Lately I’ve noticed that what keeps me going and what I can attribute to my day to day happiness, or lack thereof, is the existence and realization of goals. I find that for me it’s very important to constantly be setting and revising my goals for the future. I tend to be somewhat of a big dreamer which I think keeps me happy, but I’m realizing more and more the importance of acting on your dreams.

A great relevant quote comes to mind from a book I am reading right now by Keith Ferrazzi called “Never Eat Alone,” that Boris recommended to me a while back; “Goals are dreams with a deadline.” To me that really puts things in perspective. Sure, you will have a multitude of dreams and aspirations in your life that may or may not be realistic, but what should separate your goals from your dreams is a sense of urgency that drives you to set mental and physical deadlines to work towards. For example:

Long Term: ——————————————> Short Term:

Become a Doctor in 8 years                         Study hard and pass MCATs in 2 months

Buy a house by the age of 27                      Start a business, save money, maintain credit

Write a book in 3 years                                 Do research, make relationships with publishers

On days that I accomplish one of these short term goals that bring me closer to the long term dreams I feel happy and optimistic, and I can safely say that this happiness becomes more sustainable with time.

Had a recent conversation with my parents which prompted this blog post. I think too often in life motivation is triggered by the prospect of superficial gains. I myself fall victim to the lure of this seemingly satisfying yet insatiable demon. This isn’t necessarily a bad reason to work hard towards something (as a secondary motivator), but it certainly isn’t sustainable – for most. The pursuit of success and its ultimate achievement is most probable when working on something that makes you happy, something that doesn’t seem like work. From this I can infer that sustainability is directly correlated to happiness.

The purpose of the above primer is to segue into an idea I had for this blog. As all of our dedicated readers have most likely noticed this blog has only had one post. This probably isn’t because we’re all too busy to spend ten minutes writing a post, but because we can’t think of where to start. So, I decided get the “cyber ball” rolling by suggesting a topic that will hopefully elicit a series of posts.

I propose that you write a post answering one or more of the following questions:

1)      What in your daily life makes you happy? Is it your children, work, exercising, reading, lying in your hammock, or plotting ways to enhance economic efficiency by implementing a system of global free trade? (be specific).

2)      What have you accomplished (today, or more generally to date) that brings happiness and purpose to your life and makes you proud?

3)      What are your aspirations for the future and how will they affect your life to bring you happiness?

The list can go on, but as you can see the central theme here is happiness. While I know that sometimes the hardships of life can bring focus on negativity for anyone, I like to think that my family is a generally happy one. But, at the very least thinking of things that make you happy can only put you in a good mood, so I encourage everyone to post and comment on this blog.

Please E-mail me with what you have, or request to be an author on this blog.

This website was created by the sons of Samuel and Valentina Revzin, to chronicle the lives and stories of members of the Revzin family. Our parents have always instilled in us that the most important thing in life is the support and preservation of a strong family.  Creating such an environment will cultivate happiness that hopefully transcends to future generations.

Members of the immediate family as well as any of our friends and extended family are encourage to submit posts that will contribute to this website. Feel free to send in stories, pictures, videos, or anything else you wish to be published. You can also leave comments and create discussions on other people’s posts.

The content of this website will be bilingual in nature. People have the option to make posts in English or in Russian given that the readers of this blog will be predominantly bilingual.

We hope that you enjoy this website and encourage you to leave comments. May this put us on a track to creating memoires for our own families in the future.

Happy Birthday Dad (May 16th, 1940)

-Vadim, Sergei Revzin