Would You Like to Swing On a Star?

The Acropolis in Athens, Greece

Let's face it.

We all screw up sometimes.

If you've never screwed up, then you've never done anything.

Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and carry on, vowing to never repeat them.

Missing the mark, however, is far preferable to never taking aim.

We all have goals, whether we recognize them and write them down or not.

The difference comes in the level of our aspirations.
 

 



Bora Bora

Buying a six pack and pulling all the weeds in our garden are goals, and often accomplishing small acts builds toward longer term goals, like hosting a party.



Small goals are great ways to develop the habit of achieving bigger goals, but why not also aim for very high long-term goals?

My dad used to say that if you aim for the ceiling, you'll probably land on the floor, but if you aim for the stars, you may land on the roof.  Either way, you're no worse off than you started, but the latter has infinitely more potential.



Julie in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland

Where have you always fantasized traveling?

Why not make a plan to actually get there?


The amazing thing is that once you take that "trip of a lifetime" you may not have been sure you could afford, you find yourself planning the next one.  And you end up getting there too.

Successively, you find yourself visiting the places you dreamt about when you were in high school or college, but you also discover even more amazing destinations you never imagined.
 

The world opens like a blooming secret garden.

Of course, when we're very young, most of us lack the means to reach the far side of the world, but we can take a hike or camp in the wilderness.
 

 



Jay's Catch in Montana

When we begin building families, we share our favorite spots with our children, but seemingly in a flash, they've grown up and moved on, immersed in their own lives.

 

At that point, many mature adults put their lives in neutral, content with TV dinners and re-runs, taking occasional breaks to bug their grown children.
 


There's nothing wrong with that, if it makes you happy, but with an empty nest comes the opportunity to live the dreams of our youth.
 

 

copyright 2015 by Pete Canfield. Used by permission of artist.

My old friend Pete Canfield retired from his government job when he hit the golden age which qualified him for his pension and now focuses on being a professional photo graphic artist.  Two Spokane art galleries recently began featuring his work.

 

White-haired Harland Sanders took his Social Security remittance of $105 per month and his secret recipe of 11 herbs and spices on the road in a beat-up old pickup truck. After lots of rejections, he found a franchisee, and eventually that blossomed into his Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) chain that not only gave him personal satisfaction but also made him a millionaire.

 



Chess Board On River Queen, Rhine River

Pursuing a dream career beats the heck out of waiting for your oatmeal to cool in a rest home.

 

But not all of us are river people, content to be immersed in the river of our chosen vocations. 

 

Most of us are boat people.  Our jobs provide the income and savings that allow us to traverse the river to desirable ports of call.  Travel plans act as goals to encourage us to carry on in work which may not always be fulfilling in its own right.

Taking vacations has been proven to not only make you happy in the short term but also healthier and actually more productive, so even river people who love their occupations should reward themselves with a "boat trip" occasionally.

 

Like good captains, we will reach our next destination, as long as we know where it is, even if we have to make a few course corrections along the way.

 

Where in the world would you like to go?