CrosspoolClarets wrote:Success. Noun. The accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
Think carefully about that definition. If the board think that our aim for the season is to finish 17th, well, I for one have standards higher than that. Not unrealistic. Not foolish. Not naive.
We “aim” for the top 10. If we fall short,and finish 17th, it isn’t a bad season (as I said in my post you quoted from). But it isn’t a successful one.
If I took your general advice with reference to my own career I would have stagnated. Almost everyone I compete with has a middle class upbringing, contacts and money behind them, I had neither and I have had to fight for everything I have. Now I have to take on the “big four” and win tenders as a one man band. Almost impossible with the wrong mindset. The way I do it is to set very high standards for myself and others. I hope, and expect, that Burnley FC do the same.
I don't think my advice to anyone would ever be to set your aspirations low. There's absolutely nothing wrong with setting your aspirations as high as you can, nor battling to reach them. In fact, fair play to anyone - or any football club - that does.
But my point is that if you only regard yourself as successful if you achieve your dreams, then you're setting yourself up to be disappointed - and if you mistake your dreams for a realistic, likely outcome then your likely to be both disappointed and counting the cost of chasing those dreams.
In the case of Burnley, finishing top 10 again after last season would be a dream scenario. It definitely wasn't an especially likely outcome, and so to make that the benchmark of success (even if there may be an element of semantics to this) seems to me to be a bit over ambitious.
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