Many of us fail to achieve our goals because we often sell ourselves short by dreaming too small. Instead of just picking "realistic goals" push yourself to increase motivation and you will be more likely to succeed. Risk is your friend and by taking risks, you will achieve your goals.
"By reaching for what appears to be impossible, we often actually do the impossible; and even when we don't quite make it, we inevitably wind up doing much better than we would have done." -Jack Welch
"We think that if we had every comfort available to us, we'd be happy. We equate comfort with happiness. And now we're so comfortable we're miserable. There's no struggle in our lives. No sense of adventure." That observation applies to all of life, especially our goals. When it comes to meaningful achievement, comfort equals boredom and low engagement.
We should embrace discomfort for at least three reasons, whether we deliberately choose to or because it simply happens to us.
Elon Musk's Company SpaceX has changed rocketry and is bringing a renewed excitement to space exploration.
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work."
Goal researchers have documented a strong, direct relationship between the difficulty of our goals and the likelihood we'll achieve them. If you know exactly how to attain the goal, it's probably not far enough. If you are afraid of failure, then you have already failed. Be able to accept risk and mistakes as they will allow you to accomplish things that you didn't think were possible.
A great example of Lofty goals is those of Elon Musk. Frequently on twitter, Musk will announce goals for his companies or his personal self. These goals are often ridiculed by spectators as unrealistic. Even if this is true, they are impossible they still set a target that forces Elon and his teams to push further, work harder and hope. In the end, even if the goal is not reached progress is far greater than if they had stuck to more reasonable goals. List of Some of Elon Musk's Goals by 2030
If you have all the financial, emotional, and physical resources you need right now to accomplish your goal, then it's not challenging enough to be compelling. With a lack of excitement, you will fail to put in the effort to even accomplish your much smaller goals.
Rising to the inherent risk of a goal creates huge emotional gains for us. Adrenaline junkies will go to almost any length to achieve their favorite high. Although we are not willing to fall from the sky without a parachute, we can push ourselves a little further.
Difficult goals are far more likely to generate sustained enthusiasm and higher levels of performance. How do you want to stretch yourself to accomplish more in the next few weeks, months or years?
