A Productive Goal

A Productive Goal: (Audio)

I know you think it’s a “Blue” Monday. The weekend has just passed and you are not ready to face this week. But I have a challenge for you. Think quickly to next Friday evening and consider what you plan to accomplish this week.

Now. Put your shoulder to the wheel and make it happen! That might be all the planning and goal setting you need. Know where you are going, and move on!

If only life could be lived this easily.

The week may have many surprises, some emergencies, some puzzles, and others just a big nuisance. But having an end in mind is always necessary. Even if your reaction to the end has to be adjusted, don’t let your steps waiver in moving forward.

Without a goal, or a plan to accomplish the goal, you will reach the ending of your time and feel like you’ve just wandered through the week.

Sometimes your goals will require new skills. New skills often require hard work and time to master. So. Get to work preparing for the new skill set required! Do it early in the process and you’ll be prepared for the Goal Line.

In my early days of computing, I never thought a programmer was something I would enjoy doing. But the day arrived when I decided that was my next step. With input from management (the word Mentor was not in vogue back then), I enrolled in a local college and began taking necessary classes for the future. RPGII, Cobol, Fortran, Assembler. Except for Assembler, each class was attacked this way:

• First. My job had all the compilers needed and I worked the 12 hour night shift from 6 pm till 6 am… Often hours with nothing to do!
• Buy the book early, and work every practice and skill building exercise at the end of each chapter, saving the output in a box marked for the specific class.
• Walk into school the first day with the box for the class and give it to the teacher… “Now what?”, I would say.
• I would be the class assistant and help others as needed. Of course, this gave me a unique advantage to see how other minds work the same problem and made me a better coder.

By the ending of my career, I programmed in over 30 languages. Those first learning steps were always important. Know what I need to learn, and throw myself into the learning with all my energy! Use up the skill to accomplish the goal!

On the flip side, there are skills I keep adding to my toolbox every week to give me that boost I need for some future time. I never want to wait for the emergency to show up before I learn the skill.

Along the way, you will face many distractions. Some are necessary as they help you focus yourself to the goal with an internal fortitude that says you will not turn to the left, or right. For the most part, these distractions are simply areas of my attention span that I refuse to acknowledge. Controlling your attention span is very important. Rabbit trails are easily investigated, and just as easily you go far afield for no particular reason.

As I approach my retiring years, I confess that there is still so much accomplish in front of me. Daily I think, plan, prepare and take action for the future, and I suspect this part of who I am will never slow down.

Here’s my thought. Never take for granted the time in front of you. Always have a goal and something to work toward. There is no time like the present time to learn something new. Stretch your horizons. Aim for the distance.

Now. Make this week profitable!