I (Jim Rohn) have two important rules for setting goals. By following these rules, you will achieve a great deal and become more than you ever could have imagined.
Here’s the first rule: don’t set your goals too low. In leadership training, we teach a similar guideline: don’t join an “easy” crowd. You won’t grow. Go where the expectations are high. Go where the demands are high. Go where the pressure is to perform, to grow, to change, to read, to study, to develop new skills.
I belong to a small group of people that conducts business around the world. You would not believe what we expect of each other in terms of excellence. Why? So that we can each grow. So that we can contribute something unprecedented to the benefit of the group.
It’s called “living at the summit.” Go where the demands are high. Go where the expectations are so strong that they motivate you, push you, urgently insist that you not remain in the same place. That way, you will grow and change. So don’t set your goals too low. What about the guy who says, “Well, I don’t need much”? He is guaranteed not to become much.
Here’s rule number two for setting goals: don’t compromise. Don’t sell out. There were some things back in the early years for which I paid too big a price. If I had known how much it was going to cost me, I never would have paid that price, but I didn’t know it at the time. So don’t sell out, and, as the old saying goes, “Count the costs.”
Remember, in that ancient story, Judas got the money. That sounds like a success story. And it is true that thirty pieces of silver in those days was a sizeable fortune. But having a name that is synonymous with traitor is not what I would call a success story.
Interestingly enough, when Judas got the money after becoming a traitor, he was unhappy. He wasn’t unhappy with the money. He was unhappy with himself. You see, the greatest source of unhappiness doesn’t come from the outside world. The greatest source of unhappiness comes from within.
To alleviate his unhappiness, Judas tried to return the money. But no one would take it back. So he decided to just throw the money away. Why would he throw his fortune away? Because he was so unhappy with himself.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of the scenario. Throwing his fortune away did not change what Judas had become: a traitor. In total frustration, he hung himself.
Why did Judas have such a tragic end? Because he was so unhappy with himself. He sold out. He paid too big a price. Don’t compromise your values. Don’t compromise your virtue. Don’t compromise your philosophy.
There are two words from ancient scripture you need to keep in mind. The first is beware. This is the negative word. Be aware of what you become in pursuit of what you want. Don’t sell out. Indeed, if Judas were to advise us today, he would tell us to beware.
The second word, behold, is the positive one. Behold the possibilities and the opportunity. Behold the drama, behold the awesomeness, behold the uniqueness. Behold the majesty. What a positive word, behold.
Set the kind of goals that will transform your life, that will make you far better than you are, far stronger than you currently are. And you will behold.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn