In which we talk about goals.

Now, there are many types of goals. I, for one, have a variety of them, falling into a variety of categories including health, organization and personal growth. But I suppose being a recent graduate, what seems pressing to me are the goals that fall under the career variety. Having graduated in March, a lot of my schoolmates are now in more-or-less stable jobs, and some are in careers that they more-or-less like.

I took a job in May, found out, quite unfortunately, that it wasn’t the path that I wanted to take… and I quit it a month after. Kind of a sucky story to tell, but it must be told. Now, to avoid similar career blunders that I foresee in my future, I’ve been trying to narrow down my “action points,” choosing to concentrate on the ones that will lead me to the things I most want to be.

Which brings us to the first step…

ONE: Outline Your Goals. The simple task of listing down major goals is a big help. Personally, I feel like something is way weightier if I commit to it, and write it down on paper, instead of having it float around in my head. For this blog post’s intents and purposes, my goals involve a) Being a Writer, b) Being a Designer (Also), c) Working Primarily From Home, d) Learning How To Paint, and e) Selling Stuff. Learning How To Paint seems a little out of place in this list, but I suppose I put it down so that it would seem more urgent. I find that writing stuff down really works better than thinking about them, no matter how well-meaning the intent is. Ink on paper is a glaring reminder, whereas fleeting thoughts are not.

TWO: Produce Attainable Steps For Each Goal. Brainstorm and write all of the tiny steps you could take that you think will eventually lead up to the attainment of your big goal. Just write down whatever you can think of, that will help you achieve said goal. For this example, I used goal a) Be a Writer, and have outlined the following steps.

The possibilities are basically endless (unless you run out of them LOLJK), so list down everything you can think of that might help. If it turns out to be a bad idea, you can cross it out anytime, anyway.

And lastly, a bonus step involving…

See which goals go together. You might be able to kill birds with one stone. All the goals are related to goal c), for example. You can be a writer, a designer, a painter and a MERCHANT (I just wanted to use the word, sorry), while working at home. You can e) sell stuff that you d) paint. And so and so forth. This way, there is a quicker progression, and you end up really getting down to business. (Or something.)

My actual list is pretty scary and ambitious and I have weird-ass diagrams and lists and things. Maybe I can post that some time, when I’ve polished it. There are just so many things that I want to do, and too little of time and too little of me to go around. And then I end up really just wanting to do nothing, but feeling bad because I know in my heart that I want to be somebody great.

Is that lame? That’s kind of lame. But, it’s true. So, here’s an attempt at putting the more important goals first, and maybe actually getting them done.