Sometimes I just want to break the rules.
Do you ever feel that way?
Even when I’m the one making up the rules. (Ultimately, I’m always the one making them up.)
Today feels like one of those days.
I’ve been writing daily emails for 229 days now, following prompts from the Daily Email Habit, and today’s prompt tells me to predict the future. I’ve made up the “rule” of following these prompts, but…
I don’t feel like predicting the future. It’s impossible. I mean, we can make predictions, but they’re all full of shit because we simply can’t know. *petulant stomping of my foot*
And yet, and yet…
Envisioning the future creates it, whether it’s the stuff of dreams or nightmares. It has power.
So here’s my prediction of the Evil Lurking in the Dark that you might not have yet noticed.
GOALS.
Your goals are turning the nectar of your life into poison.
Not because the goals themselves are bad, but because of the way most people do them.
A goal is a thing that must be achieved. It is an objective to be reached by effort and hard work.
These days you can plug your goals into an AI chat bot and it will give you milestones and a daily routine to make accomplishing them inevitable. Job done, right?
Not exactly.
While goals give us a target to aim for, they’re rigid. They’re too often used to judge ourselves as bad, wrong or incomplete when we don’t “get” them. And we’re typically chasing goals for all the wrong reasons.
I like this quote describing the problem with goals, from Love Money, Money Loves You by Sarah McCrum:
“Goals are fixed, linear and come from the mind…Goals are what you need to achieve in order to have an experience or a feeling.”
We’re chasing goals for the way we think they will make us feel. Only they don’t. Because nothing external makes us feel anything, and we can’t accurately predict how we’ll feel when anything happens, even something we long for with all our heart.
Have you ever had the experience of longing for something, only to feel empty and hollow once you have it?
Me, too.
So what’s the alternative?
I’m a big fan of desire these days.
I came across a book by Deepak Chopra called: The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire
It speaks to the true nature of desire. Its fulfillment comes with the feeling of it. It is complete in and of itself.
Desire is also immensely creative, without the compulsion that comes with forcing and pushing a goal into existence.
Again, a quote from Sarah McCrum’s book:
“Desires and wishes are expressed from the heart. They’re multidimensional and contain many nuances. Instead of working towards them [like with goals] you attract them towards you.”
So I see a future in which people push for goals, using AI to transform themselves into productive machines and workaholics.
And then, the alternative…
The sweet relief in allowing the desires and wishes of your heart to do the heavy lifting for you.
Staying in the creative space of wonder and dreaming, and letting that inspire natural action.
Perhaps I’m outing myself as an opinionated human by saying this, but I find creation through desire and wishes far superior to goals.
All this to say, there is an easier way than brute force and hustle to create the life and business you desire.
If you’re tired of being a workhorse driven by goals, and you’re ready to discover your path of desire and play to get things done, that’s what we’re up to in the IMPACT membership.
Our theme for August is, “Follow the Creative Spark,” and we’ll create from inspiration and flow with playful challenges and quests.
https://www.theawakenedbusiness.com/impactinvite/
Yours in love and play,
Steph
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