One of my goals along this journey is to read more books and when I say I want to read more books, I actually mean I want to listen to more audio books on Audible.  OH HOW I LOVE YOU AUDIBLE!  I started off my journey cruising from city to city bumping my favorite music ranging from Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Led Zeppelin, Tommy Petty, Oits Redding, R-Kelly (I know, I know), The Weeknd, Twista, and on and on.  I absolutely love music, and if you can’t tell all different types, and while jamming to some of my favorite artists I was being constantly reminded of memories in my past, some good & some painful.

While I was rolling from Albuquerque, NM to Lubbock, TX my mind was wondering into a day dream as I was serenaded by the voice of the Weeknd.  The Weeknd was KK’s and my favorite artist.  Each one of his songs had an amazing memory attached to it:

  • The first week or so that we started talking she introduced me to his music via the phone while I was in Dallas at a B-Ball tournament she was in Vegas for a birthday party.  I am sure I was annoying my entire team, because the rest of the trip and the trips there after, I made my entire team listen to The Weeknd on the van rides because it made me think of her.
  • The song I used when I proposed to KK was “Earned It,” by The Weeknd and performed by her brother.
  •  The first concert we went to together was The Weeknd concert at the Hollywood Bowl, which was not only the best concert I have been to, but it was also the one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken with someone.
  • Finally, The Weeknd was who we would listen to when we would lay around the house, relax in the pool, or get ready for date nights.

 

I  love – love – love, music, but often music takes us back to different points in our life and makes us re-live memories.  While this is something I love about music, one of my goals of the trip was to focus on living in the now and not living in the past or focusing only on the future.  While all the memories were amazing, they were also bringing me into the blues while I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had lost.

 

“This is not what I took this trip for,” I said out loud in the car talking to myself.   I have to start living in the NOW (This still is something that I am struggling with to this day).

 

I then remembered that I had a free audio book via Amazon Prime if I signed up for Audible.  I decided that I would get a book, turn off the tunes, and do some self work via some inspirational reading/listening.   Since I made this decision, the past few weeks has seen my audible purchasing resemble that of an ex-girlfriend getting ahold of your credit card and taking a trip to Nordstrom for a shopping spree in revenge. Yes, I have been buying books left and right and some on impulse.

One of the books that I did purchase was “The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari,” Thank you Jack for the recommendation.  I listened to this book on my way from Myrtle Beach, SC to Charlotte, NC and as soon as I got into the city limits I had to stop and put together MY DREAM BOOK.   In the book they explain that you are to fill the Dream Book with your desires, objectives, and dreams.  I loved this idea and decided that it was something I had to create.  While putting down goals, objectives, and dreams seems to be a future thinking activity, there is a piece to the purpose of the Dream Book that forces you to think of the NOW and how your actions in the present will drive your dreams.  This was exactly what I need!

 


How to build a Dream Book: 

  1. Purchase a notebook/journal that is used only for your Dream Book activities.
  2. Divide your Dream Book into separate sections for goals relating to the different areas of your life.
    • physical
    • financial
    • social
    • spiritual goals
    • etc
  3. Fill your Dream Book with all of your desires, objectives, and dreams in each category.
  4. You can also use pictures of the things you desire and images of people who have cultivated the abilities, talents, and qualities that you hope to emulate.
  5. Every day go into your Dream Book and focus your mind and energy on what you have put in under each section.
  6. The last process and the one that I feel is the most relevant: Every day go into your Dream Book and write down what you are doing today/NOW to help make these objectives, desires, dreams a reality.

 


MY DREAM BOOK: 

In an effort to be transparent, and expose my dreams out into the universe, and in an effort to put pressure on myself to make these happen, I will share with you what I have put into my Dream Book

  • Health/Wellness:
    • I want to weight 230 pounds and be less than 8 percent body fat
      • This would put me into the same shape I was in when I was playing overseas and at my peak
    • I want to be able to do Yoga (head stands and increase my flexibility).
      • Think Jean-Claude Van Damme .      
    • I want to start playing basketball in competitive leagues again
      • I am awful right now!

I will continue to add to this, but I know that with each one of these goals I will have to stay dedicated to going to the gym, stretching, performing yoga, eating a more balanced diet,  and starting to train with a basketball in my hands again.

 

  • Financial Goals
    • I want to create something and work for myself
      • I have had several ideas, but I want to follow through and make one of them happen.
    • I want to earn enough money to re-open Malta High School/School District
      • They closed down our school district in 2001 due to lack of funds and low enrollment
    • I want to earn enough money to donate 20k each year to a club basketball team to help aid in their development
      • I might even coach the team for fun too (coming out of retirement).

Again each day I will have to document and keep myself honest about how I am driving towards these goals/dreams. 

 

  • Relationship Goals
    • I want to rebuild relationships that I have neglected due to my depression.
    • I want to work on myself, beat my depression, and become a better version of myself to prove to my soul-mate that I am the person she fell in love with.
    • Become a better more loving father.
    • I want to stay in better contact with my family
    • Learning to Love myself so I have the energy to love others.

While all of these are focused on relationships with other people, they are all impacted by my actions.  Me picking up the phone to call/text, me working on my inner self, me working on my mental well-being, etc. 

 

  • Spiritual Goals
    • Build a relationship with God and speak with him several times a day
    • Meditate a minimum of one time a day, preferably more than once.
    • Focus on living with Love in my heart and not fear.
    • Working on changing my perspective of situations and using them as learning life lessons and not failures.

 

  • Life Goals
    • Read or Listen to one book a week as an activity to become a life long learner.
      • Once again, I LOVE AUDIBLE
    • Do one thing daily to impact someone else’s life.
    • Beat my depression and become self aware to identify signs and triggers.
    • Live in the Now and not in the past or the future

 

My hope is that when I look at these goals I will be reminded of what I need to do Today/NOW to make my dreams a reality in the future.  

Putting my goals, objectives, and dreams down into a Dream Book and taking time each day to look at them will force me to focus on what I really want in life, what I need to do NOW to get there, and it will keep me honest about what I am doing to turn these into reality.  I know that over time I will grow and most likely some of these goals/dreams, if not all of them will transcend into something more profound and meaningful.

 

“Self-mastery and the consistent care of one’s mind, body, and soul are essential to finding one’s highest self and living the life of one’s dreams,” From the Monk Who Sold his Ferrari. 

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