I was recently told that the only failure in life is the failure to try. I've always believed this and yet I've tip toed my way to experiences I've had and passed up others because I've been intimidated about the end result. The one thing I have learned is that an open mind is the best way to live life and get your goals accomplished. Especially when you have as many ambitions as I do, trying to solve the world's problems. I am open to new cultures, to new ideas, to new ways of thinking - even if it wasn't something that I originally agreed with, and even if they can't pursuade me to agree with them after making a point. However, having ambition and having passion is important to keeping an open mind and I think the two go hand in hand. That being said, I haven't had the chance to state my ambitions - my goals, especially with what I hope to achieve with this blog (or tell the world about my achievements with this blog) because I have been busy with university. That of course, is my first ambition. So here's a list of simple goals that I have been thinking about lately.
1.Complete University
2.Get a score on my MCAT that is at least in top 60%
3.Get experience in research
4.Find a summer job that I will learn from
5.Figure out what kind of career will teach me the most
As for changing the world here's the things I hope to do
1.Bring education to those who wish to be educated but don't have the means (mainly financial)
2.Raise confidence in young girls (or youth in general)
3.Increase health and health access to the poor
4.Help those who have lost their way realize that life is achievable with optimism and confidence
5.Find a charity I am passionate in and invest in it
There is so much more I can do than these 10 things, but for now I think it's a fairly substantial list. As for the last one listed, I have found many organizations I believe in and that I am interested in but where I have difficulties is spreading my limbs in every direction, wanting to help them all, and not knowing how to split myself in so many ways. How does one person pick one charity and invest their entire lives into it? Maybe I'll pick one for a few years, another for a few years and continue in that way. I suppose to start I'll list my interests and areas in which I'm truly passionate. The first key is knowledge. How can I know where I want to invest my time if I don't have the knowledge of all my choices?
Quilotoa, Ecuador
Hey Sonja! I think this post speaks to a condition a lot of young leaders suffer from in our society today. I have always been fairly immune to a failure to try because I will wrecklessly pursue things I want to do because I know my parents will bail me out if I fall flat on my face. I was extremely fortunate to have parents that were willing to let me move in with a woman very young, attempt to run a business, and launch a charity.
ReplyDeleteHowever with any ability comes a responsibility. Since I have the financial backing (albeit not unlimited, and mostly not at my fingertips unless they're bleeding, haha), I have this great requirement of myself to use it to help others. So many people spend their lives as bricks in a wall. That is not for me. It may be fine for others and I will not judge them for that, but it is not for me.
I think for the first thing you hope to do, my charity can help. I'd be happy to have you as a director in my organization and together I know we'll do great things.
For your second charitable goal, I wanted to tell you that I also share this desire. Young girls (and boys) both need activities and whole communities to grow up whole and with confidence. We need to grow better leaders because our nation suffers from a crisis in leadership - and not just ours, but our giant to the south as well. A crisis in leadership can be catastrophic for human beings all over the world.
To help reduce this issues, I'm working on a Cookie Cutter Communities (CCC) idea where FrEd outlines community projects that a community may wish to start, so that if there is one fledgling leader in a community (a student or a parent or lover of one subject or art or science - like a musician or a person who loves a sport - say an ex basketball star), that individual can not only see the organizational plans of similar successful organizations (like clubs, bands, teams, etc) and even contact them and have help getting started.
The idea is to use CCC to spark community development and hopefully grow the social, organizational, and leadership skills of our youth in Canada. We live in a very spread out country and without help, it's hard to start something big. Even if there are only six people that want to get together to play badminton or basketball in pairs, it's great to have a club where people of similar likes can socialize and even fundraise or do community projects.
Are you biting yet? :D
We'll tackle the other bullets in due course, but I think an idea to work on #1 and #2 is definitely a start!