Monday, August 8, 2011

Goals 2010

Tucked behind the last pages of Risa's journal are several loose papers. One is a tattered half sheet entitled:       

                         Risa's 2010 Goals
                       Where & Who I want to be by 2011

                                                       Academically -                    
                                                       Physically -
                                                       Mentally -
                                                       Spiritually -

On the reverse, her daily, weekly, and monthly plans toward success were delineated.

Although it's noteworthy that she accomplished most of her goals, I'll only share two of them. Both are pictured below just as she recorded them.  The funniest one is written in all caps, surrounded by a box with a zig-zag border.  Yes, there's a story . . .  no, I won't tell it.


She intended to read the book A Complaint Free World and to accept the challenge to go 21 days without voicing a single complaint.  I don't know how far into the challenge she progressed, but I cannot remember any complaints during her illness and that covers the last year of her life.  Complaining is not communicating.  There were many uncomfortable things she needed to communicate, but she did not complain.  Most of us don't know how to do one without the other.

The challenge involves wearing a bracelet, the Livestrong type, nice and stretchy.  Whenever you catch yourself speak a complaint, you change the bracelet to the other wrist.  You must complete 21 consecutive days without a complaint.  Every time you move the bracelet over, you start again.  Sound easy?  The average length of time to achieve mastery is 4 to 8 months.  It's one of the most life changing experiences you'll ever have.

"If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude.  Don't complain."
~ Maya Angelou

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think."   ~ Buddha

"Change your thoughts and change your world."     ~ Norman Vincent Peale

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you."     ~ James Allen

"The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts."
~ Charles Darwin

"Why are we masters of our fate, the captains of our souls?  Because we have the power to control our thoughts."      ~ Alfred A. Montapert


The author considers gossip and complaining to be one and the same.  Both stem from the same defect in our character:   "One of the main reasons we gossip or complain is to make ourselves look better by comparison.  . .  Complaining is bragging . . . . You wouldn't notice the faults in the other person if they were not also in you."     ~Will Bowen


"The words in a complaint and a non-complaint can be identical; what distinguishes the two is your meaning and the energy behind them."
~  Will Bowen

The author walks you through the stages toward self mastery:
  • unconscious incompetence
  • conscious incompetence
  • unconscious competence
  • conscious competence                        
These stages are applicable to ANY accomplishment.


The book:                          A Complaint Free World
                             How to stop complaining and start enjoying
                                       the life you always wanted
                                                 by Will Bowen


As goal setting goes, 
we rarely know 
what challenges lie ahead.  
Often our obstacles 
are very different 
than we imagined
they would be, 
yet the strong forge onward.  
And sometimes
the greatest 
accomplishment 
of all is that 
we 
never 
stopped 
trying.  



1 comment:

  1. So inspiring, thanks for sharing this, Robin. I will request that book from the library, it would be good for me to have a challenge like that. It is so neat the get an insider's view on what Risa was like. What an amazing girl!

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