Place no Limits on Your Ability to Achieve By Warren Greshes

An effective written goal requires that you place no limits on your ability to achieve. If it’s what you really want, write it down.

Don’t ever put a glass ceiling over your head and rationalize your life away by saying, “This is what I really want, but I don’t think I’ll get it, so I’ll settle for this.” The second you say, “I’ll settle,” that’s as far as you’ll go.

One of my pet peeves is when I hear people say, “Set realistic goals.” I don’t believe in “realistic goals.” To me, the word “realistic” is a code word. What it really means is, “low.”

When people say, “Set realistic goals,” what they mean is, “Set your goals so low that there’ll be no way you can fail.” What good is that? What good is setting a goal just because it’s easy to achieve?

If it’s not what you really want, you’re not going to be satisfied. In fact, by working for something you didn’t even want, you’ll just end up more frustrated. Plus, your focus is no longer to succeed, but to “not fail,” and there is a big difference between succeeding and not failing.

Every now and then, I meet someone who’s out to prove me wrong. I remember once a young man came up to me and said, “You don’t believe in realistic goals. OK, next year I want to make ten million dollars.” My reply was, “Great! Who’s stopping you?”

Lots of people in America have made ten million dollars in a year. “But first,” I said, “let me tell you what you’re going to have to do to earn ten million dollars.” When I had finished telling him everything he'd have to do, including all the time, energy, effort and commitment he'd have to put forth, he said, “Whoa, hold it; that’s not very realistic.” True, but it wasn’t the ten million dollars that wasn’t very realistic. What made it unrealistic was that he was not willing to do what it took to make the ten million dollars.

Whether or not a goal is realistic is not determined by the goal, but rather by your willingness to do what it takes to achieve the goal. If you’re worried about reality, don’t. Reality sets in during the development of an action plan for your goal.

Reach as high as you want with your goals; it’s when you sit down to plan out that goal that you will decide if you’re willing to do what it takes to reach the goal. If you’re not willing to do what it takes, then yes, the goal is unrealistic. But if you are willing to do it, then it’s realistic.

After all, what’s realistic? If a young boy or girl about 7 or 8 years old came up to you and said, “Someday I’m going to win a gold medal in the Olympics.” Would you tell him or her to be “realistic” and not to aim so high? Many people would. But is it really unrealistic? It might be extremely difficult, but it’s not unrealistic. Lots of people have won gold medals in the Olympics. However, an Olympic gold medal only becomes realistic if that young boy or girl is willing to dedicate him or herself daily to its accomplishment.

Remember there’s no goal that’s unrealistic, only people who aren’t willing to do what it takes to achieve those “unrealistic goals.”
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Warren Greshes is a professional speaker, who has keynoted corporate and association meetings throughout the world for the last 20 years. In addition, he is the author of “The Best Damn Sales Book Ever: 16 Rock-Solid Rules to Achieving Sales Success,” and hosts his own talk show and podcast, “The Warren Greshes Show: Your Voice for Sales, Success and Small Business.” To learn more about Warren go to www.GreshesNetwork.com Warren can be contacted at: 1-800-858-1516 or by email at: warren@greshes.com.