George Athanasopoulos, 2/8/22, PD 1

 Goal Setting and Growth

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

Since we are starting a new semester I thought it would be fitting to update my goal list from what I had made in September. Since my college applications are all over, my new main goal is to maintain my grades as my last semester comes to a close. So sad but exciting. Achieving this goal is going to be a bit troubling as, I can’t lie, my Senioritis is starting to kick in and I am trying to hold it back. The second semester has just begun and I already have some work to make up. Yet I shall persevere. On a more positive note, my last semester proved to be the highest achieving semester of my entire 4 years of high school so I am pretty proud of myself for hitting the goal I had set in September. For this class, in particular, I am very excited about the Monster Project we have and a goal I have is to make it the smoothest and most fun Project possible. I know that it will take a lot of work to get done but I am very excited to see what we come up with since our brainstorming seems to be going great. 

After school, I have track practice and now, in the spring, it is Outdoor season. I feel like I did a good job of stepping up as a leader last semester and I am really proud of the team we have built this year. Guiding the freshmen and sophomores has been especially challenging since they currently are the majority of the team and there are a lot fewer Seniors. It had gotten to a point where it was very hard to control groups since we were so heavily outnumbered. In time, however, we learned to better manage this team of 60+ kids. We broke them up into smaller groups and by growing closer we were able to create a better system for getting work done. As always, I have a few time-oriented and distance-oriented goals for myself throughout the season for the different events I will be competing in one last time. One of my biggest goals throughout my time on track has been to get good at Long Jump as it is an event I really enjoy doing. Practicing for it though has been really challenging through the pandemic and even now. Regardless, I am eager to prove myself and compete to the best of my ability when I get the opportunity to. Next up, I have some music goals. As mentioned in my first blog, I have rekindled my passion for playing the drums over the past two years and the journey has been amazing. By far it is my favorite extracurricular activity and I aim to continue improving my sense of timing and my technical abilities around the drum kit. A big goal I have is to get a bunch of jam sessions with my friends and hopefully perform a jaw-dropping performance at the Talent Show and also outside of school if we get the chance. Lastly, this is my senior year so I aim to have as much fun as possible. Obviously, schoolwork is a big priority but equally important is being able to enjoy myself and have fun with my friends and family I plan to make as many long-lasting memories as possible before the school year comes to a close. 

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

I always try to break down my goals into smaller steps that are conquerable in a day. By taking big abstract goals a day at a time, they become a lot simpler and more tangible and suddenly I can perceive myself growing. Knowing myself and my strengths and weaknesses I try to plan days where I can seriously focus on my goals while also taking into account some rest days where I can enjoy myself and recover. Finding a sense of balance in all things is the big life goal that is impossible to reach but as long as I keep striving for it I feel like I am heading in the right direction. Additionally, I find that a lot of my goals aren’t as individualistic as I may think. In most cases, I rely on important people in my life to give me feedback and guidance. I find that I often have peers working on very similar goals and encouraging each other and working together makes my goals easier. 

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

As I mentioned earlier, knowing that I have peers working on similar goals is a great motivating factor for me. In most cases, I work best in group settings so, the environment I surround myself with, greatly influences my goals and helps me understand myself better in a way. After such a challenging two years I think that people are much more open to a sense of optimism even if it is not often seen. It is something that people long for. Like them, I try to stay optimistic about my own future as well as the future of the world in general as I continue on my journey of goals and growth.