You need to know what it is you want from life so that you can effectively direct your energies to making that dream a reality. Steven Covey says to begin with the end in mind.
The picture to the left is of an Earthrise seen from the Moon. John Kennedy is famous for coalescing a nation around the Dream of putting a Man on the Moon.
Martin Luther King, jr. gave a famous speech, "I Have a Dream". You might say that 40 years later Barack Obama is a part of that dream.
You need a dream of your ideal way of living your life. The lifestyle is all we have. Habits make the man. So you need to determine who you want to be and go about being that person. Aristotle said,
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
Therefore, we need to have a Big Picture of our ideal existence to determine our habits and priorities:
The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
- Bertrand Russell
And believe me this is a sticking point because the pressure starts here.
"The secret of getting started is breaking
your complex, overwhelming tasks into
small manageable tasks, and then
starting on the first one."
- Mark Twain
My experience tells me that Twain is right. In fact, at first we need to take very small steps in the direction of our goals to build momentum, motivation and confidence. Practice makes perfect in converting knowing to doing. Start with one good habit at a time and over a few months you will have patched together an improvement to your way of living.
"One important key to success is
self-confidence. An important key to
self-confidence is preparation."
- Arthur Ashe
Napoleon Hill is a great educator in this area and he repeatedly says about dreams and goals that if you can conceive it, and believe it, you can achieve it. God does not taunt us with dreams we have no hope of achieving.
"Don't be afraid of the space between your
dreams and reality. If you can dream it,
you can make it so."
- Belva Davis
Do not be afraid to dream big and to dream often. He who dreams more, accomplishes more, according to Twain.
Belief in our Dreams is one of the secrets to great achievements:
"The only limit to our realization of
tomorrow will be our doubts of today."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Of course no achievement is without a price and without effort but if your desire is intense you will find a way to achieve your goals.
"What lies behind us, and what lies before
us are small matters compared
to what lies within us."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is important to get started and to learn by doing.
Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all. Norman V. Peale
You can achieve great things and accumulate wealth without harming your fellow man by your greed and deception. Follow the Golden Rule.
Three keys to more abundant living: caring about others, daring for others, sharing with others.
If this sounds like Sunday school, do not let it deter you. Many years of observing men and markets has introduced me to the idea of right work. Warren Buffett is a man of honor and Bernard Madoff is a crook. Warren is among the World's richest men and Bernie is in jail for the next 150 years.
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