Indecisive Goals On A Beer-Stained Bar Napkin

Back in the US of America after years of traveling here, living there and chilling out somewhere way over yonder, I've come to a daunting realization that I have absolutely, positively, hauntingly no clue what the f&%$ I'm going to do with myself. As of this moment, I'm merely a waste of space on this planet of 7 billion well-minded humans who clearly have a game plan and are progressing while I'm procrastinating here in not-so-pfun Plugerville, Texas. Insert sarcastic emoticon here.

In all sincerity, though, a few moments (aka days...actually, months) after returning to my quiet, confided, monotonous abode, filled with consistent tear-drenched eyes and gas-induced stress, I decided to do what I should have done before that melancholy journey home from China; drink cheap beer at a bar.

Alone. 

And write goals. 

On a napkin.

Everybody has their own personal way of getting their life in order and setting life goals.
This is mine. Don't judge.  

Lined paper makes for a structured disaster. Notebooks hold too many pages. Microsoft Word is too clean and easily editable. A4 and 8x11 paper is too large. Keeping a list in mind without writing it down is just bad organization skills. A spreadsheet with bars and graphs and percentages is cause for a brain explosion.

But bar napkins. Bar napkins are the way to go. 

Every written word holds meaning as these goals are limited to a 9x9 serviette border at most. Each idea is intricately placed under a category, beside a bullet point or scribbled near a drawn stick figure exemplifying the goals. Alone at the bar, I strain my eyes under the dim lights to zoom in on the scribbled goals: some tangible, some easy to accomplish, some far fetched and challenging to master. I write what I love, what I hate and what I fear. I write where I want to visit, be it Abu Dhabi or Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee. I write pros and cons for every goal in order to choose a path with the most positive prospects. I draw a timeline between one week and ten years to give these goals an unofficial yet reachable deadline.

Head over to your neighborhood bar where nobody knows your name and never will. Drink a pint of beer or two to loosen your strained and confused brain. Take the bar napkin from under your pint glass, grab a pen from the bartender, forget where you are and pay no attention to the few confused stares from other bar patrons. You are now in the goal-setting zone.

There isn't a template or a formula or a set of instructions that goes along with bar napkin goal sheets. That's the magic; the ease of a heavy mind when using this fantastic and easy-peasy goal generator. Anybody can do it. And everybody should try it! Are you sold yet?

After snapping my neck up from arching over a small, square napkin for over an hour, I have another gulp of beer. Life now looks less confusing, less empty. My path to a successful future is clearer. I have options and I have tangible goals.

If you leave with a completed napkin in hand and Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" in mind, then you've succeeded in creating a new and exciting future prospective. Whether you decide to make this bar napkin a reality or just keep it as an indecisive thought to ponder on until a revision is necessary, you will at least have something to wipe your mouth with after finishing your beer.