Imagine you are playing in a basketball game and the score is tied at halftime. You and your team make some adjustments and you are going to go out and execute better in the second half and win the game. Big problem, someone has taken down the rim from your goal. The other team still has their rim but you only have a backboard. What would happen? Would your team finish the game?
Life is not a game. It is very serious. The basketball analogy is silly, but it can be very meaningful. Our time is designed to be used while we are alive. Just as playing a game of basketball with no rim will not work; neither will a life without meaningful goals. In order for activity to useful in any matter, it has to be used to accomplish something of value.
For most things we do, we use default goals that have been ingrained in us as children. Most people do not talk about these goals but without them, life would be very confusing.
Common Goals:
Eat 3 times a day
Go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning
Go to work in the morning and return at quitting time
Watch a television show from the start and expect to complete it
playing games(like basketball) where getting the most points makes you the winner
If you did not have these goals, it would be hard to live a balanced life. Imagine going to work and always wondering when you were going to get to go home. Imagine only going to work when you feel like it. What if you just watched five minutes of every television show?
Valuable Goals
What would it be like if you really did play a game of basketball with no rim? You’re just running around getting sweaty and shooting the ball at the backboard. You are being guarded for no reason. It is impossible to score an actual, tangible, visible goal.
Now that you understand you are actually quite good at setting goals, please understand that you can set more advanced goals towards meaningful activity. A more successful use of time is completing small medium and large goals on a consistent basis.
If you are working on valuable goals, they will require valuable activity. If your actions are valuable, you will be elevating value.
Carlin
