Thankful for Books

I was never a big reader. In fact I hated reading all the way through school and throughout college. I was told by my first grade teacher that I'd never learn to read because I was so slow at learning the words. Ironically, my best subject at test time was in english language skills/sentence structure. I felt cursed.

And then I found a reason to read. It would seem obvious that we read to gain wisdom and grow our minds, but I always perceived that wisdom and growth to be exclusive to scholastic achievement. (As most teens do, I suppose.) Unfortunately, it wasn't until I discovered a vehicle like Pre-Paid Legal that I began to realize the potential of personal development through reading "good books". I realized that to achieve more - in all areas of life, not just material wealth - one must become more. I regrettably admit that it's taken me 23 years to understand such an important principle, but I now treasure that knowledge as one of this life's most precious assets: A path of Personal Development.

In the home-based-business industry, we commit ourselves and our team members to read at least 10 pages of "personal development" material a day. Scriptures; training materials; biographies of such people like Henry Ford, Donald Trump, Napoleon Hill, etc.; Most people do not come with the mindset of a successful business owner/leader/builder, it is something that must be developed over time. (In most cases more time than most people have patience for.) The most painful thing for me to see is someone giving up on themselves simply because their feet haven't grown into their shoes quite yet. So refusing to grow off the shoes go, assuming they'll never fit, and somehow believing that to tread a lifetime through the weeds and thorns in bare feet the rest of their life (trying to get used to it) outweighs the temporary hastles of keeping loose shoes on their feet.

I hope that within our close group, each of us will constantly seek to learn and grow. It is the only way we will be able to accomplish our various goals in this life - whatever they may be. Well my friends, here's to keeping our heads on our shoulders, and our shoes on our feet. Good luck this week with your lives, finals/projects, the war, and other endeavors!

Harnessing a Creative Power

I've always been fascinated with how and why we dream what we dream. I don't understand it, but some people have very vivid and lengthy dreams every single night (like me), while others never seem to remember anything except for the nightmare they had last year. I've always believed that dreams can be special, and that there must be some way to develop the mind's capacity for dreaming in a way that would be a benefit to us. One way I discovered on my mission is to keep a dream journal next to your bed and write down as much as you can remember first thing each morning. (This also gave me a couple minutes to full wake up so I didn't fall right back asleep while trying to say my morning prayer.) The more I bring those dreams to my conscious mind, I more vivid and lengthy my dreams become. Two nights ago I was watching Ocean's Eleven, and all night long - in my dream - I was planning out a major heist, and organizing a team to pull it off. Lots of action and spy stuff, it was really cool. I'd wake up periodically and invite my brother to join me, or ask Jensen (one of my sales reps) if he wanted me to turn the noise down from my dreams a bit so he could sleep. ...yea, it's kind of funny how real my dreams are sometimes even after I realize it was just a dream. Last night as a part of my dream I was struggling to make a breakfast burrito, and when I woke up I went into the kitchen to finish it only to realize it was just a dream. I dream every night, all night long sometimes.

As I was mentioning earlier, I think there must be a way to harness this creative power of the brain into something more productive. I thoroughly enjoy the ability to be part of such great adventures while I sleep, but I'd much rather use that creativity to solve business problems, receive spiritual guidance, and improve my creativity. Knowing that time is one of our most valuable assets, and that we spend roughly 1/3 of this life asleep, I wonder to what ends can these curious powers lead us to? - Just a random thought I've be regularly thinking about this last week or so, and intersted in any insights or comments you may have.