Introduction
Achieving goals is and should be a constant part of life. Without goals, an individual would be rendered stagnant for as long as he decides not to create one. A goal is what makes a person’s life go forward. There are literally a lot of saying about goals but the saying about goals that struck me the most was the one that says “a man without goals is a man without dreams.” Ever since I heard this line, I have started to create goals for myself. One of the most common dilemmas of people, every one of which most likely have a goal in life, is how to create one. Sure, they do know the importance of setting a goal and how doing so could contribute to their success in life, but sometimes, the real problem lies on how they formulate their goals and not simply on whether they are willing to create such or not. The objective of this paper is to discuss the different ways or techniques how an individual could formulate his or her own goals based on the two short stories A Rice Sandwich by Sandra Cisneros, and The Circus by William Saroyan, and based on the personal observations and experiences of the author.
A Rice Sandwich by Sandra Cisneros
The short story A Rice Sandwich was not entirely about setting goals but rather about how a child could innocently work towards achieving what she wants. The story revolved around a young school girl who lived in a house located three to four blocks away from their school. They have this policy at school that only permits children whose parents or guardians are not at home and those whose house is located far away from the campus to bring packed lunches and eat them in the school canteen. Unfortunately, Esperanza lives a few walks away from the campus and so she does not have the privilege to eat her lunch at the school canteen even if she desperately wanted to. Even if she insists, she knows for a fact that the nuns there would eventually notice her habit of eating inside school premises during lunch hours despite living in a nearby flat. Another reason that made it virtually impossible for the girl to take her lunch at school was her mother’s disapproval of the idea. Her mother perceives that preparing packed lunch for the girl would mean not only an additional but actually an overnight work for her. The turning point here that makes this story about setting goals and of course, reaching it, was when she decided that she had to persevere and eventually go past through these two great walls. Her goal was obviously to be able to eat her lunch at school. First, she tried to convince her mom to allow her to eat her lunch at school. She had to feed her mom with innocent reasons every morning before she goes to school for three consecutive ways. Her mother yielded and finally agreed on not only allowing her to take her lunch inside the school but also to write a letter of excuse to the sister head in case Esperanza gets caught by the nuns eating her lunch at the canteen, and most importantly, to prepare and pack Esperanza’s lunch every night. Eventually, Esperanza was given the one chance to eat her lunch at the school canteen despite being hindered by two great walls which were her mother and their school policy with regards to the venue for lunch-eating. This story is a simply analogy explaining how basic and easy it can be to set a goal and achieve it, just like what Esperanza did. What’s more to realize from the story is the fact that Esperanza was just an innocent child and yet at that young an age, she already subconsciously knew that for her to get what she wants, she first have to go through some things.
The Circus by William Saroyan
The Circus was a short story about of course, a circus that has recently come into the two of two young school boys Aram and Joey. As boys young as they are, the two enjoyed adventures and playing together. They were amused by the arriving of the circus. Unfortunately, they faced a big dilemma. It can be seen that they really love to go at the circus and experience watching the shows there, and even be in some of the circus rides. The problem is that they have scheduled classes by the time the circus entered their town. They either have to sacrifice their desire to go and visit the circus for the sake of not being absent in their classes or they could do the other way around—absent themselves from their classes, sacrifice a day’s worth of schooling and quench their desire to watch the circus and enjoy. As young as they were, they know how harsh and bad the consequences of being absent from school could be. However, they had to make a choice. In the end, they chose to leave their classes and attend the circus event instead.
This story was all about sacrifice. The two boys’ goal was to watch and be in that circus event and in their early ages, they showed how essential it is to be willing to sacrifice certain things in order to achieve their goals. The same is actually true in a real life setting. Some goals, especially the big ones, require certain sacrifices and usually, it is all up to the person who set that goal whether he will be ready to make the sacrifice or just let his goal go.
I have witnessed a lot of people set goals and since then, I have realized that not all people achieve the goals that they set. I have seen how professionals and ordinary people set goals and based on that observation, I can say that there are a lot of ways how an individual can achieve his goals. First, he has to realize that more often than not, his situation is unique and so relying heavily on other people’s help or advice may not be a good idea. Sure, his situation may have some resemblances with a situation from another person’s past but that does not mean he should do the same to achieve his goal. He should rely on himself more than anybody else first. Second, his goal has to be realistic and attainable. Setting a goal would be useless if in the first place, it is unrealistic or unattainable. That automatically predisposes the setter of the goal to fail, disappoint himself and even be afraid of trying again. A person should set goal to attain it and not to fail on it. So, he has to make sure that his goal can be reached by certain means. Third and lastly, the person who sets the goal should know that not a single success comes off easily. There will always be challenges and hindrances along the way and he should be prepared to acknowledge and get past through them. Many people start to tremble and back out at the slightest sight of challenges and hindrances. They fail without even trying, which has long been considered a cowardly act. Being a coward towards your own goals will never lead to an achieved goal situation.
Conclusion
Setting a goal may be easy but achieving that goal will always be the hardest and most complicated. Achieving a goal requires a person’s willingness to sacrifice and perseverance. Without these two, a person can just simply forget about setting a goal because chances are he will only fail trying to achieve his goal and trying to figure out what made his efforts fail. Aside from these two, a person who wants to achieve his goals must also take goal setting phase more seriously. One has to set goals that are realistic and attainable. Lastly, he should realize that every situation is unique and so he has to rely on himself first before he could rely on anybody else; and that no real and huge victory or success can be easily won without facing hindrances and challenges.
