What To Do When You Have Too Many Goals

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3 Practical Actions to Take When You Have A Lot Of Goals

Do you ever seem like you’re spinning in circles with a lot of goals?

Are many of them clashing or possibly conflicting with one another?

High achievers often set many challenging goals for themselves.  Perhaps like yourself, they are action motivated.  They want to make the things happen and get results.  So they set high expectations and milestones to accomplish.  But even the most successful people can feel overwhelmed if they have too much on their plate.

How much is too much?

That will always depend on the person, their ambition, and capacity to accomplish their goals.  Too much for me might be your normal.  The answer to the question is very personal and individualized.  The quantitative answer really makes no difference.  You must decide for yourself at what point is “too much”?  At what point do you become overwhelmed.  Even the people we recognize today as super-achievers all admit they were scrambling at some point in their life to get it all done.

So you can see, you’re not the only one who feels like they are in this situation. It’s extremely common and it just takes a bit of tweaking or restructuring as to how you look at your goals.

Here are some things you can do if you’re overwhelmed with goals.

1. Search For Overlaps

In some cases there is a natural and rational relationship between goals. Suppose you desire to get healthier and to have more leisure time. Making time out for active leisure like tennis or running will accomplish both goals at the same time.

Sometimes two goals appear to be in direct opposition to each other, like wanting to take a trip and having more time at home. In this case, draw up both goals and beside each of them draw up why you desire to do each of them. You may discover that what you actually want is to be far from work. In this case, your real goal may be to alter careers.

Or, you might discover that you can satisfy your desire for travel with a short trip or a long drive with the family. Get to the essence of the goal, and they'll work themselves out.

2. Make The Time

I remember reading an account of the singer David Cassidy's last moments as told by his daughter.  According to what I read, his last words were "so much wasted time."

One of the quotes that has stuck with me for many years comes from the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People book.  It says...

"No one on ever said 'I wish I spent more time at the office' on with death bed."

We tell ourselves there are "only so many hours in a day," which we're "too hectic" to take on anything else today. Your time is exactly that-- yours.

Instead of saying "I don't have time to learn a language," try saying, "I'm not making time to discover a brand-new language." We discover the time for the things that truly matter to us.

3. Be Flexible

It's an advantage to put a timeline together and have certain dates and time-sensitive goals. However, keep in mind that life occurs, and typically it even obstructs.

There is an ancient Greek saying that goes: "If you want to make the gods laugh, inform them your strategies." Having milestones and plotting points along the timeline is good, but don't hold yourself to it so rigidly that you can not adapt to the periodic curveball.

If it feels to you like you have a lot of goals or if the ones you do have are battling each other, then discover the essence of each one. That will help you identify what's most crucial to you right now.

Then deal with one goal at a time. By focusing on which one means the most to you today, you'll put those goals into a productive perspective.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Tell us below how you have kept your goals on track and in perspective?