freakingID

"Lookin' out my front door..."

I had no trouble getting up and out of bed today. In fact, I got up before the alarm went off. Everything went smoothly and I even got to work on time. I attribute this to having set some semblance of personal goals.

Nice litter in the right of way. West is a bummer.

In high school, I had goals:

1. Get good grades so you can get into a good school and get some scholarships and move generally Forward.
2. Get strong and ripped so you can be a superhero physicist when you grow up.
3. Some sports goals, but to hell with that Senior year.
4. Scholastic bowl goals, though we didn’t take it seriously — we were just naturally awesome.
5. Build a robot to win the Westinghouse Science award.

You get the picture.

Some goals, I met, then improved upon. Other goals were not reached, but I know I gained a lot in their pursuit.

Home. House. Abode. Bungalow. Pad. Roost.

In college, I sort of had goals:

1. Get good grades so you can get a good job.
2. Make some money so you’re not broke when you get out of school.
3. Increase and maintain personal freedoms at nearly all costs.
4. Continue working out, in case you still want to be a superhero physicist.

Many of these goals didn’t work out. I didn’t have the proper framework to pursue them, to keep me on track. I mean, why study Mechanical Engineering if you don’t even know how to apply what you learn?

Onward, chicken soldiers.

After leaving college, I had no goals, but had drive

1. Continue to increase and maintain personal freedoms.
2. Figure out who the hell you are.
3. Reject most forms of authority and conformity.
4. Work your ass off so that even though you didn’t finish college you can get a good job.

More trees... I said *more trees!*

I have worked from that drive for a long time now. I probably should have morphed the drive into tangible goals about ten years ago. I say that as I look back and think “damn, I should have done <x> by now, what the hell happened?”

The answer is, you cannot do the remarkable <x> things you want to do unless you at least loosely define the <x> and make plans to reach it.

Path to { mediocrity | greatness }

It feels awesome to have decided on some of those goals. While not concrete goals like “become a doctor,” they are goals that point in a general direction. Pursuit of these goals will teach me things and gain me great experience, if nothing else.

Oh, yeah — and pursuit will keep me getting up in the morning.