Everyday we learn something new about ourselves. Everyday we are reborn and a new person with new preferences and personalities. Everyday is an opportunity to become a new self. Waking up from our slumber is the same as the saying, “Have you tried turning it off and on again”
Everyday is a reset button with infinite possibilities.
Now that isn’t to say that out of these infinite possibilities there aren’t smaller infinities of things that remain the same such as gravity or what planet we live on or our hair color (oh wait). There are certain patterns that we as humans are impeccably adept at identifying. One particular pattern that I’ve noticed about myself, because out of the thousands of things I know like how to turn a camera on or upload a video the things I know best involve myself, is that my emotions come in waves and there are often very clear hills and valleys. These highs and lows can be triggered by events I have, however minute that influence may be, some control over. Not the all powerful capacity to control every single time I feel love and joy with my friends or sadness and apathy sitting in the dark by myself, but the ability to nudge myself in the right direction like a loving dog would do to his owner’s hand. (You didn’t think I was going to make a video and not talk about dogs did you)
My favorite way to take control of my life in a preemptive effort to avoid unnecessary wallowing is to make lists. Lists of things I aspire to cross or check off and lists of things I had the time of my life doing that remind me of good things I should try doing again in the future.
Everyone needs something to work towards, some carrot to chase, some reason for breathing at least until the next Vidcon, concert, google hangout, or karaoke night comes along. This is where the importance of setting your goals comes into play.
Setting your goals is the first step in feeling ok about yourself, in choosing which version of yourself you want to be in the future. It feels about the right time for a disclaimer: yes it is helpful to set your goals but no it is not necessary to accomplish them all. You are not the same you you were five seconds ago and it’s ok if you don’t have the same aspiration to be a doctor that you did 2 years ago. This leads into the topic of anticipated future happiness vs. in the moment happiness, which I hope to make a video about but for the moment lets stick with our goals. (see what I did there? While writing a script about setting goals I set a goal to make another video and in doing so I made my goal reachable, specific, and public.) I should be able to make a video about happiness derived from the anticipation of elation versus the actual experience of being elated. (Is the goal reachable? Check!) I clearly defined the subject of the video (Is the goal specific? Check!) I told my friends that there was this thing that I wanted to do and have a conversation about and now a few of you will want to talk about this thing that I care about and that is awesome and makes my heart smile (Will your friends hold you publicly accountable? Check!).
There you go. That’s how setting goals can improve your life and help you do things that you want to do in life but just can’t seem to find the motivation to do.
Please, please, please tell me about your goals however small or large because what people hope for is one of the most interesting things in the world to me and I want to know more about you.
My current reading of the book Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card heavily influenced this script.
It is much easier for me to express my thoughts in the form of text. For that reason I will try to make this video using visual tactics that emphasize certain grammatical concepts that are much more easily interpreted in text such as parentheses will be visually interpreted as Aside Vince where all my asides and thoughts about my thoughts will be added in, in order to feel like I expressed myself to my fullest ability. (This part didn't actually become a thing in the video)
