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YOUR PHONE doesn’t just contain your contacts, happy snaps, social media accounts and personal data, it can also be a repository for your dreams and aspirations, or life goals, as the tale of the young man who lost his digital device on the ski fields this weekend shows.
The phone, which news.com.au reports was located “halfway down” the Front Valley at Perisher Ski Resort in NSW, contained a dedicated list of life goals as its lock screen background picture. It was found by a fellow guest, who proceeded to post a photo of the device on Facebook in a bid to find its owner.
“Phone found halfway down Front Valley, handed into the booking office. Good luck on your goals,” a caption accompanying the post read.
The list contained worthy goals such as “get jacked and be at 87 kgs”, “quit all nicotine”, “have (a) motorbike”, and “get good marks at uni”. Solid stuff from Perisher dude (we’re assuming the phone belongs to a male). It also featured more questionable goals, such “getting better at fighting”, “have three girls on roster” and “don’t get a haircut for three months”, revealing a possibly conflicted young man. Or just complex. No judgment here.
The mysterious but clearly aspirational owner is yet to claim the phone, though given the nature of this list you would expect him to come forward and claim what’s his, haters be damned. It’s also possible he got hacked by a mate, though there’s an innocence to some of the goals that seems legit. Some commenters weren’t so sure.
“I’d be almost embarrassed to claim the lost phone … almost,” one person commented on the post.
“$25K and have 3 girls on roster lol tell him he’s dreaming,” another person said.
Meanwhile, others applauded the phone owner for his goals, with one person commenting: “They are phenomenal goals, nothing to be embarrassed about here.”
A confession: once in my early 20s, during a period of flux after coming back from overseas heartbroken and newly unemployed, I wrote a similar list in an exercise book. It contained more conservative ambitions than Perisher’s dude’s list, such as get a job in journalism, find a girl you love who loves you back and a reminder to myself to treat all people the same — yes, I was an idealistic young man. I would have been mortified if anyone saw it, bar one, my brother, who did in fact find it. Rather than shame me for it, as I feared he might, he was instead inspired to write his own list. I remember him remarking on the ‘treat everyone the same’ line as a standout. Thanks bro!
To be honest, my list was as vague and directionless as Perisher dude’s. As you’ve no doubt learned from interminable career seminars, it’s important to make your goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
Let’s break down Perisher dude’s goals against these requirements.
1 Get jacked and be 87kgs
Top marks here. This is specific, measurable and presumably relevant to dude’s life. Less clear is whether it’s achievable. If dude is already 80kg then adding 7g of beef is plausible. If he’s currently sitting on 60 kegs then it’s more of a long term project, in which case he needs to give himself a deadline. Let’s say six months.
2 Quit all nicotine
While worthy, quitting darts is notoriously difficult. Dude needs a deadline and possibly some sub-goals here, such as reduce ciggie intake to 10 a day in 3 months, 5 a day in 6 months etc. Still we applaud the sentiment.
A great goal for a guy who appears to still be in uni. If he can achieve it, he’ll be cock-of-the-walk at the uni bar. But seriously, I hate to repeat myself but, time limit dude!!
4 Have motorbike
Unless he’s relying on the bank of mum and dad, this is contingent on dude making the $25k. Note: I would have said ‘get’ motorbike but by using ‘have’ dude is perhaps making this more mentally attainable to himself. ‘Get’ implies the object is out of reach. ‘Have’ perhaps shows confidence in achieving it. Nice.
5 Getting better at fighting
This list was going so well but here we see our first possible misstep. Unless dude is an amateur boxer or practices taekwondo it’s difficult to sign off on this one. The use of “getting” is ambiguous — it’s possible dude has already made some progress in this domain and wants to continue to slay. Again, other SMART requirements are lacking. At the moment this is just a misguided, largely abstract prayer. C’mon dude!
6 Get good marks at uni
And we’re back on track. Dude knows his future is dependent on good grades and the fact that he’s writing this and his other goals down shows a degree of conscientiousness that could pay serious dividends when he hits the workforce. A little more clarity would be nice – get a distinction average, for example.
7 Have 3 girls on roster
In the spirit of no judgment, we are going to resist going to town on this one, though it’s ripe for some flaming. One man’s ‘roster’ is another’s steady uni sweetheart, after all. Good marks for specificity. Whether this is achievable is another matter.
8 Don’t get haircut for 3 months
Dude absolutely nails the brief on this one. The goal is SMART in all facets — dude finally comes to the party with a firm time commitment. I would argue that this is possibly a goal you don’t need to write down to achieve but it’s possible dude has previously attempted to grow his hair out and found himself throwing in the towel at the first sign of split ends or unruly cowlicks. Perhaps, he’s decided he needs the mental scaffolding of a written commitment to prevail. Baller move.
Final thoughts
Dude has put some thought into this list and for the most part it’s achievable. As stated earlier, the very act of writing down your goals shows a commitment to achieving them, while making the list your screensaver is emblematic of future captain-of-industry-level dedication. We wish him well.
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