[Advice Column] Is there any meaning in setting goals?

Hello. This is Kamiyama.

Lately, isn't everyone a bit too tense?
Are you perhaps troubled by work, your job, or life?
I also worry sometimes, but mostly I live optimistically.

This time's advice column, it's been a while, but I'll introduce something a bit interesting.
It's a somewhat philosophical topic: Is there meaning in setting goals?

Well, if you answer normally, it's for updating your life or something.
That's the kind of thing people would talk about, I suppose.
Like, setting goals promotes growth.
Or, having a sense of purpose makes it easier to move forward.
That's the kind of thing people would talk about, I suppose.

Actually, I look at goals from a different perspective.
In my life so far, the definition of a goal is pretty much perfectly set.
It has nothing to do with growth at all; it's a terribly self-centered story, though.

The meaning of setting goals.

It's 'to enjoy life'.

If you leave it alone, life just passes by quickly.
Once,Ragnarokthere was a light novel called.
In it, a character named Randy Gold says.

The cruelest thing is time. Regardless of human convenience, time ticks on.
By the time you realize it, it's too late, and you can never go back.

Well, if you think about it calmly, it's obvious, isn't it?

For those who don't know, pleaseRagnarokgive it a read.
It's aimed at men who like anime, but everyone is welcome if you like.
There are many good lines, and it's incredibly interesting.
Far from underestimating light novels, they seem to be quite popular overseas now.

To live a more enjoyable life, that's where the meaning of the goal lies.

Anyway, if you leave life alone, it will end.
It will end even if you don't leave it alone, though.
Without anything like a drama, or anything exciting like a movie.
You work, fall in love, get married, and die happily.

No, that is very happy.
There is nothing happier than being able to live out your life peacefully with someone you love.
I also have someone I like right now, so I understand that feeling from the bottom of my heart.

But, apart from that kind of happiness, there's another dimension of unease.

When I asked myself again, the question came back: 'Is that really okay?'
Life might be once-in-a-lifetime, and even then, is it really okay to just die peacefully?
No matter how many times I asked myself, there were still many things I wanted to experience.

So, when I was roughly in my mid-20s, I became able to live quite comfortably.
I had no trouble with my daily life, and I also had time to do what I liked.

When that happened, what I thought was, 'This situation is bad if it stays like this!'

If things continued this way, if I just kept looping through my current life, I would end up being happy.
In other words, if I didn't take some action myself beyond this point, nothing would happen!
To me, that seemed like a terribly frightening thing.

Honestly, at that time, if I were asked if life was fully enjoyable, I would have answered NO.
That's when I learned to set 'goals'.

Once I set goals, life became incredibly fun.

Like, 'Let's achieve this,' or 'Let's try that.'
Then, the process of achieving those goals is incredibly fun.

Consulting with friends, arguing, going out for drinks.
Traveling all over the world, working as a team.
And then, once achieved, drinking beer and making a toast.
It's like that feeling of 'Let's do something big like this!'

That, for my past self, was endlessly enjoyable.
Of course, it's still fun now, and I'm going to Los Angeles soon.

Something like an adult's youth was endlessly fun and exciting.
If I hadn't had 'goals' like 'Let's do this,' I would never have been able to experience that.

Now, I have my beloved partner there, and I hope we can enjoy it together.

If you want to build a happy family, you want to eternally pursue the excitement of your youth.
That's the kind of greedy people who can't give up anything, we are.

Goals have no inherent meaning, but you can give them meaning yourself.

So, getting back to the point, when you consider 'the meaning of goals', it's to make life enjoyable.
You have a goal, and you try to figure it out through trial and error until you achieve it.

You create a big wall for yourself, and you use all your wisdom and strategy to figure out how to clear it.
You work hard and hard, and after much thought, you clear that wall.

That struggle and the story leading up to clearing the wall are simply enjoyable.

Goals certainly can elevate you.
When you start something, they also have the effect of making it easier to move forward.
But I think the most important 'meaning of goals' is to make life enjoyable.

As for goals, if you don't want to set them, you don't have to.
It's troublesome, and you don't have to go out of your way to set goals.
If you were to give meaning to fundamentally meaningless goals, it would be something like 'making life enjoyable'.

Yet, everyone keeps telling you to set goals.
There are also people who live happily without setting goals and even contribute to society.
Even if they set goals, some people are crushed by the pressure.
There might be a matter of suitability as well.

When those around you set goals and work hard, you might feel anxious too, right?
But you are you.

If you want to set it, then set it; if it's unnecessary, then it's unnecessary.
Even so, surely, those who will do it will do it, and those who won't do it won't.

So, I think there's no point in worrying too much about the meaning of setting goals.
After all, I think life is just a way to kill time until you die.
If you try to force meaning into words, you'll get stuck.
Let's not overthink things and just enjoy ourselves lightheartedly.