Monday, April 23, 2007
Maximizing your potential is all about making your dreams come true.Every year, millions of people make resolutions this time of the year that they have no intention of keeping. Oh, we all start strong, but a month into the year, we stopped working out, started smoking again, or remained in that dead end job. We become discouraged and depressed at our failure. Instead of making a false promise to myself, I started thinking about what it takes to Make my Dreams Comer True in 2007. Because the only way to Maximize our Potential is by achieving our authentic dreams.Remember when we were small children, no more than five, or six. Think about the dreams we had. We wanted to be so many different things. Remember how vivid and real those dreams were. We just knew they were going to happen. Let’s look at where we are today. What happened to our ability to dream big? Or is it trapped; trapped by fear, conditioning, and doubt, a lack of confidence or imagination. I’m going to challenge you to Make Your Dreams Come True. To be that five year old again, and see all the amazing places you can go.
Now, if you were like me when you were that age, you never went to school without the necessities. That might have been a lunch box, pencils, notebook, and most importantly, a big eraser!!! Remember those erasers? They were much bigger than our pencils, because we knew we would make many mistakes along the way. That’s an important tip as we start dreaming big, don’t shoot for perfection. If we try to be perfect, we will never get started. When we were toddlers, we certainly did not begin walking as experts. It is the same with living our dreams. We just have to go out there and do it!!!
So here are some of the necessities you need to Make Your Dreams Come True. These are not in any particular order, because I believe we must constantly come back to each piece as we move along our journey.
Determination: Sweat is the fuel that makes dreams go. There will be many obstacles, and challenges to making our dreams a reality. We have to have an approach that nothing will stop us from accomplishing our dreams!!! Leonardo da Vinci, a great dreamer once said “Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.” What was written hundreds of years ago is still true today. Let me sum it up this way: How bad do you really want it? If you are presented with a hypothetical brick wall, will you stop, or find a way through it?
Realization: What I’m talking about is taking action. Anne Frank tells us, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Dreams without action are a waste. Dreams that are minimized because of our own self limiting ideas are a sin. It is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to make our dreams come true. As amazing as it sounds, the common thread all successful people have is that the DID something!!! We will all have at least several ideas throughout our lives that could make us millionaires. Consider this: How would you become a millionaire with that dream? By servicing people, we have within us a gift that will benefit others. Friends, our dreams are not given to us to make us rich, that is a by product. Our dreams are given to us to provide a service to other people!!! Can you imagine if T.D. Jakes didn’t follow his dream? What would it have cost him? Now what would it cost us?
Excellence: Imagine if you will: You take your family to Disney World, and receive terrible service. All the rides are in disrepair, the employees are short tempered. The air conditioning does not work, and they charge you double, while refusing to refund you for your experience. Does that even sound plausible to anyone? No!!! It doesn’t because of Walt Disney’s dreams. Even well after his time here has expired, his vision is growing around the world. And folks, that’s an amusement park. Can you imagine your dreams being spread around the world? With your seeds of hope, joy, and promise being spread like wildfire? So, if we have a dream, have decided to act on it, we have to make a commitment to ourselves and others to put our all into it. You cannot leave your dream half fulfilled, just because it’s hard. Because it’s hard is what makes it worth doing. Aristotle tells us, “We are what we do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Get into the habit of making your dreams excel we beyond you’re your wildest dreams.
Aim: One of the best ways we can get the most from the energy we have is to FOCUS it. That is what goals can do for us; concentrate our energy.” We have to focus with laser precision on what we believe our dreams are. My personal experience is that I did not successfully start moving forward as a speaker until I saw myself as a speaker, and more importantly, narrowed my speaking focus. I remember asking myself what I was supposed to talk about. I expected the heavens to open up, see a burning bush, have an angel come from on high…etc. But it didn’t happen like that at all. Instead, my mentor Bob Yates, call me the Potential Coach after hearing me speak. That did it!!! Once I recognized my passion is helping people get the absolute most they can from their Potential, everything else quickly fell into place. The next step was to write down what my mission was, and put together a plan. From there a business was developed. Which led to seminars and speaking opportunities. It all came together. And all this happened because I narrowed my focus.
This also has the benefit of keeping the naysayers at bay. Naysayers are people that intentionally or unintentionally attempt to kill dreams. They can be friends, family, spouses, coworkers, teachers, etc. They are the poison to your life’s pursuits. They may be in your inner circle, and they are killing your dreams. They say well meaning things like, “John, you’ve never did very well in high school. You won’t make it in college.” Or, “Sally, why would you quit that great job to start your own business. Most small businesses fail in the first year.” You cannot be moved off your dream if you have a roadmap of your dreams. It is like building a wall of protection around you. To that point, let’s talk about the people in our inner circles. I cannot overstate the importance of being around like minded people. For example, a friend and fellow speaker, Thomas Pierce, and I started having breakfast once a week to keep a connection between us to help move our speaking careers forward. He recognized that would have a better chance of accomplishing our dreams by being around people with similar ideals. This was valuable, because it created an environment to grow our dreams.
Also, you must have a MENTOR to sharpen your aim. Mentors are invaluable to helping your dreams become reality. There are many different types, some personal, and some you may never meet. I took the time to personally mentor with Bill Bailey, who has mentored Les Brown, Jim Rohn, Dr. Stan Harris and many others. But I’ve also been mentored by many others by listening to CD’s, reading books, and attending seminars. But keep this in mind, great mentors are very serious about their area of interest. If you aren’t serious about Maximizing the Potential of your dreams,
Mindset: Let me tell you about how having the right attitude can help you accomplish your dreams. Some time ago, I was reading USA Today about a young woman who grew up in Compton. The article stated, “Growing up in Compton, Calif., the second oldest of four children, she was taught there are no barriers in life, that dreams can come true if you are disciplined, dedicated and determined enough to chase them.” She played sports in school, and was very good in basketball. She went to college, and was the starting point guard for three years straight, as well as an All American. She led her school to NCAA Division II championships. While in college she mentioned that her coach was a MENTOR to her. After college, she still yearned for the game, and took up officiating in her spare time. After a while, her hobby became her vocation. Through hard work, she excelled, which lead her to the top, in her opinion, of her career, eventually officiating for the Women NCAA Final Four Tournament. She was spotted there and asked to join the NBA as an official. Now 9 years later, Violet Palmer is the only female official in the NBA. Last year she became the first woman to officiate an NBA playoff game.
Here are a couple of quotes from Violet, "The NBA was never my goal because I thought it was unattainable. I was a college referee. I was the No. 3 referee in the world for women basketball. I had everything. The Final Four and big TV games, all the limelight I wanted. But my personality is if you give me a challenge, I am going to take it. In the back of my mind, I said, it does not cost me anything. I can just try it. If nothing happens, the training will be good."
Also, she says, “You have got to pay your dues. ... When the opportunity knocks, you have got to be ready, and I am ready."
Friends, you never know where your dreams will take you, but by following your dreams, you are sure to be on the path to Maximizing your Potential.
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