Goals and ambition are not for everyone

“Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk.” J.C. Penny

In order for the world to function, all types of people are needed. Stock clerks are needed just as much as doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs and craftsmen.

A world full of overly ambitious people would be a very sad world indeed. Many people are content with their lot in life. They are content to let others do the leading, the strategizing and the planning, while they do what is required of them.

While there are many who want to make history, many of the store clerks of the world are content simply being part of history. They are content working, and then devoting their energy and resources on their family and friends. Sometimes the overly ambitious lose sight of the other important things in life. More often than not, they don’t lost sight, but decide that ambition is more important to them than friends and family.

Having an ambitious dream, wanting to make history, is no easy matter. It requires sacrifice, dedication and lots of hard work. In order to be able to set goals, you have to know where you want to be, where your want to go. You need to have a dream. Setting a goal helps you reach that dream. People who set goals succeed because they know what they want, and the goals give them achievable targets to strive for.

Goals are like mile markers. They tell you if you’re making progress, if you’re going in the right direction, towards your final destination. Setting goals that are impossible to reach would only frustrate you, eventually leading towards frustration and depression. The secret to setting goals is to look at them as landings on a flight of stairs. If you want to walk to the top of the tallest building, set your first goal to reaching the first, second or third landing. Once there, you set your next goal to reach another landing within reach. Going one landing at a time allows you to track your progress, to see if you need to adjust your strategy, and to set your next goal. By continually setting difficult, yet   achievable, goals, you’re able to realize a seemingly impossible dream. If you try to climb to the top of the building in one try, you’ll wear yourself out and risk the chance of never reaching the top.

If you decide to get married and have kids, one of your goals will be to ensure your kids have everything they need to succeed. To do that, you need to start setting goals as early as possible. If you don’t set any goals, you’re letting the environment determine what happens to your children. Is that a risk you’re willing to take? To get into a good college, a parent has to plan long before your kids get into high school. It’s okay for your children to be stock clerks if that is what they choose to be. It’s not okay for them be stock clerks because you never set any goals while raising them, giving them no choice but to be stock clerks.