Goals

The only purpose of goals to a game is to bring excitness to the game players. We experience great joys when we make effort and gain progress toward the goals of the game. And I think the purpose of the goals to our life is the same -- to maximize our joys during our course of life.

Life is a game. However, the goal of this game is not strictly defined by the game designer (God?). There are certain life goals are set by the society, our parents, and we accepted from education, but largely, goals of life are set by ourselves. You want to be a scientist and discover theories that nobody can understand? OK. You want to be a doctor and cure cancer? OK. You want to get rich? OK. What ever you choose, work on it, and enjoy while you are working on it.

A good game needs a proper goal. The goal should not be too easy. Shooting basketballs against 5-year-olds are not much fun; so is the goal of become homeless. The goal should not be too difficult. Shooting basketballs agains NBA giants are not much fun (unless they are "playing" with you); so is tring to be the richest person in the world. How do we know which goal is best? We don't. But there is a easy measurement -- the joy we experience at reaching the goal. We design our goals and we have all the freedom to change our goals, anytime, anyplace.

The goal itself should directly link to your joy. Reaching goals in a game "proves" we are better than your opponents (whether it is trur or not), which is very joyful. The goals of life should have the same effect, to make us feel superior than someone else. However, most of us don't realize we have the freedom to choose whom to compare with, and more importantly, on which attributes to compare.