Fixity - Set Your Targets and Stay Firm!

Monday, Monday, so it's time for the Swami. This week's (8th) ity is Fixity.
Fixity means 'the quality of being firm and not changing'.
(And what an important quality this is for a teacher!)

To tell you the truth, I had never even heard of this word, I had to look it up in my trusted Oxford Dictionary.

Being firm has had rather an un-fixed status in the past century. First we had to be firm, then we had to throw being firm completely overboard for the sake of being on an equal footing with our youngsters (and boy, did they like that) and then (after riots in supermarkets, classrooms and most homes) Super-Nanny came on national TV to tell us that we have to be firm. 

And we're back at where we started...

Frankly, I find the 'not changing' bit far more interesting. It gives you the opportunity to go after what you really want out of life. If you are changing your targets all the time, you end up wasting a lot of time. And, nice side-efect, people usually know what you are about.

Personally I get very tired of people who are changeable as the weather (and believe me, our Dutch weather can change 10 times in one day).

My cat is extremely good at this concept. Viggo fixes his eyes on, for example, a butterfly, and will not look at anything else until he has jumped at this creature. When he has caught it, fine, when he has not, he immediately loses interest and sets himself a new target.

Or he rolls himself into the heather and has a snooze. He is extremely good at adapting targets as well.

I tend to set goals and move towards them at a steady pace. And yes, I have been known to roll into my bed and have a snooze when I reach a glitz.

If you are in business, or studying, the idea of setting goals will be a familiar one.

But in other professions, or if you are a housewife, it is not as mapped out.

Do you set goals for yourself? And do you give yourself a pat on the back when you reach them?

And what is your opinion about being firm to children and adolescents? I don't advocate a return to spanking, but a little more obedience and respect would go down nicely with me.

How about you?