Having A Goal In Life: The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho

In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho argues that individuals should pursue personal legends to live a satisfying life. The author's idea is caused by the belief that a singular life assists an individual to attain their goals by working hard. Accordingly, people evolve in a continuous process from one Personal Legend to another soon after they achieve perfection. However, following a personal legend implies that individuals should make or altogether ignore obstacles that appear during the process of the goal. Therefore, although The Alchemist upholds that individuals should compromise some necessities such as love to achieve perfection, the concept's primary theme of singularity is correct.

A Personal Legend is crucial because it helps individuals identify their destiny in life. Especially, according to The Alchemist, individuals should identify their sole motivations in life and pursue them into perfection (Coelho 20). Notably, when the main character Santiago met the King of Salem, he taught him that Personal Legends help individuals accomplish their dreams. Thus, Alchemy helps individuals develop new strengths in life. Contemporarily, the majority of people attain their goals through the identification of their passions and pursuing them. For example, some of the best footballers in the world began their careers by identifying their strengths, followed by their purpose in life, and then committed to polishing them. Thus, success starts with the acknowledgment of a Personal Legend followed by commitment towards turning the dream into a reality.

The concept of a Personal Legend is correct because it helps an individual to develop a clear goal and realize their success. A goal refers to the object towards which a person's efforts desire to attain. Therefore, when an individual identifies their goals, they concentrate their energy towards a uniform direction. Besides, a Personal Legend helps an individual select a single target at a time to avoid wastage and irrelevant struggle. For example, when I was younger, I realized that I was weak in English. Therefore, I identified the weakness and started practicing to perfect my skills. With regular exercise and commitment towards the goal, I transformed vulnerability into strength. Notably, the process turned out helpful because I identified a specific purpose and realized the achievement over time.

Ignoring a Personal Legend is detrimental because it could turn life into a boring routine. Paulo Coelho likens people who ignore Personal Legend to shepherds' sheep, who live to find food and water (Coelho 50). Therefore, such individuals fail to recognize that they could live a life more significant than just in the pursuit of necessities. Notably, such individuals live a life of bare contentment while they could focus on many exciting things. Moreover, failure to follow a Personal Legend takes away an individual the chance to realize their happiness in the present (Zadek 210). For example, if I failed to concentrate on my goal to improve in English, I would still be struggling today. Finally, achieving a Personal Legend creates an opportunity to pursue other goals. Notably, after I had realized success in English, I shifted my focus to other activities.

As observed, The Alchemist concept on a Personal Legend is basic daily and useful in life for several reasons. In fact, everyone has a goal in life; therefore, Paulo Coelho's concept helps individuals to identify their destiny and work towards them. Besides, identification of daily targets applies to Coelho's concept. For example, people identify their goals, work towards them, and select new ones after realizing such objectives. Besides, Coelho's concept applies in daily life because people avoid boredom by shifting to new goals soon after achieving older ones.