How many times have you heard the expression that most people spend more time planning their vacation than they do planning their lives. I would expand that expression by adding that most people spend more time "thinking" about their vacation than they do thinking about what's important in their life.

While rest and relaxation are a must in living a balanced life, it's not what we were created to do. After all, the Master Creator took his RR (Rest and Recreation) on the seventh day, only after six days of "definitely directed thought."

Wallace D. Wattles, wrote "There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it is the hardest work in the world." And yet it is the first and primary labor of achievement.

What is your life's purpose or your personal mission statement? Is it written down? Do you review it and think about it often? Is your life organized around your purpose and a set of goals that support that purpose?

Without purpose and goals - definitely directed thought - you are like the proverbial "ship without a rudder." There is power in your purpose and in your goals. It is the power that takes you over obstacles, the fuel that propels you toward the life you envision.

你有多少次听到大多数人总是在谈论如何度假，而不是规划生活本身。而且，很多人总是在“想着”度假，而不去想生活中重要的事情。

尽管休闲和放松是平衡生活的必需品，然而我们活着并不是为了这些，造物主把休息日放在第七天，放在“明确直接的构思”的日子之后。

华莱士·D·沃特尔斯写道：“没有任何一种体力劳动能使大多数人畏缩不前，但持久连续地思考却能做到这一点；它是这世界上最困难的工作。”却也是为取得成功所做的首要和基本的劳动。

你的生活目的和人生使命是什么呢？你把它写下来了吗？你是否重新审视过，经常思考这件事呢？你的生活都是围绕这个目标进行的吗？你是否设置一系列小目标来实现这个大目标呢？

缺乏志向和目标（明确直接的构思），你就会像谚语中说的“无舵之船”。志向和目标给人以动力，帮你克服困难，推动你驶向理想的彼岸。

更多信息请查看英语美文写作