Shifting Goals in Crisis
So this was going to be your year of big achievements. January entered and you made a few deals and a couple of investments. February was busy with clients and commendations and you were shedding off inches from your waist line. You were on a roll! Then boom! Hello, March and coronavirus rained on your parade!
The coronavirus has thrown a monkey wrench into your plans. It’s made a mess out of the goals you set out for the year. It’s a punch straight into the gut and everything seems out of control, your priorities are in a mess, and you now wonder if your goals are still worthwhile pursuing. It’s frustrating, and it feels like a tremendous loss.
It’s tempting to feel defeated. There’s almost a sense of failure without even having an opportunity to succeed. It’s tough coming to terms with this kind of situation, but a way out of this feeling is to shift from thinking what you thought you would be doing to thinking about what you can instead do. Here are some options for you to explore in shifting your goals during this crisis –
Option 1 – Renew your goals. Even with the pandemic, your goals may still be possible. Let’s say you have a fitness goal and you hired a trainer. Now that the community quarantine has closed down gyms and made your training sessions not possible, you can instead turn to home workouts. It’s the same goal, but with a different mechanism.
Option 2 – Replace your goals. Some goals will just not work with the present conditions. A goal falling under a certain life domain can be replaced with another one still in that life domain. For example, for my R/R domain, I set a goal of going to Siargao by the middle of April. Since that is no longer possible, I have since traded it with re-reading books that I love. Still keeps me relaxed.
Option 3 – Remove your goal. Some goals may no longer be true or relevant anymore during this time. It might serve you best not to hang on to a goal and to remove it. While it might look like giving up, it’s actually more like freeing up time for your other goals that matter more for the current period. Our mental, social and emotional dimensions could sure use more time today more than ever.
If coronavirus has you down, and your goals are suddenly up against or facing a wall, do not be dismayed. There are definitely some actions you can do this season that can keep you from feeling powerless or stressed. You have options to run your goals through to get clarity on what you can do to keep yourself on track.
