Goals and the Warriors
The point of the goal is to have something that is greater than yourself – something worth fighting for.
This single-mindedness is something that was central to the psychology of all of history’s greatest warriors, though it took a very different form. Historically, you had your samurai and your knights. A samurai’s training went to great measures to ensure their loyalty to a ‘shogun’ (a master samurai). They would be willing to die for their shogun, just as a king’s knight would be willing to die for king and for country.
Goals
Today though, this is dangerous thinking. We are all too aware that our politicians are flawed and we’ve seen how blindly following a leader or a set of beliefs can lead to terrible atrocities.
So, what we need to do instead is to create our own set of values and principles. Rules to live by and a goal or a vision to strive for. This can change but we must never let others force us to act against our code.
Unfortunately, there is no objectively ‘correct’ way to approach life. We don’t know why reality exists, what is waiting for us on the other side (if anything) or what the meaning of life is. Therefore, it is up to each of us to make our own way by assessing our own values, principles and rules to live by.
Finding Your Goal
So, let us start with finding a goal, something greater than yourself to strive toward. A purpose that you will be an instrument in accomplishing.
So this might mean that you set about changing the world for the better.
Maybe you want to put an end to world hunger, maybe you want to help slow down global warming, or perhaps you are interested in becoming a rock star or a musician. Maybe you just want to get rich.
No goal is ‘wrong’, it is simply having a goal and something to be passionate about that will give you the fuel and the fire to keep going no matter what.
Goals start with visions. So visualize the way you want life to be 5 or 10 years for now. Picture where you are, what your surroundings are, who you are with, what you’ve accomplished. This should be a vision that makes you excited and energized – your perfect life. For inspiration, consider the times in your life you were happiest, consider what you wanted to be as a child and picture some of your role models and what you can perhaps learn from them.
This is what you will picture in order to drive yourself toward change and toward greatness. This is what will get you out of bed in the morning. And then on top of that, you are going to structure yourself goals – smaller, more measurable steps that will help you to reach that point.
