Imagine yourself, in your later years, being forced to watch a continuously repeating movie of the lives we could have led had we dared to believe in and pursue the dreams and goals that were available in our lifetimes. Seems more like a nightmare, doesn’t it? Many of us say that we just don’t have enough time to focus on pursuing goals and dreams yet the reality is that we are blessed with just the right amount of time. The choice to utilize that time wisely is yours. It’s not a time-management problem we struggle with it’s a dream and goal-focus problem. Too much energy gets spent worrying about the things we wish we could do but can’t, instead of focusing our energy on the things we CAN do but don’t.

A dream is a creative vision of your ideal life in the future. It’s how you picture your life if you had everything you REALLY want….ultimate happiness. A goal is something you intend to actually make happen. Don’t get caught in the trap of becoming a spectator and watching others successes. You too are capable of accomplishing such things. Dreams and goals are previews of coming attractions in your life. You can be either the script writer, the star, and the producer of an Oscar-winning epic life or an extra in a “B” movie that someone else wrote and directed for you. Which is it to be?

In the process of working on your goals, don’t compare yourself to others. Stay focused on yourself and what YOU will accomplish not what others have already done. There are many others who have started a little earlier than you, and you may become discouraged if you see them harvesting success when some of your seeds are barely in the ground. Comparison rarely benefits anyone. You’ll always be able to find someone smarter, younger, older, wiser, richer, more clever, better looking, or working harder or more effectively than you are. When you make comparisons in which you place yourself beneath others, you’re in for a discouragement that will keep you procrastinating and perhaps even from seriously pursuing your life goals. You can also find others who don’t measure up to what you have become or are aspiring to be. Avoid the tendency to compare yourself with them as well. You will lower your goals and settle for average when you could have excellence.

Good news….success isn’t limited and there is more than plenty to go around. The success of others has very little bearing on your own success. You and everyone you know can become successful without anyone suffering setbacks, harm, or downturns. Neither is your success measured by what others say or accomplish. Only you can truly define your success, and only you can measure it.

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall. ”