Targets

theresak

When did they become so important? Why must they prevail in life, and everything be ` Target - driven?`

My two sons have very different careers - the older teaches French and German, the younger works in IT, but of course the one thing they have in common is TARGETS, which must be met.

Doctors must meet them; police;firemen;ambulance drivers; politicians ( though they often lie about theirs and don`t seem to care if they miss them.)

TARGETS have infiltrated every walk of life and clearly have a plan to take over the whole human race. Woe betide anyone who fails to meet a TARGET, as this could result in a fate worse than death. Rumour has it that most insomniacs, instead of counting sheep, are recommended to count TARGETS.

A TARGET has assumed sinister proportions - it is no longer just the bulls eye on the dartboard or the coconut on the shy.

stickywicket

Oooh, Tezz, that sounded heartfelt

Fortunately Mr SW and I are too old to be affected much by targets. To him a target is the next pin on the golf course and to me it's just muddling through the day.

We do, occasionally, and very usefully, set ourselves all sorts of targets (Must do the cleaning today as guests are coming tomorrow etc) but they are voluntary. I think I'd hate having targets set for me partly because of the perpetual (and surely counter-productive) pressure implied and partly because that approach assumes that the journey is of much less value than the arrival.

Maybe I'm just an old romantic but I think I prefer Values to Targets.

theresak

Yes, I suppose it was heartfelt - both our sons, in separate phone calls last night, were lamenting about targets. Jacob, 10 year old grandson, got a certificate at school for meeting his targets for the week. Even the Practice Nurse at the surgery was discussing them with the receptionist.

I, too, set myself targets, largely concerned with daily life, and I don't miss having them imposed on me in the workplace.

I think I'm old-fashioned - I preferred the slower pace of life when values were indeed important.

stickywicket

I think a target-driven approach maybe assumes that everyone is basically lazy and won't work except under compulsion.

This probably gets more out of those who are, indeed, lazy but surely the implication is that the only things of value are the targets themselves.

I know that JS Bach virtually produced a cantata a week as musical director in Leipzig but I just can't see most lesser mortals flourishing in such a hothouse atmosphere.

barbara12

Totally agree theresak..its gone mad..The NHS managed fine till they brought these in, and of course they managers to oversee this...and they are not working...

Ladybrown

Targets everywhere, ggggrrrrr. I had to set myself targets to resolve my dip in performance last year. They wouldn't accept 'attempt not to fall any further apart'!