Turning dreams into reality

• Why having goals is important:  you cant get anywhere in life without a direction you want to go in.

Goals are just dreams with deadlines. WIthout a goal you will have no direction and just float through life and might never achieve your goals or dreams, or live up to your full potential. We all have hopes and dreams of things we would like to achieve one day, but until you put a date on which your want to achieve this dream it can not truly be called a goal. 

Setting goals in life makes anything possible. All goals are obtainable as long as they are realistic in our known world. All it takes is a clear vision of what you want, a plan to get it and a commitment, all of which we will cover later. 

Whether you realize it or not you are subconsciously setting goals for yourself all the time. Everyone has dreams,  and aspirations they would like to achieve in life. Think about it for yourself for a minute. Think of something you would like to achieve in your life. It can be anything, a career, a place to travel to, a skill, a person. 

Write it down:__________

Now think of when you would like to achieve this by. When would be an ideal date/time frame to complete this goal? Is it a day, a week, a year, 10 years, or do you want to achieve this goal right now? In order to accomplish anything in life you must have an idea of when you want to accomplish it by. A dream transitions to a goal the moment you put a deadline on when you want to achieve it by. 

WHEN would be the ideal time to achieve this goal: ______

When you put a deadline on a goal it creates urgency behind the dream. Urgency is a driving human factor that compels us to complete tasks we set for ourselves by a certain deadline. Urgency creates emotion and emotion will create action. Urgency is the underlying driving force behind the deadline. The emotion created by urgency will force you into positive actions towards hitting your goal. 

For example, if you are given an assignment for class at the beginning of the semester that is not due until the end of the semester you will undoubtedly find a few student who wait until the night before the assignment is due to even start on it. Why is that? For those people who chose to wait until the last minute it was simply a matter of having no urgency. Their emotional tie to the project was very low, until the night before when they realize that if they don’t complete the project it will mean a failing grade and much emotional problem. 

This is a situation that we all hope to avoid, but I hope you understand the example. A sense of urgency will keep you constantly focused on and excited about your goal. Once you determine what it is you want, and decide specifically when you will achieve it then your dream becomes something much more powerful, it becomes a urgent goal in life that you can achieve .

Now that you have a goal figured out and a date set you are almost ready. A goal is a finish line, the final destination, so to speak. So if you are where your at and wish to get to this goal you will need fuel to get you there. 

The most ESSENTIAL part of any journey is the fuel. Imagine getting in a car with no fuel and trying to drive it across town, or anywhere for that matter. It will just be frustrating and disappointing. So what is the ‘fuel‘ to this goal machine? The driving force behind any goal is “The Why”. What do I mean by the why? The why is your true reason for obtaining a goal that you set out to achieve. It is the true underlying force of what obtaining this goal will mean to you. Maybe it is a place, a thing, a relationship, a paycheck, proving something or any other reason, it just has to be something that is more important to you than anything else. 

It can be anything. I can’t tell you what your why is, but I might be able to guide you to see it. The why is the thing that excites you most about hitting your goal. What is it going to mean to you? What will you feel like when you achieve it? It can, and should be, personal. The why will be something that resonates with your emotions. THe why is an idea that when you think about it keeps you up late at night, and wakes your body out of bed in the morning. It should be something so close to you that when you think about achieving it your heart starts to race. 

So now ask yourself, what it my why? Reflect for a moment on the goal your wrote down previously. Look at it a think about what it means to you to accomplish the goal that you wrote down? It can be more than one thing, just make sure it is something you truly want more than anything else. It should be something that you are willing to  make time for and at times sacrifice parts of your normal life to achieve something greater. 

THE POWER OF DECISION: TO CUT OFF THE OTHER OPTION

A key idea to the component of success is understanding and harnessing the power of a decision. As humans, we are faced with thousands of decisions everyday and how we approach and respond to those decisions will dictate our lives. We face small day to day decisions; such as whether to wake up or to hit the snooze button and roll back over. We make larger decisions like what to wear and where we want to eat. These choices we make constantly throughout the day are subsequently what result into our lives that we are currently living. 

When you are talking about harnessing the power of making a decision you must understand what it truly means to say you “have decided” upon something. The word ‘decide’ comes from the greek root word; "deci", which means “to cut off”. When making the decision between two choices you are essentially choosing one and ‘cutting off the other.’ When you decide upon one choice, by definition you should have cut off the option of the other instance happening. The other option has been removed and you are now committed to following through on the other option. If you have TRULY decided to do something then the idea of failure is not something that even occurs in your head. 

To harness the power of making a decision means to view the other option as no longer possible. If you make a decision to hit a goal, then there is no other way, no other option. If you make the decision to hit a goal then not hitting the goal no longer becomes and option. 

The most common question I have heard people ask me about my success in health and fitness is; How did you do it? My answer is simple; I DECIDED to not be that person anymore. I decided at one moment in my life at age 15, that I was going to make the decision to become a healthier person. The decision had been made, and other road was no longer an option. To continue on a path of unhealthy habits that would corrupt my lifestyle was no longer an option on the table. I had made the decision to become healthier and from then on there was only one way to go. 

Ask yourself, what decisions are you ready to make right now? What parts of your life are you ready and willing to cut off in order to achieve something you truly yearn for? What does it mean to you to make these decisions? What will the effect be in 5 years? 10 years? 30 years? Do you think you will regret making good decisions for your health and lifestyle, or that you will be happy that you did. 

What is ONE decision you can make right now that will change your life for the positive over the next 1-5 years?

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“I DID IT!”

 My belief is that when said together, these are the three greatest, most gratifying words in the english language. Think of a time in your life when you accomplished something you set out for. Some type of goal you worked hard on; maybe a school project, a team sport or some other life accomplishment. Being able to stand at the finish line and look back with happiness and gratitude is what life is all about. Humans are born to achieve great things, but the reality is that somewhere along the way some of us lose sight of the finish line, or we just never start the race to begin with. To do this is to rob yourself of one of life’s greatest moments; the moment when you cross the finish, look back and say; “I DID IT!”

How do I know that these are the greatest words in the english language? Well in order to appreciate the light you must also know the darkness. For the first 15 years of my life my head was filled with these dark, negative preconceptions of myself. These are thoughts that some of you might have had before, or things you have heard from other people; “I can’t do that” “Thats to hard” ““You will never make the team.” “I Will always feel this way.” “They are different than me.” 

These were all things that I would  tell myself as I was growing up. One of my main reason to post this blog is to reach out to the world’s youth who might be feeling the same way sometimes. Sadly these things became my reality and pulled me down. When I look out into the world I see so many people who have fallen into the same routine pattern of negative thinking and lacking fulfillment in their lives. I appreciate you taking a moment to read my blog and I hope I can deliver as much value to your life as possible.

I was born in NJ and brought up in a middle class family and given every opportunity that I really wanted to pursue. One major element that lacked in my life was a education of health, fitness and a whole life balance. Not that it did not exist in the world, but I neglected to utilize the resources at hand  

The negligence of my health cost me the first 15 years of my life. By the age of 15 I stood 5’7” and weighed in at just under 250 lb., putting me in the 90th percentile for weight for kids my age. I wore a size 38-40 waist at age 13. My stomach would hang over my belly so much it would dig into the top of my belt buckle and leave a mark. In many of my middle school classes I had the biggest boobs out of everyone, even the girls. To say the least I was quite a big boy. 

Everywhere I went I was labeled the fat kid. I was teased, pinched, poked, ridiculed, and beat up. I was embarrassed for so many reasons. I couldn't wear normal clothes for kids my age, I always was eating more than friends, and constantly the butt of jokes. Luckily for me I was able to laugh a lot of these instances off, but the humor was just a light way to cover up my very heavy problem. I was embarrassed at the way I felt, and probably most embarrassed that I could not control my own habits and take control of my life. I constantly doubted myself and my abilities. 

I tried every fad diet program like weight watchers, slim fast, and the Atkins diet. I popped weight loss pills behind my parents back, and I would make routine about lying about what I was eating. I could not see that these lies were doing more harm to myself, and the ones I loved than anything else. On the outside I appeared to be a jolly fat kid, but on the inside I hurt so much deep down. Sometimes I even thought about the horrible reality of just ‘ending it all.’ Thankfully I never took any action on that, and if you ever have feelings of hurting yourself it is crucial you reach out to someone. You might not understand how much people truly love and respect you if you always focus on the negative. 

I lived with this everyday and night. Looking at myself in the mirror every night, wondering if I could ever change. The lack of control of my own habits spilt over from my eating habits into to my lifestyle habits. Lack on control caused me to compulsive and I was always getting in trouble, both in and out of school. I was suspended from school multiple times and even kicked out of my high school my last day of junior year.

By age 18 I was extremely over weight, had been kicked out of high school, arrested and been in all types of trouble with my parents. It is always the darkest before dawn and for me it was no different. I had to hear the words from my own mother that changed my life forever. She had told me one morning after I had been detained by police for drug possession; “It kills me to know that my son is going to get killed or go to jail before he can get the chance to go to college.” 

It was at the moment when I heard those words come out of my mothers mouth that I made the DECISION to change. I decided that now was the time that change needed to happen because my life was at stake and the path I was walking did not lead any where that I would want to go. The power of the DECISION is one of the most significant powers you posses. Once you decide upon something, you cut off the other option and your path becomes clear. Once a decision is made then the right choices become obvious, you just have to act upon them correctly. 

Years of hard work and dedication have molded me into the person I am today. I am someone who is committed to the helping others become the ‘best version of themselves’ in any way possible. A mentor of mine once said, “Once you accept responsibility for everything in your life, then you have ability to change thing you want in your life.” Since accepting this truth I was able to move on to become a Professional Sales Leader in a quarter billion dollar marketing company, run a marathon, and design, create and live the lifestyle I desire. When we stop making excuses for our actions and live with INTEGRITY we are able to speak our lives into existence and create whatever we want out of life. 

How many people in your life have to tell you that you need to change before you start to finally listen? What will is it going to take for you to finally change? What is your rock bottom before you change? What is it worth to you to change your lifestyle? How far are you willing to push yourself to get what you want? What are you willing to sacrifice to get it?...These are all question I encourage you to think about and I will visit upon them in later posts. 

Do you live your life with doubt that you are worthy of everything you set out in life to achieve? Does lack of control of your habits cause you to fall short of what you truly want out of any area of your life? Perhaps that is the reason that you decided to check out this page today. While I cant tell you why you opened up this blog today. I can give you some insight about what it can provide for you. 

My purpose with this ongoing blog is to share ideas with other to inspire them to take action and create the life of their dreams. I will provide the tools you need to build your dreams into a reality. Please follow me and help me show you how to create the life you desire. 

These are the same ideas and concepts I used to transform my own life and I hope that they can do the same for you. It took 100’s of experiences, conversations and events, and so on for me to acquire these skills for lasting success in your own life. I have taken all the best from all of it and compiled it into a simple, quick guide for you to use to change your own life. So I invite you to take a journey with me. A journey down the road less travelled, but none the less a road that holds all your goals and desires. When was the last time you were able to say with complete conviction; “I DID IT!”..?