Musing

2C/35F, windy and overcast, sleet blowing around with dark clouds rolling in; fresh air and a wet face made me stand tall and walk fast; Gusta oblivious to it all

getting to my goals is complex, they are more than just tools used to make a living but guidance for making a life; I didn’t go to Nanton with a goal in mind, but I found treasure there; now lobster bisque is on my list of goals, but first I need to make some stock which requires I first buy lots of cheap fish suitable for boiling and onions and spices too - my bique goal is achievable this week

a Nanton antique shopping trip yesterday was fun; I am now the proud owner of mint condition circa 1900 white English stoneware soup terrine with lid, which has me thinking of lobster bisque, the only soup fitting an inauguration of so fine a piece

I set goals, you set goals, we all set goals; we set them in our minds, we set them on pages, in planning books, on whiteboards, blackboards . . . we set them; setting goals is good – don’t get me wrong, I think it is a great activity

but what sets the actions in motion to achieve them?

I set them but sometimes I get lazy or I get discouraged because one of my goals looks like too big a stretch or because there are too many of them that are long term with too few shorter term ones on my list

yesterday I was pondering a couple of my big ones; my big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs)– so far I’ve done lots of note making, research and talking around them, but not acting seriously on actions to achieve them; there always seems to be a list of good reasons

they are good; keeping commitments, finishing things in progress, meeting deadlines, working hard, making a living. . . but not nearly enough action; maybe my goals were too bold for my subconscious comfort level, maybe they weren’t quite ripe for plucking

I’ve set many goals, achieved many of them; each time the horizon looks different I tend to re-examine them, refine them, re-define them . .

in business and perhaps to a lesser degree in our personal lives we stop now and then to measure how we are doing in pursuit of our goals; you know, the ones we set; we set them at the beginning of the year or when we reached the last one or maybe just set them on a whim; sometimes we set them when we are waxing after a satisfying moment, sometimes when we are frustrated by some obstacle that fell on our path

this Tuesday I have many things to do, many goals to achieve; most of them will take a while but a few are shorter term goals - we need those I think, so we get a sense of satisfaction we are taking steps that lead us somewhere (these steps in my mind are an up-staircase) –not always leading us directly to our goals, but leading us somewhere good

yesterday - in the middle of the afternoon - I set a new goal, a short-term one; the goal was lobster bisque

to achieve my goal, I need a terrine; oh yes, I need the lobster meat, the cream, the sherry, the stock . . but those are incidental; first order of business was the terrine; it was just sitting there so white and clean, its elegant lines so fine; its history is that of simply having grown old without life having taken chips and chunks out of it; it has not been smashed along the way – as if it has been waiting for over 100 years just for me, just for my bisque

I may have set the goal 'as I saw the terrine', but I think this lobster bisque goal has been building within me for quite some time, just waiting for the right action moment

achievement of little goals bolsters and supports us as we do the long hard slugging to reach the BHAGs; I know I need to retain the flexibility to see opportunities to set short term goals, to act on them

great goals are not always mouth-watering experiences, but it is nice when they are

this week is short, lots to do; no big dragons or goals to be slain this week; I think, for just now, I’ll shift to bisque

Mark Kolke
226,868
202.4