Going One Step Beyond Goal-Setting
My hours won’t stretch because I plead
And your allotment matches mine.
Yet some glean more joy from the day.
They, somehow, more fulfilment find.
“I’ve chased success so hard!” we cry,
Through nights when “Failed!” is echoing round.
“What different steps can I now take?”
Well, grasp your pen. Then carve this down.
That noble goal we chase with force,
That task that draws our skilled intent,
That project promising such reward,
That object on which our will is bent.
Perhaps they’ll each fall in our grasp,
How sweet will taste that moment then!
We’ll look to see if others look
To praise the price we’ve spent (again).
“I’ve got that now. What’s next?” we’ll scan.
And off we’ll chase to strive our best.
The siren call: “That glorious ‘hurrah!’
Awaits you where you end that quest!”
For years we strive to clutch and own
The stuff that might impress the crowd.
Only to find, they couldn’t care less!
Their heads are in their own warm cloud.
I well recall the day I ‘woke.
That day lights lit and bells did chime.
“What you have sought for decades long,
Was right before you; all the time!”
To find the work that needs your gift.
The work your heart and mind employs.
To channel this where it’s needed most:
Where lives are lifted. There lies the joy!
And if, while risking all of that
You’ll invest rich in relationships.
Well, this is what you’ll take with you
When your last word falls from your lips.
I hope you don’t wait as long as me.
I hope you’ll very soon unearth
The truth: that what tends to consume us most
Is seldom worthy of our birth.
It’s seldom worthy of our birth.
