Aim Of Your Life
To lead a successful life, everyone of us should fix up aim of our life. We will never get onto a train without knowing its destination, Similarly, fixing up the aim of life is important as the life itself.
<p><b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span></b><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;">From time to time, we must take an account of our lives? How is the life well spent and how exactly is the part of life going <span style=""> </span>a waste? When in our twilight years, we sit back to take stock and wonder if we took the right decisions and made the right choices; when we try to figure if we did justice to our real potential, how would we take a measure?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>There are some targets Nature sets for us before we come into this world. We are born, we grow, procreate, our bodies bloom, decay and ultimately, we die. Then there are the goals society has pre-ordained – we educate ourselves, get employed, marry, have children, educate them, help them settle in life – and then, sit back to relax our weary limbs in the wintry sunshine of our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>Most people are happy just following this, the general order of things. They get on in life, find partners, match their rhythms to each other and finish up well satisfied with a life they consider well-lived. Nothing is wrong with that. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>And then there are those who prefer to march to their own drummer, or make their own music. These are the people who prefer to break the mould and strike out on different and more daring paths. Their vision and ambition drives them to look further than most and set themselves shifting goal posts. These are the achievers who excel in whichever fields they select. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>But for an attitude like this, would a most unlikely candidate like Barak Obama have risen to be the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country -region st="on">US</st1:country></st1:place> President? In his autobiography, he talks of his despondency in leaner times and how he feared he would go no further. “I felt like an actor when after years of waiting tables between auditions, he realises he’s gone as far talent and fortune will take him,” he writes. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>Until he gave himself one last chance. “I decided to have one last shot,” he writes. “I would run for the US Senate. My wife agreed, perhaps more out of pity than conviction. A black man with a funny name and no backing or personal wealth, I was considered a long shot.” He goes on to remark with an element of surprise at the modest hopes and ambitions of the average of the average people as he toured the state, mostly alone. He comments, “What struck alone. He comments, “What struck me was just how modest most people’s hopes were. They wanted to be safe, for their children to have a good education, a job that paid a living wage.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>What simple desires! And roaming amongst then was this young man with a burning ambition, for whom nothing was good enough till he begged the world’s topmost post as the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country -region st="on">US</st1:country></st1:place> President. There is this yen in some special people, that leaves them restless and dissatisfied till they achieve their goal. Either you have this restlessness, or you don’t. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>However, you never do get onto a train without knowing its destination without knowing its destination, do you? So, why would you do that to something as important as your life! In order to live a meaningful life, it’s important to set ourselves certain goals so as to be able to measure life by our achievements. The pleasure of setting little goals as we go along and achieving them can give immense satisfaction. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 9pt; text-indent: 0in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" lang="EN-IN" ><span style="">o<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;">Start by standing back and looking real hard at yourself<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 9pt; text-indent: 0in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" lang="EN-IN" ><span style="">o<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;">Figure out your strengths and weakness and what makes you happy <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 9pt; text-indent: 0in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" lang="EN-IN" ><span style="">o<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;">Examine the realms of possibility, aim a bit beyond them <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 9pt; text-indent: 0in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" lang="EN-IN" ><span style="">o<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;">Break your goal into smaller targets and get going, promising yourself a reward at each stage. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-left: 9pt; text-indent: 0in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=";font-family:";font-size:10;" lang="EN-IN" ><span style="">o<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;">With age, goals and motivators change; so keep reviewing your goals. Keep shifting the goal post. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>The mistake would be to limit our goals to our careers, which is what most of us end up doing. A bureaucrat would measure life by number of promotions, a businessman by number of business deals. However, we can also set ourselves goals that if achieved, make us better human beings. And this can be done only if we have a good understanding of ourselves, our weaknesses, strengths and opportunities. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size:10;"><span style=""></span>The only way to beat the reaper, it seems, is by improving the quality of life and our degree of satisfaction with it, which is possible only by knowing in which direction we are headed and what would we like to pick up along the way…<o:p></o:p></span>