Who is your SAVIOR? The Why of effective goal-achieving.

Dear atheists: Please try to look past the religious-sounding nature of the post. Dear religious fundamentalists: Please excuse my blasphemy. As I mentioned in my companion post about meaningful goals, this post is about the first real step in any sort of effective goal-achievement. I write effective because you may be able to achieve some goals that don’t really align with your values (though it’s typically much more difficult), but achieving these meaningless goals are like climbing a ladder to your neighbour's roof because your gutters need cleaning. A waste of precious time. Before climbing, take some time to make sure your ladder is in the right spot. Translation: figure out who your SAVIOR is. For reference SAVIOR is an acronym, and it stands for Self-Idealized Archetypal Values, Imagined Or Real. But, you’re probably not going to remember that. And you don’t need to. There’s not going to be a test. Instead, just think of your SAVIOR the same way as you already thought of the word. Your SAVIOR is the person to whom you can turn to provide direction when you don’t know where to go. So, how do you go about finding this mythical person? That’s actually sort of a trick question. You get to decide who your SAVIOR will be. For some people, the Jesus character, the Buddha character, a parent, Batman, or Kim F$$$$ng Kardashian slides into this role perfectly. If that's the case for you, it just means that one of these characters can serve as an archetype, acting to model how to respond to any situation. This is why those old WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) bracelets became so popular, and why Rosary’s have been popular for centuries - they are a helpful trinket that reminds the wearer how to behave, shaping them into the person who they want to be.

A helpful reminder, if you have a certain Savior.

Gaining guidance from a SAVIOR also explains why you’ll see people clinging to a family heirloom, like a ring passed down through many generations. . . and more insidiously, why we’re more likely to buy something if it’s endorsed by a celebrity whom we admire. By ensuring that we receive frequent reminders of our SAVIORS (either through wearing relevant products, reading important scriptures, or by following them on Instagram) we are choosing what values we want to be reminded of. In the process, we are choosing what type of person we will become.

. . . We are choosing what values we want to be reminded of. In the process, we are choosing what type of person we will become.

For those of us who don’t happen to have a default SAVIOR, we have to get to create our own. You do have the option to choose not to create your own SAVIOR, of course, but in making that choice you will be choosing to give permission to the universe to dictate your interests, values, and SAVIORs for you. To be clear, there is no problem with making that choice and allowing yourself to simply go with the flow - I have known plenty of happy people who prefer that approach. Such an approach will however demand forfeiting the ability to direct your own life in the direction you want to take it. Either way, you will inevitably be forced to make some important sacrifices. Take some time to choose for yourself which sacrifice you would rather live with. If you’re still reading, I’ll assume that you would prefer to be in control of the direction of your life. If I’m right, then I am inviting you to get to work with figuring out who your SAVIOR is. For my money, the best place to get onto that road is with ourselves. Afterall, we’re the ones who matter here. To clarify, when I ask you to start with yourself, I’m really asking you to figure out who the best version of yourself is (SPOILER ALERT ->That’s your SAVIOR <-SPOILER ALERT) The bottom line is that, to the extent that any of the aforementioned characters resonate with us, it is owed to their embodiment of the characteristics that we value and either recognize or hope to develop within ourselves.

. . . To the extent that any of the aforementioned characters resonate with us, it is owed to their embodiment of the characteristics that we value and either recognize or hope to develop within ourselves

Whatever combination of Jesus’ compassion, Buddha’s equanimity, The Rock’s drive, Oprah’s passion, and Rosa Parks’ courage appeal to you MUST make up part of your SAVIOR. Your friends, relatives, and teammates, no doubt possess some traits that you aspire to, too. Don’t be shy, look around and pay attention. Still in unsure? Pick up a book and start reading. Steal anything relevant to you! Armed with these sources of inspiration, please join me back in real life for a moment. More specifically, your own life's history. What is it that you have always liked? What have you disliked? What jobs and activities have you enjoyed, and which have you avoided or felt miserable doing? Look, if you want to carve out your ideal life - to achieve just about any goal that you can conceive - you need to get straight about what you’re working with, first. This needs to be a come-to-Jesus moment for you. Granted, you will inevitably overlook some important information, but the clearer the picture of your current personality traits, preferences, strengths and weaknesses, the more efficient the achievement process will be. Try not to worry about whether or not you are missing an important detail; rest assured that you definitely are! But don’t fret, as long as you are giving the self-exploration process a genuine and honest effort, you will surely learn the remaining lessons that you have overlooked when the time is right. You'll appreciate the lesson then (especially the painful parts) when you finally are confronted with it. Now all you have to do is superimpose who you are with the best possible version of yourself. Simple enough, right? But, It’s important to be clear about why you’re doing this, first. So, please indulge me while I try to briefly summarize some of the, admittedly sometimes complex, reasons why this understanding is so important. For much of human history we have leaned heavily on concepts like God and Heaven to serve as guides that teach us how to live and who we ought to be, and that provide rewards for following the correct rules. Frankly, such a reliance has been really useful, and whether you believe in a specific deity or not is mostly irrelevant. In fact, what God represents, is simply the reflection of what we believe to the best ways to think and behave. This de-mystification of holiness isn't outrageous. The words Behold the kingdom of God is within you, was attributed to a Mr. Jesus Christ. Our culture continues to reference the adoption of God-like qualities when describing the attainment a higher-level of functioning . . . We are becoming God. We are becoming God. We are becoming God. . . -Childish Gambino