“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.” -Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
For most people, the stakes simply aren’t high enough.
Their goals are demanding enough.
They’re not being forced to grow and expand into their vision.
As a result, they don’t expect great things for themselves and then watch it happen.
To quote Michael Jordan,
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”
Indeed, everything in your life right now is following your beliefs. Your relationships, income, and health are all a product of what you believe you deserve.
You will never get more than you think you can get. Thus, in order to get more, you must elevate your sense of what you believe you deserve.
One way to do that is to set goals beyond your “current capacity” or what other people may call “crazy” goals.
This article will explain how it works.
Here we go.
You’ll Never Feel Ready to Go to the Next Level
“You never pre-qualify for success. You qualify yourself through the process of taking on something bigger than you’ve ever done before.” -Benjamin P. Hardy
According to what psychologists call, “The Pygmalion Effect,” you’re either rising or falling to the expectations and demands of your current situation.
For example, if your situation literally demanded you to make an extra $20,000 within the next 4 months in order to live your dreams, you’d probably be able to do it.
While if your situation demanded nothing more than that you to sit around and play video games all day, you’d likely be able to do that also.
Thus, how big you play in life is entirely up to you. Also, why Jesse Itzler once wrote,
“People are always waiting for something to happen before they change their lives. But they have it backward; when you change your life, big things are more likely to happen”
Indeed, it’s not about being READY to go to the next level. Instead, it’s about putting yourself into a situation that literally FORCES you to go to the next level.
When the demand is great, the supply will follow. Hence, when you set a big goal and then are forced to rise the occasion, your life will soon begin to reflect that.
Said historian Will Durant,
“I think the ability of the average man could be doubled if it were demanded, if the situation demanded.”
You Cannot Achieve What You Do Not Believe
“No one is ready for a thing, until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be BELIEF, not mere hope or wish.” -Napoleon Hill
Once you set a big goal and then begin expanding your future vision, you need to immediately begin acting the part here and now.
Why? Because you can’t truly believe in something if your behavior shows the opposite.
For example, if your goal is to become a world-class athlete but yet never train, then you can’t actually believe in achieving that goal with conviction.
Of course, you may talk a really big talk. You may have a few people convinced. But you won’t actually believe it deep down. Thus, you won’t be motivated and you won’t achieve it.
Said Benjamin P. Hardy,
“If you don’t believe you have an effective means of achieving your goal, you won’t be motivated. If you don’t expect yourself to do what it takes, you won’t be motivated.”
Hence, in order to truly believe you can do something big, you need to actually be moving in the right direction. You need to watch yourself grow and transform.
You need to see and feel your vision become real, even in a small way.
At such, your belief, confidence, motivation, and momentum will all increase.
You won’t just be talking or thinking about going to the next level anymore; you’ll actually be doing it!
Your future won’t just be in your head. Instead, it will be all around you.
In Conclusion
So, how big or “crazy” are the goals you’re currently pursuing?
Moreover, what would happen if took your current goal and then went and 10X’s it?
What if rather than trying to make $1,000/week, you begin pursuing $10,000/week?
What if rather than writing 3 articles a week, you begin writing 30?
How about, what would happen if took your current goal and then shortened the timeline?
What if rather than aiming to be a full-time writer within the next 12 months, you did it in 6?
And what’s crazy, is this isn’t even about the achievement at all. I’m wondering: Who would you have to become to live in any of these realities?
What would you have to give up? What “priorities” would have to begin saying no to? How focused would you have to become?
Can you even imagine meeting this person?
Hence Henry David Thoreau has said,
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
When you set a goal that’s “beyond your current capabilities,” you’ll soon rise to the occasion.
The question is: Are you willing to play at that level?