Should I?
We are told not to limit our ambition, and our minds race to becoming President, inventing the next Spanx, or owning a private island in the Caribbean. Regretfully, we do not immediately consider becoming spouse or parent of the year.
Aside from our misplaced priorities, we have not even been elected as the local dog-catcher, know how to sew on a button, or are still paying the mortgage on our first house.
Given the gap between our current state and lofty ambitions, what is an appropriate goal? We can have an extraordinary aspiration without knowing how it might come to fruition. We enable the audacious goal by pursuing the next challenging step in making it come true. The first-time author who wants to surpass Stephen King’s sales begins by completing the seldom-accomplished task of writing a complete manuscript.
How High?
The size of your goal is highly dependent on your predisposition; one size does not fit all.
Some shoot for the stars so they will at least reach the moon. They require a seemingly impossible goal to motivate them to achieve the highest result. They will tell you they could not run a 3:15 marathon without a 3:00 goal.
Others find motivation by focusing on how far they will surpass their targets. They race to see how many minutes they can arrive earlier than the original estimated time displayed on the GPS device.
Which approach yields the superior result? The overly ambitious-person pledges to work out daily, while the over-achiever settles for five days per week. Both diligently pursue their plans, likely to achieve similar frequencies and results.
But What About?
What is the correct approach for pursuits with innumerable levels of potential outcomes?
Is it acceptable for the singer to perform at open mike night at the local coffee shop, or must she aim to sell out a year-long Vegas residency?
Can it be a bit of both without unduly distracting or demoralizing? That is, releasing YouTube performances and envisioning, but not requiring, Madonna announcing your name at the Grammy Awards.
The good news is that we do not need visions of worldwide domination; it will come if destined. Ray Kroc and the Colonel could not have dreamed of more than 25,000 McDonalds and KFCs worldwide. They laid the groundwork, avoided anything that could preclude a grand future, added their hard work, and the universe took over. There are no guarantees; we have heard singers better than Dua Lipa, who never made it out of their local honky-tonk.
Perhaps the moral of the story is not to agonize over the size of the goal but to set ones requiring a breakthrough – meaningful growth and progress. This method of pursuit delivers you to the exact place you need to be. My forthcoming book may only improve me and serve as your paperweight, or I may send you a screenshot of the NYT’s bestseller list.
Hold on a Second
Your intelligence and capabilities likely create an ambition and a belief that you can accomplish innumerable goals. Similarly, feelings of guilt aroused by previously unfulfilled goals may cause you to overcompensate, select too many, and perpetuate the cycle.
For malingering goals left unfulfilled for years, you must evacuate your bowels or relocate from the commode. Being previously unmet does not necessarily justify elevating them to must-do status. In fact, it may be evidence to the contrary.
Learning Spanish to better connect with your adopted daughter from Ecuador warrants accomplishing it. Learning Spanish to fit in with the intellectual hipster crowd at the café is an uncompelling reason and should be released for something better.
Since goals are significant endeavors, our finite time and energy limit the number we can accomplish. Therefore, you must select the best over the good. Running a marathon is an incredible achievement, but if the training does not leave you enough time to coach your daughter’s soccer team, you may need to settle for bragging about your 5K races.
______________________________________________
Challenge yourself with a material step forward (no pun intended), accomplish it in a manner that is right for you, and repeat.