Reach for the Stars

On the TV show "The Biggest Loser," one of the participants told himself and his family that his goal was to be in the final four. When he said this, it got me thinking why not have your goal be to win the entire show? You know usually that is a person's goal. To win. However, as I thought about this idea, I recalled setting goals for myself. When you set a goal, usually you hope to accomplish something that will satisfy you. A medical student, for instance, shouldn't set a goal to find a cure to a disease until she passes medical school and starts working on patients and doing research. Being in finals week, I could set a goal for myself to study all of my economics on one day; but, the chances of that goal actually being accomplished are slim merely because of reality: there is a lot of information to cover. Also, if you set a goal for yourself that is clearly too far out of reach, you may try to reach that goal. While trying to reach it, you may accomplish a greater quantity with minimal quantity. Although you don't want to set a goal out of reach, you also don't want to set a goal that is too easy to accomplish because that will not be satisfying once you accomplish it.

In my opinion, the guy on "The Biggest Loser" had a very positive, rational outlook on life. Entering the show with many contestants, he didn't set his goal outside of his reach. And look at him now: he IS one of the final four. Now that he has gotten to that goal, he can reevaluate and set an even higher goal. I have taken him as a role model. I made a schedule for myself for this week because I have no classes and my first final isn't until Saturday. So I set goals for each day. While making it I tried to be rational, because otherwise I would just get frustrated with myself for not having accomplished my goal rather than being proud and satisfied with the great amount that I did accomplish.

So while the saying does go, reach for the stars, don't reach for them if they are not within your grasp. Don't try and achieve something that from the start you don't believe you can achieve. Set goals but don't set them out of your reach because then you'll never strive for them nor believe that you can attain them. And believe in yourself. Have faith and pride in what you do, otherwise what is the use in doing it.