ago, so I asked them what comes next. They took a week to think about what they wanted to experience and achieve next, and when we had our call the following week, their answer surprised me.
They said, "My goals are kind of silly. I don't think I'm ambitious enough. Should I be doing more and pushing myself?" I asked them why they thought their goals of connecting with their kids, being present, and being a great spouse weren't ambitious or big enough. They didn't have an answer.
Nearly every person I've coached, no matter how their goals are stated, wants the same things:
Connection
Freedom
Joy
Love
A future they're excited about
Fulfillment
Society often equates ambition with getting a big promotion, starting a business, or changing the world, and we tend to measure that success in dollars and fame. There's nothing wrong with those goals but what if your goals aren't as grandiose? It depends on how you're defining ambition. Ambition is about pursuing goals that align with your personal values: goals that bring you joy and fulfillment. It's about the desire to work toward something important to you.
If you have the desire and the determination to have something, you've got ambition. Instead of focusing on grand, world-changing achievements, let's figure out what is important to you so you can set goals that fire you up to make your life better. These goals can be as simple as spending more time with loved ones, learning a new skill, or organizing your living space.
The Power of Small Goals
Small, achievable goals can be just as ambitious and fulfilling as larger ones. Here's why:
Breaking down big goal mentality: Big goals are made up of a lot of smaller, more important goals. Instead of starting with a BIG goal, let's start with the small goals first and see where they lead you.
Building confidence and motivation: Achieving small wins can boost your confidence and motivation, and open your brain up to new ideas.
Celebrating progress: Recognizing and celebrating your small achievements can help you stay focused and motivated, and lead you to unimagined opportunities and goals in the future that are easier to imagine and achieve.
Remember, your goals are YOUR goals. Not your co-worker's goals, not the other working moms in the office's goals, and not the single badass in the C-Suite. If you want something and you're willing to work for it, you are ambitious and it's a perfect goal for you.
If you agree that the things you want are important to you and you're ready to work toward making them a reality in your life, wouldn't you also agree that it would be easier and faster to have some support and accountability along the way?
You can learn about what it's like to work with me by CLICKING HERE and scheduling a call.
P.S. You can hear more about being Ambitious Enough in episode 106 of the More Than Anxiety Podcast.
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