The Goal Mindset and Instant Gratification

In my estimation, the two don’t go hand-in-hand. When you set “goals,” I mean REALLY set goals, there’s some striving that takes place. A waiting period that happens. Now, the waiting period (from the time that the goal is a mere speck of a thought in an individual’s mind to the attainment of that goal) is different for each person, depending on the circumstances and the type of goal. But, the commonality IS there’s a waiting period. No “instant gratification” on site — anywhere.

Now, what I’m sharing with you is just my personal opinion from a lifetime of observation and first-hand knowledge dealt by way of lived experience. So, take it for what it’s worth to you.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give a goal-seeker is to be patient and expect some time to elapse before hitting that goalpost. JUST EXPECT IT! Prepare the mind for “the wait” before even starting the goal-setting, leading to the goal-achievement process.

I’m telling you — conditioning the mind before doing the THING — is a MUST. Remember: where the mind goes, the actions will follow. And, I bet you see this all the time with yourself and those around you. If your mind (heart) is not in something, you’re going to be hard-pressed to do that something well, for a long period of time, or at all. I’m just sayin’.

And because our world is built with systems that cater to the “instant gratification” mindset, you have to pretty much go against the grain when looking to arrive at a goal destination that takes more than a day, week, or month to get to.

But surely we can mind control ourselves, can’t we? I mean that in a way that leads to life betterment . . . mind control ourselves in the sense of controlling our minds (conditioning them) to take on thought processes that allow us to do challenging things.

“Yes, we can do it!”

We do it all the time — at home, at school, at work, and at play. So, there’s nothing new under the sun here. We just have to remind ourselves to get out of the “instant gratification” matrix when it comes to goals that require some effort over time to achieve.

In fact, instant gratification rarely meshes well when striving for goal attainment. Why? Well, because “striving” implies that there’s some opposition somewhere in the road that leads to goal attainment. In other words, you’re not going to instantly (quickly and without much effort) get the thing you’re goaling for. Not in MOST cases, anyway.

Forget the widely sought-after path of least resistance in ALL CASES. Life just doesn’t work that way.

And if goals worth achieving were always so easy to come by, then everyone would be goal achieving . . . ALL . . . THE . . . TIME!

In goal achievement, there will always be some opposing force that’s going to push back on you while you’re trying to move toward the goalpost. And, you’re going to have to “strive,” or push back in order to push through and keep it moving to that desired destination.

I mean . . . you’re only dreaming of THAT THING at the moment. But just know that some people’s realities are made up of dreams fulfilled. So, if they can do it, I think we have a great shot at doing it, too — ONLY IF we make THOSE THINGS (dreams-turned-reality) happen with the right mindset followed by the right actions.

Mindset + Actions = Goal Achievement

Right?!

There’s no magic formula — just a practical one for GETTING THINGS DONE. And, getting the mind right takes time. Furthermore, results come from actions taken over time. So, TIME! TIME! TIME! The good stuff comes in time.