Goals

Without a vision, we are left to wonder.

   

 It was my high school year when my parents decided to put me on the swim team. I swam all my life, ever since I was little in Guatemala, swimming has always been one of my strongest sports. However in the swim team in high school, I did not take the sport seriously. The swim team would practice, in the morning around 5:00 am, until 7:00 pm, and then we would have an afternoon class starting at 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm. For me at the time, I was less than exited to wake up extra early in the morning to go swim and then spend the rest of my time at school and then again go to practice for another 2 hours. However I decided to go to the afternoon practice instead, this being my first year in the high school team, I started off being in the first lane where all the new swimmers meet. However I was faster than them, and I would watch them struggle to try to keep up with me. I would often hear the other swimmers talk about, how much they want their time to drop, and how exited they where for competitions against the other schools. But for me, I could honestly care less. My coach would encourage me to come to the morning class from time to time, but I never did. 

It got to the point where I would not socialize fully with the swim team, I would wear my jacket showing I was part of the team, but only for bragging about it. After a couple of weeks, I started to notice something interesting, the other swimmers seemed less tired, and more energetic. After a few months, a lot would pass me, leaving me behind and some even moved up lanes to be with the fastest swimmers in the school. I was angry with them, wondering why they have gotten faster, if I been swimming longer. Eventually I was left in the first lane with only 3 other swimmers, who also would come to practice from time to time. And I saw the other swimmers, be with the fastest ones at school. And after a swim competition, my coach would tell me, he was not even paying attention to how I was swimming. Later on, my mother took me out of the swim team. And I left with the feeling that I never even joined. 

Another similar situation happen to me, when I first applied to what would be my first job. It was almost summer, and I was turning 16 years old. My father suggested me to become a lifeguard at a water park called, Seven Peaks in Provo Utah. I was super excited. I always wanted to be a lifeguard, and I could imagine myself being one. When I first got interviewed I wore my best clothes, washed my face, practiced, and showed up early. The interview went great, and I got asked to join a class where I would learn how to do CPR and use equipment and do the swim test. I said I would join the class, and about a week later I found out the classes where one week, from 3:15 pm to 7:45 pm. Basically the swimming part of the exam was a peace of cake since I was on the swim team, and I ended up being one of the first to finish it. However the written exam was a struggle for me. We got two chances for each test, and there was three tests in total. I was never good with tests, and unfortunately, I failed all of them in my first try. Me being disappointed in myself, I went on the last day to try to retake them. I studied and studied and marked as much as I could, I prayed and tried to find any way to help me pass those test. I wanted to become a lifeguard, and that was my main focus. I went and took the first exam, and passed! Then I had a small break, and during that break I had other people helping me study for the next one. I took the second one and passed. I was excited, but the third one was the hardest, so I studied even more. I took it and just had enough points to pass. I was proud of myself, I felt accomplish and I took the job proudly. I even worked there the following summer and managed to save a couple of lives. 

            

 So what changed in those two situations? 

In my experience with the swim team, I had no goal or no vision, and with me being a lifeguard, I had the exact opposite attitude. So what are your goals in life? Do you have a vision for yourself in the future? Why are goals so important in our lives? 

    Goals helps us become what we want to be

   It's true not all goals will be achievable, but that's why we need to make realistic goals, and we won't know if we'll succeed unless we try. I had a couple of friends at school during my high school year, that could care less about going to collage and all they wanted was to just finish high school. Unfortunately many of them now are in a dead end job where the money they earn pales in comparison compared to the money they would have earned if they would have gone to college. 

To get the most succes out of our lives we need to set those goals and have a vision of who we want to become. Vision leads to action, and without a disire, we will only stay in the same spot until we die. Goals can also have the most disappointment in our lives, but that's why we learn from our mistakes. 

  There is a story would like to share by Elder Ballard 

    "Fifty-eight years ago I was asked to operate upon a little girl, gravely ill from congenital heart disease. Her older brother had previously died of a similar condition. Her parents pleaded for help. I was not optimistic about the outcome but vowed to do all in my power to save her life.

Despite my best efforts, the child died. Later, the same parents brought another daughter to me, then just 16 months old, also born with a malformed heart. Again, at their request, I performed an operation. This child also died. This third heartbreaking loss in one family literally undid me.

I went home grief stricken. I threw myself upon our living room floor and cried all night long. Dantzel stayed by my side, listening as I repeatedly declared that I would never perform another heart operation. Then, around 5:00 in the morning, Dantzel looked at me and lovingly asked, “Are you finished crying? Then get dressed. Go back to the lab. Go to work! You need to learn more. If you quit now, others will have to painfully learn what you already know.”

Oh, how I needed my wife’s vision, grit, and love! I went back to work and learned more. If it weren’t for Dantzel’s inspired prodding, I would not have pursued open-heart surgery and would not have been prepared to do the operation in 1972 that saved the life of President Spencer W. Kimball."

Elder Russell M Nelson 

   We all had that vision as kids, we all wanted to be a firefighter or an astronaut, and then we grew and our hopes for some of us changed. Let's not give up, and let's try our best because if we do, then we will know how far we can really get in life.