Innovations Roadmap #14

Goal [gohl]

Noun

1. the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end

2. the terminal point in a race

3. a pole, line, or other marker by which such a point is indicated

4. an area, basket, cage, or other object or structure toward or into which players of various games attempt to throw, carry, kick, hit, or drive a ball, puck, etc., to score a point or points

5. the act of throwing, carrying, kicking, driving, etc. a ball or puck into such an area or object

TOPIC: Personal goals and recommendations for yourself

One of my goals is simply to make it through college. I’m tired of college already and it’s only my first year. College does not seem like what everyone told me it would be. It’s only the first year, though, so I’ve got to give it time. Maybe I will. There’s a recommendation for myself. Try to make the best of my time in college. I’m not going to change how I am. I’m accepting that I’ve got problems meeting people. But I’m going to try to be more active with the friends I have. If people want to be my friend, they can do that.

One of my personal goals will be to relearn statistics because that’s the most useful kind of math I’m ever going to need. If I’m doing research, statistics will be something I’ve got to learn in order to make sense of the data I get. I’ve never been good at math, but this was honestly the first kind of math class I took in high school that made sense to me. Funnily enough, it was the last math class I took in high school. Four years and only one useful thing learned. But! Anyone can be good at something if they put their mind to. The brain can be rewired. I’m going to make sense of statistics and make it useful for me.

Aside from those school-related goals (it appears as though that’s a lot of my goals), I want to improve my photography skills. I’ll get used to carrying my camera everywhere. And when I see something I like, I’ll take the camera out and take a picture of the thing. I’m not going to give a damn about people giving me funny looks. I want to take pictures of things that appeal to me and are meaningful to me. I’m going to improve taking pictures of human subjects. I only ever take photos of nature because I don’t like photographing human subjects. I think my main problem with this one, though, is that I’m not comfortable asking people to be my subject and pose and things like that. I’ve always got ideas for interesting photos using people, but can’t do it because I can’t bring myself to ask someone to help.

I think the pictures of objects look better than the pictures with the human subjects. Except for the one on the left where my friend is jumped for the volleyball. That one looks awesome.

The next recommendation for myself is going to sound kind of strange. However, it is important for me and likely for others. That recommendation is: use the internet more. If I can’t take classes about graphic design or photograph or things like that, the internet is the next best thing. I’ll teach myself. I’m pretty good at teaching myself things. I’ve taught myself to knit, crochet, and sight read on the piano. I can’t tell you what notes they are right away just by looking at them, but tell me to point the notes out on a piano keyboard and I can do that quickly. The internet has so far only been used for my leisure. I’m going to teach myself to do the things I want to learn, because I can’t take those classes in college. I’m going to find a way to train my skills with the internet as a resource. Take everything on the internet with a grain of salt, I know. But when you can find the good stuff, it is good.

Two posters I made for my club. I wanted it to be cooler looking, but once again, no experience. That's a problem.