‘Never give up your goal’

决不放弃目标

Charlton Heston, the Hollywood cator who has played such roles as Ben Hur and Moses, was once asked if it was destiny1 that got him where he is today.

Heston replied that destiny should be discounted2. To him, his success was due to knowing what he wanted, having a bit of luck and working hard.

He summed up his attitudes to life and achievements: “Never give up! Never give up!”

Interestingly, Heston has been married to the same woman for 50 years. It is his first marriage. He joked that he had luck too in this area as he was lucky to meet and marry the right woman.

But statying married for half a century is not due to luck alone. While many marriages last only a few weeks, months or years, Heston and his wife have defied the quick divorce syndrome3 and have stayed devoted to each other.

In every important aspect of our life, never giving up is the right approach. Never give up believing in yourself and what you can do for yourself and others. Never give up trying to make your career a success. Never give up trying to learn useful things you have always dreamed about.

Never give up making marriage a success. Never give up on your slow-learning or disabled children. Never give up trying to spend quality time4 with your family and friends.

Never give up when you are trying to change your character for the better but are constantly tempted to go back to your old bad ways. Never give up when you are chasing a piece of business.

Imagine yourself setting on a vacation journey that yould take you probably half a day’s ride. This is the holiday that you and your family members have been looking forward to.

On this journey, certain things might happen that might discourage you from sticking to your plans. There could be massive traffic jams. Your bicycle or car might have a punctured tyre5. The weather might change and become too hot or too wet.

Do you give up easily? I can understand if you give up your plan because your family member gets suddenly sick and you have to return home to check him into a hospital. But if nothing serious happens, wouldn’t you want to continue with the journey?

Wouldn’t you want to be resourceful enough to find another route, to change your tyre? Wouldn’t you create your own emotional climate through singing or riddle guessing so that the external climate does not seem to bother your family?

Imagine another situation. If you and your family are in a boat and an accident happens, would you give up staying afloat, one way or another, until help comes? If your child sinks below the surface, would you give up diving and searching for him? Even if you can’t swim, you might tap into some hidden potential and dive and dive until you find your child or until it is impossible to do so.

You may ask whether it is realistic to never give up your goals. Well, you can give up a piece of your plan but not your goal if you are sure that your goal is important and right.

Let us say that you are trying to have a beautiful flower garden. You start digging and find yourself digging concrete or pipes. Of course, you would give up digging that spot and move to another spot. You can give up a piece of your plan but you don’t give up your goal of having a lovely garden.

To avoid changing your goal, find out where your passion lies. What is it that would give you pleasure even with some pressure? If you are uncertain whether you are on the right journey, give yourself a cut-off point.

Once you are passionate about what you want to achieve, never give up your goal. You can give up some pieces of your plan to make adjustments, but you should stick to your ultimate goal6!

by Peter Ling

1. destiny 命运

2. discount 不信，不考虑

3. divorce syndrome 禽婚综合症

4. quality time 美好时光

5. a punctured tyre 刺破了的轮胎

6. stick to you ultimate goal 牢牢把握你的最终目标