Goals for 2017

Goals for 2017

I think it is really hard to reach whatever level of success you are going for without clear, defined goals. In the same way that I think it’d be really hard to make the NBA if you were not “trying to make the NBA,” I think it’s near impossible to become great without extremely purposeful, and tactical decisions.

Some would argue, however, that the outliers are of by chance. And I’d say luck is a huge factor that contributes greatly to success. It would be naive and ignorant to say it did not. But I do believe that it is helpful to have goals you can work towards.

I think the easy & fun part is actually working towards the goals. The hard part is finding your passion and choosing your goals. It’s like aiming a rocket-ship — where do you want to land? Choosing your goals is hard. For me, it is really really hard because I have FOMO. I fear that by saying yes to pursuing some opportunities — I am missing out and saying no to other unique, exciting roles/chances. You have to learn to say no to 99% of things and filter the bullshit from the great things.

I am finding it is really tough to do. But you always learn something — that is the good news. Whatever it is that you end up doing, good or bad, you learn. You learn about a job maybe you never want to do again or a new career that you’ve fallen in love with. It is always important to make the best out of any situation. It’s just ideally, you’d find opportunities where you would learn the most.

And then there is the “argument,” or at least internal argument, as to whether or not you should “optimize” for the short or long run. You really can only do one.

I’d argue that, at my age (19), and my current standing, I need to optimize for the long run. I need to take the long view.

I am at my prime for risk taking. There will be no point in my life where I will have less to lose than today. And that is scary to think about. But also motivating.

There are no “right” goals. None are better than others. They should not require external validation. They are for you and you only.

I am going to have “soft” and “hard” goals. Soft goals are my overarching thoughts. Hard goals are the tactical steps I am going to take to reach each state.

I am not going to list out all of the tactical steps in this blog post. The tactical steps are flexible. These overarching, “soft” goals will probably never change.

Here are mine:

Family First.

1. Provide Value for Others
2. Get Healthy
3. Be Happy
4. Learn A Ton

Go out and kill 2017. Let’s make it an awesome year.

Originally published at Jordan Gonen.

By jordangonen on January 1, 2017.

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Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.