It is a wonderful thing to dream, but it’s an even better thing to act upon those dreams. Throughout my life I’ve dreamed of a certain lifestyle, certain freedoms and the chance to do the extraordinary, but it wasn’t until after college that I realized dreams were just realities waited to be acted upon. This realization changed my life, up until about 21 I’d always assumed that you could dream but life happened to you regardless. This couldn’t be further from the truth and as I ‘wake up’ more and more from the fog of ‘the real world’ I see that your life can be as big as you dream it but your dreams can only be as big as you are willing to act upon.

This is actually reason for celebration, it means you don’t have to wake up everyday and think ‘what will life hand me today’ instead you can literally happen to life, all it takes are baby steps. The way I act upon my dreams is three fold, I’ll explain my ‘action plan’ below:

1. Quantify the dream. Don’t say ‘I want to be rich and happy’ you must find ways to measure how rich and what ‘happiness’ looks like. So when you have a dream immediately put it onto paper and force yourself to quantify it. Now ‘I want to be rich and happy’ turns into ‘I want to have $100,000 in the bank in 2 years and I want to have met and married my dream girl’.
2. Map out the dream. So now that you know what ‘rich’ and ‘happy’ look like you can start to draw a plan (the more detailed the better) to get there. If you are driving somewhere you’ve never been you’d be a fool to not have a map (or mapquest) so why in life if you are heading towards a goal you’ve never achieved before would you leave the specifics to chance? It’s foolish, and more important it’s laziness masking itself with titles like ‘carefree’. So now assess your life as it stands, say you are working a job that pays $12 an hour part time, you aren’t going to get to your monetary goal this way so it’s time to change course. Develop an action plan based on what you like to do and what could possibly bring in extra income, then follow that plan to the T. What helps me is reading success stories, it not only inspires you but helps get your creative juices flowing about the hows of your specific goal. Secondly you want to meet and marry your dream girl, well if your single right now – or not with your dream girl – you’ll have to change course fast. Start meeting new people, go to a match maker, check out a dating site, ask your friends to set you up and actively search out the girl of your dreams vs. waiting on ‘chance’.
3. Live the dream. Now as you act every day on these goals it is time to live ‘as if’, this means reminding yourself all the time of what your life will look like in 2 years and why you are going for those goals. It means not worry about finances or finding the right girl anymore because you know deep down in 2 years time you’ll be there. Thinking as if is a vital part of reaching your goals but must be paired with quantification and mapping out your dream… if it isn’t you aren’t ‘living as if’ your delusional

Now it’s time for you to act, comment below on at least one of your dreams and quantify it. In a month or so come back and reply with any progress you’ve made, this social pressure alone will help you push yourself out of your comfort zone and into the land of the living. It is time to seize your dreams, it’s time to stop moping and stop making excuses – nothing is impossible when you pair an ardent dream with incredible action.

1. BECOME PASSIONATE
   If you are really going to change your lifestyle and start LIVING, then you are going to have to become passionate. No more straddling the fence there, Buster. It is time to commit to your dream, to that vision of how you want to live.When I became passionate and put real emotion behind my dreams, I went from that guy who was always going to do something, to the guy who HAD DONE SOMETHING.

   I’m sure you have heard people say that you need to find what you are passionate about and then pursue it. That’s great for finding a way to make an income, but if you don’t have passion for very much, you won’t achieve anything beyond that. You need to become passionate about the vision of the life you want. Do you want a new red sports car? Then get passionate about it.

2. START READING
   The lazy man of mediocrity sits in front of his TV and absorbs. There is a reason it is called the “Boob Tube”. If you want to grow and live a successful lifestyle, it is time to start reading and educating yourself. I never really liked to read, but my mentor always told me it doesn’t matter if you like to read or not, you just need to do it. Commit to read at least 30 minutes a day.But what to read? Check out my book list here for starters. Also, start seeking out websites and blogs on what you’re trying to achieve.  Not only do I read books on entrepreneurship, personal development, finances and investing, but I also read blogs on these subjects.

   But that’s not all, I read travel blogs and magazines too, because that goes back to step 1 and fuels my passion for how I want to live my life and what I want to do.

3. STOP COMPLAINING
   Seriously, stop complaining about your boss. Stop complaining about your spouse. Stop complaining about the government and everything else you whine about. Do you know who complains? LOSERS COMPLAIN. If you make up your mind to stop complaining and only notice the positive around you, you’ll notice a huge improvement in your attitude and in the circumstances of your life.
4. START DOING
   Doers get things done. Don’t wait for other people. Get out there and take action! Stop waiting for lady luck and make it happen yourself. It is that simple. If you want to change your life, then you are going to have to start taking action. That’s how I did it, and that’s what you need to do.Idleness will lead to nothing.
5. GET OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
   If you are comfortable where you are at you will be stagnate. The only thing in nature that is stagnate is a swamp. Everything else is either growing or dying. So what are you doing? If you want to grow, you will have to get outside of your comfort zone.I learned this while rock climbing this summer, hanging onto the side of a cliff a thousand feet up, going well outside my comfort zone. Every time that my mind wanted to give up, I’d push myself and find that I was capable of more than my mind wanted to believe.  Every time that I retreated and failed to push myself, giving up, I have regretted.For example, if you are afraid of being around a large crowd of people, then you NEED to hang around a large crowd of people until you are comfortable. You grow the most when you are outside your comfort zone.
6. START LIVING
   Quit your job if you have to. You only get one life. Why waste your life? You need to start living! Start doing some of the things you dream of doing. You don’t have to do all of them at once, and maybe some of them require you to be more well off. Start small and work your way up towards your goals.Trust me, you aren’t living while working in a cubical 60 hours a week hoping for the weekend. That is not what we were created to do. That is not a life.

So that’s it. If you want to live an awesome life start there. I’ll share more insights as time goes on.

This is not just an ancient proverb stuffed into an old book, it is a reality of life. A well thought out vision defines where you want to go and what you want to achieve. It is more than just setting some goals and writing them down. It is a clear mental picture of how you will live, how you will accomplish those goals, and what life will be like when you get there.

Think of Martin Luther King, casting his vision of a day when whites and blacks would sit down at the table of humanity together, equal. His passion, his drive were complete evidence of his clarity of vision. His clarity of vision was shared before thousands, and it moved those masses to change this nation for the better.

Having a clear vision provides meaning to the day-to-day challenges and setbacks that make up the rumble and tumble of real life. When times are tough, vision usually is the first casualty. We take our focus off the vision and look at the circumstances around us instead. When you lose sight of the vision, don’t be surprised if you lose most, if not all, sight of your goals. When this happens, you not only fail to accomplish them, you are stuck right back where you started from.

Think back to a race of people who were bound in slavery for generations. Along comes one man, claiming to be a prophet of God, asking for the people to believe in the freedom and promised land given to them. The people believe, especially after marveling at the plagues and curses that come down upon their masters. Countless trials and adversities are faced, and each time that the people moan and complain, losing sight of the vision, they are given another chance. Forty years later, they arrive at the Promised Land. But wait! There are dangerous enemies occupying the land! Again, the people lost sight. It cost them their lives. They were once again forced to wander the desert for forty years until every person who had lost sight of the vision had passed. It was their children who entered the Promised Land.

Vision is important for anyone considering lifestyle design. If you don’t have a defined vision for how you want to live, you won’t accomplish much.

And Boy oh Boy! What an amazing adventure it’s been getting to the New Year.

Seems like I traveled all over the great USA. I spent time ministering to kids with Live Offensively For God Ministries. Went rock climbing and sleep outside in a desert under the stars in just my sleeping bag for the first time ever. All along the way making new friends and trying new things that pushed me outside of my comfort zone.

This is the year that my the vision for my life grew. I started dreaming bigger than before.

This is the year that I got married!

It’s also the first year I lived completely debt free, and above my means. I didn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck.

So let me take you on a little photo tour of my year:

A Year of Travel

I traveled all over the USA this year. Some of my favorite places where out west: Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
This was the first time I ever saw the Pacific ocean from the Oregon Coast. It was beautiful.

I visited Devils Tower and had a crazy adventure during the night. We got stuck on the side of the tower during a rain storm, and it was pitch black out. Our only illumination as we climbed down came from the spectacular lightning show. Our adrenalin pumping adventure was capped off with a fast run through thick mud and underbrush to the safety of our vehicle.

I went Kayaking at Devils Lake in Wisconsin.

I saw Crater Lake for the first time. It was beautiful.

I even saw Mt Rushmore, which isn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. What was exciting are the Black Hills behind Mt Rushmore. Awesome climbing and beautiful hiking!

A Year of Rock Climbing

I did a lot of Rock Climbing this year. It was something I wanted to get into more. I was blessed to have the opportunity to do it often. This is mostly in part to my good buddy, Joe Baker, for taking me.

I got to climb in one of the best climbing spots in America, Smith Rock in Oregon.

More of the beautiful Smith Rock.

A Year of Alpine Adventure

I traveled to the Wind Rivers Range in Wyoming this August to go alpine climbing and backpacking. It was an amazing experience! I spent a total of eight days in the wilderness. Not a campground, a WILDERNESS. It’s a place that if you were injured you might just end up dead.

This place was just awe inspiring on every single level. The sheer size of the mountains, is just indescribable.

And yes I did hike in the same two pairs of pants and two pairs of shirts for 8 days.

A Year of Brothers

This was a year that I formed a real band of brothers with some close guy friends for the first time.

My Live Offensively Band of Brothers (and sister!)

The year I got Married!

The very best, and I mean best day of my life took place this year in 2009. This is the year that I meet and fell in love with my wife. It didn’t take long for us to get married after meeting. It was a match made in heaven, and she is an amazing woman.

The Best Day of my Life was August 29th, 2009.

A Year of Lifestyle

For me, 2009 was really a year all about lifestyle and dream building: How I want to live and how I will live.  Both me and my wife have BIG DREAMS.

Enjoying the finer points of financial freedom.

Taking my wife on a shopping spree, because every women should be pampered!

My Audi

A little gift to myself, for an awesome year.

What did you do this year?

Was it spent trapped inside a cubical?

I certainly hope not, and if it was, I hope 2010 is the year you break free and achieve your dreams.

YOU CAN SEE THE ENTIRE SET OF PHOTOS NOT FEATURED IN THIS POST ON My FLICKR HERE

In the 2004 Olympics, a man named Matthew Emmons was on track for the Gold medal in the 50 meter three position rifle final. He was so far ahead in points that all he had to do was get his bullet anywhere inside the inner ring of the target and the gold medal was his.

As he aimed for his final shot, he prepared himself mentally, paused his breathing, took aim and then fired.

The bullet passed right through the bulls eye. However, there was no tone indicating a hit, leaving Emmons in puzzlement.

It took a moment, but Emmons realized he had hit the wrong target. He had dropped from first place and a gold medal to eighth place with no gold medal.

He took the right shot but had hit the wrong target.

Yet this is true with our own lives. Most of us aren’t even worried about what it is we are aiming at. We’re just trying to make it through the day. I’ve been there, going through the daily grind, just aiming for the weekend, hoping to have enough money to survive and maybe even a little extra to play.

In some cases I’ve aimed at the wrong targets. I’ve put all of my best efforts into things that have no  real value or real benefit to my life. I’ve aimed at the wrong girl, the wrong job, the wrong group of people, the wrong goal. In each case, I gave it my best effort.

I wanted to share the story about Matthew Emmons because it speaks volumes about what we aim our sights on in life. Are you sure you have the right target in sight? Or will you find that you took the best shot, only to hit the wrong target?

What are you aiming at?