You have a picture in your mind.  Some people picture a long beach with lots of soft, white sand, rolling blue waves, a surfboard, fires on the beach with friends and endless summer days.  Others picture a cabin in the Appalachians with a fire in the fireplace, kids running around the kitchen table, dogs chasing sticks outside, family by their side for the holidays and a constantly refilled cup of hot tea in their hands.  Still others fancy the idea of an eloquent skyline, horns honking on the streets below, neighbors chatting in the hall, beautifully groomed city parks, long walks with others through the streets, fine cuisine and theatre at least twice a month.  Or maybe you dream of the Rockies with snowboarding in the winter and rock climbing in the summer.  Maybe your picture entails farmland, lots of farmland that spreads as far as the eye can see.  You know everyone in town, and they know you, and everything is perfectly at peace.  Or maybe you want to travel the world, do big business with big companies, help out the poor and the hungry in India, cure AIDS in Africa or fight social injustices in Europe.  

See, it doesn’t matter to me what exactly your picture looks like.  All that matters to me is that you get to paint it.  I don’t really care how you design your picture or how long it takes you, everyone ends up with a unique piece of artwork anyhow.  What I care about is that you get to live out whatever picture you see for yourself.  With that said, here’s my advice:  Don’t get distracted by positive opportunities that take you away from achieving what it is that you genuinely see for yourself.  There are many chances to succeed.  There are nearly limitless opportunities.  So set your goals, go about realizing your dreams, and take advantage of the great opportunities that come your way that guide you towards and through those goals and dreams.  If the opportunity distracts you, takes you away from your goal or dream too drastically, than step back and say no to that opportunity.  If you set your dreams high and chase them, opportunities will come along that guide you both towards and away from those dreams.  Say yes to the chances that take you closer to realizing your dreams, and don’t be afraid to say no to the ones that don’t.  

How can you hit the TARGET if you cannot see the mark.  In goal setting, if you have none, than you cannot expect to ever move beyond where you are currently resting.  

Don’t make an excuse, make a goal and begin moving toward it.  Oh yes, and make the goal highly specific.