Why I don't set goals anymore.

byrocr7

2.6K followers

Updated 10 years ago

I've set goals for most of my life and, for the most part, they've served me well. When I was a kid I picked strawberries, Marian berries, and pole beans, and I remember my mom helping me set goals to pick so many crates or pounds a day. In fact, those days gave birth to a goal of my own to never work for someone else again.

At the age of 19 I dropped out of college in favor of jumping into a screaming hot real estate market and started setting performance goals for myself. I worked pretty hard, and over the years, setting goals for myself paid off and I enjoyed a level of success that exceeded that of most of my peers.

Then, some years ago I read an article about a woman who boarded a commercial flight only to have such a bad feeling after boarding the flight that she decided to get off the airplane before it departed. The airplane crashed and all on board were killed.

During an interview, the woman was explaining the phenomenon to a reporter, saying that she believed God "spoke" to her producing the awful feeling she felt in her "spirit" causing her to get off the fateful flight. The reporter asked her why she felt God only spoke to her alone and not any other passengers on the flight. The woman responded saying she believed God did speak to everyone on the airplane that day, but she was the only one that listened and took action. That statement was beyond profound to me. It stood out in the article like it had been written in red.

I pondered for weeks, even months over the idea of having a purpose in life and receiving some kind of direction during one's life to serve that purpose. The idea of avoiding tragedy and being directed to accomplish a mission instead of a self-created goal fascinated me.

I began to think about events in my life that did not turn out so well. Looking back, I can honestly say that in many of those situations I did in fact, have an uneasy "feeling" that I just kind of blew off as it did not line up with a particular goal or at least a desire, I had for myself. I continued to ponder.

Fast forward to the present. As I sit and type this, all the material fruit of my life's efforts is gone. I have nothing more than memories to savor and stories to tell for the years and years of hard work I endured. Every material goal I ever set now feels meaningless to me.

When I woke up this morning, the article about the woman and the airplane crash popped into my mind. I'm so intrigued by that woman's decision to listen to whatever still, small voice she heard or feeling she had. Think about it. One simple decision based on one obscure, but real feeling. Her life was literally spared because of it and everything she's done from that point forward... every person she's touched or accomplishment she made, is because she listened. That is beyond profound.

Moving forward I've decided to change the way I do things... the way I live my life. I've tried living a self-directed life, and while I don't necessarily have regrets, I do wonder if I have a purpose or at least what I might have missed because I didn't listen. Besides, directing my own life it hasn't really produced the end I'd envisioned. Now, since I've been presented with the opportunity, I want to try something different this time.

So it begins as I'm starting over with nothing. I'm going to try to live my life differently that I have in my past. I'm making a conscious decision to listen to my heart, my intuition... my spirit. I will make decisions in my life not to accomplish goals I've set for myself, but rather to seek direction and attempt to determine and fulfill the purpose for my life regardless if it seems logical or not at the time. Up to this point, I've directed my own life... now, I want to live a life directed.

Rico