Personal vs. Natural Goals

I have wanted to write about this for a long time. I have seen that there are two types of Goals if I can even give it that honor. In actual terms, one is a Goal, and the other is a delusion. One is natural and the other is an un-natural personal one.

When we make a goal, the reason or the intent behind it is the power behind that goal. Have the wrong intention, and the target goes nowhere, and the real purpose will perpetually power that goal making you almost unstoppable.

That’s what happened to me while building my startup Proxies API.

Let me define this as well as I can.

A Personal goal has a very psychological origin to it. There is probably nothing in real life to support it. It’s almost unnecessary. It might be motivated by fear but an absolute psychological horror like shame or resentment or jealousy. These are optional emotions powered by people simply identifying with them. When powered by them, they have a Gollum like quality to them. There is something inherently ugly, pathetic, and selfish about them.

A Natural goal might also be fear-based in its origin. For example, you have received an advisory from the government that there is a massive hurricane headed your way, and you need to take precautions when it hits 48 hours later. It should create fear, which is natural and necessary. There is nothing wrong with feeling the fear and taking measures to counter the situation. Your “Goal” then becomes the survival of you and your loved ones, and you will have to do everything in your power to achieve it. The fear will power it. You don’t need Tony Robbins pumping you up, and you don’t need affirmations. You are powered by instinct.

Building Proxies API was like that for me. I HAD to escape the hurricane coming into my life. In this case, I had around a year, and I would be homeless with my loved ones (I won’t go into details here). It’s a real fear. I embraced it and set my goals.

Doing what was necessary came easy — no need for motivation. If I NEED motivation, then what’s the motivation behind lacking that motivation? I believe that if you need to generate it or fake it, then that’s not it. You haven’t got it; you are missing the point. It is best not to do it.

The single-minded dedication came easy too. If you have a hurricane hitting, trust me, you don’t need a ‘social media blocker’ to block off distractions. There is no process to it. You do it.

Once I achieve the goal, it can hardly be called achievement. There is probably a sense of relief. But there is a matter of fact about it. It merely needed to be done, and it is done.

The author is the founder of Proxies API the rotating proxies service.