Sacrificing for Our Goals

Last week, I looked at five principles of connecting with people, in order to achieve your goals. This week I want to look at three things you may need to sacrifice, in order to achieve your goals.

The first thing you may need to sacrifice is your time. If you want to get your Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, start a business, or buy a house, it may mean studying or working on a Friday night. It may mean working overtime, so you can earn the extra money to start that business or buy that house. If you’re not ready to sacrifice your time, in order to achieve your goals, perhaps you should consider setting new goals.

You might need to sacrifice your money. In this economic climate, no one is safe and everyone is making sacrifices. Parents seem to sacrifice more, so their kids don’t need to. Never the less, whether you’re sacrificing so your kids won’t suffer, you can afford that new house, you can buy that new water heater, or you can put food on the table, you may need to make financial sacrifices.

There are many other things you may need to sacrifice in order to meet your goals, but the last one I am going to talk about is relationships. Yes, that’s right. Relationships. Now, please do not think I am promoting divorce. I am not. In fact, if you’re married, I believe you should work toward a better marriage.

Sometimes people come in to our lives who stand in the way of our goals. If it’s a roommate, consider moving out or asking them to move out. If it’s a boyfriend or girlfriend, consider breaking up with that person. If it’s a friend, consider either talking to them or letting the friendship fizzle. In my experience, true friendships may hit bumps in the road, but the common goal of a friendship will always allow you and your friend to come to terms. For those friendships, or any other relationship, where the goal is not mutual, that relationship is doomed for failure. We all need and want friends, but those friendships that require us to sacrifice our goals or ourselves, won’t last. It’s better to let go of those relationships before they take an emotional toll on you and cause you to lose sight of your goals.

I tend to live by quotes that sum up principles of my life. One of my favorite, which I cannot claim, but don’t remember who said is, “If I am no good to myself, I am no good to anyone else.” There is a good reason life guards are trained to put the person they are saving between them and objects they might collide with. There is a good reason flight attendants tell passengers to secure the oxygen mask over their mouths before a child’s. There is a good reason those military snipers took so long to ensure their absolute safety before taking aim at those pirates. If we want to achieve our goals, if we want to create a better life for those around us, if we want to connect with people, it requires sacrifice. Those sacrifices may hurt us and those around us; but if our goals are righteous, our sacrifices will be like that of the vinedresser who sacrifices a single vine for the benefit of the vineyard.

Until next week, keep connecting.



Erick