Find Your Dog Star

"All successful men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose." - Brian Tracy

In a song called "Wish Upon A Dog Star" by the group Satellite Party, the words stand out: It's time to shine and make all your dreams come true. You wish upon a dog star.

Now is time to shine in your life.

Now is the time to move forward in life, no longer holding onto old hurts or worries.

Now is the time to wish upon a dog star.

The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. Bright stars were important for navigation on the oceans. Low on the horizon, these stars acted as stellar compasses to assist mariners in charting courses to particular destinations.

The interesting thing about Sirius is the naked eye perceives it as a single star but is actually a binary star system. It consists of a white main star termed Sirius A and a faint white dwarf companion termed Sirius B.

The same is true of our dreams in that they usually contain more then a single vision when you look closely. When we get closer to it, we begin to see all of the pieces to it.

Find the brightest star which is your dream.

Let it guide you to something great for your life. Believe in the greatness you will find.

And stay inspired my friends!

Unlimited Imagination

"The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted." - Aesop

The ability to imagine something in your life is boundless. You can dream of things day in and day out. There are material things, the lottery, relationships, abilities or most anything.

We have a limitless wish list for our lives.

Yet most people keep their dreams locked up inside, only to be reviewed from time to time by only them self. The dreams never see the light of day because we hold our self back, afraid to move forward, afraid of failure. So each and every time we think of those things we want in our life, the next step is never taken.

An open door that we never walk through.

Even when you can see a glimpse of what is out there, we stay on inside. The grass may be green and comfortable, but it is the comfort of where we are currently which holds us back from something far greater. A world imagined will remain that until we choose to step forward and experience it.

Like the day before a marriage or the pending birth of a child. These are things dreamed of and now you are on the threshold of stepping through the open door. You are now ready to experience all that has been imagined for so long. It is both exciting and terrifying at the same time, but boldness of movement will allow you to reach what was once dreamed.

Set aside your fear of the unknown.

Find out what else is on the other side of the door. That is where your dreams reside and through that door you must walk in order to reach them.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life Outside Your Bubble

“The danger of venturing into uncharted waters is not nearly as dangerous as staying on shore, waiting for your boat to come in.” ― Charles F. Glassman

There is a movie from 2001 titled Bubble Boy, in which a boy is born with an immune deficiency and his parents keep him in an environmental safe room at home. You find out much later in the story that doctor's had misdiagnosed it but his mother was so overly protective, she led him and others to believe he would die by stepping out of the protection.

So he lives his life in a protective room, immune from all which happens outside his door. The insulated nature of his life fuels within him a desire. His story is that of a person wishing to break free of this protective cocoon of safety.

Life is so much more. There is love of life and people to pursue.

The boy decides to risk his life outside of this room in a more portable bubble he has created for himself. He remained in steadfast belief of his need to be protected. He enters the world outside his room with a shield; a bubble that keeps him separated from others just as the door on his room did.

Stepping out to change yet holding on to his perceived truth.

Each of us do this in life. We pursue dreams but with a view of the certainty of things. Those beliefs we simply hold as truth due to the culture in which we have lived in. Some of those beliefs might be absolutely true while others are misguided acceptance.

I for many years had a misguided thought. In it, I had thought Art Garfunkel, member of a popular singing duo from the 1960s had died. Much to my surprise he was performing in Central Park during a reunited concert.

When I look back, as a very young and inquisitive child, a sibling had told me a story of his death. Most likely to quiet me from asking so many questions about why the duo had split up. But I took this information as truth and believed it fully.

My mind was opened to questioning many other truths in life.

You see the idea is not to question and be suspect of everything. It is not meant to live life with paranoia of events and people.

It means to find out as much as you can about the world around you. To live life by stretching yourself beyond the confines of life lived in a bubble.

The Bubble Boy knew he was faced with giving up his bubble of safety for his real dream; the love of his life. When he stepped out of that bubble he found real truth. His long held belief was not true and he was now free to pursue his dreams.

Sometimes we have to face the reality of what we believe.

Living inside the bubble of what we believe has a limiting effect upon our lives. There may come a time when we have to question our beliefs in order to pursue our dreams or goals. Do not be afraid to test those beliefs and take a step outside of the bubble.

You may find the air is fine and the last wall is broken through to a dream.

Stay inspired my friends.

Dream of Things

“The best endings are the ones that lead to new beginnings.” ― Mathangi Subramanian

Once upon a time there was a young family, raising children, building a new home in a place they called home.

A typical tale of hard working individuals who were now one, living their dreams of things to come. For years and years they raised these children in this home, saw them leave to have children of their own and they retired dreaming of things to come.

Once upon a time there was a young man, raised in this home, who left to marry a woman of grandeur and grace.

The typical tale of hard working individuals, raising two daughters and lived their dreams of things to come. For years and years raised these children, watched them marry, retired and moved to another country as missionaries dreaming of things to come.

Once upon a time there were two young daughters, married to fine men, living their dreams of things to come.

The typical tale of hard working individuals, each beginning their own families and dreaming of things to come. For years they will build their homes, their families and lives in great and wondrous ways. And they will continue to dream of things to come.

Once upon a time there was a long time retired couple, having lived many of their dreams, building a new home.

Our lives are filled with dreams of things to come and of living those dreams. We are given the opportunity to always dream and to chase those dreams for as long as we can. Nothing says we get only one dream in life.

Dream, live your dreams and dream of things to come.

Stay inspired my friends.

Dream a Little Dream

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." - Les Brown

Do you remember a while back when that hidden jewel of talent became known to the whole world as Susan Boyle? She was an unassuming woman from Blackburn, Scotland who energized a popular British television show called Britain's Got Talent.

It was easy to see her appear on stage and rush to the judgement of a book by its cover. So many people, including the judges were skeptical and had pre-determined thoughts as she began her song on stage.

Susan dreamed of being a professional singer.

In her words, "She had not been given the opportunity until now." The dream was to be as good as Elaine Paige. It was a goal which reached beyond the limits others may have tried to place upon her.

The same kind of limits others try to place on your life.

But your story is not yet complete for the journey continues. Susan's story could be you. We each yearn inside to accomplish something big. We tell ourselves if only given the opportunity. We then fail to boldly take the challenge when opportunity arrives.

We each must take the bold step forward, through the door of possibility, where we must go in order to realize our dreams. No guarantee of success, but then again, no guarantee of failure exist beyond that door.

Boldly go for your dreams by embracing the journey and all that is possible.

And stay inspired my friends.

Shoot For The Moon

“If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's OK. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot.” - Confucious

When you dream.
When you develop a vision for your future.

Shoot for the moon.

Do not be limited by the everyday natural.
Be driven by your dreams and visions.

"Believe in your vision, act upon your vision and realize your vision."

Stay inspired my friends!

Where Your Heart Goes

"Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow." ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested and it contained four large eagle eggs.

One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born. Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more.

While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies.

"Oh," the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds."

The chickens roared with laughter, "You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar."

The eagle continued staring, at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done.

That is what the eagle learned to believe.

The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

Each of us has dreams and goals that our heart wants to lead us to. But many times we let ourselves be dictated by those around us. We allow others to determine our destiny.

Eventually we allow it to destroy our dream by quieting our heart.

Yet if you dream to become an eagle, follow the dream and not the words of a chicken. Send your heart after your dreams and your body will have no choice but to come along as well.

Stay inspired my friends.

Dream and Act Big

“All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.” - Brian Tracy

Ever have a big idea; one that you wanted to do or attempt?

A big idea that had you excited and ready to jump in a new direction?

Then you sat back after the initial excitement and started thinking about it. You began to size up what would be involved and took a realistic view of all that would need to be done. Others may have offered advice that dampened your enthusiasm.

As the days went by, your enthusiasm started to wane and you began to develop a negative thought process. The negative thoughts began to drown out the possibility of doing something big in your life.

All of this negativity shrunk your world back down to a small and compact little environment. You could even hear the slamming door of opportunity echo in the back of your mind.

Small thinking keeps us from accomplishing big things in life.

Our tendency is to think small.

Life is much bigger than that.

You can think big and take big steps to achieve greatness. Do not allow yourself to be limited or confined to a small world. Open yourself to the big world that is out there.

A bigger life awaits you outside.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Right Target

“Fear is a habit; so is self-pity, defeat, anxiety, despair, hopelessness and resignation. You can eliminate all of these negative habits with two simple resolves: I can!! and I will!!” -Unknown

The message is simple, if you believe you can never succeed, you will never succeed.

We doubt, we worry and we spend energy holding up that target on our life. I am not immune to it and neither are you. I can work my hind end off and produce wonderful results, but find myself at times doubting the work. Being self critical has certainly held me back at times. It has probably held you back at times also. The energy expended on those negative habits drains your ability to do so much more in life.

You can liken it to the picture shown above by imagining your "self doubt" as a bullseye or target. Both hands firmly grip it and steadfastly position it in front of you. Your arms may weaken, but you hold onto that target ever tighter.

Now imagine if you simply threw it to the ground. Two free hands that could accomplish so much more are now available.

It is not easy to do because self doubt can be part of the "yin and yang" in our lives. Self doubt will keep you grounded in stagnation. And all too many times we let it take over and become a heavy rock in our wagon to carry through life.

What we must do is set aside the target of self doubt and believe in you. Free yourself to do greater things and let your dreams and goals become the target.

Stay inspired my friends.

So Move

"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." -Anatole France

For all of the dreaming and planning that we do, movement in action is required to realize those dreams. Each of us know of people that constantly talk of what they want in life but never begin taking actions to achieve it.

Those people may very well be you, always thinking of greater things for your life. Planning and assessing how to get to a new point in your life becomes a daily activity. Yet you never get any closer to the dream.

Why? It is because you make no movement in your life to actually go after those dreams. Without action, a dream remains a dream. With action, a dream can become reality.

Dream of great things, dream of all that you want....then take action.

Stay inspired my friends!

Dream Anything

“To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed.”
-Bernard Edmonds

Dream your dreams my friends.

Dreams Become Real

"Vision, it reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." -Robert Collier

As you dream at night when nothing else can interfere and in some cases these dreams can be remembered during your waking hours. Some of these dreams are horrible or confusing with no meaning to be found. Others are of a yearning, a vision, that you want for your future. But dreams are only an undefined mound of wet clay, waiting for you to form it.

As you begin to take hold of your dreams, trying to remember the details, it is your imagination that will start to mold the dream. You will mold the clay into something that only you can create. It may change from what you first dreamed, but it will start to take shape and become a clear thing for your life.

As your dream becomes more real, you have to apply vision in order to move towards the dream as a tangible part of your life. It prods you to walk through the open door and begin a journey. A trip that begins with movement.

Allow yourself to dream big things and let vision push you towards it. Go beyond what currently surrounds you. There is a large life out there waiting for you.

And stay inspired my friends.

Immersed In The Clouds

"Caretake this moment. Immerse yourself in its particulars. Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed. Quit evasions. Stop giving yourself needless trouble. It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now." -Epictetus

Recently I was flying into Seattle on a business trip, coming in over the Cascade Mountain Range. In the morning light, their peaks brightly point to the blue sky while the dark shades of the forest line reveal the scattering darkness.

This particular morning clouds had filled the valleys and low areas between the undulating mountains. It was a thick covering that looked very much like a pillowy white blanket covering the landscape. Knowing we would be landing soon, I also knew that we would have to immerse ourselves into this blanket of white.

So with faith in the plane's technology, the skill of the pilot and a touch of excitement, down into the cloud we went. I had a vision in my mind of what awaited us. I believed that we would get through and safely onto the ground. But for a moment, we have to just reconcile ourselves to believe we are prepared for anything that happens.

The same can be said of most anything we attempt or involve ourselves in. We dream of great things in our life. We dream of doing much more but hesitate when we see a blanketing cloud of the unknown. We become afraid to immerse ourself into something if we can not see beyond it.

The future is not something we can see beyond the present. We can only envision it and then have the confidence to go forward. When we decide not to enter that cloud of the unknown, all we end up doing is circling round and round for a lifetime. All the while, what you want in life is just beyond the white fluffy cloud cover.

Choose to immerse yourself in the unknown. To achieve success, dreams or goals, you will have accept that things are not going to be worked out ahead of time. There will be moments of sheer terror, moments of disappointment and moments of failure. But there will also be the ability to learn, new opportunity and success.

Take yourself beyond where you stand today. Do not be afraid of the unknown. Soon you will find yourself on the ground standing right where you wanted to be, dreams fulfilled.

The Worry List

"If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?" -Shantideva

Each of us have a list of worries that kept neatly packed away in our mind. The list can tend to be so long that it overshadows our dream list.

We take a cursory look at the dream list but spend countless hours going over and over the worry list. We spend more time concerned with that list then we do actually trying to solve them. If we were to take an honest look, many are not worries at all.

What we would find is that the list is full of excuses. They are stones building up in our mind's wagon. We pull this around allowing it to cause pain and struggle. The weight of it all simply burdens us as we pursue our dreams.

Think of how much faster, how much easier, how much more successful we would be in reaching our dreams without the worry. If we let it go, tore up the list, emptied the wagon of stones; the journey would be so much easier.

At the very least, we would have more focus directed on dreams then on worries. And that is the lesson to be learned. Do not spend all of your time in worry. Spend that time focused on your dreams.

Runnin Down A Dream

"Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded." -Jimi Hendrix

Another birthday and another year gone by; my son is celebrating his today. Steve has taken on another year and taken on the challenges that all of us face. But his determination and talent will take him places that only his dreams understand at this time.

Steve has a musical talent with the guitar that he is a wonder to behold; a song in his heart and a voice to pleasure the ear. His talent is not noticed only by a father, but by many others. The tough part is following your talent when it can be frustrating and filled with the unknown.

So don't let things get in the way, keep your focus and reach out for those dreams. Whether it be in your 20s, 40s or 80s; time is never an obstacle. All you have to do is move towards the dream, the vision, the goal.

Happy Birthday son and reach for your guitar....reach for your dreams. Here is a little something different then the usual birthday song. Keep runnin' on your dreams and going wherever it leads.



It can happen, it all starts with believing in yourself, a bit of a crazy thought and keeping happy along the way. Love you. -Dad

Dream Big

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral." -Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Here we are now on day three @EMCWorld. There have been BIG announcements already and more BIG announcements to come. But the bigger thing that is on my mind are the BIG visions people will have going forward. Not just related to EMCWorld and technology, but BIG things for their lives.

To illustrate BIG in this post's picture, I was going to show a great view of the Palazzo Hotel here in Las Vegas where I am staying. From the street, it is a grand view; large, big and brightly lit. But framing that with the quote, I didn't want people viewing money as my cathedral. So I used an image of Saint Patricks Cathedral in New York City.

Neither the Palazzo Hotel or Saint Patricks Cathedral are meant as the objects of this article. The center piece is that to build something BIG and grand for your life you have to envision it first. A cathedral starts as a pile of stones and someone having a vision to create something great. A huge hotel begins as a list of dreams on napkins and memo pads.

Everything BIG starts starts as a BIG vision.

I suppose one might even make the case for the grand looking buildings in Las Vegas. But I say this from the view of people visiting Las Vegas, the EMC World convention goers and almost anyone, anywhere. If you look at success, the gold and grandness of it all, then maybe you will catch inspiration to lift your life to even greater heights.

I'm not interested in the false facade or illusions that can exist in life. I'm interested in sparking a real vision for your life in which you can do great things. So, if standing in front of a cathedral or a grand hotel can light a fire inside of you to do great things, then stand and be inspired.

There will be 10,000 people heading home soon from EMC World with lots of ideas, goals and visions for the upcoming year. A large portion of that will be centered on the BIG announcements made during this event. But I hope that each of them take home a BIG vision for their own life.

Enjoy the rest of the convention folks and dream BIG.

Building St. Peters

St. Peter's Basilica Floor Plan

"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." -Leonard Bernstein

The other day I performed some volunteer work at my local church, theC3Church. It was one of those work events in which the talented church members in the construction industry put those talents to a grand plan. For me, its a matter of volunteering my back to assist them in bringing that plan to fruition.

This particular project is to rebuild a seating area by installing risers for those seated further back. Quite an undertaking when I first viewed the area and the work required. But to accomplish the task is this purpose of my article today; putting your plans into action.

Each of us has a dream or vision for what we want in life. Sometimes it is a well announced vision while many times it is quietly kept to ourself. The core thing to remember is that it takes action to put your plans on a course to accomplishment.

Look back at all of the great cathedrals built around the world. Most of these first grand buildings were built in the 1100 and 1200s AD. Even the grand St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was a vision at first. What followed was a plan followed then again by action.

I watched the lead people review the drawn plans, take measurements once, twice and discuss. Then action occurred and as we worked the plan started to become a reality. BELIEF in a vision takes you to the point of planning and preparing. You then must ACT upon the plan and begin moving forward with what you want to accomplish. Finally you come to REALIZE that vision.

We can dream and envision day in and day out about what we want in life. We can even sit at the drawing table creating plan after detailed plan on how to achieve it.

But in the end, if we want to view the grand Sistine Chapel ceiling of our life, we must begin by building the foundation. We must raise the walls in order to support our dreams. We must begin to act upon the plan.

Will you turn your dreams into plans today? Will you turn your plans into action? Will you?

Big Expectations

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow." ~Orison Swett Marden

You have had it happen before, probably many times before. You go to bed at night having an expectation of something happening in the morning. It could be waiting on news from a doctor, word of a new job or anticipation of reuniting with family. Quickly you fall asleep and slumber takes over in a comforting way.

And then it happens, something startles you awake from a deep sleep. You clear your senses and look to the clock on the bed stand to find it is only 11:00pm. Not to worry, you snuggle back into the covers and fall asleep only to wake again. This time it is only 1:45am, far short of the rising sun.

This goes on and on while you start to think ahead to the new day's events. The expectation grows in you and it only makes sleep harder to achieve. You worry and stare at the clock as the alarm draws closer and closer.

Expectation of things to come can have this type of effect upon us. We draw up grand thoughts of what is to come. We then start to concern ourselves that the reality will not meet the expectation. Over and over again we do this and eventually we stop trying to expect good things in our life.

This is when we stop living a life geared as movement towards a great life. We stop realizing our dreams, stop acting on our dreams, we stop dreaming.

Don't ever let the reality of something win over the expectation you may have. Expect grand and great things for your life. Always expect more then what the reality may provide.

When reality hits, understand that it is providing you with the opportunity to shoot for even more in life. If the reality doesn't rise to meet the expectation, keep believing in more, keep trying for more.

You can give up when reality doesn't meet the expectation. Or you can still get up when the alarm goes off at 7:00am and go meet the reality. Once you have met up with reality, then dream some more, expect more and spend another night with great expectation of greater things in your life.

Wake Up

"If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up." ~J.M. Power

A friend of mine, David Spell recently wrote a great article titled A Season of Change that talks about setting goals.

Its a pretty darn good reflection as this year starts coming to an end and a new year is preparing to begin. What goals did we set this year and what goals are we preparing along with the new year?

I would confess that I'm better at setting work goals then I am for my own personal life. That probably sounds odd coming from someone that writes motivational articles. But I am no different then each of you. I need to remind, encourage and inspire myself to a great life.

That journey includes needing to set goals. As we age though, we tend to lose the ability to dream like a child. I don't mean dreaming childish dreams, but dreaming of the impossible like a child does.

If you dream the impossible, you also have to plan and prepare by setting goals to achieve those dreams. Whether the dream is large or small, dream like children, never grow out of that ability. Dream big things all of your life.

Then set goals to achieve those dreams. Prepare yourself because simply dreaming won't get you there. And then the only thing left to do is to WAKE UP and get moving.

Sunset Blvd

"Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal." ~Elbert Hubbard

When speaking of a sunset, is there anything more obvious then Sunset Boulevard in the Los Angeles, California area. It runs from downtown LA northwest and then turns west running out to the Pacific Ocean near Pacific Palisades.

It is a famed road that offers a wide range of both social and economic variation. As you travel its course, you encounter everyday people, those trying to be famous and the very famous. There are the destitute people living on the street, those trying to survive, the getting by just fine and the super rich that have done amazingly well.

Even the street views give a glimpse into the diversity. In some areas you find the gorgeous trimmed and gated homes. In other areas the shiny glass office and retail entertainment complexes take your breath away. But you also see the rougher areas, broken glass windows and lots of struggle to maintain appearance.

The people along this twenty-two mile stretch tell a tale of dreams being pursued. The similarity carries across all situations. Every morning the poorest to the richest are getting up, getting dressed, getting prepared for the day; all wanting to pursue their dreams. The needs and wants, the visions and dreams, each may be at different levels, but each are still being pursued.

Regardless of that level, hold onto the dream and continue to move towards it. Never let go of what you want to achieve in life. "It is possible" is not just a silly phrase. There is so much proof of it through out history. You might even be surprised by what some people went through to achieve what they have today. One day it will be you with a story that will surprise others when you tell them of how you achieved your success.

What you need to remember is that we all see the sun rise and we all see the sun set. What matters is have you moved towards the dream today? Have you taken one or more steps? If so, then the dream is that much closer. The sunset is also a little more awe inspiring.