My oldest son and I were having a conversation the other night. I intended for the conversation to be more about letting him talk out his upcoming plans, you know… career and so forth. For me, things get more concrete in my mind when I discuss the things I’ve been keeping in my head. As often happens, with both of my kids actually, I was asked a question that I wasn’t expecting and I shot from the hip. -That’s actually most productive for me. Not with everyone, but with my closest friends and family, I think there is enough forgiveness and understanding available that we can give our first thoughts about a subject and then discuss it to a refined answer. His question couldn’t have been simpler. “What do you want to do?”

Now he wasn’t talking about ‘for dinner’ or ‘for fun this evening.’ Tyler was talking about long-term. His question made me realize that I have altered goals in my life. For a couple of days I’ve been thinking about what that means, whether it’s good or bad. Am I compromising?

So here it is. As you grow older, you MUST move the targets around. Mostly because you’re motivated differently and have more information from which to work. I see motivation working something like this:

1. Yearning: When you’re young you’re motivated only by what you want. Just look at babies and go from there.
2. Earning: As you get a little older, a person is motivated by what they can earn. Not for bad reasons. There is family to take care of, there are specific needs that cost money and the responsibility is on you to do it.
3. Expertise: It’s been reported that when a person does anything for 10,000 hours, they become an expert at it. At a certain age, you are an expert at SOMETHING. Hopefully it’s not television and sleep! The expertise you have is valuable. The age comes where you want to produce value from that expertise, whether to help others or to create income or BOTH.
4. Legacy: There becomes increasingly more, the desire to leave something behind. Something besides a burden. Things of intrinsic AND measurable value, financial perhaps but also knowledge, good memories and character.

The subject of goals also brings up Spiritual goals. Those change less. We want to please our Creator and Savior. As I get older, I realize that it comes full circle. We start out knowing a little. We strive and work to please God. Then we finally come to terms with the Truth that the final answer is incredibly deep: “Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.”

So how did I answer my son’s question? I want to play guitar. I want to sail. I want my wife and kids to enjoy spending time with me and wish they could spend more. I am motivated to earn from my expertise and create a legacy. I want to help folks grow in their walk with Christ and in their relationships.

How about you? Please comment below on what you would like to do. I would really like to know. Also, I will pray that God blesses and motivates you, and that your targets and goals move to line up with His.