You Can Do It!

You Can Do It!

Goals for your long-term welfare 

Plant the right seed to get the right plant. (Anon

It is so easy to be hoodwinked into setting goals which give instant pleasure or self-gratification. To work only towards gratifying our short term wants is to sell ourselves short. And there is a big difference between needs and wants; most of us have many wants but few have real needs. With wisdom comes the ability to learn to distinguish between the two. Asking ourselves whether something we desire is a want or a real need is greatly revealing.

An example of self gratification might be when a young woman spends all her money on travel but fails to invest in any way for her future. By not training or studying to have a satisfying or worthwhile career, and therefore a better quality of life, she fails to prepare in any way for her long-term welfare. Her immediate aim is to have a ball for a year or two, bumming around the world! Certainly she will broaden her experience, make new friends, and learn about the world - but then what? At some point reality strikes. When her travel stint is up or her money runs out, she's going to have to come home and do something with the rest of her life. With no training and no money, what is she going to do? One option is to start from scratch again and take any old job while she slowly climbs back up the career ladder.

Many people who have followed this particular path have ended up restless and dissatisfied with their lives for quite some time after returning home. They have found it very hard to settle down, to set career goals, and put in the time, effort and commitment required to attain them.

I'm not knocking travel, I think travelling and learning about the world can be a wonderful experience, one which everybody at some stage of their lives should have. What I'm saying is that instant and self-gratification goals should not replace, or take precedence, over long-term goals which might affect our future welfare. There is a right time and a right order to fulfill a goal like travel. We need to ask ourselves if we have thought beyond immediate self-gratification. After fulfilling this more superficial goal, or indeed any self-gratification type of goal, then what?

In setting goals, always be aware of three things.

1. The end result.

2. The effect on personal long-term and total welfare (that is, where is it ultimately going to lead?).

3. Balance: will it lead to a state of balance in life or will it cause us to be out of balance because of it? 

While it is acceptable to have some instant and self-gratification goals in life, they should not be the ultimate goal and become 'an end in themselves'. The above points will act as a measuring-stick and give a better overview of the total picture when setting superficial goals. Had the young woman cited earlier paused to consider the following factors she may have changed the order in which she did things.

When it was over, what did she have to come back to?

If she had set her life/career goals first and put in some training and effort to attain them before satisfying her more superficial goal, her travels might have been more rewarding in terms of the greater opportunities provided, such as higher salary prospects, useful contacts, and so on.

It would have been wiser for her to define her long-term goals before indulging in her present self-gratification goal and have them in mind for her return home. In this way she would not be losing direction, but only temporarily deviating from her main plan in life. While taking time out, something we all need to do, she would not be losing sight of what she wants in life and from life.




Close Window