Are your Goals like the Fidget Spinner
In July 2017, we went on vacation to Myrtle Beach with some friends…and great times were had. With one exception.
One of my most vivid memories, is of a small, insidious creature that seemed to be lurking everywhere. At the beach, on the street corner, in our cars and even in the couch cushions.
I’m not talking about a lizard, or a mouse, or even a cockroach (eww)…I’m talking about…fidget spinners.
Fidget spinners had been all the rage for the last ‘who knows how long’. I’d noticed them creep into the boys’ consciousness during the school year, and this summer they were a fairly constant staple. We’d see them at the checkout line in stores, other kids would bring over boxes full of them, and they were even given out in a treat bag at one of their friend’s birthday party.
Now I’ll admit, I had tried them out…and they were pretty interesting. For about a minute. About once a day I’d stroll by the kitchen table and pick one up. Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiin. And then put it down.
So fidget spinners were the hot topic of conversation back then, and negotiation, on vacation.
Dad, can I get this spinner.
Dad, can I get that fidget spinner if I’m good.
Dad, can I earn some money to get that spinner.
And instead of focusing on the shallow nature of this fad toy, I began to take part in the conversation.
“Don’t get that one…it’s all plastic.”
“Why do you need bluetooth speakers in a fidget spinner?”
“One more strike, and it’s no fidget spinner.”
Good grief.
Needless to say, we came home with quite a few.
Fast forward to September 2017:
School was back in session. The weather was turning colder.
I was looking around the house, and noticed several fidget spinners laying around. So the next time the boys were walking out the door…I said, “hey Reagan, you want to take your spinner?”.
His response: “Nah…”
And just like that, I noticed. Fidget Spinners…had vanished.
The super-cool, must-have rage of 2017…seemed to be gone. By September!?
So of course, this made me think:
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- How many goals or programs or routines had I let vanish?
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- How many times had I been temporarily fired up and infatuated with a new business idea or personal fitness goal?
- How many times had I stayed focused for a short amount of time, only to let my passion give way to the ‘chaos’ of life?
For goodness sakes, that’s what this email thread is all about.
My ideas, my goals, my “musts”…they can’t be fidget spinners. They mustn’t be fidget spinners.
They cannot be short lived fads, that fade away as the seasons turn.
For if they are, then I was never deeply convicted to begin with.
If I am to see my ideas take shape, if I am to achieve my and goals and become the person that I’m capable of becoming…then those ideas and goals and dreams must be constant fixtures in my thought process, and the way I attack each day.
The drive to their actualization must course through my veins with an intensity that manifests itself as a speeding heart rate of enthusiasm and excitement.
My aspirations are not the short-lived fad toys called fidget spinners. No, no..they are much more than that.
They are passionate constants, here to stay, forever…like…Fortnite. (Right?)
