The goal is not the goal!
Getting the ball behind the net is!!!
Everybody has goals and we all appear to be in hot pursuit of them. From preschool, through primary and secondary school to the University and the place of work, we are encouraged to set goals and go for it.
You see cliches like “relationship goals”, “fitness goals”, “body goals” etcetera and it hammers home the point again that we want something to chase, call it an aspiration or a drive.
Despite having goals and putting in considerable efforts to achieve these goals, we sometimes find ourselves frustrated and disappointed for lack of attainment of set goals. These frustrations can lead to a total abandonment of such goals, or in some cases, they turn out to be a motivating factor to push again.
While some of us struggle to attain set goals, we find a number of people who seem to have mastered the art of hitting targets with an almost perfect record! We marvel at their commitment and consistency in delivery, and wish to be like them.
In some cases, when we compare the effort we put into our work and that put in by achievers, it looks like we worked harder than them. This could be a possibility! You can be committed and even work hard and still fall terribly short of meeting targets.
What then could we say is the cause of coming behind in goal achievement despite putting in extra effort?
Among many other factors, one of the reason is what I’d like to call the “goalie pollie” effect.
I have a unique way of seeing patterns and correlations in abstract and unrelated situations and I think I managed to hack this into it too, so please follow my analogy.
Allow me to drag football into this, a sport most, if not all of us have come to love.
The game of football consists of two goals (goalposts) on opposing sides of the field, and two teams run around the field for 90+ minutes trying to score a goal. At the end of the game, the team with the highest number of goals wins.
Sounds familiar right?
Well, as simple and straightforward as this sounds, all is not as it seems. And this brings me back to the title of this article.
The goal is not the goal!
Getting the ball behind the net is!!!
In football, what counts as a goal is not the goal (goalpost), but putting the ball behind the net! This is when the player who sends in the ball goes into an ecstatic moment of rapturous joy and the team, technical crew and fans explode in excitement.
A lot of effort and training both personal and collectively as a team is put into preparing for this moment, and in all of this preparation, the focus is on the ball and how to make sure it gets behind the net.
This same football effect is where a lot of people get it all mixed up. While we focus all of our attention on the end point (the goal), we miss the most important element in scoring a goal in life — the ball.
You can say the ball is the price or as a 1st Century lawyer called it, the mark for the prize — the goal.
In life, many things can represent the ball; talk about the many hours of practice, the painstaking effort to perfect that tiny little requirement, the many failures along the way and the rising up from them. Basically anything that takes you a little more closer to the end point is the ball.
It is very important then to split your goals into small deliverables that add up to the big picture. Don’t get carried away with the perceived beauty and allure of the goal that you miss the small steps that will take you there.
And this brings in another important lesson that in the process of pursuing the big picture, be sure to celebrate and appreciate the little daily progresses you make. You may not see it now, but just like the painter loves and appreciates his very first stoke, even if the portrait is anything near complete, he knows he is up to something beautiful.
So, dear reader, be a skillful footballer with a proper game plan and have your eyes focused on the ball as you pursue that goal.
I wish you God’s best and sincerely hope that you score as many life goals as you have set for yourself.
