Are You Attached To How
It Is Supposed To Turn Out?

by Deborah Brown, Contributing columnist

Is there a career goal you have been shooting for that has not come to fruition? Are you frustrated and confused because it is taking so long? Do you wonder when you will see the results of your hard work?

Maybe the problem is that you are attached to how it is supposed to turn out.

When you focus solely on the end result, you miss out on the opportunity to enjoy today. When you wait until one day in the future to be happy, you are unable to appreciate where you are now.

You also lose sight of the reason you choose your goal to begin with. You started with wanting to enhance your career, and after a while, your goal seemed like drudgery. Drudgery creeps in when you are no longer choosing your goal, and you allow your goal to choose you.

So How Do You Achieve Your Goal Without Focusing Solely On The Result?

1. Recognize What The Attachment Is Costing You

There is no fun when you are only living for the future. Yes, a new career or a promotion can make you smile, but can you honestly say you have been the easiest person to be around these days?

2. Accept Where You Are Today

What's wrong with where you are? Just because you have not achieved what you want in your career today, does not mean you will not achieve it tomorrow. Let go of the yearning, and immerse yourself in the here and now.

3. Let Go Of The Result

Imagine the room you will have to be yourself again when you let go of having to obtain your goal right now. This thought could be unsettling if you do not know who you would be if you were not clinging to your goal. Think about how much freedom you will have when it does not matter what happens. And who knows, this freedom might give you the burst of energy you have been looking for.

4. Choose Your Goal All Over Again

Now that you have let go of how it should turn out, you can re-choose your goal. Remember when you first said you wanted a change? It was freeing, right? Then somewhere down the road it wasn't liberating anymore.  Choose your career goal because you want to. Not because you should, or you think you have to, but because it will enhance the quality of your life.

5. Trust That It Will All Work Out

If all things work out in the end (and they usually do) then why all the worry? Trust that you are on the right path. Trust that you are headed in the right direction. Trust that you will have what you want in your career. Be happy even if the result you want does not arrive today.

So what do you say? You only have one life to live so it might as well be a life you love!