10 Points to Remember in Pursuing Your Goals

If you truly want to be happy, it’s time to stop seeking other people’s approval and pursue the goals that genuinely fulfill you – not the goals you think will impress everyone else. Here are ten pointers on how we can do this.

10 Points to Remember in Pursuing Your Goals

1. Be willing to be wrong.

When pursuing your goals, be willing to be wrong. Being wrong is a part of living and learning. It means you are trying to improve your life by learning new things and trying new things. Being wrong is often the price of success.

2. Don’t do anything to make anyone else love you.

Forget about people picking you for the right reasons, and realize that no matter what people think, they’re not going to like you anyway. If you want them to love you, then you have to make that decision first (e.g., by changing yourself), rather than seeking their love or approval in the first place.

3. Be honest with yourself about what you want.

This is an ongoing process where we work to make sure we’re not chasing other people’s approval just because they’ll love us for it. It means being honest about what truly makes us happy, which means knowing ourselves well enough to know our passions or values and then making decisions that align with that. If you want to be loved for who you really are, focus on becoming the person you want to be.

4. Stop getting caught up in other people’s expectations.

We often chase other people’s approval because we feel that we have to live up to the standards of others. The truth is, they have no idea what they’re talking about, and their standards are often arbitrary or just plain wrong. So stop getting caught up in their expectations and focus on what you want.

People trying to conform to what they believe are the “cool” or “popular” thing to do and lose themselves in the process. Humans can do such great things, but we have to be willing to fight for what we want. We have to be willing to make difficult decisions. We have to be willing to risk what we have and face reality. We have to be willing to fail and fail big because that’s the only way we’ll know if we’re on the right path or not.

5. Do things for yourself, not for anyone else.

Other people may love who we are, but we need to love ourselves. We can’t pursue happiness if we’re not willing to be happy and do the things that make us happy. If you want to be loved for the person you choose to be, then do what matters to you.

6. Realize that other people’s opinions don’t count for much anyway.

Don’t put too much stock in what others think of you. Focus on what you feel about yourself. Don’t fret over what other people think of you. Concentrate on your own opinion and the thoughts of those who matter to you.

Realize that others’ opinions don’t matter much anyway. Instead, focus on what you think of yourself, opinions from those who matter to you, and the way to become the best person that you can be.

What others think of you is rarely what matters. If you’ve made some mistakes in the past, let them go and move on. No one’s perfect. You have to be able to let go of your past mistakes if you want to move forward with a clean slate.

Once you realize that you shouldn’t let others’ opinions of you determine how valuable or good a person you are, the easier it becomes to focus less on what other people think of you and more on your own opinion of yourself.

7. Realize that they’re never going to love you just because you want them to.

It’s incredible what we will do to get the approval of others, especially when we think that this will somehow make us happy and free us from the burden of being imperfect by ourselves. If we’re trying to be good enough for others, then we’re basing our self-worth on their belief that we are good enough. No one can live up to that, and the approval will never come.

Instead, focus on yourself and what you want. Be realistic and know what you’re capable of. If you need more, work harder than you’ve ever worked before to get it. There is nothing wrong with doing whatever it takes to be the person you want to be, but don’t forget that the approval of others does not matter as much as how happy you are with yourselves and your lives.

8. Don’t live in fear of being wrong.

We all fear being wrong. We’re afraid of looking foolish, or that others people won’t like us, or what others will think of us when we do something foolish. These fears are baseless, yet we can’t help but act as if they are.

A person can never be brilliant if they avoid trying new things for fear being of being wrong. If you’re the same as the day you were born, you won’t grow and experience more than what you did that one day. Every attempt you make at something new is an opportunity for you to challenge yourself and find out who you are.

9. Don’t care what other people think of you.

If you want to be loved and respected, then stop caring what other people think. Stop trying to make them like you or approve of you. Once we stop trying to please everyone else, then we will find the time and space within us that we truly need to be happy.

Make it a point to have your own opinion about yourself and let others think of you as becoming less important.

A person’s opinion of you is based on that person’s likes and dislikes and is formed in his or her mind for the most part. You are important, and your opinions matter. Others’ opinions are not as relevant, but how you feel about yourself is what counts. So while what other people think of you does matter, it doesn’t mean as much as you might think it does

10. Stop being a needy person.

We often want to be needed by others to feel loved. And let’s face it: we’re all needy people, but if everyone around us is needy and we fear being unhappy rather than happy, we lose our happiness. If you want to be free from other people’s expectations and not care what they think of you, then stop giving them the power over you.

These are only a few of the many steps we can take on our path to happiness and freedom from other people’s agendas, opinions, and expectations. The good news is that we can pursue this path any way we want. It’s not about anyone else but us. We’re the ones who create our reality, so all we have to do is make sure that what we create is truly how we want to live. And life will unfold more perfectly if we do so.

How about you? Are you pursuing your goals in life? What have you learned as you pursue your goals?