Photo courtesy of startgarden.com

People who know me know I’m a big dreamer. I can dream big all day long and dream up hundreds of ideas about things that could be. But one thing I’ve learned is that if you want to achieve your big ideas and big dreams, you eventually have to dream small and think small.

Here’s what I mean.

If you only think big and dream big, then your dreams typically end up staying just that – dreams.

I’ve discovered that if you want to make your big dreams a reality, you need to break them down into smaller dream and smaller steps. In other words, you need dozens of small dreams and small steps to make big dreams come true.

Two weeks ago, a new $15 million venture capital fund, Start Garden, was launched in my community to help start hundreds of small businesses across our state. Start Garden’s premise is this:

“Too many ideas never become real because we don’t think small enough.”

Start Garden will invest $5,000 into two ideas each week to get those new ideas into the market to discover if they’re businesses. One of the ideas will be chosen by the Start Garden staff, the other idea will be chosen by the public. If any of these ideas truly have business potential, then Start Garden will invest additional dollars to help the idea get to the next step, up to a total of $500,000 per idea.

Start Garden is such an awesome concept to help get ideas flowing, and to help people think small and get their idea launched. And our community is blessed to have extremely generous people to help launch ideas and make things happen.

So, my question to you is this:  Have you had a big dream or idea that you haven’t really done anything with because it’s so big and you haven’t had the time or energy or money to get it all going?  If so, take time this week to break that big idea or dream into some smaller steps.  Then take action on one of those steps.  When you do that, your big dream is no longer just a dream.  You’re on your way to making it a reality.

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I love that Yakezie’s motto is “Selflessly Helping Others.” That is certainly a biblical principle that I aspire to live out in my daily life.

As a new participant in the Yakezie Challenge, I make a 6-month long commitment to write regular blog posts here at Life Compass Blog (which is hopefully good for me and good for you!). I also commit to selflessly promoting and building solid relationships with other Yakezie members.

I’ve followed a few of them already through the Best of Money Carnival I’ve hosted here and at my personal finance blog:

• Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
• Faith and Finance
• Money Help for Christians

I’ll look forward to getting to know them, and other personal finance bloggers, more in the weeks and months to come.

And I know this challenge will help make me a better blogger and improve the content here for you, my reader.

I had just finished doing a family exercise class with my wife and kids right before lunch, and went to the locker room to change.  I greeted the other man who was already there in the locker room and I asked him, “What kind of workout did you do today?  Weights?  Treadmill?  The bike?”

He replied that he did the weights and the treadmill.  I told him that I usually do those too – earlier in the morning – but this time I did a Piyo class with my family (Piyo is part Pilates and part Yoga), and I discovered my hamstring muscles weren’t as flexible as they needed to be because some of the poses were difficult for me to complete.

As the other man gathered up his belongings and walked out the door, he said:

“Yes, stretching is more important than many people realize.  I believe we all need to stretch more.”

When he left, I just presumed he was still talking about stretching our body’s muscles.

But a few seconds later, I wondered, “Did he mean something more?”

Not just the stretching that results in physical agility and strength, but the kind of stretching that results in personal growth and development too?

Stretching Your Personal Growth Muscles

The kind of stretching that results in our personal growth and development keeps us agile and ready for anything that comes our way.  It helps us go farther than we ever thought was possible – helping us reach our full potential.

Unfortunately we often experience our greatest personal growth through times of trial and adversity – when we get out, or are pushed out, of our comfort zone into unfamiliar territory. When we take a risk or experience a circumstance that turns our world on its side.

Adversity is often the greatest motivator for life change. Tough challenges spur us on to action.  When we stand up to our challenges, we will often be catapulted to new heights and go farther faster than we could have otherwise.

Which is why Doug Weed said:

“Goliath was the best thing that ever happened to David.”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’ve tried to avoid or ignore challenges and trials in my life in hopes that I could just maintain the status quo of my current reality.

What I’ve discovered, though, is that you can’t really stay static – you’re either moving forward or backwards.

If I don’t allow myself to be stretched when difficult circumstances come my way, or if I don’t stretch intentionally stretch myself through my personal growth & development plan, I won’t just maintain my current position, I’ll actually lose ground.

Are you being stretched by a Goliath-sized challenge right now?  Don’t shrink in the face of it.  Stand tall.  Face it.  Let it inspire you to take bold action and move to the next level in your life.

If you’re not a subscriber to Life Compass Blog, please join today (use the subscription box in the sidebar) to get more inspiration and motivation to help you achieve your life’s worthwhile goals and dreams.

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5 Life Lessons Learned from Monopoly

1. You’ll never win if you don’t invest – Nothing happens until something moves.  If you want to see things happen in your life – if you want to achieve your worthwhile goals and dreams – you have to make a move, you have to take action.  Don’t just create a personal growth or lifestyle design plan, put your plan to work one step at a time.
2. No such thing as free parking – Everything in life is a choice and has a cost associated with it.  A choice to do or buy one thing is a choice to not do or buy something else. Using debt to do or buy things we can’t pay for now often ends up increasing the costs by the time they’re paid off down the road.
3. Community Chest:  Be ready to pay - Life is full of surprises.  It is important to have margin in our lives so we can deal with the surprises that come up. And of course, it is vital to have savings to cover those surprises that cost money.
4. When life deals you Baltic Ave…Build a hotel – Baltic Ave. is one of the lower-valued properties in Monopoly and as such, isn’t a desirable investment for some. But, you’ve got to start somewhere, so if you land on Baltic, build a hotel and make something work to your advantage.  In life, some people don’t get started on their goals or dreams in life because they know they can’t achieve them all at once.  So instead of just getting started and taking whatever steps they can take, they do nothing.  Wherever you’re at, and whatever resources you have, you can get started right now to begin to realize your goals and dreams. Take that first step today toward maximizing your full potential tomorrow.

That’s my take on 5 life lessons learned from Monopoly. What other personal growth life lessons can be learned from the game of Monopoly?

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Most Tuesday mornings, I take my sons ages 11, 13 and 15 out to the health club for some physical activity (we usually play basketball), then we go out for breakfast.

I always buy a copy of USA Today, and we each take a section of the newspaper and find an interesting story or two that we’d like to discuss together.

Today I read from the front section of the paper, and the story that caught my attention wasn’t actually a news story but an advertisement for Wells Fargo celebrating 160 years of business.

It was on March 18, 1852 that Henry Wells and William G. Fargo created Wells, Fargo & Company. The new company offered banking and express services to Gold Rush pioneers in the great American west – all the way to California. According to Wells Fargo History “Well and Fargo saw opportunity, followed their dream, and left a strong heritage.”

The company is perhaps most famous for its iconic stage coaches which carried people, money and goods from ocean to ocean from 1852 to 1918. While the success of the company was built upon the stagecoach, Wells Fargo hasn’t used them for nearly 100 years.

And why not?

Because times changed and Wells Fargo needed to change too in order to survive and thrive.

Life Changes

The same thing happens in our lives, though we’re sometimes slow to see that life changes are needed in order to survive, let alone thrive, in today’s world.  I’m reminded of a quote that goes something like this:

“The actions and habits that brought you to where you are today may not be the ones that will take you where you want to go tomorrow.”

In other words, whether we want to just keep up where we are or step up to new levels of success in life, we’ll need to learn how to change and adapt through continuous personal growth and development and learning new skills.

Otherwise we may be left behind shaking our heads wondering what happened and how we got left behind.

One life change I’m working on is to become more focused in working toward achieving my goals and dreams. To help me become more focused, I’m cutting through clutter and eliminating distractions so I can invest more time and energy on those goals and dreams.

What life changes have you been thinking about recently?

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As I read their favorite quotes, I was reminded of how much Dr. Suess wrote about personal growth and life change.

RushImprint.com shared three business lessons learned from Dr. Suess.  Actually, they don’t just relate to business, but to all areas of our lives as well – So here they are, along with my take on them:

Personal Growth Life Lessons From Dr. Suess

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”  - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

• You need to know your purpose and mission in life and have the courage to pursue it, no matter what.
• Don’t worry about what others think or say.
• Do what you know is right.

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you’ll move mountains.” - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss

• Work-life balance is important.
• Everything is a choice.
• Success can be achieved, if you know how to define it.

‘‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss

• Life-long learning is a vital key to success in life.

Do you have a favorite Dr. Suess quote or book that speaks to life change and personal growth? I think my favorite is Oh the Places You’ll Go.  What about you?  Please share your comments!

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While I believe this is true, to an extent, I also believe there’s no need to work any harder than you have to!

What if you could develop a short cut that allowed you to do some of your work once, and let it benefit you over and over again?

Orison Swett Marden, founder of Success Magazine (back in 1897), discovered one such shortcut to goal achievement. He said:

“A good system shortens the road to the goal.”

What is a System?

What is a system? A system is simply a certain way or method of achieving a goal. A system often helps you save time, effort, and money, because once it is created, you follow it over and over and over.

You can systematize just about any goal or process, by breaking it down in a “systematic” way. In other words, in a way that flows naturally, step-by-step.

One beautiful thing about a system is that you set it up once, and, so long as you keep feeding it, it continues to work for you until you stop it.

Another great thing is that you don’t even have to be around to run the system. Once you do the hard work of creating it to flow just the way you want it, you can train anyone else, anywhere else, to carry it out, if you choose.

This helps you achieve your goals faster, and frees you up for other worthwhile pursuits.

Your life is already impacted by systems, whether you realize it or not. Stores, restaurants, gas stations, telephone companies, schools, governments, etc., all run according to a certain system.

Which proves the point that thousands of successful people have learned to systematize and streamline their goals for greater success.

Setting Up Your Goal Achievement System

So how can you enjoy the benefits of a system in your life? Whatever your goals are, see if you can break them down in a systematic way:

• What things need to be done step-by-step?
• What can be done all at once?
• What can you outsource to others?
• What can only you do?

Then create a simple plan which includes each step you need to take, who needs to take it, and when it needs to be taken.

Once created, your system will become your plan or roadmap for accelerating the achievement of your goals — if you follow it.

I’ve already systematized – and automated – some aspects of my life, including some of my work flow, most bill payments and savings.  But I’m already thinking of more things I can systematize in my life, to help me achieve my goals quicker.

What about you? What systems do you already have in place to help you achieve your goals?  Or what things could you systematize to help you achieve your goals faster?

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It’s stupid.  But true.

People have a hard time making change in their life because they want to.

So we wait until we have to. Sometimes, that’s too late.

Like not taking care of our health until the heart attack. Not nurturing our relationship with our spouse until they say they want to leave. Or not saving for a “rainy day” until we lose our job or the car breaks down.

I’ve fallen prey to the pain motivation more times than I care to admit.

I’d rather look at the areas of life where I could experience pain (either for myself or others) and then identify some simple steps I could take to make change in order to avoid that pain.

What if, instead of pain being the greatest motivator for life change, avoidance of pain was the greatest motivation instead?  Does it, or would it, make a difference in your life?

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