Don’t Just Strive, Arrive

If you’ve been working toward a goal for some time, and you’re heads down doing everything you can to reach it, it may be possible that you have achieved it and you don’t know it. It is like driving for hours on the freeway and missing your exit. It may sound preposterous, but it happens.

It happens because we are not very good at imagining what it will be like when we achieve our goals. We often expect dramatic changes in our lives, but seldom does reaching a goal, even a significant one, cause major changes. We think that getting that promotion will make life sweeter, but it continues the same as it always has. We think that a new, bigger house will make us happy, yet we spend most our time in the same three rooms as we did in the previous house.

Noticeable change when a goal is achieved is more often perceived as negative. We find the relationship we were looking for only to have it make us miserable. We get that fancy new car only to learn that the maintenance and upkeep are more expensive than we ever considered.

Money has always been an issue for me. I grew up in a poor family and had no model for financial success after graduating college. An aimless career path and bad financial management kept as poor as I was growing up, despite having the knowledge and skills to make a lot of money. After turning my finances around, I still sometimes find myself fearful of spending money because I’m afraid that there won’t be enough. I’ve arrived, but still live striving for more to eliminate that fear.

What goals in your life have you achieved and fail to recognize? Take some time in your next Sprint Review to look at everything you’ve accomplished in your life. You may be surprised.