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The importance of goals and breaking them…

June 1, 2020
Advice, Development, Macro, Opinion
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The humble bee knows what it needs to do. It doesn’t need to think about it at all.

At the grand old age of… (nearly 50), I am quite late to the party. I’ve always been pretty ambitious. Probably more ambitious than many people who know me realise. My ambition has been fortunate though. I never seemed to reach my full potential. I always felt I could achieve more. Don’t we all feel like this at times?

I never used to really set goals, I never really had a plan or strategy to get to where I wanted to go. I had a vague idea on the destination but lacked the visualisation. You see a vague idea is fine, I guess. I suppose that is a goal, but it’s not going to drive you.

There are times for a bee when it seems there is plenty, it’s all right there for the taking.

A dream or a goal is fine, but just having that is not going to get you there. I don’t even mean you have to have a super dream or goal. It might just be ‘to be happy’. That seems simple enough? Is it?

Write it down!

Now be it!

Easy right?

Didn’t think so. So what have I learned on my [nearly] fifty year journey? It’s taken a while, but I’ve learned that to achieve any goal, you need to analyse it, find out more about it. Break it down into bite size chunks and tackle each chunk one at a time. Make a strategy and a time line that you can work towards. Be realistic and have honesty with yourself. Don’t just pick a goal because, well, someone else has it or you think it’s what is expected. Have your own goals, set them, really analyse them. How can you achieve them?

Breaking them down into chunks, is the first step. Now comes the really hard part…

Do them.

As Lao Tzu said, “the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step”, and it’s true. Also some goals will feel more like a thousand mile journey too.

There is nothing quite as exciting as reaching a goal that has taken you time to achieve.

Catching up and cooling off

April 9, 2012
Afghanistan
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Settling back in at home after six months away should not be taken lightly.  In my absence my family have learned to deal with my time away as have I.  This is no less than human nature.  There is a temptation to jump back in with both feet and just try to carry on where we all left off.  I’ve done that before…….

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I have also been keeping busy trying to sort my archive out.  There are lots of images to get organised and some catching up with processing images that kind of fell by the wayside.

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I took some images during my R+R (Rest and Recuperation) back in February.  Although I did have a quick glance, I never properly had a look.  So now back home with my own work station and newly installed Lightroom 4, I can kill two birds with one stone.  It feels so great to have internet access that works.

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These images taken during my time back home on a brief visit home (that is what it feels like), mid tour, were secondary to spending quality time.  I take my camera where ever I can (within reason).

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I had arranged a short intimate break for my wife and I to Berlin, a city I had only briefly visited once and did not make the most of it last time, we wanted to see the city, spend time together and catch up for lost time.

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So I did not take a camera bag full of my lenses, rather one body and a lonely 50mm.  A lens that I have got to know quite well.

R+R is a strange beast, you are back home, its fantastic to see your family, but its also clear that you will soon have to take that trip back to Afghanistan sooner than you think!

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You never properly relax.  It’s a rest, certainly, but you are not really home yet.

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Anyway I wasn’t carting all my gear around focusing on the images, but I grabbed a few on the way!

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These are a small selection.  I hope you like them.  They are a world away from the shots from Afghanistan. Now I am back, I am starting to put that chapter behind me, however life in the military is never really predictable, so you never know, I may end up going back out there again in the future, or somewhere else. I look back at my images and feel the strangest feeling of nostalgia, you never really expect to feel while you are out there.  The people you have met, the things you have seen, experiences few may have.  I am proud, my family are proud.  Everyone is happy that I was fortunate to come home in one unharmed.

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So to conclude, spare a thought for the ones who don’t, their families who have to pick up the pieces. all I can do now is look forward to what the future holds from now.

Thanks for visiting.