Goals Should Increase Present Joy—Not Move It Further Into the Future

‘One day I’ll make it,’ doesn’t have to be your motto

“‘One day I’ll make it.’ Is your goal taking up so much of your attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end? Is it taking the joy out of your doing? Are you waiting to start living? If you develop such a mind pattern, no matter what you achieve or get, the present will never be good enough; the future will always seem better. A perfect recipe for permanent dissatisfaction and nonfulfillment, don’t you agree?”

Eckhart Tolle, via MoveMe Quotes

Are you doing this without even realizing it? I suspect most of us are.

We see “success” blasted all over our timelines; we get subtly smacked with advertisements all day long; and we hear our friends, coworkers, and family members talk about their wants, desires, and aspirations needlessly and without end.

And since most of what we see on social media, hear on advertisements, and talk about with others are things we don’t (yet) have—we create the narrative in our mind that “one day we’ll make it” so we can feel better.

We’re not really sure at the time, but some how, some way, we’ll figure out “success” so we can get it all and feel that sense of…