Getting to Where You Want to Be

Jeff Altman
3 min readDec 9, 2020

“How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal, they have to be willing to work for.”

~Jim Valvano

Jimmy Valvano was a college basketball coach most notably at North Carolina State University where he won the 1983 national title against the heavily favored Houston team. At the time that they want in the last few seconds of the game, those who saw it remember his ecstatic celebration after the win.

At too young an age, he died from a form of glandular cancer before saying the quote above and not before telling viewers at the 1993 Espy Awards where everyone knew he was going to die soon, to laugh, think and cry every day and “Don’t give up its. Don’t ever give up.”

Let me add to Valvano’s quote.

It starts with courage.

You have to be courageous to continue on in the face of adversity, in the face of the naysayers single-mindedly dedicate yourself to the achievement that you want.

There will be people who tell you like in the Rumi poem:

Your old grandmother says,
“Maybe you shouldn’t go to school.
You look a little pale.”
Run when you hear that.

You will need to have the courage to stand in the face of life and persevere.

“But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream
I dreamed.

“I Dreamed a Dream”, Les Mis

The dream in Les Mis was Fantine’s despair knowing her life was lost. You may pause on your way to achieving your destiny but remember when you run in place someone can catch you and pass you by.

Always move forward.

Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020

ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2000 episodes, and is a member of The Forbes Coaches Council.

If you have a quick question for me, you can get it answered with a 3–5 minute video. Want to do it live?

Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? Please click here to see my schedule to book a free discovery call or schedule time for coaching.

Connect with me on LinkedIn. Like me on Facebook.

Join the Career Angles group.

Jeff Altman

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. Career Coach. Host of No BS Job Search Advice Radio and JobSearchTV.com. Watch Job Search TV on Amazon and BingeNetworks.tv