“Look! My story got published in the magazine,” cried Asma with excitement as she showed the magazine to her parents. Her parents were happy for her.

“I want to drop science in college and pursue a journalism degree,” Asma expressed, hopeful that her parents would agree to her decision.

“But everybody in our family is either a high ranking government official or surgeon. We don’t want you to be a person chasing others for stories,” her parents firmly told her their stance.

Asma kept quite. Journalism was her passion and she did not want to give it up. Deep in her heart, she knew that if there is a will, there is a way.

Asma is not the only person facing this kind of scenario. Many of us face problems in pursuing our dreams, but it is important to hold onto your guns. Having said that, it is equally important to work really hard and excel in your chosen field or passion. Without that, there is not much sense in following your dreams.

field or passion. Without that, there is not much sense in following your dreams.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” — Steve Jobs (US computer engineer and industrialist)

Determination is the key!

As long as you have the fire in your belly, you will keep looking for ways to move forward and putting in efforts till you get there.

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential ... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” — Confucius (Chinese philosopher)

Say goodbye to negativity

When you have a virus in your computer or laptop, it does not work properly; or does it? The best thing is to get rid of the virus first and then do other things.

Our negative and unrealistic beliefs have the same effect as viruses. So get rid of negative thinking and always be positive. It always pays to be optimistic and believe the best is within your reach. Making use of your imagination to dream about what you want would help you a great deal in this regard.

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” — Michelangelo Buonarroti (Renaissance artist)

Think of the consequences

Our lives are intertwined with those of our family members and friends. Every action we take, every decision we make, has consequences for both us and the people close to us. Make sure that you can live with those consequences and don’t bring trouble to yourself and/or your family and friends.

In other words, take a closer look at everything before you take the leap.

Set targets

The following is the dialogue between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”Alice asks.

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

You see you need to be crystal clear on what exactly you want to achieve in life. Without it, there is no sense in putting in efforts for getting the desired result.

You can set monthly or yearly targets. It is imperative that you write them down.

Ralph Waldo Emerson encouraged goal setting by stating, “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

Make plans and sub-plans

The next step is to plan how exactly you will achieve your targets. This would involve the how part, how exactly you will achieve your targets. Writing that down is essential. The more detailed you are in writing down how exactly you will achieve your target, the better your chances of getting what you want.

It is also essential to have contingency plans, which is having a plan B apart from your plan A.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin (A US founding father)

Getting organised

You have the plan. Now work out what exactly you need in order to work on that plan. But unless you are not mentally and physically fit, you cannot put consistent, effective and efficient efforts to get what you want. Also work out the resources you need to implement your plan and get them.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln (US president)

Implementation

After getting organised and having a plan in place, it is time to put your plan into action. Remember to put in the required effort so that you rise up to the standard required, that gives you what you want in life. Anything less than that is simply not good enough.

For example if 80 marks are required to get admission somewhere and you end up getting 79, then your efforts will get wasted. The point is, it is no good falling short. You have to make sure through your efforts that you end up getting what you want.

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” — Leonardo da Vinci (Renaissance artist)

Monitoring, evaluation and feedback

The only thing constant about life is change. Things change, circumstances change and even (with age) your wishes and ambitions change. Be flexible and open to change for a trouble-free, successful and happy life.

You might have to change your efforts, plan or even targets in the light of new information or circumstances.

“The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them.” — George Bernard Shaw

Be your own critic and take an unbiased and neutral view of your efforts and progress. You simply have to get to the level of those who have achieved excellence in your field of choice.

Conclusion

So in nutshell, never let go of your dreams if you are prepared to live with the consequences of achieving them. Proceed in the aforementioned systematic way while remaining highly motivated.

You might fail initially and not meet some targets, but you will achieve your aims if you are persistent and put in the required efforts.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”— Thomas A. Edison

Here are some real life examples of famous people who had to endure failures before reaching the goals they set for themselves. They will motivate and guide you in achieving your dreams.

Thomas A Edison was branded “too stupid to learn anything” by his teachers. He was fired from jobs for being not productive. He made 1000 unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb till he finally achieved his aim.

Orville and Wilbur Wright. The Wright brothers suffered from family problems and started a bicycle business. They eventually experimented with flights and devising airplanes. After many failures they did succeed in inventing an airplane.

Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in USA, was never successful in any venture he took on in his early life. He got elected to the public office after many defeats.

Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Company was rejected by Toyota Motor Corporation in a job interview for an engineer. Determined to succeed, he overcame numerous obstacles to establish a billion dollar brand/business.

Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie was rejected no less than 30 times. Disappointed, Stephen threw its manuscript in trash. Thanks to his wife, who picked the novel and encouraged him to keep trying, Stephen turned out to be the success he is today. — A.I.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 8th, 2016