Shoot for the Moon and boost your business

A standard definition of “shoot the moon” is to aim high.  It essentially means set higher than normal goals for yourself, and try your best.  Don’t aim at easy-to-reach goals.  Go for something that shows the best of your ability. A couple of months ago, I talked with a client and my recommendation was to dream big – bigger than what might even be considered possible. My reasoning is that by stretching a vision, a person automatically stretches possibility. You might not hit the moon, but when you hit the stars, you likely will hit a goal much bigger than you would have through making a ‘reasonable’ goal.

Shooting for the moon is one of the most effective strategies I have used to grow my business. It has enabled me to increase my annual income, not by 5 or 10 percent, but by 300%. Since implementing this strategy, it has enabled me to reach more customers, service my current customers better and expand my services more than I could have ever imagined.

When I first started my web development company I took very thought out traditional steps. But when I started thinking outside the box and kicked thing into overdrive, I was amazed at the results. No one has ever achieved extraordinary success without shooting for the moon.  Every single successful business person that I have interviewed has attributed a part of their success to dreaming the impossible.

Many well intentioned experts have told us that we should only set reasonable and timely achievable goals. They are afraid that if we set goals that are to lofty, we won’t achieve them, which may cause us to give upon those goals and abandon the goal setting process altogether. Setting goals that are reasonable and achievable will severely limit your ability to achieve extraordinary results. I must admit that by using conventional goal-setting methods of setting achievable, reachable goals will significantly improve your results. However, if you use the shooting for the moon approach of dreaming bigger than you can possibly achieve, the changes and improvements will be far greater.

If your only hope for your business is to experience a moderate to good results, then setting reasonable and easily achievable goals will help you do just that. However, that is all you will achieve. But if you want to achieve the impossible like Edison, Ford, Richard Branson and Bill Gates, then you must train yourself to shoot for the moon.

When President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the Moon within a decade and return him safely to Earth, learned eyebrows were raised because the technology needed did not exist at the time. However, the decision to set a firm goal spurred the scientific community into action. Inspired by their President’s vision, scientists who had considered it impossible changed their mentality from, “It can’t be done” to “How can we make this happen?

Similarly, when you set yourself a goal it is not necessary to have all the know-how and resources at your disposal. All that is required is enthusiasm and persistence, then the essential ingredients somehow show up to make it possible.

We’ve had wise and brilliant people telling us for centuries that we are only limited by our own imaginations. External circumstances can affect us, sure, but we only truly fail when we accept that we have failed.

Anonymous quote:  “Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”