GOALS

Set goals for yourself: Little ones, big ones. Prioritize them. Each day do something that will take you one step closer to accomplishing a goal. Even if you never fully realize what you strive for, you will have gained experience and some discipline. In a very real sense you will always succeed. For example, you can jog for months planning to run in a marathon. Your legs cannot handle long distances. Why fret? You have improved your health and stamina. Accept your limitations, what you are capable of. Just keep trying to do the best you can.

Be flexible. Try things but be honest with yourself and know when to give up. You will not be able to do everything you want to. Either because of circumstances or your own shortcomings, you will never realize every goal. So what?! LIFE IS EXPERIENCE. Be grateful for what you have learned and move on.

Never compare yourself with others. For your success is based on your talents and abilities … no one else’s.

Never let regret raise its self-centered head. The past is past. It does not exist anymore. Lost opportunities or doing the wrong thing … these are part of living. You grow a little because of them. Just try to be smarter next time.

Never become obsessed with a goal. Never let it determine you … especially in mundane matters. For example it is easy to fall into the vain, self-conscious trap: You must have money and material things … this is what the world judges you by. So you develop skills, labour intently and gradually accrue the ‘trappings of wealth’. “Whoop di doo!” You have ‘arrived’. Or have you? Have you ignored what really matters? Forming relationships, loving, understanding and caring for what you encounter. What a mistake! Letting monetary goals rule you. You will most certainly miss out on what truly fulfills you. And the longer you go down the road of self-serving acquisition the more difficult it will be to realize your loving potential within. This is the greatest tragedy in life: Ignoring spirituality and clinging to the transient. So use good judgment in setting goals and discard them if they become impediments to loving.

If you do reach a goal, feel some justifiable pride. Nothing wrong with this. But the glow of satisfaction is brief. You must move on … with more confidence and revitalized vigour … always keeping in mind: Your ultimate accomplishment is building the best YOU. Your goals are temporal and temporary. You are not! So choose your goals wisely, the prominent ones. They should be meaningful and help you go in the direction you truly want to go. Never compromise, but if you do, acknowledge your mistake and make the necessary changes. For life is too short to spend exorbitant time and energy on the frivolous. Acquiring necessities and some non-essential niceties is fine. Fun and pleasure make life more bearable. But these should never be your primary goals. For they are self-oriented and make loving difficult.

It is not unrealistic to commit to one major goal in your life. Perhaps: BEING A KIND, CARING PERSON WHO IS TRYING TO LOVE MORE AND MORE. Other important goals you set should help in some way to realize your major goal. For instance establishing a family, developing relationships, providing some useful service or product in society. Of course there will be many things you need to accomplish to survive. As long as these do not hinder your progress in reaching your major goals, you are certainly on the right track.

Think of your goal of loving as both a destination and motivation. Decisions about undertakings will be so much easier if you put them in the context of ‘will they fit in with my major goals’. You will always know where you are going and how to get there. Life’s experiences will be meaningful and fruitful. You NEVER need worry; your loving will always give you comfort and direction. LOVING becomes your reason for being … now and FOREVER.

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