Easy is a Hard Life

What happens when you face a challenge? There are two routes: You can push through and overcome the challenge or you back away and seek other interests. Unless the situation is necessary for living, most of us would choose the latter. Of course, we don’t want to live a hard life. We like it to be easy. However, if you think about it, easy can also be greatly dissatisfying. I can step on some toes by saying this, but easy can also be replaced with lazy. Yes, I said it. LAZY. Think about it. How many of us like our job? Statistics show that nearly 80% of American workers don’t like their job (How many of us dread Monday, are always happy for Friday, and complain about the weekends being too short? Then yes, you are in this category, too!). I don’t care where you came from or your experience, all of us can have our dream job or lifestyle. God didn’t makejunk! The reason why most of us live in mediocrity is because we feel it’s too hard to live any other way or we simply don’t even try because we listen to the dream stealers. You can give me any reason (excuse) you want, but it will all come down to you thinking it’s too hard and you don’t want to make the effort to make it better. Now I come from an ordinary background. I haven’t experienced the drama that others have, but I have read several stories and have associations with several people that have had lived pretty rough growing up. However, the ones I kept associations with are the ones that instead reacting to their past, they took action and rose above it all. This tells me that there are really no excuses. It’s just a matter of how bad you want it. Think about what ‘easy’ has done to most of us. When you were in grade school, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you achieve it? Most of us didn’t. Why not? Well, we found what it took to get there, and we listened to others on how hard it will be and they killed our dream. We were taught that failing is not a good thing. So we went with what was easy. That’s how we landed the job we don’t like and that’s why we live the lifestyle we didn’t plan on living. So easy is not getting us anywhere.

Easy is broke.

Easy is having regrets.

Easy is giving up.

Easy is settling.

Easy is surrendering.

Easy is being closed-minded.

Easy is not trying.

So what am I trying to say here? Live a hard life? Not necessarily. To me, living easy seems harder than working towards a dream. I don’t like anything that easy brings, so I enjoy a steady challenge where the end result brings a sense of purpose and gratification. Success is found outside of your comfort zone. In order to obtain your goals, your dreams, your lifestyle, it’s going to be hard. It wouldn’t be rewarding if it wasn’t hard. Nothing gratifying is easy. Receiving my college degree was a lot more gratifying than receiving my high school diploma. Being able to start my own businesswas a lot more gratifying than landing a job. Getting a sale in my business is a lot more gratifying than receiving a paycheck at work. If you are satisfied with a mediocre lifestyle, then I’ll pray for you. God did not put us here to not have a prosperous and abundant life. Read Jeremiah 29:11 and John 10:10. We have all been given the gift of life, but this gift is not repeated. With this gift, we have been granted that we can have any life we can imagine, but in order to have that life, you have to deserve it. And to deserve it, unfortunately doesn’t come easy. You have to take the necessary steps, overcome the challenges, and develop the right mindset to earn the life that was planned for you. The date with destiny has already been set. You just have to keep the appointment, and you keep the appointment by going through the process. When you are going for your dreams, the things that use to matter won’t matter anymore. The bigger challenges in life will make those small cares and worries that used to get you down all the time go away. Living check to check won’t bother you if you are working on a plan that will give you financial freedom. Just don’t give up! Don’t be scared! Don’t be afraid to fail. We have to fail in order to learn. Success is a poor teacher. Massive success is only obtained by multiple or significant failures. Don’t listen to what people say. If you buy their opinion, you buy their lifestyle. Only listen to those who have what you want.

I encourage you to take some time tonight and think about those dreams and goals you once had and write them down in a place you can view them every morning. Make a plan to action and work towards it. Embrace the challenges that come along with working towards your goal and remember those challenges are there for you to be ready to receive your reward. If you fail, learn from and keep going. Tom Watson says, “Double your rate of failure.” Shun yourself from the naysayers. Remember, there’s never been a statue built for a critic. Most critics are haters anyway. But don’t fall victim to living the easy (lazy) life. You are better. You and your family deserve better. Go get yours!

Live To Dream Big!

Receiving Your Breakthrough

“You’re right on the edge of a breakthrough,

God knows everything you’re going through,

Your test and trials will make you stronger,

You just hang in there, just a little while longer,

Don’t give up on your breakthrough,

It may not come when you want to,

You just hang on in there just a little while

You shall receive your breakthrough.”

-

Greg Hoover and the Charlotte Community Singers

Breakthrough:

1.

An act of overcoming or penetrating an obstacle or restriction.

2.

An offensive thrust that penetrates and carries beyond a defensive line in warfare.

I like the second definition the best. Don’t you feel like you are in a war with life’s obstacles sometimes? If not, I suggest that you get in that mindset. I’m not speaking of a violent mindset, but a mindset that gives the intensity and determination that will defend your anticipated success and the offense needed to penetrate the enemy (obstacle) enough to ‘kill’ it. So many times I feel that we let our opponent defeat us a little too easily. Even the small opponents sometimes defeat us. Inside we want that breakthrough, but we don’t have the strength and/or the faith to receive it. In reality, you simply just need to change the mindset. In order to have the right mindset, it simply only takes three things that I found hidden in the lyrics of the song above:

1. Form the right team. God knows everything that you’re going through. He is above all and knows all. Put Him in front to lead you. Proverbs 3:5-6 says to trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Believe in him, and he will direct your path. Imagine the relief you will feel if you simply ‘let go and let God!’ Don’t try to be the leader of your destiny. God already knows the plan He has for you, and He knows the best route. Let him guide you. Also, surround yourself around people who also believe in Him and in you. There are only two types of people in this world; those that will stretch your vision or choke your dreams. Be around those that can help you stretch your vision and limit or eliminate your association with those that take the air out of you and make you weak. I don’t care if you are Kobe Bryant fan or not (I am not), but he would not have been able to win championships if he didn’t have the strong team that he has. I don’t care how good he is. In order to overcome your obstacles, you need to surround yourself around those people that help you look and feel stronger.

2. Remember your past successes. We have all accomplished something in our lives, whether it’s something like graduating high school, or something as small finishing a book. Remember that feeling you had? How did it feel? Think about that feeling you had and use that give you the fuel to overcome your current obstacle. Every test and trial that we go through makes us stronger. The bigger the obstacles and the more obstacles we encounter, the stronger we become. Know that God doesn’t place these obstacles in our lives to give us a hard time. He knows what he wants of you, and what you are capable of. Jeremiah 29:11 says that He knows that plans he has for you. Plans to make your prosper, and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. To provide this future of prosperity, you have to pass these tests. Think about these obstacles of not a hardship on your life, but as a test that you need to pass in order to deserve the future that is set for you to have.

2. Have faith. Once you have let go and God and youhave the right team behind you and once you inserted some fuel of strength from past success, you know have what you need to have faith to know that you can get through this. God believes in you. The people that you have surrounded yourself with believe in you. All this belief combined with your belief puts you in the mindset from doubting yourself and too weak to even attempt to penetrate to having all the strength and faith to know that you can overcome and receive your breakthrough and take yourself to the next level! It may not be immediate, so you have to be patient. As like most tests, life tests have a timer attached to it as well. In order to receive the full reward of receiving your breakthrough, it must be done at the time God says it is time. But know it will always happen ‘right on time.’

So just hang in there a little while. Your breakthrough is coming. If you have formed the right team, have the strength to push through with faith, you shall receive your breakthrough. You will burst through that defensive line that is preventing you from advancing in life and win the war! You are entitled to your victory! Go get it!

Live To Dream Big!

Welcome Back To Life

“Welcome back to life” was what President Pinera of Chile said to each miner as they were rescued from being over two thousand feet below the surface. Out of everything said during these dramatic 22+ hours of rescuing 33 miners, that stuck with me most. These men were stuck with no contact to the world for 17 days, yet still didn’t give up. They spent another 52 more days living underground but having faith that they were going to be rescued. There was some encouragement, as some were supplied with food and water, and one was even able to communicate to his girlfriend and received a wedding proposal. He was to be married once he got out of there. However, it was mostly faith they depended on most, believing that they were truly going to be rescued. You have to wonder what was going through their minds; if any doubts popped in their head. One miner did mention that he was in a constant fight with between God and the devil. Obviously, God win, and He always will. Once they were rescued, doctors said they healthier than they expected, and they were smiling, singing, chanting, kneeling and praying, and hugging their loved ones. They didn’t even seem like they were stuck underground for 69 days. I know certain it was their faith in God and God’s will that allowed this miracle to happen. If they gave up and had no faith they were going to make it, I can guarantee none would have survived.

I was truly inspired this evening, witnessing this event. It reminded me that when life gets you down, you have the choice to get back up (Okay, I watched the Karate Kid tonight as well that said that!) You have the chance to fight back and not let life dictate how it should go. You let life teach you how to overcome the obstacles so you can become strong enough to press forward and go after your dreams. “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude towards what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering the change rather than allowing it to master you.” -Sri Ram.

Many of us will have a dramatic experience in our life, and we are blessed to be able to decide on how to handle the situation. We can either choose to let the drama capture us or we can choose dig deep within ourselves and be bigger than the situation and overcome. The miners didn’t see life as being over. They united together and encouraged each other every day, praying constantly, and kept the faith that they will be able to enjoy life again. And because they did not give up, they were rewarded by ‘coming back to life.’ They were greeted by the President of their country with open arms, being one of their biggest cheerleaders. They are receiving unimaginable invitations and riches from all over the world because of what they were able to overcome. Of course, they did not expect all of this. What they did expect, however, is that they will be given another chance. Now am I saying that big drama will bring you a big reward? Well . . . . kind of. It won’t always be handed to you like in this situation. Once you overcome an obstacle in your life, you have reached another level and are closer to being deserving of your destiny. You have to put in the work to get what you want.

Tonight, I was inspired become a stronger person. Become stronger in my faith in God, become stronger in my faith in what I believe I’m designed to become, and become stronger in my faith that I’m capable of overcoming any obstacle that comes in to my life.

“It’s not what happens that determines where you’ll go. It’s what you with what happens. What happens, happens to us all. It’s not the wind that determines our destination. The same wind blows on us all. It is the set of the sail.” -Jim Rohn.

LIVE TO DREAM BIG!