Tag Archives: Goal

Goals and getting to them

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I posted a while back about wanting to lose some weight. It was before Thanksgiving and I resolved to lose the extra 15 pounds I put on.

Resolution doesn’t count worth squat for me. Unless there’s a concrete target that I’m aiming for I lack the resolve to just get there. Doing something abstract doesn’t get me motivated enough for it.

The moment I declared that I want to start in the Dakar at some point things switched in my head. Even though this is a far away thing that might never happen I’m sticking to the caloric goals I’m setting for myself. If I don’t get to go at some point, it won’t be for lack of trying.

This is something that I’m found about me. When I want to do something concrete I get an almost bizarre single-minded focus on getting there. Not to the exclusion of other things mind you — I can be single-mindedly focusing on a bunch of things. When I set out to get my amateur radio license I declared that I would pass all three tests in one sitting: Technician, General and Extra. I sat with books studying for the better part of two months. Of the 120 total questions I missed one. It’s not that I’m necessarily that good, but the fact that I was damned if I wasn’t going to pass. I took practice tests until I was blue in the face and could pass every time. The target was my ticket.

If I had to generalize, I’d guess that this is why new year’s resolutions wear off so quickly. Abstract goals are something that are hard to attach to. If you give yourself the ability to see the goal and can measure your progress towards it then it gives you something to focus on.

But I think it’s more complicated than that.

You can say I want to lose 20 pounds. That’s concrete and measurable, right? I don’t know. What happens at the end of that? Are you a different person? If the goal is to “fit into the dress” however, that’s concrete. Weight is the measure of progress, the goal is to do something with that progress.

It just seems that most people, myself included, are awfully bad at doing something just because it’s good for you.

Goals, dreams and wishes – Part 2

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This is where goals come into play. If you have a dream and do something to get there, well now you have something.

I’ve had some dreams in the past. I took steps to get there. I didn’t always succeed though. That’s OK.

I wanted to get to Alaska — north to the Arctic Sea.

I bent a front wheel instead.

I wanted to get up to Goose Bay.

I wrote off a bike instead.

Every time I went out again I went out a little better prepared. Live and learn. The real deal is to get yourself out there.

Let’s dream big. Let’s dream f***ing big!

Embarrassingly big in fact. What about running Dakar? Am I too old for it? Dunno. Just a few clicks found me a 52 year old from Australia. I have a bit of time until I’m there.

Will I win?

The Dakar? No. Of course not. I’m not in the same league as the winners. Even a top 10 on a stage would be too much to hope for. Finishing is the only win I would need.

There are decisions to make. The move to California plays into this as well. My expenses go up, but so does the opportunity to ride. Not only ride, but ride in the type of terrain that I’ll see out there. Other things like what to spend money on. What not to.

Hell… people make resolutions to “work out.” Working out isn’t a goal unless you simply want to get sweaty. Ok, you might look better and that is a goal. The resolve goes to getting to the goal, not path to it. That being said I need to work out to get in shape to even train to do this.

I also need to get a dirt bike. And train on it.

Isn’t this stupid? A pipe dream?

Stupid? Of course. It’s lunacy to want to throw myself into two weeks of misery. And it’s two weeks if I finish without breaking the bike or me. I was listening to an interview of a woman I was following from Adv: Jenifer Morgan who started the race. She crashed out with a broken leg. You could tell the complete lack of regret in her voice. Even with everything that happened. I’m more than proud that she got as far as she did.

Why Dakar? Why the moon?

Something to shoot for.

When En and I went on our trips there were times I was bitching up a storm. Pissed off at me. At her. At the bike. At the f***ing trip.

The moment we got back I reminisced about the trip.

“Adventure is hardship recounted at leisure.” (Something read on AdvRider.com)

One of my coworkers races too. Not bikes, but sailboats. None of this wussy sail around the harbor in Lake Erie (sorry Eric if you’re reading this — I’m not calling you a wuss. Just the comparison I’m about to make here!), but a race from California to Hawaii. Alone.

Same thing, different medium.

Why? To test your own mettle. To say you’ve done it; or at least tried.

My stretch goal: by the time I’m 50. This trumps even the Stalin-era five year plans. I’m talking nearly 15 here.

I think I can do it. At least make it there. On a bike.

If you’re going to dream, make it big. Look at the NaNoWriMo things I did… 50K words in a month. Insane. Dakar: Insane-er. Just plain out-and-out dumb if you ask me.

All the better!

Goals are good. Doing is better. If you try and fail at least you learned something for next time. At least you have a good story.

Wishing and hoping are for losers.

Goals, dreams and wishes – Part 1

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I think I have a new goal to shoot for. A stretch goal to be sure.

One of the things I’ve always wanted to do was run in a proper endurance race. If I had to take my pick I’d probably pick Le Mans. The problem is that it takes a ton on money (quite literally) to run it. Not only that but you need to get invited to participate in it.

A dream that you don’t do anything about is merely a wish. As much as I wish to be president (ok, so I don’t, but bear with me) I’m not going to win an election unless I get off my butt and run for some office first. Wishes work well for genies, but not in most normal situations.

I lump some other things into with wish bucket as well. Take winning the lottery. Pretend for a moment that I played the lottery. Not only is the chance of me winning so slim, but I don’t really have a say in the outcome either — it’s pure chance.

So, in a nutshell, a dream that can’t be realized without an act of god is nothing more than a wish.

Nothing Beats a Miss But a Try

I found this in the men’s room at work. (Seriously)

Ok. Missing the urinal is a fail in this case.

But the message held within the corporate art is true.

Except in the bathroom. Nothing beats in miss but a mop in that case.

In real life the effort counts more than the result in so many cases.

If wishes were horses beggars would ride.

Continued tomorrow…