Why We Don't Achieve Our Goals

Has the start of a new year ever made you feel like you're brimming with creative potential, yet find yourself tripping over the same old stumbling blocks? Let's shed light on why we don’t achieve our goals. 

As someone who's navigated these waters both personally and with my clients, I know the frustration of unmet goals.

In this episode of Creative Space, we’ll dissect the common pitfalls that keep us from realizing our creative ambitions. Discover why setting measurable and specific goals is the foundation of progress, how accountability can anchor your creative journey, and why it's crucial to kick the 'all or nothing' mentality to the curb.

Join me as I share insights and practical solutions that will not only keep you motivated but also ensure your goals stay well within your grasp in 2024.

For more on me, your host and creative coach, visit: jenniferlogue.com.

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Transcript

Jennifer Logue: 0:10

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Loge, and, given its New Year's Eve, today we are going to talk about why we don't achieve our goals, especially our creative ones. As an aside, I'm not a fan of the idea of New Year's resolutions. It makes it seem like there's only one time a year when we can change the course of our lives. The fact of the matter is, you can change your life every single day you wake up. Don't wait until New Year's. Start today and if you fail, start again tomorrow. That's how I feel about resolutions in general. But let's get back to the larger idea why don't we achieve our goals? There are a lot of things I could talk about here, but these are the obstacles I've seen again and again in my own life and in the lives of my clients.

Jennifer Logue: 1:16

Number one not setting goals in the first place. This was me when I was a young artist, and I'm sure there may be creatives listening to this who can relate. I had a vague idea of what success looked like, coupled with this belief that opportunities would find me, and sometimes they did. But faith without works is dead. Yes, we need faith, but we also need to do the work, and having goals in the first place that are measurable and attainable can help us bring our dreams to life. Number two setting goals that are overwhelming and unrealistic. Imagine if I'm new to piano and set a goal to play as well as a concert pianist by the end of the year. Or if I just started studying acting and set a goal of getting a speaking role in a major film within six months. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big. Reach for the moon and you'll fall amongst the stars, right. But sometimes when we set such lofty goals, we get overwhelmed, we fall short and it gets us discouraged. And then we get so discouraged because we didn't achieve the goal that we quit, and that's the opposite of what we're trying to do here. Number three setting goals that aren't specific enough. Setting a goal to become a better painter in 2024 just isn't specific enough. It's vague. What does it even mean? A better goal would be to say I want to take one class at the community college on watercolors in 2024 and produce one watercolor painting a month. Will the artist be a better painter by the end of 2024? Yes, and the artist now has a concrete idea of what that looks like and concrete action steps.

Jennifer Logue: 3:02

Number four not having accountability. When we work in isolation, it's easy for us to get off track with our goals. When you share your goals with family, friends or community, you're more likely to stay on track. For me, a goal that I have in 2024 is to start performing as a singer again, but I need to be held accountable in a way that is realistic. I know, with work, I can't commit to the work that I do. I know, with work, I can't commit to weekly open mics right now. So I've been thinking of different ways to hold myself accountable publicly, and what I'm leaning towards is using my TikTok page as a music workshop of sorts, posting a song a day there, no matter what, to document my progress. Maybe something like that would work for you too. You can get creative with it.

Jennifer Logue: 3:56

Number five having an all or nothing mentality. I've been so guilty of this over the course of my life. What does it mean? I'll illustrate with an example. Let's say you set a specific goal of writing five pages a day to complete a novel by the end of the year, and then your day job got insane and you had to work overtime for a week. There was barely enough time to sleep, let alone make any meaningful progress on your novel. Don't let your day job get insane. And you had to work overtime for a week With an all or nothing mentality. You may beat yourself up for not following through on your commitment. You may beat yourself up so much that you give up on the novel altogether. Oh well, I guess it's just not meant to be. Until I get a job that offers me more flexibility, I'm not going to be able to finish this novel. No, just stop right there. Yes, it is meant to be. You can do this. You just need to be more flexible in your approach. So you lost a week in your novel writing because life got in the way. Who cares? You have time now. Just get back on track and write your five pages. It's not about being perfect. It's about getting back on the horse and staying as consistent as you can be. Even if you missed a whole month, you'd still have a novel by the end of the year, no 6.

Jennifer Logue: 5:22

Letting negative voices stop you. Let's say you want to do a TEDx talk in 2024. You have a vision to become an inspiring speaker like Tony Robbins. One day, you even came up with a schedule to follow to get your talk written and finessed. The trouble is, although you want to do it with every fiber of your being, this thought in the back of your mind says who are you to give a TEDx talk? Who would want to hear from you? If you let that negative voice win, you may start slacking off on your goal or give up altogether.

Jennifer Logue: 5:58

Remember that your work is important. Even if one person, just one person, is changed by your talk, you've made an impact. You were inspired to go after this goal for a reason. Follow through. The idea you have is a gift. No one, no one on this planet, can deliver on it like you can. It's time to get out of your own way.

Jennifer Logue: 6:24

So those are just a few reasons why we don't achieve our goals, but there are many, many more. That's why it's so important to work with a coach to uncover what's standing in the way of you and your goals. Even I work with coaches. We can all benefit from an outside, unbiased perspective and having someone hold us accountable. Now I have a question for you that I want you to think about. Did some of these obstacles resonate with you. Why haven't you achieved certain goals in the past? If you have a question for me, you can message me directly at info at JenniferLoguecom. That's all I have for this episode of Creative Space. My name is Jennifer Loge, and thank you so much for taking the time to listen. Until next time.