Open Your Mind To New Possiblities With Your Goals

This week let’s talk about goals that can open your mind to new possibilities.

Can any of us really say that we have reached the pinnacle in our personal, professional or spiritual lives? Certainly, most of us have achieved a degree of success and in many cases we have won the applause of our peers. We may even be the envy of others in our profession, but does that mean that we have exhausted all the wonderful possibilities that exist for us?

Several decades ago, Dale Carnegie reminded us that “We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do.” Which simply means that no matter how far up the ladder we have risen or even how far down the ladder we may have slid, we all within us the ability to dream new dreams and set new visions of what our lives can become and the contributions we can make to our family, our companies and the world around us.

All worthwhile goals involve mean we dare to aspire to new heights. When we aspire to new heights we begin to think like George Bernard Shaw who said “You see things that are, and ask why? I dream things that are not, and ask why not?” Perhaps Carnegie and Shaw were familiar with what Robert Browning had written, Browning stated without fear of contradiction that “Our aspirations are our possibilities.”

I do not know how many times I have been approached after making a speech or conducting a workshop by people who have said that their possibilities are limited for one reason or another. Upon examination, the problem in most cases was that they had allowed someone or some circumstance to smother the aspirations that they had, thus obscuring not only their own possibilities but any hope they may have had of attaining them.

When we say we are limited in our possibilities by our lack of education, the bad breaks we’ve had in life or even our age what we are really saying is that while we see the possibilities of what can be we feel it is improbable that they are possibilities in our lives. If you’re one of those people who see possibilities but dismiss them as improbable aspirations or pie-in-the sky daydreams, I suggest you take as your motto the words that one of America’s great business leaders, Henry Ford who once told an audience, “I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.” Write that on a couple of cards, put one of them where you will see it every morning and carry another with you to refer to throughout the day.

Now, you might be asking, just how do I go about allowing my goals to open my mind to new possibilities? Well, if your goal is something that has grabbed you, and it is something that is based on an aspiration that will be beneficial to not only yourself, your family and other people then all you need to do is to unleash the creative power of your subconscious mind.

The very fact that your mind has grasp this goal indicates that you have within you the capacity to not only conceive it but to define and refine it into something attainable. Now this will not happen overnight, and sometimes that which we originally hoped to achieve becomes modified as we progress toward it and we see bigger possibilities..

Finally, I am sure that most of you are like me, during your career you have seen great possibilities and set goals only to encounter difficulties, opposition and setbacks. Perhaps you have even thrown in the towel and given up or decided to simply settle for less than your heart told you use to settle for. My old friend and mentor, Norman Vincent Peale once pointed out that “lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up too easily.” And in the face of adversity, discouragement, opposition and setbacks he urged us to “become a possibilitarian.”

And how, you ask do we do that? Dr. Peale gives us the answer “No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities -- always see them, for they're always there.” Opening our minds to new possibilities not only helps us define and refine new and exciting goals it also can provide us with a renewal of determination to get up and try again when life or circumstances seems to have knocked us down.

So, make sure your goals grab you, then don’t be afraid to allow them to lift you above the possible and open your mind to the vast new possibilities that await you. When you do, you will find yourself standing in awe of where your goals can take you. Why? Because you are seeing a renewed vision, capturing a new hope, and a beginning to long for brighter future—something only you can turn into a reality.

Have a great and profitable week!
Robert Hidde
bob@confidentliving.com