MemeMachineGo!

Zora:

One [tattoo] is this big circle with blue and white swirls in it — kind of like a bowling ball — on her left shoulder. Every guy she meets asks her about it, and when they hear her answer, they sometimes propose marriage.

Turns out the tattoo is a magic globe she holds in her dreams. And in these dreams it gives her superpowers.

"Ever since I remember I've had the dreams. And they're very vivid, but it varies — usually it involves fighting, sometimes with guns, sometimes with superhero powers, like lightning from my fists and all that. And I usually have superstrength and I can fly and I have all those things, right. And it's my most common set of dreams, and it varies. Sometimes it's medieval, sometimes it's futuristic, sometimes it's present day, sometimes it's like a guerrilla war in Latin America."

"Can you describe that Zora to me? That Zora in dreams?"

"Very powerful, athletically. But beyond the rules of nature that this world allows. So, 6-foot-5 and long — almost like impossibly long — silver hair. This sortof otherworldly quality to her, where her voice did not sound normal. It sounded almost musical.

"It became something that I aspired to be. Aspired to be this sortof superhero, this sortof person who would fight for a cause. That was my motivation in life. Ever since I was ten or eleven, I decided that that was my goal."

Zora took the dreams seriously, so seriously that at the age of 12, she sat down and composed a list of some 30 skills she needed to learn if she wanted to become as close to a superhero as any mortal could be. She even gave herself a deadline: to master these skills by the time she was 23.

Zora pulls out the old spiral notebook that was her diary at the age of 13, and turns to the inside back cover.

"Yep, there's the list. The list included martial arts, electronics, chemistry, metaphysics, hang gliding, helicopter and airplane flying, mountain climbing, survival ..."

Throughout her teens and 20's, each time she started a new diary, she would update the list and write it in the back of the book. Each one with the same format, each one titled The List.

"Weaponry, rafting, scuba diving, herbology — yes I studied that. CPR, first aid and mountain emergency medicine..."

The list also includes body building, archery, demolitions and explosives. She wanted learn how to hunt animals and track men.

"Major physical conditioning ..."

And the most incredible thing about all of this is that Zora accomplished nearly every item on the list.

c.f. 10 Things You Can Do To Produce A Quantum Leap In Your Life Fast:

8. Goals

Have clear, specific, written goals with deadlines for their achievement in every area of your life - physical, mental, emotional, physical, career, etc. People who do are FAR more successful. People who don't are like ships adrift on the seas. A person without clear specific goals is like a ship cast adrift on the ocean without a captain or crew. The chances of it arriving anywhere specific are minimal. Yet most people live their lives like that. Make it your goal to have specific written goals in every area of your life and review them every day.

(First link via Sore Eyes)