Pursuing Heartfelt Goals is Usually Uncomfortable
What life do you want—the life dictated by rationalizations you dream up to stay comfortable OR the life of your dreams? Share on X
This is a high stakes question most people never acknowledge until it is too late. Fortunately, you are reading this newsletter, so you won’t be one of them.
What if you could be wildly successful achieving heartfelt goals you dream about?
“Heartfelt” goals fit these criteria:
- Express your passionate values
- Express the character, identity, or type of leader you’re committed to become
- Describe your fervent desires and dreams
- Will become “if only” regrets if you don’t make a concerted effort to achieve them
The prospect of conceiving heartfelt goals over a lifetime is thrilling to imagine. However, there is one requirement that is definitely not thrilling:
Heartfelt goals are uncomfortable to pursue. You must embrace the discomfort of taking on the unreasonable effort and risk in store for you during the journey.
Recall your big victories in life.
Did you have to persist for months at a time when you saw meager results or zero progress?
Did you worry about not knowing exactly what to do to accomplish your goal?
Did you fear looking foolish if you failed?
Did you have doubts about facing new problems if you succeeded?
Did you get puzzled responses to your big ideas and audacious goals where you felt like the village idiot?
A member of my Intrepid Freedom Crusaders group, Kay Miller, shares this insight about the interlocking relationship between heartfelt yet uncomfortable goals:
“Fear is good. If you don’t feel nervous, you’re not tackling the opportunities that give you the biggest rewards.” (Uncopyable Sales Secrets, p. 34)
When you think of the heartfelt goals you’ve achieved, how many came with minor effort and relative certainty of success? I’ll bet close to zero. The term, “heartfelt yet uncomfortable goals” describes the full picture.
Ruthlessly Honest Question
How do you benefit by embracing the effort and risk as a sign you’re pursuing a heartfelt ambition?
Heroic Experiment for This Week
To qualify as a heroic experiment, set the bar high by taking accountability to be ruthlessly honest in your responses.
- What is one heartfelt goal you haven’t committed to accomplishing because you’d rather avoid taking on unreasonable effort?
- What rationalizations are you contemplating to avoid the uncomfortable behaviors required to accomplish this goal?
- What is a small first step to start making progress on this heartfelt goal? Schedule a time to initiate these heroic actions.
Want to share this newsletter via text, social, or email? Simply copy and paste the following link: https://artturock.com/breakthrough/010-pursuing-heartfelt-goals-is-usually-uncomfortable/
