It may seem difficult to imagine that there are drawbacks to setting goals but certainly, it's understandable that just as there is a good side to all things, there is also a negative or downside to all things.
Even setting goals.
What could be a drawback of setting goals? Here is a list of the top seven drawbacks of setting goals: One: Fantasy: you set impossible goals.
You confuse fantasies with goals.
Two: Putting on Blinders: you cut yourself off from opportunities because you're focused on only one goal and not seeing the big picture of your life or career.
Three: Obsessive-Compulsiveness: you forget that life is a process, that there is more to life than just ticking off "things accomplished".
Fourth: Distraction: wasting your time.
You set the wrong goal for yourself and waste precious time pursuing something that isn't really you.
Fifth: Depression: you set goals you cannot reach, then slink into a funk or depression because you didn't reach them.
Sixth: Ego-Trip: you think yourself better because you've set goals and reached them, scoffing at others who set goals and "fail".
Seventh: Identity-Confusion: you mistake who you are for the goals you've accomplished or not accomplished, instead of figuring out who you are by the non-actions of your life.
Goal setting should be about breaking down the process to get from point A to point B, not about throwing out outrageous projects that will sabotage your best efforts and energy to succeed in life.
In the first case, you mix up a dream and a goal.
The pressure to reach a goal isn't the same having a dream.
You may have a dream to visit Australia one day but the pressure to make that a goal with a time limit might just be what does your head in.
In the second case, it's the age-old saying of not being able to see the forest for the trees.
Sometimes you get so involved with your goal that you forget that important ability to step back and get some perspective.
If your goal is to make a million dollars, and you think that the only way to make that goal is to work 60-80 hour weeks, you might not see a business proposal that would help manifest this goal faster because you're so busy keeping your nose to the grind of 'busy' work.
In the third case, you sell your soul to the false gods.
You are not just whatever you accomplish.
You are you, no matter what you do.
This is when goal-setting is driven by that ugly shadow side of the ego, that need to say to the world, 'I did this, and I've done that.
' In the fourth case, you're ego's driving the goal-setting.
You can't let go of pursuing this goal because you'll lose face with people around you.
Maybe you start studying to be a doctor then realize that what you've always wanted to do was nurse people in need.
The fifth case has lots of ego embedded in it.
It's more like combining the 'I'm the goals I reach' with the fact that you're pursuing the wrong goal.
Or that you haven't broken it down into smaller, more realistic goals.
Take running a marathon.
There are a lot of smaller goals you'll need to lay out and reach before you actually make it the big Race Day.
Many people fail this one and then never get over the fact that they keep failing at this 'simple' goal.
The sixth case is what happens when we think that success equals how-much-better-I-am-than-you-are.
Our success isn't based on other people's failures.
The final case is about not having enough self-esteem to say I love me just for me and not for what I've struggled to become.
Sometimes we set goals as reasons to like or hate ourselves.
This just isn't a productive thing to do.
Setting goals should truly be about the baby steps we need to take to reach a desired feeling about ourselves and not about determining what we feel if we accomplish or go after a particular goal.