In a person’s life, his life goals are of the greatest value. Their presence and scale determine the level of achievement of the individual, and the absence leads to an existential vacuum. The consequences of this condition can be the so-called noogenic neurosis, which are treated only with meaning.
The concept of goal in psychology
In psychology, goals are understood as human-conscious results, the achievement of which is directed at his actions. Thus, goals motivate a person to work in order to satisfy actualized needs. Distinguish between the goals of activity and life goals.
Throughout life, a person performs a huge number of diverse activities, each of which pursues a specific goal. They reveal only certain aspects of the personality orientation of the individual.
Life goal is a generalization of all the private goals of certain types of activities. Moreover, the implementation of each individual goal of activity is a partial implementation of the general.
For the life goals of a person, the “concept of his own future” that he recognizes finds expression. When a person is also aware of the reality of its implementation, they talk about the perspective of the individual. Therefore, the level of personal achievement is associated with life goals.
The ultimate goal of man
E. Fromm, a well-known German-American philosopher and psychologist, considered the disclosure and the most complete realization of his inner potential as the person’s highest life goal. He considered it unchanged and independent of other supposedly higher goals.
According to E. Fromm, who shares the highest values of humanistic ethics, a person must understand that he is the center and goal of his life. Being yourself is what matters. To achieve this, you need to be a man for yourself, which implies self-love, instead of throwing yourself to the extremes of self-denial or self-love, the manifestation and affirmation of your own "I", and not the suppression and rejection of your individuality. In other words, you need to allow yourself to be natural and become who he is in potential.
E. Fromm saw the development of his own personality as the goal of his life. He emphasized that there is no other meaning of life, except that the individual himself gives it in the course of a fruitful life and the disclosure of his natural talents.
Why it is important to be the center of your life
The main moral problem of our time, according to E. Fromm, is the indifference of man to himself. Speaking about moral issues, he emphasizes the differences between a person’s authoritarian and humanistic conscience, which very often have contradictions.
An authoritarian conscience is the result of the internalization of external authorities of parents, society, and the state. On the one hand, it performs a regulatory social function, on the other hand, it makes a person dependent on other people's opinions.
A humanistic conscience does not depend on external rewards and sanctions. It represents a person’s own inner voice, expressing his integrity, personal interests, and demanding to become who he is potentially.
E. Fromm saw contradictions and intrapersonal conflicts of a moral nature at the basis of most neuroses. He regarded them as a symptom, as a result of an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the contradictions between the insurmountable internal dependence on some attitudes or rules and the desire for freedom. This shows how important it is to be at peace and in harmony with oneself.
Inborn desire for meaning
According to the views of the Austrian psychologist, neurologist and psychiatrist W. Frankl, a person’s desire to search for and realize the meaning and goals of his life is an innate motivational tendency. It is inherent in all people without exception and is the main driving force that determines the behavior and development of the individual.
A sense of the meaning of one’s own existence and determination of vital goals are extremely important for maintaining the mental and psychological health of any person, regardless of age. Guided by his life observations, the results of clinical practice, and various empirical data, W. Frankl came to the following conclusion: in order to live and actively act, one must believe that his actions make sense.
Existential vacuum
V. Frankl discovered that the lack of meaning in his actions and actions plunges a person into the so-called existential vacuum. This condition can be described as suffering from a feeling of emptiness and loss of life landmarks. The loss of life goals, values makes him think about the meaninglessness of his own existence. At the same time, a person loses interest not only in the activities performed, but also in life itself.
According to the observations of W. Frankl, supported by numerous clinical studies, the existential vacuum is the reason for the widespread noogenic neurosis today. To work with such conditions, the scientist developed his own method - logotherapy, which means treatment with meaning. To overcome such an ailment, a person must reconsider his personal life priorities, change his attitude to the world around him, and find his own unique meanings.
Freedom of choice and responsibility
According to Frankl, finding meaning and basic goals in life is only half the battle. It is also important to implement them. This process is not simple, it does not happen automatically. Fear of losing something is often the main reason for refusing to move to the desired goal.
Man has freedom of choice. This is the freedom to make independent decisions about your present and future, listen to your inner voice and act in accordance with it. It is also freedom from the need to conform to some patterns, freedom to change and become different. But in the absence of responsibility, it degenerates into arbitrariness.
The key point of V. Frankl's logotherapy is precisely the problem of responsibility. The scientist considered a person as a creature, constantly making a decision about what he will be at the next moment in time, and thus, continuously shaping himself. Freedom of choice is always responsible. A person constantly has to decide which opportunities, interests, life goals deserve to be realized, and which are not. In fact, it is a person’s responsibility for himself, his life, for the realization of its personal unique meaning.
Dynamics of human motives and goals
The American psychologist A. Maslow regarded a person as a unique integral self-developing system, and all his needs are inherent. He attributed the latter to a multi-level hierarchical pyramid and identified the following groups of needs :
- physiological;
- in safety;
- in belonging and love;
- in respect;
- in self-actualization.
As the needs of one level are met, the needs of the next are updated. Accordingly, as you move from the lower floors of the pyramid to the higher, the priorities, goals and motives of a person change. At a certain stage of development, the need for self-actualization acquires the greatest importance.
Human self-actualization
Self-actualization according to A. Maslow is a person’s desire for self-fulfillment, for the manifestation of his potential and the full use of his talents, abilities and capabilities.
According to his concept, people are intelligent, conscious creatures. They are naturally good and capable of self-improvement. The essence itself constantly moves them in the direction of personal growth, creativity and self-sufficiency.
A self-actualized person is not an ordinary person to whom something has been added, but an ordinary person from whom nothing has been taken. He regarded the average individual as a complete human being, with suppressed and unconscious abilities and giftedness.
A. Maslow considered the tendency to self-actualization as the core of personality. A person strives to constantly embody, objectify himself, his abilities and talents. But he can realize himself only in activity. Thus, the need for self-realization and the need for activity are indivisible for the individual.
How to define your strategic goals
Since a person’s life goals are a generalization of all his particular goals, then one should reflect on them with scale. At the same time, attention must be directed to the desired future. What prospects for their development does a person see? What achievements does he dream of? What is the point in them? What does he see the purpose of life?
Often people do not have conscious goals, simply because they live on autopilot and do not think about the future, do not engage in strategic planning for several years to come. But it happens that there are goals, but not your own. For example, mother's, father's, husband, child. In this case, to increase the level of awareness and understanding of oneself, to define and separate one’s goals from strangers, a person is invited to honestly answer questions like these:
- What are my goals in life?
- How would I like to spend the next 3 years?
- What do I want to be in 10 years?
- If I had 3 months left to live, how would I live them?
- If I lived forever, what would my life be, what would I do?
- If I were incredibly wealthy and could never work at all, what would I do?
There are no strict and specific rules for determining goals. This process is deeply personal and creative. And yet, in order to determine your life goals, it is better to rely on some kind of scientific model, technique, system. For example, the model of neuro-logical levels of R. Dilts is well suited. And you can get tips, pointers, codes for a life goal in numerology, astrology.
Logic level pyramid
As part of neuro-linguistic programming, R. Dilts developed a model of neurological levels. It is based on a hierarchy of semantic levels of personality, each of which has its own specific questions. The author presented it in the form of a pyramid and identified the following levels:
- Mission - For what? For whom else?
- Identity - Who Am I?
- Values and Beliefs - What is Important? What do I believe in?
- Abilities - What can I do? How?
- Behavior - What to do?
- Environment - Where? With whom? When?
The pyramid of the neurological levels of R. Dilts allows you to deeply explore a specific goal. Answering seemingly very simple questions, moving from one floor of the pyramid to the next, a person gains the opportunity to ascend from the lower level of the usual surrounding reality to the level of awareness of his mission.
Filled with new meanings, a broader and more holistic vision, it is necessary to go over the questions of the pyramid again, only now in the opposite direction. This will allow you to see the unused opportunities, inhibiting factors and understand what adjustments need to be made at each of the pyramid levels. Using this model of R. Dilts to determine the basic life goals of a person, will also authentically coordinate his private goals with them.
Everything is possible, but it is possible that a person allows himself
Many people consider some things unattainable, and therefore do not set ambitious goals. They proceed from the principle: if all this fails early, then there is no need to try. Nevertheless, life is replete with examples, when some individuals by their example prove that it is never too late to radically change your life, fill it with meaning and make it more saturated, fruitful and happy.
Nick Vuychich is a speaker who motivates and inspires people, who gathers entire stadiums, a writer, as well as a husband, a father who has neither arms nor legs. However, he managed to cope with the difficult situation of his life, to make sense, and now helps other people to find them.
Neil Walsh is a writer, a participant in the documentary The Secret, before his journey to success began, he was at the bottom of his life, having neither a livelihood nor a place of residence. It was despair that prompted him to Conversations with God. This is the name of his first book, and a film subsequently filmed based on her motives.
Joe Vitale is a popular author of books on success, the owner of his own company, a millionaire, a participant in the movie "Secret" in his biography has a long period when he was homeless. Perhaps this circumstance served as the launching pad for the deep transformation of the personality and opened the way for him to a new life, self-realization and prosperity.
The acquisition of faith in oneself, the meaning and purpose of one’s life is available to every person, and with them the ability to change it for the better. Achieving life goals depends on the continuous search for new opportunities for self-realization. Self-knowledge, broadening of horizons, new interests and hobbies perfectly contribute to this.