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There is an adage that goes something like "If you reach for the stars, you won't come up empty handed". I've not got the wording quite right but you'll know what I'm talking about.

Goals, objectives, ambitions, we all make them and so we should, otherwise we will not make much progress.

However, when we make them, we must take care to fill in the gap along the path to success if we are to achieve meaningful results.

I read recently where one of our better players had ambitions to play on the Nationwide Tour. I wholeheartedly support such lofty ambitions, however, when I hear of someone who has set themselves a tough goal, I wonder whether they have filled in the gap.

Here's the deal. I'm a firm believer in setting goals, tough goals, goals that stretch us beyond that which we have achieved thus far in our lives. We should always be challenging ourselves to do something better, something more efficiently, something more difficult. If we fill in the gap properly, I believe we can achieve pretty much any goal we set for ourselves.

When we start out in this game, we often set simple, short-term goals, such as breaking 100, then 90, then 80.

We might set goals to win the club's monthly medal, a BGA monthly medal, the Bermuda Amateur. Each time we achieve a goal, we set a new one, one rung higher up the ladder.

Ambitions, however, are usually grander in nature and usually represent the ultimate goal in a particular pursuit. All of us have ambitions, some bigger than others. Climbing Mount Everest might be the ambition of a rock climber, competing in the Tour de France for a cyclist, just as playing on the Nationwide might be for a golfer.

If you truly want to play on the Nationwide Tour, you must first define exactly what it means to play on the Nationwide Tour. You must understand clearly how many others want to do the same. You must be in no doubt about the standard of skill that is required if you expect to compete effectively. You must know precisely what it will take to achieve that lofty goal.

I was amused by the ambitions of our senior cricket team, not because they wanted to play in the World Cup, but because they did not seem to accept what it meant to want to play at that level.

They needed to be fitter, train more, work harder if they truly wanted to play at that level.

The truth of the matter is they simply liked the idea of playing in the World Cup. They did not fill in the gap properly and the end result was not surprising. Contrast that with the hard work put in by Shaun Goater to achieve his goal of playing top level English football.

The gap that needs filling in for any ambition represents the hard work that one must undertake in order to achieve their ambition.

The gap represents the distance from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow.

It is not enough to simply like the idea of playing on the Nationwide or climbing Mount Everest or playing top level English football. That desire must come with a clear understanding and acceptance of the work that must be done to reach your particular goal.

In other words, the work itself must be a part of the desire.[[In-content Ad]]

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