Goal Setting – Do You See the Forest Or the Tree?

One thing I can guarantee will happen when you take the time to set goals and work towards their accomplishment is that something will get in your way. After you design yourself a goal focused life along with a vision of a life lined with a beautiful sky and a lush bountiful forest you will at some point come across a barrier to your goal. You will be heading down your path to success and suddenly there will be a ‘tree’ laying across your path, blocking you from reaching your goal, or attaining your vision of that bountiful forest.

Best advice you can follow when you reach that barrier to your goal is to avoid focusing on the just the tree. So you do not lose sight of the lush, beautiful forest you are working for.

While you will want to give attention to your obstacle, you need to maintain a panoramic view of your vision and your life. Keep you eyes focused on the beauty of the vision you have detailed of what your life will be like when you reach your goal. Keep that bigger picture in your mind so you can step back from that tree lying in your path.

If you do this it will be far easier for you to see things you might miss. When you want to see something different, simply reposition yourself and your perspective. When you look objectively from “far away”, you can see that there is a purpose larger than just yourself and your current ‘tree’.

This stepping back allows you to appreciate your life and your goal as a WHOLE, because life, like a forest, is a combination of experiences. You have trees that block your path, or your goal, and trees that beautify our path. Some trees will be far more majestic than others. Your life and your path to your goal will be like that bountiful forest you envision – filled with bad and good trees – all making up that beautiful result.

You need to value each of the trees along your path to success whether it is blocking your path or it is beautifying it. There is something that you can gain from each of the trees, and when you look at them as a whole you will get a glimpse of something greater – like the ability to see your goal attained and how grand the forest of your life will be when you have attained it. If you affix your eyes ONLY on the individual tree you will miss the majesty of your bountiful goal attaining forest.

One tree by itself is amazing as it is, but it is no comparison to a lush forest. Do not settle for a single tree when there is a beautiful forest that you deserve to enjoy. Stay away from having a narrow view. Each day take action to enlarge and focus your vision of your goal and its impact on your forest. Reposition yourself so you can look for things that may be hiding from you and your ambition. Let your ambitions be the binoculars that will bring the big picture into focus. When you look through the eyes of ambition, you make your goals feel close or even attained.

Remember, your forest has much more to offer than any single tree. Avoid focusing on any single tree because there are experiences beyond your imagination waiting for you in the forest of the life you design, desire and deserve.

Self-Reflection Questions:

1. What do I need to do to reposition myself and have a better view?
2. When was the last time I took a step back to look at my life objectively?
3. How can I enlarge my vision today?