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Aim high but don't shoot for the moon, mathematicians advise
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Aim high but don't shoot for the moon, mathematicians advise

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Setting your sights high can lead to bigger rewards – up to a point Buena Vista Images/Getty Images Shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars, so the saying goes. But shooting straight for the stars instead might actually be the more effective option, according to mathematicians. In life, people tend to try to be ambitious, yet not overly so, when it comes to pursuing their objectives, such as landing a better job, finding an appropriate partner or achieving political goals. However, quantifying this balance hasn’t been studied in detail, and much research has focused on when people stop looking too soon and aren’t ambitious enough, says Thomas Hills at the University of Warwick, UK. Now, using mathematical models, Matt Burgess at the University of Wyoming and his colleagues have found that the best outcomes for uncertain scenarios typically come from aiming high, but not unrealistically so.…

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