Page 140 - Hard Goals
P. 140
Difficult 131
Now that we know our greatest accomplishments require
effort, learning, and so on, let’s take this exercise one step fur-
ther. Using those same signifi cant and meaningful accomplish-
ments, ask yourself these questions:
• Did my accomplishments leave me feeling indifferent or
beaming with pride?
• If I felt pride, was it fl eeting, or do I still feel a sense of
pride months, or even years, later?
• Was each accomplishment just a one-time deal, or do I
feel like I’m a better person (or parent, professional, and
so on) because of everything I learned and accomplished
as a result of it?
Granted, I have studied tens of thousands of people, but even
if I hadn’t, my own personal experience tells me that my most sig-
nificant accomplishments left me beaming with pride, even years
later. I’m also a better person, parent, husband, and CEO for hav-
ing accomplished every one of my HARD Goals, no matter how
difficult they were to achieve. But even though a goal was tough,
a genuine challenge, I don’t feel any regret (like I do about watch-
ing those Ben Affl eck movies). I feel proud, tough, confi dent, and
significantly more competent. Am I ever going to run an Olympic
marathon? Probably not; innate talent does have at least a little
mediating role to play here. But I will carry my marathon with
me, slow though it was, every day for the rest of my life.
I feel pretty confi dent when I say that that you probably
feel the same way. Because the results of every study we do, the
responses of every audience I ask, indicate the same thing. It’s