Goals matter

Maybe it’s the fact that I tend to associate every philosophical discourse to something I can actually relate with. Or maybe it is just that I am so bored sometimes, that I start to notice the weirdest connections in the most unlikely places. Maybe it’s both. I can’t say for sure. But as I sat at that diner today gorging on that vegetarian pizza something struck me as very odd. Now before I go on, some background here. I, about once a month, visit this ‘all you can eat’ pizzeria on my way to the Indian groceries in the city. While the food is good and comes at a standard price, there is one little oddity that always has me pondering. Ordinarily if I were to go to a regular restaurant and order a pizza, then I see myself lapping up every single slice of a large pizza without any leftovers along with a large coke! Why is this odd? Because, in this earlier mentioned ‘all you can eat’ diner I find myself struggling to go past six small slices! I have tested it each time and somehow, the mind refuses to acknowledge that in a different circumstance, I can easily down 10 slices without a problem as long as I can see them all at once.

This got me thinking. Is it because there is no limit to how much I can eat – ergo meaning, ‘no goal’ – that I find myself stopping at six? And in other cases when there is 10 slices, I have a goal to meet? And hence I manage to eat them all? I don’t know. Come to think of it, the same is true with other things too. Imagine having to go to a mall or a bazaar without any goal in mind. Chances are you will spend a few hours there and end up buying nothing important. Same case, if you go with maybe a list of things to look at, then you find yourself not only buying the stuff you need but also in good time! How about shopping at a supermarket when you go there without a list? Don’t you always buy 10 more things you never thought you would? And don’t you find yourself bringing it home and wondering ‘God…why did I buy this?’ and never using it ever?

I don’t know. Maybe all this means nothing. But today as I left the diner having devoured six small slices and feeling very full, I wondered if next time I should try putting 10 slices at once on the plate instead of having to eat three at a time. But then…maybe that won’t look too good, would it? So I guess then it’s settled. Goals do matter regardless of its purpose. Even if it means just ‘lunch’. What do you think?

..ShaKri..