Things are bound to go wrong.
The pursuit of any goal will inevitably result in struggles and failures...
All relationships have fights…
All athletes have injuries…
All businesses receive bad reviews…
Accepting this reality allows us to prepare for these struggles while simultaneously eliminating some of the fear that naturally arises when pursuing a goal…
But if we can almost guarantee some amount of failure will occur, why would we tie our sense of self-worth to the achievement of these goals?
Committing to the idea that “I’ll be happy when I achieve ___” is guaranteeing an element of suffering…
And this is completely unnecessary…
We don’t need to punish ourselves into a feeling of motivation; we can cultivate that feeling by having a good reason to pursue the goal.
Pursuing a promotion in your career to “prove” to others that you’re capable, intelligent, or hardworking enough, is good fuel for motivation…
But if you don’t achieve the promotion (which is under someone else’s control), you’ve resolved that the reason is because you’re “not ___ enough”...
Alternatively, you could pursue the same goal, not to prove your worth to others, but to earn more money to provide a better life for your (future) family…
This greater purpose will still fuel your motivation, but when things go wrong (and they are bound to go wrong at some point)...
You don’t suffer because you’ve not tied your self-worth to the outcome.
~Practical Mindfulness Blog #148
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Things are bound to go wrong.
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