What do you want to do?

Are the goals you are currently pursuing yours or someone else’s

I have been reading the articles that were linked by life reboot on the post 10 articles that changed my life. There are several golden nuggets of information there not just about how you should think about what you do for a living, but how you are living your life.

It set in motion several trains full of ideas that I want to write about. I know that putting my thoughts into words always helps me sort them out. If in the process I affect someone’s life in a positive way, even better.

My first take away from everything I read there was about goals. Not just how important it is to set goals, but to make sure that they are your own. If you are trying to for example make someone else happy at your own happiness expense you are wasting your time. You would be surprised how many people fall right into that trap even if they know and understand that happiness is something that comes from within. Sure, a great friend or relationship can pour gasoline over the happiness fire, but it does have to be sparked from the inside with some good all positive thinking.

After you determine that your goals are your own and not societies current trend to make us all rich, super skinny and famous you need to make sure they are attainable. While it is important to think of where you want to be five years from now, it is important to set course, you also have to get some rewards along the way. Many people that set sail for that virgin beach in the middle of the ocean sometimes forgets that it is all about the trip and not the destination.

Having short term goals that you can attain will make it a lot easier of time while trying to accomplish those long term goals. For example, right now I have a new attitude towards health. I quit smoking, stopped drinking pop and started to throttle down on carbs. While my ultimate goal is to be healthy and shed some pounds, if I only concentrate on the scale and my next cholesterol doctor check up I would not have much to be happy or proud about. Then when I did accomplish the huge goal I set my eyes on, I might not enjoy it as much if I did not have those other short term goals to keep me going.

When it comes to goals in life, I think it is important to make them personal, attainable and rewarding.