Every day, we encounter situations where we have to make decisions. Some are what we call a no-brainer, and some are perhaps more complicated. Regardless, each day we are all faced with a bombardment of decisions – that’s life.
However, there are some things that, once they are brought to our attention, seem so obvious we go along with them without any thought whatsoever. It’s as though we are presented with a problem we never knew existed followed by an instant solution, one we could never have imagined. It was like a decision had been made for us, and the process didn’t hurt one little bit. For example, as early as 1935, Cecil Mace, a philosopher, embarked upon the theory of setting personal goals. From my own experience, this became a huge phenomenon in or around the late-1960s when a culture of instant experts jumped on the goal-setting bandwagon and began preaching the features and benefits of personal goal-setting to the gullible masses eagerly clambering to be on board. All we had to do was set a goal.
It was magic! I seemed like the silver bullet for happiness.
It was an easy market to exploit. We already understood goals. We scored goals in sports such as hockey or soccer, but when it came to actually setting goals – personal goals – the gurus of this movement made setting goals so eloquent and look so simple we all experienced what we thought was a blinding glimpse of the obvious. So, without any necessary encouragement, we all followed these proverbial Pied Pipers.
In team sports, the goal of the game is to win, and the side that has scored the most goals fulfils its goal – along with a pretty trophy! But in life, we are not living to win – life is not a contest. Therefore, why should we need these wonderful goals?
When we set goals – only one of two things happen – we either achieve them or we don’t!
Those who failed to reach their goals, in an effort to boost their self-esteem, might argue that they haven’t reached their goals – YET! Whatever!
In the real world, until you succeed – you have failed. Thomas Edison might seem to disagree with this sentiment when he said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” But we’re not inventing a light bulb – we’re trying to live a happy and fulfilling life!
The reality is – those who are trying to achieve their goals are unhappy because they believe they can only be happy once they have achieved their goals. Those who have reached their goals suddenly realise they either don’t know how to be happy or they have forgotten what happiness is.
The sad part of all this is – the only way these folk can ever strive to achieve their goals is when they are unhappy. Once they succeed, they fall back to their happy place which is to set even higher goals so they can be unhappy once more trying to be happy. Instead of being the silver bullet for happiness, it’s more like chasing the end of a rainbow searching for a pot of gold!
If you find this confusing – get a ball and go and play with a dog! You’ll no doubt get tired before the dog does, so sit down, take a moment, catch your breath and think about what that dog’s goals were versus what made that dog happy!
How happy are your goals?
Let me know in the comments below.
© Copyright 2023 – MAC
Stop! Restart! 
Brian Tracy, Wayne Dwyer, Tony Robbins et al…bullshit peddlers. In the long run they only made people feel worse about themselves for not attaining the success these snake oil peddlers said they could, making their followers feel even worse about themselves.
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