What is your 'To Become' list?

Remember when we were kids?

'I want to become like Sachin Tendulkar'

'I want to become an astronaut'

'I want to become a pilot'

'I want to become an engine driver'

'I want to become a doctor'

And so on....

When we are children, preparing a 'To Become' list comes naturally to us. We want to 'Become' something, We want to show off our capabilities, we want to 'do something' and 'Be Something'. It may be a wish list but it is there.

Our 'To Become' list changes as we grow up. What started as 'I want to become an 'Engine Driver' will turn to 'I want to become an engineer'. 

What happens when we become what we wanted to? Or if we did not become what we wanted to? When we have a job, when we have a family, when we have work?

What happens?

What happens is that our 'To Become' list slowly gives way to 'To Do' lists. We have all those task lists and check boxes and post its that remind us, day in and day out, that we have to do so many things. We have work related activities 'To Do', personal task 'To Do', family work 'To Do'....

Where is our 'To Become' list? Don't we want 'To Become' something? What happened to the dreams? Have we become what we wanted to become? Is there nothing to look forward to other than completing those 'To Do' stuff?

May be all those 'To Become's are replaced by one 'To Become'. 

I want 'To Become' rich...

In his book '7 Habits of Highly Effective People', Mr.Covey reminds us that we can group our tasks in two different parameters. One is Urgency, which can be high or low. The other is Importance, which can also be High or Low. The combination of these two together leads to four different possibilities.

Low Urgency, Low Importance

Low Urgency, High Importance

High Urgency, Low Importance

High Urgency, High Importance

Most of us categorize our 'To Become' lists, if at all we have, to the category 2 above. 'To Become' lists are very important, but most of us assign very low urgency to it and hence we do not take time to prepare our 'To Become' lists. Without a 'To Become' list, we do not have a base to benchmark ourselves.

So go ahead, prepare your 'To Become' list. Think big. Dream big. You don't have to limit your dreams to your current constraints. You have to base your dreams on your potential. 

'To Become' list is different from 'To Be' list in that the latter deals with Behavioural attributes like 'I want to be nice', 'I want to be acting fast', 'I want to be kind and gentle' etc. 'To Become' list is the list of your goals and ambitions unconstrained by your current situation. 'To Become' list is the listing of all that deep down we think we have the potential 'To Become'.

So go ahead. Prepare your 'To Become' list, your 'To Be List' and your 'To Do' lists. Ensure that all are in Sync with each other and with your true self.