STRIVING HAS MERIT
… measuring reveals reality
Wednesday July 9, 2014
Close is no win.
But close gets us closer to winning.
If we keep our goals out of reach continuously – then we never taste victory. Like racing dogs who never catch their rabbit. We need to taste victory to be reminded how good it feels compared to non-victory.
Goals and objectives, targets posted on a board, like high-jump bars, set low enough, we feel good until we remember how low they are. Then, not so good.
Set high, we knock that bar off its moorings. But we are jumping higher and higher.
Which is better, lofty goals that make us stretch or easy-peasy?
High ones, bold ones, audacious ones – worth shooting for.
Superb timing, hard work and skillful work don’t always collide. When they do, savouring is deserved. Web-surfing vacation options yesterday for first time in nearly five years yesterday, I’ve made no decisions. Quite tasty thoughts just looking.
Feeling achievement is just as sweet – perhaps sweeter – than spending our prize.
In business, we measure money.
In fitness, we measure pounds lost, resting heart rate and calories burned.
In our day, we measure work time, play time, sleep time and sleep-deprivation time.
We measure money against a budget. We measure it against zero. We measure pounds lost or fitness improved by whether we’ve set and met a goal without examining whether the goal is the right goal. We measure our time to know how it is being used, invested or wasted – because it can never be saved up.
Or, do we measure our time?
I know I need to – not forever, but for a while.
I think keeping track will help me.
Mark Kolke
196,692
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: 15C / 59F, beginning of another hot sunny day (same predicted through the weekend). Gusta and I failed to notice a baby rabbit until we were almost on top of it; as it hopped away it was difficult to say which of us was more startled, but only one of us ran like a scared rabbit …
