So you've got a goal, and you know someone who has already reached it? Maybe it is earning a certain degree, or opening a business and making it fly. Before you try to duplicate what others have done to attain what they have, be sure of one thing. Understand the Parable of the Jackdabbit:

A man was on a journey and came to a field. In this field he observed a dog, jumping around, darting to and fro, and disappearing in the long, long grass each time he landed. The man stayed back, fearing that the dog had a terrible disease that caused him to jerk wildly and bark incessantly. Cautiously, he passed along side the field on the well-paved path; keeping an eye on the ravenous dog to be sure it did not harm him. Coming to the end of the field, suddenly the dog appeared in front of him, holding a jackrabbit in its jaws. Placidly, the dog glanced at the man, and walked away.

This man was hungry. Thinking about the dog, he decided it would sure be nice if he could have a rabbit to eat, too. So he turned around, retraced his steps along the path for a time, and entered the grassy field. "Well, here I go," he said, and he began to jump and dart, growl and bark. Up and down, back and forth, trying to duplicate all of the crazy movements he had seen by the dog, believing this would somehow produce a rabbit. All day long he did this, and at the end of the day, he was still hungry, and very, very tired.

Disappointed, he returned to the well-paved path. He said to himself, "This is a well-paved path; many people have traveled this way before. I guess I just need to stay on it, and eat whatever I find along the way. Chasing a rabbit just didn't work for me."

What did the man do wrong? He acted as though he was chasing a rabbit, but there was no rabbit in sight. Isn't it interesting that not only did duplicating the dog NOT produce a rabbit, but it probably kept them very far away?

If you want a rabbit, you may need to leave a well-paved path, but before you start jumping and barking, make sure you have your eyes FIXED TIGHT on a rabbit. Identify your dream, visualize it, write it down, make it real in your mind, get excited about it, and chase it by following the promptings that come to you from your inner voice. Trust your gut; it will lead you to the rabbit you have in mind. Others may look at you and the choices you make and they might even think you are crazy, like the dog. They just don't see your rabbit as you do.

Based on the best-selling book, The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can. View flash presentation based on the book now at http://www.jackrabbitfactor.com.

Leslie Householder is a wife and mother of six children. She is the founder of http://www.ThoughtsAlive.com and is the author of "The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can" and "Heavenly Help with Money Matters." She has been published in Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield's Chicken Soup for the Latter-Day Saint Soul, and has been published online in ezine articles since 2002. Leslie is a certified facilitator for Bob Proctor's Life Success Programs, and she is also an independent motivational speaker and success coach.