You can use concentration, self hypnotic trance, sticky notes, emails to yourself as reminders but what will they say? What will they remind you of? What do you want, anyway?
It is the problem of the three wishes, the genie, the fisherman and his wife and so on. We can have what we want but what is that? What might really add to our lives, really help? Maybe we really don’t need anything additional. We could wish or work for simple continuance of the ways things are now. Maybe we would benefit from a high-definition tv or an iPod. Maybe we would be better off knowing Italian or Texas line dancing. Losing weight or working on sharpening the memory might be good.
But that is the thing. There are lots of possibilities. American advertising will be glad to help you with dreams and desires. Shame at not exercising or impatience with slow, error-prone typing suggest possibilities for goals. Of course, quitting smoking or too many hours gawking on tv inanities might furnish goals we can really work for.
It is possible to keep hemming and hawing about what to focus on to the point of making indecision a pastime. But listing 5 or 10 goals of interest, including some that have been tried before is a start. “Changing for Good” is a scientific look at making a change in one’s self and that group found that aiming for something and failing to reach it was a sign of eventual success. Each time, a person focuses on a goal, that alone starts a concentration and an awareness of both the goal itself and the desire to work toward it. So, don’t count yourself or someone else out if they have tried and failed. That may simply be a stepping stone to reaching the goal.
The same researchers put plenty of emphasis on getting ready to try to reach the goal: thinking about it, preparing to try. That preparation stage and consideration of the coming effort is often omitted or rushed. The mind and the self are worthy of respect and quiet preparation.
