A brief essay - Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step: only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his road

Everyone has some goals in life. Even after achieving success, people enter into a next phase and their objectives are promoted too. As a result, their lives become more complicated. As simple as it sounds, creating your objectives and then deciphering them is quite a job. Analyzing situations/problems logically is good, but being over-logical could make you risk averse.

Similar is the case with goal setting. Let's assume there are two kinds of humans. First, who plan short term, handle tasks carefully and expect no variances. Second, who think strategically, set long-term objectives and strive to achieve success through achieving a series of short-term objectives. According to Mr. Dam Hammarskjold, the latter type is more capable of achieving higher returns and hence, they find the right road. In this matter, I would agree with the former secretary general of the United Nations.

You see, gathering relevant information and making the right move is important to every single person; however, pessimism could sometimes lead you to failure (or smaller returns). In order to find the right direction, it is quite important for you to have a farsighted vision. Think Strategically - that's what we call it. Strategic or long-term approach reduces any limitations and helps clarify your vision.

Let's take a simple example from the field of business. You must have noticed that every organization has a certain vision and then, a mission that is designed to help achieve its ultimate dream - that is its vision. Why do you think organizations create a vision? Why not a set of short-term objectives? Well, the reason is that vision provides direction. It is no less than a far horizon that you wish to achieve by finding the right road. It is like a dream that requires a series of short-term objectives.

In order to achieve your overall objective(s), it is necessary for you to find the right path. If you constantly look down to the ground or become too involved in smaller decisions, there is a chance that you will lose your vision or destination. For instance, you have decided to become a brand manager of a reputed company in your country. Now, you can achieve this objective by applying in the right business school, opt for courses that are related to marketing/branding, get in touch with the famous brands worldwide and do some lateral thinking to enhance your creativity. Conversely, if you are making decisions as you confront problems, you might end up in the middle of nowhere. So, a long-term view of the whole situation is what you need to become successful.

In conclusion, life requires you to be careful with your actions, but you have to have an ultimate goal to reach your destination. If you become too much involved in every single step of your life, you will lose your focus. You have to decide on your long-term goal and devise some shorter term objectives to achieve it in a logical manner.

It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.

Conformity is what it takes. Although the topic is moot, yet I will take my position by agreeing with Stevenson's comment.

What we normally observe is that people like to devise new policies, principles, rules and plans. But when it comes to the actual transformation of these goals into actions, a number of people fail; some simply don't want to try. So, the actual problem arises at the execution phase.

Let's take an example of the objectives defined by our Government. In 2010, there should be no power cuts, but we are all experiencing the same problems we did for the last so many years. Similar is the case with our politicians. According to the constitution, no one can become a member of the parliament until he/she has a Bachelor's Degree. Still, there are so many members with fake degrees and/or qualifications below the defined criteria. So the problems remain unsolved.

We have originated these rules, and we still don't follow them. Sounds strange!

Educational institutes have certain criteria for admissions. For instance, an XYZ institution explicitly states that we do not accept students with a 3rd Division in Intermediate Levels. But as soon as it receives a call from a General, the same applicant gets the admission. Now, do you think we are living up to the defined rules? No.

Living up to the rules also requires some sort of commitment. For instance, the founders of Comsats Institute of Information Technology treat it as their own baby. They establish goals, devise strategies, do whatever has been written in the plan and never deviate. For instance, according to the absenteeism policy, no student can take the final exam if he/she has not attended 80% of the total classroom sessions. Now, whether you got injured in an accident or you are getting married; you can never expect any sort of concession. This is how people live up to their standards. They are committed to Comsats; they would never do anything that affects its image.

Even at the personal level, you may observe breaking your own rules. Every time, you register for a new semester, you define a new set of rules. But eventually, the same rules become less important and you start to disobey them. Therefore, you fail at the execution phase which is the most important.

In my viewpoint, procrastination is one of the major sources of failure. People don't stand by the rules because they simply like to delay. Similarly, there is no concept of positive and negative reinforcement. Those who follow the rules don't get any sort of recognition or appreciation. Hence, the percentage of followers is less. Contrary to this, people who do not follow the rules are not punished and this promotes the barbaric culture.

In conclusion, living up to the rules requires a lot of hard work and patience on part of the followers and those who created them. One has to become very honest and unbiased while making a move. Also, blaming others for not following the rules is not the solution; we should all play our part of the game and let others do what they want. If we continue to think this way, we can change this world and make it a better place.