|
Reader question: What does it mean to shoot for the stars? As in: The students are encouraged to shoot for the stars. My comments: To shoot for the stars just means to aim high, set a big target, have big goals, dream big dreams. And not settle for less. If, that is, you want to realize your full potential as a human being. As the saying goes, it is better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim at the gutter and hit it. Another cliché. Yes, but this is one of the better clichés to remember and take seriously. As American motivational speaker Les Brown explains: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” In Chinese, we have a similar saying, which goes: He who travels 100 miles treats 90 miles as half the distance rather than 50. Again, this is a good cliché to take seriously because, in the words of Wayne Dyer, another American motivational speaker, we, most people, become the way we are, you know, doing mediocre jobs and generally leading ordinary lives, NOT because we had so big goals that we failed to reach them, but because our goals were too small and they’ve all been met. Think about it. In other words, we have long arrived at where we set out to be and no longer have new and bigger challenges. Hence we’ve stopped growing. In short, we’ve been aiming low. | 
