Setting Championship Goals
By Greg Arnold

Let's talk about setting goals. I can't tell you what your goals should be, only what kind of goals they must be. As a champion, your goals and dreams must be pure and just and they must give your life meaning. You can never accomplish anything that goes against your nature.  And if your goals don't give your life meaning, why bother?

Your goals and dreams must be bigger than you are by yourself. You must dare to dream big. A dream that is not big enough to be shared is often too small to be realized. Your goals and dreams must be impossible for you to accomplish without tremendous personal effort and growth. The glory of the destination is measured only by what you become during the journey.

Finally, your goals must be for the benefit of others, as well as yourself. You must be willing to give everything you've got to help others enjoy those benefits. The ultimate leader is the ultimate servant. The world desperately needs leaders. Leaders who are not afraid to dream the big dream and do the big deed; leaders who are willing to follow their hearts and fight for the cause. Leaders willing to blaze new trails and climb tall mountains; leaders who care and are committed. Leaders who share the dream while shouldering the responsibility. The world has a need for your leadership.

The most important contribution you can make is finding your own personal leadership and following it to the top. Finding your personal leadership is really a matter of finding yourself. You must be willing to take personal inventory of your strengths and weakness' so you will know what tools you have and what tools you'll need to get the job done. You must take a step at a time, slowly but surely, outside your comfort zone. You must conquer your ego and your self-doubts. You must keep your eye on the big goal and you must work through the disappointments and pain until you reach it. Then you will know what you need to know.

I know it's tough. However, all extraordinary accomplishments required the extraordinary efforts of average people. George Washington was an average man with an extraordinary task and an extraordinary sense of responsibility. The signers of your Declaration of Independence were average men with an extraordinary responsibility and an extraordinary sense of justice. Lincoln, Grant, Wilson, Roosevelt, Curie, Anthony, Truman, Eisenhower, Kodak, Gompers, Walton, Van Andel & DeVoss, and many others — all of them were average men and women with extraordinary goals and dreams and the self-discipline to see themselves as champions.

You can too! You can blaze new trails and climb tall mountains. You can work through the heartache and pain. You can find your own personal leadership. It starts a minute at a time. Then an hour at a time, then a few hours, then longer. Through self-discipline and character, you can and will be victorious.  Set your championship goals and begin to move toward them. As you move toward your goals you will begin to find that champion within you. If these goals give your life meaning, chances are they will give meaning to others also.

Remember this, it doesn't matter if others follow you or not. If your goals give your life meaning then you will become who you want to be as you move toward them. That's all that matters. The journey will be difficult but worth it, because it's not what you get in accomplishing your goals, it's who you become.