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Good goal setting doesn’t require
genius level intelligence. A common sense approach will take me
anywhere I want to go. I already possess the skills necessary to set
long-term, intermediate-term, and short-term goals.
My goals should be
big enough to strongly attract me and small enough that their attainment
is possible. No hard and fast rules apply to the techniques of goal
setting. If I do a good job of setting them, I feel their motivating
power. If I do a poor job, they instill a sense of dread.
Powerful goals do more than provide direction; they also energize and
excite me. They are music to my ears, and I love to listen to them all
day long. They get me up in the morning and start me marching through
the day. When the going gets tough, they help me keep on keeping on.
Goals are wonderful as long as I keep them in perspective. As long as I
don’t fall in love with them and believe my life will be perfect when I
attain them, they serve a useful purpose. Goals are only an aiming
point; the journey is the important thing. During it, I became a
different person with different beliefs. What I became is the important
thing. My goals were only places I visited on my journey to becoming
all that I can be.
Copyright © 2013
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We raised our anchor at the crack of dawn and turned south down the
western coast of Langkawi. As we rounded a headland, we glided silently
past an anchored fisherman asleep in his long tail boat. He spent most
of the night fishing, and before he went to sleep, he set a kerosene
lantern on his bow so passing ships would not run him down in the dark.
He did not stir from his slumber as we sailed by in the rising sun, and
as I watched him sleeping, I felt that I was witnessing something
profound.
I was sailing in my complicated yacht that cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars living my dreams, and he was living his in a vessel that cost a
few thousand dollars. A single Briggs and Stratton pull start engine,
oars for people power, and an uncomplicated fishing rig defined his
existence. He had simple pleasures, but he had a great life.
Wherever I sailed around the world, I continually met people who had
simple pleasures and a great life. Although they didn't have much
money, a complicated lifestyle, or lots of things, they did have
contentment. Throughout our circumnavigation, there was a positive
correlation between a simple life and contentment. Whenever I returned
to "uncivilization" in the rich countries, people were consumed by the
cost of living high, and contentment was in short supply.
Several times in my life, I almost succumbed to the Gospel of More. You
know what I mean. More is better, and the person who dies with the most
toys wins. Its victims give free reign to desire; they spend their
lives chasing after everything that does not satisfy. Only at the end
of their life do they realize that more is actually less, because more
chases contentment out of their heart.
Of course, this may all be sour grapes. After all, I'm not rich in the
things of this world. My pile of dollars is fairly small, and in the
acquisitions department, I didn't end up with a mountain of things; I
have only a small mound to stand on. If you look under my mattress, you
won't find a stash of cash. Instead, you will only find contentment.
Now that I'm back at work in "uncivilization", there's a certain
malaise in my life. I'm treading water in a sea of discontent, and all
of the things I didn't have or need a few months ago are now part of my
life. I have fallen off Exit Only, and I want to get back on board.
The other day, I was talking to a USED LIFE SALESMAN. He told me that I
could be rich and famous if I bought what he was selling. All I had to
do to was make equal monthly payments of all the contentment that I
have in my heart. He gave me his personal guarantee that I would have
an endless supply of cash and piles of stuff for my personal enjoyment.
I distrust USED LIFE SALESMEN and their promises of wealth and fame. I'm
not buying what they are selling. Furthermore, contentment can't be
purchased at any price. I'll pitch my tent with the unrich and unfamous,
and together we will raise our glass of contentment and toast our good
fortune. Life is good.
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