Another blog I read recently asked readers what hobbies are on their bucket lists. The post got me thinking about goals and priorities. When I was in my early teens, I wrote a loooong bucket list (before bucket lists had a name) and taped it inside my bedroom closet to look at from time to time. I don’t remember everything that was on the list, but I know it was ambitious and all over the place. It included things like learning to ride horses, to play a musical instrument, to speak various languages, and living abroad. It was a lined piece of notebook paper with a dream handwritten on every line. Most of the entries were not things I’d thought about extensively, but rather things that just seemed like they’d be cool to do, or to be able to say I’d done.
Tag: Goals
Imagining the Ideal Life
Yesterday I had the pleasure of conducting mock interviews of law students in preparation for the upcoming interview season. They were eager and well-prepared, looking out at the endless possibilities that lay ahead if them. I asked them where they saw themselves five years after graduation, and I answered their questions about my job, including what had led me to it, what I loved about it, and what, if anything, I might change.
When I was in their position ten years ago, I hated the “where do you see yourself in x years?” question. I had no real vision for my future. I guess I figured if I followed all the recommended steps — work hard, get good grades, network, get a good job at a big firm — everything would fall into place and I’d end up with the life I was supposed to have, whatever that was. I really didn’t know enough about the world or myself to know what I wanted my life to look like. I could recite answers to interview questions, but the visions I described were really other peoples’ ideas of what a good life and career looked like.
Quote of the Week
”We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win . . . .”
—John F. Kennedy
Big Picture Goals vs. Checking Off Boxes
I’ve written a lot of posts about steps I’ve taken to improve my day-to-day life and overall wellness, like reading books, meditating, language-learning, and exercising. I’ve even described myself as a bit of a self-improvement junkie. I am constantly consuming media about the latest health-related studies and how to become more efficient and effective in my professional and personal life.
I believe this continual learning and experimenting adds value to my life, but it’s easy to let these habit-related, day-to-day pursuits distract me from long-term planning. Setting big goals and grand-scale intentions is something that I haven’t done very often in my life, though I know it’s important. I’m talking about envisioning my life decades from now and asking myself what I want it to look like. What contributions will I have made to the world? What kind of lifestyle will I be living? If I could call myself an expert at something, what would it be? Read more
New Year’s Resolution Check-In
We’re now three weeks into 2018, and most New Year’s resolutions don’t make it past January. How are yours going?