Do you have a dream that you want to reach? Do you want to be something or someone in the future? Is there something you want to have? Everyone has a dream. When you want to get something, that is a wish. When you wish for something, that is a dream. When you want to make your wishes and dreams come true then that is a goal. In this article, I'm giving five important tips to keep in mind in order to reach your goals.
The Backstory
My daughter once borrowed his uncle's camera phone to take a good picture of her cat. I guess to take a good picture of the cat's face, she grabbed the cat and tried to snap a picture of its face. Obviously, doing so made the cat uncomfortable and the cat kept struggling so my daughter can't take the picture she wanted. Then, giving up on the idea of grabbing the cat, she started following the cat. The cat, obviously scared and upset about all the grabbing, tried to get away from her whenever she went closer to take a picture. My daughter, determined to get that "perfect" picture, followed the cat relentlessly until it seemed to have gotten tired of running away and just stopped to rest. Then, my daughter got her picture and it was the most beautiful picture of a cat that her mother has ever seen. Don't ask me where the picture is though, because I don't have it. It's in his uncle's memory card buried somewhere, assuming that it wasn't deleted. I'll ask them to find it though and I'll post it here once I find it.
1. Setting Goals
Have you ever heard of the S.M.A.R.T. goals? it stands for: Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Realistic-Timely/Tangible. Accept that sometimes, it is better to just relax and wait until your head is clear. Any adult would know that a cat would struggle like that but my daughter, being 5 years old that time, either vaguely had an idea or didn't consider how the cat would react. I'm not saying that my daughter should wait until she grows up to take the cat's picture. What I'm trying to say is that one should also consider the effects of an action. Life is about cause and effect. Nothing is truly ever random. Things happen because something made it happen. In order to reach our goals, we must understand the factors that are in the way of reaching that goal.
2. Patience
The picture aside, I think the moral lesson to be learned from my daughter's story is that there are things that can only be achieved with patience. Just like when she tried to grab the cat, it struggled and fought back, and my daughter never got her picture. Sometimes we forget the fact that there are things that can't be forced to happen. We try so hard and exert so much effort in order to get things done as fast as we can but the harder you try, the more you make it harder for yourself. Instead of trying to rush and force things to happen, maybe it's best to just let go and make things take their natural course. Just like when my daughter learned that forcing the cat to face the shutter caused it to struggle more, sometimes we just have to learn that rushing things and forcing things to happen can make matters worse.
3. Perseverance
So the cat got scared and tried to get away, making it harder for my daughter to take the picture she wanted. My daughter could have just given up, but she didn't. She kept following the cat to the point of what one can call "stalking" until she got her shot. It's called "perseverance", or sometimes "persistence". There are many things in life that can be achieved only if we know how to persevere. With all the technology making things faster and easier, we have seemed to forget the value of hard work. There's always an easy way, and there's always the long and hard way. I'm not against the easy way and I admit to being lazy, but there are things that we know we can achieve if we only keep working hard for it. Achieving small and easy things can be a lot easier most of the time so we tend to settle for less when we could have just given a little more time and effort to get something really great. Persevere. Life isn't always easy, but persistence and hard work always has its rewards.
4. Equivalent Exchange
In order to gain something, one must give up something of the same value. I admit to pulling this out of Fullmetal Alchemist, an anime show that I really loved. But just because it was from a cartoon does not make it wrong or childish. My daughter wanted her perfect cat picture. So, she gave a lot of patience and effort in order to get it and she did get it. The value of something is sometimes associated with the time and effort put into it. Sure you could have easily done it yourself when you saw the mechanic simply turn a bolt, but it's the knowledge of which bolt to turn that makes him special and charge what he charges you. Everyone could turn a bolt, but identifying the cause of the problem and knowing which bolt to turn took the mechanic some time and effort to learn. That is what you are paying for. Going back, in order for you to reach a great goal or dream, you must endure and keep working. Patience and Perseverance remember?
5. Stay Focused
My daughter wanted her picture. She ignored her playmates and her mother for more than an hour just stalking the cat until she got her picture. If she stopped following the cat, she might have lost it. If she let herself be drawn in by her playmates, then she would have forgotten about taking the picture. If you have a dream or goal you have to reach, you must focus on it and do not let yourself be distracted with other things. Allowing yourself to be distracted can cause you a delay in reaching your goals or worse, make you forget about your goals. Even if you have patience and you work hard, it would all feel like it was for nothing if you lose sight of your goal. In reverse, if you know your goal, you can keep working hard and you can be patient because you know that everything is leading you closer to your goal.
"Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"
- Thomas Edison
The Backstory
My daughter once borrowed his uncle's camera phone to take a good picture of her cat. I guess to take a good picture of the cat's face, she grabbed the cat and tried to snap a picture of its face. Obviously, doing so made the cat uncomfortable and the cat kept struggling so my daughter can't take the picture she wanted. Then, giving up on the idea of grabbing the cat, she started following the cat. The cat, obviously scared and upset about all the grabbing, tried to get away from her whenever she went closer to take a picture. My daughter, determined to get that "perfect" picture, followed the cat relentlessly until it seemed to have gotten tired of running away and just stopped to rest. Then, my daughter got her picture and it was the most beautiful picture of a cat that her mother has ever seen. Don't ask me where the picture is though, because I don't have it. It's in his uncle's memory card buried somewhere, assuming that it wasn't deleted. I'll ask them to find it though and I'll post it here once I find it.
1. Setting Goals
Have you ever heard of the S.M.A.R.T. goals? it stands for: Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Realistic-Timely/Tangible. Accept that sometimes, it is better to just relax and wait until your head is clear. Any adult would know that a cat would struggle like that but my daughter, being 5 years old that time, either vaguely had an idea or didn't consider how the cat would react. I'm not saying that my daughter should wait until she grows up to take the cat's picture. What I'm trying to say is that one should also consider the effects of an action. Life is about cause and effect. Nothing is truly ever random. Things happen because something made it happen. In order to reach our goals, we must understand the factors that are in the way of reaching that goal.
2. Patience
The picture aside, I think the moral lesson to be learned from my daughter's story is that there are things that can only be achieved with patience. Just like when she tried to grab the cat, it struggled and fought back, and my daughter never got her picture. Sometimes we forget the fact that there are things that can't be forced to happen. We try so hard and exert so much effort in order to get things done as fast as we can but the harder you try, the more you make it harder for yourself. Instead of trying to rush and force things to happen, maybe it's best to just let go and make things take their natural course. Just like when my daughter learned that forcing the cat to face the shutter caused it to struggle more, sometimes we just have to learn that rushing things and forcing things to happen can make matters worse.
3. Perseverance
So the cat got scared and tried to get away, making it harder for my daughter to take the picture she wanted. My daughter could have just given up, but she didn't. She kept following the cat to the point of what one can call "stalking" until she got her shot. It's called "perseverance", or sometimes "persistence". There are many things in life that can be achieved only if we know how to persevere. With all the technology making things faster and easier, we have seemed to forget the value of hard work. There's always an easy way, and there's always the long and hard way. I'm not against the easy way and I admit to being lazy, but there are things that we know we can achieve if we only keep working hard for it. Achieving small and easy things can be a lot easier most of the time so we tend to settle for less when we could have just given a little more time and effort to get something really great. Persevere. Life isn't always easy, but persistence and hard work always has its rewards.
4. Equivalent Exchange
In order to gain something, one must give up something of the same value. I admit to pulling this out of Fullmetal Alchemist, an anime show that I really loved. But just because it was from a cartoon does not make it wrong or childish. My daughter wanted her perfect cat picture. So, she gave a lot of patience and effort in order to get it and she did get it. The value of something is sometimes associated with the time and effort put into it. Sure you could have easily done it yourself when you saw the mechanic simply turn a bolt, but it's the knowledge of which bolt to turn that makes him special and charge what he charges you. Everyone could turn a bolt, but identifying the cause of the problem and knowing which bolt to turn took the mechanic some time and effort to learn. That is what you are paying for. Going back, in order for you to reach a great goal or dream, you must endure and keep working. Patience and Perseverance remember?
5. Stay Focused
My daughter wanted her picture. She ignored her playmates and her mother for more than an hour just stalking the cat until she got her picture. If she stopped following the cat, she might have lost it. If she let herself be drawn in by her playmates, then she would have forgotten about taking the picture. If you have a dream or goal you have to reach, you must focus on it and do not let yourself be distracted with other things. Allowing yourself to be distracted can cause you a delay in reaching your goals or worse, make you forget about your goals. Even if you have patience and you work hard, it would all feel like it was for nothing if you lose sight of your goal. In reverse, if you know your goal, you can keep working hard and you can be patient because you know that everything is leading you closer to your goal.
"Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"
- Thomas Edison
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