When I
was in my early twenties, I declared that I would accomplish a handful of
things by the time I reached 30 years of age. Tonight is the eve of my 32nd
birthday and I must admit that out of the three... wait, four... goals that I
set for myself a decade ago, I've only accomplished a single one in my 30th
year. A few months before my 31st birthday, I found myself
practicing my signature over and over again on pieces of scratch paper,
preparing for the signing of mortgage and title documents. I even selected the
pen with which I would sign my name. March 31, 2012 will go down in history as
the day that I started my journey through the myriad of emotions that come with
home ownership. Regardless, the mental and financial anguish of purchasing and
owning a home cannot overcome the pride, excitement and joy of waking up each
morning and thinking, "this is my house that I shall make into my home,
each and every single day." I'd like to take this time to thank Home Depot
for carrying a million color choices on free color sample card. I would also
like to thank the creators of Allure vinyl plank flooring.
So, what
about those other as yet unfulfilled goals? My 30th birthday came
and went, and so did those goals, well, at least for a while. I sulked in
defeat, just for a little, after turning 30. However, the pouty phase
eventually wore off and so what if I was 31 when it occurred, I did don a cap
and gown once again - this time with a hood, sash, and cords - and survived
another commencement exercise that marked my completion of a Master of Arts
degree. This leaves two more of those four goals unchecked on the to-do list of
my life. With the 30-years-old age deadline on these goals automatically lifted
as of July 11, 2012, I have no choice but to make an exception to my
self-imposed timeframe and to issue myself a supplemental agreement to extend
time of performance (if you've done
government procurement and contracting, you should probably get that, bonus if
you laughed!). With time not waiting for my accomplishments to occur, my
only two options are to 1) give up on those goals, and 2) keep trudging on
toward them. Selecting option 1 will lead to a breach of contract, and that
would be bad, so I am leaning toward selecting option 2 (Ha-ha-ha, more
contracting lingo - so clever, huh?).
I am
writing about this not to keep you, the reader, in suspense until I reveal the
*gasp* remaining goals of my life. No, that is not the intent, and I probably
will not even tell you what they are in this post. What I will tell you is that,
as I get older, I feel like I am becoming more skilled at composing goals in
business-like fashion, almost with documented action plans and logic models
tracking my planned and actual progress toward outputs and outcomes. Hey, actually,
that does not seem like such a bad idea; segue to the "Joys of OCD"
blog post. On the contrary, what seems to matter more to me now is the fact
that I have set these goals for myself
and construct general plans to work toward them, not so much the
accomplishment of the goal itself or the timeframe in which it should occur.
These are not your run-of-the-mill "I will lose 5 pounds" type of
goals, but goals that will take emotional and financial endurance like none
other. Tomorrow morning, after I wake up, I will ask myself, "Am I ready
to tackle working toward these goals?" Well, not before wishing myself a
very happy birthday, of course. Okay, I think I’ll have my morning coffee
before asking myself that. Actually, I should probably wait to see how my
workday goes, too...
There is
only one unaccomplished goal in my life that I can attach to the excuse of,
"too late for that," and that would be the winning of a gymnastics
medal. They don't hold competitions for gymnasts who mount their floor exercise
routine with a cartwheel. Sadly, I don't think I could do a cartwheel now if I
tried to; this is a sad thought knowing that I could once cover an entire
basketball court with a array of handsprings, layouts and twists. Other than
this one goal, I am pretty convinced that these other "big" goals
that I have consciously (re)placed on my to-do list are achievable goals that
are things that I want and things that I am confident about accomplishing.
I came
across a quote from author Harvey MacKay online today:
"A
dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline."
I think
that many of us allow our dreams die when we become engulfed with the
"regular" things we need to do in our lives - parenting, working,
cleaning, etc. - or just because we permit ourselves to become too lazy to work
toward making a dream into a goal, and becoming even more lazy when it’s time to carry out the plan to achieve that goal. No
matter where you are in life, I think it’s important to keep on
dreaming and to keep on creating goals from your dreaming. Working with older
individuals (a.k.a. “senior citizens” or “elderly”), I see lives being lived with vivacity and fervor by 70-or-80-plus
year-olds. Some of our County’s “seniors” in the local line dance
classes could probably out-dance me at a shindig. They are living actively
despite the biological and sociological barriers that nag at them because they
continue to dream, continue to set goals, and continue to thrive. Because they want to and believe that they
can. They remind me that at this age, I really have no excuse to be a bundle
of defeat.
The goals
that still linger in my head are there because they are the products of a dream
or two that I am holding onto. I have set some loose guidelines and timelines
for them (again!), but will be a little more flexible than I was before; life
happens, right? Who knows, they may happen tomorrow, for all I know. I just
hope that my family and close friends are ready for a spur-of-the-moment wedding
ceremony and reception. Just kidding. Simmer down, folks. That was just a mere
example for illustrative purposes. J
Thanks
for reading. If you understood, well, thanks for that, too!
Have an
amazing day, everyone. God bless y’all!
P.S. Not
a totally impressive goal, but here’s a little side story related
to a goal I set when I was in high school:
In 1995, Honda Motor Company’s “luxury” division launched the Acura
TL sedan. It sported the clean and perfectly balanced lines and build of the
Honda lineup of the time, complete with frameless glass windows and yellow fog
lights integrated into the headlamps (only true import junkies of that era will
understand the “coolness” factor there). I requested a brochure from the Acura
dealership in Honolulu as a visual reminder that I would someday drive an Acura
TL. I held onto that brochure since then and trashed it only a few years ago.
That someday finally came. I have driven a 1997 Acura TL
for the past few years thanks to a lucky buy through a family friend. It looks
just like the one that I used to admire on that brochure.
Talk about being patient with a goal.
