Meaningful Goals

 One topic comes to mind today--that of working toward meaningful goals, as opposed to solely pursuing happiness. This thought has been derived from Rule 7 of Dr. Peterson's 12 Rules for Life. I have little experience with Dr. Peterson's thoughts on this in his book, other than the title and what I have picked up from him regarding this topic through video.

I feel that it is natural for humans to pursue pleasure, and short-term reward at the expense of the opportunity to pursue more long-term, and "meaningful" goals that sustain their value over long periods of time, such as the formation of effective habits. Because of this proclivity in human nature, self-discipline is necessary to maintain our health and mind, and to prevent ourselves from becoming susceptible to the inherent suffering of life.

I've observed this tendency in my life as well, and hope to further comment upon this matter in this section. The first idea is that of indulgence in reward: be it browsing YouTube, playing a video game, or finding a short-term sense of relief from a more difficult task, I've found myself taking to the easier, or, as Dr. Peterson describes it, expedient, task rather than enduring the pain and finishing the primary task. However, in taking such actions, I do notice myself experiencing long-term regret. For example, I recall a few occasions in my life, when I would out of either a desire for pleasure, or a lack of discipline to pull myself to do a difficult task, I would turn to bullet chess, and would often play 50 or 60 games at a stretch, lasting an hour or two.

Not only do I feel that such a practice is suboptimal for my long-term chess skill, I also believe that such indulgence leeches off my ability to maintain self-discipline and to resist such temptation in the future. Furthermore, I do not ascribe an especially high value to such indulgence in relation to my other work that I was putting off, such as working on the video analytics technology during my spring and summer in 2020.

On the other hand, taking the decision to work on the meaningful task is tough. I've experienced myself that working toward long-term goals, such as pushing down my 5K time, improving my chess rating, and learning to play the piano, require sustained effort over long periods of time, over which continuous gushes of inspiration and overflowing passion are not guaranteed, nor should be expected.

Especially if my mind is scattered, tired, or dissatisfied and relaxation-hungry rather than energized, I often find that I am significantly more prone to indulgence of the sort that leads to regret. Conversely, when I have a calm, composed, and focused mind, I am ready to take on challenges, even if they are tough, with a notably greater toughness of mind. I suppose this means for me that, as I continue to learn from my mistakes and improve upon my self-discipline, that meditation, focusing of mind, and long-term self discipline should play growing roles in my life.