Words by.Afifah (XLFL Batch 5 Yogyakarta)

New year is identical with new resolution. It is the time of the year when people start to embrace new goals and challenge themselves to acquire new habits. People are happy and eager to start brand new days, and so were I.

I was really excited to begin my 2017 by attending XLFL first workshop in Yogyakarta. Like a start always does, this first time really blew my mind. It made me rethink and question a lot. What am I going to do for the rest days I have on this earth? What kind of impact I have made since I live this planet? Why do some people work really hard to have a good life? But why are there people who just let their life flows and living a life doing nothing?

Goals. Perhaps that is the big deal. I was stupefied when my classmates and I were discussing about setting goals in life. Some of us extremely agree that it is essential to have life goals and plan what to do. But some others didn’t really think it’s a big deal because we never know where the future will bring us to. Yes, it is right that we have no clue about what will happen in the future. If we know nothing about future then why do we still have to plan? Having goals will give us enthusiasm, make us more productive, and bring us to a life worth living. Goals or dreams are like a compass, they will show us the right direction to go. When we have goals to achieve, we will do some effort, we know how to fight, we feel blessed when we are successful, and even if we fail, and we learn how to be strong in life.

I already set some goals, but sometimes I felt like my goals were not strong enough to push me to do the work. I found out that it was actually because the goals I set were not clear enough. We were taught by Leo Mokodompit, our facilitator, to make our goal specific, we have to know why we want it, when it is achieved, and so on. I found that K-W-L tool would really help me solve this problem. By having a clear vision in mind, it is easier to transform it into action. When we already have a big picture inside our head and we believe it in our heart, then our hands will do the work.

 

“Of what use is a dream if not a blueprint for courageous action” – Adam West

One of my classmates told us an interesting concept about the ‘R’ of  SMART goals, Reliable. Reliable has two disjoint circles. The first circle is The Want, the second circle is Reality, and the overlap zone is called as goal pool. The Want is what we dream of achieving, and Reality is all possibilities we already have.

When we know what we want, what we already have (resources e.g. abilities) and then set a goal, we can think of the best strategy we should make to move the want thing into the circle of reality. Some people told us to be realistic in setting goals or dreams. Realistic doesn’t mean that we are forbidden to dream big. It means to put our best effort to transform the want into reality with the right strategy.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way” – John C. Maxwell

Well, Leaders, we are more than lucky to have this opportunity to be XL Future Leaders students. This two year inquiry based learning process will surely really help us to set the strategy we need in each battleship we fight. Dream big, eager beaver! Make the world better, because your dreams really matter!