I agree with Michelangelo's statement as I have found through experience that it benefits me more to set high expectations and not reach my goal, rather than settling on a low goal and achieving it. When setting high goals, I find that I learn more and progress my abilties further than I do with a lower goal. This is because setting high goals requires confidence, challenges, and pride.  Firstly, hard work is required to achieve high goals, and requires confidence. Confidence involves having trust and believing that you are capable of accomplishing something. I have found that when I set high goals, I feel more confident in my abilities. With lower goals however, my confidence is lower as I settle for the easier path and do not trust myself to do better. With a higher aim, my confidence motivates me to not give up. I tend to try harder, and always believe in myself. For example, at school, I had to choose whether I wanted to try out for the varsity tennis team or remain in the club team. The varsity team was a higher reach, and required confidence in my abilities for me to try out. The club team was a lower reach, as I knew that I could simply continue with it. I decided to try out for the varsity team, and was confident in my abilities. I practiced hard and did not give up. Despite not making it onto the team, I found that I actually greatly improved my abilities through the confidence I had gained, and tried harder than I had ever before. I managed to progress my skills, and was able to play more confidently on the club team and excel. Therefore, setting high aims requires confidence, which is a very beneficial characteristic to have in life.  Secondly, setting a high goal indicates a challenge. It will be more challenging to attempt to aim high rather than aiming low, yet this will also prove more benefits. With a challenge, I tend to be more motivated as I want to prove my capabilites. I try harder, and in return get further. Even if I fall short of my high aim, I tend to get further than I would have if I had settled with a lower aim. With lower goals, there is no challenge, and so once the aim is achieved any effort stops. Learning is limited to that low expectation, and will not be able to go beyond. For example, in my high school career, I have always struggled with picking between two types of courses: honors or academic. Honors is the more challenging course, which requires more work and effort and would pose as more of a challenge. Academic however, requires the bare minimum and is easy to succeed in. In the honors course, I would be setting my aim high yet might not get the grade I want; yet, in the academic course, my aim would be low and I would most likely get the grade I want. After hard consideration, I decided to opt for the honors course. This course may be a challenge, yet would allow me to learn more. I enjoyed the challenge, and found that it motivated me to try harder to try and accomplish my goal. Even if I fell short of my ideal grade, I was proud to have tried my best and felt that I learnt so much more. The course benefited me more than the academic course would have, despite not receiving the grade I hoped for. Therefore, challenging oneself with a high aim allows for more flourishing and encourages more learning. Overall, setting a high aim will pose more benefits.  Thirdly, pride accompanies setting high goals. When setting low aims, I feel that it is easy to achieve the goal. However, with high aims, it is more c