This article was published in The Citizen Newspaper, Tanzania on 26th December 2023.
It is fascinating how time is incredibly fast. There is no doubt that many people have still a lot awaiting them in their to-do lists of the ending year. It is important to have goals to target at in the course of the year, as that is the only way to assess our progress in life, and to predict our capacity in the future.
Though we have plans and goals, if we are not keen, there are chances of missing the whole thing from the word go. Why? The reason is simple; many of us live in the ideal world, in the mind. This means we are not planning ourselves realistically, but with very high standards that we cannot possibly attain.
Our minds tend to perceive situations without consideration of possibilities of unprecedented changes, emergencies, and also the fact that humans are hugely dynamic in nature, and may not necessarily be completely devoted to that one task for the whole year.
Over the years I have had a practice of writing a ‘vision’ for every coming year. For four years the year end found me sad because it appeared I was far away from achieving what I had set for a year, even in two years. For a few years now I have had my goals focus on quality of what I do, and not quantity or numbers. I find the latter to be more practical and rewarding.
One could defend the idealistic approach by a cliché reasoning, “Aim for the sun, if you miss it you will probably land on the moon.” This is a good motivation, but it has the potentiality of derailing one from working hard due to discouraging results as time goes by. We should aim at goals that we can possibly attain so as to avoid putting ourselves in unnecessary pressure.
With the realistic approach, wherein all risks are put into consideration, and the possibility of change and lows is accommodated, both the goals and the work to attain them are divided into chewable bits, dealing with one thing at a time. It is better to do one thing very well, than to do many things poorly.
There is also fulfilment when we see the product of one’s hard work bit by bit. It is more realistic to break bigger aspirations into manageable and smaller targets.
Meanwhile, we can agree here that modern life has come with its opportunities, which if used properly can achieve for us a lot. However, it has also transformed globally the understanding of work, career, and the entire perception of goals.
Among young people there is a pressing aspiration to ‘make it’ in life as soon as possible, ‘hic et nunc,’ that is, here and now. Work is not understood in the same way, it has to be easy to do and with immediate monetary results. The digital possibilities are numerous, with opportunities of flourishing without working one’s fingers to the bones.
According to experts, these digital jobs do not only entail doing something completely new. They also entail application of newer and more efficient technologies into the already existing activities.
We therefore ought to localize our thoughts in the actual situations around us as we set goals for the coming year. Motivation literature can have very good theories, but those have to be reasoned in the actual life contexts.
Notwithstanding, we need more guidance to be given to young people regarding having goals in life. Many young Tanzanians choose careers very late. Many graduate from the universities without a clear plan of what they want to do. Many do not even know what they can do very well.
Knowing what to do and desiring it even if there are no available opportunities to work or to be employed is different from not knowing what one wants to do in life; the latter is dangerous, and this is the time to figure it out especially among young people.
The practice of having realistic plans and goals helps us to remain focused and to grow. Our resources, be it time, money, property, etc. can only be properly managed with clear plans and goals, otherwise they are all at risk of going to waste. For this reason, teaching children to set goals is teaching them to make the most of the available opportunities and possibilities in life.
The ending year has been difficult as the world is just recovering from Covid 19, and other ongoing problems of global trade and wars which have made the cost of living to skyrocket. Yet, we approach the next year with hopes that things will be better.