Reaching your goals

I am in a difficult position at the moment - in four weeks' time I will be made redundant for the third time in three years. I work in a sector (HE) in which jobs are often dependent on transient funding. It's dispiriting to be in this position again. I find it very stressful. It seems I just get into a job and start doing some good, and it's over.

I don't have a HUGE goal in life - I just want my family to be happy, and to do some good in society, preferably by using my particular skills to help others learn. I don't want to rock the world...

I guess that if you have something to aim for sometimes it takes a LONG time to reach it. But a big goal perhaps keeps you more on track while you're waiting.

I was reading recently about teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who was 55 when she finally made it into space on the August space shuttle mission. She's been waiting over 21 years for her goal of getting into space... She had trained as a back-up to fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe for the 1986 Challenger shuttle mission. But on January 28, 1986, Challenger exploded 73 seconds after blast-off, killing all seven aboard, including McAuliffe, and delaying for two decades Morgan's own aspirations to carry out a mission with the elite astronaut corps. She had to become a fully fledged astronaut when NASA banned civilians from its flights, and had yet another setback after the Columbia disaster in 2003: she was due to fly on its next mission. How wonderful must it have been, at the age of 55, that she finally achieved her dream!

In February 1990 Nelson Mandela was freed after spending 27 years in prison. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with FW de Klerk in 1993 for their efforts to transform South African society. In the first multi-racial elections in the country's history he was elected president and his party the ANC won 252 of the 400 seats in the national assembly.

Writer John Creasey faced up to 743 rejection slips before he was first published. Now over sixty million of his crime novels have been published.

There are more interesting tales of early rejection and later success at the Handling Rejection website.

So I shouldn't give up, I guess? If only I knew what my big goal was, I'd have something to hold onto!

Now - what are YOUR goals? What's the big thing you'd like to achieve? Make it into a plaque and put it above your computer to remind you. OK I'm getting a bit Ali Edwards here - but giving meaning to your life can transform it in many ways. I know I'm just floundering at the moment - with a bit of focus I will get so much more done - I just need to find that focus!

Some goals:

For my family to be happy
to be healthy and fit
to be calm
to have a worthwhile job
to help people
to make more friends