Goals.
They're things you work hard for. Things you strive to. Things that, with commitment, you will one day achieve.
In short, keeping goals is one of the things that I am most horrible at.
I don't have the best sense of perseverence. I try something, and if I don't like it, I'm usually gone within the hour, so to speak. If I enjoy, boy oh boy, if I dislike, take a hike. Ergo, goals are something that seem completely anathema to me. It's not something I particularly like about myself, but it's in my nature, and I have to comply to it.
Or do I?
I've never been good at setting goals for myself. However, I'm feeling more inspired today, so I'm setting a goal for myself, right here, right now, on Newgrounds. I figure that if I ever feel like dropping out or not doing it, I'll just have to look at my front page and go, "Damn. I put it on a news post. I can't quit now! People are expecting things from me!" and all that. It also gives me an excuse not to change my front page post, as I've been feeling guilty for not changing it for so long.
For the goal that I want to set, I want it to be something that expands my horizon and my knowledge of music, but it's also got to be something that I find interesting and actually have a chance of completing (e.g., I won't do "must do 1,000 songs by June" or something like that). After some thought, I decided.
Here's my goal. It's March 19, 2014. By March 19, 2015, I want to have at least one song in every single genre category on Newgrounds. That's right. All 37 of them. Currently, I have a total of 6, which are Miscellaneous, Video Game, Chipstep, Techno, Drum 'N' Bass, and General Rock.
Not the worst start, but I definitely need to up my game. I'll continue editing this post throughout the year whenever I put up a song that fits a new category, linking it to the song that I've just put up. I was thinking of recategorizing some of my older songs into genres that fit them better, but that feels a bit more like cheating than adding songs I've already made to the list. I'll just stick to what I have.
I'm really excited, guys. I'm doing it, and I'm going to feel good doing it. And if I don't, well, that's my problem. 31 songs in a year doesn't seem like that impressive of a goal, but 31 songs of different genres? That's two and a half per month! And I'll have to keep learning the nuances of the different styles and everything! This is going to test me, but I'm going to do my best to finish as much as I can as well as I can.
For reference, here's a list of the genres that I already have finished. As the year progresses, I'll update the news post, linking each genre to my oldest song that fits the category. By March 19, 2015, I hope to have all 37 of those genres colored a neat, bold orange. Here we go.
Fusion
TaintedLogic
This is a really interesting idea! I'm glad you're challenging yourself like this, LunacyEcho! :D This is an appropriately challenging goal, and I know you can do it! Good luck! :D I think this would be a good goal for me, too! How many genres have I filled so far...?...(*checks*)...eight. Hmm.... ;)
LunacyEcho
Thanks! I'm a bit nervous, since 2.5 songs a month is kinda daunting...
I think the appropriateness of the goal depends on how many genres you've filled already. If you've covered a lot of them already, you may want to start fresh. Even though I have a few done already, I don't think 31 genres is that easy of a task.