Goals are not just for finding what you want and do not have, but also of identifying and solving problems, ideally before they become significant.
As you advance in your purpose, you will notice problems that threaten to reverse prior attainments. There is a difference between advancing your purpose and maintaining the purpose advancements you’ve already achieved. To make this distinction clearer, consider the analogy of a general tasked with conquering a country. Taking new areas is different than shoring up those already held, and yet without the latter, the former is fleeting.
Do not ignore the problems you perceive. If you ignore your problems, you’ll never be willing to do what it takes to find and implement a working solution. You need to recognize and acknowledge unanswered needs in order to motivate the necessary search for the solution to problems and to have the willingness to pay the adequate price to solve it.
As we ignore problems, we tend to lose awareness of the scope of negative effects they cause in our lives. Often, our perception of unsolved problems is a hazy middle ground between something that fully occupies our attention and something we are not particularly thinking about. Don’t fool yourself into minimizing the negative drain this causes on your mental and emotional capability and the problems this causes on what you can accomplish.
Each ignored problem is like a oil leak in your car’s engine: If you leave them in your life they will steal vital bandwidth away from advancing your purpose and can cause catastrophic and permanent damage if left long enough.
Each unsolved problem can cause increased friction as we try to progress in life. Reduce the friction in your life by paying attention to and solving problems. If something bothers you, fix it with a priority matching how much it bothers you. As you resolve these seemingly small issues in your life you will begin to focus more and more of your energy on progressing towards your priority.