is your goal realistic?

ANY goal is realistic.  The question is if the time frame you give yourself is realistic.  We as humans never fully realize our genetic potential.  If I wanted to take my guitar skills to the professional level, that would not be an unrealistic goal.  But if I said get to that level within less than a year, that would be unrealistic, but the point remains that I have the potential to get there.  If we believe it to be possible and likely, we are more likely to work hard to get there.

Breaking the Cycle

I read Wong's passage about Self-Esteem cycles and thought it was very interesting.  Low achievement leads negative perception of self and others, which leads to bad relationships, etc.  Low self-esteem is a cycle just like high self-esteem is a cycle.  High achievement leads to a high view of one's self and so on.  Both cycles can be broken.  For me, failure can really break a high self-esteem cycle.  For instance, in Latin freshman year, I got an 'A' on the first test.  On the next one I got a 'C'.  I incorrectly felt that Latin just wasn't for me and that I should blow it off the rest of the semester.  Bad move.  I should not have let my low self-esteem get me.  You have to take yourself out of a bad cycle by working hard and positive thinking.