Today I’m going to talk about getting back to your dream life...
It's amazing how many of us don't notice the time that we waste. When I was young, I used to party; I used to waste my money and I wasted my time. I made money while not contributing to the world. My life wasn't fulfilling; I wasn't contributing positively to this world. I felt like something was missing. The way I filled that void was by partying.
I remember almost every weekend I would travel about 2 and half hours to party and go have fun with my friends, to drink, go to restaurants and spend my money shopping. I would put it on my credit card or sometimes I would ask my family or friends for money, so I could continue partying and shopping, and I would pay it all back when my work picked up during the busy season. Because I didn't know better, what I was doing was wasting my time and money. I did that for a long time and even when I was living in Mexico. I started working when I was fourteen years of age and gained some independence back then. At that age I used to go hang out with my friends. That's when I started drinking and started doing things I wasn’t supposed to do because I was fourteen. I didn't know the difference between fourteen and twenty-four or thirty-four. What I noticed is that no matter what age, alcohol doesn't contribute to our life. If I do the math, it was about fourteen years that I wasted not being happy.
The reason why we do what we do is because we want to be happy…
And even though I did all those things I wasn't happy, I was depressed, like something was missing in my life. Then, I decided to change my life when I faced reality. I needed to live my dream. That's when I realized I needed to know why I was doing the things I did. What my purpose was and what would make me happy. So, one of the things that I discovered is that serving people makes me happy, really fulfills me, knowing that I make a difference in people’s lives and what I do contributes to people's happiness by helping them lose weight, by listening to them, by giving them new information. What I'm doing is changing their lives.
So every single day I wake up and I ask myself. “Why am I waking up today?” and I know I'm here to serve and help people. I think a lot about how I can help them, how to train them and how to motivate them, to help them know they are strong and to get rid of the limitations they have set for themselves, helping them understand they have the power, they have the potential to do whatever they tell themselves.
By being an example to others and knowing what I want in my life, I can help others...
Sure, I want to progress and make money, but I also want to add value to people’s lives, in turn it adds value to my life. There are other reasons I wake up, to be closer to God, to be with the people that I love and to meditate on what I want to accomplish for that day.
I want to make a change in the world and it's not going to happen if I party, drink or do drugs. If I just sit in front of the TV or surf the Internet or play video games all the time, if I spend all my money shopping, how is all that going to add value to my life? How is that going to give me knowledge or prepare me to live the life I want to live or prepare me to help others? I won't be able to help other people if I don't have the knowledge and skills and know how to apply them in my own life. All those things I just mentioned, playing video games, watching a movie, having a drink, going dancing, none of these things are wrong if they don’t become an addiction. But, instead, you could use some of that time reflecting on why you are alive and what you will do with your life.
Don’t waste your time…
When I wake up I take five points into consideration each day, my connection with God, which are my emotions, my meditation, my stress and being grateful, because I have a lot compared to others. I have my health, I have my feet; some people don't have feet, some are blind, mute, or deaf. I spend time with my family. That is very important to me. I enjoy every second with my wife and daughter. My profession and personal development is another dimension I care about. The other thing is my finances. It’s important because it means freedom to do things that I really want. I spend time everyday to maintain all these areas of my life. I stop wasting time with destructive behaviors like I used to do.
Do you think Michael Jordan became one of the best basketball stars in history by partying, drinking, by watching TV or sleeping all day? Or did he spend his days practicing and learning strategies? What about Steve Jobs? How do you think he got so successful? I recommend that you read his biography, so you know what he went through to become very successful. Successful people worked very hard in their lives, in their businesses, their profession and in their careers, in order to succeed.
You can waste your time or use your time to build a foundation for your life by doing the things that we talked about earlier, destructive habits. You can use that time to study, meditate, to pray, you can work on your finances on how and where you are going to spend your money. You can spend time with your family. You can use some of that time to cook healthy meals.
You really need to ask yourself, what you want out of life…
If you don’t have any expectations and you don’t work toward your dream, don't expect anything to change in your life. So, ask yourself where you want to be in 5 years. Don’t blame others for poor decisions you make or when you don’t reach your goals. One of the things that all successful people have in common is they take responsibility for their life.
Prioritizing your life…
Do I watch TV, go shopping, play video games, take vacations, relax sometimes or talk to my friends, or hang out with my friends? The answer is yes; I do all of that stuff and I have friends who are among my priorities because they add value to my life, and I add value to theirs. Together we come up with great ideas. We listen to each other. We problem solve; we empathize with each other; we laugh and we share many things. We brainstorm about the problems that we have and we find solutions. I don't watch TV just because I feel like it. I don't want to talk on the phone just because I'm bored. I don't go shopping just because I have the money.
Figure out what is really important to you, the things that matter…
Don’t do it for anyone else, do it for yourself. If partying matters to you or drinking or watching TV matters to you, then do that, but don’t expect great things in the future. But, if you want to be financially free, if you want to be healthy, if you want to have a nice body, if you want to be in shape, if you want to have a happy family, if you want to be at peace, if you want to know that you're doing the right thing and you want to connect with God, if that is your priority, go ahead and writing down exactly how you will use your time. If you have a dream, you must make an effort. You must pay the price to get there.
As you move forward, continue to check your progress...
Is your health improving? Do you feel peace in your family? Do you have enough money to invest and to be free to go on vacation? Enjoy yourself because you have earned it. You have worked hard for the life you have. You can accomplish anything you want in life if you do the work.
As you know there are good days and bad days in life…
Sometimes it is just one obstacle or problem after another. Everything is happening at the same time; you get a flat tire, your kids get sick, you have a fight with your partner and problems never seem to end. That happened to me, for six years my life was going well. Of course, during that time I had some obstacles that I had to overcome. My dogs getting into accidents and both needing surgery. I had to spend a lot of money and my car was breaking down, but those obstacles were small problems. In 2017 was one of the most difficult for me, with the 2 knee surgeries that I had- having my knee reconstructed, removing the screws, not having enough help at CBF and my relationship wasn’t working. Even though bad things happened in that year, there were good things that happened too. No matter how much good you have, you will always have bad times too. That's the way life works.
Winters come every single year and we all have winter in our life. There's a story in the Bible, the story of Joseph and Pharaoh. While Joseph was incarcerated, he was given the power to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. The dream was about seven fat cows and seven skinny cows, seven ears of fat grain and seven ears of skinny grain. In the dream the skinny grain swallowed up the fat grain and the skinny cows ate up the fat cows. So, the interpretation of this dream according to Joseph was that there would be seven years of abundance and seven years of famine. So, Joseph recommended gathering all the excess during the years of abundance to have in time of famine. So, because of this the Pharaoh appointed Joseph to do this work of gathering and that is how Joseph becomes this amazingly rich and powerful person.
The reason I’m telling you this is because you need to anticipate and prepare for when bad times come...
When you get hit, instead of going into a depression you will be prepared. You will continue moving forward even though it's a slower pace than before. And that's how you become free and that's how you start living that dream life because every year you have the resources, you have the knowledge, you become stronger and you become wiser. One more thing I want to share with you.
How to be successful...
All this information that I'm giving you is very important, but none of it will help you if you don’t apply it in your life. So, take it all in, take action and pass it along to your friends if you want. I want other people to benefit from this information as I have, but make sure that before you share this information with others, that you are doing it in your own life. You have to lead by example,not by word. When you have that knowledge, then put it into action.
I know you can’t change everything in a day because you have had bad habits or addictions for a while. But make sure that if you want a better life, you have to understand that you can't have both bad habits and a good life at the same time. What I recommend is that you start with one thing, eliminate one bad habit at a time. Understand what you want out of life. Then set up your priorities, what is really important to you. What really matters to you. Knowing that you will have difficulties in your life, so prepare for them. Be ready for them, you must be strong and the only way to be strong is by learning, by taking in knowledge, by becoming skillful, be close to God, take care of your health, stay united with your family and understand that good and bad happens in life and then finally, take action.
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