Goals

It has become routine now. Read, watch, play, sleep, eat. Rinse, and repeat. I am fast becoming bored of this stagnancy, but with no goal in mind, it's easy to continually excuse and rationalize with yourself, and allow this to go on.

But if I ask myself whether I'm satisfied with this status quo, the answer is obvious. It's convenient to choose the easier path, but is it right? Economists note that Man has the tendency to commit 'temporal discounting', a term which describes actions that pay a premium for immediate over future gains. It's kinda true, and I guess that's what I have been doing these few day. I need a goal in mind.

I admire my friends who have these great visions and goals ahead of them. Some of them wish to be a millionaire by a certain age, others see themselves as great doctors/lawyers/scientists who will be situated at the highest echelons of the respective profession, and there are even friends who target the lofty Nobel and other accolades of the highest level.

Personally, I have an ordinary dream. Actually, I won't even call it a dream, because dreams are impossible hopes made possible. It is just to have a stable job, comfortable home, a wife who is my best friend and a few kids to make the home complete. That is probably the long term goal. In the more immediate scenario though, it is perhaps to affect change in people around.

Little changes to their attitudes/mindsets brought about by personal actions that may become significant in the future. Every single person, as long as you have friends, carry a certain amount of influence over others, and some carry more influence than others. The 'quantity' of influence doesn't matter though, it's the 'quality' that counts more. Perhaps a more apt expression would be to materalize the 'good' rhetoric that we have been inundated with in our lives, either by society, parents or school (haha good old moral education).

Things like showing appreciation through little acts, celebrating special moments, showing care to the unfortunate or how to see life as a 'half-full' glass rather than a 'half-empty' glass, they are easy to understand, but often much harder to put into action. On the other hand, actions on our part often translate these messages more effectively than rhetoric ever can, perhaps because of the trust and belief our friends have in us.

You know, I think the world will become a better place not through those commercial-driven, attention-seeking campaigns where words speak louder than actions, but rather through the little changes each of us can contribute in our own ways.

A little smile, a little kindness,
And the sun will shine brighter for us all.