Do People Want to Smoke What You Are Smoking?

Would you want to hang out with you?

Do you need someone's help? Do you wish people would support you more? Do you wonder why it's hard to get people to do things with you or for you? Most people don't live out their dreams alone on an island. Dreams, at their core, are wrapped around people. On the journey to achieving our dreams, we can't move forward without others. You are either a relationship builder or you shouldn't be a dreamer. 

Plenty of people accomplish extraordinary things without being relational. There are lots of transaction-oriented people who earn promotions, earn a lot of money, drive fancy cars, and "keep up with the Joneses". But I don't believe any of these people live their dreams. In fact, it's these people who lament that no one can really have it "all". They talk about sacrificing family for career or career for family. They regret what they didn't get to do, instead of JOYing in who they became and who they built relationships with during their lives. 

Dream achievers have to be lovers of people. Dream achievers have to be people who other people want to be around. You have to be magnetic. The energy, joy, and love for life every day has to be so incredible that people become almost desperate to drink from your fountain of life. Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." You know why people wanted to be around Jesus? Because they wanted to smoke whatever He was smoking. 

Look back on your day. Would you want to be around you? Would you feel compelled to get to know you? Would you feel encouraged and more energetic because you encountered you? It doesn't feel good to have a conversation with someone who is negative, complains, moans, whines, worries, wonders what could go wrong, blames, objects, puts down others, or looks depressed. That's simply not fun for anyone. If you want to be a dream achiever, then start with you. Become someone that you would want to be around and then you'll find yourself achieving your dreams while also helping others achieve theirs! 

What Would Life Be Like Without Any Fear?

Your life would be COMPLETELY different if you had absolutely no fear ever again. 

Fear of failure. Fear of what others think about you. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the future. Fear of losing your job. Fear of never finding a job. Fear of rejection. Fear of losing all your money. Fear of having no money, of not being able to earn enough money to pay the bills. Fear of saying the wrong thing. Fear of missing out on something. Fear of your children getting hurt, hanging with the wrong crowd, making the wrong choices. Fear of losing someone you love. Fear of being hurt by someone you love. Fear of never being loved. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of how big your dreams really are and what it would require to live them.

Take all of that off the table of your life. Wipe all of that out of your mind. Erase it all from your vocabulary. Your ears never hear it again. Your thoughts never dwell on it again. Never again do you lose energy, confidence, charisma, daring, joy, a smile, a laugh, a feeling of peace because of fear. What would your life be like then? 

You can't dream and fear at the same time. You might start dreaming. The seed might be planted, the roots might start taking hold, and it might even start poking up through the ground, but fear will kill a dream every time. You cannot accomplish anything great for yourself or others when you fear. Fear is the #1 dream killer.

What did you do yesterday? Think through your entire day. How would your day have been different if you had been different? What if you had absolutely no fear? How about last week? Last month? The last year? Take fear out of the equation and you live differently -- the output on the right-hand side of the equal sign will increase.

Imagine running a race with heavy snow boots on, three layers of clothing, plus an oversized coat, snow gloves, a hat, and a backpack with 60 pounds of gear...in 90-degree heat! Most of us wouldn't run very far or very fast. Take off the coat, the three layers of clothing, the gloves, hat and backpack, and exchange the boots for running shoes, then run the race. One thing I can promise: you will perform better -- and you will feel better -- than you did before. 

Fear hinders, that's all it does. It does not bring anything of value to the table. There is no good reason for you to fear. Stare it down, don't run away from it. Boldly walk through the jungle -- let it tremble before you. Laugh in its face and live your life. Toss it aside and pursue your dreams. Do a flying drop kick in its kneecap and walk with your head high.

The One Thing You Need To Achieve Your Dreams

The lives we live are made up of millions of elements. Every day we encounter thousands of things we consciously recognize -- people, situations, thoughts, objects in our vision -- as well as millions of things we recognize subconsciously. We can't control millions of elements over a lifetime -- those elements have their own rules, patterns, and energy. Though those elements are unique from us, they all play a role in the level of success we achieve in life. As we walk through these millions of elements every day, they will either work for us (propelling us to greater success) or they will work against us. Here's the secret: they work for us when our life is magnetic -- when our energy, joy, positivity, belief, and excitement consistently pull those elements in our direction, in our favor. 

If you have been struggling to achieve something for what feels like a very long time, then check your attitude. If you feel unrecognized, beaten down, and defeated, then look in the mirror. If you wake up every morning feeling exhausted, then it's time to examine yourself. If you are disappointed in life, then the only hope you have is to shift your perspective. If today is not the best day of your life, don't blame the day -- it's on you. 

What if there is only one thing that you need to completely change the outcome of your life? What if there is one key element that could launch you from where you are at to places beyond your imagination -- for you and for your family? 

There's no doubt you need to be organized and disciplined to achieve your dreams. No doubt that you need to work hard -- harder than everyone else -- and have a specific goal that you are driving towards. There are a lot of elements to success, but there is one that so many lack; and if we could just add this one element then I believe many of us would experience breakthrough.

The one thing you need to achieve your dreams: invincible abundance.

Invincible abundance is positive energy throughout the day that is consistent. It's an attitude that does not get tossed around by the rough seas of life. It's an energy that bubbles over from a real place inside of us and the well never runs dry. 

Life is going to swing at you -- every day. You lose if you fight anger with anger or disappointment with disappointment. When life doesn't happen the way you want it to, the proper reaction is not to be disappointed. When someone mistreats you, the proper reaction is not to be upset or hurt. Life doesn't respond well to a lecture; and success is not attracted to defeat. Success is magnetically attracted to joy, energy, hope, positivity, love, and abundance. 

The conscious and subconscious elements around us are searching for people with invincible abundance. If you live every day as if it is your best day ever, no matter what happens, then your days will be so. And your dreams will come true. 

Every Life Has A Story

Every life has a story. Watch this video:

We know our own stories so well, but we often forget that everyone we meet has his or her own story. 

When it comes to pursuing our dreams, one key to achieving them is to spend more time learning about others' stories instead of sharing our own. Don't misunderstand me, our stories are powerful and should be shared -- people can be encouraged by hearing about what we've overcome! But you "earn the right to be heard" when you start by listening. 

Today I got my hair cut (Mom is doing back flips!). I did my best to focus on the hairdresser's story -- I asked her if she had a great weekend, how long she has been cutting hair, what she likes most about it, etc. and she told me stories about her life. It doesn't sound like she loves cutting hair as much as she used to, but I tried to encourage her by telling her that a great haircut can really make someone's day -- that she has a great way to impact someone's life!

Every life has a story. 

Doesn't this make you feel like every encounter is a huge responsibility? What we don't know about the person we are talking to is really the difference. Smiling faces might be covering deep wounds or might be understating awesome achievements! We don't know. Venture to find out. 

I used to hesitate to ask too many questions because I didn't want the other person to think I was prying. But I've learned that people will let you know (one way or another) if you are asking too much. There are too many people in the world today who feel like no one cares about their story. There are too many people who feel like they are walking through their challenges very much alone. 

If you focus on learning people's stories and encouraging them with your energy, belief, and interest in them, then you will start to change lives. And when you start changing lives, consistently, then you will attract a large number of people because people are looking for others to listen to them -- people are looking for reasons to believe, for energy, for someone who is positive and doesn't allow the challenges of life to pull them down. You can be that person! And, as we know, when you serve others, then your dreams come true!

When people drink a 5-hour Energy drink, my guess is that half the time those people aren't even physically tired -- they more mentally tired (so they feel it physically). 100 years ago people worked harder and exerted themselves more physically than we do now, but today we exert ourselves more mentally -- not because we are thinking about amazing inventions, but because we have 4 different digital screens we check every hour and because we have so many activities going on and "keeping up with the Jone's" just wears us out. 

People are looking for something rare -- blessing them begins with learning their story. Take a minute in the grocery line today and ask someone about their day. Take a minute to listen, learn their story, and change a life.