We can do no great things;
only small things with great love.

MOTHER TERESA

Curiosity points the needle of our inner compass toward the hopeful magnetism of possibility and meaning. It’s the force that compels us to venture out of our comfort zone into unfamiliar territory filled with uncertainty and risks. The question becomes:How do we best harness our curiosity while reducing the risk of failure? We set goals. When set with intention, goals can provide structure, direction, focus, and purpose

Goals give us the opportunity to define what we want.

Start your journey toward your goals. Register for a free business networking event. Join me and other business ambassadors to help you launch.

When not set with intention, goals can be knee-jerk reactions to something ugly or painful in our lives. If you’re feeling overweight,for example, dedicating yourself to running a marathon that’s a few months away is a reactionary goal—and likely a counterproductive one. Your chances of achieving that goal are slim, but the chances of hurting or disappointing yourself are high. When setting reactionary goals, you’re likely to find yourself right back where you started:high risk, low reward.

Appropriating other peoples’ goals is another common pitfall.“Make a million dollars,” for example, is the kind of goal we hear bandied about, but it’s not a meaningful one. Why? Because it serves no purpose; it’s empty calories. Your goals need real substance in order to be sustainable. You need to understand exactly why you need a million dollars.

Your goals should be inspired by your felt experience. Surely you have sources of real passion in your life—whether the positive impetus of what brings you joy or painful lessons from the school of hard knocks. Put them to work! Both are powerful wells from which you can draw meaningful goals.

With that in mind, let’s try again to set that big-money goal: “Want to make enough money to pay off my student loans, buy a two-bedroom house for my parents to retire in, and cover my kids’ education.”

This goal, by contrast—though still ambitious—has meaningful parameters. You know exactly how it would impact your life for the better. This is critical, because big goals take time and sustained effort to complete. Of all the challenges you’ll face along the way,endurance often proves to be the most cunning and lethal adversary. Big goals therefore must be fueled by an authentic need that will help you weather the days, months, or even years it takes to fulfill them. That need must be strong enough to fortify you against the siren songs of distraction, excuses, and doubt that will beckon you toward the rocks. Angela Lee Duckworth, PhD, author of Grit , found that “perseverance and passion for long-term goals”indicated success “better than any other predictor.”

For some of us, perseverance and passion conjure images of no-pain-no-gain athletes scoring game-winning points or sticking landings on fractured limbs, eccentric creatives sacrificing all for artas they shiver in icy garrets, or monks spending decades meditating in silence. But passion and perseverance, like all emotional qualities, live on a spectrum. In an “all-or-nothing” world, we tend to forget the power of something . The mightiest tree sprouts from vulnerable seed. The seed of passion is curiosity. The seed of perseverance is patience. By designing your goals strategically, you can begin to cultivate your opportunities by seeding both your patience and curiosity

Start your journey toward your goals. Register for a free business networking event. Join me and other business ambassadors to help you launch.