subject: Should We Be Realistic or Idealistic While Mapping Out a Life's Course [print this page] Should We Be Realistic or Idealistic While Mapping Out a Life's Course
Anyone who has been involved in the self-development world for more than fifteen minutes has heard the admonitions, think big, shoot for the stars, have big goals, become a millionaire etc Nothing wrong with that. It goes with the territory. But, when it gets down to the nuts and bolts of chartering a course to follow to achieve those lofty goals, a little down to earth thinking may be required.
Success and achievement are processional processes. As the saying goes, it's possible to become an overnight success so long as it has been preceded with years of hard work. Success and achievement are not attained through magic formulas. They are the logical results of hard work and self-growth.
Before it becomes possible to accomplish the big achievements, before gold can be struck, a personal transformation is needed. Figuratively speaking, it could be said that the scope of the person will determine the size of the achievements that are possible.
As the person grows, so does the size of the goals that can be tackled successfully. So, work on the self has to precede, or accompany work on the goals because both are intimately interwoven. A power lifter will not try to bench press 200 lbs before he can successfully do it with 190 lbs. Same in any other endeavor.
So, in mapping out a course to achieve the success desired, both, idealistic and realistic thinking are necessary. Idealistic thinking is necessary to determine the overall picture of what it is that we want to accomplish. It is also necessary so that we can envision the compelling future that we want to have.
Idealistic thinking is where we set to objectives. As a practical rule, we should differentiate between objectives and goals. Objectives should be seen as the direction that we intend to follow but not necessarily something that is seemingly attainable. It would be those lofty ideals that loom very far in the distant future.
On the other hand, goals should be the rungs on the ladder that lead to our objectives. If the objective is a million dollars, the first goal should be a thousand dollars. Once that this is attained we could go for ten thousand dollars followed by one hundred thousand dollars and so forth.
We said that success was processional. So if we incrementally set successive goals that keep on getting larger and larger, we will experience progressive successes that will eventually lead us to the ultimate objective. And, once a goal is achieved it automatically gives a boost to the self-confidence necessary to tackle the next and larger goal.
Idealistic thinking is where the full force of the imagination comes into play. It is where we can picture how it will feel when our goals and objectives are accomplished. That, in itself, can be a very potent motivator. On the other hand, we do not want to stay caught in fantasyland. We need some realistic thinking to counterbalance the effects of our imagination and keep us grounded.
Equilibrium is essential to stability and durability. That is especially true when it comes to mapping out a life's course of action. Delving in fantasyland by vividly imagining what could be is a time-tested technique to sustain and increase the motivation however, the procedure should be balanced with some down to earth and reality bound thinking.
