If you have been following my posts about the S.M.A.R.T. approach to goals, you will remember that I talked about breaking down your goals into more manageable pieces.  Today, I want to highlight another benefit of this process.

When you breakdown your goals into small pieces you greatly increase your chances of achieving that goal. You may also find that you uncover new areas where you can improve, where you would like to spend more time, or where you can outsource certain tasks. Essentially, breaking down your goals gives you insight into new ways you could improve your life overall.

It is important to take away from this the idea that you have to enjoy the path you take towards your goal as much, or more, than the destination itself. If you cannot enjoy what you have to do to get to your goal, do you really expect you will be happy when you finally achieve it? You need to consider why you want to achieve your goal. What will it provide for you? If you still feel that the goal is very important for you, but you cannot enjoy the journey, maybe there is another path to get there.

In making this decision, you must be careful not to think that the path you have taken is wrong. You can achieve your goals by any number of paths. Maybe this is simply a time to “correct and continue.”

Care should also be taken to examine why you are unhappy. There may be something hidden that you may not be consciously aware of. For instance, maybe you are actually afraid of achieving your goal. This happens in a great number of cases and is often a subconscious issue.

If you do not take the time to figure out why you are unhappy, even if you change paths, you may find that you are still unhappy. This may repeat itself as you jump from path to path and would be an indication that the problem resides within you, and has nothing to do with the paths you choose.

If you can figure out what is troubling you, you may find that you begin to enjoy the path you are on, placing the achievement of your goal within your grasp.