Who doesn’t love a good trip? Some travel food, tunes, the fun of the open road, and the anticipation of arriving at the destination.  It is not uncommon for me to make a 600+ mile day trip. I really enjoy windshield time.  As much as possible, I prefer to travel without using GPS. I will map out the trip, roughly set a few markers in my mind such as a town or intersection as a check in point, and I anticipate a few stops to stretch, eat, biological break and to divide the trip up into manageable pieces.  I use my arrival times at each check-in point as a way to track my progress against the schedule. I thought we could do the same thing here, on this journey. We will check in and make sure you are moving forward and are good with the progress you are making.

Since the initial phase of this blog is to follow the story line of A Christmas Carol, we will be monitoring your progress as we move through the plot.  The blog is a bit of improv so the best I can say is that we will check in now as we prepare for Scrooge to meet the three Spirits, and then again periodically as we move through the story. After we complete the story, I anticipate the blog continuing as a self-help, personal development site consistent with the great quote from the end of the book: ”He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.  …it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”  Yes, I really do think about this daily. Am I as good a friend as I can be to my friends? Am I as good a father… as good a brother, uncle… I hope to build a long relationship with you helping you to the life you dream of.

Here at our first rest stop, you should have passed/completed the assignments and hopefully noticed some subtle changes in how you are spending your time, and what you find yourself thinking about.

1. Do you have a clear vision of what you want your life to be? Do you have an elevator speech ready that you can explain to someone you have a conversation about this blog with what it is that you hope to be as a result of following the blog? Have you been able to set up a loop that this speech plays again and again in your mind? IN moments of quiet you should be reflecting on this and it should touch you to your core.
2. If you connect the dots from your childhood to today and then forward to the answer to #1, does this make “sense”?  Can someone look at this progression and agree that it is a compelling progression? Have you shared this with anyone and did they get excited for you?
3. Have you selected a “role model” that portrays at least one of the traits that you desire? Being you and true to the real you, does not prevent you from learning the behaviors you want from others. It means learning behaviors that truly and deeply resonate with you. Not driven by wanting to be someone else.
4. Success can be defined as preparation meeting opportunity. A big part of the preparation is becoming the new you. Well, at least moving forward toward the new you. That covers the preparation part of the equation.  The opportunity part is only found by looking for it, and taking action.  I mention in the blog, if you wait at the bus station and don’t get on the bus, you won’t go anywhere.  You have to take action.  The world is full of opportunity.  Have you been looking around you and seeing opportunities that you did not see before? If no, then ask yourself how to turn what is around you into the opportunities you seek?  It is lazy to complain that the current situation you are in doesn’t have the opportunities you seek. It takes work to turn your circumstances to your favor.  Most people are not willing to put the effort in.  There are no guarantees that this blog will move me forward toward my goals but NOT creating this guarantees that it won’t get me there. You have to be willing to try, and try again.  Eventually you will look around and realize you are where you previously only dreamed of being. Success is 80% showing up. ( Woody Allen I think gets credit for that bit of wisdom). Show up every day and you will go anywhere you set your mind to.