Showing posts with label strive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strive. Show all posts

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Think Big

by Douglas Clark


Have you ever heard anyone say “I want to get second place”, “I’m working toward being mediocre”, or “My dream is to be average”? Probably not in a serious way you haven’t. It reminds me of a Monster.com commercial that’s pretty funny. Nobody consciously decides they want to be just another face in the crowd, not without giving up first. You see the thing is, most people try, experience difficulty, muddle through, and then find a certain amount of equilibrium with their environment, situation and circumstance, but then never really break through and excel beyond the status quo. This is where people become apathetic.

You can’t counteract apathy though. Think of this from a different perspective. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say “Aim High”, heck the Air Force used to use that as a tag line in their TV and radio commercials for years. Or maybe you’ve heard the saying ‘reach for the stars’, or ‘the sky’s the limit’. The common theme here is striving for something just out of reach, pushing yourself to achieve something slightly beyond your abilities or just to experience something new. What’s the point though?

The goal here is Success. Success does take an extraordinary amount of effort though, and it starts with something even more important. Thinking Big. That’s right. Putting your mind and thoughts on the right track, allowing yourself to believe what you dream is possible, and accepting the possibility that you might just be able to make all you want possible is the first step in achieving your dreams. It does not matter how you characterize or quantify success. Reaching your goals, and accomplishing your mission requires being positive. Sometimes I lean toward the negative, pessimistic side of things. When I feel that type of thing seeping into my thought process, I counter it with positive, sometimes grandiose daydreaming and proclamations. They’re designed to refocus my mindset, forcing me to accept the possibility that the great and wonderful things I want to achieve are at least thinkable, let alone possible. That’s why I still believe I’ll be a world famous writer one day.

You’ve got to want it. Thinking that you will be the best, achieve the highest goals, win the most prestigious awards, earn the most money, be the most famous; it all starts with you thinking big. Daring yourself to simply imagine the great possibilities of ‘what if’ is the first step on your journey to greatness. Take that step!



Thanks for reading
Questions and comments are welcome.



Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Perseverance Pays Off

What keeps you going?  How do you go on when you know it may never get any better than this? 
Hope.  As corny as that sounds, it’s true.  It’s very rare that you find a person who’s life is absolutely nothing but despair, or total happiness.  Life has a way of fluctuating and changing without you even lifting a finger to help it.  But if you don’t even try to direct it on a course that you can live with, it will become oppressive.  That attempt at driving your life forward can be hard, but it can also be rewarding. 
Those clichés about ‘giving it your all’ or ‘never giving up’ and the like are clichés because people have used those thoughts and ideas to persist, strive, endure.  The mere act of living through hard times is an act of perseverance.  Now, I’m not talking about continuing on a path you know will lead to failure.  I’m not suggesting that you take on an endeavor you know to be fool-hearty and just shlog through hoping it will all work out in the end.  No, what I’m talking about is staying focused on your dreams, accepting your limitations, learning to deal with them and exploring new ways to achieve your goals. 
Remember, life can and does change if you change the way you look at it.  Striving for the ideal is motivational, comparing your success to the past is logical, and driving yourself to not give in to despair will help in your longevity.  Perseverance isn’t just about not giving up, it’s about doing better with what you have, even if what you have is less than yesterday.  Tomorrow can be better, you just have to give it your all.

  
You gotta believe you’re awesome to Be awesome.

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