Have you ever motored down the highway and thought to yourself, “Somebody had a goal of putting up that building, somebody else thought of building this bridge, somebody else decided to erect this monument?” It is not difficult to be born into a world amidst existing artifacts of other peoples’ goals and proceed as if they’ve always been there.

Once there was simply a clearing where the Eiffel Tower now stands. Once, there was no Taj Mahal. Once, the Washington Monument didn’t point up to the sky. Before 1922, there was a plain field where the Lincoln Memorial is now parked. In fact, Washington, D.C. and every other city you’ve been to didn’t exist as you know it. Television was simply a thought in the minds of obscure scientists. When you wanted to go any place, you got in a horse and buggy. Travel overseas took months, literally, over seas.

If you had a high fever there were no miracle drugs that doctors could give to you. If you wanted to practice birth control, you used the rhythm method, with all of its shortcomings, if you even knew it existed. Once upon a time, in fact, the number one cause of death among women in the U.S. was childbirth.

It is nearly an insurmountable task to ponder what went into the creation of each and every item merely in the room surrounding you now.

Programmed to Move On?

Many social observers contend that forward progress, with notable extended remission, seems to be built into the genes of the human species. It was somebody’s dream, someone’s specific goal, to build the Panama Canal, lay the TransAtlantic Cable, and create the Channel between England and France.

Wil Durant, joined half-way through by his wife-to-be, Ariel, created a brilliant ten-volume set that traced the course of civilization. D.H. Lawrence wrote 28 novels using pencils and pads as his word processor, including such masterpieces as Women in Love and Lady Chatterly’s Lover.

Throughout history, men and women have created, erected, devised, written, or instituted that which wasn’t there before. Yet, you tend to proceed through our days, willy-nilly, as if most of what surrounds you has been here since time immemorial for your personal edification.

Every Square Foot Reachable

Soon enough, nearly everyone will have a personal telephone number to be used for all types of communication — phone, fax, e-mail, online, car, home, you name it. Such a number will be your universal number and may accompany you for life. No need for the 6 or 7 numbers you’re already currently toting.

What will become of telephones? AT&T has three laboratories that are making designer cellular phones. Professor Lowell Catlett, at the University of New Mexico, says these will be imbedded in necklaces, earrings, or even in your wrist if you prefer. So, you’re watching the opera, and all of a sudden, the phone rings. Immediately, 500 pairs of eyes gaze toward you with contempt! Just kidding.

Rather than have the phone ring, you can simply program it to give you a mild vibration. Then, you make your way to the lobby, and speak directly into your wrist. With microscopic sized telephones embedded in your wrist, you’ll be heard with clarity. You’ll be able to speak to anyone on earth at any time. There will be no place where cellular phone capability doesn’t exist. If you’re in the middle of the Indian Ocean, you can reach anyone, and you’ll be reachable.

Tom Swift and Electric Wrist

With your super, retro-fitted wrist, you’ll be able to control your computer from any place on the globe, moderate your intake of medication, start the coffee pot in your home, turn on all the security lighting, start the remote camera on your sleeping baby, or even — need I say it? — check your messages.

Sounds fascinating, doesn’t it — Tom Swift and his electric wrist. Won’t that mean, however, that you’ll be even more subjected to the beck and call of every boss and customer or whiny relative who wants to find you? Yes, the capability will be there, but so is the potential to maintain quiet and stay in control, despite awesome communication capabilities which are about to become the norm.

Think Your Way Through It

The electronic headband is already here. Coming soon to a Sharper Image store near you, faster than you can imagine, you’ll be able to don a headband and think your way to everything you want to do in your home. Sitting in your armchair, you’ll be able to lock the doors. You’ll be able to start your coffee maker. Want the television on or off? You’ve got it. Same with the lights. Refrigerator door. Windows up or down.

If you want to write a letter to your sister in Hoboken or your brother in Laguna, you’ll only need to think the letter. You’ll be able to “program” your personal computer, write, and e- mail the message simply through your thoughts.

Soon, jet pilots flying billion dollar planes will be able to sit in the cockpit, think about what they want to do next, and have the plane be totally responsive. “Ultimately,” says Catlett, “machinery will be totally user-friendly. No instructions, no need to speak, no need to do anything, just think what you want to do.”

The world will enter a stage of what he calls the “ubiquitous computer.” Computers will be all around you, wherever you go, built into the side of walls. They’ll be so powerful and all encompassing that they’ll be virtually invisible. They’ll serve you far better than what’s available today.

Appreciating What Is

To fully appreciate the end result of goals of others who came before me, I sometimes look around the room or place where I am, and take the time to simply marvel at what is. For example, I marvel at reclining chairs. Somebody figured out that simply by throwing your head back or pulling a lever, you could change the angle of a chair, extend a leg rest, and have it operate more as a couch or lounge chair.

After years of using bug spray, roach hotels, and various other gizmos designed to keep insects out of my home, I marvel at a device I saw in a magazine which I now own. It’s called the Transonic CIX, and it transmits pulsating sound patterns at different frequencies and volumes that disrupt and disorient insects’ and small rodents’ motor skills. Hence, they stay out of your house.

I even marvel at naturally colored pistachios grown from California. Once, all pistachios came from the Middle East, principally the country of Iran. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the California strains of pistachios were woeful. They were large, salty, and bland. Over the years, they got better and better, and today, they are as good as any pistachios available.

As you become more aware of your surroundings, thankful for the blessings all around you, and in touch with the creative process that others had to have experienced to achieve their goals, you increase the probability of breaking free from the status quo and creatively approaching the best that you’re capable of achieving.

Mile High Achievers Persevere

One of the enduring characteristics of many goal achievers — the people who broke through the status quo to create something of lasting value — is their ability to endure setbacks and bounce back.

* For example, you may have read of the travails of Walt Disney, who spent eight years pounding the pavement in southern California trying to get financing for his innovative theme park, which ultimately opened in Anaheim, California, and was called Disneyland.

* The late Colonel Harlan Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, visited more than one thousand restaurants in the attempt to get them to use his famous recipe.

* Steven King wrote three complete manuscripts, none of which were accepted, before a fourth finally landed him a contract. As the third was rejected, King was in anguish. He had spent years of his life writing and was simply collecting manuscripts in a closet. He felt as if he would never break into the category of published author. With help from his wife, he kept at it, however, and as everyone now knows, is a near permanent fixture on the best seller lists.

* Michael Blake, the Oscar winner for best movie adaptation, labored for a quarter of a century as an obscure Hollywood screen writer before Dances with Wolves brought him worldwide acclaim.

* The famed Dr. Seuss was rejected by twenty-seven publishers who could not see the value of his innovative children’s books. Seuss drew odd looking cartoon characters and used unconventional captions that seemed hypnotic to some and repetitious to others. Today, worldwide, the late Theodore Seuss’ books have sold more than 215,000,000 copies.

* Thomas Edison (who is not the inventor of the light bulb, but should be rightfully credited for devising the first commercially accepted bulb) tested more than 8,000 items before the tungsten filament proved to be successful.

* Charles Schultz was told that his innovative idea for a comic strip had no market. Schultz wanted to tell the tale of a little boy who needed psychological help, moped around from one friend to another, and concluded that life was tough no matter what he did. “Peanuts” eventually became one of the most widely distributed cartoon columns in the world.

* Irving Stone was rejected by seventeen publishers before Lust for Life, his biography of artist Vincent Van Gogh, was published. The book has now sold more then 25,000,000 copies worldwide.

The bigger your goal, the more you need to prepare for inevitable bouts of failure, set-back, and rejection. Since rejection and despair may find you on your path to success, it’s better to expect them so that you’re not knocked out of the box when they appear.

One of my mentors once told me that if you have a good idea, and it’s not catching on with the people to whom you’ve showed it, take it around to 250 others. Someone within that 250, if not a handful of them, will see the value or wisdom of your idea. If not, take it to another 250. Perhaps you’ll get some insights along the way that will help you to improve upon your notion. Eventually, you’ll get the backing, sales, or support that you need to continue on.