In his autobiography, An Only Child, the Irish writer Frank O’Connor talks about when he and his friends were boys. When they came to an orchard wall blocking their way that seemed too high and too difficult to climb, they took off their caps and tossed them over the wall. Because their caps were quite valuable to them, they then had no choice but to follow them over the wall.
John F Kennedy was very inspired by this story, and used to tell it to his friends. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the audacious goal of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth” by the end of the decade.
In his dedication speech at the Aerospace Medical Health Center in San Antonio on November 21, 1963, the day before he was assassinated, President Kennedy mentioned Frank O’Connor’s story, and concluded his speech with this: “This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space and we have no choice but to follow it.”
Do you have a huge goal that you have been secretly harboring? President Kennedy understood that one way to ensure that your goal gets achieved is to announce it to the world. Another way is to invest a financial stake in the outcome.
Some people lose weight only after they buy smaller clothes. I dreamed a long time about being an entrepreneur, but it wasn’t until I quit my day job that I got really focused about making that a success. A lot of the stuff we learn in college could be learned from a book. However, most of us will not study unless we paid for the class and give the teacher permission to give us a grade.
The bottom line is, we achieve our goals when we have a commitment to them. If you have a goal, why not create the circumstances that ensure your own commitment? What can you do today to create the commitment to achieving your dream?
To your success!
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