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.

Most people who try something and then experince failure just give up and quit. That’s the wrong approach. After you experince a failure you need to simply readjust what you are doing and try it again. If you fail again, ADJUST WHAT YOU ARE DOING AGAIN. Keep doing this until you succeed.

I’ve failed in business a couple of times. Most recently I tried to start an IT company with a friend. I very quickly learned that two heads is a monster, especially when you both have different ideas about the direction the company should go. The whole thing turned out to be a big waste of nearly 3 months. Complete failure.

Did I give up and go looking for a job? NO! I adjusted my plan for business, this time, minus the business partner. New name, new plan, new strategy, and now I’m 3 months into a successful web development company.

The simple point here is if you fail, get up and brush the dust off your feet. Take a look at what you did wrong, learn from it. Adjust your plan and try again. If you fail, adjust and try again until you end up with this formula Try = Success!

I’ve been packing on the pounds, and I’m ashamed to admit I went from 150lbs to 175lbs, almost pushing 180lbs. I’ve been jamming all this junk into my veins thinking it’s keeping me sharp and on my game. With trying to start a new business, launch my personal brand and blog, and taking on consulting gigs all at the same time I need the CAFFEINE. In reality, this crap isn’t helping my game any. I’ve noticed a complete dwindling supply of creativity. Just look at my blog, my posts are getting less and less frequent.

To top it all off, this crap has some serious side effects to your health such as tooth decay, bone demineralization and the development of metabolic syndrome and diabetes. Constant sugar rushes from energy drinks are a major factor in the development of Type II diabetes. Evidence is starting to come out that high levels of sugar can even cause some neurological disorders.

As a entrepreneur, one should be conscience of their health and their body. When you feel your best, you’ll often give your best. A couple of years ago after a breakup with a long-term girlfriend I did a major detox. I unplugged for a whole month. No internet, no TV. I also gave up all the junk food and soda and started eating healthy and began jogging every day. All the TV and Internet time I replaced with reading up on all kinds of different things on self help and success. My mind was so sharp, and I was able to think clearer than ever.

Why did I stop? Well I got distracted by another girl. Go figure.

So being a fat fatty isn’t helping my business, and it isn’t helping my personal brand either. Ninja’s are not round. They are stealthy, agile and dangerous. And well, for the adventure seeker part, like I said, I am pretty sure there haven’t been any fat guys able to climb to the top of Everest.

Are you neglecting your health? What bad habits do you need to change right now to improve your life?

I’m declaring right here, publicly: I’m going to kick the caffeine starting today. I’m going to cut back on the unhealthy foods and start a work out program.

I’ll keep you all posted so you can keep me accountable.

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?