Stanley Zhou, Period 5, 12/1/20, Day B

Goal Setting & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

I have come to realize through my experiences that goals come in all shapes and sizes. But, the one thing that doesn't ever change in a goal is the purpose. Goals are used to better your mind and body and bring you to where you want to be. Good goal setting is the basis to getting what you want and achieving the things you can only dream of. My rule of thumb is to set small goals and after they are reached, set many more small goals which will build up to something bigger in magnitude. Another thing I do with my goals is I write them all down so I can have it anywhere reminding me everyday why I woke up and this helps me visualize my goals being achieved. This helps me not feel overloaded with pressure and I am still able to achieve my big goals through many small ones. 

Moving onto my current goals. I have many goals but some specific ones are to constantly drink water ever chance I get and watch YouTube every morning. Drinking plenty of water is what everyone has heard in their lives and many preach about it but as I look back to prior years and think about my water intake and how low it is, I was disappointed. There is so much research going on about the benefits of water and I still chose to not drink it. More than half body is made up of water! You can't survive 3 days without water! Yet, I didn't drink water. This shot up in my priorities and I have been doing my best to drink as much as I can as I am typing with three finished bottles of water at my desk.

Watching YouTube in the morning? What a strange goal. I am not a morning person. I wake up and I am a complete zombie. The way I counteract this is by watching YouTube videos for 30 minutes. This is not just mindless watching wasting my life away. This is what I use for inspiration. I enjoy YouTube videos and as a creator myself, I use this time to gather up video ideas while still waking up. This leads into one of my major goals. I want to be successful on YouTube. There is no concrete definition for success because it is different for everyone but I know I want to be successful. This goal is being built by many of my little goals one of which is the morning YouTube ritual.

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

The goal that I set to drink water everyday has been ongoing since my freshman year of high school. Of course, with any long term goal, there were periods of time where my motivation to keep this goal skyrocketed and times where it dropped into the void. However, as I start to build a habit of this, I hope this will be almost automatic for me and I will have no more struggles with not drinking enough water. 

The goal of watching YouTube every morning has just recently been put on my list senior year of high school. I absolutely love YouTube and watch it as a form of escape from the world. This is why the goal has already been a habit for me. I have no issues waking up knowing that I am rewarded with a creative outlet like YouTube. With this being included in my daily schedule, my creativity increased and my workflow increased as I was pumping out more content for my viewers and more and more people seem to be enjoying my channel and it has been growing like crazy ever since.

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

Like I mentioned before, my goal of drinking more water is widely accepted yet everyone I know struggles with this issue and it just seems like we need to prioritize water intake as much as possible as it's essential to our everyday life especially for student athletes like me who tax our body so heavily. Moving onto me waking up to watch YouTube. Sounds strange, doesn't it? That's because there is this idealized norm built up by the world around us and influencers that every morning is productive and you have to exercise or read a book or meditate. But, no. That isn't always the case. I sometimes have my lazy mornings too so I used this goal to show that productivity can come from doing something you love even if it is as simple as browsing YouTube. Now, I hope that as you have finished reading this blog, you thought of some goals that may benefit you. Small or big, the possibilities are endless and are only limited to your imagination. Good luck achieving your goals!