I just finished answering a list of questions for an interview for an online magazine. One of the questions about my business got me thinking. The question was what are your short term goals and long term goals for Manila Workshops (my business)?

I’m a goal-oriented person. What that means is that my life’s purpose is based on achieving results. Shucks. That sounds so boring and not fun. Which lead me to think, is being goal-oriented a good thing? Or am I missing the real purpose of life by setting goals?

*Image from Death to the Stock

First of all, the reason why I set goals is because i’m the type of person who loves seeing getting things done. Placing a checkmark beside a task that I have accomplished gets my adrenaline moving. Ticking things off gets me inspired again to tick another one off my list. Setting goals is just something I do.

Second, achieving goals bring me closer to the destination I want faster. I just feel that going with the flow will be a waste of time (but that’s just me). I tried surrendering once to the will of the wind, but that didn’t work out quite well. I didn’t regret it though because i learned a lot of things about myself.

And lastly, setting goals prevents me from feeling lost. I’m a deep thinker and a flaw is that I think of things too much. You’ll realize that when you think of things too much, you tend to get lost. Personally, setting goals brings me back to my ‘here and now’. It gives me a clear direction on where to go, what to do and what to prioritize.

But what I need to introduce into my life is to enjoy the journey, too. My husband often tells me that it is about as much the journey as it is of the destination. Yes, we can all be happy and celebrate when we accomplish tasks. We need not mindlessly breeze through all of the tasks and hurriedly accomplish it all. We (I) need to savor every moment in this lifetime.

So before you go on to your next goal, let’s celebrate LIFE.