Goals
On Monday, November 6th 2006, we had a class discussion on goals and dreams. One of the first things we did was distinguish the difference, goals being measurable and having time constraints and dreams being less concrete. The class made me think about how my goals and dreams have changed over the years. I remember being in 5th grade, and as a part of graduating from elementary school we had our individual pictures in the yearbook with our name, favorite subject and goal in life. As kids everybody put something like "a football player" or "a veterinarian." At the time it seemed like our lofty aspirations were inevitably going to come true. At this point in my life I have a goal of making 6 figures by the time I'm in my late 20's and there is nothing set in stone about whether that can happen or not. My goals have changed a lot, my expectations of my goals have changed, but what I found most interesting was my lack of comfort with sharing my goals and dreams. In 5th grade I published my goals in a yearbook and did this without care. Today I have a hard time admitting my goals; mostly because I am afraid people will find it either too ambitious or too boring. This class just hit me as odd how the last time I really sat down and wrote out goals was almost 10 years ago, and what I wrote down couldn't have been more different.
Comments
Posted by: Patricia Schwarz
Posted on: November 9, 2006 07:02 PM
I had the same reaction to the goals and dreams exercise. I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was in middle school. I thought that since I liked animals that I would be a good veterinarian. However, I soon learned that the medical field was right for me. I think wanted to be a marketing advisor because I thought I could make better commercials than the ones on TV. Finally, when I matured a little more I realized that I did not know what I want to do. It is funny that when I matured, I was less sure of what I wanted to do. As of now, I am just working on deciding what I do not like while keeping my goals in mind. The goals and dreams exercise made it clear to me that I want to travel.
Posted by: steve young
Posted on: November 10, 2006 01:59 PM
John, i think it is interesting about how you mentioned how some of your childhood dreams turned out to be some of your goals later in your life. Do you think that striving for a certain goal helps you complete other goals that you have? For example, you might have come to Case wanting to play football, but realized once you got here that you were much better working with economics or numbers, and that helped you get a better job.