"If you are bored with life, if
you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things—you don't
have enough goals."— Lou Holtz
Recently I had an opportunity to
interact with students pursuing management education in a prestigious business
school in India. I asked them, ‘What motivates you to get out of bed in the
morning?’ Some of the students stared at
my face. I felt that they could not
understand my question properly. Then I paraphrased it and asked them, ‘how do
you feel when you get up from bed in the morning everyday?” Most of them
responded as follows: life is boring, I don’t like to get up in the morning, I
don’t like doing the same thing everyday, I don’t like going to college looking
at the same faces, I don’t like preparing for exams and so on. A few students responded that they
are excited to get up in the morning to pursue their passions and accomplish
their goals.
When people don’t get excited to get
up in the morning with energy and enthusiasm, they don’t have any meaningful
goals in their lives. In fact, a life without any goals doesn’t have any
meaning. You must set your goals on yearly, short-term and long-term basis as
goals provide meaning to your life and help you dream big and achieve big. They
also provide you with fuel to move forward with energy and enthusiasm. They
provide you a ray of hope, and help you look at the door that is opened, not
the one that is closed. They constantly remind you that you have one life and
you have many things to accomplish to make a difference to the world. Hence,
you must fix both short-term and long-term goals based on your passions and
age. If you are young, you have lots of life ahead to do many things. Above
all, you are blessed with loads of energy to do many things. Even if you fail,
you can bounce back and try again as age is in your favor. The reason behind
setting short-term goals is that even if people fail in their short-term goals,
their long-term goals will keep them aligned to the track and remain engaged
and energized.
You must divide your goals in three categories
– personal, professional and social. Personal means how you want to enjoy your
personal life like pursuing your hobbies and spending your leisure time for
your personal creativity. Professional means your passions that can give you
entry into workplace to earn your livelihood and contribute your best in your chosen
area of interest. Most people spend their maximum time in the workplace. Hence,
you must pursue your passionate areas to enjoy at the workplace. If you pursue
your passions you don’t feel like working any longer. Thirdly, you must take care of your social
goals. How do you like to be remembered for? What value would you like to add
to the society? How can people remember you even after you depart this world? When you look at leaders like Mahatma Gandhi,
Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr and Mother Teresa, they are remembered
for their contribution to the society without expecting any returns. Hence, you
must also contribute something meaningful to society either through money, or
by investing your time. God gifted you life, and you must know how to give
something back to society. You must cultivate the attitude of gratitude.
I shared with students about the
importance of setting goals and trifurcating them to lead a balanced, happy and
meaningful life. To summarize, be clear about your passionate areas that are
close to your heart. Divide them into personal, professional and social categories.
Wake up every morning with energy by following your passions and thanking God
for gifting one more day to live and contribute to the world. Life is great!
"If you want to be happy, set a
goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your
hopes."— Andrew Carnegie
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Life is great!
Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR
Leadership Consultants India
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