The Ultimate Investment

I've always heard the saying, "When a student is ready a teacher will come." This is true. There are teachers all around us. Everything we see, everything we do contains a lesson. The next time you notice something interesting, stop and ponder. Ask yourself what you can learn from what you just noticed. Then sit quietly.  Pretty soon the lesson will come. For example: I once got up early in the morning to watch the sunrise. Across the pasture sitting on fence posts I saw two large, majestic birds spreading their wings to bathe in the early dawn light. They were beautiful. Awe inspiring. On   >> [Read the rest of the post]

I recently attended the funeral of a friend who’d suffered an accidental death.  Prior to the funeral there was a viewing where friends and relatives could offer condolences to the surviving family.  This friend left a wife and five children.  Two of the children are grown and married with children of their own.  He also left parents and two brothers. While waiting in line to speak with the family, there was a slideshow playing on a large screen showing images of this man’s life.  There were scenes of family horse rides, family gatherings, family photos and scenes of him coaching football   >> [Read the rest of the post]

Lisa thought she would enjoy being in business, so as she attended a university, she declared business as her major.  She graduated with her bachelor's degree and wasn't quite settled with what she finally wanted to end up doing, so she started going for a master's degree in business.  One semester away from graduating she realized she really didn't enjoy business at all.  In fact, as she thought about it, the real reason she went into business was because she felt she would make more money when she graduated.  That was probably true, but she finally realized making money wouldn't bring   >> [Read the rest of the post]

Sharon had saved up for a long time to go on a special vacation to Hawaii.  She'd figured out her whole itinerary.  Everything she wanted to see and do was planned out to the minute.  When she got there, she rushed from site to site, activity to activity, trying to get everything done she'd planned.  Before she knew it, the trip was over, and she was exhausted and unhappy.  She hadn't enjoyed it a bit.  Being so intense on doing everything she'd planned kept her from achieving the real purpose for which she went . . .  to relax and have a   >> [Read the rest of the post]

Walt Disney suffered a near nervous breakdown just as he was reaching a pivotal point in his career.  At that point, on the advice of his doctors, he took time off and got completely away from his work, leaving it in other’s hands (a thing he had struggled doing before).  He had to relinquish a great amount of control over his empire in order for him to retain his health.  But in the end, it proved to be a great blessing.  He was able to let go of many things and instead leverage the creative abilities of his team members   >> [Read the rest of the post]

Sarah was the director of training for a group of over 120 volunteers.  During that time she would routinely work with regional directors to set production goals with each individual volunteer they were responsible for.  She soon saw that about twelve percent of the volunteers really took goal setting seriously.   Those who set realistic goals, and diligently strived to achieve them were four times more successful than the average volunteer.  In fact, that twelve percent consistently produced over sixty percent of the organization's entire success. Goals have an amazing power to focus your life towards reaching your dreams.

The Old Testament teaches:  "Where there is no vision, the people perish:" (Proverbs 29:18) There are as many ways to realize your dreams as your imagination can create.  Obviously, some routes are better than others.  But like building a house, or taking a long vacation, to get the most out of it, you need a detailed plan, or a vision, of where it is you'd eventually like to end up.  The best way to do this is through the process of setting goals. Before you groan, because you've heard all your life about the importance of setting goals, and maybe tried it   >> [Read the rest of the post]

Kirk was a college English professor, but his love was writing science fiction.  He taught during the day, and in his off hours wrote short stories.  He's sold a few, but hasn't really hit the big time yet.  He doesn't stop.  No matter the amount of money, he's doing what he loves. Not making large amounts of money shouldn't stop you from Doing what you love.  If you are taking care of your responsibilities, the fulfillment of your life's dream will be compensation enough.  Who's to say it won't eventually yield results.  John Grisham, a rather small time lawyer dreamed of writing   >> [Read the rest of the post]

In order to follow your dream, you may have to let go of what you're already doing.  It may feel like jumping off a cliff hoping that you'll land safely.  That's pretty scary.  But this isn't really what you're going to do.  You may have heard the phrase, "You need to risk big in order to win big."  But you needn't risk big at all.  You should go about reaching for your dreams in a responsible way.  Taking risks may still be part of your dream, but you needn't take unnecessary risk. Scott was a self taught artist who loved to   >> [Read the rest of the post]

While in his senior year of college, Shawn took an afternoon and wrote down all that he'd like to do with his life.  He tried to be as specific as possible, yet general enough to allow for the inevitable changes life would bring.  And besides, he knew he was young and really didn't know all that he'd like to be doing with the rest of his life, but he did know the things he'd definitely like to be doing. As the years passed by, he was amazed at what he was able to do, and how good it felt to follow   >> [Read the rest of the post]