Six Tips for Living Your Dream!

Two weeks ago I talked about stopping your “excuse-itis” by writing your goals down and changing your paradigm. Last week I talked about specific things to write down. Now I’m going to talk about more of those things.

If you want to change your paradigm, then find an answer to what your need is and what you want. Don’t let people tell you that you can’t do it. Find a way around it and make it happen. Don’t stop just because there’s an obstacle.

I was an immigrant in Canada. I was the last person and the first foreigner in the Caribou District ever to homestead in Central British Columbia. I lived my dream and carved my ranch out of the wilderness. Why? Because I wrote it down when I was eight years old.

KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU WANT, WRITE IT DOWN . . . AND THEN THINK SOME MORE

Know what it is you want and write it down. So many times we don’t even know what we want. When you write down what you want, look at it and ask yourself, “Is that really what I want?” You might be shocked to discover that it is not what you want. You might have written down, “I want a new husband.” And after you looked at it, you said, “No, forget that; I don’t want to be told what to do.” You might have written down, “I want to be a Diamond.” But you might look at that later and say, “Whoa, I don’t actually want to be a Diamond.”

Now Mary can tell you that she gets upset with me at times because I have such high expectations. I say I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that. Mary has often said, “Gary, why are you going to do that?” I remember when I told her I was going to build a school in Ecuador. She said, “Do you have to do that now? You’re building a clinic and a farm, and now you’re going to build a school and travel around the world, all at the same time? Why would you want to do that?”

Did we build a school at the same time? Yes, and at the same time I was building the school, farm, and clinic, guess what? We made a movie and I wrote a book in my spare time!

LOAD YOUR PLATE

Here is another part of my success that drives Mary crazy. I put more on my plate than I can possibly do. Why would I do that? Because if I don’t load my plate, I will fall short someplace.

I always plan to do more than is humanly possible. I may not accomplish it on a given day, but I will accomplish it. And as long as my plate is loaded, it keeps me working and moving forward.

Also, once you set your expectations high and load your plate, don’t make excuses for not doing it. Mary and some of the long-time members, if they were here, would tell you that they remember when I came home from Oman in 1996 and said, “One day I’ll have a farm and distillery in Oman.” I put it on my list. Have I ever not done something I said I was going to? Not always in the time frame that I set for myself, but I always set my expectations beyond other people’s expectations of what is humanly possible.

I do this because who has the right to tell you it’s impossible? Who has the right to tell you that you can’t do it? Believe and know that you can accomplish it. As long as you believe you can, know also that God creates things that happen around you to help you fulfill that, because God is not going to make a liar out of you. You’ve got to know that about the Father. He’s going to support you in what you desire to do.

LOVE YOUR BUFFET

I just write it down and I put more on my plate and more on my plate and more on my plate. I love my buffet! There is no limit to my buffet. So as you’re changing your paradigm, write this down: “Look at your buffet and see what you have put there.”

Another thing I want you to do when you’re writing things down is to look at your buffet, or what’s on your plate, and ask yourself, “How many times have I wanted to be more and then looked at the cost of being more and decided I couldn’t afford it?”

I made a great discovery years ago, and I’ve shared a little bit of that with you. It was when I was building the Ecuador farm. I realized that I dreamed proportionately to my bank account. And when you dream proportionately to your bank account, it is self-defeating. That’s when I realized that my bank account was not my source. If you can’t dream beyond the proportion of your bank account, you will fail. Because you will set limitations on yourself, your dreams will not happen.

How many people do you know who have gone to a foreign country where they couldn’t speak the language, then built a farm, a medical clinic, and two schools in seven years? Do you know how many people told me I was crazy and couldn’t do it?

I say that simply for this reason: If you listen to the people around you give advice, you will fail every single time. If you acknowledge the fear, that’s okay, because that’s why it’s there. Fear is there to counsel you but not to dictate your life.

Fear is there to counsel you but not to dictate your life.

DON’T LET FEAR DICTATE YOUR OUTCOME

This is another place where we fail. We let fear dictate our outcome. We let fear tell us, “No, no, no! Don’t talk to that person in the aisle in front of you or in the shopping checkout line because she might reject you, he may not accept it, he may think you’re crazy, or she may think that essential oils are voodoo medicine.” Your fear then dictates your outcome because you let it control you. You let it dictate how you’re going to respond to something or somebody.

How many of you have gotten on an airplane, taken your oils out, and rubbed them on so you get attention? It worked, didn’t it? Is there anybody in this room who could not be a Diamond in 18 months? Then write it down.

Could it be sooner than 18 months? Yes, because you should never put a limitation on a goal! Set a projected goal, but then always leave yourself open to adjustment. Leave yourself room for flexibility, but never change your sights on your goals.

LINE UP YOUR SIGHTS

How many of you have shot a rifle? How many sights are on a rifle? There are two, aren’t there? Why do you think there are two sights on a rifle? It’s to line up the target, so you stand a better chance of hitting it.

Folks, if you don’t use things in your life to line up your sight, you’re going to miss your target. What is the greatest thing you can do to line up your sights? Exactly what you’re doing: writing it down. Writing it down is your rear sight. That allows you to reflect on what you’ve written down and to do a self-evaluation: “Is this really what I want?” That’s your rear sight, and that’s your most critical one. Because if that rear sight isn’t lined up, you’re not going to make it; you’re not going to hit your target.

Your front sight is your goal, which you’re writing down. Align that rear sight—writing down what you want—to your goal, which is your front sight, to keep you focused.

WRITE EVERY DAY

Every single person reading this who wants to be successful needs to write a minimum of 30 minutes a day. It’s going to do three things for you. (1) It’s going to start you on the road to success; (2) It’s going to create a paradigm shift in you; and (3) It will align you with the universe. These are all the things that will take you to success.

I always smile when people ask me what to do for their mother, aunt, uncle, or cousin, and they don’t have a pen or a paper in their hand. So what is the real intent? I want you to write this down: “The dullest pencil is sharper than the brightest mind.” Always write, write. This is extremely important!

Maybe you need to ask yourself, “What do I want and where do I want to go with this business?” That’s after you write down what you don’t want because it’s more important to know what you don’t want than it is to know what you do want. Knowing what you don’t want is vital. Once you know that, then you can start lining up on what you do want.