Changing Course

Obviously, this article is not about the Omniscient and Author perspectives I planned to write and publish last week. Why? Because a new and more important subject has caught my attention, and it comes in this basic question: When two goals conflict, which one do you take? You will come across this question no matter what path you walk in your life. Even a writer will experience this, as I have. But how do you answer it? Which goal is better? Is there a better goal? Once you leave one goal for another, can you come back to it later on? And are goals even worthwhile?

Conflicting Goals

I have come to realize that writing an article every week takes away from the time I have to write the second installment to The Last Captain series. This is, when you think about it, a very obvious statement, and it was one I was aware of when I made the goal to complete and publish an article every Thursday. But in the past few months I have come to realize what it truly means, and that it poses a problem for me. When I first realized this, I thought the answer was to simply push through, get used to it, and, in time, it would right itself. That has not happened. As a matter of fact, it has become more difficult. So now I face the fork in the road, and the question, which goal do I take? The ease of the answer to this question depends on whether or not you have thought about the goals you have made, and why you have made them. To answer the first question, you have to ask another. Which is more important? When you know the answer to this question, the answer to the question of which goal is very clear. Go with the one that is more important.

More Important?

The definition of important can vary, and will sometimes not be the one you would have wanted. A certain story you are working on might be more important to you personally, but if you have something like an essay which must be written by a certain time, it is more important than your story. The answer for me? The Last Captain series is more important to me than an article every Thursday. I, for now, cannot do both. I must choose one, and I have made that choice.

Return

But can you come back to a goal you have left? Yes! As long as there is no good reason to leave it behind permanently, you can pick up another goal when you have achieved your previous one. You can pick it up again even when you have not achieved the more important one, if you are certain you can handle both. But some goals, including good ones, can be made at a bad time. I am not leaving writing articles forever. I am simply taking the other path.

The True Goal

So what is your true goal? A goal is not made for the goal’s sake. Goals are not once-in-a-lifetime. Goals are not even made to be ‘achieved.’ They are made to get you further along than you would have if you did not have them. If I had not set the goal to publish an article every Thursday, I would not have written twenty-five articles in eight months. Is it as good as I had hoped? No. Did it achieve my stated goal? No. But I wrote them. It made me think. Made me do. Made me research and learn and grow and write. That was my true goal. If you set a goal to write thirty-thousand words in thirty days, what are you truly looking for? Are you aiming solely for writing thirty-thousand words in thirty days? In that case, writing ‘perspicuous’ thirty-thousand times will achieve the goal. But that gets you nowhere. Your goal is not to write thirty-thousand words in thirty days, your goal is to get further along.

What Good Is A Goal If I Can’t Achieve It?

You have a target. That is your true goal. You would like to hit the bullseye, your stated goal, and you strive to do so, but if, when you have run out of arrows, you are so caught up in hitting the bullseye that you do not realize how close you got to it, you will come away discouraged and angry, and all throughout your shooting you will be frustrated and irritable, so that if you actually do hit the bullseye, your response will not be one of joy, it will be one of frustrated relief, and your desire to keep on is quenched. After all, why would you want to go through all that frustration again? When you do your best to hit the bullseye, admitting that it is unlikely you will do so and being content with that fact, whether you actually hit the bullseye or not is of no consequence. If you do hit it, you will be surprised, excited, joyful, and intrigued to keep on, to see if you can do it again. If you do not hit it, you try again. And all along you can enjoy the simple act of shooting, aiming, and experimenting. And always be aware of your progress. When you aim for the bullseye every time, you will get better, whether you actually hit it or not. You will get closer. Your first shot might miss the target altogether. Remember: Hitting the bullseye is not your goal. Getting further along in your story, getting better at writing, or other more important things is what you are aiming for.

Conclusion

I will be taking a break from publishing articles for at least two weeks to focus more on my story. I had a goal, and I must leave it behind. For now. Goals are the bullseye. The target is the real aim. Hit your target, and you succeed. Hitting the bullseye is an extra achievement.