Goals.... Living the Life You Imagined

The future has been on my mind a lot lately. With graduation right around the corner (76 days away to be exact, not that I am counting or anything) setting a few plans in motion for the future has taken over much of my free time. For those of you who know me planning is a pass time of mine. List, excel sheets and details are what I live for so graduation is a little hard for me to wrap my head around. There will be no more group projects, test and papers to juggle and it is a little bit scary! School is all I know, it has provided me with a set course of action for the past 18 or so years and now that it is over I NEED to find something to work towards next.  With this in mind, much of my time of late is spent researching... ideas, inspiration, people, the art of accomplishing things.... Along the way I have found a few interesting tips and hints to help you with goals.
1. Don't Be Counseled  by Your Fears.

        Elder David A. Bednar (learn who he is here) called the young single college adults in the Orlando area together in 2011 and answered any questions we had. He said many amazing and inspiring things that night but this sentence stuck with me ever since. I don't even remember what question brought it up but it moved me, quite literally in fact all the way to Utah but that's a story for another day . This little phrase provides so much power. When setting goals it is only natural to think of all the possibilities that can go wrong. Fear can be paralyzing, but only when we let that fear go can we do something amazing.   

2. Set Specific, Attainable, and Measurable Goals.

        Many of us a have these huge goals, goals so huge they seem unattainable at times, but it does not have to be this way. Big goals need to be broken down. Always dreamed of running a marathon? Well, its not going to happen while you keep feeding that Hulu addiction. It takes some work. A plan that is reasonable. Start with something more attainable like, this month I will run 2 miles three times a week and I will run a 5K on March 16. Then you make these smaller steps happen. The most important part here is to measure your successes and to realize that it is OK to fail as long as you do not give up. Evaluation and reworking the plan is part of any big goal. 

3. It is Better to Fail than to Never have Tried at All. 

        This is probably the scariest thing I have learned. If you speak to any successful person they will tell you failure is a part of success. It is just a fact of life and sometimes our failures lead us to a more successful future.  Failure, has the ability to open doors and possibilities just like as success does. After I finished my AA I was hopefully applying to universities for a program I thought I wanted. I received a devastating rejection from my number 1 school and thought all was lost. At the time the this failure seemed like the end of the world but I would have missed so many opportunities had I attended a different university. Things have a way of working out for the best when you make the most of what you are given. Although it is scary and even crippling at times we won't get anywhere if we are too afraid to fail