Wishful Thinking:
     Considering the future of the AMCA has become something of mixed blessings for the membership over the last two or three years. We can all relate to the member crying that we are overdue for a change toward the better, another who cries about his fixed income and the rising cost of membership, or the one sadly missing the “good ol' days” with the BIG Big Sings. We have our problems in the Association ... and yes, problems need to be addressed.

     Some of our fellow members have come around to the idea of goals while discussing corrective measures for the AMCA. Certainly most of us can concur with the planning necessities for organizing a drive to gain our needs (of the Association), and the importance of goals within the plans. As your Executive Council works toward your needs in the membership, it behooves all to understand those needs and set goals to achieve the required condition. Perhaps we need to take a moment to state something about goals, and aid consideration for the idea that it just may be a wish.

Wish:
     If I very quickly pull up my handy-dandy THESAURUS in my computer I find a wish (noun) to be a desire, or some craving, or just an inclination (temporary or not solidified), or even a want, as in partial or complete commitment. The ephemeral dream, as in the Disney movie song “When you wish upon a star ...”, it floats your fantasies and idyllically enhances your life. We all have our “wish lists” (Let's don't go there!), but when you pull words out of the computer looking for relationships between wish and goal, I find it intriguing that only when I click on hope do I find goal to be listed within the synonyms. Curious!

Goal:
     Using the same exercise we can also find that a goal is an object, perhaps something to grab, it is an intent, or a purpose, some kind of aspiration or expectation, or it may be an end, a destination. So we might call a goal: a place at which one strives to end; but that is insufficient.
     Goals were a very important part of the work I performed as a Training Chairman while establishing programs for various inadequacies. Our definition became that a goal needed to be a defined, measurable objective, with an established timeline. I still use some of what I learned while working.

     Definition and measurement does much for the goal right at square one. What have we got (assessment)?, where do we want to take it (direction)?, what's needed to get it there (resources), when does this need to be delivered (timing)? ... most all planning happens up front.

Focus Gets The Job Done!:
     Winters in Western New York often leave much time for getting lost in thought. I was outside trimming the apple trees earlier, but the wind at these temperatures discourages me from returning to the task today. Wishes abound in my mind. I clearly have great imagination ... or is it a small mind packed with wishes!? I wish someone would get out there and trim those apple trees for me! I wish, I wish ... I wish I may, I wish I might ... and may all your dreams come true tonight! We all wish for things occasionally. Trivial or substantial, we would like to have certain things at a meaningful time in our lives to enjoy, and maybe share with others.

     Some wishes are meaningful, so don't let me seem cavalier over them; consider the MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION, an exemplary organization for using wishes to better peoples lives. It is just that the wish does not always transpire, not even commonly. We enjoy making them in the moment ... “A dollar and a dream!” - I wish I could win the big one this week. We are well-wishers for various occasions ... “Happy Birthday!”, “Happy New Year!”, “Best of the holiday season to you and yours!”. And we all have our wish lists, mine changes constantly, to recheck for when that rich uncle bestows his benevolence upon us.

     We need to imagine, to exercise thoughts toward a favorable life ... and wishes are sometimes an expression of the thoughts. We need a hopeful vision of the future to strive toward, but to get there takes work - planning, finding resources, sweat - all the drudgery that is left out of wishes. So we wish, but we set goals to get our wish ... maybe because we have hope.


     I have wishes, but I hope that I only work in the Association toward goals.

Council Meeting:
     As we prepare for the next Executive Council Meeting in Marshall, MN, on the 29th of April, you can express your hopes for the Association to consider. Post your thoughts on the website or contact one of us at emails listed. We welcome advice from members anytime. Good communications is a goal of mine, please don't just sit there and wish we would come up with something intelligent.