Get Rid of Your Goals

If you want to achieve something you have to set a goal...right? Wrong. Once you hit high school you're constantly being asked what your goals are. What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to go to college? If you're not going to college, what do you want to do with yourself? That's a lot of pressure. Even once you get through school or establish yourself in the workforce you are still expected to have goals. What is the next thing you are going to achieve, god forbid you just sit back and enjoy life a little.

I read this great article about not setting goals. Instead of setting goals, where if we don't achieve what we set our sights on we will be sadly disappointed, he wants us to set our focus on something instead. Here is a quote from the article that I love. "A goal defines an outcome you want to achieve; an area of focus establishes activities you want to spend your time doing. A goal is a result; an area of focus is a path. A goal points to a future you intend to reach; an area of focus settle you into the present." So well said.

Yogi's love working toward being present, it is a constant practice. When we set goals it is so hard to stay present. We are constantly checking to see if we are getting closer to our end goal. It is hard to be present when you are constantly looking ahead. When we aren't present we miss out on things, so we may eventually achieve our goal but we won't remember or enjoy the process it took to get there.

My goal when I decided to do my teacher training was to become a yoga therapist. I was so wrapped up with doing the trainings that I didn't enjoy the process. I didn't come out of it with as deep of an experience as I wish I had. I am now going back through my studies and redoing a lot of personal work that is required for the training. When I went through the first time I learned all the techniques, but I didn't experience all of them deeply, mostly because I was afraid of what I would uncover. In order to be a great teacher in any field you need to experience the material.

"An area of focus is a path." When I picture a path I picture a winding one that meanders through the woods. You generally aren't in a hurry when you are on a path, but enjoying the view, listening to the sounds of the forest and taking in all the smells. "A goal is a result." I see a result as a direct response to something I've done. Generally it would include working hard and feeling stressed. If I had to choose between taking a path to become a yoga therapist verses the result of becoming one, I would choose the path any day.

Life is about enjoying the journey. Goals are important, but they can cause a lot of stress when we aren't meeting out short term goals. We lose sight of our long term goals because they can seem so far away. By focusing on a single task and enjoying it for what it is there's no pressure. Your only concern is to enjoy doing what needs to be done and to accept the results. I believe that setting your focus on something will get you there just like setting a goal will. The difference is that with setting a focus you will enjoy the journey and possibly learn more.

If your goal is to get into an advanced pose, don't devote your entire yoga practice to getting into it. Perhaps you'll never get that pose perfect because your anatomy simply won't let you. Instead focus on the steps it takes to get you to that pose. Generally advanced poses are difficult to achieve because some part of your body needs to open up to get into it. Each time your body opens up and you move to the next prep pose you will feel great, verse instead of just setting the goal of that perfect pose and if in a month you still aren't there you're all upset.

Yoga Journal's website is a great resource for prep poses to get you into that final pose your aiming for. Check out this link to see how to eventually get into King Pigeon Pose. Focus on getting each prep pose perfect before moving onto the next and the results you will enjoy at the end will be worth it. Enjoy the journey down the path.