“Each day is a lifetime to be lived now.” – Maxwell Maltz, M.D., author of Psycho-Cybernetics
A guy took a stool next to me in a local coffee shop. I looked away from my laptop and nodded to say hello.
The guy began talking about his day, telling me, “It sucks getting old.”
Then he started talking about all his frustrations.
After a couple minutes, I interjected: “Do you have a goal for today?”
He replied: “My goal for today? No, I don’t have one.”
“Everyone has a goal for today. Some people consciously choose their goal, others don’t.”
“I guess I would say that my goals go way beyond daily. I have big goals that I’m working on.”
“That’s great” I answered. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty good. Except for this feeling that I’m not accomplishing much of anything.”
“That doesn’t sound pretty good to me,” I smiled.
We ended up talking for about 15 minutes, during which time he told me he’s been setting long-range goals in every area of his life, yet never gaining any traction.
“I don’t have a single long-term goal,” I told him. “But it turns out that I accomplish well over 1,000 goals each year and these goals have lead to many major breakthroughs and accomplishments.”
“Over a thousand goals? Man, if I could accomplish a hundred in a year I’d be in heaven. Now let me ask, when did you start doing things the way you do them now?”
“Part way through my senior season in high school. I was a wrestler and was feeling lousy about myself and my 8-4 record. I had big goals, one was to win the state title, the other to wrestle in college, and I wasn’t even coming close to either.”
“Then what happened?”
“I switched gears and put all my focus on the goal of practicing my techniques three times per day, every day, without fail.”
“And what happened as a result of that?”
“I won 14 straight matches, upset the defending state champion, who was considered unbeatable, made it to the finals of the state, and then went on to wrestle collegiately.”
“And what have you done since then?”
“I’ve written best-selling books, created courses, traveled the world, won national and world titles in martial arts, got married, raised two great children, and so on.”
“So where do you think I’m going wrong? All the books I’ve read have told me to think big, to set goals that scare you.”
“Have you read Psycho-Cybernetics?”
“No, not yet.”
“Well, here’s a copy for you,” I said, reaching into my backpack. “After you read it, come show me where it tells you to think big and to set goals that scare you. I’ll be waiting…”
Here endeth the lesson.
See it. Feel it. Be it.
Matt Furey
P.S. The Goal-Getting™ Intensive I am having on January 15, at 7 PM EST, is getting close to sold out at the current fee. Interested? Email me for details: goals@psycho-cybernetics.com
