People say they want to win the Powerball lottery. Count me in. I also want to win the lottery. But I know the chance of that happening is really slim. The chance is nil to none.

They say the odds of winning the Powerball lottery is 1 in 175,000,000.

Wow! The number of zeroes says it all. That’s like finding a needle in a haystack.

What if I said you could win $175,000,000 if you found the only card marked with an X in a stack of 175,000,000 cards. As is with the chance of winning the lottery, there’s a better chance of getting struck by lightning.

That’s why winning the lottery is a wish and not a goal. But a lot of people buy-into that lottery-winning chance.

And that’s OK.

We make a wish when we blow out our birthday candles. We make a wish upon a star. We make a wish on a four-leaved clover. Find a penny, wear it in your left shoe, and make a wish.

Besides buying a lottery ticket or initiating a wishful act, there is no workable plan to make a fantastical wish come true.

A fantastical wish is dependent on chance and not you.

A wish is a strong desire for something tangible or intangible that we may or may not have control over. I wish to be 5’4.” But that won’t occur in this lifetime.

A chance is an occurrence in the absence of any obvious design.

But a goal is a designed effort to achieve a particular end. The effort is what an individual does to make the plan happen.

No doubt, we are happy when our wishes come true, and goals are achieved. But the path and feasibility of getting both couldn’t be more different based on the wish.

People who bought a lottery ticket have hit the jackpot and won even with the astronomical odds against them. I won $3,000.00 in a promotional drawing. I had a better chance of winning this money because the odds were more favorable.

But a reasonable wish can become a goal. I wished I had a blog. I wished I was an author. I have achieved both ambitions. To obtain things we want, we make plans and do the work to get them.

Goals have measurable steps to their attainment.

What do you want to achieve today and tomorrow?

We want to do those things that make us healthy, happy, and loved.

A goal without design and commitment is a wish with little chance of happening.

“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” Seneca the Younger

Determine your goals and set sail to achieve them.

But there’s still the child in all of us to make fantastical wishes.

Continue to purchase lottery tickets. But work to achieve your goals.

Be safe.