Aim higher

　　I recently had a revelation in my life: Thoughts affect reality. Oh sure, it’s a simple truth. However, after realizing it myself, the impression was very deep, which reminded me not to stand still, be content with the status quo, and lose the fighting spirit.
　　There is a basketball hoop in front of our house, and my usual way to relax is to shoot. I like this activity. I also like to set challenging goals for myself. Every time I go out and shoot, I say to myself: I have to hit 10 in a row to get home. So, I sometimes have to be outside for a long time because it’s so hard to make 10 shots in a row. I often miss 8 or 9 shots in a row and have to start all over again. I did this to train my focus on the one hand and to make shooting more fun on the other.
　　A few days ago, I decided to try an experiment: increase the challenge and have to hit 15 in a row to get home. In theory, 15 in a row should take longer than 10 in a row, after all I have to make 10 in a row and then 5 in a row.
　　One thing I discovered from this experiment: 10 shots in a row is easier than it used to be. I went from making 8 in a row with a high probability of turnover to 12 in a row and a similar situation. In the past, when I made 8 shots in a row, there would be some distractions in my mind. These distractions interfered with my concentration and made mistakes in shooting. After increasing the difficulty of the challenge, 8 shots in a row were still far from the target. On the ninth or 10th ball, the mood is less pressing.
　　Plus, I’m more focused when I’m shooting because I know the goal is harder to achieve. The increased focus made the shot more accurate, and I found that once I made 15 in a row, I could make a few more in a row, with a best of 30, compared to my previous best of 17.
　　For me, what I see is not just an improvement in shooting, but some laws that make life better.
　　When we set high goals, the greater potential comes into play, enabling us to accomplish some seemingly impossible things. I practiced running in high school, and I set myself a goal of 5 minutes a mile, but I never got there, my best time was 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Thinking about it now, if I had set my goal at 6 minutes, I would probably never have reached 5 minutes and 15 seconds.
　　Of course, the problem with setting high goals is that they are unrealistic and disappoint you as a result. But it wouldn’t be a big deal if we only read 40 books this year, instead of the 50 the goal was set for. If we don’t set a goal, or set a lower goal, reading 40 books is still much better than reading only 20.
　　So, we might as well ask ourselves often how our lives would change if we reset our goals to be a little higher than what we were in the past.