Mental Fitness for Good Health

“Messing up” And the Pursuit of Long-Range Goals

Pursuing long-range goals is a form of "messing up"?

No, pursuing long-range goals is not a form of "messing up", unless:

The pursuit of long-range goals is depriving you of experiencing success in the present.

There are many people who deprive themselves of short-term benefits of success in the pursuit of saving and planning for living life at a later time, such as in retirement.  These people are, oftentimes, very frugal, smart and determined to enjoy life, but at a later time.  Not now!

These people are very hard working and work long hours.  They are very conscientious and very dependable.  They are always motivated to do the right and responsible thing.  They accomplish a lot and enjoy very little other than their accomplishments.

They are very focused on the accumulation of wealth, which could take many forms.  Oftentimes, they do not enjoy the process of accumulation of their nest egg.  They deprive themselves and those who care about them continually.  Time and time again, they are too busy for relationships, fun and play as indicated in my blog, Play Deprivation and Illness. 

The point is, the pursuit of long-range plans is a form of "messing up", when people are not enjoying the benefits of success in the pursuit of their long-range plans.  People cannot wait until a magical day, whether it be retirement or some other point in the future, to experience happiness, peace of mind, freedom and control over their lives.

Driven people with unhappy hearts, pressured to achieve more and more are "messing up" even though their accumulations are piling higher and higher. People who work in jobs with very little self-actualization at work or in their everyday life, are "messing up".  People who live lives of drudgery, routine and boredom in order to be happy later in their lives, don’t get it!  As one of my daughters would say, "they need to get a life"! 

Karen from Live the Power wonderfully presented, "The Joy and the Journey".  She wrote "Many times we humans get caught up in one in wanting the ‘end result’.  And in this wanting of the end result we forget that we are on an amazing journey".  She also wrote "Don’t lose the joy of the journey by being so intensely focused only on the end result".

We’ve all known people whose plans to live the life of Riley in retirement were destroyed by stockmarket crashes, catastrophes, divorce, illness or death.  I don’t have any verification for this fact, but many factory workers at GM have informed me that the average factory worker lives two years past retirement.  If this is true, what a waste of 30 years for many of them who have worked long hours, seven days a year and self-medicated with substances in order to retire and enjoy their benefits.

Real success is experiencing success in the present while in the process of reaching long-range goals.  Real success is based upon goals, motives to take care of oneself and the experience of happiness, peace of mind, freedom and control over one’s life now and forever!

Remember, You Live within the Environment Created by Your Choices!

Dr. Hal

Life and Mental Fitness Coach

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