Luck Versus Goals

by Ed Teja

Going for the gusto, reaching out for an extraordinary job, might sound quite like leaping off into chaos, but the people who do it the most successfully (measured by their own yardsticks), don’t do it without some goals. Having goals, for the short and long term, can expedite your success, whether it is getting a job in Tanzania or sailing the blue water without a job at all.

Let me make a distinction here. Goal setting is not the same thing as planning. I don’t advocate or believe in planning. You can get fixated on a plan and be totally messed up if it doesn’t work out. And ancient Hebrew proverb says: “Man plans, God laughs.” If you hear the sound of laughter, it is because you are planning when you should be setting goals.

Nor are goals simply “knowing what you want.” There is a large difference between what you want to achieve and a goal. And I’ll explain that.

What you want to achieve, your vision of your future life, is probably fairly specific (to you, in your mind). You can see what you want to be doing. You dream about. But to achieve it, you have to move in the right direction. A goal is a piece of that vision, but not the same thing. If you see yourself sailing a 40-foot Swan across the ocean, you need a map — a series of objectives to help you get there. (You’ll need the same thing to get you across the ocean later on, but then you’ll call them waypoints.)

Goals are specific and (this is important) achievable steps along the way. They are not plans. Saying: “I’ll go to the marina and get a job as a deckhand,” is a plan. But what happens if here is no job to get? Or someone more qualified applies? The plan goes up in smoke. You’ve tried to cross the wind are left in irons (that means stuck, for you landlubbers out there). But if you set yourself the goal of getting a job that will give you a chance to learn more about boats, there are many, many ways to achieve it. You control actions that take you closer to your goals. You don’t control what either people do (such as hire you) or how they react to your actions. So goals relate to things you can control and plans are speculation.

So first you want to ask yourself what the elements of your vision are. Break down the vision. Does it require specific equipment, such as a boat? Does it require specific skills (you might want to put schooling as a goal)? Does it require a marketing plan? Does it require living in New York, or Ethiopia?

If your vision includes living in a country foreign to you, start by assuming you will be living there one day. Learn the language, the history and customs of the country. Those things will be useful to you no matter how life turns out. You’ll be a better person for it and, more importantly better qualified for a job there. The worst that can happen is you will find you detest the language, culture or whatever and actually have no interest in living there. That let’s you move on to another vision (tip: you get more than one in this life, if you want it. Don’t let misguided career counselors tell you otherwise).

A good friend of mine was a successful businessman and sailor. He wanted a Herreschoff Schooner. Not a boat like one. There are about two. He got plans, found craftspeople to do the work he couldn’t do, and started building. Ten years later it went in the water. Today he is sailing the Pacific (he went through the Panama Canal about two months ago—go Len!) in a beautiful 55-foot wooden boat. The boat was a project that actually became a boat because his goal, for ten years, was: “work on the boat”. Well, after a few years it became: “Work on the damn boat.” But the goal wasn’t to sail it around the world, or tie it up at a marina—just to work on it. At times he didn’t have enough time (he had to earn a living); other times he didn’t have the money. During those times, he studied the plans and figured out better ways to do things, or learned a bit more about boat construction. In short, he found a way to work ahead of himself. Everything was directed at that “work on the boat” goal.

The beauty of goals is that when an opportunity comes along, any opportunity, you can quickly evaluate it in terms of your goals and ask if the opportunity takes you toward them. It becomes automatic to tell which things are distractions and are going to be useful. For instance, I came to New Mexico to work on my music—writing it and trying to develop contacts within the industry (two separate goals, if you are counting). If you asked me to take three months to help you sail a boat from San Diego to Nuka Hiva, I might choose to do it (never having been to Nuka Hiva, and also because I might catch up with my friend Len there). If I did, I would know that this was entertainment, time out, not an activity that was helping me achieve my stated goals. Of course, I might decide my current goals are not what I really want—they must be constantly re-evaluated. We change. Don’t get hung up on a goal. The goal is a tool; simply a waypoint across the ocean.Achieving your goals feels good. It moves you forward and eliminates the lottery aspect that so many people associate with the traveling lifestyle. Achieving your vision takes the desire and will to move in one direction, and not everyone wants that. Maybe you don't. Maybe you want to jump on whatever exciting idea comes along. That is great. Just don't confuse it with goal-directed activity.

This does not mean that people never luck into things. I know people in enviable jobs who seem to have woken up and found themselves there. But personally I trust the luck I make for myself far more than the luck that happens my way. (I’ll take it all however. Good is good, after all.). And almost every person who likes the life they lead seems to have the same experience.
So if you have a vision, see if you can find some waypoints—places along a path that will take you there. Then set out to get yourself to those waypoints. Do it enough times and you’ll be there. And your friends will say: “Boy are you lucky.” Of course, you will be.

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Traveling Ed Teja
www.myspace.com/TravelingEdTeja
www.geocities.com/edteja