“The thing about goals is that living without them is a lot more fun, in the short run. It seems to me, though, that the people who get things done, who lead, who grow and who make an impact… those people have goals.”
Seth Godin
What is fun anyway? The people I love and admire have fun doing worthwhile things and making their community a place you would want to live. I want to be one of those people who get things done, lead, grow, and make an impact for the rest of my life. Don’t you?
“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.”
Mark Victor Hansen
Where do you record your dreams and goals – In your blog, your journal? I recorded my lifelong goal to be a teacher in my journal. Each opportunity that came up to move me toward that goal, I took even when it meant a hardship financially or a fight to take a step.
“It’s important to set your own goals and work hard to achieve them.”
Yuichiro Miura
As an eighth-grader, my goal in life was to finish college and teach. Yet, I dropped out of college when my funds ran out. My dad had not prepared to pay for three years of college when my scholarship ran out and offered to pay for me to attend a 5-month course in dental assisting instead. I was nearly 19 by this time and felt desperate and OLD. Even though the sight of blood in a black and white movie made me queasy, I became a dental assistant.
After drifting in and out of a variety of jobs in my twenties, I wanted to get back to my life goal.
Our pastor told me I would not make a good teacher because my spiritual gift was encouraging, not teaching. My first husband told me that I needed to be a teacher before I could go back to school. I told him that was impossible, and I thought it was. Becoming a teacher was still a goal I wrote in my journal.
“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”
Pablo Picasso
The only possible way to teach as a profession is with a degree. Defeated, I couldn’t see a way to get to college. We were poor and my husband had a genetic disease that took both his and his sister’s lives at an early age.
When my life was at its lowest, I had lost my job as a dental assistant in the small town where we lived, and my best friend invited me to take some graduate education classes with her that she needed to renew her teaching credential. It was not expensive to audit the classes and my husband agreed.
She invited me to work as a volunteer aide in her kindergarten class. I was thrilled when she invited me to teach a kindergarten class the next year in our church school. The pay was $350 a month when the funds were there. It was enough to meet my husband’s stipulation for going to college. To me, it represented a miracle. I took the next steps to become an elementary teacher.
“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.”
Bill Copeland
Most of the goals during my thirties and forties focused on achieving the credentials to practice a profession – teaching and then consulting and administration, and remarrying the wonderful man who is now my husband of twenty-five years. I grew in my profession, and never again filled my life with meaningless and unfulfilling jobs. I quit running up and down the field without scoring.
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”
Earl Nightingale
I loved education with all my heart, and when I retired, I set most of what I did aside to build a new life. That’s when I started blogging and it has been a life-changing hobby. My overarching goals were to write and give back to the community that gave me so much. My goals have been much more short-termed, some even could be classified as tasks. Admittedly, in my search for worthwhile goals, I gave up many times on what I thought were goals.
“One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals.”
Michael Korda
We’re starting over AGAIN!
This past month, we accomplished my husband’s twenty-five-year-old dream of living in Arizona – talk about a patient and persistent man. Once I agreed, we set goals and tasks. Before we made the commitment we had a vague notion that we might move SOMEWHERE in three to five years – that was eight years ago.
Once we committed to WHERE we wanted to move, he became a driven man, and we had daily goal and task-setting meetings to make sure all the details got done in a timely manner. It was hard work, sad, sad, sad to leave the people we love. On the other hand, it was exhilarating to accomplish so much. If I talk about this too much, forgive me. I’m still amazed that we did it!
Yesterday we achieved the goal of walking across Lake Wilson and climbing a granite dell. We did it one white dot at a time. I was scared to death and none too nimble, but it felt great – when we got back on solid ground!
SMART Goals
While my husband and I walked around Wilson Lake, we set what we in education call SMART goals. Here is one of our SMART Goals for the year.
- Specific – Walk together 15 miles a week for the rest of the year.
- Measurable – 35,355 steps per week
- Attainable – 7,071 steps a day, five days a week.
- Relevant – It’s important to stay fit. I need to lose weight so hopefully, I don’t produce so much estrogen (produced in fat) Estrogen fueled the breast cancer I had removed last year. I don’t need a repeat experience. Vince and I will have a chance to chat uninterrupted for about an hour – WOW! There are lots of beautiful places to explore.- yes very relevant
- Time-bound – One year
Conclusion
In summary, I believe that God allows us to set goals for ourselves rather than trusting our lives to fate and the backlash of circumstances. My life has been directed by goals and inspired and protected by God. Sometimes goals are wrong for us, they might not be our goals but belong to someone else. That doesn’t mean we can’t help them along the way, but they probably won’t drive our lives until we make them our life’s passion. Goals motivate me not to waste my life and make me feel that each day has meaning.
So what about you?
What inspiration do you draw from quotes about goals? What do you want to do this year? How do you feel about setting goals? Do they hamper or help you, inspire or discourage you? Do you have an overarching driving goal for yourself? Do you have a goal for someone else? – That’s another story altogether, isn’t it?
Respond to any or all of these quotes, or find some quotes of your own. Let your experiences lead you. There is no word limit on your blog post. Write a post on your blog and don’t forget to link back to my blog so I can find your blog and visit. Not sure how to do that? See how to create pingbacks here.
Comments?
Talk to me. You are my friends, my very life’s blood as we seek greater, worthwhile goals to fill the days of our lives and make them bright with promise and purpose.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
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