Not achieving your goals is devastating. But as Michelangelo so eloquently reminds us, there are worse fates:
“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it.”– Michelangelo Buonarroti
What is the first thing that you think of when setting goals? I think of the old rule – goals must be realistic and achievable. This is true, but these words can be limiting. ‘Realistic’ forces us to think in our current perception of reality and ‘achievable’ shows us only what we can see achieving today. But the truth is that most of us don’t have a good understanding of what our reality will be like a year from now or the incredible feats we could achieve if we got on the right path.
So in a way we have to trick our brains into imagining a future our reality can’t perceive. Our biggest goals are probably far from our safety zones, but they are also closer to our dreams.
A metaphor: Recently I was running with a friend and I decided to sprint the last 100 yards. When we were done, he asked me why I’d sprinted, and I gave some explanation about finishing strong. His response was that it usually meant that I hadn’t pushed hard enough during our workout if I had that much energy to easily sprint to the finish. The Take Away: I took it too easy and rewarded myself for achieving my goal, when I could have done so much more (like running longer or faster).
No matter what your goals are – for your work or personal life – they need to truly challenge you. You want to be out of breath when you cross the finish line, otherwise won’t you just wonder what else you could have achieved if you’d set your sights a little higher?
We need to trust in ourselves today, so our future selves can be better. Great achievements don’t happen without work and without a plan, but you have to start by deciding where to aim.
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