The Power Of Setting Goals; You Get What You Bergain With Life

“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However, I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is just an employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.”

• Jessie B. Rittenhouse

I love this poem a lot, in fact, you would have realized that I always make reference to it a lot. I believe that you have the power to make your world yourself, you have the power to grow yourself, you have the power to accomplish anything you want to accomplish; all you need is just a bargain with life itself.

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At the end of the year 2013, I was having a chat with a mentor of mine (Although, he acts more like a friend to a mentor, not minding the age gap). He asked me to go bring out my list of goals for that year and it looked like he was speaking French because I did not have any list, I used to have my goals in my head. I told him straight that I didn't have any written goal, that all I had were in head goals which I try to accomplish. He asked me some questions which include;

• Do you know the total amount of goals you wanted to accomplish this year
• How many did you accomplish
• How did you set them in order of priority
• How do you remember and keep track of them.

When he was done asking, it looked like I was foolish like I had been wasting time all these years (well, no one is an island of knowledge, so I learnt about writing down goals that day), but one thing that amazed me was how will writing goals help accomplish it? I never understood until recently.

That day, my mentor asked me to pick as many A4 papers as possible and write down what I wanted to achieve between the 2013 and 2016. I had no choice, I couldn't say NO, I had to just do it. At first, it looked boring and annoying writing what I wanted to have done within the period of three years. Soon, I started enjoying the writing as he (my mentor) was there making me feel relieved. At the end of the day, I was able to come up with a full list of 120 things which were pressing and needed to be dealt with. I never knew I needed to achieve so much. What I use to do before was to look for the small things I needed to do and then register them in my head.

When I finished writing it, he told me to go back and rearrange my writings based on how, when I want to accomplish it. Trust me, it was now the second day and I started feeling he was disturbing but I had no choice, I wanted to learn (One thing I always want to do is to learn), I had to go rearrange them in other of priority based on how and when I wanted to achieve them.

When I was done, he told me to always read my goals morning and night and never fail to do it for once. After a while when I was always going to read the list, I could say everything there off the heart and according to priority.

My goals were really funny, they were things that were needed to be accomplished as the days went by. Soon, I had to accomplish a goal in a day.

I never forgot what he told me, he said: "whatever you want to do, never leave it undone".

At the end of the three years, I was able to accomplish 101 goals, which was amazing.

At the end of the third year, I went to him and showed him. He said "Gbenga, that's the power of writing goals down"

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Image reference 1 2

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REGARDS FROM @gbenga

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