Having meaningful goals you want to achieve in your life is what keeps you motivated and inspired to stay focused on what is truly important to you. Summertime, with all it’s fun and excitement, can be a wonderful—and oftentimes disastrous—distraction from the momentum you’ve built toward achieving your goals.

Summertime can usher in an energy of excitement as you begin anticipating longer days, warmer temps, and loads of outdoor activities. Family vacations, travel, barbecues, and fun in the sun are all things you may find yourself craving during the winter months. And let’s face it, when summer arrives and there’s fun to be had, you’re far more likely to table your previous commitments in favor of enjoying the season.

There is a powerful quote from the book The Slight Edge, written by Jeff Olson, that reinforces the importance of taking measures to stay on track to achieving our goals. “Here’s the unfortunate and powerfully destructive truth of being incomplete: it keeps the past alive.” It’s a provocative reminder that when you neglect the action needed to accomplish important goals, it prevents you from being, doing, or having what you want in your life. It keeps you stuck in the past. Summers will come and go throughout your life and with each passing year, your abandoned goals move farther from your reach. How many goals have you set and then not followed through on? How many times have you said, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” and then you keep putting it off?

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