“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

After several unsuccessful internet searches, I am still unclear on this, but, I believe this quote is from Pygmalion, a play by George Bernard Shaw.  Whatever the case may be, I do agree with its statement.

Life is not about finding yourself under some couch, hidden in the attic, in some seedy part of town or even out in the country.  It will not be there.  Why? Because no matter what you do or where you go, you will still be there.

So, what then do you do if the you that you are is not who you wish to be?  I think the thing best to do is define who you are now.  Then next, decide on who you want to be.  The next step? Decide on how to take you from where you are now to where you would like to be in terms of yourself.

I think that maybe it is true that everyone has a bit of a different path for reaching this particular destination.  For me, since reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin as a young boy, every year on my birthday (just before Christmas) I begin to set down on paper a series of goals that is to be fully set out on paper by New Year’s Eve.  These then are my resolutions for the coming year.

Yes, resolutions in the plural.  Even to this day, I consider myself very much a work in progress and am probably more aware of my faults than others.  Which is not to say that some are not keenly obvious.  It is just to say that I am not oblivious.

Each year to work toward that me I wish to be, I set out four categories.  Spiritual Development, Family (this has varied in size in my life and maybe yours);  Career Development; and a catch all category that might include physical fitness goals or something new to learn with respect to music or whatever other interest I might have.  Once these are put on paper, I find that I tend to work diligently toward these with more serious discipline than others who make the one resolution and break off from these spoken words within a month.

We all know that it takes a month of effort to either make or break a given habit.  Correct?  Or at least I read that somewhere and have come to believe it.  The only other tidbit that I’ve learned along the way personally that might be helpful to others is that to get to your destination it takes a series of steps.  Do not be afraid to break larger goals into a smaller set of goals needed to reach the main goal.  I have learned this is very helpful.  Oh, and most importantly of all perhaps?  Once you know your destination… ?  Take that first step and keep on heading toward that goal.  Nothing gives success like persistence.