Lofty Goals
Wednesday, October 10 2007"Nurture your mind with great thoughts for you will never go higher than you think ."
Benjamin Disraeli said this over one hundred and fifty years ago. A new survey confirms he was right!
Children who are ambitious go on to enjoy greater career success than those with low aspirations, according to a study which followed the lives of thousands of Britons over three decades.
The study showed that, once differences of class and ability were accounted for, children did better if they set themselves lofty goals.
The finding that high aspirations has a direct link to future career success has emerged from a national survey tracking children born in 1958.
Researchers at the Institute of Education used an extraordinary set of essays in which almost 14,000 youngsters aged 11 predicted their own future, and compared them with their real occupations aged 42.
Ambition
Their analysis revealed that, even if a child is poor or less able, having high career ambitions at around the time they leave primary school means they are significantly more likely to have a professional job, though not necessarily the one they predicted.
The children were asked to write an imaginary essay in which they imagined they were 25 years old, covering the life they would be leading, interests, home life and work. Jane Elliott, leading the analysis of the essays, said:
"There is definitely an observable link between what people are aspiring to do when they are 11 years old and what they end up doing when they are older... The children seemed to have taken their task very seriously... they imagined their life at 25: it is not just pure fantasy ."
I find this wonderfully fascinating. It confirms what you probably already know – that dreams/lofty goals/grand ambitions can and do come true. The biggest obstacle is yourself.
At 11 you're less likely to be applying "rational" or "realistic" thinking to your vision. Now, at your time of life, you may well be more, possibly much more restricted in your thinking. That's for you to think about!
Your Ideal Life
All of our work here at FHC is geared towards supporting you to create your ideal life. Nothing less than that, because nothing less will do.
We all use a practical and psychological approach to get you to expand your thinking and take the steps necessary to take you to a better place in your life.
Both the Success Groups and the new Purpose, Passion & Destiny workshops follow this same approach.
Zarene is a recent Success Group "graduate" who then worked with me personally. Zarene's challenge was to hold the lofty goals out in front, have faith, and take action. It's a winning formula!
She's now on track to follow her dream of being one of the few people in the UK to work in the new field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. You can read more Success Group stories here.
