Do goals really make you happy?
Last week I had an appointment scheduled, already walking while touring the old factory, quite a few questions were fired at me sideways. I had already had a mega busy morning and was basically done for the day. Anyway, the appointment was on and “the show must go on” button was on, and off we went.
My visit was visibly impressed, Wow! What a cool company you have put up. How many employees do you have, how many clients work at FBRK-Werkt, how many stores buy from you? And as I effortlessly spoon-fed the numbers, a flash shot through my mind. Not one of those flashes you sometimes have when you feel a mega headache coming on, but rather a kind of déjà vu to a conversation you had a long time ago.
Dream, dare, do
At the time, about five years ago now, I was having a conversation with a friend about having dreams and goals. Where do you want to be in five years, what do you want to have accomplished, how will you do it, etc.? I really envisioned at the time that my “absolute dream goal” would be to have my own Fabryk, with a day care center, staff, stores and the whole circus around it. If I achieved that, I would be happy not 100% but at least 1000%. Because then I would have made it! And then my five-year goal had been achieved.
You made it!
Congratulations almost five years on and you have reached your goal, but 1000% happy??? Forget it. Is my world collapsing now? No of course not, but neither is the beatific feeling I had in mind. So should you have no goals, nothing to look up to or look forward to? Absolutely did! But it is an illusion that you cannot be happy until you have achieved your ultimate dream. Because after this goal comes many more goals and targets. More and more I am coming to realize that being happy is really not in having lots of money, a mega business or a big house.
Enjoyment is an art
There is an art to really enjoying the moment and the road to it. And most importantly, enjoy the precious people around you. Those who understand that you don’t always have time, as you struggle with your own and your company’s development. The club of colleagues we have carefully selected over years and breathe the DNA of Fabryk. I can genuinely enjoy the moments when colleagues among themselves, a glance or half a word is enough. Those are the things I’m really proud of.
Just enjoy it, because before you know it….
As a brand-new mother, some 12 years ago they said to me “Just enjoy it, because before you know it they’ll be big” At the time I thought, go away with your clichés anyway, and now I know it’s really true. So it is with entrepreneurship, the train that does rumble on. Just enjoy it, because before you know it….
