Believe in Yourself

I had to post this, written by Eric Cressey:

5. Don't limit yourself.Have you heard this before?
If I do everything you say, and work as hard as possible, do I have a shot at: making it, losing 10lbs, benching 315?
The answer is always YES; why would it be NO? We are all capable of impressing - and even surprising - ourselves with what we are capable of doing. Not everyone (even with an insane work ethic) is going to look like Captain American or play on ESPN. It doesn't matter.
What matters is that you never shot for something less than that. You gave everything you had, and you ran that course until it was over. Wherever that point may be, you arrived there knowing that you didn't leave anything in the tank. This is the absolute most you could do, given the tools you had, and you can be happy and fulfilled knowing that. If you attack everything with that mentality, you will be successful and happy with the result, even if that result isn't exactly what you thought it was when you got started.
This is an important lesson to remind young athletes and adult clients alike. Teach them to respect the process, and find value in the journey. Remind them that many variables are not within their control, but their effort is.

Eric is a super smart dude, but doesn't always write a ton of "motivational" stuff (or things that are intentionally meant to be motivational, I suppose), but this hits the nail on the head. You really have no reason NOT to set your goals high. I get it, we are ingrained to think negatively. In a sports psych class in college, I remember learning that humans have around 10,000 thoughts per day, and roughly 2/3 are negative. In our evolution, this served a purpose - to keep us alive! We had to worry that a lion or bear might eat us, or we might starve to death. But guess what, those things less likely to happen these days. So it really does not do us much good to think negatively. So aim high, and don't worry if you don't reach your goals, because you will still have likely achieved a lot.