At some point of your life, everyone usually experiences or has dreamed of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn't fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning home run? Who hasn't dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?
Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations for our future but then, we wake in the morning, have our breakfasts and go back to our usual routines that we follow day in and day out! Our aspirations seem to collect dust in the back corners of that attic known as the subconscious mind.
This sad turn of events in our life, seems to be commonplace in today’s society as well. Instead of experiencing the exciting adventures we visualised for ourselves, we get caught up in the familiar rut of simply living from day-to-day just barely existing. Our paths never seem to take a divergence away from this routine, bar the odd rare occasions that may pop up.
However, there is still hope for even those of us who are heavily bogged down in this lifestyle, life can be so much better, if we would just take a little time and effort and invest them into learned to aim higher. This is an art that when discovered, mastered and used properly, can help us all to achieve those, daydreamed images that float through our minds so regularly.
The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can't do this. It's too hard. It's too impossible. No one can do this. This internal monologue is a very important thing to pay attention to, as often, what is said is then imprinted into the memory and begins to influence us.
However, if everyone thought that things they aimed at doing, were impossible, then there would be no inventions or improvement beyond what we term as being impossible, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment, life would come to a standstill as far as development.
Remember that the very first scientists to do so, were baffled when they took their first close up look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Fortunately for the bumble bee, though, no one has told it so and therefore it continues to possess this seemingly impossible ability to fly.
On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. They dream of huge mansions and multi million dollar businesses, world vacations and retirement in early life, but they expect it to all come easy and without the hard work required to make plans like these possible. The result is often painful for the person dreaming about these goals and leaves them with a pile of broken dreams, and tattered aspirations, and often a sour taste in their mouths, for whatever particular industry they were involved in.
If you constrain yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream. A good saying that often helps to put things into perspective here, and which is a good personal motto to steer by, is to “Aim for the Stars, but be happy with the Moon!”
Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down a short list of some of the goals you hope yet to achieve in your life. Create this list in two columns and under the first, list down all of the things that ‘you know you can do without more than a quick touch up of your skills’. Under the other column, you should list the things that you beleive ‘you might be able to do, with a little more training or learning.’ Finally you should also create one more column to list all of the things that you would class as being ‘impossible for you to do.’
This is an action plan, be it a very basic one at this early stage, it will help you to keep yourself on track and working towards your goals each and every day. Over time, you may find that your goals listed, change and are removed from or added to the list, as more goals are achieved or adapted.
Now take a look at all the columns and strive, every day, to accomplish the goals that are listed beneath the things ‘you know you can do without further training’. You should remove them from the list, or at least mark them as completed, whenever you are able to accomplish them. As you are, slowly, able to check all of your goals under that column, try accomplishing the goals under the other column as well, the one that lists the goals that you believe ‘you might be able to do with some touching up of your skills.’
As you begin to accomplish more and more of the listed goals from the first and second column, you will begin to start seeing ways that you can move those listed in the third column into the first or the second columns, and those things that once seemed to be impossible will become easier to accomplish. And the impossible goals, will all of a sudden, begin to seem less impossible and will find their knew place in your lists as they become possible after all.
By using this technique, we are not aiming at limiting your imagination, but instead, are learning how we can aim high, and then start working towards that high end goal little by little, brick by brick. However, there is such a thing as people setting goals that just really are not so realistic and should be reconsidered. By breaking your master goal down into smaller more realistic goals, however, the grand plan will become mush clearer. The point here is that by making a huge goal small enough to work with, by making it a bunch of smaller goals that work towards an end goal, you are not only making your end goal more visible, but also are making the workload less overwhelming. Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.
Remember that, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for a human to walk on the moon, they would have laughed at you, and branded you a mental case. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, and receive a reply back within minutes, they would say you were out of your mind. However, over time and through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.
Thomas Edison once said that “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. No truer words have ever been spoken. For someone to accomplish their dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But it is important to note here, that the 1% has to be a ‘think big’ dream, and not some easily accomplished one.
So, in conclusion, take a moment to consider your take on what is impossible, and where your limitations are set at! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.
Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations for our future but then, we wake in the morning, have our breakfasts and go back to our usual routines that we follow day in and day out! Our aspirations seem to collect dust in the back corners of that attic known as the subconscious mind.
This sad turn of events in our life, seems to be commonplace in today’s society as well. Instead of experiencing the exciting adventures we visualised for ourselves, we get caught up in the familiar rut of simply living from day-to-day just barely existing. Our paths never seem to take a divergence away from this routine, bar the odd rare occasions that may pop up.
However, there is still hope for even those of us who are heavily bogged down in this lifestyle, life can be so much better, if we would just take a little time and effort and invest them into learned to aim higher. This is an art that when discovered, mastered and used properly, can help us all to achieve those, daydreamed images that float through our minds so regularly.
The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can't do this. It's too hard. It's too impossible. No one can do this. This internal monologue is a very important thing to pay attention to, as often, what is said is then imprinted into the memory and begins to influence us.
However, if everyone thought that things they aimed at doing, were impossible, then there would be no inventions or improvement beyond what we term as being impossible, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment, life would come to a standstill as far as development.
Remember that the very first scientists to do so, were baffled when they took their first close up look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Fortunately for the bumble bee, though, no one has told it so and therefore it continues to possess this seemingly impossible ability to fly.
On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. They dream of huge mansions and multi million dollar businesses, world vacations and retirement in early life, but they expect it to all come easy and without the hard work required to make plans like these possible. The result is often painful for the person dreaming about these goals and leaves them with a pile of broken dreams, and tattered aspirations, and often a sour taste in their mouths, for whatever particular industry they were involved in.
If you constrain yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream. A good saying that often helps to put things into perspective here, and which is a good personal motto to steer by, is to “Aim for the Stars, but be happy with the Moon!”
Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down a short list of some of the goals you hope yet to achieve in your life. Create this list in two columns and under the first, list down all of the things that ‘you know you can do without more than a quick touch up of your skills’. Under the other column, you should list the things that you beleive ‘you might be able to do, with a little more training or learning.’ Finally you should also create one more column to list all of the things that you would class as being ‘impossible for you to do.’
This is an action plan, be it a very basic one at this early stage, it will help you to keep yourself on track and working towards your goals each and every day. Over time, you may find that your goals listed, change and are removed from or added to the list, as more goals are achieved or adapted.
Now take a look at all the columns and strive, every day, to accomplish the goals that are listed beneath the things ‘you know you can do without further training’. You should remove them from the list, or at least mark them as completed, whenever you are able to accomplish them. As you are, slowly, able to check all of your goals under that column, try accomplishing the goals under the other column as well, the one that lists the goals that you believe ‘you might be able to do with some touching up of your skills.’
As you begin to accomplish more and more of the listed goals from the first and second column, you will begin to start seeing ways that you can move those listed in the third column into the first or the second columns, and those things that once seemed to be impossible will become easier to accomplish. And the impossible goals, will all of a sudden, begin to seem less impossible and will find their knew place in your lists as they become possible after all.
By using this technique, we are not aiming at limiting your imagination, but instead, are learning how we can aim high, and then start working towards that high end goal little by little, brick by brick. However, there is such a thing as people setting goals that just really are not so realistic and should be reconsidered. By breaking your master goal down into smaller more realistic goals, however, the grand plan will become mush clearer. The point here is that by making a huge goal small enough to work with, by making it a bunch of smaller goals that work towards an end goal, you are not only making your end goal more visible, but also are making the workload less overwhelming. Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.
Remember that, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for a human to walk on the moon, they would have laughed at you, and branded you a mental case. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, and receive a reply back within minutes, they would say you were out of your mind. However, over time and through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.
Thomas Edison once said that “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration”. No truer words have ever been spoken. For someone to accomplish their dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But it is important to note here, that the 1% has to be a ‘think big’ dream, and not some easily accomplished one.
So, in conclusion, take a moment to consider your take on what is impossible, and where your limitations are set at! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.
© Allan Street, 2008
About The Author:
Allan Street is a professional author who has been writing content for websites, newsletters, e-Zines and other periodicals since 1992. You can find more of his great articles at: http://shadowsarticles.blogspot.com/
