You know you want something to change.
Maybe you want more from your career. More from your business. More time for yourself. More energy. More fulfilment.
You just don’t quite know what more looks like yet.
And this is usually the point where we’re told to set a goal.
Decide where you want to be. Make it SMART. Break it down. Create a plan. Give yourself a deadline.
But what if you don’t know where you want to be?
Then setting another goal can feel less like motivation and more like another job.
Another thing to achieve.
Another thing to track.
Another thing sitting on the list reminding you that you’re not doing enough.
Maybe you don't need another goal
Goals aren't the problem.
Setting goals before you understand what you actually want or what's stopping you from getting there..is.
When life already feels full, it's tempting to believe that the answer is to become more organised, more disciplined or more productive.
So you set the fitness goal.
The business target.
The career goal.
The morning routine.
The promise that this month I'm finally going to sort myself out.
But you're trying to create change without first understanding what needs to change.
And that's exhausting.
Because now you're not only carrying everything you were carrying before, you've added a whole new set of expectations on top.
When goal setting becomes procrastination..
Here's the uncomfortable bit.
Sometimes setting another goal is just another way of avoiding what's really going on.
Why though? Because goal setting feels productive.
Writing the plan. Choosing the deadline. Downloading the habit tracker. Making another list.
It gives us the feeling that we're taking action.
But are we?
Or are we avoiding the harder questions?
Why haven't I made this change already?
What's actually keeping me stuck?
Maybe you're scared of making the wrong decision.
Maybe you don't trust yourself to follow through.
Maybe you're worried about disappointing someone.
Maybe you're so used to putting everyone else's needs first that you don't actually know what you want anymore.
Or maybe you're exhausted and the last thing you need is another expectation to live up to.
You can set as many goals as you like, but if you don't understand what's underneath the stuckness, you'll probably keep finding yourself back in the same place.
Sometimes goal setting becomes a socially acceptable form of procrastination.
It looks like progress.
It feels like progress.
But you're planning the change instead of confronting what's preventing it.
Start before the goal
Here's your Momentum Shift?
Before you ask yourself: - What should my next goal be?
Try asking:
What's keeping me where I am?
What isn't working for me anymore?
What do I want more of?
What do I want less of?
What's taking up far too much of my energy?
What have I outgrown?
What am I doing because I genuinely want to and what am I doing because I've become used to doing it?
You don't need to have the five-year plan.
You don't even need to know exactly what the change is yet.
You just need enough space to notice what's going on.
This is why I start with Pause
The first stage of my Momentum Method™ isn't DO.
It's PAUSE.
And that's deliberate.
When you're constantly moving, responding, achieving, caring, working and getting through the next thing, it's incredibly difficult to hear what you actually want.
Pausing isn't doing nothing.
It's where you stop automatically moving in the same direction long enough to ask:
Is this still where I want to go?
From there, you can reconnect with yourself, your values, priorities, interests, needs and the things that actually matter to you now.
Then we can talk about goals.
You will notice a goal built from clarity feels very different from a goal built from pressure.
You don't need to reinvent your whole life
Sometimes we make change far bigger than it needs to be.
You don't need to quit your job, launch a business, move house or create a completely new version of yourself by January.
Maybe your first move is much smaller.
One conversation.
One boundary.
One hour protected for yourself.
One application.
One idea explored.
One thing you decide you're no longer willing to keep doing.
That's momentum too.
So if you know you want something to change but can't tell me exactly what that change is yet, don't force yourself to come up with another goal.
And if you've already set the goal but you're still not moving, don't automatically assume you need more discipline.
Get curious about why.
What's keeping you where you are?
What do you want more of?
What do you want less of?
And what might those answers be trying to tell you?
You can set the goal later.
First, work out where you actually want to go and what's stopping you from moving towards it.
Remember… small shifts create lasting momentum.