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In my home of Nigeria, there is a proverb that translates to mean, roughly, “When you grow up, you will discover why your dad couldn’t achieve certain goals you had expected of him.”
I grew up telling anybody who cared to listen that I would be a millionaire by age 30. I strongly believed that the deadline for me to achieve this goal was age 30. There was no other option . . . Case closed!
Many years later, now in my mid-thirties, I suddenly realized that I missed my prediction. I am not yet a millionaire!
The worst part of it was that I had lost focus so that I didn’t even realize I had missed my target until long after the deadline.
I have always been a hard hustler, unrelenting in my zeal to create a better life for myself. But the question that keeps bugging my mind is “What happened to me and my dreams, how did I forget that I was supposed to be a millionaire by age 30?”
I guess I can come up with a thousand excuses, if I want to. I got married before 30 and had my first kid, had some misfortune in business and lost a lot of money—even got into debt. There are always reasons for our failures in life, whether in business, marriage, and even our personal health such as being obese. I strongly believe that my loss of focus on my goal is what allowed me to miss my deadline.
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According to a Goal Setting Theory Conditions, ‘There are essential circumstances that must be met to make goals successful in invoking motivation. These circumstances or mechanisms include:
- Goal acceptance/goal commitment
- Goal specificity
- Goal difficulty, and
- Feedback on progress toward the goal.
If I apply this theory, then I can easily comprehend why I failed in achieving my financial goal.
Still, I believe I am very close to being the man I had hoped to be. Being the best husband and dad I can be has been one of my major goals while growing up because I never experienced the love of a dad who was always away. I have been able to achieve this very important goal while being far from my financial goals.
I am a very proud husband to my wife and daddy to our kids, and even though I have my flaws, I can easily rate myself to be a wonderful family man. I have also been able to achieve my dreams of being a writer and an inspirator to the youth. I continually strive to be a better man.
I am still far from being the total man I hope to be, especially in regards to my dream of achieving financial success. Nevertheless, I believe that I am more than halfway along the road.
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An earlier version of this post was originally published on the author’s website. This revised version is published with the author’s permission.
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Photo credit: Pixabay
Being focused on one’s goal is very important in the achievements of life’s purpose, however, we must not fail to appreciate what we have been able to achieve presently even if the ultimate goal is still a work in progress.