Why bother with mottoes or goals?  Why plan? What’s the point?

It’s about controlling the controllables. I want to direct my life, not wait for it to happen. (That could be a good motto!)

Mottos, goals, and planning offer me a lighthouse to sail toward. Without their sweeping beacons, I’m subject to currents and tides that can take me anywhere.  Perhaps there are people with an innate sense of direction. Maybe they wake up daily with a detailed calendar floating behind their eyes and can move from one productive activity to another.  I’m not one of them.

I constantly need course correction and spend copious amounts of time thinking on paper. It is essential for me. Without it, I’m the guy on vacation without a swimsuit, hat, or sunscreen. I can’t show up on the first of the year, month, or week without knowing what I intend to see happen and having a daily plan to work toward it happening.

Maybe I have an undiagnosed case of ADD. Without goals and a detailed plan, I’m running off in the direction of the last email or phone notification I got. Without goals or a plan, I’m free to do what your goals and plans dictate you need my help to do. I want to be happy to help - not haplessly available.

I’m sure many people have thoughts, pin them to some part of their brains, and act upon them later, but not me. If a viable thought hits me, I need to add it to the plan, or it will go from thought to regret when I think of it again, too late.

I even need to set a goal for the number of times I will visit my aunt in the nursing home! Without a number to work from, I’d intend to go all the time, but months would go by, she’d be lonely, and I’d wonder where the time went.

My motto influences me as well. With every email I send, I see how I have proclaimed I will approach the world in the coming year and do my best to live up to it. (Thanks, Steve!)

I can’t control the weather. All I can do is create the sweeping beams emanating from my personal lighthouse and paddle, as best as I can, a little more each day toward its promise of safety.

Let me know if you haven’t created goals for 2025 or a motto and want help.

My 2025 motto is: I’m obsessed with compounding interest: Interest in health, family, hobbies, and friends.