As New Year approaches, people all around the world will start to set goals to complete in the upcoming year. The definition of a goal is an ambition to reach a desired result. Common goals in the world are topics such as working out more, making more money and improving happiness. Those examples are mostly focused on self-improvement, a common theme to goals. But, I believe goals can consist of things that don’t always have to better oneself. I’m not saying that goals need to be self-deprecating, but I believe that people around the world need to update their New Year’s resolutions to be not as general. For instance, goals that are more simply and less broad. But the point is I want to see interesting goals that tell me more about who a person is. 

In retrospect, I believe sometimes setting goals that are really far fetched, like improving your happiness, is just a waste of time. Because I know for myself I will say things like “oh I’m gonna go to the gym all the time and eat less sugar at the beginning of the year.” I say this knowing damn well after one week into January that mindset will be gone. Changing routine and habits in your life isn’t easy, especially when those habits aren’t necessarily hurting you. This example again reinforces how some goals can be unrealistic.  

 I think that by changing the scope of a goal to be more reasonable, it will actually make a difference in one’s life. For example, if I wanted to eat less sugar, instead of leaving it broad like that I would change the goal to eliminate soda out of my diet. 

Another theme of goals that needs changing is all the self improvement. Goals in my mind could be anything. One of my goals from elementary school was being able to do a front walkover. This is not really self improvement I would say since it’s just a random skill. Same goes with learning how to cook or bake a certain recipe. 

Goals about learning skills or random talents can speak volumes about someone’s values and opinions. An example of this is if someone who is terrible at dancing might have a goal of learning a short routine. This shows how they want to have a diverse set of goals, not afraid of something even if it’s not perfect the first time, and is simply an interesting fact about a person. I think having more of these random goals is a great way to get to know someone on a deeper level.  I’m not quite sure what other goal examples besides random skills and self improvement could be but I think it would be really inspiring to see a diverse cluster of people that all had different goals. Goals shape what you believe in and what’s important to you so I encourage people to not  pick the same goal as the friend next to you. Branch out and think deeply about what you value in life. 

I believe that having goals in general, no matter what type of goals you have, is a great human quality. Goals show how someone thinks about the future and is constantly trying to evolve. People who refuse to stay stuck in their ways are very mature and responsible. I know I am a really big procrastinator. I will wait till the last minute to complete anything. The pressure helps me work for some reason. But even so, it’s always been a goal of mine to get ahead on things. Getting ahead would help me sleep earlier, in turn benefiting me for the future. But if I somehow fought this habit and began getting work done earlier, I would show major determination which is a great quality. This means that goals are a great way to show hard working attributes,another great human quality. Overall goals make one a better human being. But don’t forget how completing a goal is also very satisfying no matter how tough it was. Anyways, good luck with your goals this year, Lakers.