In his journey toward achieving his goals, Goddard experienced eighteen near-death experiences. He reflected, "These experiences taught me to cherish life a hundredfold and to want to try everything I can. People often live their whole lives without ever showing immense courage, strength, or endurance, but I have found that when you are at the point of facing the end, you suddenly generate incredible strength and control—a capacity within yourself that you never could have dreamed of before. Once you have experienced this, you feel your soul has ascended to a different realm."
He pointed out that while almost everyone has their own goals and dreams, not everyone takes the effort to realize them. Goddard's attitude toward pursuing dreams is truly admirable. He once said, "'My lifelong ambition' was established when I was very young, reflecting the aspirations of a youth. Naturally, there are things I no longer wish to do, such as climbing Mount Everest. Setting goals for struggle is often like this; some things may be beyond one's strength and may not be completed, but that does not mean one must abandon all pursuits."
It is beneficial to re-examine your life and ask yourself this question: "If I only had one year left to live, what would I prepare to do?"
If you ask someone what they want to do, they will certainly list a great many things. But if you ask why they don't do them, they will provide a long list of excuses, such as "having no time," even if they spend their entire day doing nothing. It is not difficult to have dreams; the challenge lies in having the courage to achieve them. Dreams are not actually out of reach; rather, people are intimidated by the difficulties they create for themselves before they even take action.