Goals

Goals. That's a word you hear at those motivational seminars your teachers made you attend in high school. Well-intentioned, and even an effective notion, but at the tender age of 16 it almost made you want to roll your eyes. Now I have found that they can actually be quite motivating. Imagine that. Seems that a lot of things that used to make me roll my eyes I have found quite useful these days. Maturity-related?

Today I set some goals - financial and personal. I sat down on my couch with journal in hand, and was surprised at how reluctant I was to write anything down. Why? Maybe it's because I am afraid of committing myself to one goal. Or that I am afraid of making the wrong decisions, and ending up somewhere I wouldn't want to be. Whatever it was, it sure was a stronger feeling than I expected.

So there I was, pen hovering over the page, not making a single mark. And then I just wrote, made some decisions, and smiled.

Being indecisive was something that I always thought would give me freedom. If I didn't make any decisions, then I wasn't tied down to anything. This was especially true of setting goals. If I set goals, I convinced myself so well, then I wouldn't be free to pursue any spur-of-the moment notions that might come along. These thoughts, as it turns out, were extremely limiting. Indecisiveness has led me to feel as though I am being distracted at every turn as I pursue these so-called "good" spur-of-the-moment decisions, and thus getting more frustrated by the day.

So you once I got over the fear (or rather, I made myself not think about it), it felt so good to write something down. To have some things to shoot for; a relatively straight line to travel. I even felt a bit adventurous to be trying some new things. And, fancy this, I felt like I had more freedom than I did before.

Amazing how the very things that you think make you free can limit you, and what you think will limit you will set you free.

And amazing how spending twenty minutes jotting down a few things in your journal can make you feel so good!

Yeah goals! Write 'em down, it's fun stuff!