Goal setting
Tropes tend to emerge when you ask people what they want. What their desires are, what their vision is, what their goals are.
Some people get a little confused, like the concept is strange to them. Some are in deep pain and have no idea what they want. It can be easier to ask what they don’t want. I’ve never come across anyone who can’t talk at length about what they do not want. It is powerful to have someone lay out all their problems challenge them to come up with ideas for solutions.
Spiritual people often claim they are trying to transcend desire, and that goals are a product of the ego. Buddha may have ascended to this state but most people I know on this path are just avoiding taking responsibility for who they genuinely are. Growth is the reason we are here, the most natural impulse, and awareness is of a becoming, not a being. Who will you decide to become?
Others say setting goals is a recipe for misery and that driven people are never happy, always moving from one objective to the next. There are people like this, but they fail to see that getting what you want is just a byproduct, it’s about who you are becoming in the process. A focused person overcoming challenges and working towards meaningful objectives is alive, happy and not ruled by fear.
Take the time to understand who you want to become, then craft carefully chosen objectives to give direction to the unfolding of your identity.