With Purpose Success, part 41

But grant money is starting to roll in, which will help her expand, and after several years of working long hours for no pay she expects to begin taking an annual salary of $40,000 or so in the next year or two. Ironically, even though most grantors insist on low overhead they also insist on the presence of some paid staff at the charities they support. Paid staff is perhaps the best signal that a program is functioning and will be around for a while. "I just feel grateful that this passion came to the surface," Ginsberg says. "It wasn't something that I was intentionally seeking. I just feel really lucky and fortunate. A lot of people have said to me 'I wish I had a passion like that. I wish I had something that I felt so dedicated to that I could identify a way to spend time and make a commitment like this.' I think you just reach a point in your life when you're old enough to have the perspective of looking back and starting to think about what kind of legacy you want to leave. Maybe this is the benefit of age." 

What does Ginsberg get from her efforts? Like so many of the people I have interviewed, who have found a larger purpose for living and invested their time and energy into learning how to spark meaningful change, she believes she now possesses knowledge that is just too valuable to go unused. "What I get is knowing that I am making a difference to some kid, somewhere, and to some teachers' ability to bring these lessons into their students' lives. I feel like I'm making a difference for the future, and that's what keeps me going. If I didn't do this, knowing what I know, it would just be irresponsible." 

OK. I have spilled a bit of ink on Robert Chambers and Katie Gins- berg. Why? After all, they aren't headline grabbers like Bono or Angelina 

Jolie or Bill Clinton or Warren Buffett, all of whom are contributing to meaningful change in the world through their celebrity and riches. 

While interesting and noteworthy, though, celebrity contributions are a trifle compared to the cumulative good that people of ordinary means can bring about. Robert Chambers and Katie Ginsberg are just such ordinary people-perhaps like you-and they show us that it's not too late to discover your calling; that you too can set new goals at any age and pursue new dreams and reach for something grand. "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations," wrote Louisa May Alcott. "I may not reach them. But I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead." 

New Goals for a New Life Stage 

Prior to this stage of life your goals were all about meeting needs and doing well at work. Yet it is imperative to have new dreams and chase them in order to keep from being stagnant. You have a responsibility to keep yourself vital by thinking about what you want to be and by thinking about how you want to use your life. Remember, as Professor Shoven said: if you are not going to die soon, then you are not old. If you are not old, you have many years left and you must decide what to make of them. 

This is a new challenge presented by our new longevity. Embrace it.

People who have dreams and set goals are more likely to find achievement.

Yet many folks never do set goals, either personal or professional, not while they are young and not even after they mature. Why don't more people set goals? In general, psychologists point to seven reasons: 

Many of us go through life doing as we are told-trying to live up to other peoples' expectations instead of creating our own. goal that others see as lofty, they will surely try to bring you down and recite many reasons why you'll never reach your goal. know, and you may feel foolish.