Cultivate the Habit of Goal-Setting: Be Your Own Arjuna

 Setting New Goals Gives Birth to a New You

Living without any goal in life is just like sailing in a vast ocean without any compass.

Once, Dronacharya, the Guru of warfare who trained Kauravas and Pandavas the skills of military arts and weaponry decided to test all his pupils. He set up a target in the shape of a bird and called his pupils to shoot at it. Before his pupils could shoot the target they had to answer the questions of their Guru, Dronacharya. First of all, Duryodhan, the over enthusiastic disciple took up his stance; Dronacharya asked him, “What do you see?” He replied, “I can see the tree, the bird and the leaves.”

Dronacharya at once ordered him to go back to his place and called Yudhishtra, the eldest of the Pandavas. The Guru asked the same question and was disappointed to receive the same as was given by Duryodhan. One by one all the pupils were called and they responded the same. A few tried to act smartly and added that they could see their guru, their cousins and so on but none could satisfy Dronacharya with a correct response. Finally, it was Arjuna’s turn to hold the bow; when he set the arrow and pulled the string, Dronacharya asked the same question, to which Arjun replied, “I just see the eye of the bird.”

The guru asked Arjuna if he could see the tree, the leaves or his brothers standing around. Arjuna was firm and focused on his target and his answer was, “No, I can’t see anything else except the eye of the bird.” Filled with pride and adoration for his favorite pupil, Dronacharya gave a green signal for the shooting and the next moment the bird was on the ground in pieces.

This story teaches us a very important life lesson i.e. to set and realize your goals and chase them. When you set a goal for yourself, you streamline all your focus towards it and develop your concentration to achieve the target. It takes a strong will power to winnow your goal from all the distractions and irrelevant issues and put everything aside that offers temptations and fantasies.

Explore Your Interests and Passion

New skills, experiments or exploring new vistas should never be considered intimidating in fact they boost your energy and motivation to find your real interests and passion in life. Mostly at younger age we could not decide on the professions or the life style but at a later of life if you feel that you take no interest in what you are doing; never hesitate to give yourself an opportunity to explore yourself, your interests and your passion. Never be afraid to experiment and never justify your decision to people; be firm and be honest with what you choose for yourself. Setting goals will always nourish you enough courage to get you out of your comfort zone, explore your interest and push you towards the desired fields that you had dreamt of. One of the most renowned restaurant chains, KFC, with the value of $12.6 billion was started by Harland Sanders at the age of 62 after serving in the military and trying a number of different jobs. KFC is just one story, there are many more such inspirations which prove that nothing can withhold you from having a goal in your life and achieving it.

Resourcefulness is a Key Factor

Once you set a goal for yourself, you start planning to achieve it; and this whole process gives a momentum in life and this momentum fills you with energy, aspirations and newness for yourself. You feel yourself reborn amidst all the commotion of petty issues and humdrum routine. Here, being resourceful is a key factor in identifying your strengths and leveraging them to surpass the challenges that hinder your path. One should have no qualms while pursuing the goals and that is possible only when you develop the quality of being resourceful and to keep looking for cues to make things better. Resourcefulness is a mindset which is very relevant when the goals you have set are difficult and you cannot envision a clear path to get to where you desire to go. It helps you cultivate out-of-the-box thinking and the ability to take every possible measure that paves the way to your success.

Reinvent Yourself with New Goals

Setting new and realistic goals for yourself keeps reinventing you as a person and helps you rediscover your strengths and limits. Setting a goal on just getting rid of a bad habit can also help you reinvent yourself and making a better version of yourself. Inculcate patience and spend 15 minutes with yourself everyday to gain perspective and realign your thoughts to give yourself new goals and find your way out of the labyrinth of the day-to-day petty issues and fleeting emotions. If you feel you are stuck at a stage in life and beleaguered at the situations give yourself a new goal; any new habit or learning a new skill, will improve your focus and you will start getting more and more positive and optimistic with those situations which were annoying you earlier. Any type of unwanted material and thoughts always obstruct your efforts and achievements so clear out all the physical clutter and conquer the mental/emotional clutter (if you have any) and rejuvenate yourself and embrace a NEW YOU.

 

Chase Your Dreams until You Live Them

Life is like a ride on a roller coaster, it has its twists, turns, highs and lows. We keep chasing our dreams and pursuing our goals till this ride propels us to lofty standards but there are lows also in this ride and they disrupt everything. Confrontation with failures often drive us towards despair and gloom, eventually leaving us defeated and chastened and we stop chasing our goals as we accept that we can’t achieve this goal. Nurturing the attitude of, ‘This too shall pass’ can only be the ballast to help you transcend the insecurities and disappointments in life so believe that there is always light at the end of the tunnel; stay resilient and keep moving earth and heaven to chase and achieve your goals till you celebrate them.

“Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all- in which case you fail by default.” So cultivate the habit of goal setting for yourself on daily basis. Be an Arjuna in each of your decision and focus on attaining an enriching life; not just for you but for others also. The size of the goal never matters until you carry on with the process and efforts to achieve it. The euphoria at the success will be the same whether it’s a smaller goal or a magnanimous one.