think-big-aim-high

Everyone has a dream. No matter what dreams you are trying to pursue, regardless of whether it is to save humanity, to end world hunger, to overcome poverty, or to simply get a promotion or to change a better car, the truth is that your dreams matter.

According to an article from Lifehack, age is nothing but a number:

  • Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook at age 19, became a billionaire, and the rest is history.
  • Matthew Mullenweg used to work for CNET Networks. In 2005, he founded WordPress, a content management system used by over 60 million websites.
  • Catherine Cook, the creator of MyYearBook.com started the website at the age of 15.
  • Tumblr, the famous blogging website owned by Yahoo was founded by David Karp after he turned 21 years old.
  • The same goes for Ryan Block, the person started Engadget when he was 26.

Therefore, if you are young and below age 30, great. This is your opportunity to think big.

But what if you are above age 30? Well, don’t worry too. Remember this saying:

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

C. S. Lewis

This article from Inc.com shows the fact that the average entrepreneur is 40 years old when launching his or her first startup. And the average leaders of high-growth companies is 45 years old.

So, if you are young, great. But if you are above 40, this can be your best time to dream big and to pursue your passion as well.

It is never too late or too young to have a dream or to realize your ambitions and goals. Take the first step by daring to dream big dreams.

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain

Now that you know your age doesn’t matter. But first, why do you even want to dream big and aim high? Why can’t you just settle for ordinary and live a normal life?

Well, here are 10 good reasons why it is important to dream big and aim high:

1. It is inspirational and motivating

When you aim high and dream big, one of the most obvious benefits is that you will feel driven and be inspired by your dreams.

A lot of people fail to reach their goals because the goals they set are not exciting and motivating enough.

Just like what Tony Robbins used to say:

“People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.”

Anthony Robbins

When you set a goal that is big enough and exciting enough, motivation will come from within you. You will be up early in the morning because you feel excited. You will take action because you are inspired by it.

Think about it, if your goal is to earn an additional $100 per month, will you jump out of your bed in the morning and can’t wait to go to work?

You won’t. That is not an exciting goal.

But what if your goal is to make interstellar travel possible, where you can put people on Mars, travel between planets, and get people to visit Mars, like what Elon Musk did with SpaceX?

Don’t you think that is a more exciting goal that drives you to wake up early and to work on the goal?

This is why you want to dream big and aim high. When you do so, it drives you and leads you to live with passion.

Read: 10 Tips How to Make Your Goals Motivating and Exciting

2. It boosts your creativity

When something is big and exciting enough, it forces you to think outside the box to reach it. And this is why thinking big and aiming high can boost your creativity.

Think about it, do you think that it is easier to achieve the goal of getting a raise of $100 or to earn a bonus of $1,000?

Well, to get a raise of $100 doesn’t require much of your creativity. You just need to work longer hours, be more hard-working and put in more effort. Even if you choose to do nothing, there is a high chance that you will get the raise the next year.

The challenge comes when you set a big goal that requires you to do something different. When you aim high, you will need to think creatively to achieve it.

This is because if you do what you have always been doing, you will always be getting back the same old results.

Hence, if you want to make a big change, you need to dream big and aim high, and then think creatively about how to reach the big goal.

Do you know that the strategy to earn $3,000 a month and the strategy to earn 7 figures a year is totally different?

To make $3,000 a month, you can just get a job. But to earn 7 figures a year, you can’t work for someone else. You need to be your own boss and build a solid business. That’s why you need to be creative when you dream big.

I strongly suggest you read this guide to understand how the goals you set will define your life and what you do:

How Do You Define Success And The Real Meaning Behind (Must Read)

3. It takes you out of your comfort zone

Yes, pursuing big dreams requires you to get out of your comfort zone.

You see, if you keep doing what you’re comfortable with, you will never grow. You will be getting the same results over and over again. Until you change what you do and move out of your comfort zone, nothing changes.

In order to make a change, you need to do something different. And this, my friend, is why you should aim high.

When you expand your comfort zone and do something uncomfortable, you will start to see progress. And different results will come to you.

I bet you don’t want to live the same year over and over again, right? You don’t want to relive your last year this year, correct?

Thus, don’t be afraid to make a change. Dare to venture out of your comfort zone and start to accomplish amazing results in life.

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Adre Gide

Read: 15 Ways How to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Live Great

4. It makes you grow

As we have talked about above, pursuing big goals requires you to get out of your comfort zone. And when you do that, that’s where growth happens.

You can never improve and grow if you keep doing the same thing. It is only when you do something differently, you will experience growth.

And to be successful, you need to grow. You need to improve, learn, and become better each day. This is why aiming high is so important.

There is no way you can grow if you are thinking and playing small because that’s what everyone else is doing.

Let me ask you a question, do you want to be where you are, do what you do, and earn the same amount of money as you are today, in the next 3 years?

I bet your answer is a big NO. Why? Because as human beings, we crave for growth and improvement.

We don’t want to be where we are today in the 3 years. We want to achieve more and accomplish greater success in life.

And the only way you can improve your lifestyle and live better is through improvement and growth.

Read: 31 Little Things You Can Do to Improve Yourself Every Day

5. It inspires others

Besides growth, you will also inspire others in your journey to pursuing big dreams.

Consider this, do you prefer to work in a prestigious company like Google or do you prefer to work in a small, vision-less, and mission-less company?

Most people will choose big companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. Why?

Well, it is because these companies have big visions. They have big dreams and goals to pursue. And you are being infected by their big visions and so, inspired to work for them.

If your goal is to get a raise or a promotion, you will only inspire yourself, and maybe your spouse.

But if your goal is to build a product that can save people’s lives or end the child’s abuse, it becomes interesting and inspiring.

Can you see the effect of the size of your dreams and goals right now?

I love this saying from Nelson Mandela:

Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?

Nelson Mandela

Ask yourself: Who are you not to be great?

Why do you have to stop yourself from unleashing your true potential? Why do you need to limit yourself by playing small?

So, dream big and aim high. Inspire others with your vision and mission in life.

6. It attracts opportunities

When your dream is big enough that it inspires others, rest assured that it will also attract bigger opportunities.

You become what you think about most of the time. If you are thinking and playing it small, you will attract small opportunities. But when you are thinking and playing big, big things will come to you.

This is why successful people who have accomplished extraordinary results have big visions.

Champions and professional athletes aim for Olympics gold medalist, mediocre people don’t dare to even think about winning the competition held in their districts.

The moment you dream big and aim high, you started to see things differently. And because you want to win big, you will find ways to achieve big success in whatever you do.

You started to discover opportunities that don’t appeal to ordinary people.

7. It encourages long-term thinking

We all know that success is not a one-night thing. It will never come to you in the short-term.

Real success is long-term. It is not an overnight result. If you are wishing to make quick money in the short-term or without any effort, you are not going to achieve real success.

When you dream big, it encourages you to think long-term. And when you think far into the future, you will not be intimidated by the short-term reward.

And this is where you get to learn how to delay gratification. When you think long-term, you will start to work for the future you want rather than aiming at the immediate pleasure you will get right in front of you.

Do you know why successful people are able to produce extraordinary results in life? Well, it is because they focus on the long-term vision rather than the short-term reward.

They know they can choose to enjoy now or to work hard for their future. And because they think long-term, they delay the instant gratification and choose to work on their dreams and goals.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’

Muhammad Ali

Read: How to Think Long-Term: 7 Tips to Foster Your Long-Term Thinking

8. It unleashes your true potential

How do you know how much potential you have? Well, you can’t. The only way you can know your own limit is to go all the way.

For instance, you can set a goal to earn $10,000 a month, but what if you have the potential to earn $50,000 a month?

As I said, you will never know your true potential until you do. Hence, this is why you want to dream big and aim high. Your thinking will unleash your potential.

What if you’re a genius but because you don’t dare to dream big, you play it small your entire life?

Don’t you think that you’ve wasted your entire life?

While there is nothing wrong with playing and living small, but you have to understand one thing – what if you can be extraordinary?

If you know you are destined for big success, are you still going to be playing small?

9. It gives you better results

There is a saying from the successful director, James Cameron:

If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.

James Cameron

Aiming high actually gives you better results. When you achieve your big goals, you win. And even if you fail, like what Cameron said, you will fail above everyone else’s success.

This is why we often hear people say that we must aim for the stars.

The problem with most people is that they don’t even aim for the ceiling in their house. And then they wonder why they are not successful.

I know, it is not easy. Success isn’t easy, if it is, everyone would be successful.

And because it is hard, it makes you someone extraordinary when you dare to dream big and work for it.

You see, most people don’t dare to dream big and they don’t work for it. Therefore, if you are willing to aim high and put in the effort, you will do far better than most people out there.

10. It gives you greater experience

Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.

Malcolm Forbes

When something is easy to get, you will never appreciate it.

This is why we experience the sweetest victory when we poured in hard work and work through defeats and failures.

Not only that, when you dream big and aim high, you get to experience something extraordinary that most people will never get to experience.

  • Do you want to travel first-class and explore the world?
  • Do you want to build multiple multi-million dollar businesses that serve millions of people across the world?
  • Do you want to race camels in Egypt and swim with pink dolphins in the Bahamas?
  • Do you want to live in your dream house overlooking the beautiful mountain?

You see, if you want to make these dreams come true, you must first start with thinking big.

And since you are going to be thinking and dreaming anyway, why don’t you do think and dream big?

This article may contain affiliate links. Meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. As always, I only recommend products and services I trust.

By Shawn Lim

Hi there, this is Shawn. I inspire people to achieve their goals and dreams and to reach for higher success in life. If you want to learn more about me, kindly go to the About page. By the way, have you downloaded your FREE copy of The 90-90-1 Rule? Don't forget to do so. Cheers. :)

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