Making Goals

No, I'm not talking about soccer. Actually, I'm not even talking about the importance of goal-setting. The truth is, goals aren't always everything you expected them to be. Sometimes, the achievement of a goal brings a feeling of euphoria. Sometimes, it's just a drag.

For example, I recently purchased a new computer. To break it in, I immediate began to play Freecell on it. As win led to win, I decided I wanted to see if I could win a hundred games in a row.

I did. Every time I needed a break from writing my newest novel, I opened up Freecell and proceeded to rattle off a couple victories or so.

I am now at 132 straight Freecell victories on my new laptop and the feeling of euphoria at having accomplished so much in so little time has yet to arrive.

In fact, it sort of reminds me of my sophomore year when I was introduced to the video game Twilight Princess. I cannot tell you how much time I wasted playing that game, particularly in that one cave with the hundred levels. But I put my head down and I made it through that d--- game at last. Guess what? I didn't celebrate. I didn't feel like I'd changed the world for the better. I felt like crap actually. To tell the truth, I threw down that controller and said, "Thank goodness that's over. Now I can get some work done."

The point is, it's one thing to set and achieve goals, but it's another to set and achieve goals that actually mean something, that will actually affect your life in some positive way.

So, when you get into that mode (goal-setting mode generally only happens once or twice for most people, if that), start by writing all of your goals down on a piece of paper. Then take a red pen and cross out all of the ones that are borderline weak or potential unsatisfactory. The idea of a worthy goal is to create within the individual a sense of real accomplishment, and your job, before you even start, is to figure which of your ideas does not contain that possibility.

Hint: Button-mashing does not count as a goal, so don't think you can follow in my footsteps and have a different result than I did. It won't happen. The only thing you will gain by it is realizing once and for all that you are, in fact, a crazy person.