FEMOSPHERE

I am challenging myself to post every Monday in January for a little series I’m calling “Motivation Monday.” It will be an article focused on a self-help topic that has helped me and is something I want to expand on.

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; this is where they should be. Now build foundations under them.”

Henry David Thoreau

The line between an aspiration and a goal is increasingly becoming blurred. These words are used interchangeably but the distinction is very important for progress.

An aspiration is a desire, a hope or ambition of achieving something.

When you picture what you want your life to be like in the future, you have a general idea of the person you’d like to be. You can picture your life, your style, your relationships, your health, your wealth- any number of things.

It’s a pretty picture that could almost be placed neatly behind a glass frame and placed on the fireplace mantel.

The problem with this picture, trapped behind the glass of the future, is that it feels almost unattainable. It is so far beyond where you are right now, that it’s something you think you could worry about later.

Except, it’s not.

This, aspiration is a desire, it is a hope, it is flexible. It is not promised.

You hope for this future that seems so far away, but it’s built up of habits and actions that you take now. All of our futures are subject to Christ, and none of us can truly predict what it may look like. But our actions do play a factor.

A goal is the object of someone’s ambition or effort. This is concrete.

If you thought of your picture for the future, of the type of wife, homemaker, mother, sister, daughter, friend you’d like to be, there are things you can actively do now to build up to becoming that person. There are aspects of the picture that can be broken into goals that you can work on today so you will be the master you imagine in your dreams.

You could learn to cook now so you can have fancy dinner parties later. You can develop a consistent cleaning routine so your house will be well taken care of later. You can cherish the family you have now so you will be able to properly love your own later on.

You don’t have to wait until you turn a magical age, or reach some milestone, to start working towards who you’re supposed to be.

Lay the foundation, build upon it slowly. Rome wasn’t built in a day.