A class of college seniors filed into a room for their final exam. The professor announced that she had divided the questions into three categories and explained that students were to choose only one of the categories. The first category of questions was the most difficult and worth 50 points. The second set was somewhat easier and worth 40 points. The third group, the easiest, was worth 30 points.

The professor graded the papers as follows: the students who chose to answer questions in the hardest category were given As. Students who chose category two were given Bs, and those settling for the easiest were given Cs.

Naturally, some of the students were frustrated with the professor's grading. The professor simply explained: "I wasn't testing your knowledge. I was testing your aim."

That's why it's important to aim high ... to have dreams that inspire you to go beyond your limits. Show me someone who doesn't dream about the future and I'll show you someone who doesn't know where he or she is going.

David McClelland, a Harvard psychologist, has studied high achievers extensively. He has concluded that successful people possess one common characteristic: They fantasize and dream incessantly about how to achieve their goals.

"We grow great by dreams," said former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. "All great people are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these dreams die, but others nourish and protect them, nurse them through the bad days until they bring them to the sunshine and light that comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true."

"Dreams, not desperation, move organizations to the highest levels of performance," wrote Robert Waterman Jr. in his book, "The Renewal Factor." "Our dream ought to be institutions that work for, not against, our needs. That is the hope, the power, the dream and the challenge in renewal."

Indecision can destroy your dreams, if you allow it. Dr. Seuss, the famous author of children's books, identified this common workplace malady in "Oh, The Places You'll Go." He takes the reader on a journey along beautiful streets and into wide-open fields under clear blue skies. Then there's a crossroads and confusion. Continued...