Daily Quote: “The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.” Dale Carnegie
You’ve set your goals, made your plans and are now ready to roll towards your dream. Are you really willing to do what it takes? Will you put everything on the line to achieve your dream or will you give up because in the end the sacrifice was too much?
Many sports people are prime examples of this principle. The winners are the ones who have sacrificed everything. The Tiger Woods of this world gave up their youth to spend on the golf course. The Williams sister gave up their childhood to play tennis.
Tom Daley, the youngest competitor for Great Britain in the Beijing Olympics, spends all his free time working on his diving. He is giving up most of what the normal teenager entertains himself with. He is doing what it takes to become a world championship winning diver.
It’s easy to see this dedication in sports people. We see the results of their sacrifice. But there are many people who are as willing to do what it takes without having the fame and fortune that the sports world gives to its heros.
You might wish to become a doctor. That means for you that you have to study very hard at school to make sure you get the grades that are expected by the medical schools. Should you actually be accepted then you need to work long hours to get yourself through medical school and to acquire the practical experience you need. You surely need to be willing to do everything it might take to get you through this hard working regime.
Your dream might be to become a manager in your company. This might involve studying in the evenings and working week-ends. Or you might want to get an MBA because you hope this will get you the promotion you are wishing for yourself. There is a huge drop-out in terms of numbers attending MBA programs. Some students are just not able to do what it takes.
There will have been instances in your life where you felt that your goal was not worth the sacrifice that you needed to make in order to achieve it. What stopped you? Were there other commitments that were clamouring to be filled or did you just find that you could not do without your own leisure time?
Whatever the reason for your not achieving your goal, one thing you did not anticipate was having to spend so much effort on making it happen. You did not anticipate what you had to give up to make it a reality.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing provided you learnt that when setting a goal you need to be able to evaluate the extent of the effort you need to put in in order to reach it. Would you be prepared to give it all or would you find the effort too much?
Does Lance Armstrong consider his cycling effort and think he will just participate or will he go all out to ensure he wins the race again? He will surely give his all as he has done in the past.
If you want your dream then be like Lance Armstrong. Be prepared to do what it takes.
