Have you ever obsessed over a goal and you burn yourself out until you reach it? Like in starting a business, perhaps you’re hyper focused on an income goal but feel defeated because you’re not where you want to be? Or maybe in your career an obsession over a promotion causes you to lose interest and motivation in the actual day to day work because all you can think about is that promotion, title, or income goal.
Being goal-focused can be a great thing because goals provide a vision that you can hold tight to. Sometimes it’s easy to lose momentum, burn yourself out or feel defeated and beat yourself up because you’re not seeing an outcome as quickly as you’d like.
If you focus on the process instead of the outcome, focus on daily successes and what you can control, and get excited, reaching your goal can be fun! Stick with me and I’ll show you how.
Focus on the Process Instead Of The Outcome
Before jumping into how to focus on the process, let’s discuss why you should not be focusing on the outcome only of your goal. When you only focus on your desired result, it can feel so far off because you don’t get to be successful until that one day in the distant future when you are actually there. What if you end up falling just short of your goal? Are you really going to beat yourself up and not celebrate all your hard work for missing the initial outcome? You’re way more likely to burn out in this scenario, hating every day until you get there.
What is the point if you are putting in your time for something far off in the future, and when you get it, you get 15 minutes to celebrate? You get that short high and then you’re right on to the next thing that may take another 10 years until you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor again. Sounds to me like a difficult way to live when there is another way – a fun way! – you can reach your goals.
Focus on Daily Successes
Focusing on the process instead of the outcome allows you to enjoy where you are, at any given moment. Set up metrics and milestones that you can control along the way. Instead of focusing on a number to hit, think about the daily tasks that will get you closer to that number. Focus on things that check daily boxes so you can be successful every day as you move toward the big end goal. If you get in flow with the process, the outcome will come.
Think of how amazing it would be to wake up every day feeling like you can crush your goals and love the process. By the time you reach that goal six months from now, you’re going to be a whole new woman because you lived every day intentionally feeling success, accomplishment, and confidence. Rather than being hyper focused on that goal in the future, you can congratulate yourself day to day. You can get in that spirit of good, higher vibration and have more positive feelings because you’re crossing off your list and doing things you’ve never done before. That’s a huge accomplishment in itself!
Focus on What You Can Control Every Day
Recently I had a launch for my business where I shared about a course to teach people to write, how to build a business, and even how to work with my agency if they desired. As I excitedly shared with my mentor my goal of how many people I wanted to serve, she asked how I could be successful every day during this launch and during the lead up to it.
This question shifted my mindset around the launch. She had me get granular in terms of what I could actually control that would lead to a successful launch. What would lead to more people hearing about the program, wanting to sign up, feeling supported by me, knowing that I have their back, and that I’m thrilled to have them part of this community? This focus gave me tangible items to look at daily, such as welcoming new people, replying to every social media message I received, sending an email, and posting on social media.
The fact that I was out there every day sharing my story and reaching out to people and doing everything I could caused me to feel the energy of this launch, and I felt excited to meet the people that I would connect with. Who knew the process of launching could be so fun?
By the time people started signing up for the program, I was already feeling so good and proud for putting myself out there every day and doing my absolute best. That’s the value of this process because win, lose, or draw, you know you’re giving your all, doing things that you can control. You can’t control the outcome, when it will happen, or how it will unfold. But you can control how you show up every day to do things that make you feel good and have fun in the process. That’s what this is all about.
Let’s take another example. Your health goal is to lose 10 pounds. If you are hyper focused on that result and want it to come tomorrow, what happens? You spend a few days giving it all your energy and then you feel burnt out because you haven’t reached your goal so you give up and you end up right back where you started. It helps if you don’t focus as much on the outcome. Have the vision, the focus, and know what you’re striving for, but focus on the daily things that you can do. Decide your wins each day: drinking water, moving for 20 minutes, an intense run, kickboxing, yoga. The process of checking in with yourself about what you need that day will cause you to build a habit without even realizing it.
Get excited
Another outcome-oriented example is planning a big trip. It may be far off, but what can you do now to get excited? Is it booking your travel and planning your accommodation? Making coffee at home two days a week and putting the money you would have spent in a jar? Preparing dinner at home rather than eating out and saving that money each week? Is it setting up an auto withdrawal so that one hundred dollars from your paycheck goes into a trip fund that you can watch grow? In doing these tangible things, you can see your end goal build and grow. I am excited just thinking about it!
Whether you’re looking to build a business or reach a health or career goal, ask yourself what you can do every day to be successful towards it, and watch to see what actually feels like fun – that’s part of it too!
Celebrate
Not everything will feel fun. When I’m launching, there are certain things that are intimidating to me. When I’m reaching a health goal, there are some things that I enjoy more than others. What I can do is commit to what feels doable and tangible, and get that good feeling when I reach a daily milestone.
Consider how you can celebrate yourself for those successful daily actions. Maybe it’s a minute at the end of the day where you look at yourself in the mirror and acknowledge that you totally crushed it today. Or take a moment after you check off your boxes to pat yourself on the back for a job well done! It doesn’t have to be big, but it is important to acknowledge yourself for doing things that are a stretch for you.
Don’t forget about celebrating the milestones on the way to your goal! Let’s say you hit a certain follower amount on social media, or a certain amount of people buy your book, listen to your podcast, or sign up for your program. Celebrate those things along the way. Plan ahead of time what you will do when you hit that milestone and you will notice yourself starting to think about and anticipate them.
Is it booking a massage? Buying a new book? Trying a new yoga class? I’m here for all of it! Do whatever feels exciting to you! Reaching your goals just became way more fun! You are now gaining traction and getting incrementally closer to something that isn’t so far off in the future anymore.
I love that this process is oriented around focusing on what you can do versus what you can’t, and what you can control versus what you can’t. Celebrate the things that you are adding to your life like abundance, confidence, appreciation of yourself, and what you’re capable of versus what you’re missing, lacking, or how far away from the final outcome you are feeling.
You will have way more fun reaching your goals by focusing on the process instead of the outcome, focusing on daily successes and actions, and getting excited. Every day can be fun, full of light, enjoyment, creativity, and growing along the way.
Did this resonate with you? Listen to the full episode on The Bright Life Podcast—Episode 050: Are You Focusing on the PROCESS or the OUTCOME?
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