“You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.” – Bhagavad Gita 2: 47
For the ninety days leading up to Easter, a friend and I set ourselves an ambitious goal of committing to a variety of daily duties, which we would hold each accountable for, via quick daily check-ins and the odd long phone call. Fun times! And in a way, that was the point. Yes, the purpose of this 90 Day ‘goal’ was to liberate us to do the sorts of things we knew we wanted to do, and like to do, when we remember to do them - write, read, meditate, exercise, etc. So, it was liberating, in the sense that the goal would steer us away from apathy and indecisiveness, towards meaningful and productive action.
Goals have the power to save us from the paralysis of choice, fantasy, and aimlessness. And the first half of the 90 Day odyssey was quite successful really – we hit a lot of our daily goals and checked-in regularly. But various things seemed to scupper the second half of our journey – although possibly not! Yes, we stopped checking-in on each other – in fact, we barely talked about the whole thing the last time we hung-out in person - but I know, in one way, shape, or form, that we both carried on performing at least some of our duties – because that was the point. We set ourselves a goal that would help us do the things that matter to us, and work for us. Now, of course other things got in the way – necessary, meaningful, desirable, surprising, upsetting, tragic, strategic, pressing, annoying, boring, addictive, neglected things. But we did the duties we signed up for, and continue to do them beyond our 90 Days, because, well, we signed up to do what we wanted to do in the first place, regardless of whether we achieved a Perfect 90 Day streak!
I completely dropped one of the duties – cold showers – which probably shows it should never have been on my list. For me, cold water has definitely served me well in certain seasons of my life – it has awoken me during a few apathetic, melancholic, and shambolic states. But I much prefer a hot bath these days! So, it would seem, that goals are not just liberating, they are also revealing. The ends are the means, and the means are the ends.
I don’t think either of us particularly cared that we didn’t achieve the 90 Day streak, or end strongly, which was the last thing we said we’d do, because at least that way, we could hold onto some sort of illusion of ‘success’. And I imagine it doesn’t feel like a failure because it was never about getting to the end. The end was a fairly arbitrary means to guiding us with a few reminders, and a few insights. And I know we have carried on reading, writing, meditating, exercising, and so on (in our own ways) – because that’s the sort of work we like to do on top of all the other duties and demands of life – otherwise we would have never signed up to such a ‘goal’ in the first place!
The point of goals, therefore, may not be to achieve the goal (there is enough personal and public research out there to show that reaching goals offers only fleeting highs or depressing lows – even if you become Heavyweight Champion of the World). No, the point of goals is to help us remember what we want to do with our time. They can help us grow in ways we want. They can reveal to us what matters. They can show us what we enjoy. They can lead us to healing.
If the goal doesn’t facilitate some form of intrinsically rewarding endeavour, then the goal has shown us something important: it is not fit for purpose – change the goal!
If the goal guides us back to the things we find engaging, meaningful, enjoyable, stretching, and liberating (albeit - demanding, difficult, nerve-wracking, etc), then the goal is good to go.
But the goal is merely a direction – a means, not an end - like South-East. We can’t actually get to The South-East! There is no such place. It doesn’t exist. It’s an arrow on a compass – at best, a flickering little pointer, keeping us on the path to meaning, growth, and devotion. A goal is a reassuring reminder that our road is the gold we seek. And if it’s not, the goal has become an idol, not a signpost.
Are the goals serving our souls, or are we sacrificing our souls for the goal?
The latter may well lead to a life of self-sabotage, toil, and tiresome bother.
The former is a path to salvation.
Without direction, it is difficult to perform our soul’s work, as we may find ourselves constantly wondering what to do with our time (and there is much that will pour in and fill it!). But if we confuse direction for achievement, we are destined for much denial, dissatisfaction, and dreaded deadlines - we end up chasing the wind, instead of riding its wisdom, power, and sustainable energy.
The ends are the means, and the means are the ends.
The End.
Amen