Aim Higher When You Fall Short

Imagine having a goal and falling short despite your best efforts. How do we typically respond? We often become defensive about the goal itself. The inability to achieve our ambitious goal makes us uncomfortable, leading us to lower our expectations for the next attempt. We believe that setting a lower goal increases our odds of success. 

‘I failed because the target was high. I would have succeeded if the goal was lower’- is how our mind processes the experience.

Unfortunately, the reality is that even with a revised goal, we are likely to miss it too. Why? Because we mistakenly assume that the failure to achieve success is solely a function of the goal being higher, when in fact, it is a result of our lack of readiness, competence, and capability. 

Consider the words of Jim Rohn: “Take on a big goal for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always hold greater value than what you receive.”

Therefore, paradoxically, whenever we miss or fail to accomplish something, the key is to aim higher and set our sights on a bigger goal. In doing so, we improve ourselves in the process and increase our chances of achieving a higher level of success.

I recently came across an image that beautifully captures this idea of aiming higher when we fall short of our goals.