Aspire – to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value (usually followed by to, after, or an infinitive): to aspire after literary immortality; to aspire to be a doctor. to long, aim, or seek ambitiously; be eagerly desirous, especially for something great or of high value (usually followed by to, after, or an infinitive): to aspire after literary immortality; to aspire to be a doctor. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aspire)
- What do you aspire to?
- What’s your strategy for achieving your aspiration?
- What have you done in the last year, month, week, today to make progress toward your aspiration?
- How would you rate your progress?
- How has your aspiration evolved since you were 12, 24, 36,48, 60, 72?
As a coach, friend, consultant, colleague, I talk to people all of the time and in one way or another I ask these questions. I find that few people can confidently answer them. Often these questions put people off. They get embarrassed or defensive or they just freeze like deer in the headlights.
What is important about aspirations is not what the aspiration is, it is having thought about what you want, having an approach to achieving what you want and staying focused on achieving it. I worry about the people who can’t answer the questions. I worry because I suspect they have an aspiration but because they aren’t clear about what it is and because they aren’t actively pursuing it, it is only a matter of time before they start saying “oh its too late for me” and just give up.
Each of us has so much we could give to ourselves, to each other, and to the world. When we think about what we want and how to achieve it, we can make good on this potential. When we make working on our aspirations a lower priority than dealing with daily challenges and distractions, we stand a good chance of only enjoying a small part of what life offers us and only giving back a small part of what we have to offer.
The keys to achieving our aspirations are Clarity, Strategy, and Focus. Simple? If only. But how? More to come!