ACHIEVING A GOAL, is followed by what’s next.
Yesterday morning, during my usual scrabble break (playing on ISC), I reached a milestone that I have been chasing since last October. I brought my online rating up to 1600. It was no easy task. Back in January I was as close as 1598; but as usually happens, I lost the next game and dropped back to 1572. Scrabble ratings and life are like that; win a few, lose a few. Ratings go upward in very small steps, one or two points at a time. When a 1500 players wins, by beating a 900 player, the 1500 player may earn ‘zero points’. That’s because the computer recognizes that the 1500 player is that much better. But if the 1500 player loses to the 900 player the rating will plummet 25 – 30 points. Just like life. In the recent stock market plunge, even though we ‘little guys’ were hurt and stung by our losses, it was the ‘BIG BOYS’ who lost millions and billions.
If you expect scrabble to be a game without any setbacks, you’re playing the wrong game. Just when you are so proud of yourself that you’ve mastered the 2-Letter-Word-List, some opponent will play an unforgiving 3-Letter-Word ( cru or wud or cwm ).
If you expect life itself to be a smooth uphill journey, without any bumps in the road, you’re setting yourself up for a great awakening. Just when you are comfortable in your own skin, some force of nature or some egomaniac dictator or some greedy CEO will create an avalanche right in your neighborhood.
Sometimes chasing a goal, for me, creates a period of calm and knowing. I am clear on my purpose and each step that I must take to achieve my success. Even when the setbacks occur I know that I must pick myself up and proceed forward. For as long as I am chasing my goal I am focused; I am driven.
So today, for me, feels very different; I am in flux; I have achieved 1600 and I am all of a sudden on vacation.
Right now I am free to set some other goal. Do I want it to continue to be about scrabble? I could change course and knit hats for cancer patients; I could train my body and walk across America. Right now, until I choose my next goal, I have so many options; to me this stage of life is very overwhelming. Once I choose my next goal, my life will settle down again into so predictable routines.
Reaching one’s goals and experiencing significant emotional events are the primary catalysts for change. I have been here before, so have you. Here’s hoping I choose wisely and productively.