Dreams – Page 21 – Dave Glardon

What is Your “Why”?

January 2, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Well, the holidays are over and it’s back to the grind. This is the time when we reflect on good times shared with family and friends, and face (for most of us) the longest stretch of the year before our next paid holiday. And if you live in the northern hemisphere, you get to contend with winter at the same time. And the hits just keep on coming!

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the post-holiday blues. The celebrations are over, the decorations are put away, and we’re expected to pick up right where left off, full speed ahead. Meanwhile, the credit card bills are coming in and we’re trying to figure out how to stretch what little is left in our checking account to cover expenses for the next month.

That said, it’s also a time of renewal. It’s a time to get back on our feet, shake off any lingering baggage from the previous year, and move forward with a sense of purpose. Whether you made a resolution for the whole year, or just for one week as I suggested in Monday’s post, this is where the rubber meets the pavement.

Like many of you, I need to lose weight. Okay, I need to lose a pretty fair amount of weight. I’m a member at a local gym and, over the past few years, I’ve exercised pretty regularly. That is to say, I’ve gone through periods of a few months where I exercised almost daily, and then several more months where I didn’t go at all. It happens.

But in my time at the gym, there’s something I’ve noticed. Every year, starting in the first week of January, the gym is full of fresh faces, people I’ve never seen there before. The morning workout crowd is about three times its normal size for a month or two, and then all those new faces are gone.

And there’s a simple reason for this. It’s not a lack of willpower, or failed resolutions, or anything of the sort. It’s simply the natural result of working toward a goal without a firm understanding of why you’re doing it in the first place.

It’s easy to set goals, and probably just as easy to start working toward them. But if we don’t know the real reason why, it won’t last very long. Ask somebody why they’re in the gym, and they can offer a bunch of superficial reasons. “To lose weight.” “To get healthy.” “To get my doctor off my back.” But those are goals – they don’t explain why.

This time of year, another common goal is paying off some bills. That may mean anything from cutting monthly expenses like cable TV or dinners out, to taking on a part-time job or even starting a business. And the goal is simple – we need more money, so we can pay off some bills. But why?

Maybe the goal is to pay down the credit cards, so we can spend more next Christmas. Maybe we want to save a down-payment for a new house or car. Maybe we want extra money for vacations or to send the kids to college. And maybe we just want a safety net, so we can start saving for retirement.

Whatever the reason, it’s important to understand what it means to you. Losing weight isn’t a reason – it’s a goal. Why do you want to lose weight? To get off your blood pressure medicine? To look more attractive? To fit into the seat of your favorite rollercoaster? It could be that simple.

Root cause analysis is a method of identifying a problem by continually asking the question “why?” The plane crashed. Why? Because it fell out of the sky. Why? Because the engine stopped. Why? Because it ran out of fuel. Why? Because it was raining, and the pilot didn’t want to risk getting water in the tanks by doing a visual inspection. Ah, now we’re getting somewhere.

Sometimes, you have to follow the same process to get to the real reason why you want to make a change. And once you’ve got that bottom-line reason firmly planted in your mind, the excuses seem to melt away. You wake up every day with a solid vision of what you’re doing, and why. It’s what drives you to succeed when you’d rather take a break.

We’ll talk more about this later, but for now, take some time to get your “why” firmly planted in your mind. It may take some time, and a few sheets of paper. But it’s worth the effort, because when you combine a goal with belief and a firm understanding of why, nothing can stand in your way.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

Dreams for the New Year

January 1, 2019January 1, 2019 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Happy New Year! I hope your day is off to a great start.

It’s hard to believe 2019 is here. My daughter shared a post this morning with a warning from a popular computer retailer 19 years ago, advising us to shut off our computers before midnight. As the world watched in anticipation of all the bad things that could possibly go wrong because of the Y2K issue, the new millennium came in without a hitch.

Throughout history, there have been times when we expected the worst. Religious devotees have predicted the end of the world, right down to the date and hour. Outbreaks of deadly viruses have sparked fears of a global pandemic. The entire Cold War was based on the very realistic threat of a massive nuclear war. And the Y2K issue predicted the simultaneous crash of every computer-driven system on the planet.

Yet here we are, alive and kicking, and launching into a brand-new year. Go figure.

Could any of those things have gone wrong? Absolutely. But they didn’t. And that was largely due to preparation and intervention. On any given day, there are things in our world that can bring us to our knees if we’re not careful. And it’s good to be aware of those potential disasters, so we can do our best to avoid them.

That said, it’s easy to get so wrapped up in these things that we miss the beauty of living. In the movie “Blast from the Past”, a family retreated into their private fallout shelter at the height of the Cuban missile crisis and remained there for the next 35 years. Their son, born in the shelter, had no exposure to anything known of the outside world beyond the year 1962.

Okay, so that’s Hollywood, and it made for an entertaining, though improbable, scenario. But how many people do you know who spend their life hiding from a perceived danger, waiting for the hammer to fall? Some are a lot more afflicted by this mindset than others, literally refusing to leave the house for fear of disaster. Others spend their days out in the world, where they can spread the effects of their pessimism among the rest of us.

It’s difficult to accurately estimate the number of optimists and pessimists in the world, mostly because it’s not something that can be scientifically diagnosed. Hundreds of polls and surveys have been conducted, but let’s be real – how many people would actually describe themselves as a pessimist? But, if you talk to people long enough, you’ll figure out who’s who.

And, make no mistake – a little dose of pessimism can be healthy in a world where things can and do go wrong. We need to be aware of the dangers around us and understand the potential impact. But, like fresh cayenne pepper, a little pessimism goes a long way.

As we begin a new year, it’s important that we look ahead with hope, and the knowledge that we can make a difference in our world. It’s important to identify those things that have been holding us back and do whatever is necessary to overcome them. It’s a time to put the past behind and move forward.

It’s also a time to dust off those dreams and pick one or two for the coming year. Not to dream about, but to accomplish. And, here’s something to think about – if all of your dreams can be accomplished in a single year, you’re not dreaming big enough. Try harder. We should all be working toward at least one goal that will carry us into the following year and beyond.

Take a few moments over the coming days to feed those dreams. Drive through a section of town where property values are on another planet. Go to an open house in a neighborhood where you’d like to live. Visit an RV or boat show. Have a family dream night with the kids. Buy a travel magazine or go to the library and check out a book on your dream destination.

If we only focus on that little part of this planet and this life that fills our own reality, we’ll completely miss all the wonderful things that are waiting to be discovered. We can sit in our own self-imposed fallout shelter for the next 35 years or get out and enjoy what’s right outside that imaginary steel door.

There are people for whom the things we think are beyond reach are part of their everyday reality. They’re no smarter than you are, and they’re no more deserving. They just got there first. Dare to dream. Allow yourself to believe. Then get up off the couch and make it happen. Dreams really do come true, but only if we make them. Let 2019 be your year.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

What’s Your Plan?

December 17, 2018December 18, 2018 by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend.

It’s hard to believe we’re just over a week from Christmas. After that, the year winds down to a close and we’re off into the wild blue yonder of 2019. New years are a time of hope. Just like waking up each day, we get yet another chance to do things right, to make things go according to our own master plan.

I read something last week that really hit home. It said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” I had to think about that a few times before I fully absorbed the meaning. On the surface, it sounds like somebody is saying we have no control, that we’re only along for the ride. And if that’s the case, why try anything?

But I think the deeper meaning is that, while we can achieve a desired outcome, it’s impossible to plan all the steps along the way. If, every time we stepped up to the plate, we could count on a certain ideal pitch coming directly in middle of the strike zone, home runs would lose their luster. It would justbe another time at bat.

I’ve always enjoyed golfing. That is to say, I enjoy getting out there when I can, and I make the most of every minute. Some people want toget it over with in a mere 72 strokes, but I get my money’s worth. I hit that ball, and hit it, and hit it. Sometimes, that’s just getting out of the tee box and onto the fairway. Or on the water. Take your pick

Years ago, I played in a “favorite club” tournament. It’s one of those outings where everybody brings one club to get from the tee to the green, and a putter to finish it off. It means making some pretty hefty assumptions before the game starts, namely that you can reliably hit the ball about the same height and distance with every swing. Anybody who’s ever played with me knows better.

I’m one of those people who can break out a pitching wedge 50 yards from the green and use up three more strokes getting to the middle of the sand trap. Or I can use the same club and, in a single stroke, overshoot the green by 100 yards. For any non-golfers out there, pitching wedges aren’t supposed to hit that far.

But that’s why most golfers carry a bag full of different clubs. If every stroke worked out exactly as planned, we’d never need a sand wedge.vWe’d also be able to play 18 holes with the same ball, but that doesn’t happen, either. My wife never asks my score. She only asks how many balls I lost.

It’s that way through most of life. We can tee up the ball, scan the fairway, check the wind, and pick out the “perfect” club. Everything looks ideal. Then we swing. After that, instead of following a plan, we react to reality. But, no matter what, we eventually end up on the green. The goal itself never changes, and we don’t stop trying until we get there.

It’s good to make plans. But it’s also important to accept the fact that plans are only the ideal path – the way we hope things will progress. But when reality kicks in, we’re forced to adapt on the fly and make the most of situations that aren’t always ideal. At that point, how we get to our goal isn’t nearly as important as just getting there.

When faced with a storm cloud, airline pilots have a mixed bag of tricks up their sleeve. Climb higher, drop lower, go around, or fly through the least intimidating part of the storm. Rarely do they give up and turn around. And even then, they only go back as far as necessary to safely wait it out until they can get back in the air and on to their planned destination.

Whatever your goals, rest assured things will rarely, if ever, go completely according to plan. And that’s okay. What’s important is that you play the hand you’re dealt and keep moving in the right direction until you reach your destination.

Whether it’s a new day, a new month, or a new year, making plans is important. But be ready for the unexpected, and never let it keep you from your dreams. As long as you’ve ordained the outcome with the simple word “this shall be,” nothing can stand in your way.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!