Goals

There are lots of different types of goals that people try to achieve in their life. This morning I decided to break them into 4 categories.

1. UPKEEP GOALS – These are small goals that are accomplished, but need to be redone frequently. Some examples would be:

• Doing the dishes
• Walking the dog
• Getting the oil changed on your car
• Balancing your checkbook

Because of the frequency of accomplishment, and the relatively small reward these have a tendency to be dissatisfying. It is also difficult for most people to be successful in all aspects simultaneously, which can give a false sense of failure.

2. GOALS OF AMBITION – These are larger goals that have higher difficulty, and usually take longer to accomplish. They rely on some degree of external measurement or validation. Some examples would be:

• Making $1,000,000
• Getting a Masters or Doctorate Degree
• Having your work published
• Becoming Famous

These goals have a high level of challenge and the reward can sometimes be life changing. After achieving an ambitious goal, one is likely to feel elated for a time. Often these goals of ambition are really goals of self mastery in disguise.

3. GOALS OF SELF MASTERY - Goals that are self imposed that test self discipline. These do not rely on external validations, and are occasionally done purely for the sake of challenge. These are often physical in nature. Some examples would be:

• Running a marathon
• Giving up smoking
• Communicating frustration without yelling
• Never being late
• Facing a fear

These goals do not have the same intense climax as the Goals of Ambition, but tend to be satisfying over a longer period of time. When achieved, these goals contribute to a higher level of confidence.

4. GOALS OF CONTENTMENT – These are self imposed goals where the measurements and results are entirely emotional & internal. These do not test self discipline. Some examples include:

• Letting go of anxiety and worry
• Appreciating what you have
• Accepting uncertainty
• Self forgiveness
• Being ‘in the moment’
• Feeling happy and contented

These goals have no climax and no timeline. They are continual in every moment. They tend to be so abstract that they are not always acknowledged as goals. They are achieved or failed on a moment to moment basis.

As you may or may not have noticed, these descriptions have a bit of a progression to them. We have moved from external goals to more and more internal goals.

Our society focuses very much on external accomplishments – Where did you go to school? How much money do you have? Do you have a fancy car? Are you famous? What is your importance? Do you have political clout? But these things seldom correlate with our individual contentment.

So you finally made a million dollars – that’s great! Or is it? After the original elation wears off, you find out that there is a negative side to having all that money**. Your friends act funny around you now that you are ‘rich’. People expect new things from you. You quit your job and suddenly you don’t know what to do with yourself. The structure of your week is gone and everyone else is working during the day.

And you become anxious that your money will disappear. You have more resources than ever before but you desperately hold on to your money, terrified of going back to your old life. Your goal has been achieved, and you can see nothing to look forward to.

Alternatively, let’s say that you have had a great deal of success appreciating what you have and feeling happy and contented. Suddenly these ‘upkeep goals’ don’t seem like pesky chores any more. From this vantage point they are not something that you are getting out of the way to attend to ‘more important’ things.


**Just so you know, I am not against acquiring wealth. My point is only that riches have little or nothing to do with happiness.

Not Fair!

You want to be happy. You are attempting to be peaceful. You are trying so hard to be nice.

But then someone comes along and says something attacking that is hypocritical/untrue/irrelevant. Or maybe you are chewed out for something that is beyond your control. It could even be a genuine accident on your part that was blown way out of proportion.

Often it comes from a loved one or someone you generally respect. You might have even been going out of your way to help that person, making the attack feel even more inappropriate.

And you feel your blood begin to boil at the injustice! You feel an instant need to set them straight and clear your maligned name.

Hold on there, partner. There are a couple ways this could go:
1. You could ‘set them straight’ and defend your position. Or
2. You could ‘accept’ the barrage of negativity without taking a position.


Let’s consider the two options.


Scenario Number 1 – You point out the flaws in the other person’s argument. You masterfully argue your side logically and mask your inner rage (with great effort).

For some reason, the other person only becomes more unreasonable. Now they are bringing up issues from the past that aren’t directly relevant to the current situation. They are citing times where you did the exact same thing. What a shit storm!

You can’t understand why the other person is fighting you so hard. You wish you had a microphone to record the conversation so that you could share it with the other person when they are feeling more rational.

Eventually, the discussion/argument is discontinued without resolve. You just barely escape – but you still feel resentful. Neither party has gotten resolution from the ‘discussion’.

Sometimes the other person apologizes for the actions. Sometimes not.

And if the other person doesn’t see your side of the argument, you never fully forgive them because in your heart you know that you were right.

With time, the bad feelings fade and life goes more or less back to normal but your connection with this person has been weakened.


Scenario Number 2 – **You sit and listen while the other person attacks. Instead of using you masterful understanding of logic to contradict the other person, you focus that logic silently on figuring out why this person is attacking you.

You are already secure in the fact that you did nothing wrong. You don’t need to prove that to anyone else. So you listen. And ask questions. And an interesting thing happens.

After a bit of time, the two of you realize that the REASON for the attack has nothing to do with CONTENT of the attack. Even though you were chastised for something unfairly, it will eventually come out that there is an underlying issue.

Again you choke back the urge to point your finger at them screaming “See! See! Don’t you see how UNFAIR you were being!” – because you know that this would start another wave of attacks, citing times where you did the exact same thing, etc....

You find out that the person has some big issue that is clouding their judgment. You realize that whatever insignificant thing that you did was only a catalyst that opened the door to their deeper feelings. Usually it has something to do with feelings of fear on some level.

By not engaging in the argument, you have shown that you will not judge their feelings. You have indirectly made the environment 'safe' for talking about the deeper feelings of fear.

You realize that you no longer feel the need to be right. You understand their feelings and why your insignificant action ignited such a strong reaction. You still feel that their reaction was unfair and out of place, but you forgive them.

You forgive them because you understand why it happened (whether justified or not). You forgive them because they have gotten their temper out of control and you want to enjoy their company once again. But most of all you forgive them so that YOU can move on - so that you don’t have to carry around resentment.

It is unfair. But this is an important component to maintaining happiness.

Why do we always feel such a compulsion to be right?


**Note – I know that some feel that this would be ‘backing down’ or ‘being weak’. The truth is that it takes a tremendous amount of strength not to engage when someone is egging you on. It’s easy to indulge in your negative emotions. Keeping positive throughout someone else’s negativity is way harder.