What Keeps You Going?
The most successful and resilient people have goals set for after they achieve their first goals.
We are all motivated by different things.
Maybe some of us will clean the whole house and only after that can we stop for lunch — no matter how long it takes.
Maybe some of us will put our phone in another room until we finish what we started — that’s what I do most of the time I write or read now.
Maybe some of us will reward ourselves with a trip after we finish one of our goals.
The most important thing about the incentivizing that we do for ourselves is what happens after the incentive takes place.
History Repeats Itself
We can see this time and time and time again throughout history:
Someone sets an incredibly ambitious goal and puts a large vision in their path.
After they achieve or attain that audacious goal, they fall off.
A huge goal is a great thing as we work for it and it is obviously a wonderful thing when we do achieve the goals that we’ve set for ourselves. Yet, if there is no follow-up goal, we may get stuck in stagnancy.
We see it with athletes who work their whole life to play professionally but then don’t have another goal set and fall out of the league in the first few years.
We see it with business owners who push for investment and getting their business to $10 million in ARR but then get distracted or lose their drive.
We see it with people in the gym who work to get to a certain weight and then relax and begin to gain back all that they lost.
The most successful and resilient people have goals set for after they achieve their first goals.
We need to incentivize ourselves and take time to acknowledge where we have gotten ourselves to, yes, but that cannot be coupled with contentment.
Incentivize Yourself to Keep Going
“When you’re relentless, you don’t celebrate your achievements, you always want more.” — Tim Grover
Tim, who includes that as one of “The Relentless 13” knows this as well as anybody. He’s trained Michael Jordan, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, and others.
All people who never settled. They did not simply accept their goal.
Michael never wanted just one NBA championship.
Kobe never wanted just one NBA championship.
Dwayne never wanted just one NBA championship.
As the goals got reached, the goals got bigger, the goals got harder, and as they continued to push, they continued to achieve.
Today, we see people set big goals, and then after they’ve achieved those goals, they retire.
“Once I have $5 million I will be prepared to retire and live off the interest.”
People say that sort of thing, and there’s not anything wrong with it in and of itself but, the question presents itself. “Is this your full potential?”
I can’t answer that question for anyone but myself but I’ll be frank, I know that if I retire and travel the world at 40 years old I will be leaving a LOT on the table.
God created each and every one of us for a specific divine purpose but it’s up to us to seek it.
Incentivizing with Intention:
Little by little and day by day. There are a few things to keep in mind when we set goals and when we strive for greater levels.
“Your greatest asset will become your greatest liability if you don’t use it for God’s purposes.” — Mark Batterson
“God knows our potential because HE created it. We need to remain in Him if we want to become that all we were created to become. Let’s become all that we were created to become and live our lives with a mission that wakes us up each and every single day. Let’s store up our treasure in heaven and bring all those around with us.” — Harrison Wendland
“Anytime I encounter a failure or a challenge, I take out a legal pad and write down my goals so that my attention can be kept on my goals and what I’m trying to achieve, so I can maintain my direction.” — Grant Cardone
“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal and I will give you a stock clerk.” — J.C. Penney
“If you seek answers you won’t find them, but if you seek God, the answers will find you.” — Mark Batterson
“You need to understand, I don’t care about the end goal, I care about the process, the enjoyment of doing it.” — Gary Vaynerchuk
Why are you doing what you are doing?
There is going to come a time where your largest goal is achieved, then what?
You keep going.
Join my weekly newsletter to see all of my writing here.