Do you write your personal goals down? Do you share them with your friends and/or family? Do you publicize them?
For me, it’s a yes/ maybe/ probably not. See the problem with me sharing my personal goals boils down to a few things:
- Fear. Let’s just go ahead and knock that one on out. Some of us (emphasis on me) won’t share because we’re (I’m) afraid of not actually reaching the goal. We say little things to convince ourselves that our goals are too big. Our timeline is too ambitious. We’re too late. It’s not time. We’re not ready. We’re too young. We’re too old. Yada yada yada!!! The bottom line is, we’re simply in our own heads, and it’s killing our goals. For some of us, it may feel like a slow death to us internally. Have you ever been so passionate about something that it eats you up inside every day that you’re not feeding it. It may seem like the easiest way to cope with it is to just not tell anyone. If we don’t, at least no one will know, right?
- Influence. I don’t need or want anyone else’s outside opinion. Here’s the thing. You’re probably right. Sometimes the very people around you just won’t get it. They don’t understand your goal or they think it’s farfetched. That’s ok. It’s simply not for them. There may be some who do agree with your goal, but think it needs to be modified. Maybe it does. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with seeking guidance and WISE counsel on how to execute a goal.
- Pride. You (We) don’t anyone else trying to steal your thunder. I get it. Trust, I do. I’ve been there, and I’ve been burned. I’ve shared my ideas with people, and while I pondered over it, they took it and ran with it. I had to learn the hard way. There will always be people around you with burning ears, ready to see and/or what you’re cooking up, ready to try to beat you to it, ready to steal your idea. Here’s the thing. They just might do it. They might do it exceptionally well at that. Someone just might take on and execute your idea… but at the end of the day, they still are not you, and will never do it the way only you can. They just don’t have the sauce.
Now I’m not saying go run and tell all your business plans to the multitude, but what I am saying is don’t be afraid of putting your goals out into the universe, and watching them manifest. I absolutely do NOT encourage you to sit on them. I’m a firm believer in bible directing us to “Write it down. Make it plain.” (Habakkuk 2:2) Pray about it, then walk in faith.
At the top of the month I shared with a social media group my individual goals to grow on each platform. Not only did I share my goals with them, I asked them to support them, and help me grow. Crazy thing… they did. They helped me. I grew in the area I specifically asked for. I don’t know if it’s just an old mama mantra, but I’ve always been taught that closed mouths don’t get fed. I shared my need, asked for help, and I received it. Is it always that easy? Absolutely not, but in some instances, it might. We cannot be too timid to utilize the resources readily available around us. We must not be to prideful to ask for help. We must not be too afraid or bold enough to even pursue our goals. At the very least, we must set them.
So about that goal of mine. I asked for help in growing my YouTube audience. I had a modest goal of reaching my first 100 subscribers by the end of the year. Because of that, I reached it, and I exceeded it. Was is an extreme goal? No, it wasn’t. However, it is very possible that I would not have hit it simply because I did not share it or promote myself. That’s a whole new blog post for another day.
Click here to head on over to my YouTube channel to check it out! Do me a favor and subscribe. See what I just did there?
Congratulations!!!!
Thanks so much, Mel!