Dreams with Deadlines

Have you set a goal before and never found a way to reach it? I have. More times than I have fingers and toes. I am a goal setting person. Goals keep my focus in life. A goal is a dream with a deadline. I have written that saying down on paper a hundred times in my life. As a high school student I wrote my goals on index cards and hung them on my bathroom mirror. I recited my goals to myself daily. Life changes and evolves and so have my goals and dreams. But learning to accomplish goals one step at time is an important life lesson that my husband, Nathan and I both learned at young ages and we work to instill goal setting in our children. 

 It was a FFA teacher, Mr. Vannett, that first instilled confidence to achieve goals in Nathan in the early 1990’s at the same school Hunter attends today. Mr. Vannett was by Hunter’s side last week at the State FFA Convention, proud to see the next generation of our family in FFA.

Also last week, Hunter, our 15 year-old son, accomplished the goals he had set for himself for State FFA. I blogged about FFA here if you are not familiar with the program. Hunter wanted to win “gold” in all his events and win the State FFA Creed contest.

 It was the work of his advisor, the time Nathan and I spent with him at home, the morning practices, the evening practices, the encouragement and dedication of his teammates and fellow FFA members and Hunter’s focus that accomplished the goals Hunter set. 

And while we are very proud of his accomplishments in the Agri-Science Fair, Farm Business Management, which his team won, Ag Communications and his high individual award and the winning of the State FFA Creed contest, the life lesson for Hunter is not in the trophies or accolades. 

The life lesson is that Hunter set goals last fall, worked through hectic times to stay focused and accomplished his goals last week at the North Dakota State FFA Convention. Not everyone believed he could accomplish the goals. Not everyone was encouraging to him. He did not get pulled down by the negativity. He believed in himself. He sought out help from people with experience and expertise. His advisor and FFA teacher, Mr. Brown encouraged him and helped Hunter stay on track to accomplish his goals. 

There will be new goals that Hunter wants to accomplish in FFA and other aspects of life. He learned how to do it as a ninth grader. Not all goals he will accomplished in life. He will come up short sometimes. His goals may change as life evolves. But for now, Hunter is proud of his accomplishments and already looking ahead what his next goals will be.

“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.” -Fyodor Dostoevsky

What is a goal you have accomplished or are working to accomplish? Share your success and inspire others to focus on their goals.

(Thank you to my friend, Beth Stenehjem of the ND FFA Foundation for the use of her pictures.)