Did that get your attention?
“What the heck kind of advice is that?” you ask.
Shouldn’t I be happy with who I am? Isn’t disliking who I am a cause for a lot of psychological trouble?
Yes. It is.
But I did not say that you should dislike who you are.
I said we should want to be something we aren’t. Yet.
I see people with no goals, and they are literally “aimless”.
We need to have goals. Goals we really want AND believe are possible for us. Goals that are not attained yet.
Those goals will take us out of our comfort zones.
Those goals will give us a reason to get up in the morning.
Those goals will get us out of our comfort zones.
Those goals will have us learning new things, stretching, being creative and courageous.
Those goals will chase away boredom and depression, get us excited and bring out the best in us.
At age 62, after accomplishing much, I have more of these goals. I need these goals.
And because I set out to accomplish goals in the past and did not give up, I am a more capable and better equipped person to achieve new ones today.
What do you want to be/do or have that you are not/do not now?
Can you write it down?
I want to be better than yesterday’s self, every day. Little improvements in little things we do every day will make drastic improvements in our life from year to year.
Goals are ikigai. Some goals are things I want to do. Others are things I have to do. But either way, it’s a motivation to get going and do something.