Propeller Goals
My family lived in South America when I was a child, and we sometimes took boat trips out on the rivers. One time, the propeller got loose and fell off our tiny boat. All the men on the boat took turns diving and searching the muddy river bottom for the lost propeller. Until they located it, we weren’t moving. We were dead in the water out in the middle of nowhere. We had our boat, we had fuel, we had a map and a destination in mind, but we didn’t have what we needed to propel us through the waters.
There are certain goals in life I call propeller goals. Propeller goals are temporary focuses we take because of their ability to help us reach a particular destination, even if the propeller goal isn’t our ultimate focus.
It can be frustrating, but there are times when, for whatever reason, we can’t just run headfirst directly at our goal. When my husband returned to school, he already had many of the skills he needed to succeed, but he had to invest years into education and networking to break into his industry. School wasn’t the destination, but was a propeller, moving the craft in the right direction.
Propeller goals take all kinds of forms! Accepting a job with a strong, healthy small business, even one not connected to the type of business you dream of starting, may be a better option than a higher paying job that won’t teach you skills about how to run and maintain your future company.
I recently took a job that provides resources I need to fix up a dear old house in our neighborhood. The job isn’t my dream job, but it moves me towards the actual goal: House renovation. Every day, I visualize what the space will look like and how I will use it. The propeller goal is a piece of the puzzle that helps me reach a particular place during this stage of life.
If you’re in a propeller goal stage, remember to plan out how much time you intend to invest in this stage. Take a piece of paper, divide it into three columns and list every skill you plan to learn in the beginning, middle, and end of this propeller period. Write those plans down. On the paper, write the date you started learning each skill and the date you feel you mastered it.
As you get deeper into the job, keep an eye on the other lessons you can learn during this time and add them to the list. Maybe you meet someone at work with great interpersonal skills or a real knack for clearly explaining how product ordering is organized. Take advantage of the situation! Learn from them. Keep a notebook to record the things you learn and how the new skills fit into your future plans.
Don’t let propeller goals stages get you down. Use them for what they are, valuable propulsion towards your ultimate goal!
Challenges/Points:
There are times in life when we are unable to move directly towards our main goal, but that doesn’t mean those stretches of life are useless.
Think about the skills you can learn during this stage of life. Write them down, plan a strategy.
Use the time to learn skills that you can use as a propeller to move you towards the ultimate goal.
Questions:
Are you frustrated because you feel stuck in a stage of life that doesn’t fit in with your calling?
Are you able to use the time to learn skills or save up money that will help you reach your future goal?
What are some specific things you can learn or ways you can turn this time from pointless into a propeller goal phase of life? Write them down and start working on them.
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