Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther.

Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see farther. – J. P. Morgan

It might start as just a walk around the block, then it's jogging around the block. After that comes the fun-runs and the 5K's. Pretty soon, there's a marathon on the horizon.

What does that mean?
This quote seems to be saying that the horizon moves with you. No matter where you are, you can see only so far. When you move forward to the horizon, the horizon has moved as well. No matter how far you go, you can always go farther. The only limit is your endurance.

This quote, being from a prominent businessman from a prior century, is probably about setting goals in business. However, I believe this principle can be applied to every part of our life. No matter what you are doing, if you want to get better, enjoy it more, or make it more fulfilling, you simply must do this. It’s how you build a better you, right?

Why is self improvement important?  
I’m going to take this quote in the direction of personal improvement, although it really applies to all that you do, including work, play, and everything else. However, all of those things have one thing in common, and that is you. As long as you are willing to apply this principle to all aspects of your life, all of your roles and duties, you will be hard pressed to find a situation where this cannot be applied.

Self improvement is how you improve yourself. See “reference, circular,” right? But in all seriousness, entropy (second law of thermodynamics) says things generally go from bad to worse, and that it is highly unlikely that anything will get better on it’s own, without first having something go at least equally worse.

It takes some effort to make things better, whether it’s a wound healing, or improving your life. Personally, I think it’s a worthy investment of time, energy, money, and effort. You are one of the few things that cannot be taken from you, lost, stolen, forgotten or otherwise misplaced.

Where can I apply this in my life?
This quote is kind of the mantra of the project car. You come up with a plan, fix things up, modify, improve, and otherwise make it better. When you’re done (or sometimes just before), you start coming up with ideas for the next stage of development. It just goes on and on, limited only by imagination, time, and money.

Do you love someone? Set a goal near the horizon, as you see it now, and work your way to it. Are you done? Only if you chose to be. I would dare to say that your next step is to look around and find a new goal near the new horizon, and work your way towards that point. Repeat until you want your love to grow stale.

It’s not just for your cars, your business life or your love life. It applies to everything in your life. Mental development. Skill development. Hobbies. Education. Talents. Anything and everything related with living your life, and enjoying it.

So what is on the top of your list of things you want to improve? What aspects of you do you want most to improve? Grab some paper and think through all your different roles (in my case, dad, husband, worker, etc). Do any of them need a little work? What about the things you do? Are you as good as you want to be, or would you like to improve in those areas?

Is it your physical condition? Perhaps a marathon isn’t your first goal, but after achieving a reasonable level of fitness, you might take up jogging. When you get good at that, you might move on to running and jogging your way through local fun-runs, 5K’s, 10K’s and then, who knows. The Boston Marathon just finished, and perhaps it’s in your future.

The point is that you might have an idea where you might end up, you don’t usually put down “Run the Boston Marathon” as a fitness goal if you’re a couch potato. You look for the horizon, which may be losing 10 pounds and achieving a bit of cardiovascular fitness.

Once you are there, you look around for the next landmark near the horizon. perhaps that’s an early morning stroll around the block, which will eventually become an early morning jog, as you build some endurance and improve your technique.

You can see how this is going to progress, right? Now take a look at the list you made earlier, and chose one to start working on. If you have an over-the-horizon goal, write it down, but for now, focus on the first step. What is a believable sized step in that direction.

Write it down, then start brainstorming your way from where you are to where you want to be. What are the smaller steps to get there? Write those down, along with some alternatives, just in case. Now break the first step into small enough steps that you know you can do at least the first few.

There you go! Take the first step on your way to the horizon. Work your way to that point, then look around and select the next goal. Repeat until you think you are good enough you don’t need to get any better. Get started, your future awaits!

From: Twitter, @OTG_Quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jpmorgan158098.html
Photo by Stewart Dawson

Happy Birthday to J.P.Morgan, born 17 April, 1837.