Have you ever realised that your goals or criteria for success were set by someone else than you? Have you ever questioned whether you were climbing the wrong ladder, pursuing goals that lacked meaning, or just achieving certain goals to please others?
As empowered individuals, we can set our own criteria for success. However, most of us have found themselves at some stage in their life following someone else’s criteria. Our definition of success is often based on the criteria established by successful people in our family, social networks, industry, or society in general. And more often than not, there is a hierarchy involved, and consequently the risk of wanting success for the sake of ‘winning’ against others’ achievements.
When the sole objective is to WIN, we must ask ourselves questions about the meaningfulness of our goals.
When the goal is to surpass others, we must ask what difference the outcome will make, in our life and the lives of others.
When the target is to meet someone else’s criteria, we need to consider how this serves our own purpose and passion.
And when we define success in relation to the achievements of others, we must question the integrity of our goals.
When we establish goals, whether in the context of an online business, personal development or relationships, we must first decide on a personal definition of success that is relevant to our own desire, purpose, v
ision, passion, and power. Goals that do not fall within that definition are simply not worth pursuing. If those goals are not serving our own inspiration, purpose and drive, who will they serve??? Although serving others is a worthy cause, there is nothing more empowering than serving others through our own vision and passion, and while realising our own success.
As individuals, we will only find true happiness and fulfillment in pursuing goals that have personal meaning. As leaders in our industry of online business and network marketing, we can only truly inspire and empower others through authentic success.
You can win for the sake of winning. You can get to the top for the sake of being number one. But unless you fulfill your own criteria for success, and unless that criteria is established on realising your best unique potential and enriching your life and the life of others, winning may make you a winner in the eyes of others, but it will not serve your unique purpose and passion.
So for 2011, let’s set goals that…
…have personal meaning, and correspond to our personal definition of success;
…allow us to reach our full potential;
…enrich our own lives and help us empower and inspire others;
…allow us to fulfill our passion, vision and purpose;
…help us build meaningful relationships based on integrity and reciprocity;
…build own online business success on authentic leadership;
…and allow us to be happy, healthy, prosperous, inspired, generous, grateful, empowered and… successful!
Please do share your comments and inspiration here! Share this post with your partners, your friends, your teams! Thank you!
Thanks for an inspiring post Justine.
It’s amazing how often our goals don’t really sit right with us because we’re following someone else’s format or listening to someone else’s needs rather than our own. And then we wonder why we don’t achieve them! I love your tips for 2011 and will certainly be revisiting my goals before too much more of the year slips away!
Cheers,
Caroline.
Caroline Grace´s last [type] ..Why Website Analytics are Essential to Your Online Business
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justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 12:15 am
Hi Caroline,
So true. We must follow our intuition! If a goal doesn’t quite ‘sit right’, or doesn’t bring inspiration and commitment instinctively, we are likely to be following goals that lack personal meaning!
Thank you so much for your comment!
Justine
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Hi Justine,
So true… we must question the integrity of our goals… I like that. We are here for a purpose and that purpose is to help and serve others. We can achieve all our dreams much faster if we help and serve others along the way.
Love your post…
Coach Freddie
Coach Freddie´s last [type] ..Are You Ready To take The First Step
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justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 12:11 am
Hi Coach Freddie,
Thank you so much for your comment! Serving others, purpose and gratitude – powerful factors in realising dreams!
Justine
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So true Justine,
Looking deeper into goals that we set may give us more insight that would take us even further.
Great post!
Ashley
Ashley Porter´s last [type] ..3 Tips For Business Growth And Prosperity For The New Year
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justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Hi Ashley,
So true, without a clear vision, a deep sense of purpose and inspired action, we can’t go very far (or we might lost on the way!). Clarifying our goals and direction is a vital process!
Thanks for your comment!
Justine
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Hi Justine,
Great perspective on this. Sometimes we can look at the criteria and although it may not sit well with our abilities or instincts, it can prove meaningless if attained. Like all have individual strengths and weaknesses, not all can fit into the same mold.
Thanks for sharing.
Aloha,
Nelly
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justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:20 pm
Hi Nelly,
Yes! Our goals don’t need to necessarily match our current abilities or skills. It’s about DECIDING what we really want (intuitively, emotionally and rationally), and then developing whatever skill-set and mindset we need to reach those goals! And definitely, we MUST harness our natural strenghts, talents and passions!
Thanks so much for your comment Nelly!
Justine
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This post is really powerful and so valuable in its message – I am someone who is very aware that they have spent the majority of their life setting goals and accomplishing things for other people or based on what I think others would want me to do. As I move into 2011, it is hard to separate that desire from understanding what *i* really want. What I have found really effective is to ask “Why?” to all dreams and ambitions – why do I want this? why is this important? what is the benefit of the end result?
Thanks for these reminders!
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justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Hi Nacie,
Thank you so much for sharing your personal story – I think so many of us have been there, following the ‘wrong’ goals or goals that lacked personal significance, only to realise that there was no fulfillment even when those goals were reached! Often we just need to experience that feeling before we get that powerful intuition and motivation for positive change! It certainly took me a few trials before identifying what I really want, and I still reassess this often!
Thanks again for your comment Nacie!
Justine
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Hi Justine — great post. I agree that we need to make and live by our own goals rather than always following what others are doing. We must be committed to our own dreams and goals while at the same time being in a posture of helping others to achieve their goals.
Have a great day!
Carolyn Johnson´s last [type] ..How Do You Handle Challenges
[Reply]
justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Hi Carolyn,
Absolutely, I too believe that in the journey to realising our goals, there’s a very special place for contributing to the lives of others, and enriching both our lives and theirs.
Thanks for you comment!
Justine
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Great post, Justine! I really like the idea of only going for goals that mean something to us. If someone else sets the goal for us, we won’t really try as hard as we would if it is something that means a lot deep down to our core.
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justinesimard Reply:
January 18th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
So true Steve, our level of effort will only match our level of desire! And the results will match that too!
So we can only imagine what living a life of minimum desire, minimum effort and minimum results would look like!
Thanks for your comment Steve, always great to hear from you!
Justine
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