How a Clear Goal Transforms Obstacles into Minor Setbacks

There I was, on a mission. Not a grand, world-saving mission, mind you, but a slightly less glamorous one: heading out the door to film a promotional video for our upcoming Realtor's Education Day. Shoes in hand, I went to slip them on, only to be met with the age-old nemesis of undone shoelaces.

You know the drill. The aglet – that helpful little plastic tip – had gone rogue, leaving a frayed mess that refused to be coaxed through the tiny eyelet. I pushed, I wiggled, I even muttered a few choice words under my breath. Nothing.

Then, in a moment of what I'll generously call ingenuity, I thought, "Why am I trying to push this mangled end through? What if I try to hook the other end and pull it through instead?" And wouldn't you know it, with a bit of maneuvering, it worked!

As I triumphantly laced up my shoe, a funny thought struck me. It echoed so much of the advice we hear about motivation. We're often told by self-help gurus and inspiring speakers that we need to find what "pulls" us – our passion, our intrinsic drive – or what "pushes" us – external pressures, looming deadlines – to achieve our goals.

But in that shoelace moment, it hit me: all the pushing and pulling in the world wouldn't have mattered if I didn't need to put my shoes on and go somewhere. The urgency of having a destination – the video shoot – was the fundamental reason I was even bothering with the frustrating shoelace in the first place.

It was a bit of an "aha!" moment. We spend so much time trying to figure out what intrinsically motivates us or how to respond to external pressures, that we sometimes overlook the simple power of having a clear and urgent "place to be."

Think about it. How often have you felt uninspired to start a task, only to find a sudden surge of energy when a deadline loomed? The "push" of the deadline became effective precisely because you needed to deliver something by a certain time – you had a destination.

It's like planning a road trip. You can have the most powerful engine (your internal drive) and the most compelling scenery along the way (external motivators), but without a destination in mind, you're just driving aimlessly.

So, before you embark on the quest to discover what truly moves you, perhaps it's worth first defining where you need to be. Make that destination urgent, make it non-negotiable, and you might just find that the "push" and "pull" factors become a whole lot more effective.

Maybe the secret to untangling our biggest goals starts with simply knowing where we absolutely need to go and creating that essential sense of urgency. After all, even a stubborn shoelace will eventually cooperate when you absolutely, positively have to get out the door.