From the time I was 20 and involved in my Quixtar business til I was bout 27 I had my life figured out. Network marketing was my gig. My one way ticket to the life of my dreams. I’ve talked about this a bit in previous posts, but I truly created my identity around my business and the dreams I was positive it would provide.
I had my dream boards up. I had my affirmations written and posted everywhere. I had the picture of a house on my steering wheel! I had little toy versions of my dream car on my dash. On my video game, Need for speed I designed every piece of my dream car. I meditated on my dreams. I prayed about my dreams and let me tell you….
I’ve never been more excited than chasing after those dreams KNOWING I was going to achieve them some day!
Then one day…reality round house kicked me in the face like a bad Jackie Chan movie and my world was turned upside down. I wasn’t only chasing my dreams, but I was helping others find their dreams and I was able to encourage them to go after their dreams, but when we found out the opportunity wasn’t what we hoped it was and that it was actually getting worse me and my team were devastated.
But no fear because our leadership was going to find us the next great company so we didn’t have to throw our dreams away. So we painfully waited out our 6 month non-compete clauses and those of us who remained jumped on board a new boat destined for Dream Island! We weren’t super excited about the product until we started using it and we got after it again.
This HAD to be the golden ticket! Great product amazing comp plan, super leadership, amazing vision…all the ingredients for an amazing dream generating business….so we thought
After a couple years we were able to grow the team to a little over 300 then suddenly…it stopped. The excitement was gone. It seemed like all at once, the whole team gave up and I fell from cloud nine flat on my face. I tried all I could to pull it back together, but it seemed as if everyone had given up. I kept asking, how could two businesses fail…they are my destiny! They are my train ride to freedom! And now…nothing…and let me tell you…a depression like I’ve never felt set in. I couldn’t do it again…I couldn’t hype myself back up and rally the troops and in the blink of an eye…I had given up my dreams. I settled into the fact that I would never achieve the life I had once held as a certainty.
The pain that was caused when I stopped believing was downright brutal. I may as well have just had someone murder my pet in front of me. I got mad at God….”God why would you give me dreams and desires and then take from me the very vehicle that was suppose to attain them for me?” I’m a Christian! My focus was truly on making other people successful! I AM DOING THIS BECAUSE YOU SET IT BEFORE ME!!!!
The silence in my head was so loud! The joy and excitement that once fueled my engine was dried up and nowhere to be found. I became cynical. I started listening to the religious say that it was a sin to desire wealth. And I flat out justified my giving up.
I write all of this to let you know…I found a fresh perspective and I’m alive again. When I set aside my dreams and was going to “Settle for”, I died…I was no longer the happy optimistic me I used to be…but I’m back. Here’s the perspective I got…
When God made Adam…was Adam not wealthy beyond measure??? Did he live in poverty? Nope. God supplied Adam with all the abundance a man could ever dream of! He never “wanted” for anything. That is how we are wired. For success. For Abundance. It is not holy to be poor and impoverished! Being poor can cause the same greed for money that being rich can if your heart isn’t right.
Once I understood this I was able to believe that we have the capacity and the hard wiring for success and that if I didn’t give up, but rather kept the goal in front of me…it would come to pass! IT HAD TO! One of those things I’ve spoken of previously HAD come to pass in that I get to be home with my son raising him rather than a daycare…that was the one part of my dream that had come true. I wouldn’t be able to have the rest come true if I gave up on it. I’ve never given up on the full time dad part of it and it had come true…I was able to get my dreams back off the shelf again and use them to spur me on.
I encourage everyone…find your dreams…find your passions in this life…and through love of God and love of your neighbor go after it with all you got…because I know from first hand experience…if you aren’t striving for a worthy goal or dream or if you’ve given up on your dreams…it will cause way more pain in your life than simply believing that God created us for greatness, for abundance and success, not for failure. I dad never wants his kid to fail. He wants success for each of us, but we have got to know what that looks like for each one of us and we have to get creative and get after it.
You will never be more happy in your life than when you are in hot pursuit of a worthwhile goal or dream.
This pursuit is what is going to define YOUR dash…chase your dreams and make your dash count!
Jeremy's - Dash 