A Target Too Far

 

I’ve set for myself a financial target which I’ve shared with very few people and I’ve received different reactions. Some have simply encouraged me with the question of how I will do it while there has been one or two which have snickered and scoffed with remarks like “you don’t have enough time to do that” and maybe they’re right.

 There are no guarantees I will reach that target. It doesn't mean I won’t be happy until I meet that end, but it does mean I can be happy on the journey.

I must admit it is an unrealistic objective and from where I stand it’s difficult to see. It reminds me of the days in boot camp at the rifle range when it was time to qualify with the M16 rifle. Marines are known for their marksmanship and the qualification process is grueling. Every Marine is required to perform well at the range and hit a target 500 meters away.

The first time I saw the target at that distance I was amazed. The target was nothing more than a white dot on the horizon and when I aimed at it, the front sight completely obscured it. It was more than 5 football fields away: half a kilometer. I had serious doubts about my ability to meet the requirement. I asked myself “How can I hit a target I can’t even see?”. But I also reasoned that if Marines do it every day and have done so for generations prior to my arrival then it could be done.

I then immersed myself into the task. During training, along with the rest of the platoon, I learned everything I could about the M16A2 rifle. I learned it was a 5.56mm, air cooled, shoulder fired, semi-automatic weapon. I learned its maximum effective range and maximum rate of fire. I studied every detail. Its length and how much it weighed. I learned the nomenclature of every part. I could disassemble it and have it in a dozen pieces on my footlocker before me, name every part and then put it back together. I learned about ballistics, velocity, camber, trajectory, and how the weather, even the humidity, affected the path of the bullet.

I studied windage, elevation, sighting in, and how to breath while firing. I learned how much pressure to use on the trigger before the weapon fired and how to use the sling for leverage to steady the rifle.

No amount of head knowledge would help me if I didn’t put it to practical use, so I practiced and practiced. I fired the weapon at 200 meters, 350 meters and 500 meters. Each day I improved from the previous until finally, on the final day, qualification day, I was ready. Nothing could stop me, The rifle became an extension of my body and was part of me as much as my arm or hand.

I performed well at the 200-meter and 350-meter distance and then there was the mountain. When it came time to qualify at the 500-meter target, I was ready. Ten shots in the prone position and not only did I hit the target, but I hit ten bull’s eyes. In fact, I succeeded at making the company high score and was awarded the “Expert Rifleman” status prior to everyone else in a special ceremony. Out of 500 Marine recruits, I was number one. The task at which I thought was impossible just weeks earlier, I had become an expert.

At the beginning of the training, I didn’t have the vision of becoming the top rifleman but I became the person who could be him.

So, looking at the financial target I’ve set, I know, from where I now stand, it’s an unrealistic objective. I also know that many others before me have set improbable aims which eventually became a reality. If I do as they did, also as I did at the Camp Pendleton rifle range and learn everything I can about the work in which I am now engaged, then I may hit that target.

There are no guarantees that I’ll succeed at hitting the target but, in the process, I can become the kind of person who can do it.

There are the nay-sayers and the doubters, but they will always be with us. Those people are not the ones with which to share our aims. They’ll claim we’re too young to set that as an objective because we don’t know any better. Some accuse others of being too old and time and opportunity has passed us by.  

Too many, even after the target is hit, still express their skepticism. “You must have cheated” some might say, or some even alleged that we’re lying about it or succeeded dishonestly. All those nay-sayer types are the ones we need to get away from as fast as possible.

“Never listen to the criticism of those from which you would never take advice.”