QUO VADIMUS BLINDNESS (QVB)
Quo Vadimus is Latin for, “where are we going?
It goes WAY beyond goal setting.
Look, by now, I’m assuming you already know you never hit a target you can’t see (or haven’t picked). It’s doubtful you’d be reading this if you didn’t believe in the importance (and uncanny power) of compelling goals, right?
You probably know all the goal setting rules by heart:
- Goals must be written down in specific, sensory rich, emotionally engaging details;
- they must have a deadline for completion;
- that they get taped to your bathroom mirror, read aloud upon awakening and before sleep until they become so real you can’t tell the difference between your imagined future and current reality; and
- that big goals must be broken down into manageable bite-sized pieces you schedule, plan, and tackle step-by-step without getting overwhelmed.
No surprises there.
Without a doubt, goal setting and visualization processes unleash your ability to gather gravity in almost unexplainable ways.
It mysteriously takes huge, impossible dreams and somehow makes them come true. Yet, it doesn’t necessarily bring us the kind of freedom, power, and prosperity we really want. Often we get so lost in the pursuit and attainment of goals we get trapped (not freed) by them.
When we work our asses off and still don’t get what we want; or when we “win” the race only to discover we were running the wrong race, Quo Vadimus Blindness (QVB) is the cause.
For example, how many people want to be self-employed for freedom only to become a slave to a business that owns them? They’re driven and accomplish big things but freedom ain’t one of them. Their goals (both the ones they achieve and the ones they haven’t yet) consume, control, and imprison them. Addiction to goal accomplishment is NOT success. But it IS the part of QVB that turns us into workaholics who can’t ever take a break!
Quo Vadimus asks you to look at the whole picture. Not just where we want to go. Where are we going? What situations do our beliefs, goals, and actions create? Are those situations what we truly want? Have we stopped long enough to notice if where we ARE going is really the place we want to wind up?
Personally, I was completely blind to my Quo Vadimus Blindness until I was 42 because it didn’t stop me from making millions. That’s why it’s tempting to write this area off, thinking you’ll go back AFTER you get rich and address it.
Mistake.
Big mistake.
Consider this before you decide to table curing your QVB in pursuit of great material wealth:
a) You can get rich a whole lot faster, with a lot more joy in the process, when QVB isn’t working against you. It’s actually easier to achieve freedom AND amass a fortune, together, at the same time.
b) QVB increases your lifestyle at the same rate (or faster) than your income. You might make millions but it becomes a “have to” because your obligations exceed earnings. Even if you’re miserable, it gets harder and harder to get off that gerbil wheel (but at least you look good running with all your fancy stuff). Believe me, as hard it was for me to become a millionaire the first time, it was MUCH harder to break the cycle after I got addicted to achievement.
c) QVB makes you lose sight of what’s really important to you. It turns healthy competition into an unhealthy need to prove you’re better, smarter, and superior to everyone, all the time. Unchecked, you’ll sell your soul, sacrifice your values, and become consumed by how much everyone else has compared to you. Life becomes about action for action’s sake. We kill ourselves to tally up one more “credit” in the win column than the next guy.
Knowing what I know now, if I had it to do all over again, I’d spend all my time and efforts curing my Quo Vadimus Blindness, first (instead of spending so much time on the second and third more obvious barriers to freedom).
It ain’t all that sexy, but it’s absolutely critical.