Better Late Than Never
Back in January 2020, I was in NYC for an annual team event.
During the final day of meetings, we were all gifted a beautiful notepad with our company’s logo on the cover. After everyone had received theirs, we were tasked to write three goals on the first page of ours that we wanted to achieve that year.
We then closed our notepads, and shortly after, we all headed our separate ways back home.
That notepad has sat in a desk drawer or on my bookshelf, unopened since January 2020.
Until this week.
Here’s what I had written:
Run 100 miles in 24 hours (or less): so that I can do that which I once thought impossible of myself.
Travel with my wife and daughter: so that I can create lasting, meaningful memories.
Excel in my position: so that I can establish my value and provide more for my family.
As I read these, I got goosebumps as an overwhelming sense of accomplishment ran through me.
I’ve since run 100 miles in under 24 hours. We’ve traveled to many different places with our camper, and always seem to have a new adventure on the calendar to look forward to. And I was promoted at my company a few months back.
All of these goals I put down back at the beginning of 2020 have come to fruition.
Why do I share this with you, other than to highlight a not-so-subtle humblebrag?
I share this for two reasons.
First, all of these goals took longer than a year for me to achieve, for one reason or another. But just because I didn’t complete these goals in 2020 doesn’t mean they were any less important to me in 2021 or that I should give up on them because they didn’t happen during my initial wish period. Quite the contrary—these achievements felt even greater because of the additional time, sacrifice, and dedication. I truly stretched to earn them.
Second, if something is important enough to you, or you want something badly enough, you don’t need a constant reminder of a written goal or objective to dangle in front of you. I’ve never looked at this notepad since the day I wrote these goals down, but I was already committed to my processes regardless of the immediate or ideal outcomes. It’s dangerous to get caught up in focusing exclusively on our goals because when we don’t meet them within our ideal timeframe, we can feel defeated and lose focus.
So as we approach the end of 2021, consider these reasons while you’re crafting your 2022 New Year’s resolutions.
If something’s taking longer than expected, do not get discouraged—keep at it because it’s worth it to you.
And if something is worth it to you, focus less on the outcome and more on the process.
