You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. –C.S. Lewis
Today, I became very aware of the fact that when we stop having goals to strive for or if we give up on reaching new results and levels in life, we might as well be dead. It can actually be pretty exciting to think that there is always going to be a new level of progress to strive for. If we think about things in nature, many things don’t have a limit on how massive they can grow. Trees and plants will continue to grow until something gets in their way. The only thing that stops humans from reaching their full potential are the limits we put on ourselves.
Maybe it is true that some people are born more talented than others. But that doesn’t mean that one person has an advantage of reaching their full potential over another person. Someone will only be successful, will reach their goals and dreams, when he or she hones in the skills that make them talented. Now if you’re thinking, “I’m not talented, someone is always better than me, I’m never going to make it” I am going to invite you to take on being unrealistic. Why be realistic when it comes to going for our goals and dreams? Will Smith says, “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” Even though there are people who have a lot of talent, developing skill every single day will separate the mediocre from those who become great and end up in the same class as the talented. The only person who can develop that skill is YOU. And if you don’t want it bad enough, you will never reach your full potential.
As Ray Lewis says, “be pissed off for greatness, cause if you ain’t pissed off for greatness that means you’re okay with just mediocre.” There’s nothing wrong with being ok with where you are currently at and with your current situation. On the other hand, if you’re striving for greatness in any area of your life, you are going to have to get to the point of being sick and tired of being sick and tired with where you are at and make that change that is going to propel you to the next level. I don’t care how old you are, and it doesn’t matter how talented you are; if you want new results you are going to have to get very real with where you are at the current time and disgusted enough to start making different choices. At this point, you can start setting some unrealistic goals and go for them at whatever cost. You may be able to think of a team that has had an unbelievable comeback at halftime, or halfway during the season that goes on to win a championship after it seemed like all hope was lost. What caused the turnaround? The team had to get so disgusted with the level they were currently playing at, get unrealistic and set some big comeback goals. Had they been realistic I can bet the season would have stayed on the same path it was going down and the team would have never lived up to their full potential.
How big are you willing to dream, what unrealistic goals are you going to set and when are you going to start going after reaching your full potential?
Thanks for posting this article. It’s made me hungry to keep on working on my dreams. 🙂