Why do you get up in the morning?

Is it just to get through this day, and the next, just trying to make it through to the weekend? Do you wake with a sense of futility—a sense that this day is going to be just like yesterday, and tomorrow just like today? You come home, eat a little dinner, drink a few pops, watch some tv, wander off to bed after you get on the kids for not finishing their homework.

On the weekend, maybe you’ll get out to play a little golf, or cut the grass, or plant some veggies in the garden. But all through those two days, in the back of your mind, like a nagging little shrew, is the thought that on Monday morning, it’ll start all over again. And, in another 30 or 35 years, you’ll get a gold watch as a reward for all your hard work. That oughta get you a few bucks at the pawn shop.

What if…?

Have you played that children’s game with yourself since you ‘grew up’? What if I could learn to fly like I’ve always wanted to? What if I really could have that car I’ve always wanted? What if I owned the company and could play golf in the middle of the week?Why don’t you take a few minutes and play ‘what if’ with yourself? Go ahead, write a few things down. Just play along with me here for a little bit. I’ll wait.

Wouldn’t it be nice…?

I want you to do a little exercise here. Take a look at what you just wrote. Now, instead of asking “What if?”, ask yourself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if …?” Go ahead, take your time. Really think about it. Wouldn’t it be nice to be sitting in that airplane seat, watching the propeller go around and around, feeling the vibrations, anticipating smoothly pushing the throttle in…picking up speed, feeling the expansion joints in the runway hit faster and faster…then, in an instant, you’re free from the confines of the ground, floating…flying.

Why have you given up on yourself?

Why is it that you’ve believed the people, including yourself, who’ve told you that what you want is impossible, that you should just ‘get real’? That’s what I want you to do, the next step. Get real. Get real in your mind what it’s like to do what you want. But you have to get real. Really, really, real. You have to feel the butterflies and excitement as you pull into the parking lot of the motel in Las Vegas, the thrill of knowing that the next morning you’ll be in the seat of a 200 mph race car as you go through the Richard Petty Driving Experience on the one and a half mile oval of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Do you know what it’s like to have 600 horsepower at your fingertips?

So take the time to get real with your dreams, your goals, your deepest desires. Do it every day. Don’t wish it. Be there. Be at the speaker’s podium of a blogger’s conference, talking to hundreds of your fellow bloggers that have paid lots of money to hear what you have to say. Be in the seat of the race car, watching the bleachers go flashing past at 150mph.Be there in your mind, and believe that it’s a foregone conclusion, and the doors will open for you. Because you’re attuned to it, you’ll see possibilities you’ve never seen before. You don’t know exactly how it will happen, but you know it will. And when the way is shown to you, jump on it. Do whatever is required. You may have to do some prep work first. You might have to actually learn to drive before you can drive a race car. But don’t worry about that, and don’t overly question the roadmap when you see it, because that really is exactly what you’re seeing now–a roadmap for you to follow to make your dreams a reality.You think maybe now there’s a better reason to get out of bed in the morning? Just a little?

That’s ok—it’s a start.