Half-Time in the Locker Room

After the fresh baked cinnamon rolls and Italian roast coffee are served, the meeting begins. As today's facilitator, I suggested that, given we have reached the half-way mark of our enterprise, it's a traditional time for each of us to pause and speak of our degree of success during the prior first-half of "the game," as well as our game plan during the second half. As with all games the goal is to win. What does that mean to each of us?

The former corporate vice-president reports that as he was trudging through the dark in Golden Gate Park looking for the homeless for the U.S. Census, enduring the drenching rain and his own terror of ill-tempered pit bulls, he had an epiphany. He's decided that his Degree in Business Administration could be better used with his seldom spoken about desire to join the Ringling Brothers Circus. Yes, he can juggle flaming objects, but that's not the goal. He wants to be Ringling's international tour manager. That is his fresh aspiration. Now that's news. Let the second half begin.

The publisher has installed her new computer, arranged her new filing system during one sleepless week and is now ready to investigate the new world of publishing with the advent of Google's I-Pad and the public's apparent turning away from ink print on paper. Let the second half begin. (How I long for the old days)

The business man (with the good ideas) informs us that his wife of 22-years is annoyed with his constant goal setting, i.e. daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, and calendar year goals. He believes that becoming rich would have been more rewarding if he had planned it, rather than just awakened each day with a new set of fires to put out and launches to perform. Nowadays, he claims to set only performance goals each day, not outcome goals. "You should take care to set goals over which you have as much control as possible. There is nothing more dispiriting than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your control. In business, these could be bad business environments or unexpected effects of government policy."

It seems to me that, with my half-time sports analogy, these reasons could include poor refereeing, bad weather, injury, or just plain bad luck. I agree. If you base your goals on personal performance, then you can keep control over the achievement of your goals and draw satisfaction from them. Even if your significant-other thinks you're over the top.

Next week - back to Buena Vista Island.