6 Tips to Help You Achieve that Impossible Goal
In 2009, I was a young TV news reporter and producer at KHON2 News. I was always eager to share stories, inspire others and make a difference. Impossible didn’t exist in my vocabulary.
So when I brought up the story idea to find the elusive brush-tailed rock wallabies of Kalihi Valley during a news meeting one morning, I was caught off-guard to be met with laughter, head shakes and sarcastic “good lucks”. I found out an anchor that I admired and looked up to, actually tried to find the little marsupials years before, but had no success.
“Well, it’s my turn now, “ I said with an optimistic smile to the table of unbelieving newsies. “Hopefully I’ll find them.”
Ignore the laughs, prove the the non-believers wrong and discover your wallaby with these six tips.
1. Do your research - Knowledge is power. The more you know about the business or career you want to start,, the easier it will be for you to make it happen.
Nowadays you can find information on just about anything if you simply google it. Of course, I googled everything I could about the wallabies, which resulted in contacting the original researcher of the Oahu wallabies, now located in Australia. I also discovered other contacts with wallaby experience. With their expert advice, I had clues on where the wallabies could be found now, that’s if they were still there. Make sure you take everything you find on the web with a grain of salt though. Double check your sources.
2. Recruit help - Two is better than one. You don’t have to work towards your goals alone. Ask someone you trust for advice or to just cheer you on.
None of the TV news photographers would come with me, because I would have to search for the wallabies before the sun came out. I recruited my husband, Kristofor, to be my adventure partner. Equipped with a small camera and my research, we set out to where we thought would be a good place to spot the critters. I know I wouldn’t have made it as far as I did without the help of Kristofor.
3. Stay positive - Your attitude DOES make a difference! The University of Pennsylvania did a study to measure if insurance salespeople’s optimistic or pessimistic attitudes impacted their work. Optimistic salespeople sold 37% more policies than pessimists, who were twice as likely to leave the company during their first year of employment.
Whenever a negative thought enters your mind, try immediately replacing it with a positive one. With persistence, you can condition your mind to judge self-defeating thoughts as untrue and dismiss them. No matter how impossible it seemed, I stayed optimistic with my eye on the prize. I kept telling myself I would find the wallabies. And in the end, I did.
4. Celebrate the small accomplishments - Before finding the wallabies, I found several clues, like this one I was not allowed to share on TV News. Can you guess what it is?
If you said wallaby feces you are correct! I first spotted this climbing up a hill side and had to take a pic. I emailed the pic to my source in Australia and did a happy dance when he confirmed it was indeed Wallaby dung. I didn’t find the wallabies, but I found a clue that they were still alive and still active in the Kalihi Valley, and that was worth celebrating! I thought it stinked that I couldn’t include it in my on-air story (pun intended).
5. Don’t give up - Did we find the wallabies on our first try? No. How about our second try? Nope. Third? Thankfully, yes. All three times, we started hiking in the dark and spent hours in the mountains, clinging to branches or roots so we didn’t fall down gulches. (We're pretty hardcore :P) On our third excursion, I thought I was dreaming when my sleep deprived eyes spotted a wallaby hop up the side of a cliff. I hit the record button on my camera and told my husband I spotted them. After another movement Kristofor saw them too. I was so happy, I cried. They were real, they were alive, we found them! We hiked closer to the wallabies and I got more footage for my KHON2 story, while my husband snapped some photos.
Mission accomplished!
6. Share the success- It’s always amazing when you achieve what everyone else thought was impossible. Hopefully your success will inspire others not to give up on their goals. Be sure to thank everyone who helped you find your wallabies and recognize them for their time and expertise. Make sure you cheer on others you know are trying to reach something that may seem impossible. But remember, nothing is impossible!
So what’s your wallaby? What’s your goal? Do you have tips on how to accomplish what may seem impossible? We’d love for you to share in the comments below.
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