Have you noticed how a plastic grocery bag flies by the side of the road? The wind from passing cars tosses it into the air according to the direction the car is traveling. The bag has no control of its movements; it travels by the external forces of the air currents. It ends up where the wind determines.

We need not be subject to the winds of external forces. We have the freedom to choose our destinations. Don’t we?

Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don’t. We often allow ourselves to be swept along by life, rather than proactively choosing our paths. We need to passionately pursue what we want.

Early in our lives, we develop lofty dreams. Thoreau calls them “castles in the air.” We see ourselves becoming physicians, lawyers, famous authors, and we have many other beautiful dreams of happiness and achievement.

But, as life kicks us around a bit, we lower our expectations, and begin to settle for what we have become. We cede control like the plastic bag—tossed by the winds of adversity and challenge and deposited by the side of the road that would have led to our dreams.

Deliberate Living

Jim Rohn has said,

“If you don’t have a plan (goals) for what you want, then you will probably find yourself buying into someone else’s plan and later find out that wasn’t the direction you wanted to go. You’ve got to be the architect of your life.”

Before the builders of a massive office structure begin construction, architects spend months in designing every detail. They discuss functionality, beauty, local ordinances and make detailed plans for the building’s construction.

They produce blueprints that detail the physical structure, the ventilation and electrical systems. They consult with interior designers to create the finest arrangement for beauty and function possible.

Contrast that office building with a young boy building a tree house. He dreams of a place he can go to be alone-a secluded, secret place. He imagines a wonderful “castle in the air.” But, rarely do young men plan the details of such a structure. He may find a board and nail it up on a limb. Next, he finds some masonite, which he nails next to the board. As he finds materials, he adds them to his little structure. Without planning, his castle becomes less than a shack.

We do that with our lives. We take what comes, try to find a way to use it in our lives, and settle for what comes our way. Rather than planning what we will become, we settle for what comes to us.

We may have striven to reach our dreams and because of opposition and trial, chosen to give up on them.

Road Construction Analogy

If you were on your way to work and found barricades indicating that your usual route has been closed for construction, what would you do? Give up and go home? Go somewhere else? Of course not, you would find another route to your destination.

We will often find barricades blocking our way toward our dreams. But, too often we give up and find another destination. Rather than changing our dreams, I suggest that we should change our route to our dreams. Find another way to get there. Make a new plan. The blueprints may change, but the basis of our dreams need not.

Napoleon Hill, in his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, relates the story of R. U. Darby’s case of “gold fever.” Young Darby staked a claim in California’s gold fields, working hard with pick and shovel to discover a vein. After weeks of labor, he found what he sought. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. He traveled back to the East and raised money from friends and relatives to purchase the needed equipment.

He excavated carloads of rich ore that proved he had hit pay dirt. However, shortly the vein of golden ore disappeared. He moved around his field, drilling and searching—to no avail.

Finally, he gave up, selling his machinery to a junk dealer. Now, the junk dealer called a mining engineer to study the abandoned mine and assess its value.

The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the Darby had quit too soon. He had stopped drilling just three feet from the true vein.

That junk man took millions of dollars in ore from Darby’s abandoned mine!

We need not settle. We can live our dreams. We need a plan.

Selected quotes:
“When you know what you want, and you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it.” Jim Rohn

“I used to say, ‘I sure hope things will change.’ Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change.” Jim Rohn

“Roger Bannister didn’t break the four minute mile one day when he was just out for a jog. He planned, prepared, and made it happen.” David DeFord

I Dare You

I dare you to stay motivated and focused on your goals for four months.

In fact, I’ll help.

Discover the power of sharing your strivings with friends who support and assist you.

The challenge will begin April 1.

Most people do really well with their goals in the first week, but they begin to lose steam in the weeks and months that follow. Maintaining enthusiasm for major changes can prove very difficult.

I’m starting season two of the Goal Friends Challenge to tackle this problem. We’ll help each other stay motivated. We’ll help each other develop meaningful goals, make effective plans to reach them, and keep each other focused on their attainment.

What do you want to do?

• Improve your finances
• Lose weight
• Stop smoking
• Deepen your spirituality
• Improve sales
• Read more
• Exercise consistently
• Get out of debt

No matter what goals you choose, you will succeed beyond any past achievements by leveraging the power of Goal Friends.

• Craft stronger goals
• Build and keep to an implementation plan
• Use the power of Gold and Silver Days to stay focused
• Stay motivated even when it gets tough
• Participate in a team with other strivers
• Receive daily reminders
• Feel the pride of finally accomplishing a long-held goal
• Develop new, more positive habits
• Enjoy individual and team recognition
• Overcome challenges that have always inhibited you
• Take responsibility for your own success
• Apply what you learn in this challenge to help you every year

The Goal Friends Challenge will last four months.

• We’ll begin with a kick-off conference call to help you get a powerful start.
• Next, you’ll join a team of Goal Friends who are striving for similar goals.
• You will create your goals based on the Good and Great Day approach. Your team members will help you strengthen your goals definitions.
• You’ll receive weekly challenges to keep you focused.
• You’ll have some form of daily contact with your team members via: e-mail, phone, social media, blog, or whatever method you and your team choose.
• You will report your progress to your team every day.
• Weekly you’ll see how you’re doing compared to your goal friends.

Conference calls will be held the week of March 12. You can choose to participate in one of the calls.

We can do this. YOU CAN DO THIS!

I’ll cut off registration at twenty, so don’t wish and wait; act and achieve.

The minimal cost of $60 to participate can be sent by check or Paypal (dwdeford@yahoo.com) to David DeFord, 13964 Margo Street, Omaha, NE 68138.

You can also pay with ITEX to my account 3178621008540.

Checks need to be received before your kick-off meeting invitation will be sent to you.

Want to participate for free?

Form your own team by recruiting four more Goal Friends, collect their $60, pay the $240 in one transaction, and you join for free.

The minimal cost of $60 to participate can be sent by check or Paypal (dwdeford@yahoo.com) to David DeFord, 13964 Margo Street, Omaha, NE 68138.

You can also pay with ITEX to my account 3178621008540.

Checks need to be received before your kick-off meeting invitation will be sent to you.

This will change everything.

I believe in prayer. I have practiced it for most of my life. In prayer there is great power. As we sincerely voice our desires to our Heavenly Father, we receive power beyond our own abilities.

Through prayer, we can discover the best approaches to our goals. We can also receive strength and resolve not natural to ourselves.

I do not, however, suggest you recite some prayer you heard as a child, nor do I suggest you repeat the Lord’s Prayer. Instead, I suggest you pour out your heart in earnest seeking. Tell God what you want and why you want it. Explain who is counting on you, and the plan you have developed.

Then listen.

I mean really listen. Listen to your feelings and thoughts. Our Heavenly Father will plant into your thoughts and feelings suggested modifications to your plan, and a new resolve to follow them.

He knows you better than you do. He knows the bear traps you are apt to step into. He knows where your strengths lie. And He will help you.

I speak from experience, and know that this is true.

Excerpted from Ordinary People Can Achieve the Extraordinary by David DeFord

“Are you on the Notre Dame football team this year?” the judge asked.

“Yes, Your Honor.” “What position?” “Center, Your Honor.” “How good a center?”

Szymanski squirmed in his seat, but said firmly: “Sir, I’m the best center Notre Dame has ever had.”

Coach Frank Leahy, who was in the courtroom, was surprised. Szymanski always had been modest and unassuming. So when the proceedings were over, he took Szymanski aside and asked why he had made such a statement. Szymanski blushed.

“I hated to do it, Coach,” he said. “But, after all, I was under oath.” I observe two lessons from Szymanski’s story.

First, confidence spawns great achievement. We are more likely to strive and succeed if we feel we can do it.

This confidence does not come automatically—we must develop it. This is especially true if we hear continuous messages from others that we will fail.
In the face of such negative messages, we must refuse to allow them to thwart our efforts. Such external voices must be quieted and we must tune our ears to our internal feelings of confidence.

The second lesson I learn from Szymanski is that we need not trumpet our confidence in our abilities to make them effective. Frank felt he was the best. But he displayed modesty. Yet, when pressed to tell the whole truth, he firmly told it like he saw it.

When we are humble, yet confident we make believers of those around us. Their doubts turn into trust. They will begin to believe it too. They will stop sending you negative messages, but will begin to express their confidence in you.

Confidence counts. I challenge you to work on yours. I’m working on mine.

——————————————————————————–

Quotes

My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces. Wilma Rudolph

Confidence….thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them, it cannot live. Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome. William James

In God’s eyes, nobody is a nobody. We should never lose sight of what we may become and who we are. Marvin J. Ashton

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. Mark Twain

Live by this creed and you will improve every area of your life.

Discover the power of sharing your strivings with friends who support and assist you.

We do really well with our goals in the first week, but we begin to lose steam in the weeks and months that follow. Maintaining our enthusiasm for major changes can prove very difficult.

I’m getting some groups together to tackle this problem. We’ll help each other stay motivated. We’ll help each other develop meaningful goals, make effective plans to reach them, and keep each other focused on their attainment.

What do you want to do?

• Improve your finances
• Lose weight
• Stop smoking
• Deepen your spirituality
• Improve sales
• Read more
• Exercise consistently

No matter what goals you choose, you will succeed beyond any past achievements by leveraging the power of Goal Friends.

• Craft stronger goals
• Build and keep to an implementation plan
• Use the power of Good and Great Days to stay focused
• Stay motivated even when it gets tough
• Participate in a team with other strivers
• Receive daily reminders
• Feel the pride of finally accomplishing a long-held goal
• Develop new, more positive habits
• Enjoy individual and team recognition
• Overcome challenges that have always inhibited you
• Take responsibility for your own success
• Apply what you learn in this challenge to help you every year

The Goal Friends Challenge will last four months.

We’ll begin with a kick-off conference call to help you get a powerful start.

Next, you’ll join a team of Goal Friends who are striving for similar goals.

You will create your goals based on the Good and Great Day approach. Your team members will help you strengthen your goals definitions.

You’ll receive weekly challenges to keep you focused.

You’ll have some form of daily contact with your team members via: e-mail, phone, social media, blog, or whatever method you and your team choose.

You will report your progress to your team every Monday.

By Wednesday, you’ll see how your team is doing in the competition, and you’ll see how you rank with others.

We can do this. YOU CAN DO THIS!

I’ll cut off registration at twenty, so don’t wish and wait; act and achieve.

The minimal cost of $60 to participate can be sent by check or Paypal (dwdeford@yahoo.com) to David DeFord, 13964 Margo Street, Omaha, NE 68138.

You can also pay with ITEX to my account 3178621008540.

Checks need to be received before your kick-off meeting invitation will be sent to you.

Want to participate for free?

Form your own team by recruiting four more Goal Friends, collect their $60, pay the $240 in one transaction, and you join for free.

Get Free Bonuses

If you register by January 8th, you will receive 12 bonus e-books worth $275.

You’ll get the following PDF e-books you can read on your e-book reader, smart phone or computer:

• As a Man Thinketh, James Allen
• Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill
• The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles
• Ordinary People Can Achieve Their Lofty Goals, David DeFord
• I Wish to Be Useful, David DeFord
• Make Your Life a Masterpiece, David DeFord
• Ordinary People Can Achieve the Extraordinary, David DeFord
• 1000 Brilliant Achievement Quotes, David DeFord
• 1000 Brilliant Leadership Quotes, David DeFord
• Where Seldom Is Heard a Discouraging Word, David DeFord
• Conversations with Millionaires, Mike Litman
• A Life on Fire, Healthy, Wealth, n Wise

The minimal cost of $60 to participate can be sent by check or Paypal(dwdeford@yahoo.com) to David DeFord, 13964 Margo Street, Omaha, NE 68138.

You can also pay with ITEX to my account 3178621008540.

Checks need to be received before your kick-off meeting invitation will be sent to you.

This will change everything.

I’m building a “Winners’ Creed” and would love for you to help me construct it. Here’s what I have so far:

Most people let their employers control their jobs; winners own their careers.
Most people wish and wait; winners act and achieve.
Most people blame; winners take responsibility.
Most people hope for opportunities; winners prepare for them.
Most people give up on their dreams; not you–you’re a winner.

If you have ideas, serious or not, just comment on this blog.

It usually just takes a little thought and a few small actions to turn the good into the excellent.

Des Moines, Iowa
I expected dull and drab. I was “Wow’ed” with the information. It was wonderful! Loni

Omaha, Nebraska
Had great tips! I’m excited to share with employees things I learned. Very informative and enjoyable. Jennifer

Enjoyed it! The best seminar I have ever attended. I needed this. Angie

David did a great job! I learned wonderful tools to help give better customer service. David was wonderful. Very informative and entertaining. Time flew by very quickly. Melissa

Had a great day!! It was fun and informative. Lisa

I’ve been to many customer service classes, but this has been the most enjoyable, with key points on how to make me a better customer service representative. Ronald

I’ve been in customer service 20+ years and came away with some valuable, workable tools. I enjoyed the day very much. Time flew by. Linda