Setting Goals

Imagine you are out for a walk one evening and you stumble upon a brass lamp - the kind that a genie might be in. As you try to make out the inscription carved in its side, you take your shirt and start polishing off all of the centuries of dirt and neglect.

KA-BAM! All of a sudden, the lamp erupts into a cloud of smoke and flames. Falling backward, you drop the lamp and cover your eyes. When you open them again, standing before you, clear as day, is a genie.

He looks at you with a gleam in his eye. And with a strong, powerful voice, he says, “I am the Genie of the Lamp. What will you have, Master, what will you have?”

What would you ask the genie to do?

Believe it or not, you own just such a lamp. It is located behind your eyeballs and is right between your ears. It’s called the human brain - the most powerful computer on earth. In fact, it is so powerful that it has invented all the other computers on earth. It has invented everything from supercomputers to yogurt.

And you own such a brain, free and clear. Yours is the equal of any other brain on the planet. You are its sole proprietor, the only one who can summon forth its awesome power to make your wishes come true. You are essentially your own genie, brimming with the godlike power of creation.

But that still leaves you with the same problem, doesn’t it? What will you ask the genie to do?

Before you can make your wishes come true, you must decide what to wish for. When people don’t get what they want from life, usually it’s because they don’t know what they want. They grind through one work week after another, daydreaming about the good life, but they rarely muster a clear idea of what that “good life” should be. As competent and hardworking as they are, they lack purpose. They’ve been taught how to shoot, but they’ve never been taught how to aim.

Perhaps the most startling truth about human nature is that anyone can do something truly remarkable in life if he or she has something truly remarkable to do. Once you decide what you really want, the rest falls into place. You wake up each morning with a reason to get out of bed. Your days are filled with meaning because you fill them with meaningful work. You are able to take advantage of your talents, your time, and your opportunities because you have a purpose. Without this purpose the astonishing power you have to grant your own wishes sits idle, double-parked, the motor running with no one behind the wheel. But with this purpose, you shift smoothly through the gears, traveling at speeds far beyond your comprehension.

So go ahead, get into the driver’s seat. Figure out what you really want - not what you’re supposed to want, not what someone else wants for you, but what you in your heart of hears want for yourself.