Month: December 2013

Reality Check: You must stay the course to achieve your dreams

The only people who achieve their dreams are those who stay the course. All successful people have dreams bigger than themselves and each person faces obstacles on the way to achieve those dreams.

The only difference between those who achieve their dreams and those who don’t is their ability to stay the course.

For example, one of the dreams I’ve had since I turned 30 is to be as fit as I was during wrestling season my senior year of high school.  This may not seem that big to you, but for me this is about life and death.  By the age of 29, I was as unhealthy as I’d ever been gaining over 60 pounds since my senior year in high school, with 30 coming after I graduated from college.

In order to get back to a healthy weight and maintain it, I made a commitment to exercise for at least one hour, at least 4 days a week. Every year since, I’ve gotten thrown off course between Thanksgiving and Christmas. What’s more, I then allow these few weeks of getting off course to derail all the progress I made for the other 10 months of the year.

The only way I can overcome this is to stay the course for 12 months instead of 10.  In order to stay the course in this situation, this year I created a plan that allows me to still enjoy the typical holiday festivities, while keeping my routine.  I shared a bit of that plan here.

Another example is my dream of entrepreneurship. I worked 10 years in corporate America before I was able to quit my job and go after that dream.  For me, staying the course for those 10 years was about living below my means year after year so I could afford to one day quit my job.

So even when I saw many of my colleagues and friends buy big new cars and take fancy vacations, I continued to drive the same used vehicle for 10 years and over 200,000 miles and took modest vacations on a budget.

In the former example I haven’t achieved my dream yet, in the latter I did. In both cases however, it comes down to staying the course.  This means creating a realistic plan to achieve your dream, then sticking with it no matter what obstacles you face.

So here’s the reality check.  If you have a big dream, a dream reserved for the few rather than the many, you will face a few false starts. You will face drama that drags you off course. You will doubt that your plan is even working. It’s going to take longer than you think and it’s going to be harder than you think.  But if you really, truly want it, as long as you get on the course, then do whatever it takes to stay on course, you will achieve whatever dreams you have.

A Simple Idea to Help You Wake up 1 Hour Earlier

Have you ever set your alarm clock to wake up one hour earlier, only to hit the snooze button over and over again until your normal wake up time arrives?

You know you should wake-up, but for some reason you just can’t get yourself to do it in that moment of sleepiness.  If this is you, then you need to try this simple idea…

To wakeup without hitting the snooze button, try involving a third-party accountability partner.

For example, if you have a goal to write a book you may initially try to create a plan to wake up an hour early to write everyday.  However, this won’t work.  There is very good chance that you will hit the snooze button because when you do, no one else will know.

What you must do instead is make a commitment to submit your writing on deadline everyday to someone who agrees to call you out if you slack off. Someone you respect.  Someone you would be embarrassed to disappoint. It could be a mentor, a proofreader, or even a spouse or friend.

You may even want to up the ante and agree to pay a penalty fee if you miss your deadline.

You could apply this same idea for waking up 1  hour earlier to almost anything. Working on a business plan, exercising, or even cleaning the house.  Whatever.  Mark my word, having a third-party accountability partner changes the game.  It could possibly change your life too.

The 3 things I did before I quit my job

I had no idea I was going to quit my job on that faithful day.  Most normal people would never quit their job on an impulse like I did.

As a result, I did not have a chance to do what most experts tell you to do leading up to the moment you quit your job.  I was forced to think on my feet and make some quick moves to put myself in the best possible position.

Here are the three things I did that morning:

1. Took all of my personal belongings to my car

The first thing I did was slowly start cleaning out my cube, moving all of my personal belonging to my car. I’d heard stories of people being escorted out of the building after quitting.  I wanted to prepare for the worst, so I made sure that everything that I wanted to keep was locked up in my car.

2. Cleaned off my computer

The next thing I did was clear the browsing history on my computer, then clean out my email and all of the files on my computer’s hard drive.  This took me over an hour.  I just sat there and diligently went through every little thing on my computer, every folder, every file and every email, making sure everything was squeaky clean.  You never know how fast they will confiscate your computer after you announce you’re quitting. So it’s best to take your time and make sure you do this right.

3. Called my wife

Finally, right before I walked into my manger’s office to give him the news, I called my wife.  The conversation with her went surprisingly smooth. I had been hinting to her that this day was coming, so she wasn’t shocked at all when I told her that today was the day.

After my wife gave me the gumption to follow through with my intent to quit, I had all the confidence in the world that I was making the right move.

A few minutes later, it was a done deal.