TIME MANAGEMENT IS AN OXYMORON

John Maxwell says, “Time management is an oxymoron.” Many people spend a large amount of time learning about time management. We read books, take courses, talk to people, and listen to speeches about time management. So what is the secret? What are all of these people looking for? First, we must understand that we can’t really manage time. We can’t add an hour here or borrow an hour from tomorrow so today will be longer. We can’t manage time itself.

We can, however, manage ourselves and this begins with our priorities. What is a priority in your life? What priorities will bring you closer to your dreams? If you can effectively manage and act upon your priorities, you will instantly become a better “time manager.”

Our main problem is not that we don’t have enough time; our problem is that we don’t use that time correctly. Millions of people complain about not having enough time while others, with the same amount of time, are flourishing in their lives. These people who are successful have their priorities straight. They know what must be done and they do it. They don’t watch TV when they know they should be working. They don’t sit down to eat a bag of potato chips when they know they should be working out. They don’t surf the internet when they know they should be making calls. They don’t go party when they know they should be studying.

In essence, there are two important steps along the path to becoming effective in the marketplace. The first step is knowing what must be done. This is all about having the right priorities. What are your priorities? Will your priorities guide you to the success you desire or will your lack of direction hold you back? The second step is taking action. We must take the action necessary to achieve the success we desire. Will your actions bring you towards the success you dream about or will your lack of action hold you back?

I hope you know what your priorities are. Don’t try to manage time. Instead, develop important priorities in your life. In order to know what our priorities are, we must first know what our dreams and goals are. Start reaching towards your dreams. Develop the priorities that will bring you closer to the success you dream of. Take the actions that will lead you towards your dreams. God Bless You.

MOTIVATION IS GREAT....BUT IT DOESN'T LAST

Often motivation is what gets us started. We are motivated to lose weight, to work hard, to eat healthy, to save money, to develop better relationships, or to develop a better family life. Motivation is a great tool to have, but it isn’t what keeps us going. Motivation is great to have but we can’t depend on motivation to pull us through the tough times in life. Motivation is useful, but we definitely can’t depend on others to motivate us along the path to where we want to end up. Motivation is a very useful short-term tool. What we need are long-term success tools. Two of which are habits and willingness.

Motivation gets us started; habits keep us going. Motivation is often what makes us start, but the habits in our lives will keep us going. If we develop the right habits, we will live the lives of our dreams. We simply need to take the daily steps towards our goals. We cannot procrastinate and hope for our dreams to come true. We must act. We cannot depend on short-term motivation. We must develop our own long-term habits. We cannot wait for opportunities to knock on our door. We must go out and create the life we want. We create the lives of our dreams by developing the correct habits today.

When we have the right habits in place and the willingness to act, difficult situations that arise aren’t as ominous. The willingness to act and the correct habits are a powerful combination, and often end up with success. Too often people get discouraged and quit. Too often we think barriers are bigger than they seem. Too often we forget all we need is willingness and the right habits. Develop a willingness to overcome any obstacle in your life. Develop habits that will help you achieve the life you have always wanted.

I hope you develop a willingness to succeed and bring the right habits along with. The “right” habits are different from person to person, but you must find out what they are for you. If we have the right habits, all we have to do is endure. If we have the willingness to do what it takes, endurance is not a problem. Develop a willingness to overcome any difficulty that presents itself. It is powerful when a person combines the willingness to do what is necessary with the habits that create success. The habits create the action. The willingness creates long-term internal inspiration to overcome obstacles. Develop both willingness and habits in your life and watch your dreams blossom and bloom.

GIVE YOUR BEST TO LIFE...

Give your best to life and you will get your best life in return.
Do your very best. There is nothing like a job well done. Many people have developed the philosophy of “that’s good enough.” They say it all the time. With their work, with their relationships, with their finances, and with their health. I once heard Brian Tracy say, “ ‘Good Enough’ seldom is.” So often we look at something and think it is good enough, but it is not. We have not done our best, we have given a meager effort, but we hope we can get by. We have not finished what we said we would; we just settle for where we are. We sometimes think we cannot change our future. That is what saying, “Good enough” leads to. “Good enough” leads to mediocrity and disaster.

Give life your very best. Live life to the fullest. Commit to your future and don’t settle for anything less than your best. Live an extraordinary life. Abe Lincoln said, “I do the very best I know how – the very best I can and I meant to keep on doing it until the very end.” What if everybody in our society developed that attitude? What if everybody did their absolute best? How would your community change? How would the environment at work change? How would you change if you put forth your best effort in everything you did?

We weren’t designed to live half-heartedly. We were designed to live full lives. We were designed to develop ourselves into people of greatness. We were designed to dream, hope, act, and love. That is what we are here for. We aren’t here to just take up space. We aren’t here to simply get by. We aren’t here to just settle for average. We were put here to flourish, to excel and become people of significance. None of this will happen if we settle for anything besides our best.

I hope you live life to the maximum. Live the best life you can. Don’t settle for less than your best. Don’t let difficulties slow you down along the path to your dreams. We only have one life to live. We must do the best we can with the time that we have been given to us. Life is a precious gift, don’t waste it. Some people will have small accomplishments while others live their wildest dreams. What is the difference? Those who live their dreams have taken action. What are the action steps you must take? Those who live their dreams have dealt with difficulties and faced their problems. What difficulties are holding you back? Those who live their dreams go after each day with passion and with a purpose. What is your purpose? Those who live their dreams do their very best in life. Give your best to life and you will get your best life in return.

IT IS POSSIBLE...

There are no impossible dreams; only our perception of what is possible. What do you perceive to be possible? Do you believe you will live your wildest dreams or do you put it off because you don’t think you can accomplish them? Do you set big goals with an expectancy to hit them or do you just drift through life hoping someday your live will become perfect? Do you expect big things from yourself or do you just settle for mediocrity? Reach for those seemingly impossible dreams and make them a reality.

What do you think is possible for yourself and your future? If you believe something is impossible, it will be impossible…for you. If you think something is possible, it will be possible for you. What we accomplish in life depends on what we believe as much as what we do. We must take action in our lives to live our dreams, but we must also believe that action is worthwhile. If we believe we are trying to solve an impossible equation, we will eventually give up. If we know someday we will succeed, we will persist, we will endure, we will be resilient, and we will put in the work necessary. Believe you will succeed. Believe you will live your dreams.

Life is about so much more than just waiting around, hoping something great will happen. Many people live their lives waiting for the opportunity to knock on their door, not realizing the door is open and the opportunity is waiting for us to walk outside and meet it. Don’t wait for something to come across your path. Don’t let yourself get caught up in what you think might be impossible. Set big goals and go after them! Go after them with a determination that you will overcome any obstacle, that you will defeat adversity, that you will make the impossible possible.

I hope you believe you can create an amazing life. Don’t let yourself get bogged down by what seems improbable. Improbable is not impossible. The small minded people thought flight was impossible while it was simply improbable. Some thought running a four-minute-mile was impossible until one person accomplished that feat and opened a door for many others to accomplish it as well. What seems impossible in your life? What is simply improbable? What is possible? It is possible to accomplish your biggest goals. Finish the next sentence for yourself. It is possible for me to… It is possible to live your wildest dreams. What goals have you thought were impossible? It is possible to … It is possible... Go after life. Nothing is impossible if you believe. It is possible to create and live an extraordinary life! God Bless You!

WHAT DREAMS ARE YOU WORKING TOWARDS???

We all need to look forward to the future. In ten days I will be living a huge dream of mine by touring Italy with my amazing wife. From the canals of Venice to the art-covered Florence to picturesque Cinque Terre to the leaning tower of Pisa to majestic Rome. I have been looking forward to this trip for two years. During difficult moments, I have thought of the great times I will have in Italy. One thing that allowed me to endure through the difficulties and the disappointment is looking forward to the future I was creating . I promised my wife and myself that we would go to Italy when I hit Hall of Fame. The hard work has paid off. The long days were worth it. I hit my goal. I am glad I took the necessary sacrifices.

Are you making the necessary sacrifices today so you can live the life of your dreams? Are you putting in the work today so you can see your dreams come to fruition? Are you doing what’s necessary in order to live the life you have always wanted? One great way to make sure we do these things is not to just have goals to hit, but dreams to accomplish. Not just any ordinary dreams. Big dreams. What are your big dreams? Go to Italy. Tour Paris. See the pyramids. Walk the Great Wall. Visit ancient ruins. See Stonehenge. Dream big dreams and tie them into your current goals. I wanted to hit Hall of Fame, and I really wanted to go to Italy. Tie your goals into your dreams together.

I have accomplished more dreams in the past three years than in the summation of the previous years I was on this planet. I took three steps to accomplish this. First, I wrote down my dreams. All of them. I now have more than three hundred dreams in twelve different categories. What are your dreams? Second, I tied my dreams into my goals. I looked at my dreams and figured which of them I could accomplish in a certain period of time if I worked hard and overcame the obstacles. Because of this I have taken fourteen vacations in the past three years. I tied my vacation dreams (and many other types of dreams) into my goals. Have you written down your dreams? Third, I looked at my dreams and my goals often. So often we get discouraged. So often we get sidetracked. Keep your goals in front of you. Keep your dreams in front of you. Let your dreams encourage you to persist. Let your dreams help you to endure. Don’t let distractions affect your resolve and your effort.

I hope you realize you can change your life. Realize the fact that you can live the life of your dreams. Start today. Intertwine your goals and your dreams. We should all have dreams we are reaching for so when we run into difficulty, we can look toward the future. At times, it seemed like my dreams wouldn’t come true. At times, it seemed like I wouldn’t hit my big goals. I sometimes doubted myself. I doubted my abilities. But I never doubted my resolve. I never doubted my passion for my dreams. I never doubted the fact that I could change my life. Dream big dreams. Write them down. Keep them with you. Tie a bond so strong between your goals and your dreams that no matter what obstacles get in your way, they will never break through. Create the life of your dreams. God Bless You.

DARE MIGHTY THINGS

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” Don’t hold back on life. Don’t wait until the opportunity presents itself. I heard somebody call recession “a time of opportunity.” Some are taking this opportunity to save money, to work hard, to gain skills and knowledge, and to look forward to the future while creating a solid foundation. Others are just hoping times will improve. Don’t just hope. Do something about the situation!

Those who just hope for things to get better are those who “live in the gray twilight.” They sit around hoping for their surroundings to improve. They hope for the economy to improve. They wait until the phone rings. Those who are on the path to success don’t care what the economy is doing; they work hard and improve themselves either way. They create their future. Even though their lives are “checkered with failure,” they “dare mighty things” and eventually “win glorious triumphs.”

What kind of a person are you? Do you sit around hoping taxes will go down and the economy will improve? The great business philosopher Jim Rohn talks about when he was young, he used to say, “Things are too expensive.” His mentor responded, “Things are not too expensive, you just can’t afford them.” Up until then, Jim hoped the economy would get better and that prices would go down. Once he realized things weren’t too expensive, and the fact that he couldn’t afford them, he started working on himself instead of complaining about the economy. We can’t change the economy but we can have a major impact on our own lives!

I hope you start working on yourself and not worry about what the state of the economy is. Yes, we should know what is going on in our nation, but we cannot let that deter us from creating the life of our dreams. The great basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Don’t let making a living interfere with making a life.” If your main focus is simply making a living, that’s all you will do, you’ll just survive. If you are focused on creating the life of your dreams and work hard towards that, your dreams will come true. What are you focused on? What dreams drive you? Are you willing to put in the work to live the life of your dreams? Are you going to focus on what you can affect or are you going to complain about the economy? Let others complain while you take action. Let others whine while you work hard. Let others gripe about their lives while you are living a great life. Create the life of your dreams. Create the life you want. “Dare mighty things”. Understand your life will be “checkered with failures.” Then “win glorious triumphs.” Create the life of your dreams. God Bless You!

TODAY'S LABOR CREATES TOMORROW'S FRUIT

What are you doing today to create the future of your dreams? There are many people out there who hope their lives will improve, not realizing they need to go out there and change their own lives. If we want to have a great future, we need to create a great day today. We need to go out into the world and create our dreams. We can’t just hope for our dreams to come true. We must take the initiative in our lives. We must take action in our lives. We cannot wait for tomorrow. Today is what’s important. Create a great day today.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “The future depends on what we do in the present.” If you don’t take care of today, you can’t expect tomorrow to be great. If you haven’t taken care of your past, you shouldn’t be baffled as to why you aren’t living the life you want to live today. Many people say they will wait until tomorrow. They say they will wait until the perfect time. They say they will wait until the time is right. Those who are successful create the right time to act, while those who are unsuccessful are waiting for the right time to happen.

Become a person who creates the right time to act. Become a person who will take action when others won’t. Become a person who doesn’t procrastinate. Become a person who takes the necessary actions today instead of waiting until tomorrow. Become a person who is resilient despite the difficulties in life. Become a person who is perseverant. We can’t truly expect to live the lives of our dreams if we wait until tomorrow to act upon what is necessary.

I hope you take action today. Become a person who is in constant pursuit of your dreams. Your dreams wait until you take the necessary amount of action. They won’t appear out of nowhere. Action must come first. Nothing great was ever accomplished without action. Nothing great was built without action. You cannot become a person of greatness without action. You cannot live the life of your dreams if you don’t take action. It is hard to read that last sentence, but it is true. You will not live the life of your dreams if you don’t actively pursue those dreams. Pursue your dreams. Take action today. Do what is necessary. Soon enough, with enough action and perseverance, you will be enjoy the fruits of your labor in the land of your dreams.