Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.
– John Dewey

We all know about goals.  We hear about them ad infinitum, in self help books, on websites (like this one) and at work.  Goals are everywhere.  But what happens when you set a goal and you reach it?  Are you done?  No way.  Reaching one goal means starting another one.  That’s right, the end is the beginning.

Now you can look upon this concept in two different ways.  The first one is rather depressing to me.  It’s that it’s never ending, and you have to keep going and going and going. The second way is that it’s never ending and you get to keep going and going and going.  You can look up on it as you’re always having to keep working, pushing and striving, or you can see it as a chance to always learning, growing and trying new things.  It’s called perspective and it’s a wonderful thing.

As a teacher, I have to renew my teaching certifications every three years, and in my district, that means new SMART goals every three years.  At first I was super annoyed at having to come up with new goals, but then I started looking at it differently.  This was a chance for me to improve myself and grow as a person and a teacher.

So now, that’s how I view all my goals.  Reaching them is fantastic, but the end is the beginning.  Don’t just rest on your laurels use the reaching of your goal as a launching pad toward a new goal!