How I Achieved My Goal

When starting this blog, I had the goal of going to the gym. However, like many post New Years gym goers, I did not achieve my goal and stopped going to the gym before February. In my first blog post, I reflected on my failed goal and described where I felt I had gone wrong. Now, several weeks later, I am well on my way toward my goal of going to the gym six days a week.

The most impactful piece I took away from this search for how to better attain my own goals was the search it self. Each week, I was analyzing someone's goal that they had set and reflecting on what led them to success or what led them to failure. This became a habit and now I take time to reflect on my week and see what worked and what did not work, so that I could improve myself the next week. This changed my whole mindset from feeling like a failure week after week for not keeping up with my goals to recognizing little successes but still continually improving. My advice for anyone trying to reach a goal is to take time each week or every other week to reflect on your experience.

The next piece of advice I learned through the process of speaking with many individuals and reflecting on how they succeeded in their goals is to have a solid plan. When I started going to the gym after New Years, I had absolutely no plan in hindsight. Just simply going to the gym is not a plan, especially for the average person who rarely, if ever, goes to the gym. I end up going in doing some bicep curls because it looks like some muscular people are doing those and biceps are important. Then you move over to the bench press because anyone who is anyone in the gym uses that. So you put on the weights and start repping, but you don't have a spotter and who knows how many you should be doing so you stop when you feel like you can't do any more. Then maybe you move to abs section because it's a nice place to rest and not look like a complete newbie. This is how my gym experience went only slightly exaggerated. All in all, I had no plan, I saw no progress, and I ultimately did not achieve my goal... at first.

Learning my failures and others' too, I have now been working out six days a week for the past three weeks. I have a workout plan I am following that keeps me grounded and on track. I reflect on my week to see where I can improve and what I did well, whether it is that I did not work hard enough on leg day or that I missed a workout. The hindsight that I have learned from each person that I have talked to throughout the semester has aided me in understanding how to achieve my own goals and I hope it can do the same for all of you.

How Olivia Achieved Her Goal—Or Didn't?

Sometimes a goal can be to find goals. This is true for a freshman at Penn State named Olivia Martinez. Coming to Penn State, her goal was to find her passion or passions and then pursue them. She had spent the last eighteen years of her life unsure of exactly what it was that she absolutely loved what she would want to do with the rest of her life. In a large university such as Penn State, the possibilities are truly endless.

As nearly everyone, Olivia wasn't new to community service coming into college. Also, community service is a large part of nearly everyone's experience at Penn State because of the largest student held philanthropy event called THON. It is incredible to be a part of raising money for Four Diamond families. Olivia went above and beyond when it came to THON and applied and joined a THON committee—Rules and Regulation. Right from the beginning she was dedicated to her goal of finding where her passions lay. From her past experience with community service and from what she had heard of THON, she knew almost instantly that it would become one of her passions. This did become and reality and she hopes to move up in her committee in the future, further pursuing one of her passions. Community service was not the only activity she pursued, however.

Coming in to college, Olivia knew she wanted to go into business, but she had no sense of where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do with business. Feeling unsatisfied with figuring out a major based on courses she liked or disliked, she decided to join Women in Business in the fall of her freshman year. Her intention was to learn more about different fields and hopefully find the one that she was most interested in. Since joining Women in Business, she has attended countless company information sessions to learn about different business sectors and discover which she was most interested in. Still yearning more professional advice, just this semester she rushed a business fraternity—Alpha Kappa Psi. During the pledging process, she has attended even more company information sessions as well as spoken with countless brothers about each sector of business to discover which fit most with her interests. Even though she hasn't yet settled on anything, she is not planning on continuing to look for her passions that she plans to pursue in the near future. However, it was not always easy for her.

For her, the most difficult part of talking with recruiters and brothers were taking what they had to say with a grain of salt. She had trouble at times remembering that they are bias toward their field or work or study. She said that some people would try to force you to go into a certain direction and that she was the type of person that if someone told her that they thought she would be a good fit for a certain area then she would lean towards that area even if it wasn't something she wanted to do. It also worked in the opposite scenario. If sometime told her she would not be a good fit for a certain area, she would start believing them and changing her own opinion. So basically her setback was paying too much attention to what others were telling her rather than just listening to herself. It is important to listen to what others have to say, but do not let it compromise your own values and aspirations. This is what can be taken away from Olivia's experience. 

Everyone can learn from Olivia's path to success by understanding that talking with people older than you can be very helpful and beneficial toward your own success. However, you have to remember to be confident in yourself and weed out the biases. This is just helpful tip toward anyone achieving their goals. 

How Brian Achieved His Goal—Or Didn't?

The transition from high school can be difficult. You are in a new environment, with new people, and have many new obligations. This was no different for Brian Gilbride, now a Sophomore Supply Chain student. He came to Penn State with many friendships from high school and wasn't putting in the effort to build new connections at college, like many students do. He just worked and went to the gym. His spring semester, he identified that he was not well rounded and wanted to make a difference. He set a goal to be better overall, but more specifically in his relationships.

Whether it was family, friends, or just any one he would come in contact with, he set out to be grateful and genuine. He put himself outside his comfort zone into social situations that he would not normally be in. He joined the photography committee within the THON public relations committee, the snowboarding club, and he rushed a business fraternity. Within each organization on campus that he joined, he honestly made an effort to make connections with the people in the group and build relationships beyond merely the person you just say hi to when you pass them on campus. This allowed him to see what people were like outside his immediate circle and really helped him appreciate what was going on in other people’s lives.

It was not easy to just suddenly change his actions and venture beyond his comfort zone. It requires a lot of confidence. In order to gain confidence, Brian started meditating. He found an iPhone app called Head Space, which guided him in how to meditate. Being more comfortable with himself allowed him to focus more heavily on the other person rather than constantly worrying about how he was coming off to them. He was able to shake off the social anxiety that may college students face.

He feels he has come a long way, but yet is still not contempt. This is a constant and ongoing goal of his that he can keep chasing after in order to continually better himself.

How Lan Achieved Her Goal—Or Didn't

Lan is working toward changing the perception of sexual assault on college campuses. She believes that this goal is seemingly impossible, but one definitely worth fighting for. According to RAINN, 23.1% women are sexually assaulted on college campuses. This number could be even higher considering the number of women who do not report incidents.

Source: Slope Media

Just this year at the college Lan attends, a male student was charged under Title IX for sexual assault. This case lasted four months. The girl had to defend her case in front of numerous people telling her that she was lying. She had to recount a horrible and very personal experience over and over again. Even when she won the case, the torment didn't end. The male student was an athlete on the lacrosse team and the whole team sided with their fellow teammate. They remembered seeing the girl go home with the guy and they deemed this enough evidence that she wanted to have sex. This is the perception that Lan really wants to change. Just because a girl goes home with someone, talks to someone, or even just looks at someone does not mean that person has the permission to use their body however they please.

Lan believes that a healthy mindset needs to be taught at a young age through people's parents. She feels that boys at a young age are taught that everything in the world is for them. She remembered seeing a post on Pinterest about how women mature faster than men. This is something that most people have been told. However, this post discussed how this is not actually biological in any way. Women mature faster simply due to how we are treated at a young age. Women are told at a young age that they will be responsible for their own actions, while boys are generally not. This also plays into the fact that women must worry about what they wear and are not able to wear certain clothing because it could be distracting for men. It is this mentality that Lan hopes to change.

Not only does Lan hope to educate parents how they can effectively teach their young child to be respectful and understand that they will be held accountable for their actions, she also believes that sexual education in schools could be improved. She feels as though their is not enough focus on how men can not assault women.

Lan I am sure shares this goal with many other women and men who have been sexually assaulted. Frankly it is appalling just how prevalent sexual assault on college campuses is, but Lan will not stop until sexual assault is no longer a problem.

How Tom Achieved His Goal

"Shoes keep people healthy, happy and thriving." Can Tom break the cycle of poverty? His goal was to collect 500 shoes for an organization called Soles 4 Souls. In the end, he not only achieved his goal, but exceeded it.

Source: soles4souls.org

Soles 4 Souls is a Global nonprofit charity organization to end poverty. Americans throw away more than 70 pounds of textiles per person per year. They collect shoes, which go to children and adults in developing countries. The shoes allow many children to go to school and receive education. For many children in some developing countries they are unable to walk to school due to the sewage in the streets, which can lead to infection if walking barefoot. Infections could include hookworm, threadworm, "jiggers," and podoconiosis. For adults, Soles 4 Souls will hire them to sells shoes providing a source of income for them. The organization originally started after Hurricane Katrina, but grew past it and now focuses on shoes for developing countries.

As I interviewed Tom about his goal and about how he achieved his goal, I learned that for him, achieving his goal was seemingly easier than my goal of going to the gym always seems to be. The major piece that made it seemingly so easy was the support. He tons of support from volunteers and from his parents. Also, knowing the impact it would make to collect these shoes was a major driving factor in what lead to his success. It answers the question, "why am I doing this?" This is often a question that arises when times are tough and you may think of quitting. However, knowing it was all for a great cause and would be truly making an impact on people's lives kept Tom on track to achieve his goal.

Source: soles4souls.org

The final piece that made a major impact on Tom's ability to achieve his goal was a solid plan. Right from the beginning he knew where he was headed and how he planned to get there. There was no room to fail, it was not part of the plan. This kept his on tract and allowed him to achieve his goal and go so much further. In the end he collected 1,051 shoes in three months, which is more than double what his original goal was.

The biggest takeaways from Tom's story is support, cause, and a solid plan. Support from family and friends can go a long way when it comes to achieving a goal. It can help one keep a positive mindset even when times get tough. Having a cause, or reason for achieving your goal, can motivate you to truly want to achieve your goal. Maybe it is not only about yourself, but your goal makes a difference in something bigger than yourself. Finally, a solid plan can keep you on track because you know what you have to do and when to do it. You see how you are achieving your goal; all you have to do is do it.

How Nick Foles Achieved His Goal

Everyone thought he couldn't do it.

Once Carson Wentz, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, got injured, the super bowl win for the Eagles seemed impossible. However, for the back up quarterback, Nick Foles, the super bowl win seemed more than possible. This was his goal.

Source: True Jersey

Nearly everyone doubted his ability to win the Super Bowl. No matter what goal someone has, people will doubt and won't believe. However, one's ability to push past this and find the motivation to keep going and keep fighting makes all the difference. For Nick Foles, he talked about how great it was to have Carson Wentz with him during the games believing in him and cheering him on. That was one component that helped tremendously.

He discussed another important component to his success: don't be afraid to fail. He explained this in an interview after his Super Bowl win. With this idea, he talks about how we view success and failure and that it is important to push through and grow from failures because in order to reach success you will fail a ton.

The final component that he talks about is his faith and his family. I think for a lot of people, faith can help them say focused in their goals. It can help people keep a positive mindset when things are looking down. Faith can be very powerful. And family goes along with having people who support you and also people who you don't want to let down. Sometimes what can get you to continue going even when times are tough are people you care about. You don't want to let them down and so you push and fight through all the failures and don't stop until you have reached your goal.

In the end, Nick Foles was able to achieve his goal of winning the Super Bowl.

How Joe Achieved His Goal—Or Didn't

This week I met with the co-founder of a brand new start up. His name is Joe and was a Penn State student majoring in computer engineering. He recently dropped out to completely dedicate his time for his new venture called Gullin. Gullin.io will be a place for the average person to invest in ICOs, which are initial coin offerings. ICOs are similar to IPOs, but are crypto coin based and do not require a company to go public. Usually investing in ICOs is a long and arduous process requiring many hoops to jump through and many qualifications.

To explain an ICO more simply, Bitcoin when it first launched set up an ICO, which allowed initial investors to receive Bitcoin at an extremely cheap price. This brought initial users to Bitcoin as well as revenue. This is essential the whole function of an ICO. 

As cool as this start up is, I want to specifically focus on how Joe is fulfilling his goal of creating gullin.io. The most important thing that Joe stressed when it comes to staying on track with the start up is always focus on where you are headed. The present is not always fun or rewarding, but if you can look at where you are heading and focus on it, you can reach that point.

The road for Joe and gullin.io has not been perfect. The start up has seen many failure and many lows. The way Joe is able to overcome setbacks and lows was what he stressed from the beginning, which was to look to the future. Where he is headed and where he wants to be stays constant and doesn't waiver no matter whether he is experiencing a high or a low at that moment. This is how he is able to keep a positive mindset despite setbacks. It is also how he is able to view getting rejected by 180 companies as a win because of the 20 that accepted.

However, there is one other component that Joe said helped him overcome setbacks and lows during his road to achieving his goal: friends. The other people working on the startup all helped each other keep the positive mindset and stick to looking ahead toward their end goal. Personally I think having other people sharing the same or similar goal around you definitely helps you achieve your goal. It might not be everyday that you need their extra support, but on days where all seems to be lost and you start to slip back to dawning on the present instead of staying focused on the future, a friend could lift you up and steer you straight. 

Joe has not reached his goal yet. His goal is for his start up to be successful, so Joe's road to achieving his goal is not complete. However, he has certainly stayed focused on his goal and is on a solid path toward achieving it.

(Gullin.io launches February 10th)