Sometimes we just need to take it easy. The Eagles even wrote a song about it. They say to “lighten up while you still can.” That’s good advice.

The advice is so good in fact that some people seem to over do it. Some people attempt to take it so easy that they make their life much harder than it needs to be.

As much as I endorse some “down” time, and actually coach people to schedule it into their calendars, I also remind them of that old saying “too much of a good thing.” The rest periods and time away from work are meant to prepare us for our next push towards productivity and success. See that? It says “push” towards success.

The fact of the matter is that in today’s business world we are all pushed. The question is, will we be the ones doing the pushing or we will be the ones pushed by someone else. If we don’t push ourselves, for our own purpose then we will surely be pushed by someone else for theirs.

Most people, sadly, are pushed by someone else. This happens for a variety of reasons but I think one of the biggest is a lack of goals. Goals give people a reason to push. Goals offer us a reward after a long period of pushing. Goals even provide us the fuel we need to continue pushing when we want to stop.

It’s a simple fact of life: goal oriented people are more successful than people who just coast through life without true goals. TRUE GOALS! Those are the kind of goals that have made it onto paper. They are written down along with a time line on when they will be achieved. They also have a very specific plan that states how the goal will be achieved. The plan includes the investment we are willing to make to achieve the goal and that investment is listed in terms of both money AND time.

For many goals the money investment is the easy part, at least when compared to the time investment. If the goal is real then you must block out time to work towards it. All time is expensive, that means there is no free time. That’s why the stuff you plan to do in your free time never really gets done.

When you commit yourself to achieving goals you will push yourself, sometimes you will push yourself well past what you thought were your limits.

So, are you ready to push yourself or will you just sit back and wait for someone to push you? You’re going to be pushed, how and why you’re pushed, like pretty much every other part of your life is completely up to you.