Conclusion

“I conceive that pleasures are to be avoided if greater pains be the consequence, and pains to be coveted that will terminate in greater pleasures.”
– Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (Circa 1500)

Remember that it’s not your goals that really count but how you live your life according to what’s important to you. If you feel you can not incorporate this system with your current job or other responsibilities, you should first try it out.

You might find out that your job is indeed part of your priorities or that it doesn’t mean anything at all to you. If the first is true, then you will have a greater zest and love for what you do. However, if the second is true, then start looking for something you love or would love to do.

One friend I know got involved in different functions with several local associations thinking that doing so was essential in her business. However, she felt stressed out because she couldn’t keep up with all of the demands on her life. She had pressing needs at home, less time at work, and more work than she can handle.

But when she went through the GOAL process she discovered that attending these meetings were not important at all because they were not in tune with her values. What was surprising to her was the fact that she had a wrong sense of what her real values were all along. This might happen to you!

The philosophies and strategies you have read in this book are not some sort of path-breaking dogma or the only road to success. But one thing is for sure in that it is the surest way to discover why one should (and not how one can) achieve one’s personal success.

Remember that if you live in a way consistent with your deepest values, your success is assured no matter how small or how grand the purpose is in your life. If you focus only on your goals and not on your priorities, you are placing a ceiling on your potential.

Remember that the essence of you, the “You” of you, is your successfulness. You don’t need anything outside of you to prove it. So dump your goals — more specifically, change the way you used to look at them. And instead, love what you do or do what you love.

Either way, work on your goals that revolve around a clear purpose in your life, and reaching them will be merely a byproduct of your love. As well, peace of mind, happiness, and absence of stress will equally become the result. When you realize this, you will grow in the right direction and enjoy a much greater quality of life.

Don’t just read this book once and forget about it. And don’t discount the power of clarifying your priorities. Try the techniques out. You will never fully understand the reasoning behind their use until you put what you have learned into practice. You will never really achieve the freedom you deserve.

Confucius once said, “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Remember that this is not a “how-to” book but a “why-for” book. Try the GOAL method before you judge it. It might reveal many things about you, about your life, and about your deepest convictions. The result of trying the system may grant you a whole new perspective on life.

Jim Rohn said this, which has been hanging on my wall, above my desk, for years: “There are some things you don’t have to know how it works. The main thing is that it works. While some people are analyzing the roots, others are picking the fruit. It just depends which end of this you want to get in on.”

Oprah Winfrey once said, “The hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which ones to burn.” This is what the techniques in this book will help you to do, which is to learn more about your own personal bridges. To paraphrase Stephen Covey, “Seek to understand yourself before being understood.”

If you translate what is important in your life into what is urgent, then what is important will seldom if ever be placed on the back burner of your life. All in all, you will be happy and not just successful. You will find peace of mind as well as peace of time. You will improve the quality of your life during the passage of time. You can not control time, therefore enjoy it while you can. If you don’t, one day you might just be too late…

Good luck to you. Be kind to yourself.

May you be blessed with many opportunities, the wisdom to recognize them, the courage to seize them, and the ability to live them. But most importantly, may you be prepared to grow from them!

Namasté,
Michel Fortin