Things that would make me happy

Just a quick exercise I’m doing with my friend for some reflection.

Two posts in one day! Wow.

  • Going on an amazing fishing trip.
    • This something that I always fantasize about. The issue is that fishing is kinda difficult and such an endeavor costs money. However, now that I think of it, if I apply myself diligently to this goal, it should not be a problem whatsoever. Given that this is one of the most surefire things that makes me happy, I should actually really work towards this.
  • Becoming really productive without associated toxic mentalities.
    • This is something that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s hard to beat procrastination habits, but I know if I could get to a place where I was working consistently and still enjoy myself, then I could accomplish so many other things that would make me happy. Finally getting to this point would signal to me that hey, you’ve finally reached a mature, adult phase that’s really difficult to reach. I feel like this is almost a prerequisite to my next item on this list.
  • Becoming somebody notable.
    • This might be toxic, but, if I’m being 100% honest with myself, accomplishing a lot with my life would make me feel really good about myself (shocking concept, I know). I think I spent a lot of last year struggling with whether or not this is toxic (idea of “getting good”), but I think embracing this part of me (wanting to be someone “great”) while not succumbing to toxic mentalities is my ultimate goal, at least what I think is my most general goal (at this stage of my life––I’m sure it’ll mature into something more specific as I get older). Prestige is a dangerous thing to desire (you’ll end up doing things that you wouldn’t have done otherwise), but it’s deeply ingrained in me at this point, and I might as well use it to my advantage.
  • Figuring out what I want to do in life.
    • Being split on things I’m passionate about hurts me a lot because it makes me think that I’ll never be great in any specific sense (from a numbers perspective, you can’t split yourself and expect to be better than everybody else who are devoting all their time to it). I’ve never been someone who’s ultra competitive in a toxic sense, so what I mean about this is that figuring out what I want to do would just remove a large stressor from my life. Then, hopefully, my work will become enjoyable and all the things I listed previously would make sense.
  • Meet new people.
    • Man this is hard. Once in a while, I’ll meet someone where I’m like wow, their perspective has completely bettered my life. But it’s honestly so hard to meet new people/make new friends at Columbia, and with me appropriating time poorly/towards other things, this falls by the wayside a lot. And honestly, consciously trying to meet new people has never really occurred to me, but maybe it’s time to think more deeply about this.
  • Publish a research paper.
    • A personal milestone goal of mine, this would help in the sense that I’d be able to figure out what I want to do in life. It would indicate to me that I’ve made at least a small contribution to academia, as well as attest to my personal prowess in the field (confidence booster). It would give me perspective into academia that not many people have as well.
  • See my startup succeed.
    • Startups are pretty hyped, but I honestly would be really happy if something I built had a large impact on the world. It would just check a lot of the things above as well.
  • Startup cafe.
    • Would be nice to see that I’ve made it if I was rich/notable enough to start my own startup cafe. Could be really fun way to end my career.
  • Owning own fishing pond.
    • I’ve wanted this since I was young. It’d be so cool to maintain a piece of nature like that. Also just something completely different from my normal academic life.