Clint Maun, CSP

Are your goals clear? Can you see your targets that you are after?
Florence Chadwick decided she would become the first woman to ever swim the English Channel. She trained for years in preparation for the big attempt. Finally in 1952 the big day came. All eyes, including the skeptics, were on her.

As she neared the coast of England a heavy fog settled in and the waters became increasingly cold and choppy. Her mother encouraged her as she had only a few more miles to go. Finally just a few hundred yards from her goal she asked to be pulled aboard the boat. Florence felt defeated and heart-broken when she realized how close she really was to her goal. She later told reporters “I’m not making excuse, but I think I could have made it, if I had been able to see my goal.” But Florence Chadwick was not so easily beaten. She decided to try again, however, this time she concentrated on developing a mental image of the coast of England. She memorized every feature of the coast. She set again and encountered the same fog and choppy waters as before, but this time she made it. She became the first woman to ever swim the Channel. Why? Because she could clearly see her goal through her mind’s eye.

This story points out that we must remain ever constant in the pursuit of our goals. We must know where we are going and what it is going to look like when we get there. Set your sights clearly on the target.