A Kick in the Attitude: An Energizing Approach to Recharge your Team, Work, and Life

Chapter 13. A Kick in the Attitude Principle #11: Give Yourself Permission to Dream Big Dreams

We have the power to shrink our dreams to fit reality or the power to stretch our reality to fit our dreams.

—Anonymous

Let's say we are on a hunting trip. We come to the edge of the forest and instead of going into the forest to hunt snipe (I have never seen one, but I have been told they are out there. Some of you will get that. Yep, I fell for it.), let's say I was just to shoot random bullets into the forest with the hope of hitting something. Do you believe that would be highly effective in nailing my target?

No, of course not. Why do so many fire so aimlessly with their dreams? They wish upon the stars, yet don't actually have a plan for arriving.

You can shoot at the stars, but in order to be effective, you also need a plan for reaching them. Better yet, you need to identify your target star. Simply put, know what you want. It's called having a goal.

One guy years ago told me he hated to set goals, because if he didn't reach them, he was disappointed and miserable. While I can understand that, it is also not very effective. Wouldn't you rather aim for the moon and miss, than aim for a pile of mud and hit?

Tips for the Realization of Goals and Dreams

On average, I give close to 90 speeches per year. I didn't, however, set out to be a speaker. If fact, I actually took low grades in college, just so I wouldn't have to give a speech at graduation. A few years after I graduated from college, ...