“Shoot for the moon even if you miss it you will land among the stars.”
I recently was exposed to this phrase as attributed to Les Brown. Being more familiar with:
“If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it’s OK. But you’ve got to shoot for something. A lot of people don’t even shoot.”
I became curious. The web attributes the phrase I’ve know for years to Confucius BC 551-479. Wow, that dude is old… and wise, huh?
Evidently worth paraphrasing for a quote of your own too. How cool is that?
High hopes for yours truly with the likes of these guys. I’m aiming high I am. Yay!!!
Isn’t it interesting how both of these phrasings are about aiming high, missing our original point of aim, and how that works out fine too? Life is a lot like that, isn’t it?
Is it because we miss, or is it because along the way we notice a trail we hadn’t seen before we get onto the path and on which we decide to take a really cool detour?
I’m all about cool detours.
In Confucius’ case, the miss (detour) works out okay on the moon. We’ll leave out the part about no air to breath on the moon. Heck, you make it to the moon, you probably bring your own air like Neal Armstrong. It’s all good, I mean okay… Okay?
Les on the other hand, misses his aim at the moon, and lands among the stars. Les by missing goes even farther than his original aim. Way to miss Les. Yay!!
The key phrase with Confucius I think is his advising that “you’ve got to shoot for something.”
That is really the key. You must determine what you want and aim and focus on it. Loading and pulling the trigger probably helps too…
Both men strive for something sublime, something high. Something out there.
Both men suggest a miss is still a fabulous outcome, given the high aim.
Both men tell us we have to choose something to get to the moon or the starts.
Confucius tells us, many of us will not choose, yet urges us that we have to choose.
We each get to choose what heights we will aim for if any.
What will you aim for?
Yours in choice,
Yucel
I like this. It reminds me of my favorite quote by Wayne Gretzky:
“You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”
Make today a good one.