Splash No. 220 - Goals
Goals
The other day, I saw a video that explained that 95% of podcasts never made it past the third episode, and that 99% of podcasts never made it past the 20th episode. By that logic, any podcast with 21 or more episodes is in the top 1% of podcasts when it comes to output. Later that day, I was talking about Splash to someone and realized that I had started writing this newsletter in July 2017, over five years ago. I couldn’t find any similar statistics about newsletters, but after 220 entries, I’d venture to say that I’m probably in some top percentage of writers when it comes to consistency for writing a newsletter. But how much does consistency matter? A random quote online tells me that “consistency beats talent,” but I’m not competing against talent, or anyone for that matter.
Up until a certain point in life, it felt like everything that I did was in preparation for something else. School was a series of preparations for tests and quizzes, building the skill of building skills. Outside of classes, I would prepare for different competitions, whether in quiz bowl or science olympiad in high school or competing for people’s time when running events in college for the arts org or the entrepreneurship club. However, increasingly my activities seem to be preparation for nothing in particular. I play endless games of chess trying (and failing) to boost my rating, even though no tournament awaits me. I spend hours a week lifting weights, even though I haven’t had to arm wrestle anyone in years. And I’ve spent a few hours a week writing letters to a hundred something people, even though there’s not some clear reason to.
I guess I’m starting to wonder about goals again and how I seem to operate without them. They were the guidelines that guided my life and often brought stress. At the same time, they were clear markers of time and progress and served as reasons to celebrate accomplishments, despite my tendency to downplay them. When accomplishments happen without goals, they seem to be secondary to the process, and thus feel less important than they would if they were the result of a focused effort. Maybe it’s time to get back to the same approach, to work towards something more specific than whatever I’m doing. Trusting the process is good and fine, but it doesn’t create the intensity and excitement that working towards something in particular can.
I guess what I’m saying is that maybe I should set a goal to set some goals.
Drops of the Week
ALBUM - The Forever Story by JID - AOTY by Atlanta legend JID
ARTICLE - "For farmer Dave Brandt, being a meme is honest work" by Annie Rauwerda - this made me really happy for no reason
POEM - "I Know My Soul" by Claude McKay - A twitching body quivering in space, A spark of passion shining on my face.
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With direction,
Nikhil