Creating Art and Setting Goals

If you’ve known me or read some of my blogs you know that I like art and design.  You also know that I’m a bit of a “tell it like it is” person.  I tend to not call it negativity, but I do do my share and more of criticizing.  To help me, God has put some (many) positive-strengthened people around me.  One example is this guy we call (and he likes it that way) Neighbor Michael.  I asked him to share some positive thoughts here at steveblumer.com and he calls it “The Art of Positive Thinking and Goal Setting.”  I love that title of linking positive thinking and goal setting as an art.  Check out his open and honest look at setting goals especially as we go through “middle” life.

The Art of Thinking Positive and Setting Goals

I was giving Steve a hard time about writing blog posts that tended to be written with a negative tone.  So I have been challenged, as a guest blogger, to deliver a more positive message.  It is the holiday season after all.  The irony of this request; I don’t consider myself someone who is overly positive.  But let me tell you about something that has been on my mind.

I truly believe if we set goals for ourselves, keep a positive attitude, and envision successful completion of these goals, we can attain a very “rich life”.  (When I speak of a “rich life”, I mean rich in all dimensions: financially, spiritually, relationships, family life, etc.)  I think God provides everyone with the tools and skills to do great things.  Unfortunately, most of us only tap into a fraction of our abilities and thus only have modest success in our lives.

In high school we set goals for good grades, make the sports team or club, and get into college, the military, or that first job.  If we go to college, it’s more of the same; get good grades, search for that perfect internship, join a fraternity (okay maybe just me), and hope for a good job (or in my case put off working and go to grad school).  After college (or maybe during) we find our significant other.  Once we find our life-long partner it’s time to get married, buy a home, and start a family.  All these are great, logical goals.

What happens when we have reached all our logical goals (or society’s goals for us)?  Initially it looks like we are leading a pretty blessed life.   However as we get older, it is very easy to stop having a vision, get into a rut, and settle for mediocrity.  One day bleeds into the next day, one week bleeds into the next, one month, one year…  Then years have gone by, good years, but not necessarily great years.  Could they have been great years?

I have a blessed life, but I can honestly say I have been stuck in a rut.  Wake up, go to work, eat dinner, play with the kids, watch TV, repeat.  I have decided to try to break out of this rut; I have been setting goals, visualizing positive success, and reconnecting spiritually.  I have also been trying to be more positive; providing positive reinforcement to colleagues, friends, and family (although I need some work on the latter).

Being positive and visualizing success can work too.  Sometimes God just sends us that little sign to tell us we are heading in the right direction.  In the last month, I have had so many amazing examples of visualizing success and for these positive visualizations to come true.  At other times, being positive to someone else has paid dividends back to me.  Some of these examples have been pretty unbelievable.

One good example, I used positive visualization for my dissertation proposal hearing.  This hearing is where I tell my dissertation committee what I want to do for my dissertation research project and then subsequently get grilled by them on all the details.  I pictured a successful presentation in my head in the days before the hearing and asked God to give me the strength to succeed.  The day of the presentation went very well (even better than my visualizations); my project was approved without modifications.  This is just one example of the many positive things that has happened recently.

In the last month, I have realized that changing my attitude and visualizing success can have a tremendous impact.  Being positive and believing God has given you the skills to succeed is half way to achieving a “rich life”.  Of course the other half is to take the next step when opportunity knocks, but that story is for another post.  I believe God wants you to succeed.  The key is for you to believe it too.

Neighbor Michael