So many people just exist; they have no goals, desires or aspirations.

They may have been ambitious at one time in their life but ran into disappointments, detours and failures. After awhile they chose not to reach for the stars and settled for the mundane.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Painter, sculptor, architect and poet once said: "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

In most instances, that which lies within each of us is much more than we ever come to know. We give in to mediocre and find ourselves settling for less than we are capable of.

We dared to dream as children and then meet up with real life as adults and relinquish our visions as unreal possibilities. It is a shame we often cease living, learning and achieving and meet a premature demise. We become comfortable in less and determine the work to become more is not worth the effort. The possibility of attaining greatness becomes an unattainable desire of our own decision. We give up on ourselves and our dreams and possibilities. Oh, what greatness goes undiscovered, what possibilities lay covered with fear and lack of ambition.

Perhaps you have run into people who lacked faith in you, and your abilities, putting doubt on any dreams or visions you shared with them. You are not the observation others have of you; you are the thoughts you have, the actions you take. Others are not in control of your dreams and visions; they can not diminish your desires. You alone are in charge of what you do with your life.

Some dreams and visions may be selfish ambition and you'll run into other people's resentments. Some of your achievements may be growth, and others may demonstrate jealousy. Some desires may include a few other people, but benefit many. We should choose our aspirations carefully and determine their merit before we bring them into fruition. For dreams that see mountaintops benefit others, are seen by many, and last through the years.

Many of our achievements are the legacy we leave behind when we depart this earth. But many people never live the legacy they want to leave. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once said, "Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out."

We should always sit goals, and we should desire to continue to achieve and pursue dreams and visions no matter our age. Dreams are not just for the young. Achievements in life should continue until life has ended.

We need to learn to live life to the fullest until our last breath. We should live while we are alive, leaving our demise filled with so many meaningful breaths of living, others will envy the life that we lead, not the things that we accumulated.

No one would attempt to go on a trip without directions or a map, following the roads leading to their destination. So we should not live our life without sitting goals and following our dreams.

Remember you have not reached your destination until you have drawn your last breath. And remember today's actions are the ingredients of which dreams are made. So make your dreams come true by sitting goals and acting on your passions and visions, making them a part of your life and future legacy that will live on. "Things" will be forgotten but you through your achievements can live on forever.

Andries van Tonder is a fulltime internet entrepreneur.

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