Goal Setting Resistances

The January 2017 newsletter talks about the benefits of goal setting in helping us create the future we want. The February 2017 newsletter discusses the phenomena of resistance and resistance to change. Here we list some specific resistance thoughts, feelings, and causes. Before considering this please read the February 2017 newsletter to understand more about resistance.

  • Fear of failure
  • Fear of making mistakes
  • Fear of beating ourselves up for failure and mistakes
  • Fear of making choices because we fear making the wrong choice
  • Fear of taking responsibility for our choices
  • Fear of facing the consequences of our choices
  • Fear of beating ourselves up because we have made the wrong choice
  • Fear of wasting our time if we discover that we have been pursuing the wrong goal
  • Fear of making ourselves unhappy if we discover that we have been pursuing the wrong goal
  • Fear of discovering that we don’t want what we thought we wanted
  • Not knowing what we want
  • Not knowing how to get what we want and refusing to admit that we don’t know
  • Refusing to learn something new
  • Not wanting to ask for help if we need it

Antidotes

Increase your motivation to set and accomplish your goal by asking these questions:

  • Why do I want to accomplish this goal?
  • What will accomplishing this goal give me?
  • What is the benefit and what is the cost of accomplishing this goal? Is the benefit worth the cost? (This is called performing a cost benefit analysis.)

Focus on developing self-acceptance to increase your willingness to make mistakes and your ability to learn from them. Understand that the best way to use mistakes is to learn from them.

Practice: Begin the quest to develop these positive aspects, motivation and self-acceptance.

The March 2017 newsletter presents additional ways to overcome resistance.