From the slogans of Post-it notes—“stick to your priorities”—to the day-planner-section
of Office Depot, America celebrates goal-setting. It’s posted in the windows of your favorite
stationary store, the memo-board at Starbucks, and in ads aired on T.V. In many ways, goals help
the human mind visualize success—as an example, goals enable you to ask yourself: What do I
need to do to get that job promotion? How can I train for the upcoming 5K? By providing
motivation, goals can act as life’s motor. American business trademarked it, the economy
capitalized it, and society rewards it; in every way possible, goals have become Americans’ holy
grail.
If you turn the page of a Post-it note, however, you’ll find that goals have a darker side.
For kids, goal-setting starts early. Through elementary, goals are rewarded with gold-star
stickers. In high school, many teens face one of the largest and most ominous of goals: college.
Extra-curriculars, hobbies, clubs, academics, and testing scores morph into a to-do list. For lots
of students, life becomes one huge trek towards one huge goal. And after graduation? Well, the
cycle repeats.
As its motto, goal-setting uplifts the “work now, live later” lifestyle. If you spend the
effort in the present, then—logically—you can rest later, right? The problem is, whenever you
check off one goal, another one rears its head. First, the goal might be college; after that, maybe
it's graduate school or your dream job; then, a promotion. The goals never stop. American
culture teaches us to work today and rest tomorrow. That norm, however, assumes that the
present is never good enough. So, when are we supposed to rest? When will today be as
fulfilling as tomorrow? Is it next week—the day that you finish that history essay? Is it next year,
when you get that job promotion? Or is it a whole lifetime away—the day that you write your
will?
Goals, I’ve come to conclude, are double-edged. On one hand, goals can act as the
future’s stepping stones; on the other hand, however, a lifetime of them seems to dead-end into
unfulfillment. The solution? I’m not quite sure, but perhaps the answer lies in moderation. Goals
help drive you but, to truly benefit from them, you can’t forget the ultimate goal: living in the
moment. Despite the cheesy sayings, living in the moment is just as important as the goal-setting
itself. Your future isn’t only tomorrow, or next week, or even the day that you nail that job
interview. Your future is now. And my recommendation? Live it.