Your Greatest Untapped Resource for Goal Achievement

Arraying Resources for Goal Fulfilment 

It goes without saying that if you have a goal, you need to gather the resources necessary to achieve it. If you want to get stronger, you need to spend time in the gym. Depending on your starting point and your end goal, you may also need to hire a trainer, ensure you have the appropriate clothing and footwear, and possibly even invest in some of your own equipment. Each of these actions demonstrates a resource that you’re harnessing to achieve the goal you’ve set yourself

All of this seems fairly obvious. To get where we want to go, we need to ensure we have the equipment/skills/time/knowledge to make the journey. Most people understand this, on one level or another. We understand that we are responsible for achieving our own goals, and acknowledging that if we want something, we have to make it happen. I’ve previously spoken about Creating Habits to Achieve Success, and today’s post discusses how gathering the right resources helps us make the most of those habits.

The Best Resource We’ve Got

Yet it never ceases to amaze me how many of us fail to gather and employ the resources that would get us over the finish line. Why is that? I have a theory, and my theory is this:

Our goal achievement plan falls apart because we tend to overlook the most valuable resource available to us.

We prioritise ‘coaches’, ‘equipment’, ‘supplements’, ‘courses’—you name, it sells, we buy it. Regardless of what life arena your goal is in, there’s something on that list above that you can buy… and then tell yourself you have all the tools you need to cross the finish line. But what underpins all of our achievement, whether we realise it or not, is something that’s a little harder to buy. The most important resource we have at our disposal in achieving our goals—the one that gets you the most ‘bang for your buck’, so to speak—is knowledge. 

Knowledge As a Resource

Why knowledge? Of all the things I could have picked, why this one? Good question. Once we know our ‘what’ we want (the goal), and the ‘why’ (we want to compete in a figure contest, or publish a novel, or change jobs), what comes next is how. In a journey from A to B, we need to know how we’re going to make the trip. If there’s a gargantuan river in the way and no bridge, then trying to bike all the way there is going to put us in a bit of a pickle. Similarly, a boat won’t do us much good if we’re crossing the desert. We need to understand what the journey is, where we’re coming from and going to, and assemble the knowledge that will allow us to make the journey as best we can. When we (inevitably) fail along the way, this too provides us with the opportunity to learn & grow, and put this new knowledge towards our goal. (Though that doesn’t mean that failing doesn’t suck: as I well know). 

Accepting Our Resource Limitations

This is not to say, of course, that you should only embark upon a course once you have all the knowledge you need. For one, new information, studies, and theories are born right across the world on a daily basis. You may as well face facts: you’re never going to know it all. More importantly, different information will be relevant at different stages of the journey. There’s no point knowing how to perform open heart surgery if you haven’t yet figured out how to make the incision. Accept that baby steps are valuable if taken in the right order, and regardless of what it is you’re doing, all information has a right time and place. Rather than waiting to start, learn what you can, then continually supplement your journey with ongoing research & learning.

Coaching and Courses as Resources

‘Wait, wait, wait,’ I hear you saying. Doesn’t that list of ‘to buys’ include at least two items that arguably facilitate developing your knowledge base? What’s wrong with using coaching and courses to get us where we need to go? 

Of course, you’re totally right: engaging a coach will help your growth. Assuming you’ve got the right one, they can get you well on the path towards achieving your goal. Indeed, the fundamental aim of coaching is to provide you with ‘on-tap’ access to the knowledge you need. With a good coach, your knowledge should grow to the point that you can be set free and fly on your own. But coaching is also expensive and, if you’re flying blind (i.e. you don’t have the requisite knowledge—see how that word keeps cropping up?), you may find yourself being taken for a ride. The best way to avoid that is to self-educate prior to getting a coach—what can you expect your coach to do? What are some fundamental principles that the coach should adhere to? Is there anything your coach should definitely not be doing? 

So it becomes evident that even finding and investing in a coach brings us back full circle: we need knowledge. 

Similarly, courses cost money which is always a consideration. Moreover, sometimes we find that the very thing we were expecting to learn from the course isn’t what we’re getting. Here, too, we need to ask whether the outlay of money is worth the return and whether, instead, we can facilitate our own learning. Do we need that course to acquire that knowledge? Can we support our own learning without paying the money that we might need for something else? 

Enhancing Your Best Resource

There’s a far simpler solution: do your own research. It sounds intimidating, I know. I’m not talking about spending all weekend reading academic papers, your head stuck in a textbook until 2am. That would be ridiculous: in fact, if that was the answer, I think I’d just say pay someone to coach you (I like to sleep). 

No, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. The internet is full of stuff that you can get for free. No, you didn’t misread that: completely free. Now, you might be reading this and thinking that the quality of that stuff is probably pretty questionable. The truth is, there are countless high-quality sources of information available to help you achieve your goal. We just need to look for them, and avail ourselves of them. 

A great way to do this is by figuring out how you best take in information. It may be Infographics, articles/blog posts, podcasts, or videos… or any number of other possible learning methods. Once you know that, a simple google search for blogs about *insert your interest here* inevitably yields magic. This is true whether you’re looking to get fit, and you’re browsing bodybuilding.com (where I first started reading articles and educating myself when I was new to training), or renovating your bathroom using YouTube videos. But, if you’re on my blog I somehow doubt you’re looking for bathroom renovating tips: though this information is applicable to a wide range of endeavours, I started this blog post because I was thinking about writing… So let’s look at some great ways to gather writing knowledge!

A Resource List for Writers

Personally, I find that most of what I’ve learned about writing has come from reading widely. Considering what other authors do has helped me learn what I can or should (or shouldn’t!) do in my work. But, sometimes people just feel lost about the path forward. And when you feel like that, reading all the novels in the world might not help. So, below I share some great resources for writers to learn, grow and develop in pursuit of their writerly goals.

Websites and Blogs

The Australian Writer’s Centre is a brilliant hub of information and a vast array of courses (if, unlike me, you’re a not a diehard cheapskate and you’re willing to lay out some cash). They have a blog which covers competitions, reader Q&As, new podcasts releases (more on that below), and events going on in the Australian writing community. 

One of my good friends, Nicole swears by Chuck Wendig’s blog, which has given her some brilliant insight about querying her novels. If you have a favourite writer, check them out on social media and see if they write about writing! Heck, googling ‘writing websites’ brings up this fairly comprehensive and slightly terrifying list from The Write Life.

Podcasts

The AWC releases a weekly podcast hosted by author/AWC founder and CEO Valerie Khoo and author Allison Tait. So You Want to Be A Writer introduces listeners to new authors, considers the commercial aspects of writing, and covers basically everything you could ever think of to do with writing. Not sure when to put in a paragraph break? Uncertain about genre conventions or how to break into real estate writing? This podcast has got you covered. Not only that, but they have an associated Facebook group where you can discuss questions and ideas, and connect with other writers!

There are also Writers’ Centres for every Australian state, and all over the world. If those don’t tickle your fancy, jump on google and ask the universe for suggestions! If you’re looking for an opportunity to write but don’t know how to start, google ‘writing prompts’. Want to enter competitions but just don’t know about them? Google ‘writing competitions’.

The internet can be a damn scary place, but if you want to learn more about the things you love? Well, there are worse places to start.

Good luck!

-Ana.

If you have a favourite way of enhancing your knowledge to pursue your goals, share it with me! What do you do to work towards the things you want?