Have you ever been told that you should keep your goals to yourself until after you’ve achieved them? That it’s better to work in silence and reap the rewards, silently, too? These “rules” are not meant to be guides in humility, or formats for guaranteed success. They are expressed out of the fear of an ego taking a blow when one’s successes are not reached outright. I don’t find it to be sound career advice, unless you’re the type of person who thrives on absolute solitude. I think there is much more power in being open about your goals, entirely honest with yourself, but when speaking about yourself to others too. I think that the power of repeating over and over again what you want to do and how you are going to do it leads to a greater follow-through within yourself. There is a special type of beauty that you gain from being the person who does exactly what they said they would do.
I am lucky enough to have been accepted into a professional, academic internship program to receive college credit for my upcoming semester. This is a super exciting opportunity to gain experience in a field I hope to work in one day. There are a few people I owe this to: one, an employer for deeming me worthy enough of granting an internship to in the first place; two, all the advisors and mentors who looked at and passed alone my resume; three, the people close to me who supported and encouraged me; four, myself. I decided that this was something that I wanted to do, so I made it happen. I put in work, obviously, I’m the only one who did the collective things on my resume and said the right things during interviews. Personally, though, what I believe to have had a greater impact was all the things I said about this and myself. I continually spoke about how this is what I wanted. I talked about my ideal placement. I talked about my internship like it was already mine. I talked about what I was going to do on the weekends while I was there like 9-5 was something I was used to. All of a sudden, after I had almost forgotten that I had filled out dozens of forms and sent countless emails, I was actually going to do it, It is set in stone and I thank the power of manifestation.
I am a person who fully believes that what you put into the world, good or bad, is what the world gives back to you. Investing in yourself with goals, positivity, and power, gives you the mental strength to do the physical work to make everything happen for yourself. Octavia Butler practiced the art of manifestation well before she became a best-selling author. She wrote motivational notes to herself, detailing exactly what she was capable of and how she was going to achieve her goals. She saw herself as successful and pushed herself to be so. The faith she put into herself was ultimately a reward. You, too, and the faith you put into yourself, are rewards. Treat yourself with kindness, hold yourself accountable, and guide your future. Write to yourself. Document your goals, so when the day comes and you realize you have achieved them, you can thank yourself for being your biggest supporter.
Los Angeles Times