A goal is nothing more than a dream with a timeline

Often times, especially at the end of a course that I’m teaching, I encourage and remind my students to dream BIG.

On a recent cross-country trip, I listened to the biography of Elon Musk, founder and CEO of PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Solar City and probably many other BIG projects. His goal is to not only make this world a better place for humans but to also find other places for humans to live—to colonize other planets.

Now, whether or not that is going to happen, or whether or not you agree with his vision—the point is to dream BIG!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to be where I am at now and along the way that I would get to experience so many wonderful things. However, as opportunities started to arise, I started seeing my path more clearly and reached for the stars! I felt (and still do to this day) a little bit like a kid saying “What’s next?”; “Now what?”; “What else is there?” or “And then?” My dreams got bigger and bigger and so did the opportunities.

One year, when the Parelli Mastery Program was going through a transition (one of many…as some of you may be able to relate to), I dared to dream BIG and was determined to continue to study with Pat Parelli, despite the changes in the program. And to be his personal ski instructor.
But that’s another story…

Sure enough, Pat Parelli invited me to stay on as his Protégée. Now, this is another story in itself and Pat is a big believer in “never given always earned” and that “luck” is spelled w-o-r-k.

In a different phase of my life, my dream was to be in the Top 10 of the world ranking in show jumping. Well, a few years ago, I started to compete in Cutting, which is a lot like show jumping, just imagine the jumps would move in random directions at random times…! ☺ And not much later, I found myself leading the world ranking in my division at the beginning of the year and then finished 6th in the world by the end of the year.

Now, I don’t want to make it sound like I accomplish everything I set my mind to. I am still working on those handstand walks…! 😉 However, in order to hopefully get there one day, I practice them as often as I can. There this saying that goes “You can make progress or you can make excuses but you can’t do both.”

So, dream BIG, set your goals high! Ask, Believe, Receive! Reach for the moon because even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars!

A high goal might seem overwhelming, so then, work your way backwards and establish intermediate goals that will get you on the right path to achieving your BIG goal! Observe how your environment will start to shape itself to where you can start living your dream.

And remember, a goal is nothing more than a dream with a timeline!