Please advice me on setting motivating current goals with respect to these previous goals.

[Satyaprakash Joshii]

I am sharing my facts about previous Goal Setting, which might be useful to get any suggestions on building my current targets. Before joining engineering my target was to study hard get good rank in some entarance exam and join engineering. This goal kept me motivated and I was used to feel happy working towards a Goal. Once I joined engineering, my goal was to study well get good marks so that I get a good career. This goal again kept me happy and motivated(although i did not get good marks but I had a goal to keep my thoughts motivated and keep me happy). After my engineering, I again had a good known goal of getting into a software company and start earning. Once this was achieved my next goal which kept me happy and motivated was to increase my salary and get a little more salary than I can spend. Once I got this , my next motivation was to get into a bigger company with good brand name. Working towards this goal too kept me happy and motivated. Now I have around 5 plus years of experience.My salary is fine according to industry standards.It is little more than what I need to spend.I work in a bigger company with a good brand name. But what is missing is Goals. Although my past goals were partially fulfilled they kept me motivated and happy. But now I do now know what should be my new goals because I felt that just going to office and finishing work and coming back is incomplete without strong goals .Bigger goals bring bigger results and weaker ones do not. Around me there are some people who are unhappy with their salary(either current is very less or they want more and more).These people while working are more motivated than me because they have a strong current goal whereas me who had goals in past am missing on having a current goal. My dream was to earn little more than what I spend, a little more than adequate for needs.My dream was never to earn more and more and so on. So unlike most people earning more and more does not attract me as much as them.So I need to strong current goal. Can you suggest me any ideas on what can be a good strong current goal for me.?

[Deepak Bala]

Only you will know what goals would motivate you.

Do you like challenges and higher learning ? Take up a certification or read X books / month.

If contributing to the community is your cup of tea, scan the posts on CR or other forums and answer them.

Like to code and want to get better at it ? - Become a frequent commiter at an open source project.

Know a couple of problems that everyone faces in the industry ? Write tools for them and release them to the world.

[Satyaprakash Joshii]

I have been trying this for some time but now I think that more thinking needs to be done regarding this.

Do you like challenges and higher learning ? Take up a certification or read X books / month.

Goals like these I have been trying but i feel a strong motivation for doing the above works better. Example doing this study for big reasons such as getting into an engginearing college or getting into first company or switching company for greater salary or getting into a better company have been stronger reasons which are no more there.


A person working to be able to have good lifestyle has strong motivating goal

Now I have good salary , work for big company but a missing goal for what to aim for.

[Satyaprakash Joshii]

Can it be "writing a book on java"? Is it a feasible goal for some one who works on java and is in process of trying to learn java better?

[chris webster]

Satyaprakash Joshii wrote:Can it be "writing a book on java"? Is it a feasible goal for some one who works on java and is in process of trying to learn java better?

Writing a book is a pretty big job (as several JavaRanchers will tell you from their personal experience!).

Why not start with something more manageable? For example, why not write and publish some online tutorials on particular aspects of Java that you find interesting or that you think you could other people to understand better? Or organise some sessions in your workplace to discuss this kind of thing?

[arulk pillai]

You can do many things as a Java developer. I have discussed a few things including social media, blogging, and print-on-demand publishing. You need to pick things that really interests you. Digital media skills can compliment your career as a developer. Give it a thought if you are not already learning it.

How to build additional income streams as a software developer?
How to become a freelancer?



Try to do things differently to others. I like this JavaRanch title "How I taught my Dog Polymorphism". Something different.

[Jayesh A Lalwani]

Maybe one of your goals should be learning how to write in paragraphs.. Just joking.


You are experiencing what some people call a quarter-life crisis. People have heard of mid-life crisis which hits you somewhere around 40-50. What you have is quarter life crisis that affects people around 25. The problem is in the first quarter of your life, you are being guided by other people; by your teachers, by your parents. It starts off with your parents telling what to wear, what to eat, etc. eventually as you grow up, people around you start guiding you less, and you become more and more independent.

Eventually, you reach a point where everyone sees you as a grown up, and guesswork what, they stop telling you what to do. It can be scary to know that you are on your own now. It's like you are the kid who just learnt to ride a bike and has just realized that daddy isn't holding the bike. That can be scary! You are doing it on your own now, and you will have to do it on your own for the rest of your life. Mommy might come and kiss your boo-boo, but no one is going to catch you when you fall. And really, you don't want them too!

All in all, setting goals is easy, finding the right goal is somewhat difficult. However, what is most scary is realizing that you have to set your own goals. It takes some time getting used to. There are lot of things that you could focus on: improving your communication skills, learning a new hobby, volunteering, reading about what other succeful people have done in their lives.