On the Nature of Goals and Principles
Goal oriented behavior came knocking on my door when I was a boy. Back in the day,
we had guidance counsellors whose job it was to help us figure out what we wanted to
do for a job in life someday, and show us ways to work toward that starting in middle-school.
Looking back, I don't think I fully appreciated the help. In fact, I think the very idea
of setting goals like this for children of so young an age is a great harm. There's nothing
wrong with children having goals, and I am even presupposing the sound intent and
capacity of the councellors. What I dissaprove of is the crafting of goal-oriented behavior
as a paragon. Introduced so early and so relatively secretly, the young mind has little
defense against being patterned into goals for the rest of their days.
But what the hell is wrong with goals? We all have goals. We have been trained almost
all our lives to want to achieve something. From either a religious source or from the
delicious and modern non-religious humanism, we are told to go forth and accomplish,
to make ourselves into the people we are supposed to be, the self-actualized, and to do
and attain things. Things we announce for ourselves arbitrarily. It is our goal to
establish goals.
I dislike goals. On the surface, this looks like I am an underachiever. I oppose goals.
I also have goals.
The inherent problem with orienting oneself around one's goals is that of attainment. If
you accomplish what you set out to do, then you're finished and then what? If you don't,
then maybe you get another shot at it and try again, or maybe you never get another shot
and you just plain fail. Either way, you're finished. Pick another goal and move on? How
did you come up with those in the first place, or do you even remember?
Whether or not you fail to achieve your goals, your goals will fail you. They are
arbitraty and hollow. They lack completion when completed, and wholeness when made whole.
Why anyone would have launched this as not the common way or one good way, but the only
way to encourage behavior is beyond me. Goal-oriented behavior is the ubiquitous practice
of our times. Be on the lookout for it.
I offer up a replacement for goal-orientation that is far preferable: operating on
principle.
A principle is yours. You have made it and made it part of you. They can grow and change
to suit you, as all things that live must change. Your goals can change too, but most often
this means axing the old in favor of the new. Your principles are more continuously alterable.
And why should you have any at all?
You have them anyway, for one thing, so all the better to realize this now and seek
greater understanding and control over yourself. This is not a defect, but a blessing.
Operating on principle allows you to adapt to unknown or unforseen circumstances. You cannot,
with a goal of doing so, predict how you will have to act to accomplish a task without all
the information going in. If you are surprised, what then? Does your goal crumble and vanish
as well? Sometimes it would. You would be ill-prepared to face the future.
Coming into the same situation with a solid understanding of your principles well in
hand makes adapting to the real possible. Even easy. By knowing your own motivations and
beliefs, you can bring your very self to bear on any task you face or situation you encounter.
Principles are guiding and goal-generating. Operating on principle, you will know what
best to do to accomplish your goals, and then once done, you will also know what the next
step is. Best of all, your principles are your own, and are mildly atemporal. If you operate
on principle, then you will never run out of goals. Whatever situation you face, there you are
with some idea of how best to handle it, how best to act in accordance with the principles you
set for yourself.
Establishing these principles requires great care and consideration. Allow yourself to revise
them as well, for part of adaptation is in changing the way you adapt. You have already had
all the exposure you need to form the principles you need. Some examples may help.
When asked about the coming execution of a man on death row, whose crime was destroying
an abortion clinic and the people inside, a self-proclaimed pro-life activist responded in
accordance with the principle of the continuation of the human race and the betterment of the
quality of life for all people. Whereas the suspected focus was on the clinic itself, the man
replies instead that this is a loss at every step: he does not believe that the clinic should
operate, nor that the criminal should have killed the people inside, and further not that he
should be executed for this crime. This is acting on principle.
On the principle of sharing your talents, you will establish the intermediate goal of
honing those talents; of practicing. You will make it your goal to find the best people to help,
and make sure that your shared talents have some good effect.
On the principle of cooking well, you will find and invent all kinds of recipes, and make
it your intermediate goal to cook and bake meals and serve others.
On the principle of generally making everyone around you miserable, you will have the
intermediate goals of reciting poetry in public, point out everyone's foibles, or even
getting into fights. There are many directions to go.
You must choose the set that is right for you. They are a large part of the way you make
decisions in the world we all share. Be well aware, too, that should one of your goals
become to harm your fellows, there is me and are those like me whose principle it is to see
that you never succeed.