If you're ready to jumpstart your next goal, pick up my free "Goal Setting Guide" here or at dianafitts.com/guide

Yesterday, I sat on my couch and watched an episode of Modern Family. Today, I sat on my couch and watched an episode of Modern Family. The difference? Today I put on a black gown, pinned a square hat to my head, and walked across the stage of a big auditorium. I was told that I was going to make a difference in the world; that my knowledge would make me an ambassador for conscientious decision making and the wisdom that comes with pretending to know every answer.

I had my Master’s, but I was an amateur.

There’s a myth that once we achieve a goal, the story is over. We land the promotion, put down a payment on the house, or earn the Degree, and expect everything else to fall into place. We achieved the goal, what else is there to do? But after the parties are over and the cards of congratulations start to sound hackneyed, we end up on the couch, watching an episode of Modern Family, and wondering why our lives are basically the same as they were the day before.

Talk about a letdown.

I can’t say that the time I spent earning my degree was for nothing. Through hours of studying, writing, and agonizing, I’m now better Prepared to share my skills and see the world through a more informed lens. I’m prepared to be more critical, more empathetic, more discerning. I’m prepared to take actions that are aligned with my knowledge, as opposed to my gut. I’m prepared. And that’s exactly the point.

While the Effort to earn my degree has ended, the effort to make something of it is just beginning.

My degree doesn’t owe me anything. In fact, it’s my turn to give back. On graduation day, it handed me a pile of potential and I now need to throw all of my effort into assuring it doesn’t go to waste. The effort starts now.

I once believed that goals were like trophies, meant to be collected and stored on shelves in glass cases. What I’ve learned is that they follow along behind us like children waiting for candy; waiting for validation. Every future goal I set, every new accomplishment I achieve, will assure my past goals they were worth it and still shaping my life trajectory.

Forty years from now, I Hope I can look back and say that all of my efforts were for the sake of my degree. I hope I can say that I didn’t take the gift of potential for granted and, while I left school better prepared to serve the world, I spent the next forty years of my life making sure I actually did. I hope I can look at pictures of my graduation day and know my degree was worth more than the two seconds of glory I felt walking across the stage. I hope I can say it lived on in my continued pursuit of knowledge, my continued hunger to make a difference, my continued desire to strive for more. I hope I can say it shaped who I became. The effort starts now. And if we do it right, it never ends.

If you're ready to jumpstart your next goal, pick up my free "Goal Setting Guide" here or at dianafitts.com/guide