I was a young theater director encouraging my cast to sell sponsorships for a show we were preparing to open. My goal was $5,000 and I surpassed it by a few hundred. When I excitedly informed the producer, he just looked at me and said, "you didn't set your goal high enough."
Was I discouraged? Absolutely not! In fact, he taught me a valuable lesson that I actually need to set some unrealistic goals.
I've heard advice from well-meaning individuals that you should set realistic goals so that you are not bummed out when you don't hit them. I totally get that sentiment and would even advise it myself in some situations.
But for me, I like to set the bar way too high. What if I had set the sponsorships goal at $7,500? If I hit it, I would be ecstatic. If I didn't hit it, I probably would have sold $6,000 instead of $5,200.
The point I am making is that we are able to do so much more than we believe we can do.
I want to leave you with this motivational scene from a movie called Facing the Giants.
The football player, Brock, was encouraged by his coach to crawl to the 50-yard line, while carrying another team member on his back. This had never been done before.
There was one catch — he had to do it blindfolded so that he couldn't quit when he got to the point on the field that he "thought" he could reach.
I don't want to spoil the ending for you...so take a minute to watch this scene yourself:
