All of us have got dreams we aspire to attain in our lives. These dreams come from people who inspire us. We may dream of making $15,000 a month, owning a sports car and living in a million dollar mansion. At the same time, based on our beliefs, we also have what I call our ‘Altitude of Acceptance’.

This Altitude means that though you may aspire to earn $20,000 a month, you are willing to accept earning $2000 a month. Although you would love to live in a million dollar house, you are quite willing to settle for a small apartment. Although you would love to be at an ideal weight of 72kg, you are willing to live life at 90kg.

Our self-image is what determines our level of expectation and level of acceptance in life.

Would you like to make a guess which level we would tend most to gravitate towards? That’s right. We always get what we are willing to accept.

Unless we raise our acceptance levels, we will never do what is necessary to achieve our goals. So, for example if you want to make more money, you have to raise your standards of what you are willing to accept.

Now, consider what influences our level of acceptance? Why is one person willing to accept a lifestyle based on $3000 a month while another has set an acceptance level triple that amount? Have a think about it!

I would argue that this altitude has been influenced by family, friends and our environment. The people whom we spend most of our time with define the standards we measure ourselves against.

Lets take an extreme example: Tiger Woods.

He has very often been heard to say, ‘Why go in to play a tournament unless you are going to win?’ This is why he has achieved the most number of wins in a season and is ranked the world number one. His level of acceptance is victory, and nothing less! He wants to set records, beat the best and be the best that ever lived.

And he does whatever it takes to continually cruise at this altitude…… a true peak performer like Tiger continually refines the engine of is plane, gets regular engineering check ups… which enable him to chase cruising at higher and higher altitudes.

What’s your Altitude?