Overcoming The Impossible

A motivational piece from Living Life Without Limits, the blog of Caoimhin Seamus McIlveen. 


th-13
“Dreams without goals, ultimately, only fuel disappointment”

Each and every one of us have dreams and ambitions, a desire to do more, to achieve more, to be the best that we can be. That being said, all our goals are different and relevant to our own individual lives. Some people want to travel the world, others want financial freedom or success in their lives or at least whatever success means to them in their own circumstances. To some people success is running a company or becoming a millionaire, gaining the financial freedom to do everything they have ever dreamed of, to others success can be a simple as getting a nine-five and buying a house and starting a family.

To many of us the nine-five lifestyle is a concept forced upon us by society, a tool to limit our lives and our freedom. Let's face it, how many people in a nine-five actually like their jobs? Very few indeed, most merely see it as a means to pay the next bill, a necessity to survive, to exist. Well, I am hear to tell you that life doesn’t have to be like that and the power to change that is in your hands. We only have only life and it’s a short one at that with no guarantees  on how long that life will be. Do we really want to waste it?

What is it that holds you back from living the life you have always wanted, from taking control of your life and achieving success and happiness? The biggest problems lie within us. They they are built in subliminal mindsets from society and the media. Too many people sit at home watching television dreaming of what they want their life to be like and then choose to do nothing about it. For every opportunity someone will find an excuse not to seize that opportunity, an excuse why it can’t be done or rather why they can’t do it. These excuses range from ‘ I come from an underprivileged background’ or ‘only the rich can do that’ or better yet ‘I don’t know how to’. Or maybe you are wealthy and you want to start your own business to become a success and make your own achievements instead of living in the shadows of the achievements of others. These are not barriers to your achievements. They are motivation, all the more reason why you should go after what you want and start today.

The biggest hurdle to give over is the fear of the unknown.  ‘If I quit my job what will I do?’ or ‘What happens if I fail?’ These are probably the two scariest things that prevent us from taking chances in our lives. It's these very fears that make us subconsciously look for reasons not to do things rather than reasons to do them.

The mind is prebuilt for safety and anxiety of the unknown but this mindset is something we can change by training our mind to be aware of the risk but not to focus on them rather to focus on the positive possibilities. What happens if I make this work? How will this change my life? You will never achieve your dreams without taking risks. In fact very little in life will ever happen unless you decide to make it happen. There is an old quote ‘Whats for you won’t pass you by.’ It may well be true but that does not mean that what is meant for you will fall on your lap while you’re watching television. In life we make our own destiny, some time throughout the course of our lives we are presented with opportunities, other times when those opportunities are not there  its up to us to create those opportunities we need to achieve our gaols.

Denzel Washington said “Dreams without goals ultimately lead to disappointment.”
Never a more true word spoken, dreams, unless you are prepared to make the decisions and put in the effort to make those dreams a reality then, ultimately you will only ever be disappointed with how life turns out for you.

Why are you dreams so unattainable, what makes them impossible for you to achieve - have you really sat down a thought about what it would take to make your dreams a reality?

First take a few moments and write down your dreams, your ambition, where you want your life to be in say ten years or even five years time.

Secondly list everything you feel makes your dreams unattainable.

Thirdly list why those you feel those things above make your dreams unattainable.

Fourth take each item in that list and place them in that order you would need to achieve them in to achieve your dreams, now starting with the first one write down what it would take to overcome that obstacle. This could be anything from saving up money to pack in your jib and go travelling or returning to education to develop skills which you currently lack that prevent you from doing these things. Maybe even its a simple case of change your environment, where you live or those around you. Lets face it if you want to become an actor for example then you are unlikely to get discovered serving coffee in some small town with a population of five thousand with the nearest movie studio twelve ours flight away.

Fifth set a timeline for you goals both short term and long term, something you can aim for and use as a guideline or even a carrot on a stick. Make your goals realistic so that you don’t try to conquer the mountain before you have conquered the hill as this can of be disheartening and have a negative effect on your progress.

Now that you have done that you have made the impossible become possible and very attainable in just five easy steps, what to do now? Well, now the rest is entirely up to you, what you put in you get back out, dedication and desire should drive you forward, always keep focused on your goals and whats next.

Look back on each goal as you achieve it, remembering at one point in the past you thought that goal was out of your grasp.

Don’t be afraid of failure, every time we fail, it’s the lessons we take from those failures that guide the way we go forward, almost no successful person ever got to where they are without failing many times over. I know a lot of successful people, successful in a variety of different things and I have had many conversations with each of them of how they got to where they are and the fails they have taken on their way to the top that kept them going that drove them on, a desire to prove the naysayers wrong and more so to prove to themselves that they could achieve their goals.

3 comments:

  1. Who wrote this? Iain Duncan Smith & Scott Peck?

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  2. Caomhin

    ever just tried being content with being discontent?

    Your daydreaming and fantasising are most likely symptomatic of resentfulness ... an inability to accept life on life's terms. Life alas is not fair. Beware of pedlars of hope. They exploit and prey on the vulnerable.

    Goals when grounded in our own values, rather than the values of some guru or of the consumerist herd, can be a worthy expression of meaning and purpose. If eventually realised, they are almost always achieved through small incremental victories over life's innumerable setbacks. They are not brought to fruition by listening to jackanory or watching the magic roundabout.

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