Clearly Defined Goals Through the Years
Just about everybody knows the importance of setting and achieving goals. If you don't aim for something, you're likely to fire off in all manner of directions, achieving little and wasting your own and possibly other people's valuable time and efforts.
You wouldn't get in your car and take off without knowing where you're going, would you? The prices of gas these day have put to rest the former pleasures of joy-riding or Sunday drives. You need to know where you're going and figure out how you're going to get there.
Personally, I've set plenty of goals and achieved many. Many years ago, I set down on paper my desire to own five newspapers. I ended up owning seven, maybe eight, before the internet came along and ruined my lavish lifestyle. But, I did make my numbers. The fact that my endeavors were only successful for a period shorter than I had imagined owes to the undeniable reality that I didn't set goals for what I'd do once I reached my intended targets.
Goal-setting changes as we age. When we're young, the sky seems limitless. There are few boundaries that people with imagination can't overcome, and that's a faculty - imagining the possible - that will serve one well whether one is planning a day-trip or a career. Never saying no is just as important as having concrete plans.
As one proceeds through life, one's goals naturally change as circumstances evolve. It's also important to note that conditions change. Technology, marital status, health, and capital all feed into goal orientation. You may want a Maserati when you're 20, but, after getting hitched and having a couple of rug rats crawling around your living room, that may not seem to be such a good idea. Economic circumstances, laws, regulations, and social customs also contribute to changes in what we'd like to achieve as we grow and age.
Having reached the "golden years", I've found that my goals have been toned down to a degree by which there isn't really much in the way of expediency or emergency surrounding what I want to do. I've also learned, over time, to be realistic as well as accepting defeat in small matters. When I make myself breakfast, I don't fret that I broke the yoke on one of the eggs I so wanted to come out over easy. Hey, scrambled works just as well.
When I plan on starting drinking at 3:30, if I'm still pounding away at the keyboard at 4:25, it's not a problem. I set up goals for this online publication, idleguy.com, and now find myself entering year two. Good thing I planned on not making any money for the first two years. That's some non-wishful thinking right there. Including the three test issues, this is the 10th publication. I had planned on doing 12, but, as with any new venture, I was accommodating to changes along the way. Besides, 10 is pretty close to 12, so I'm putting this down as a success. Sue me.
Recently, I had the opportunity for some extra R&R, and an opportunity to figure out what I want out of the rest of my life. At 70, options are obviously more limited than when one is much younger, but, despite trying my best to figure out where I was going, I kept coming up with blanks.
Had I exhausted all of the useful goals in life? Was there some deep-hidden gap in consciousness keeping me from doing anything meaningful? Had I run out of ideas, or worse, ambition?
As it turns out, it was none of the above.
I thought about making more money, and, sure, everybody could use a little more, but, I'm fairly comfortable with where I am and my income prospects moving forward. So, making a million or a billion wasn't something that I was going to pursue. Nice Idea, but I chased the money for years and years, kept coming up short, and, even when I did make some real dough, there seemed to be no shortage of people - looking at you, IRS - trying to take it from me or things upon which to spend it.
I gave up on setting financial goals long ago. I focused instead on doing things and letting the lords of finance sort things out for me.
Did I want a bigger house, a better car, a nicer haircut? Sure, why not? But those are things that I can manage without thinking about them much.
What turned out to be my ultimate goal in life - for what remains of it, anyway - was pretty much the same as it had always been.
I just wanted to be left to my own desires. To have self-determination and independence.
Some of the things I never wanted, now or in the past, are:
After far too much thought and maybe just enough vodka and tonic, I came to the conclusion that I just want to be left the hell alone.
I don't want the government, the neighbors, the community association, the police, or any other unsavory, unscrupulous people mucking around in my business. I'll make the decisions, on my own, in my own time, on my own terms. That's the way it's got to be.
You may have different ideas, goals, and priorities.
Plan accordingly.
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Historical Events that Occurred in August
August 1, 1838 - Slavery was abolished in Jamaica. It had been introduced by Spanish settlers 300 years earlier in 1509.
August 1, 1944 - The Warsaw Uprising began as the Polish Home Army, numbering about 40,000 Polish patriots, began shooting at German troops in the streets.
August 1 - Star-Spangled Banner author Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) was born in Frederick County, Maryland. Moby Dick author Herman Melville (1819-1891) was born in New York.
August 2, 1939 - Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt concerning the possibility of atomic weapons.
August 3, 1492 - Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three ships, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. Seeking a westerly route to the Far East, he instead landed on October 12th in the Bahamas.
August 4, 1901 - Jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
August 5, 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first Federal income tax, a 3 percent tax on incomes over $800, as an emergency wartime measure during the Civil War.
August 6, 1945 - The first Atomic Bomb was dropped over the center of Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m., by the American B-29 bomber Enola Gay.
August 6, 1818 - Penicillin discoverer Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) was born in Lochfield, Scotland.
August 8, 1945 - Soviet Russia declared war on Japan and sent troops into Japanese-held Manchuria.
August 9, 1974 - Effective at noon, Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency as a result of the Watergate scandal.
August 11, 1921 - Roots author Alex Haley (1921-1992) was born in Ithaca, New York.
August 14, 1935 - President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act.
August 14, 1945 - V-J Day, commemorating President Truman's announcement that Japan had surrendered to the Allies.
August 15, 1969 - Woodstock rock festival began in a field near Yasgur's Farm at Bethel, New York.
August 15, 1971 - U.S. President Nixon addresses the nation, ending convertibility of U.S. dollars to gold.
August 15, 1769 - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was born on the island of Corsica.
August 16, 1896 - Gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in Alaska, resulting in the Great Klondike Gold Rush.
August 18, 1920 - The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote.
August 21, 1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation admitting Hawaii to the Union as the 50th state.
August 23, 1927 - Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were electrocuted inside a prison at Charlestown, Massachusetts.
August 26, 1883 - One of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in recorded history occurred on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa. Explosions were heard 2,000 miles away. Tidal waves 120 ft. high killed 36,000 persons on nearby islands, while five cubic miles of earth were blasted into the air up to a height of 50 miles.
August 29, 1632 - British philosopher and pioneer in modern political thinking, John Locke (1632-1704) was born in Wrington, England.
August 31, 1997 - Britain's Princess Diana died at age 36 from massive internal injuries suffered in a high-speed car crash, reportedly after being pursued by photographers.
August 9, 1945 - The second Atomic bombing of Japan occurred as an American B-29 bomber headed for the city of Kokura, but because of poor visibility then chose a secondary target, Nagasaki.