Reach for a star…

By Daniel Francis

So, we have a little foothold into 2026. How is it going for you? Are you still working towards your goals? Do you feel tired and are over it already? I can understand the sentiment. I am already exhausted. I want to make 2026 different, so I set my goals, and then I multiplied the targets of some of these goals by 10.

The idea was that effort needs to be put behind being good, just like effort needs to be put behind being great. I might as well work towards being great. I started reading a book recently, and early on, it had the following quote: “If you reach for a star, you might not get one. But you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”

I believe an American marketing executive said those words. The words burn true. Let me give you some insight into what I have been working on and what has helped me keep reaching for a star.

In multiplying my targets by 10, the major one was exponentially growing my hybrid book publishing company. Phase one of that exponential growth was to start a monthly membership programme. A nice source of recurring revenue that I can count on amidst the turbulent, random sales. It was a perfect opportunity to create stability in my company and to provide a service to help those in the writing phase, whom I often come across.

When I initially sat down to write this goal, I said that I would aim for 20–30 people to sign up by the end of January. Then I decided to revise my goals and multiply some of the targets by 10 as I stated earlier. So now my target went from 20–30 to 200–300. Just typing that reminds me of how daunting the task felt (reaching for a star).

Obviously, to tackle this new target, I made a new plan that involved massive effort, major assistance from my team, and upping my sales and marketing efforts to a major degree. Yet there was one simple thing I did that really made a huge difference, and I think it’s something we often miss.

I often hear people say they don’t want to talk about their goals because “bad- mind people’” will work towards bringing them down. Fair enough, I get it.

But what if you chose a select few trusted and supportive people to share your goals with, who can help you stay accountable? What would happen?

Well, I can tell you what happened to me. I shared my 10X goal with my community, and not only that, but each week I would check in to report how my numbers were looking.

I can tell you right now, just knowing that I had to report weekly to people who were cheering me on made me not want to disappoint. The moments where I felt tired, where I did not want to have another sales conversation, or I wanted to take the day off when I did not deserve it, were written off easily. By leveraging my trusted community, I could dig deeper into my bag of accountability and motivation.

Each week, I had a quota of 60 sign-ups to get, and each week I worked my hardest to achieve it. Admittedly, I was not able to achieve the 200–300 target, but I was able to get to approximately 120 sign-ups, which is much larger than the initial 20–30 that I was aiming for (If you reach for a star, you might not get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either).

It shows the power of thinking big and having those around you who can keep you accountable, whether it’s close friends, a spouse, your church congregation, etc. You can leverage your community to help you achieve great things in different areas of your life.

I used it in the example for my career, but you can use it for your education, spiritual growth, physical development, etc. So, what star will you reach for today?

Daniel Francis, author of The Millennial Mind, The Millennial Experience, and How to Write and Self-Publish Your Book, is an entrepreneur passionate about leadership and storytelling. As a leadership development coach at Rebit Limited, he has spent the last four years equipping individuals to thrive personally and professionally.

He also leads One Momentum Publishing, a hybrid publishing company through which he has guided hundreds of authors on their journey from idea to published book.

LinkedIn: Daniel Francis

IG: o.m.publishing

Website: www.ompublishing.org

Email: info@ompublishing.org