Goals Are Stupid

Setting goals sounds like what you need to do to be successful, it is what every HR Manager will ask you in any interview. What is your 5 year goal? 10 year goal? Guess what. I have never achieved any goal I told those people in those interviews.

I told many people that I would have a Project Managers Certification over the last 5 years. I am allowed to sit and take the test at any time. I haven’t because.

• I get to do the job everyday anyway.
• No one asks me to see my certificate before they do the job I ask them to.
• It won’t make me a better person, it will only be a bragging point and no one likes a braggart.

Goals, in an extreme, mean you aren’t happy until you achieve your goal. Then what? OMG! I didn’t make my 5 year goal mark. My life is going nowhere. I got passed over for promotion. I will never be a success.

Remember that a goal is only achieved once. Even when you finally achieve your dream goal you will see that goals are only the seeds that grow into problems. A goal is fleeting. You get there, you feel happy for a second, and then the worries begin again.

If I set a goal to get a job at a specific company and do, I would get the gratification of achieving a small goal but then the other things set in. Am I good enough to keep this job? Am I wearing the correct attire? Now I am worried I will lose it. Or I have to kiss ass to my boss. Or I have to impress my colleagues. And I go to bed stressed on bad days.

Write down your goals. If you don’t have any, make some up. Now cross them out. Replace each goal with a theme. 

Yes a Theme.

You can build your days around your themes. I want to learn more. I want to be healthy. I want to be good to people. I want to help people feel good about themselves. I want to be creative. I want to choose me.

Guess what? When you are focused on the now and working towards your daily theme everything else falls into place. Because you studied more or wrote more or chose to be nicer to people, you get chosen to be the one people want to be around.

You have the attitude of gratitude. Grateful that you are working in a place you want to be at, doing something you enjoy because you are working your theme of making your day better.

Whenever I see a person in football get a touchdown or tackle and act like they have never done it before, and have finally achieved that goal I feed sad for them. Because that joy is fleeting and they may never get that again. But when I see someone doing the same thing over and over and getting better each time I know that they have a theme that drives them.

An important theme for me is to every day focus on how I am treating people and am I getting out of my fears. For me, I know that works. Works for what? Who cares. It just works. Whatever your theme is, check it throughout the day – Ask: am I living by my theme?

When you see that a theme can create a life whereas a goal can create a moment you will know that the theme will set you apart. 

Big In Japan Part 1

For my 40^th birthday I went to Tokyo with my friends from Las Vegas. The reason we decided upon to go was attending the Tokyo Game Show, it is the largest video game convention in the world next to E3.

We stayed in Shibuya which is known as one of the fashion centers of Japan, particularly for young people, and as a major nightlife area. It has the busiest subway station in the region and is bustling with energy.

I didn't know what to expect when I got off the 11 hour plane ride, where I rode in coach, in the middle seat facing a bulkhead. I was however pumped up on adrenaline from the excitement of visiting a new country, so I let my cramped conditions slide. I had chased the sun all day leaving at 9:30am PST and arriving at 2:30pm JST +1 day. It was slightly misting on the limo bus ride to the hotel.

The streets were noticeably narrower than in the USA, it made me wonder why we have 6 lane interstate style roads in Las Vegas with 45 mile per hour speed limits. You can literally land a plane in a residential area here.

When I finally met up with my friends we went to a restaurant called the Lock Up, I had no idea what to expect from the sign indicating it was located in Basement 2, however we went downstairs as it suggested, excited to see what it was all about.

The entrance was extremely dark and followed haunted house maze like winding hallways, a cold rush of air hits you with cackling and screaming sounds around us. We inched around the corner slowly, hoping not to fall or crack our head open on one of the low ceilings (it's one of the many lawsuit waiting to happen and this restaurant would never exist in such a litigious country like America, but more on that later) suddenly, a man strapped to an electric chair, rocks back and forth screaming with strobe lights flashing.

We find the hostess, a cute maid type girl dressed in a cop’s outfit and she swiftly escorts us to the cell. The menu is odd but amazing; it looks like a mix of sanitarium with death metal writings. Like most all restaurants in Japan, there is a picture next to the dish so you can eat with your eyes first. The drinks came in test tubes and beakers, there was even an eyeball made of gelatin in one.

We ordered a few dishes; one had squid and fish flakes and the other they lit on fire. Like I said this place could never exist more than a month in the USA without a serious lawsuit on its hands.

While we were eating the wait staff would turn out the lights and run around in costumes, opening doors of the cells and frightening the people eating inside. Brilliant, needless to say after being up for almost 20 hours it was time to get to bed and ready ourselves for the big gaming show.

More to be revealed in part 2,

Chromebook

Got a new Chromebook for my birthday, I will try to see if I am able to post more now, and get more of the things in my head out.

Thanks for reading.