On the perils of goal setting

Most people, including myself, would place the setting of goals solidly in the Venn diagram circle of "good" things. Today, however, I found myself reflecting that goal setting might instead be more accurately placed in the Boolean intersection of the circles encompassing "good" AND "bad" things. Some thoughts I had today while on my bicycle:

PROS Simply by setting goals I find myself to be more motivated to meet them, and doubly and even triply so if I've articulated them aloud or in writing and shared them with someone else There is almost nothing that I love more than checking things off of a to-do list Writing down specific goals often helps me to break up a task into more doable sections

CONS Sometimes goals cannot be met for an assortment of good reasons, and one can undertake crazy or unreasonable things simply for the sake of meeting a previously stated goal Items piling up on a to-do list are overwhelming Even the broken down goals may be way too much

Here I am at the top of Twin Peaks. You cannot see anything around me (nor could I) because I am surrounded by fog. I am soaking wet from the rain, and did not wear my bright green cycling rain jacket. I was inside the clouds, and not in a euphoric, cloud nine kind of way. In my defense, it was not raining when I left the house, and having recently created some very large cycling goals (more on that later), I couldn't bear the thought of missing out on a ride today. About 12 miles in, I am trying to look happy in this photo, despite being very cold and wet. Check?