Time and again, we have been told to set up realistic goals only- goals that are attainable and measurable rather than going for goals that seem to be a distant possibility and something which we are unsure about. There is an acronym used very widely to describe goal setting and its principles- SMART, even the MA alphabets in this acronym suggests that we should set up only measurable and attainable goals.
But at the same time, quite often in our lives we get fascinated by the tremendous achievements of people around us. We tend to compare ourselves with them, their accomplishments give us a feeling if they can do it why not we? It's all about attitudes and having a big vision or big goals in life that inspires them to achieve great heights and be a source of inspiration to millions of people.
Now then the question arises which one is better a big goal or a more realistic one? What should be the best choice? well there can be no fixed answer to this question as much depends upon certain critical factors like attitude, passion, zeal and one's own mindset and ability to push oneself beyond self imposed boundaries or the comfort zone.
If you ever choose to set big goals for yourself, the first thing you must realize within yourself- are you willing to push yourself had enough, come out of your comfort zone or are you more satisfied setting up realistic goals only in order to just survive or to just continue in the same vein without really stretching yourself too much.
Ultimately you might find realistic goals more easier to adopt and perhaps within your reach than to seek much bigger goals which seem to be at distance presently, but the risk in pursuing so called realistic goals is that you might end up lowering your goals knowingly or unknowingly and eventually end up achieving much less than what you expected of yourself or what you were capable of.
Perhaps advantages of setting bigger goals in life in the first place is that no matter whether you achieve them or not, you are more likely to tap your potential and push yourself beyond boundaries.
At the end of the da, it all boils down to what you think you are capable of that must be guiding light for you. Because unless you believe in your psyche that something is attainable you can't set big vision or big goals in your life. Just imagine what would have been if great cricketers like Sachin or Virat have never nurtured the big goal of playing for India and set up high standards for themselves for others to emulate. Similarly great inventions in history of mankind have all been the result of someone setting up his mind to a bigger vision.
In order to take up a wise decision in your case as to whether you should adopt a bigger goal or a bigger vision or not, you need to outweigh the pros and cons of bigger goals vs realistic goals from your own perspective, taking into account your relative strengths and weakness, what position are you in and what is your perception of the ideal position which you want to be in somewhere down the line. It's also about the right kind of mindset and attitude to pursue bigger goals.
One clear advantage of having big goals is that in the process you are certainly not lowering your imagination, your thinking and you may not hit the ultimate goal, but at least you will be satisfied that you gave it your best shot and end up being the better version of yourself.
So from that point of view it is better to have bigger goals rather than so called realistic goals because bigger goals are more likely to inspire you to scale greater heights in your career and life and make others feel proud of you and get inspired from you.
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