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Key Takeaways
- Top achievers recognize and reassess unfulfilling goals, embracing the liberating power of saying “no” to opportunities that don’t align with their evolving aspirations.
- Spreading yourself too thin can drain your energy and add stress, highlighting the importance of focus and the strategic use of “no” to maintain a path to success.
- Investment in the process and personal well-being is crucial for maintaining momentum and ensuring the sustainability of your professional aspirations.
It happens to all entrepreneurs at some point. You’ve put in the work, you’ve hit the right milestones and your résumé has professional success written all over it. Yet one question keeps popping up: Is this what I want?
At the height of my success as a realtor in Washington, there was a moment when I was being offered incredibly high-valued listings. People were calling me and offering me opportunities that I had worked so hard to get, and in that moment where one might expect me to feel victorious or excited, I felt nothing. I received a call and was offered an amazing listing, in one of the best locations in Washington and my first thought was, no. Pointblank. I do not want to do this. And I ended up outsourcing that opportunity.
I had put in so much effort to build a portfolio of listings exactly like what I was being offered and I had never felt such a strong negative reaction. I was a listing agent, and this was how I made my living — but at that moment, all I felt was burnout and stress. A moment that could’ve been seen as the completion of one of my all-time career goals wasn’t.
If that tension feels familiar, it may be a sign that you need to reassess what it is you are pursuing.
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Sign 1: Some of your goals are idealistic
It’s not an easy task, admitting when you need to drop a goal from your list. But if you keep putting effort into projects you’re ready to move on from, or keep a goal somewhere on the back burner indefinitely, that energy either goes to waste or perpetuates a problem.
During a time when I was auditing my goals, I was working with a coach who called me out on a long-term goal by asking me a powerful question. Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve this goal? I had to decide if I wanted to pretend I didn’t know the answer, or if I was ready to tell the truth. And my answer was no. I wasn’t ready to put in the effort. I had to admit, that goal wasn’t on my action list and I wouldn’t be putting effort in there.
Sometimes, in order to get what we need to get done, we have to be honest about what we can’t do. Audit your goals and be blunt.
Sign 2: You’re spread too thin across your goals
On paper, the shiny “yes” looks like progress on the road to achieving your goals, and it often is the path to new opportunities. Yes to new titles, yes to reaching new milestones, yes to recognition from the right people.
For entrepreneurs in hustle mode, it feels counterproductive to say no. That “yes” makes so much more sense and, in theory, brings you further down the path you’re on. When my son was young, I wanted to be involved in his school life. I loved being a classroom mom and being involved in his field trips and helping make those decisions. So, I said yes to becoming co-president of the PTA.
It looked great on paper and made sense in many different ways, but what actually started to happen was that I spent my evenings mediating politics and my days stressed about situations I didn’t have control over. Eventually, it became something that stole energy from me.
“No” has the same power that “yes” does in keeping you on the path to success, and under-utilizing it as a tool often leads to loss of energy or frustration.
Sign 3: You’re not invested in the process
A sure sign that you may need to pause and reflect on your current goals is when every day starts to feel strained. From the outside, everything reads like momentum, but on the inside, the tells stack up. Calendar dread before the day begins, shallow wins, rework, missed workouts and a shorter fuse than you want to admit.
When you’re trying to build professional status, your resources are limited. You might not have anyone to delegate to, and you might be pulled in 12 different directions in a time where it feels impossible to say no. This is a sign it’s time to change that.
When I was trying to build my reputation as the go-to realtor in my area, my resources were limited and I was struggling to balance it all. I started saying “no” and in doing so realized my goals had changed.
Once you audit your goals, reinvest in what is working and where you are committed.
All signs point to the next level
All of these signs might feel like an attack at first, but what’s happening is that these signs point to you being ready for more. If you’re being prompted to cut goals that aren’t moving forward, it means you’re preparing for other goals to move to the next level. You’re ready to start saying “no” to what holds you back and “yes” to what matters. Your goals are evolving not because you’ve failed in some way, but because you are ready for more.
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Key Takeaways
- Top achievers recognize and reassess unfulfilling goals, embracing the liberating power of saying “no” to opportunities that don’t align with their evolving aspirations.
- Spreading yourself too thin can drain your energy and add stress, highlighting the importance of focus and the strategic use of “no” to maintain a path to success.
- Investment in the process and personal well-being is crucial for maintaining momentum and ensuring the sustainability of your professional aspirations.
It happens to all entrepreneurs at some point. You’ve put in the work, you’ve hit the right milestones and your résumé has professional success written all over it. Yet one question keeps popping up: Is this what I want?
At the height of my success as a realtor in Washington, there was a moment when I was being offered incredibly high-valued listings. People were calling me and offering me opportunities that I had worked so hard to get, and in that moment where one might expect me to feel victorious or excited, I felt nothing. I received a call and was offered an amazing listing, in one of the best locations in Washington and my first thought was, no. Pointblank. I do not want to do this. And I ended up outsourcing that opportunity.
