Great philosophers share their wisdom by telling stories. I am not claiming to be a great philosopher just yet but here is a story, told by a great philosopher Zig Ziglar, in his book Better Than Good, that has a solid element of truth and wisdom that seems to have come at a great time for me… and I hope you.

You probably haven’t heard about Florence Chadwick. A swimmer, Florence was the first woman in history to swim the English Channel from France to England (in 1950) and then a year later swim the same distance from England to France.

Florence was spurred on by setting what appeared to others as unachievable goals.

 After achieving her English Channel successes, Florence set yet another unbelievable goal: be the first woman to swim the twenty-one miles from Catalina Island to the west coast of California.

On the morning of July 4, 1952, the ocean between Catalina and California was shrouded in fog. Florence could hardly see the boats accompanying her to keep away the sharks. Fatigue wasn't a big problem, but the bone-chilling temperature of the water was. After fifteen hours of non-stop swimming, she succumbed to the temperature of the water and asked to be pulled into one of the boats.

Her mother and trainer, in a boat alongside her, urged her to keep on as they were getting near the coast. Yet all Florence could see was fog - she could have been twenty yards or twenty miles from the shore.

She was pulled out of the water too cold and tired to continue. Later, she realised that she was only half a mile from completing the swim and achieving her goal.

When she learned how close she was when she quit, she blurted out, "I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the shore, I might have made it."

It wasn't the distance or the cold that ultimately did her in - it was the fog. When Florence Chadwick lost sight of her goal, she lost the will to continue.

Just two months later, on a day when there was no fog in sight, she completed the swim, setting a new speed record for the Catalina-California crossing. Same island, same coast, same distance, same body of water. The only difference between victory and defeat was the ability to see her goal.

Here are some guidelines to think about when setting goals: 

FIND THE GOAL There is no end to the kind and number of goals we can set in our lives. Florence Chadwick looked for things that hadn't been done in her area of expertise-first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, first woman to swim Lake Ontario, first woman to swim from Catalina to California. Setting those goals forced her to continue to develop herself as a swimmer.

OVERCOME OBSTACLES TO THE GOAL There are also any number of things that can derail our pursuit of a goal. We have to be informed and prepared in order to not be surprised when obstacles arise. It probably never crossed Florence Chadwick's mind that fog would keep her from reaching her goal.

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE GOAL Continual review and progress checks are critical. When we lose sight of the goal or it gets obscured by something unexpected, something happens emotionally. Keeping the goal in sight, literally and emotionally, serves to keep us energized.

SET AN ATTAINABLE GOAL Fourth, goals can be ultimately achieved even if we fail the first time. There is a difference in swimming the Catalina-California crossing and swimming it on the first attempt. Failure to define the goal carefully can result in such discouragement, if we fail, that we won't try again. Fortunately, Florence Chadwick's goal was to swim the crossing, not swim the crossing on the first attempt which allowed her to try again and succeed.

Great story don’t you think.