Goals

Today I thought I would write about goals, since the new year is approaching fast. This time of year people start thinking of things they want to do the next year, and usually end up not doing them. This of course begs the question of why we set goals at all. I believe that setting goals is definitely a good thing, if it is done right. People set goals like "lose weight", "work out", "quit smoking", or something of the like. We call these "new year resolutions", which means a determination to do something in the new year. Setting these resolutions is great, but we don't follow them. Why not? I believe we don't go through on our resolutions because we don't set the right goals. We say "lose weight", but we don't say how we are going to lose weight. We set goals without a plan to achieve them. Without that plan, our goals are too vague, so we generally don't follow through on them. When we set goals, they should be as specific as we can make it, so it is easiest to achieve. If you want to work out the new year, set an exercise plan giving specific days of the week in which you will do different exercises. It sounds like a lot of work, but if you do it I guarantee you will find exercising is a lot easier after you plan it out. I once decided I wanted to work out, but I never actually did until I planned out my exercises. If you want to set goals this year, make it specific and detailed. Another problem we have with goals is that we don't set goals we want to achieve. As you may have realized, I talk about what we want a lot. This is because it is so critical to how we live our life. If you really want to do something, you have to put effort into it. The more you want something, the more you will sacrifice for it. When you set goals, the same principle applies. If you really want to finish a goal, you will put more effort into it. The tricky part is finding out what goals you really want to accomplish. One good way to find out what goals you want to achieve is to look at your purpose, and set goals related to it. I cannot tell you what your purpose is, nor can anyone else. You have to find it, and once you do, your life will begin to have a perspective you didn't have before. Once you find your purpose, you will be able to set goals in accordance with it. I am not going to lie, this is much easier said than done. But once you do find out your purpose, your life will be a lot more directed and meaningful. Lastly, don't make your life about accomplishing goals. Goals are a good way to do things in life, but don't make them your entire life. Set goals, but don't freak out if you don't accomplish them. Your life is not about setting goals and reaching them. So what is your life about?
-Smart

Giving

Christmas time is coming so I thought I would talk about giving. I always hear around this time of year that giving is better than receiving, or something along those lines. Why? I thought about why giving is better than receiving. When I receive gifts, I feel happy and special. I'm getting something that I want, or even need. Receiving seems like a good thing, because you get something you don't have to pay for. Giving doesn't seem as good as receiving, and definitely not better. So I wondered why we tell people that giving is better. Is it because we want them to give us stuff? Maybe, but that's not what I think is the reason. Obviously there are many good reasons to receive, as I mentioned before. But what is so great about giving? I think giving is a way to show our appreciation for what we have. If you have even considered giving something to somebody, you probably have the means to buy that something. Be thankful for having those means. Not everybody gets the chance to have the money that you might have, so be thankful. Appreciate what you have, and give. How does giving show appreciation? If you give something to someone, you probably love them, or at least like them. You can show that by giving them something. A gift is a way to express how you feel about someone. When a man wants to get married, he gives a ring to his fiancee, or a gift, to show his love for her. Giving is a way to show someone you appreciate them. I think it goes deeper than even that though. If you constantly receive and never give, you become very selfish and spoiled. You become attached to getting things, and then get greedy. These of course are qualities nobody likes in others. People who constantly receive only think of themselves and what they can get from others. They think by receiving their life will get better, but in reality it won't. When you give you create qualities in yourself that will benefit your life. People who give realize that what they have is enough and giving to others is just a way to express their thankfulness. People who give help others who might not be as fortunate as they are. People who give can create happiness in other people who they give to. People who give realize that perhaps the world is about more than just them-self. People who give realize that their purpose in life is not to have everyone give to them, but is something more than just receiving. This holiday season I encourage that we give to others as a way to be thankful for what we have.
-Smart

Optimism

So recently I've been thinking about optimism. Optimism is defined as the tendency to expect favorable outcomes in situations, or a tendency to believe that the world is good. Many people agree that optimism is good, and that you should be optimistic rather than pessimistic. I wondered why this is so. I agree that optimism is a good thing, but I didn't really know why. People generally don't like hanging around pessimistic people, for obvious reasons. They tend to discourage people and create a bad environment. Optimistic people encourage others and create an overall positive environment. Everyone needs encouragement, so might as well give it to them. But I really struggle to understand why being optimistic is considered good. I believe that optimism is good because it gives you a better outlook on life. Which is quite obvious. The reason I think optimism is good to have is because it helps get things done. If you constantly believe that you will be able to do well in your circumstances, you will. I once read a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that says "believe you can and you're halfway there." If you think nothing will go right and everything will turn out unfavorably, there's a better chance they will. This is caused mainly by how your attitude affects you. If you think pessimistically, you don't make an effort to change the situation. If you think optimistically, you do put that effort. People make the argument that if you place high standards, you will never reach them; so why not place low standards? If you have low standards and expectations, you will achieve them easier than high expectations. However true this may be, I think I am happier when I fail at something that I put effort into than when I succeed at something I put no effort into. When I think optimistically, I enjoy life more, because I put more effort into what I believe. You will put effort into what you believe. If you believe you can become a basketball player, you will practice basketball. When you think positively, you will achieve more of what you want in life. You can't achieve as much if you think negatively. Optimism is the best attitude we can have when we approach different situations in life. I encourage you to think optimistically and believe that you can achieve what you want.
-Smart

Success

I started thinking about success. Success is a very hard word to define. Success in the dictionary means the favorable termination of attempts. It is also defined as the attainment of wealth, position, or honors. I don't like these definitions; as a matter of fact I don't really like the word success. The way we use the word is so wrong to me. Sometimes the word is used right, say in a football game, "that play was a success". Fine, that works. But the way we use it in talking about wealth or position is just so negative. Interesting concept, success being a bad word. I think the word success is mostly used to put others down. "If you don't study, you cannot be successful", "Bill Gates is successful because he makes money". How much money do you need to make to be "successful"? Nobody knows. Some would say enough to make you happy and well off. What if you can be happy and well off without a lot of money? Is that success? Why not? Do you have to make money to be successful? Most people say yes. That could be part of it, but I don't think you have to make money to be successful. I think people think you need money to be successful because what they are looking for is happiness. They think that getting money will make you happy. But what they don't realize is that they are not looking for money; they are looking for happiness. Most of the time people are not looking for money, but for something that drives that want for money. I think that drive is usually happiness or is related to it, which is fine. What people want reveals what their purpose is (see post on purpose). I don't think you need to make a lot of money to be successful. So how is success reached? I think the way to be successful you have to find what you want in life, not what you think you want, and work for it. To be successful you have to figure out what drives your life, what your purpose is, and work for it. You can have a purpose and never work for it, and that's why some people aren't successful. It's not that they don't want to do something, it's just that they don't work for what they want. You can also work for something and have no purpose, which is why others aren't successful. They work for what they think they want, but not what they really want. How do you find what you really want? Look at the things you want, and try to find out why you want them. Whatever that 'why' is, is probably what you really want. I think that success is different than what people think it is. So how do you live a successful life? Honestly I don't know. What I do know is that we need to find out what our purpose is, and keep on working for it. We have to keep working for our purpose, and then we will have success.
-Smart

Support

So after posting about opposition I started thinking about support. I mentioned that we need to ignore people who oppose what we do and that only try to drag us down. I think we should take it a step further, and take people like that out of our life. If you let yourself be surrounded by negative people, you will begin to feel less and less positive about yourself. We need to surround ourselves with people who will support us, and people who will encourage us. If you want to develop good character, make friends with people who already have it. If you have trouble in one aspect in your life, make friends who can help you with it. If you have trouble lying, make friends with people that have integrity. As much as I hate to believe it, and I know we all do, you end up becoming who you surround yourself with. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says that "Bad company corrupts good character." If you are constantly around bad people, you will start to develop the bad qualities they have. I sometimes believe that I can still be good even while I am with bad company. It doesn't work like that. When I am with bad company, I start thinking and acting like those people. The people you are around will shape you, no matter how strong you think you are. I've experienced it in my own life. When I hung around people that constantly cursed and criticized everything, I realized I started thinking like them. I didn't curse, but I started to think very negatively about things. I had to watch what I said, and still do, because they influenced the way I thought about things. I had to struggle to not say curse words, because they had said them so much it stuck with me. I find that when I spend time with positive people who have qualities that I want to have, I am a lot more comfortable and I start thinking positively. You need to make friends with people that will lift you up, not people that will drag you down. Surround yourself with people who respect you and encourage you. Make friends with people who actually want to be your friend, and who care about you. You don't want to be around someone who will leave you when you are going through bad times. You need people who will stick with you even when times are bad for you. You need people who will stick with you when everyone else falls away. That's a true friend. As you surround yourself with these kind of people, you will start to realize that you start becoming like them. You will start to have qualities that you want that they have. That's how you become successful. People who support you and stick by you will make you feel better about life and help you become who you want to be. We need to find people who will support us and not oppose us.
-Smart

Opposition

I began thinking about what hinders us from doing what we want to do in life. Of course there are a ton of "reasons" that we have, but mostly they are excuses. We say we want to do something great with our life, but we make too many excuses. 'I don't have time', 'I don't have the energy', 'I can't do it', 'it's too risky', 'what if I fail' and on and on and on. If we really wanted to do something, why do let these thoughts come to mind? If you really want to do something, you have to really want to do it. Obviously. Once you come to the mindset that you really want to do something, just do it. If you want to learn how to play an instrument, pick it up and start learning. If you want to make videos, pick up a camera and start recording. Stop making excuses. I also realized that another reason we are so hesitant to do things is we are afraid of what other people will think. We think that if we start making videos or something, people will say that we are not good at it. But the people that tell us we aren't good at something are mostly people that aren't good at it themselves. Why let it bother you? If they have something constructive to say, use it to get better at what you're doing. If they have empty criticism, ignore them. What they think of what you do will not affect your success. What they think is absolutely meaningless. If you know you really want to do something, don't let other people drag you down. The people that I'm describing are known as haters. Once you start becoming successful at something, you will have haters. No matter what you do you will have people who won't appreciate what you do and who constantly will criticize you. Don't let it bother you. Their opinions are wrong and are guided by jealously. Also, don't be a hater yourself. All haters do is try to criticize others and pull them down. They will see someone doing well and it bothers them. A successful person doesn't think like that; they see someone doing well and they get inspired. Be that kind of person with that kind of mindset. Take inspiration from people who are successful and don't criticize them. People have enough opposition as it is anyway. You will have opposition in your life, no matter what you do. Don't let it affect your life. Do what you really want to do, and keep going after it. Work for what you want, because it won't come easy. Life won't hand you what you want, you have to fight for it. You have to put effort in order to get what you want and become what you want to be in life. Life is too short to spend listening to haters and be affected by opposition. Life is too short to spend being a hater. Use your life to do what you really want to do and to become what you want to become.
-Smart