“You alone will have stars as no one else has them.”

—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Exercise: Start With What

As we begin to explore the skills that’ll help us inspire audiences and achieve our dreams, let’s get concrete about what we actually want to accomplish. Use the worksheet on the next page to articulate a goal, something special you want to do—and go ahead and make it a great big good something. There’s no advantage to modesty now. Maybe you want a promotion at work with a bank-busting raise or you’ll launch your very own business, a fresh idea that’ll change the world. Or maybe you’ll slay some of the evils lurking around the globe—climate change, malnutrition, war, mental illness, and poverty. Maybe you’ll make a masterpiece, a book or a movie, or achieve a personal best in a marathon. Maybe your aim is to help your struggling child find the right path for the rest of her life, or a dear friend find purpose again after a traumatizing loss.

Go on, pick something you want to accomplish. Write it on the next page in big bold capital letters and keep it in mind as you read. Keep it close.

And make a careful choice because you will, in fact, accomplish it.