Learning to Become Less Attached to Reaching my Goals!

As we start to get closer to the end of the year, I'm increasingly becoming aware that there are a number of the goals that I set for 2023 that I'm definitely not going to be able to reach.

Whereas that as a little bit disappointing, over the years I've learned to not become too despondent and down on myself when things don't go as planned. Maybe it's a result of having had a growing number of experiences with things not going as planned, and recognizing the futility of getting all upset about it.

Part of what has made it easier for me to deal with missed goals is looking at goals as guidelines more than as some kind of law that's been cast in stone.

I think the reason I started taking goals very seriously can be traced back to my years I worked in the IT industry, where it always seemed like it was "do or die" whether we hit quarterly numbers because those quarterly numbers were so terribly important to investors (shareholders).

But the thing is, there is a huge difference between setting your own personal goals and working for a large corporation!

I had definitely hoped to accomplish quite a bit more with my blogging and writing this year, but due to our rather difficult financial situation — much of it caused by the unexpectedly high inflation rate this year — I have had to focus far more on income producing activities than on more fun things like blogging.

The fact that the cryptocurrency markets have also been rather weak in 2023 hasn't really helped our cause too much. I look back and remember that there was a time when I could actually treat crypto blogging on a regular basis as a replacement for a part time job. But it's been several years since I was in last able to do that!

Even though it looks like the Cryptosphere is about to come back to life, I'm still being rather cautious about my 2024 goals.

Maybe I've been burned one time too many, but I would rather set a modest goal and then feel good about reaching it rather than setting an ambitious goal and then feeling disappointed for not reaching it.

The thing about goals is that they're meant to inspire us and make us want to accomplish something. The purpose of goals isn't to feel like they're a burden that's always hanging over our head, inducing stress because we feel like we're always running to catch up. That's really not a good way to use goal setting!

Of course, we've only just begun on the month of December. So I still have a month of this year to get a little bit closer to those "missed" goals. But it also means that I don't have to set down anything firmly for 2024 quite yet.

Even so, it's a good idea to start thinking ahead early rather than get all the way to the 1st of January and then immediately having to sit down and decide what your numbers are going to be, without much time to plan.

Maybe it's just part of the process of aging that I have become more relaxed about this whole thing!

Well, I'd better wrap this up for today. Mrs. Denmarkguy and I have to be up very early tomorrow morning and go back for day two of the arts and crafts show that we are being vendors at this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

How about you? Did you set goals for 2023? Does it look like you're going to make them? When do you set goals for the next year? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2023.12.01 23:53 PST
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