What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a fun question when you are four but by the time you reach my age the question gets a little annoying. I recently asked a group of kids how old they thought I was. Most put me in my sixties. Aren’t kids great? I am NOT that old! While I may not like being asked what I want to be any more the truth is I still have the same heart of four-year-old that dreams of what could be. We all do. It’s just as we get older we push it down deep out of sight. Wherever, you have stuffed them it is time to drag out those dreams and dust them off.
If you want to achieve your dreams or become someone or something there is a basic principle of life you need to follow: act like those who have it. It is really that easy.
Do you want to be wealthy? Then find out what wealthy people do and do it. I.e. don’t have a car payment. Pay cash for everything. Don’t buy what you can’t afford. Never use a credit card.
Do you want to be an Olympic snowboarder? Then find some snow and start practicing. You won’t get there surfing the cushions of your couch. Potato chip grease makes a terrible board wax.
Do you want to run a marathon? Then train like a marathon runner.
Do you want a college degree? Then go to class. Complete the assignments. Do the work.
Do you want to run your own business? Then find a successful business owner and learn how they did it and what they do.
Do you want to lose weight? Skip the midnight infomercial products and find someone who lost weight and do what they did. Hint: It probably involved eating less and exercising more.
Do you want a marriage that lasts a lifetime? Don’t ask your single friends what to do. Don’t get advice from your neighbor who has been divorced eight times. Go find that couple that’s been married fifty, sixty years and find out how they did it and then do what they do.
Do you want to have a vibrant spiritual life? Find a saint. Someone who has lived through life’s best and worst and do what they do.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Whatever it is there is someone who is already there.
Blessings,
Stephen