Achieve Anything

How You Can Achieve Almost Anything

Limitless possibilities exist in your life. You truly have no limits except those you put on yourself.

When I say, “you will never know how much you can change yourself”, I mean that no matter what you achieve in life, there will always be the possibility of achieving more. I’m not suggesting that you should always be chasing more, but possibilities are always there if you want them. We usually accomplish less in life than we could because we limit ourselves.

In order to achieve, you need a purpose…

Many people I know think of winning the lottery or retirement as the end. I hear things like, “I’m going to play golf every day,” or “I’m going to go fishing every day.” These people don’t do well in retirement or after winning the lottery. If their only reason to get out of bed in the morning is to do the same thing that they’ve done for the past year, they’ll end up staying in bed. People need to have a purpose in life or they’ll become unhappy and unmotivated to do anything.

If you won $10 million in the lottery, what would you do? It’s nice to dream, but reality is usually much different. Personally, I think winning the lottery would be a great burden. Life would become focused on the money – how to protect it, how to minimize your income taxes, how to invest it, how to spend it, and so on. I know when we think of that prize now, it sounds great. However, after the euphoria wears off and reality sets in, life would be different in many ways, some good and some bad.

I don’t buy lottery tickets because I’m afraid that I might win and that would change my life. If I did win $10 million, I think I would find 10 friends, churches, and charitable organizations and give each $1 million.

But let’s return to the question. If you won $10 million, what would you do? Let’s look down the road five years. What do you do each day? How do you spend your time? Is your life full of meaning? If it is, you are unusual. Almost every story I have read about people who won a lottery was a story of a ruined life. Often their lives were so empty after they won that they turned to drugs and alcohol.

It doesn’t matter where you are in life today; you can change yourself in the present moment (remember that the present is the only time in which you have that power) so that your future is better. You don’t need to progress with giant steps. Baby steps work just fine. But the key is consistent improvement.

Setting subsequent goals

When I was studying to become an accountant and my classmates completed their exams after three long hard years of work and study, many fell into the trap of letdown. They had worked hard and been so focused on this great goal that they failed to set a subsequent goal. Since they didn’t have another goal to strive toward, some fell into the trap of just doing what was in their their lives. For an accountant, there is always an endless amount of work, so they ended up working a lot of extra time and not creating new goals. Since I had teaching as my long-term goal, becoming an accountant was just a milestone along the way. My friend Dave wanted to be a lawyer, so this was just a milestone along the path he had chosen. But those who had no subsequent goal often got lost in their work.

Individuals who achieve great things or have very successful lives have goals like we set earlier for five years, ten years, and twenty years ahead. They frequently update them so that when they accomplish one goal, they have the next to strive towards. Next goals don’t have to be a continuation of previous goals. They might be in a different area of life, such as a relationship goal, a health goal, or a personal growth goal.

It is not unusual for people to progress through education goals, then career goals, relationship goals, family goals, and so on.

No matter what your focus is, you should always have some career goals because in today’s world, if you’re not growing in your career, you’ll be falling behind. Even when relationship and family goals become a bigger part of your life, you need to maintain career goals such as learning new software, take a course to enhance your skills, or learning whatever is appropriate for your career.

By always having future goals planned out, you will always be focused on where you are going. You are guaranteed to get a lot further in life if you know where it is you’re headed.

This is an excerpt from my book Attitude Determines Destiny. In it you will learn how to get the most out of life by changing your attitude and making personal changes…changes that can lead you down a life-long path of personal growth.

As a motivational speaker, I conduct seminars and workshops based upon the ideas in my book. I will entertain and inspire your audiences, and I can customize my topics to fit your needs and desires.

Contact me for your next event