What Are You Aiming For - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

What if the key to staying on target in life wasn’t just about skill or strategy, but about how you trained your brain to work for you?

I had this realization while listening to Episode 350 of The Ziglar Show, where Dave Ramsey—yes, the personal finance guru—discussed fear as the number one enemy of change. Ramsey quoted Zig Ziglar:

“You will hit what you aim for, so you want to be really careful what you’re aiming for.”

That one line took me straight back to my days as an Army sniper. No prizes for spotting the connection there.

The Sniper’s Paradox: Why Closer Isn’t Always Better

In the movies, snipers are always shown resting their rifle on a sandbag or a solid structure for stability. But that’s not how we’re trained. We learn to shoot with a sling-supported position—no luxuries, just our body and our weapon.

This method creates a paradox: At shorter distances, every heartbeat, every breath causes the crosshairs to bounce. The more you focus on the minute details, the harder it gets to stay steady.

At longer distances, we take off the high-powered telescopic sights and rely on simple iron sights. Why? Because magnification doesn’t just bring the target closer—it amplifies every tiny imperfection. The more you try to control, the harder it is to trust the process.

Instead, we work with intuition, mental calculation, and visualization. We will the shot to land. And surprisingly—it works.

The Mental Skill We’re Underutilizing

This experience was my first glimpse into how much of our brain’s capability we leave untapped. Back then, I didn’t have the maturity to understand it. Now, in my fifties, as my body loses some of its physical advantages, I’m realizing that my brain is still my greatest asset.

This isn’t just about shooting. It’s about how we approach change, fear, and uncertainty in life.

Applying the Sniper Mindset to Everyday Life

Listening to Dave Ramsey talk about overcoming failure, it struck me: Successful people don’t avoid obstacles. They learn to work through them.

Ramsey says most successful people are actually standing on top of their failures rather than lying under them. That’s a crucial shift in mindset.

The same principle applies to aiming for success:

• At close range (small goals), focus can be overwhelming. Every little setback shakes your confidence.
• At long range (big goals), stepping back helps. You stop micromanaging every moment and trust the bigger picture.

The sniper’s lesson? Stop obsessing over the tiny movements. Align yourself with your goal, take a deep breath, and trust the shot.

Final Thought: What Are You Aiming For?

If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. Whether it’s in business, personal growth, or financial security—make sure you’re aiming for the right target. And remember, sometimes stepping back and trusting your instincts is the key to hitting it dead center.