Goal Setting 5 – the RANT
"Don't complain", we're told. We either get scolded for being unappreciative, or it becomes a competition.
"You think you're fat? What are you complaining for, I weigh 200lbs more than you!" Or, "You think YOUR job is tough, you've got it easy! Let me tell you--"
They're right-- you shouldn't complain. At least... not to them. In public you should be grateful for what you have, take problems in stride, and put on a strong face.
But it's natural to complainin. The urge to complain is your mind's way of telling you that something is wrong, something is making you unhappy.
That is the origin of this goal-setting excercise. If you don't know where you want to go, or why you're unhappy, just open up a notepad doc (or a pen and paper if you prefer) and start writing. Some might prefer to speak their rant out loud, but I find when I speak, it's harder to analyze what I've said and dig deeper into why it came out. The rant itself is just the leaves of the weed. Just "getting it out" might make you feel better, but to get your goals out if it, you'll need ot pull up the roots.
Go. Start writing. Once you've opened up the floodgates, let loose about everything you HATE in your life. Even the things you don't really hate, but just annoy you a lot. Don't worry about spelling or grammar, just keep letting the words flow onto the page. Some things might come up that surprise you - dig deeper.
As you continue, narrow it down to PRECISELY what it is that you hate. Is it really the toast that your roommate left on the counter that bothers you? Or is it the fact that you can't yet afford a place of your own?
Drill down and clarify those annoyances, down to the largest root-cause problems in your life. Now you've found your GOALS: to fix every one of those problems.