I’ve always been ambitious. Not in some self-glorifying, overly cocky kind of way. I knew I’d never play international football (soccer) … though being Scottish, you can never say ‘never!’ I knew also I’d never set a world record on the running track.

Regardless, that’s what I aimed for as a young lad. Without ambition, where’s the driving force? What is there to get up for in the morning?

In the end, I played football in the Glasgow Amateurs First Division and won a few crappy prizes on the Scottish Highland Games circuit. Whoopy – woo!

But hey – what’s that saying about aiming for the stars and hitting the moon? I like to set a high bar, full in the knowledge my personal best in the high jump was only about four foot, six.

This attitude nicely reflects the Glasgow way of thinking. We may outwardly appear gallus and full of our selves, but just below that emotional veneer, lies a pragmatic character, riddled with self-doubt and a fear of failure.

Well, that’s me for sure.

So when I self-published my latest book, ‘A SPACE HOPPER KILLED MY HAMSTER … amusing tales of growing up in the ’60s & ’70s‘ I thought I’d change tact. I’d be realistic in my ambitions right from the outset. I hoped I’d sell not a thousand books; not even hundreds. Deep down, I’d settle for ‘a few.’

And so that’s what happened. I sold a few!

My change of thinking was a bit of an ‘own goal,’ I guess you could say.

Oh well – I suppose there’s still time. Things may change. No. Things WILL change. I’m going to back to that perhaps unrealistic initial mindset.

Staring now!

My goal for today is to exceed thirty ‘Likes’ on this post. That, dear reader, is more ambitious than hoping to be selected for the Scotland football team, even at the age of sixty-seven. And I’m not joking!

Yup – I think I’ve just set myself the hardest personal goal … ever!