Last night before lecture, I noticed that the city has been at work doing some repairs. A week ago, I responded to the scene of an accident when an elderly gentleman crashed headlong into a concrete barrier marking the end of the road. Their solution was to put some reflective tape on the concrete. I don't think that will work. I'm not sure what their objective is, but I may chat with the city manager, since I know him and I know he is intimidated by me.
There is nothing wrong with being objective oriented. Most of us achieve goals by setting them and then setting about involving ourselves in activities and behaviors that will help us achieve those goals. Truly, most of my summer students are people who are retooling their careers, changing into health science because they know that it won't go away and will give them another option besides being a saucier or a construction manager or a city lifeguard. College degrees give them options.
I frequently caution my students about being too objective oriented because sometimes the objective is poorly defined. Many of my classmates, well, all except one really, originally intended to become doctors. Most of those intended to do so for the pay and prestige really, although they will tell you it's because they "want to help people"; they want to help themselves the most. If your objective is money, you may achieve it, but a good guy I knew in high school who works as a pharmacist hates his job. I know a few nurses and doctors who also hate their jobs, and so the money is the only thing that holds them in their professions.
Meanwhile, some of them feel like they have wasted their lives.
For a long time, I was also achievement oriented. The year before I moved to Vegas, I decided I was going to start taking road trips. The road trips were to last a day and be as far as I could go on half a tank of gas. So, I set objectives, and then looked to see what I could experience by the way. Likewise now, I plan things around a few major objectives and leave the rest up to spontaneity. I have a few "must see" objectives, and then I fill the time with other things that might be of interest. I stop at roadside diners and shop in local stores and stay in smaller suburbs, not because I find them quaint but because I find they enrich my experience.
Being detail oriented assists you in making more out of your objectives. There are so many things along the way to see and experience. I like to stop at places of historical interest, markers, holes in the wall, etc., because they allow me to experience things that the rest of the kitten kaboodle misses on their way to Wally World. As a consequence, I have seen things and learned things that other people cannot because they are fixated on arriving at a destination rather than the experience of getting there. If you are not detail oriented, even if you arrive at your objective you may not be enriched by the journey.
Goals are great and good and wise. They help us improve upon our time, talents, and telemetry. Life is a journey, a highway, and we all travel it at a maximum rate. Take time to enjoy the journey and arrive alive. The gentleman who last week careened into the concrete had simply to alter his course just a little, and he might have avoided slamming headlong into the barrier. The road continues as dirt for quite a while beyond the obstruction, and he could have glided to a stop. If we are fixated on the goal, we may risk slamming headlong into obstacles in our way and be hurt by it as he was. Leave room for flexibility in your life, and you can arrive at your objectives in a more excellent state of being.
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