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Importance of Having Goals

Right now I have a lot of things going on. These things are on my mind a lot and it is affecting my efforts to get to 30 blog posts. The past few days I have felt more of an obligation to write than in the past. I don’t want to write, I want to ignore it and focus on the other things. I know it’s important to keep blogging. I’ve come pretty far and I think I will do some good if I pursue this endeavor. But to be honest, if I didn’t have the goal to hit 30 posts by October 27, 2008, I would have stopped writing.

My life is currently an example of why it is important to have goals. Without goals, we stumble. We take our eye off what we are pursuing and give in to the every day urges. Those urges are mostly telling us to take the easy road. ‘Why try so hard, you have a perfectly good excuse not to?’ Goals fight these urges. When you’re ‘want to’ self asks that question, you can confidently answer that you have a goal to reach and doggone it you’re going to reach it.

Here are some reasons having a goal is important:

Keep you focused

Goals keep you focused on what you are out to accomplish. Goals shape you’re future. Goals are our way of actively shaping our lives the way we want them to be. Without goals, at the end of life you’re left wondering how you got so off track.

Used to Measure

You use goals to measure how far you have come. This can be a motivational boost. I’ve come half way on my way to 30 blogs, I’m not stopping now. The same idea applies to your goal. If you’ve come so far, and you’ve enjoyed it so far, why stop because of a little speed bump?

A Reason to Try

For me, my goal has been the reason I start typing each night. I know ‘why’ I am fighting my natural urges so hard. Your goals give you a reason to try. ‘Why fight so hard?’ Because you have something bigger than the current need to ‘ease up.’

What do you think? Why are having goals so important?

You Know That, But Do You Do That?

“Common sense in not so common.” –Voltaire

You know what to do. You don’t need me. You know the things you need to accomplish to make your life better. The question is do you do it? Do you take common sense and turn it into common action?

Education Is Not Learning

Education is about getting a degree, not learning. Learning is about understanding more about yourself and your world. Why are you going to school? ‘To get a degree’ most college kids will answer, I did. Does having gone to school make me any smarter than someone who didn’t? No. Absolutely not, and I can point out people to prove it.

What will set you apart from others is learning. Constant learning, the thirst for knowledge, is where you will begin to rise above your situation. I didn’t get here by nature. I have learned a lot by reading, and listening to others who have gone before me. Learning is a higher level than education. Learning should be the goal, not a degree. Ignore the letter’s, if you didn’t learn anything from school, or college, then you failed.

Stop Wishing For Luck

“Wish in one hand, shit in another. See which one fills up first”-Bad Santa

Luck doesn’t exist. What you perceive to be luck is just you trying to make excuses. Stop it! If you see someone do something wrong and still get ahead, ignore it. You don’t know that person or his life. Focus on yourself, not on others. I’m sure you are quite enough to be worrying about. You won’t get lucky, certainly not by wishing for it.

A Life Certainty: Mistakes

One of life’s certainties is that you will make mistakes. You can’t stop it. If you can’t stop something, then you accept it. But acceptance isn’t enough. What is needed is learning. We  need to learn from our mistakes. What went wrong, and why? You should ask yourself those two questions when you err.

One way to compound a mistake is to turn into chicken little. You made one mistake, that doesn’t mean you will make another. So if you have a strategy, say for your finances, and you make a mistake along the way, don’t change your philosophy because you made a mistake. Stick with your strategy if you believe it’s the right one.

404 Item Not Found – Can’t

Can’t. I have been trying very hard to get this word out of my dictionary. I don’t like it. I don’t want it. It is a silly word that only encourages excuses and negativity. There is nothing you or I can’t do. Can’t limits your potential and your ability. Sometimes other people try to force it on you, but in the end you feel you have to accept that you ‘can’t’ that’s bullocks.

My substitute for can’t is won’t. I will not. You have the ability, but you will not. You can, but you won’t. Say it: “I can.” You can do anything you want, your potential is limitless. I believe if you substitute won’t for can’t you will begin to see a whole new world of possibilities open up for you. The change will be noticeable anywhere.

Try it, anytime you find yourself saying I can’t, replace it with won’t. You’ll feel empowered.

Fighting with Myself: Being Nice

Lately I have noticed I’m not as nice as I would like to be. While I take full responsibility for being a meanie, I must realize some of the root causes. The major cause is the people I work with. They tend to be not nice to certain people in the office. I’d like to absolve myself and say I don’t join in, but the fact is I do. Sometimes to get a laugh, others just to add to the conversation. Upon reflection, I know this is wrong, yet I still find myself doing it. Another cause is me reacting negatively to criticism in my work. If I make a mistake I get defensive and tend to gripe and complain about the critic. Again, while this feels good, it is wrong. I know I have to change, and I plan to work hard over the next few weeks to not be mean. Here are my two ‘to do’s’

Don’t react — Think first

First, I instead of reacting, I have to think first. Stephen Covey Habit 1 – be proactive. Instead of reacting to the criticism I hear, and trying to rationalize my mistake away, I should ‘admit it frankly’ and correct the error. I should think about what I am hearing rather than just flying off with a natural reaction. Reacting is a negative habit, one I would rather do without. Proacting is a positive habit that I need to cultivate to reverse my ‘mean streak’.

Understand

What if I were that person? How would I feel? How would I want to be treated? Answer those questions, and act accordingly. It’s very easy to marginalize how you treat others. All you have to do is not think about their feeling. Tell yourself they are somehow different from you. In fact, they aren’t, they are just like you. When I think of it like that, I feel bad, and I should. Sometimes we have to wear a different shoe and we would act differently.

Walk away

Sometimes we need to walk away from people who have a negative influence on us. I have two ways to combat this. First tell them to stop, try to play the good cop in the group. Second if that doesn’t work, walk away. Remember they have the right to behave as they wish, you can’t change that. You can however choose not to be around them.

My challenge for the next month, is to make a concerted effort to be nicer to others. I will NOT join in on talking bad about someone. I will NOT react to criticism. I will make every effort to be courteous to all who cross my path. I WILL make every effort to think about my choices them choose an appropriate response. I promise!

Fool’s Gold: Pride

I have always debated if pride is a positive or a negative trait. One of my principles is Humility, making the problem more complicated. Can I be humble and proud at the same time? I’ll admit, I am naturally proud, often times to the point of arrogance. While I still have debates with myself, I have come to the conclusion that pride is not necessarily negative. I also know the line between pride and arrogance is very thin.

Anyone who has competed believes they are equal to their competition. We have seen competitions where one team lacks the belief they can win, this is never a pretty sight. The danger lies when you believe you are far superior to your opponent. We have also seen competitions where the underdog outperformed the favorite. College football is a great place to see this happen. Between these two scenarios exists the line between pride and arrogance.

Without pride you can’t fully develop your abilities. Why try to get good at something you don’t believe you can compete at? On the flip side, why try to improve yourself if you are so much better than the competition? Pride vs. Arrogance.

Pride really hurts us in relationships. We get into an argument and we feel so great when we win. Do you ever stop to think the cost of that victory? I know sometimes I forget that price, and it can cost us dearly. It’s a fool’s game trying to win arguments. If you need an example, read Ben Franklin’s biography. He wasn’t very liked when he was younger due to his need to prove others wrong. It wasn’t until he corrected this error that he became respected. Don’t let foolish pride get in the way of your relationships. You will gain more friends by being wrong than by being right. Keep this in mind when you are dealing with your friends. The relationship is more important than your pride.

Series of Fortunate Events

“Fortune favors the bold” – Virgil

I clicked on Wordful after commenting on a post over at Problogger. I commented and started to scan a few other comments. One comment was by Charles Bohannan who linked to his blog Wordful. Here is the post I landed on. After reading that post, I spent an hour or so scouring Charles’ blog, which is about blogging, writing, and editting.

In my world, this is known as a series of fortunate events. I have been looking for tips on blogging and writing. I’ve found some good books, and problogger is good, though quite honestly, it’s a bit overwhelming. Charles’ blog is simple and concise. The ideas are good and the writing itself doesn’t detract from the ideas (which some blogs do, this is my curse for reading on how to write, I notice bad writing now).

If you are looking for something, you’ll need some momentum to find it. Sitting home won’t help you. You need to get out and meet people and the winds of fate will bring you what you seek. Once you start looking, life will throw you a series of fortunate events.