Is It Foolish..?

It’s April 1st today, so it’s as good a time as any to ask ‘Is it foolish to set goals? To go after dreams? To follow passions?’

Well, is it..?

There’s a short answer, and a long answer – the short answer is ‘no,’ but since that doesn’t really qualify as a decent article, I’m going to delve a bit deeper into the long answer!

Many people say it’s not foolish at all, but there are probably more people that say it *is* foolish, so before we look at the reasons why people might say it’s not foolish, let’s look at those people saying it is…

So why do they do it? It sounds obvious that going after dreams and following our passions is a good thing to do, and that would involve setting goals, so what’s the problem?

The problems are many, as some people see it. They may see the difficulties, they may see the potential for failure, they may see ridicule from family and friends, they may know that it could only be done by going through massive upheaval and change.

With all those problems stacked up, it seems reasonable to play it safe, to leave the dreams for when we are sleeping, and to focus on the real world, the safe option.

Hmm…

It might *seem* the safe option, but there are 2 glaring reasons why it’s not always the safe option.

Firstly, we will be hit by difficulties in life whatever we do. Life isn’t always rainbows and sequins, to say otherwise is silly. Outside circumstances will always, *always*, bring a share of difficult things to deal with, no matter which direction we’ve chosen in life.

Secondly, if you go for the ‘safe’ option, your dreams and passions won’t just cease to exist – they’ll still be there, but now they’ll be accompanied by a nagging sense of ‘what if?’ and ‘if only.’

That sense won’t go away, and has a drip drip build up of stress, which can lead to real problems further down life’s road, both mental and physical.

Isn’t it better to take the plunge, to try things and see? If it all goes wrong, (which it might, there are no guarantees of success), then we can always fall back on the ‘safe’ option, knowing full well that we gave it a shot.

Even more importantly, although it might go wrong, it may also go *right*!
It could be that we live in line with our passions, that we follow our dreams, set goals accordingly, and then go out and achieve them!

Plenty of people do this, all the time, all around the world, from all different backgrounds! If they can do it, why can’t you? The answer is, there’s no reason why you can’t – you can!

You start by getting your mindset right, and then you follow goal achievement techniques, and you find your life heading in a new direction, one that makes you smile with anticipation, one that has you enjoying the journey.

So to sum up, on April Fool’s Day (or any other day!), I’d suggest that no, it really isn’t foolish at all to set goals, to go after your dreams, to follow your passions. In fact I’d be tempted to argue that it’s more foolish *not* to!

As ever, I’d love to hear what you think – do let me know!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for my free 8 Step Goal Achievement formula – it really can set you on the path to those goals! Sign up via box to right of any page.