Reach for the stars!

I’ve always been rather fond of the phrase by Dr Norman Vincent Peale; ‘Reach for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.’
In other words, have very high expectations or ambitions. Always set your sights high.
We often hear of people achieving some amazing things in life but how do they do it and why do so many fail to get there?
Well contrary to the above quote, people tend to aim ‘too’ high and focus too much on the end goal. It’s great to have an end goal, a dream, a vision of where you want to get to, but as much as it can be an exciting prospect initially, it can soon dissipate, but why?
Fear, limiting beliefs and a negative mindset can disable you before you even begin, however, I will cover these elements in another article.
Firstly, everything starts with a thought; our dreams, ambitions or goals which can be incredibly exciting at first, but the problem is we don’t take action because the reality of getting there can be too overwhelming for many of us. However, taking action is paramount and can help cement the belief we have in our dreams and can help drive us forward.
So, the key is to set small achievable goals each day in order to help steer you towards the bigger end goal. By taking much smaller steps, by making smaller goals and ticking them off each day will give you little bursts of motivation to take you to the next goal. Just like stepping stones, moving onto the next one and the one after. Once you get so far you have less incentive to go back and more incentive to continue. Every step forward is like a little reward to yourself. Look at these small steps as a ‘to do’ list and tick them off as you go. That way, the feeling of being overwhelmed is less likely to raise its ugly head.  These mini goals are like small investments that will eventually grow over time. After a period when the end goal and dream are relooked at, you’ll be surprised how much further you are toward reaching it.
Believing you can achieve your end goal is of primary importance and the closer you get to it, the stronger it becomes, but it’s important to try and have that belief from the outset. The famous Phycologist William James’ quote sums this up very nicely when he said ‘Our belief at the beginning of a doubtful undertaking is the one thing that ensures the successful outcome of your venture.’
So, keep believing in yourself and your amazing ability to achieve so much more. Imagine how it would feel to finally achieve a lifetime goal. Whatever the goal is it’s personal to you, it’s your goal, your dream and your choice to start the process and make it happen.
Make a decision, take action! If it’s the wrong choice then at least you’ll find out a lot quicker in order to move onto the next one.
So, ‘reach for the moon,’ aim high, what’s the worst that can happen? Maybe you’ll ‘land in the stars’ but either way the journey towards your new found goals and dreams will give you renewed vigour along the way and strength to get from where you are now to where you want to be.
Rob Shallis (Certified Life Coach) – www.robshallis.com