Motivation and Goals Go Hand in Hand

There are so many great things that happen during these frigid months of winter. Snowboarding with my brothers, having snowball fights, and playing hockey.  However, there is one thing I hate about winter, and that is being cooped up inside. Sometimes I end up being inside for days on end. While I do keep myself busy with my long list of things to do, there is still down time. How is that time spent? Sitting around the house. Sometimes I drive myself mad, because I don’t feel like I’m doing anything worthwhile. I end up watching way too much Netflix and playing video games. Yet I keep doing it, because I don’t really know what else to do.

I sit down and look at my life and really think. What am I accomplishing? I’m the kind of person that needs to feel like I’m actually doing something with my life or I feel worthless. I like to have goals so that way I can work towards something. Sometimes these are small goals like beating my high score in a video game. The reason I set a goal is so I feel some sort of accomplishment once I complete it. However, one of the biggest goals, and perhaps a more serious goal I have right now, is to become a teacher. Becoming a teacher is something I realized I wanted to do in high school and have been working towards for years.

This goal is how I find motivation to do my homework (and trust me my motivation is really lacking at some points). It’s the reason why I’m at the University of Minnesota. Becoming a teacher is how I know I’m going to impact other's lives with my career. Working to become a teacher has become a focal point in my life. But what is your big goal in life? What is that one thing you want so badly that you are willing to put hours on end into? Is it making it to the state tournament in your favorite sport? Is it getting accepted to your college of choice? Maybe it’s saving up so you can get your first car.

Whatever your goal is, it should be your motivation for the day. Having this goal is the spark that sets you into action. If you don’t already have one of these goals, then take the time to figure what you really want. Think about what you want to be proud of when looking back a week, month, or even a year from now. Setting one of these goals is what helps me find motivation and it should do the same for you. Now before you go out and accomplish great things with your life I’ll leave you with the words of Lou Holtz.

“If you’re bored with life, if you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, then you don’t have enough goals.”

Stationed by the rising sun,
Jack