Follow your enthusiasm. Forget the rest.
Hey folks who want to feel alive,
It’s that time of the current year when folks talk about setting goals for the upcoming year. The problem with goals is that once you slap things you want (or someone else wants you) to do with the word goals, you’re even less likely to do them. It’s got to be one of the ugliest words in the English language. And backwards it spells “slaog,” which is way too close to slog and slag. It reminds me of the sludge produced by “clean coal” in a great documentary I saw last night called, “Burning Our Future.” Will be talking about Mountain Top Removal soon. The movie got me so worked up I started writing my next newspaper column on it. See, if something moves me, I take action – I don’t need to “slaogify” it.
Years ago I may have told all of you that I went on this job interview where the interviewer said I’d have to set “slaog” every Monday with him and then every Friday we’d reconvene to check to make sure I accomplished my “slaog.”
Just the thought of that rigidity made me hightail it out of that interview. Have we deadened people to the point where they’re willing to sit in cubicles during their most agile years and perform “slaog” all week?
The best boss I ever had reverse engineered “slaog.” During my evaluation — another bizarre work feature and a continuation of the report card — my boss asked me what I did and then wrote them down as my “slaog.” And believe it or not, using that method resulted in me doing way more than pre-setting “slaog.”
If you’d like try an experiment for next year, give “slaog” the boot and instead follow your enthusiasm – so instead of doing x, y and z, you’ll just be enthusiastic and see where that takes you.
But first, we ought to spell it backwards and make sure it’s not hideous. It’s msais uhtne. Sounds exotic and intriguing, doesn’t it? In either direction, it calls to me.
I’m going to take the enthusiasm pledge for 2011. “I’m going to follow my enthusiasm where it leads me because that’s where I need to be to feel truly alive.”
Want to join me or share your take on “slaog”?
Here’s to an enthusiastic 2011!
Giulietta
If you feel enthusiastic about essay writing or blogging, please check out my on-line writing adventures (classes) at Story Circle. Writing from the inside out will reveal what moves you … Would love to have you join me!
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I’m right there with ya sista! Awhile back I heard someone say, “follow the energy” and your post reminds me of that!
Hi Sandi,
Glad you could visit Take Back Your life. Appreciate your comment. Follow the energy sounds good too. What wakes us up, we need to dive into!
Thx, Giulietta
For me, this year has been about going organic instead of manufactured. I’ve always had concerns with goals as a concept – they feel like destinations to me, and I’m more interested in the journey.
I figure that if I choose a good path and move along it, good things will happen. Or, as has been said, “follow the energy”.
Hi Michael,
An organic life! How clever. We’re into organic food and other products, but as you say, what about the life, too.
Brilliant! I like paying attention to the journey too. Can you imagine sitting down with a boss where he says, “what journey will you take this week?” How cool is that?
Thx as always, G.
Hi Giulietta,
I’m definitely with you on the “follow your enthusiasm” track. The problem with setting goals is that often, we don’t live up to them and then we feel guilty or emotionally devastated that we didn’t. In 2010, I set myself a goal that seemed perfectly attainable until mid-year when everything went haywire and left me in a kind of limbo state.
For 2011, yes, I’ll follow my enthusiasm but more than that, I’m going to challenge myself – and let people know that I’m doing it – to get myself out of a rut and back on track. It may sound similar to having a goal but it’s not set in stone. I’ve lived long enough to see that goals and plans often don’t work out the way we expected.
As for “goals” at work, that word sounds so outdated – so 80s – that it’s outlived its usefulness.
Cheers for enthusiasm!
Hi Penelope,
I like the idea to challenge yourself as well. “Being” enthusiastic or challenging works for me. “Doing” the goals just doesn’t. I want to rebel against it because it sounds awful to me, more like something forced rather than natural, which is the whole problem with the manufactured lives we tend to lead. (see michael’s comment above.)
Here’s to being challenging — and enthusiastic while doing so!
Thank you for all your comments this year. Look forward to your blog’s return!
Happy 2011 to all. G.
Hi Giulietta!
I love this idea! I’m going to take enthusiasm with me into 2011 and see what happens. I have a feeling it will be quite the year… 🙂
Hey Jess,
You will have a fantastic year following your enthusiasm. It’s contagious! It’s inspirational! It’s free!
Enjoy, G.
You never fail to get me thinking.. I love this idea of following my enthusiasm in the year ahead.. It is ten times better than cutting myself down to goals.
Looking so forward to gaining your guidance all throughout the New Year.
You are wonderful.
Hi Hannah,
Always terrific to receive your comment! Great way to put it, “cutting myself down to goals.” You’ve made me think of something else as well.
Churning out goals isn’t a holistic approach to life – it’s very segmented. How do they relate to the rest of your life? The way you want it to feel?
Talk soon I’m sure! G.
This is a lovely post. I’ve been engaged in a similar discussion with a friend of mine for a while. He claims not to have goals, but that’s not really true. He just doesn’t call them that.
I’ve decided our debate is mostly a question of semantics. My “goals” are all about discovering what excites me, finding north, doing what scares me because I’ve found that it’s there, in the scary bits, that magic so often happens for me.
I set goals in the hopes that they’ll keep me northbound even when the demands of daily life try to pull me off course. Following one’s enthusiasm is definitely another way to think of it, but the idea is the same – you’re tapping into your internal compass.
And, following one’s enthusiasm could be considered a goal… (A perfect, wonderful, awesome goal, but still…):-)
Hi Zebra lady!
Thank you for your visit and comment.
Like you, I also like to venture into the scarier places – the ones with the giant KEEP OUT signs posted in front. That’s where I’ve found the many parts of myself I thought I’d lost. Ignoring the signs takes some courage because, of course, we’re taught to obey all the signs — evens ones that make no sense.
Need to go on a KEEP OUT sign safari with my stuffed zebra animal close by! Thx, G.
Beautiful points.
I found the best way to deal with words that lost their inspiration is to turn the idea into a more compelling question. For example, if “goals” don’t work, then I ask, “What do I want to accomplish?” … and “By when would that be awesome?”
Hi J.D.,
Love your compelling question idea. Brilliant!
Thanks! G.
Happy New Year Giulietta! I used to love Goal Setting (gnitte slaog) back in the day. On reflection, I think I felt safe there. Lately, it’s been a struggle.
Enthusiasm sounds like a fine plan – and I can muster it so much more easily too! And I’m going to add Erut nevdA to my 2011 ‘measures’ list as well. Though I’ll be sure to ensure that the seruseam doesn’t distract too much attention from the msai suthne …
Sally,
I love your backwards writing expertise and talent! Most humorous.
What you say about feeling safe with goal setting rings true with me.
We list them on a piece of paper and then almost hide behind them. It’s very in vogue these days to compartmentalize ourselves like that.
And these are my “slaog.” Then you hire a “retsam” (master) for your “slaog” and it becomes something you need someone to push you to do.
The minute we take something we love and turn it into a “slaog” it can take on a chore-like quality.
Appreciate your humor here! Thx. G.
p.s. Erut nevdA — that’s something else I will also follow.
This post hits home for me. I’m one of those people who resists authority, even my own,so if I set goals, I often subvert them. Sigh. Calling them intentions helps. But enthusiasms is even better!
Hi Charlotte!
Must be the rebel in us – it does feel like the theys tell us we need to set these goals and then follow them. Most goals are rather generic – I want to make a million dollars. Why do so many people want to make a million dollars? I am most intrigued by that “common” desire.
Enthusiasm really works because it’s customized to what you want!
Thx for stopping by again. G.
Thanks for reminding us to indulge our enthusiasm. I heard years ago that the root of the word ‘enthusiasm’ is “en theos’ which is translated as ‘the god within.’ I think we all need more of that!
Hi Narcy,
Thanks for the translation. We do need more it. Now, I’m even more enthusiastic about enthusiasm! (Ooh, your comment gave me a great idea for a post.) Thx, G.