Get a goal
You’ve got to have a dream in this life to move towards or you’re dead in the water. AND, once you realize that dream, accomplish that goal – get another!
My first life changing goal was the decision to try to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. I was 15 years old and living in Bardstown, KY: Population 1800. I had given no thought to the future beyond my next football, basketball, or baseball game. But my father had. He was a Life Insurance agent, no savings, father of 4, and never finished high school. Nor had my mother. But he had a dream. He wanted each of us kids to get a college degree. He called me to his office in that spring of 1937, before the world exploded, sat me down and suggested I try to get into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and become an Army officer. That became my dream, and the goal I worked relentlessly to attain for the next 2 ½ years. Getting that appointment was a long and arduous process that challenged me to use all of my resources and never accept no as an answer. And, when I finally got the appointment, I had to set a new and equally difficult goal – graduation.
Be proactive, not reactive in attaining those goals.
In going after your goals, realize that you are in control of your destiny and no one else. Don’t wait for something to happen to you, make something happen to advance your position,
