I think that goal-setting is crap. Every time someone came to my elementary school and asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I always shrugged and said, "Whatever." At least, when I was disinterested in the speaker. If I activly disliked the speaker, I would say something mean, like "A firetruck!" or in the roaring 6th grade, "women's underwear!" and so forth.
It's not that I don't set goals, it's just that I don't find them terribly important. I can't seem to work myself up into a frenzy over deadlines. When something goes amiss, I just sort of shrug.
It's not even that I don't have goals, it's just that my goals seem to be sort of nebulous and undefined. Ask me to sit down and write out a "life plan" and I'll spend a few minutes staring at a blank sheet of paper, and then probably draw something (poorly, I have about as much artistic talent as a pear).
Ask me "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" and my answer will be the same it was 10 years ago: "King of the world! Living in a cardboard box! Singing showtunes in Hollywood musicals!"
I have recently been asked a new question: "Why are you here?" Unlike the previous times I was asked this question, it wasn't a prelude to "Get out or I'm calling the cops," but a serious question with all the breathy weight of a philosophical conundrum, the likes I haven't seen since that time I was in the garage with my friends that weekend and we smoked a huge bowl and marveled at how big our hands were and what sort of things black holes were.
I should take a moment and discuss my religious beliefs, here. I was raised in a Christian church, and never really liked it. The idea of a desert sky-god shaking his finger at me and watching me masturbate was a little strange. Only whoever I'm currently sticking it in and the cat get to watch me rub one off, sorry. I didn't do the 180-turn after-school special Troubled Kid routine, but I did just stop going to church. In the mean time, I've picked up all sorts of tidbits from all over the place. Buddhism, a slew of pagan-esque things, the good parts from Christianity, Taoism, and the list goes on. Hell, even Babylon 5 (best sci-fi show ever) has some great thoughts on spirituality. In fact, Babylon 5 is probably the best clearing house for summarized religious beliefs quotes ever broadcast.
The idea that "we are star stuff" isn't new. That we are the Universe, watching itself is an appealing idea, though. It turns us all into Valentine Michael Smith-like gods. Everyone gets to be god, because everyone is god.
There is no God, but we are all god. There is a group of monks that arrive on Babylon 5 (a space station and a major trade hub, as the story goes) because they believe that God has many faces, and many names, and they are there, to learn them all.
They say whatever does not kill us can only make us stronger.
They say that suffering is caused by desire.
Delenn says that the Universe is always putting us in places where we can learn -- those places may not be easy, but they are right, and the pain that comes is part of the process of constantly being born.
So, when I was asked, "Why are you here?", I answered the only way I could and remain an honest man. I said, "Because I've got no where better to be."
So when I'm asked to set goals, sure, I'll do it. I might even make it. I'll try. I'll do everything I can to succeed. And if the Universe decides that it's not a good goal for me, well, who am I to argue with god?