Goals

People have different personalities, and different ways of going about their goals in life.

My husband is a Steady Eddy.  He finds something that works and keeps it. Period.  Though lately he's surprised me, going back to school (something he said he'd never do), and contemplating changing from the job he's had the last couple of decades to a career related to the degree he's striving to earn.

I am the opposite. I find a goal I like, do what it takes to meet that goal, and then immediately want to move forward with something new and different. My last job was conducive to my personality because they were advocates of growth and promotion. I was allowed to move and grow.  I stayed there for over a decade until we moved out of state, and I loved it! If we still lived there, I have little doubt I would have retired there. So I'm not an Unsteady Eddy, I just like to be able to keep reaching for higher goals.

At home, I am still like that with my writing, and I am not even a writer.  Initially, I was looking for a way to bring in money while still being able to be home with my son, and now finish my dissertation (still plugging along), and stumbled across writing. I kept writing, searching, and writing some more and finally ended up with a cover story on a magazine. I  immediately felt I'd met a goal (a goal I didn't even know I had until I met it, if that makes sense), and moved on to write other things, in other areas.

I don't usually share my goals out loud, not even with my husband. I don't know why, I just don't like to voice my goals until they're well on their way to being met. I will make an exception though today, and say that my current goal is to work on a collaboration with another professor to write a textbook. It's exciting to think about, and I really want to dig in and get started.  I know though, that once the goal is met (knock on wood), I will want to move on to do something else.  That is my personality, what makes me happy, what keeps me moving along.

I'm glad my husband is a Steady Eddy, though I'm also glad he's branching out a bit because it helps him understand more my need to always do so.  He's is far more able to relate now, to my goals and career-related desires, since he has started schooling on his own. It's fun to watch him branch out a bit.

Which personality do you relate to more? Are you always reaching to improve, find something new, and keep your mind stimulated?

Or are you happier finding something that works and works well, and staying put?

Both ways certainly have their pros and cons, I know...I see them in action all of the time. :)