By James A. Baker
Time Management Training Institute
December 2009
For many people, life – both professionally and personally – still
resembles that same stressful, grueling, unsatisfying experience the
oldtimers call “the rat race.” Too much time taken up working for
“the Man,” and nothing on the horizon that offers any hope of real
joy and accomplishment. Why do some people seem to hate their jobs
(and their lives) while others in the same situation have the
ability to thrive and grow?
One important difference has to do with something as mundane as
setting and reaching goals. Stop for a moment and imagine a hockey
game in progress. Two teams are scrambling up and down the rink,
smashing into each other, whacking each other with sticks, all of
them fighting over the possession and direction of a tiny little
puck. The effort is tremendous, yet the players join the battle
ferociously right down to bitter end of the final period, when at
least half of the players on the ice erupt in displays of jubilant
emotion. Why? Because they have achieved their goal; they have put
the puck into the net more times than their opponent, and that is
worth something to them.
Now, imagine that same hockey game without the nets at each end of
the court. People still push themselves to the limit for three
periods. The same amount of slamming and whacking goes on. However,
there is no way to tell who won, or if anybody won, because there
are no goals to aim for! When the final buzzer sounds, all you have
is a rink full of exhausted, frustrated people. This, my friends, is
a perfect example of the rat race many people endure every day. They
push themselves to the limit, but for what? Where there are no
goals, there can be no sense of victory or accomplishment or joy.
Without a meaningful purpose, there is nothing left but exhaustion
and frustration.
Life without meaningful, measurable achievable goals is nothing more
than a rat race. At work, at home, in your family life, in your
personal growth, in your spiritual life, in your community
involvements, goals make life worth living. Goals bring shape and
definition and value to what you are doing. However, these days,
many people rely on someone else to define their goals – schools,
the military, the government, even the Man – are all too willing to
set goals for us. These goals may serve the institutions, but they
may have little meaning for us as individuals. Pursuing someone
else’s goals is just a glorified version of the same old rat race.
We have to learn to set and pursue goals that mean something on a
personal level.
Here are some tips for losing the rat race and getting your life
back:
1. Begin by developing your own mission statement. What things in
life are really important to you? What do want to stand for? What
good would you like to accomplish for those that you love? What do
you want your life to be like ten years from now? List everything.
Use simple sentences like: “I want to be able to help send my
grandkids to college.” No matter how old you are, it is never too
late to develop your own mission statement.
2. Now it is time to set goals. The mission statement defines WHAT
you want to accomplish. Your goals begin to shape HOW you will get
there. If you want to help pay for your grandkids to go to college,
one important goal would be to open some sort of investment account
and start putting something into it every month. Of course, goals
come in different sizes and shapes. Where do you want to be in 6
months? One year? Five years? Write those down, too.
3. To achieve these various goals, you must now break those goals
down into daily tasks. What do you have to do tomorrow to begin
saving for your grandkid’s college? How about making an appointment
with an investment counselor who can advise you on a savings plan
that is right for you? Write down on your schedule for tomorrow: 10
am – Call XYZ Brokerage Firm to set appointment for consultation.
Notice that I stipulated a specific time to make this call.
Scheduling a time makes it a real commitment. Simply putting it on a
to-do list only says you are thinking about doing it. Scheduling it
as a part of your day’s activities makes it much more likely that
you will get it done.
This is the other secret weapon you have for losing the rat race and
becoming a winner in a race of your own choosing. A lot of people
have good intentions, but the get so caught up in zooming up and
down the ice, smashing into things and whacking each other that they
never follow through. Make your mission statement, your goals and
your tasks a part of your daily planning process. The only way to
get them done is to set aside time every day to do them.
Remember this: if you don’t fill your life with goals and priorities
that have value for you, someone else will come along and fill your
life with their priorities. You don’t really have the option of
choosing “none of the above.” Every minute of your life is going to
be consumed with something, and if you don’t take charge of it,
someone else will. If you don’t want to get stuck living someone
else’s life and running in the rat race over and over, day after
day, do something about it now. Define your life’s mission; set
real, achievable, measurable goals; and schedule tasks tomorrow that
will get you headed in the right direction. Even if it takes years
to reach the goals you set for yourself, there is no time like right
now to escape the rat race and start heading for the winners circle.
James A. Baker is the Founder and Chairman of Baker Communications. Baker
Communications is a sales training and development company specializing in
helping client companies increase their sales and management effectiveness. He
can be reached at 713-627-7700.
