What is the goal of life?

Grasp the goal of life and be a positive person. Someone asked me what my goal in life is, and I replied, "There is only one life, and I think the most important thing is to have the greatest influence (im-pact), help myself, my family, my country, the world and future generations, make their lives better and more efficient, and bring them happiness." I don't need to think about answering this question at all, because I have regarded "influence" as my life goal since I was a sophomore.

For me, the goal of life is not a slogan, but my best think tank, which has helped me solve problems in my work and life many times. I gave up my job in the United States and came to China alone to set up Microsoft China Research Institute, because I felt that the latter job was more influential and more in line with my life goals.

Therefore, once you set your life goals, you can make decisive life decisions under the guidance of life goals, just like me. Everyone's goal in life is unique. Most importantly, you should take the initiative to grasp your life goals. But we must not be too hasty, let alone set ourselves goals in pursuit of the so-called "sublime" or in order to imitate others.

So, how do you find your goal?

In fact, only one person can tell you what your goal in life is, and that person is yourself. There is only one place where you can find your goal, and that is your heart.

I suggest you close your eyes and record the first ideal that comes to your mind, because the unthinking answer is the most sincere. Or, you can look back and see if there are any similarities when you are happiest and most fulfilling. They may be the most inspiring goals in your life. Furthermore, you can also imagine what kind of environment you will be in when you reach the perfect state of life in fifteen years. What do you do? What is the happiest thing among them? Of course, you might as well talk to your relatives and friends more and listen to their opinions.

Try new fields and explore your interests. In order to be the best of yourself, the most important thing is to exert all your potential and pursue the most interesting and passionate things. When you are interested in a certain field, you will never forget it when you walk, take a class or take a shower, and you are more likely to succeed in that field. Besides, if you are passionate about this field, you may forget all this and even jump up when you think of an idea while sleeping. At this time, you are not working for success, but working for enjoyment. There is no doubt that you will succeed from now on.

Relatively speaking, doing things that you are not interested in will only get twice the result with half the effort, and you may accomplish nothing. Even if you can do well with your qualifications or talents, you have never released all your potential. Therefore, I don't agree that everyone should pursue the hottest major. In my opinion, everyone should know their own interests, passions and abilities (that is, "self-cognition" in EQ) and give full play to their potential in their passionate fields.

When I first entered the university, I wanted to work in law or politics. It took me more than a year to find that I was not interested in it and my academic performance was only average. But I fell in love with the computer and programmed crazily every day, which quickly attracted the attention of teachers and classmates. Finally, one day in my sophomore year, I made a big decision: I gave up studying in the top three law departments of Columbia University for more than a year and transferred to the obscure computer department of Columbia University. I told myself that there is only one life, so don't waste it in a place where there is no happiness and no sense of accomplishment.

At that time, a friend told me that it would cost a lot of money to change majors, but I told them that it would cost more to do a job without passion. On that day, I was elated and refreshed. I promised myself that I would get an A in every subject in the next three years. If it weren't for my decision that day, I wouldn't have made any achievements in the computer field today, and I might just be an unsuccessful and unhappy lawyer in a small town in the United States.

So, how to find interest and passion? First of all, you should separate interest from talent. Doing what you are gifted with is easy to produce results, but don't think that it is your interest just because you do it well. In order to find true interest and passion, you can ask yourself: Are you eager to repeat something, and can you finish it happily and successfully? Have you always longed for it? Can you always learn quickly? Does it always satisfy you? Do you love from the heart (not just from the heart)? Is the happiest thing in your life related to it? When you ask yourself this question, be careful not to include other people's expectations, social values and the influence of friends in your answer.

There is a suggestion: give yourself the most opportunities to get in touch with the most choices. I remember when I first entered Carnegie Mellon's doctoral program, the school had a mechanism that allowed students to choose teachers. In the first month, every teacher tried his best to attract students. Because of this mechanism, I was fortunate to know my tutor Professor Reddy and chose my doctoral project "Speech Recognition".

Although not all schools have such a mechanism, you can learn about different schools, majors, projects and teachers yourself, and then choose your interests from them. You can also find your hobbies through the library, internet, lectures, community activities, friend exchanges, e-mail, etc. Only when you are moved can you try, and only when you try can you find what you like.

According to the interest, set phased goals and step by step.

Once you find your interest, the next step is to set specific phased goals and step by step towards your ideal.

First of all, you should objectively evaluate what is missing from your interests and ideals. Do you need to study a course, read a book, be a more sociable person, control your temper or be a better speaker? /kloc-What's the difference between being your best self after 0/5 years and being yourself today? Or something else? You should try your best to bridge these gaps. For example, when I decided that the purpose of my life was to maximize my influence, I found that what I lacked most was my speech and communication skills. I used to be a student who blushed when talking to people and was afraid to speak on stage. When I was a teaching assistant, my performance was so poor that my students even nicknamed me Kaifu Theater. Therefore, in order to realize my ideal, I set myself some specific goals to improve my oral and communication skills.

Secondly, you should set phased and specific goals, and then give full play to the traditional virtues of China people-diligence, progress and perseverance, and strive to achieve the goals. For example, I ask myself to give a speech twice a month, and let my classmates or friends attend every time and give me feedback. I promised myself that I would never give a speech on stage without rehearsing for three times. I ask myself to attend classes every month and ask excellent speakers for advice. When I practiced my speaking skills repeatedly, I found many secrets myself. For example, I would perform better if I told a story without using a speech, so I prepared a speech but only used it during rehearsal. I find that my answering ability exceeds my speaking ability, so I usually ask for more answering time; I found that I couldn't say what I wasn't interested in well, so I stopped promising to talk about topics I wasn't interested in. A few years later, people around me praised me for my good speech. Some people even think that I am a natural speaker. In fact, I just practiced the traditional virtues of China people, such as diligence, progress and perseverance.

Any goal must be practical and measurable, not just ideological slogans or empty words. The purpose of setting goals is to make progress. You can't know if you have made progress without measuring it. Therefore, you must simplify the abstract, impossible and unmeasurable big goals into practical and measurable small goals. For example, a few years ago, I had a goal to expand my interpersonal network in the company, but the goal of "knowing more people" or "increasing influence" could not be measured and implemented. I need to find a practical and measurable goal. So, I asked myself to "have dinner with an influential person every week, and during the dinner, I asked this person to introduce me to another influential person." The standard to measure this goal is "have a meal with one person every week and get to know another person after dinner". Of course, I will not be satisfied with these basic "indicators". The purpose of expanding interpersonal network is to make my work more successful, so I will also measure how much information I get from "meals a week" and how many people employed by my department know each other through such interpersonal network. A year later, through these measures, I did see a significant expansion of my network.

Be sure to know your own abilities when setting specific goals. It is unrealistic to set the goal too high, but the goal should not be set too low. We should also adjust our goals in time: if we exceed our expectations, we can raise our expectations; If expectations are not met, expectations can be lowered. After reaching a goal, you can set a more challenging goal; When you fail, you should accept it frankly and sum up the lessons carefully.