Not Having Goals is Boring

A friend recently posted a Facebook status that asked for opinions on a blog or a post or some sort of rant that someone wrote about how "GOALS ARE BULL[EXPLETIVES]."  I'm always good for an opinion it seems, but since the friend then followed up the request by specifying she wanted opinions from a specific friend (not me), I didn't know if I should post anything.  So instead of mucking up her Facebook wall, I decided to write my passionate response here. Also, for two different reasons in the last two hours, I thought that my life was in jeopardy. Seriously. I still don't know if it actually was in danger in one case (I think that I will find out though, tomorrow). So I have a little bit of adrenaline in me right now, which may influence my writing.

Goals are good.  Necessary.  And, well, it's just illogical to say otherwise.

We all make goals.  We make goals all the time. Often times they are simple goals, like, "Tomorrow I will get up on time."  Is that so bad, really?

As Catholics, there is NO getting around it!  Goals are some of the most important parts of our faith.  In fact, 1 Peter even talks about goals, saying that the goal of our faith is Salvation (1 Peter 1:9).  Is that, also, bad?

And what do we say during the Act of Contrition at the end of Reconciliation?  We say "I firmly resolve with the help of Your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life."  A resolution IS a goal. If you heartily believe that goals are bad, then you have no right or authority to pray that prayer because that prayer would be a lie.


Our culture has such a negative view on goals.  Why?  Because people make New Years Resolutions they don't keep?  Or is it because goals present a challenge that people are simply too lazy to deal with?  The person who wrote the blog/post/article thing stated that it's because sometimes people stick to goals that are unhealthy or bad for themselves. But does that mean that there is something intrinsically wrong with goals (by the way, the author later wrote that 9 out of ten times, goals ARE good. So which is it? Are they bad or are they mostly good?).

I don't understand this idea that goals are bad. People who believe that they are act like there is some evil associated with them. Like I said, I just don't get it.

No athlete accidentally ended up winning a gold medal at the Olympics. No author accidentally planned, wrote, edited and published a best selling book. No doctor accidentally graduated from medical school. No President accidentally got elected. No Saint accidentally ended up in Heaven. Great accomplishments take planning, forethought, desire and work. Greatness requires goal setting.

Why does this bother me so much? Well, because I have accomplished things as a result of my goal setting. And I have known people in me life who have been so afraid of the "evil" that is "goal setting," that they have ended up in very bad situations. I've seen the sorrow that comes from a lack of goal setting and it ain't pretty.

If you don't have goals, then what's the point of living? The author in question here mentioned that, once you reach a goal, you feel like there's nothing more to work for. Like there's no more in life. Well, there is this amazing thing called, "setting a new goal." Like in the movie "Tangled." It always makes me feel all girly and dorky when Flynn says, "you were my new dream," and Rapunzel responds, "and you were mine." Ugh! I love it! Rapunzel was able to move in her life after she did achieve her life goal, and Flynn was able to move on after realizing that his old goal was a bad one. Which is funny, because he actually ended up getting his old goal, but since that goes against the point I was trying to make, forget that I pointed that out just now! After all, it's a fairy tale. And a cartoon. It's a story of a socially skilled girl with magic hair that glows when she sings who falls in love with the first person she's EVER talked to or interacted with (besides her mother) in her entire life. It's adorable, but there's not a lot of realistic-ness in that story, including Flynn getting his dream of riches and castles. But I digress.

So what is the point if living without goals? If you're not going towards something, what are you doing? You're standing still. And standing still in life is just boring. I mean, even if you're going backwards, you're still going.  It's still more interesting than just standing still.  Lessons can be learned from going backwards.  A person who truly never made goals would become bored and lonely because people typically don't like to hang out with boring people. Could you imagine a movie based off of characters who didn't have any goals? There'd be no plot. No purpose.

The post thing ended with the person saying that it's our intentions that really matter. To me it's like tomato/tomato (funny how that expression doesn't really work in writing). Intentions and goals really are the same thing. Intending how you will spend your time and setting goals for your time are the same thing. But for some reason, the word goal has bad connotations for that person, so if setting intentions instead of goals is what they need to do to have a fulfilling life, I suppose that's ok, because it really is the exact same thing. 

Haha!  They said the same thing I said!

Goals are good. If you want to see for yourself, try going a day without making a single goal. Oh, you can't, because in order to do so, you'd have to make the goal to not make goals, and then you'd lose. 

So don't do it.  Don't make any goals.  Don't make a bucket list.  Don't get an education.  Don't be in a loving and committed relationship.  Don't be healthy.  Don't own a house.  Don't help anyone.  If that's what you want.  Don't go to Heaven.  Goals are clearly trying to ruin your life.  So just...don't.