Goals are not for football only…

19th January 2020

“The great danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” –Michelangelo

How true! I remember when I was 21 and just starting vet college, I had four goals. No one taught me about goal setting. It was just one of those things that I came up with (like you, I am sure). My goals were to become a vet, become a husband, become a father and own a vet practice. I achieved all of that in less than twenty years. And I was not a focused person at all! When I have done so, I realised that my goals were set too small and too low. I felt cheated (by myself). I thought, if I had set higher goals and was more focused, I may have achieved more and provided more value to my environment, helped more people and bring more goodwill. I was so clueless then (many would say I still am…).

This is why I have set my present goals and been working hard towards them. Many have said that I am mad and will fail but those are the nay-sayers. Ignore the nay-sayers.

I would like to invite you to do this exercise. It really does not matter what you do, who you are (or who you think you are, that is another topic entirely!), how old you are or what your situation is. Let’s pretend that you have a magic wand that can completely remove Fear entirely from you. No more fear and you feel completely fearless. There is nothing holding you back. Your mind has an amazing block to all negative energy given by your family and friends, like how your umbrella repels water. Now what would your goals be? What would your dreams? What would you want to be known as and known for? What would you want to do to become the person you want to become? Write it down. Say it out loud. This is for you, not anybody else.

Hold on to your dreams, for goodness sake. You are the lead actor in your life, not a supporting role. You may not get your Oscar or succeed in all your goals but at least you will live true pursuing them. You will win your own awards. That will be the legacy to you. The one who tried (and maybe succeed) compared to the one who played it safe and achieve everything (but maybe did not see how far he could have gone).

I would like to share with you my goals. I want to inspire pet ownership through education. I want to express to pet owners how amazing and wonderful they are for being pet owners, such a privilege and yet having such immense responsibility. I want to break down the walls between pet owners and the veterinary profession. I want to empower the pet owners to be more knowledgeable about their pets. These are my goals for pet owners. At the same time, for the veterinary profession (that I love so much and honoured to be part of, what can I say? I love being a vet!) I want to eliminate the disproportionately high suicide rate, reduce the drop out rate to 5% (currently, it is 38%), abolish the archaic compulsory emergency service provision (UK is the only country in the world that does it) and improve the profitability of vet practices (currently, most practices run at a profit margin of 7-10%).

Many have commented, “Lennon, you are just one man. What can you do?” Let’s see in 10 years. Come join me. Help me. Be part of my success.

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