How important are goals

I was laid up with a back injury a while back. Literally all I could do was lay in bed, and pray I did not have to get up to go to the bathroom. A person can get dehydrated this way.

My trusty smart phone saved me from total boredom. Netflix, Hulu, books but even that got old. So
I started playing one of those stupid phone games a friend recommended. Those things are addictive.
The game had rounds, and in each rounds I had a goal: to take down so many opponents,
different each time. I don’t play those games often and I got drawn into this one.
It started easy, and progressively got more difficult. I found myself so caught up in making fancy,
flashy moves that were very obvious. But getting caught in that mentality made me lose my rounds.
But come on, who does not want to do that incredible move, take down tons of opponents
(even if they did not really matter at the time), and  overall look and feel cool. Slow learner here
but guess what I was forgetting? Keeping my focus on the goals at hand. So I started making it a
point to not get caught up in the game but to focus on  accomplishing the goal at hand.
Sometimes it meant doing a wimpy move, nothing cool or flashy but it was enough to win me
the round.  I was winning every round this way.

Where am I going with this?  Well  the same thing applies toward self defense.
Many find themrself busy trying to perform a move, a technique they saw done once,
or even one that they are good at doing. Their brain gets locked on doing that thing.
It becomes their goal.  It may work or it may get them killed. You know what has a much higher rate
of success? Defining what your goal truly should be, and doing everything in your power to
accomplish that goal.

If your goal in a self defense situation is not to get out of the interaction alive and in one piece,
then you may want to re-evaluate what you are doing. This is not time for vengeance,
or teaching a lesson.  This is NOT self defense. That is fighting or assaulting.

Now that you have your goal firmly in mind what is the quickest way to get there?
It might just running away…. Yeah not flashy or cool.. But guess what: goal accomplished!  
To determine your course of action always keep in mind Rory’s quote:

• It is better to avoid than to run
• better to run than to de-escalate
• better to de-escalate than to fight
• better to fight than to die

Choose the easiest method first, then go down the list if things progress, or if you got caught very badly off guard.  
But ALWAYS keep your GOAL in mind: to go home alive!!!

This will actually speed the process of achieving the goal. If you are put on the spot, it is very stressful.
The last thing you need is to start deciding what your goal is. Now you know your goal, your choice of actions
is finite. Choose and act.

Same principle applies to life in general. Do you have goals? Do you keep them in front of you when making
decisions? Or you get side tracked with “flashy” stuff, with empty promises?

Define your goals and ALWAYS KEEP YOUR GOALS IN MIND. It is  difficult to get somewhere if you do not
have  destination in mind

I might play stupid games, but if I learned a life lesson out of it it’s not stupid… right Marc?

Be smart, stay safe.