Around this time last year, I was in what I would call a creative slump. I was feeling burnt out at work, I was halfway through a master’s degree that I was unsure I really wanted…it was a rough time. That’s when I was given the opportunity to attend a conference in San Diego for science educators.

I’ve been to conferences before, and they are generally useful, but I feel like it’s rare to have only one or two things that I feel like I’ll even remember, much less implement in my own life. This conference was different. 

On the first day, our keynote speaker was a professor for UC San Diego named Alan Daly. I think about his speech every single day. 

Keeping in mind he was talking to a room full of teachers, he talked about how he was the first person in his family to finish college and how important that was for his mother. We would need to become something bigger than ourselves when we helped the students. 

Although inspiring, that wasn’t what I took away. He asked us to think about our moonshot. What is the seemingly impossible thing that you want to do with your life? He had us write down what our moonshot was, what we needed to do to get there, and how we would tell people about it. Sometimes, when I’, having a bad day, I get out that piece of paper and look at it to refocus what I need to do.

So today, get out a piece of a paper. Write down your moonshot. What is going to be your mission to the moon? What do you need to do to get there? How will you communicate your needs and your plan to others?

Here’s a video about the moonshot. Please watch it. It’s inspiring, and hopefully it will help guide you in setting your loftiest goals.

Warren Buffett once said to write down your top 25 goals for your whole life. Then pick out your top 5 from that 25. Then throw away the other twenty, and never think about them again.