Extract from the book
"Better Decisions Lead To Better Destinations"
A man without goals is a gold fish
Attributed
to Many Authors
“Before
you can score you must first have a goal.”
Where is
your life headed? Do you have definite targets or are you like the goldfish?
This is a very good question for everyone to consider. A goldfish in a goldfish
bowl swims around in circles achieving the same thing on each circuit. At times
life can become something like this. Without any goals life can consist of set
milestones along the way that just happen to be what the family does. For
example some people’s lives are essentially made up of four main features. They
may have a sporting interest and they watch the sport, they celebrate their
birthday, they have a family holiday & they celebrate some religious
celebration like Christmas at some point. They repeat the same process year in
year out, year after year, with no real variation. Unless they are very careful
then they will spend 30 or 40 years of their life just repeating the same
circuit and essentially be like a goldfish in the bowl. They just go along with
what life has on offer instead of setting any real goals to achieve in their
life. Life can be a boring circuit or it can have adventurous features when we
choose to step out of our comfort zone and start to achieve something that is
of real interest.
Man has
amazing potential for greatness but equally he has an amazing ability to throw
it all away. What a waste of opportunities.
People who
do not set goals usually have a set of justifications to explain why they don’t
do this. Justifications are actually excuses. The fact is that we can set goals
and the best way to start to do this is by setting small ones. Once we achieve
the success associated with small goals we soon become hooked on setting much
better goals for life. We can then take advantage of real goal setting
principles discussed in this volume.
Man’s
ability to set and achieve major goals is actually remarkable. An American
president decided that they were going to put a man on the moon. Whatever you
think of that particular goal, it remains true that this was achieved within a
decade using technology that is far inferior to what we have today. You very
likely have more technology in the watch on your wrist than was actually
available to those space pioneers who went to the moon. In fact, it has been
observed that the computing power on the recently retired US space shuttle is
far inferior to the technology that is available in the average smart phone.
Yet without the advancement of technology men were able to find a way. This is
what makes man’s ingenuity so amazing. Once he has set a goal he will find a
way.
It isn’t
much to show for life if all we’ve done is gone around in circles. Of course
there is nothing wrong with that as a choice if that is genuinely what a person
wants to do their life. We all have different values that are worthy or
recognition. But you should never be afraid of setting major goals for
yourself. Few people would realize how many of life’s achievers have come from
such incredibly humble origins. If you want to set a big goal then take the
time to step away from your life for some period and do some real thinking.
Seriously examine what you actually want to do. Living a worthwhile life is a
real achievement. It could be that you are interested in some charitable
endeavor or some other interest in life. You have the potential to make a real
contribution in some area. Why not take the time and set a few small goals. You
might set your first goal along the lines of gathering more information. Often
this is a good starting point. Study the idea until you know the subject in
depth. Then you might see your way into the area of interest from a better
perspective and it will help you become specific about your goals.
You don’t
have to be a goldfish. You are already an amazing human being. So where do you
want to go?
“The
energy it takes to run fast is wasted unless you know your destination.”
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