Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Cool looking out there with the fog today. A rare “Saturday” edition of the “Looking Out My Back Window” blog today. Tomorrow is a travel day. Going back to Florida, giving myself nineteen days to write my next book “Everybody dies – A Manual for Life”. That’s what I did last year to get “Feed Your Angel” done. I didn’t know if it would work then (it did), I don’t know if it’ll work again (TBD)… but this is the goal. And it has me thinking a little about goals today. Although it might seem like I’d be a big “goal” person, have a plan for everything – a five year plan, a ten year plan, etc… I’m really not much of a goal oriented person at all (IMO)… the goals I set are usually something like this upcoming trip – when I want to get something done, I’ll set it up to have a deadline and that deadline will move it ahead on my priority list to where I’ll finally do it. After I get back I’ll be playing drums a lot to get ready for a show on May 11th, then I have a speech and book signing on May 21st I’ll need to prepare for. It’s kinda “one goal at a time”. But I don’t really ever look far out and try to predetermine where I’ll be years in the future. Not saying that’s a bad thing to do, just that I’ve never bought into it. And sometimes I see where people set goals that I’m not sure really create happiness in their lives, or the lives of others. Maybe the main goal we should all work from should be “don’t be an asshole”. I think we could all name a few people who could move that goal up on their list. Maybe a few people might think we could move it up on our lists as well. I really like goals when it comes to something physical, like “run a marathon”, “lose twenty pounds in three months”, etc… I think it can help you maintain focus. “Write a book in nineteen days” I’m OK with. But, man – planning five or ten years out?… I think there are always things you have to look forward and be ready for, but you never know what opportunities will present themselves over time. I like to try to be as open as possible when they do. Maybe it’s more about looking at how we spend our current moments than anything else. Are we happy? Are we fun to be around? Do we help other people whenever possible?… so, if I had to write a list of five year goals it might read something like this: I want to be happier than I am now. I’d like to be in better shape physically than I am now. I hope that I’ve touched the lives of as many people as possible through my work, my books, my music and my talks, and affected their lives in a positive way. I want to know I’m financially secure, and my family will be should anything happen to me… huh. Those were just off the top of my head. And, in order to be any of those things I need to work on them going forward. So, maybe I need to rethink my position on long term goals a bit, because you can’t hit a target you never hung on the wall.
