Begin Work on Your Long-Term Goals Today
by Kathie Hightower and Holly Scherer
It’s simply a reality of military life. Some things you want to do aren’t possible, at least not exactly the way you envision them. Many of your dreams may seem impossible where you happen to be assigned at the moment. Does that mean you have to give your dream up? No. It just means the approach you are thinking of — your first right answer — won’t work right here.
Your career won’t proceed in a straight-line fashion. You can’t build your business the same effective, consistent way your peers who stay put can. You won’t have that dream house just the way you want. You won’t have a garden that matures and evolves over time.
FIND A SOLUTION FOR RIGHT NOW
That’s where second/third and higher “right answers” come into play. If the first right answer isn’t possible, look for the second right answer or as many as you need until you find one that will work right now, right where you are.
MOVE TOWARDS YOUR DREAM
In our workshops we give participants an opportunity to share dreams and brainstorm with the group for the second/third right answer.
At a Fort Stewart, Ga., an Army spouse named Charmin had a dream to own and run a Bed & Breakfast in Tennessee. When asked for her plan of action she started with, “We hope to get stationed to …” and “As soon as he retires, I’ll . . .” Notice how those are actions outside of her own control and focused on future events? When we pushed for things she could do now, she added: “Read books on running B&B’s, search the Internet for information and collect breakfast recipes.”
BRAINSTORM POSSIBILITIES
By the time we finished brainstorming, her eyes were shining as she saw possibilities. Imagine the fun and excitement that Barbara can now create in her life right away and anywhere they are stationed — moving toward her dream.
The key is realizing there are paths you can try out, rather than simply seeing a dead end in front of you. Brainstorming with others is the first open gate on the road to possibilities.
Diana is an Army spouse who wants to go to law school, something that wasn’t available where she and her husband were living in Germany. She was waiting to return to the U.S., hoping they’d be stationed near a law school. We received this e-mail from her a few weeks later.
TAKE ACTION NOW
“I have volunteered for the local JAG office and signed up for distance learning law classes as I go to the library and check out books all the time to help me with my law career.” She paid attention to the second and third right answers that came out of the brainstorming session and took action to start moving toward her dream — without any change of assignment or circumstances.