Why Some Goals Make You Run in Circles (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Why Some Goals Make You Run in Circles

[AndrewOlson]

What a great post.

Why do you always seem to write exactly what I need exactly when I need it? Just this morning I was journaling about how there are certain goals that I never seem to make progress towards, and I could not figure out why… All the actions and plans seemed perfect. Two hours later, this post shows up.

But I can't believe you'd make me wait until your next post to get the new process. I need it today!

[James81]

What the hell, dude?

Don't leave us hanging like that.

[Angela]

That's great! It relates closely to something we were discussing here in the forums: the idea of being Being, and being a stand for something.

When you are Being what it is you want, or being a stand for it, you and it are magnetized to each other -- you can't help but find each other. And it's then easy as pie to recognize what is inconsistent with who you are Being.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by James81

Don't leave us hanging like that.

I shared the process last night with all the dream characters who were physically present in my reality, about 15 people in a hotel suite.

I'm sorry that you weren't instantiated at the time.

[James81]

Originally Posted by Savage

I shared the process last night with all the dream characters who were within my physical reality at the time, about 15 people in a hotel suite.

I'm sorry that you weren't instantiated at the time.

I need to upload the Las Vegas program in my dream dammit.

Seriously, though, the quote by Albert Einstein really resonated with me. And I look forward to part Deux of this post.

[bluelighth]

Great Article!
Though frankly, I feel a wee bit like I felt after watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1...

[zackster]

Great article, I shared it with about 10 people.

Originally Posted by James81

What the hell, dude?

Don't leave us hanging like that.

Ya, totally. Bet you anything it involves .. TLP though!

[Cochonette]

Originally Posted by James81

What the hell, dude?

Don't leave us hanging like that.

I agree. I stopped reading about halfway through because it was just repeating the same thing over and over. And it kind of resembles a bunch of e-mails I kept getting from this one guy in his crappy newsletter that would just start a thought and never finish it and end with "I will tell you the secret in my next newsletter!" Although Steve's post actually finished the first half of the thought, whereas that guy made no sense at all.

It's funny that a post about how not to run in circles made me feel like I was running in circles!

[zackster]

I bet we can leverage the emotional investment and frustration into actually completing the steps he outlines in the next article!

[codefreeze]

Very interesting article. Plenty of food for thought. I did pretty well on the goals I set for last year, and this year I've set some real humdingers. I am excited about working towards achieving them and they seem like a good "vibrational match", but I won't really know until I'm getting down, dirty, and sweaty with them (they require a *lot* of sweat).

I have set goals in the past that weren't a good match for where I was (e.g. start my own software company), but I've learned to be a bit more realistic in that I work towards achieving sub goals before going for the biggies. For example, I recently set a goal to run a marathon in less than 4 hours (longest I'd run at that point was 10k). I've done a few half marathons/longer runs as sub-goals and am progressing well towards my main goal.

I'm looking forward to reading the next part of the article!

[jayh]

Yes, very good post. I saw that quote on a bumper sticker just a few days ago. I like how this post (at least from my perspective) is a Law of Attraction guide, but keeps it in terms that non-woo-woo people would understand. (It all starts with thought)

Now personally, I lean very much to the woo-woo side, but I've used similar language to explain LOA to those who might balk at the LOA concept.

[Boldnut]

I pretty sure the process, which is supposed to be in the next article, was already described several times.

Articles:
Overcoming Depression
Shifting Your Vibration to Manifest Your Desires
Creating Your Vision

Video:
Creating Abundance – Video

[supertom]

Feels like the ending of inception.... it probably was for some people who causally found that article they would have been reading, waiting for the the answer than like Cobb got distracted by his kids, they probably got distracted and went back to what they thought was reality never to check again.

[PipHunn]

Ah! I feel like a light's gone on in my head.
Goals. Trying to reach some of them. Not a match. Running in circles.

So.

Steve.

What you're saying is...

I should give up my athletics training.

Or maybe just stop practising on the local High School's oval?

[Cochonette]

Originally Posted by Boldnut

I pretty sure the process, which is supposed to be in the next article, was already described several times.

Articles:
Overcoming Depression
Shifting Your Vibration to Manifest Your Desires
Creating Your Vision

Video:
Creating Abundance – Video

I think you're right - he did address this before. I kind of remember a podcast about installing new beliefs or something like that. I am focusing on ways of being (as secret0stolen put it), changing my baseline of thoughts, so it's kind of what I'm working on right now.

[Dylan]

My buddy and I are finalizing our goals for this year. If I fail on my goals, I have agreed to give $200 to Sarah Palin's re-election fund. ARGG!! I've GOTTA make these goals work, Steve! And a couple of them, I now see, are clearly not a vibrational fit - even though I still want the end result.

Thanks for the eye scrape - they're open now. Ready for the next post!

A demain!

[cacheborn]

That makes perfect sense. So often we get stuck into the same patterns when what we need is to stand back and take a larger view of what is happening.

Curious about the alternative process. I was wondering, how does one know if one is being over-ambitious or not? If your goals are not big enough, you are not really getting out of your comfort zone. OTOH, if they are too much out of your league, it would be difficult. Maybe there is a criterion to find a middle path so that your goal is big enough to make you excited and still not entirely unmanageable.

[Bliss Sage]

Originally Posted by Savage

I shared the process last night with all the dream characters who were physically present in my reality, about 15 people in a hotel suite.

I'm sorry that you weren't instantiated at the time.

And I'm sorry I wasn't...

I wanted to fast-forward to the end of the article to find the process for the 2nd kind of person...and there it wasn't.

Until I got to the very last paragraph, I even began to fear he wasn't even going to offer an alternative process for the 2nd kind of person. Glad that didn't happen!

[Lanya]

Steve's tweet's a good preview:

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Don't mentally plan a path to your goal. You'll only go in circles. Instead, work on becoming the person you'd be if you were already there.

[Arcana Eleven]

Perfect timing.

At the begining of this year, I decided to stop forcing myself to try and achieve the same goals that I've been working on for years. I said to myself, "Self. Let's take the year off, shall we? We'll just enjoy each other for a change!" And I've been doing exactly that. A few days ago, I had the distinct impression that this is the year that I'm finally going to reach that place I've been trying to... only it will happen without the same kind of effort that I am used to putting forth.

And I was scared. Terrified! I am so accustomed to my current state of health that I really have no idea what it would be like to be otherwise. I realized that where I'm at is serving a purpose - of "protecting" me from the unknown. So I've been facing the fears as they surface, and just letting them be. I'm not running or fighting, this time. In the past few months I've learned that fear really does dissipate when I look it in the eye. "I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when my fear is gone I will turn and face fear's path, and only I will remain. "

So, here I am. Ready for the next step, and I have a feeling that there will be some synchronicities and clues for me in your next entry.

Thank you.

[Bliss Sage]

Originally Posted by Lanya

Steve's tweet's a good preview:

Ha, finally got me set up on Twitter, so I won't miss anything now .

[vertanno]

I have never had a goal in my life, never really like them . I think on some level you do it naturally, but I never found the idea of making a goal, visualising and what not, nowadays I just pray that my goals decent and that I may achieve, so to speak, I have just rather stupidly contradicted myself.

[danas]

Great Post

Looking forward to part 2!

So how do you change youre vibe?

Im trying to think how, bc Ive done this shift in some areas in my life.

Wealth:
I remember back in 2006 (just after watching the Secret btw and discovering this site). I traveled abroad bc I was showing my work at a festival.

I stayed with wealthy relatives in another city in that country for a week before. Beside my bed there was a stack of magazines that wealthy ppl read, such as luxury homes and big auction houses etc... I would read them every night and this opened a new desire for this kind of comfort.
I hanged out with my relatives during the day. Window shopping past luxury stores, jewelery, clothes etc... we didnt even buy anything, but suddenly I "felt" what it would be like to be wealthy and I liked it

After my visit with them I went to the festival. I got a call from the bank telling me about my 3k$ overdraft. I had no idea how I was going to cover it (at that point I was making a lot of non sellable work). My only idea on how to cover my OD, was to win the prize at the festival, and thats just what happened. The prize was 3k$ and my work won.
And the next day on my flight back home, the airline notified me that I had been chosen to be up ranked at no charge to first class.
For the first time in my life I flew 1st class, with champagne for breakfast and the works!
4.5 years later, I am one of those people who can afford whatever i like.
I think this trip and the visit with my relatives changed my vibe.

Clutter:
I used to be one of those messy ppl who hate clutter but live with it. A cleaner would come twice a month but the poor guy always found my small apt a total mess.
Then I moved into someone else's (who was away) luxury apt for a year. A spotless place with expensive designer furniture etc... bc I wasnt paying any rent, I took so much care of it. Plus his maid came twice a month, and I was afraid she would tell him if she found too much clutter so I kept in neat.
Now that Ive moved back to my old apt I was shocked how I could live in such conditions, I renovated it and now its always clutter free. Now I have a cleaner every week but she hardly has anything to do.

Now I have to see how I change my vibe with stuff that hasnt yet changed, such as singlehood
I know I have to change my vibe so Ive been: spending more time with happy couples (for years almost 100% friends were single), Im watching films that get me in the mood, Im using a vision board, Im writing... Ive cleared out half my closet...

Im curious to hear what Steve has to say...

[Arcana Eleven]

I seem to have gotten started without the follow-up entry... Good, good, good vibrations.