Why I Made This Blog, and Why You Should Set Goals

Hello, and welcome to my blog! Before you read the rest of this post, let me ask you a question first: is it possible that there are no coincidences?

On my homepage, I mention that my goal for this blog is to write one per day. Recently, a friend gave me a piece of advice that motivated me to create this blog. In discussing his own goal, he said this: “Ever since I started, I ensure that I work on it every single day, even if it’s only for five minutes. No matter what, do something everyday that will get you closer to your goal, and write it down. Then, in a long period of time, you can look back and say: ‘Wow, look at everything I’ve done over that period of time’. Then, your goal doesn’t seem so far out of reach.” That’s the biggest reason I made this blog: write for at least five minutes per day. Then, I can look back at all the blogs I’ve written and see my progress. It’s also a powerful marketing tool to demonstrate your writing and design skills to employers when interviewing for jobs, so I definitely recommend starting your own.

This blog feeds into a longer-term goal, which is another subject I’d like to discuss in this entry: goal setting. I know “goal-setting” sounds like b.s. to some people, and maybe it takes you back to elementary school when your teacher made you write down goals in maybe five or ten minutes for the year or your future self. That’s not the right way to set goals, so maybe the reason people don’t is because they’re taught the wrong way when they’re young. But goal-setting is real, and it can make a real difference. The key to achieving a lofty goal is to break your big goal down into smaller goals, building a roadmap of smaller goals that lead you to your big goal.

Goal-setting and working on that goal for at least five minutes per day ensure that you are continuously making progress towards accomplishing your goal, and maybe that goal you set for yourself is to attain your dream. Today’s society, more than ever, makes you feel like you should just blend in and do what everyone else is doing, not what you want to do. Everyone wants to be like that person on Instagram that looks good and gets a lot of likes, which is why Instagram is currently trialing only showing the amount of likes to the user that posted. Their co-founder even said that the reason they did this was so people would focus on the content they post rather than the amount of likes the post gets. So, what if we were all the same on Instagram as we are with our friends, or better yet, alone?

I’m writing this blog at 2 a.m. after watching Signs with my sisters and my cousin (and my dog, but he was asleep on my chest the whole time). It’s a 2002 film by M. Night Shyamalan where aliens invade Earth, only to be abruptly turned away at the end of the movie because humans find that water is their weakness (sorry for the spoiler). It sounds kinda lame from the description I just gave you, but that’s beside the point.

The main character in the movie, Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), is a retired priest whose wife was killed by a neighbor (M. Night Shyamalan, ironically making his typical cameo as the man that killed his own main character’s wife). In the middle of the movie, when Graham, his children, and his brother are getting scared because they think the world might end, Graham’s brother asks Graham to comfort him. In response, Graham says this: “People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck, just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See, what you have to ask yourself is: ‘what kind of person are you?’ Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?”

Is it possible? It might be. Setting goals and working on achieving them every single day not only maintains focus, but it also serves as a way to eradicate coincidence. When you put your all into something, you get rid of the need for chance in realizing your goal. You’re making progress towards it, and because of that, you will attain it.

But you have to keep at it. If something truly matters to you, don’t give up on it. And who knows? Maybe your work in trying to accomplish one goal leads to something else you never would have imagined, and maybe then you find something else that you love to do. In both eighth and tenth grade, I tore the labrum in my left shoulder (the second time after it was repaired), and my shoulder deteriorated so much that it forced me out of each sport I played growing up.

In response, I started running track full-time my senior year of high school, which progressed to the completion of a marathon after my sophomore year of college. I started coaching basketball during my senior year of high school too, and not only do I love coaching now, but it has also made me a better student, leader, businessman, friend, and brother. Most importantly, it made me more receptive to criticism and better at giving it. None of that would have happened if I stopped working at my goals after I injured my shoulder.

In short, you never really know what will happen in life. But you can take as much control of that as possible by stating your goal, building a roadmap of how you’re going to accomplish it, and working on achieving it every single day until you do it. Then, you can look back and see all the progress you’ve made. And if you have to adjust your goals? That’s okay too. But never quit.

Is it possible that there are no coincidences? I think it is.

Here’s to the people who make their own luck.