I have three overarching goals in life. Here they are:
You may be saying “these are so vague.” That’s by design. In my mind these have staying power. And will likely be things that I want to continue both when I’m 26 and when I’m 62.
I’ll talk about each below. But there are pretty reflective of what I want to accomplish in life on a big picture.
I’m very fortunate to have an incredibly loving and supporting family, as well as some fantastic friends. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them. I want to be able to give back to them the love and support they’ve given me.
Outside of my immediate circle, I want to exhibit compassion with others and treat people right. What do I mean by “right”? I generally defer to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s ruling on obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” I’ll generally try to bias towards kindness whenever possible.
I was given two hand and a (sometimes half-functioning) brain for a reason. This goal encompasses the creative artifacts I make in both my professional and personal life. Maintenance is important too, but hopefully what you build can stand on its own. “Cool” encompasses a lot of traits, but primarily things that help solve problems or are useful to myself and others.
In short, I want to build things that have some staying power, and create experiences for myself that turn into fond memories.
This applies to a lot of things I am passionate about. My work, my relationships, the world. I want to be known as someone who made his surroundings better. To me, a good litmus test is when you leave, do things get worse?