Recently I had a conversation with a person who has a long-term goal that will take a few years to achieve. The individual seemed overwhelmed with the size of the goal and was getting discouraged. Their focus was on all the things they need to do to reach the goal and their comment to me was, "I just can't do it". It reminded me of the story of the clock that had been running and running:

This clock had sat on the mantle for years. And it ran and ran. One day, the clock began to think about how many times it had to tick during the year. It counted up the seconds - it would have to tick 31,536,000 times a year. The clock seemed overwhelmed - "I can't do it, that is just too much." So the clock stopped ticking. Then somebody reminded the clock that it didn't have to tick the 31,536,000 seconds all at one time, but rather one tick at a time. The clock then realized this was okay and started ticking again!

When we set our goals, it is good to visualize the end results. But, getting to our goal is doing a little bit every day; not doing it all at once. So the next time you find yourself overwhelmed by your goal, remember the clock and the number of ticks - do a little bit every day and over time you will reach your goal. Believe me, reaching your goal is worth it! 

Now, on the other hand, if you constantly focus on accomplishing a goal where your entire life is focused this way, you will only train yourself to go from goal to the next without coming up for air. This achievement-oriented behavior will certainly move you forward but you are now in a state of missing out on other parts of life. We need to introduce a little balance into your life. 

Part of this balance means not missing out on some of the marvels of life around you, the fun, some excitement, or other challenges in life. Instead, give your self permission to do some non-goal oriented activities like finding a new park to stroll through, or the time to discover a new route to run, or to pick a great novel to read for a couple of hours on the weekend. 

“Worry is just like a rock. The more you worry, the heavier the rock appears even though it has not changed.” ~ Byron Pulsifer

Do not think that worry is a measure of resolving anything because your mind is too focused on the problem. You need to reset your mind and one way to do that is to allow yourself a chance to throw every concern or worry away for a few hours. 

Sometimes, this is easier said than done but you need to find an activity that fully occupies your mind so that you have no chance to worry or think about your problem. In this way, you have a chance to let your subconscious mind look into the issue for you and eventually to come up with a workable solution.