The #1 Problem With How We View Goals

A huge problem nearly all entrepreneurs I know (including myself) experience and what I am actively doing to try and fix it...

It all starts with GOALS.

I have come to realize that goals are a double edged sword.

You absolutely need to have short terms and long term goals.

They act as a compass on your entrepreneurial journey.

If you don't have any goals then you don't have anything to pursue and if you don't have anything to pursue then you don't have any reason to work.

Without goals we would just exist and move throughout our days without any purpose.

Now you may be thinking "how can goals be bad?".

Well the short answer is that goals in and of themselves aren't bad.

The problem isn't that we as entrepreneurs set ambitious goals throughout our lives.

The problem is what happens when we achieve our goals.

We hit goals that may have taken years or more to achieve and then in a flash we move on to the next bigger goal.

We don’t take the time to actually appreciate the victory and truly realize how much progress has been made.

We work our asses off to get a $100k car (that a few years ago was a dream car) only to want a $200k car almost instantly once that dopamine rush dissipates and because someone we follow on Instagram is showing it off.

On top of this we also let bad days and even bad hours impact our moods.

Up until recently I would check our numbers across every ad account almost nonstop and if we had a really bad day or didn’t hit the numbers we needed to in order to achieve our weekly or monthly goal I would shut down.

You would think that I had just lost everything based on my mental state.

So what did I start doing to address these very unhealthy habits?

I started doing the following 3 things, which may seem simple, but had a huge impact…

First I stopped checking numbers more than 2 times a day (once in the morning and once at night).

Second, when we are having a bad performance day, I remind myself that this is just 1 day and that nothing is actually going to change in my life based on a single day. I also make sure to meditate and take a break when I can sense my mental state shifting to the negative on these bad days.

Third, and most importantly, I sit down on a regular basis and write down where I was 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 3 years ago, 1 year ago and even 6 months ago. I do this because if we are always looking to the future then we never truly realize how far we have come.

10 years ago I was entering my final year of college with no idea what I was going to do when I graduated.

5 years ago my first venture backed startup had just failed and I had drained all of my savings, maxed out every credit card and was on the verge of giving up on my entrepreneurial journey.

3 years ago Jeremy and I decided to amicably part ways with our partners in our first agency and start a brand new company, which is now Unicorn Innovations. Back to 0 income and a lot of doubt!

I am sitting here writing this on my 31st birthday and have spent a lot of time reflecting on how much I have and how much I have accomplished and all that I have…

I have an absolutely incredible wife who supports me every minute of every day. She is my rock. If I lost everything in the world, but still had her I would be just fine! Relationships are the most valuable asset in our lives.

I have a beautiful healthy baby boy coming into our lives in less than 6 weeks.

I have an incredibly supportive and loving family that is always there for me.

I have a beautiful home that my wife and I custom built with every upgrade you could imagine.

I own a business with amazing business partners that does over $1M every month and is rapidly growing.

I have the financial freedom to pretty much do whatever I want when I want.

I have an absolutely incredible network that consists of pretty much every legendary marketer and entrepreneur who just a few years ago I would have paid a small fortune to spend an hour with.

I’ve been able to travel the world speaking on many of the biggest stages and masterminds in our industry.

And I could keep going on and on about all the things I have, but that is not why I wrote this article.

So here is my challenge to you…

Next time you hit a goal, actually take the time to celebrate the achievement and don’t instantly move on to the next goal.

And more importantly next time you are having a bad day or start feeling down/envious because of some flashy Instagram influencer’s post take a deep breath and then take a mental inventory of everything that you have in your life. Better yet actually take the time to write it down.

Remember this very important fact…there are BILLIONS of people right now who would see your life and give anything to have what you have.