Today we’re going to mix it up a little with a guest post from my friend Steven from Hundred Goals.  I hope you’ll hop over and check out his work and his approach to maximizing his experience.

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Do you remember when you were younger and were filled with wild ambitions?  Maybe you thought you would climb Everest or find the cure for cancer.  When you grew up you were going to be a fashion designer for Hollywood celebrities.
Eventually those dreams faded and we found ourselves in a reality far different than the one we had envisioned for ourselves.  Not only did the hope of becoming a professional baseball player disappear, so did the dream.  Along with the death of our dream went our desire, our ambition and our hope.

There are some days when we find ourselves daydreaming about what could have been if only we had done something different, something better.  If only we’d have chased after our dreams, who knows what could have been.

The sky was the limit.

Today we find ourselves working at a job where we are not happy.  Our job is mundane, we don’t like our boss, our co-workers annoy us.  Our jobs are so simple a monkey should be doing them.  We ask ourselves, “Did I go to college for this?”  Our mind continues to wander as we sip our cup of luke-warm coffee and think about that better life we could have had.

It doesn’t take long for us to be reminded why we are still shuffling our feet though the door of our miserable job; debt, and lots of it.  We have student loans, car loans, mortgages, and credit card debt.  Not only do we have all of this debt to pay for, we also have to keep up with the Joneses.  Expensive vacations to exotic locations, fancy clothes and dinner at fine restaurants.

For most people this situation has become an accepted way of life.  They have everything they could possibly ever need and almost as much as they want.  Who wouldn’t want to be an educated person with a big house and nice car?  Who wouldn’t want to have designer clothes in the latest fashion?  Who wouldn’t want a flat screen television and surround sound?  Who wouldn’t want to be able to sit on the beach sipping frozen drinks on some tiny island near the equator?  I think it is safe to say that most of us would want this sort of life.

What some of us are unwilling to accept about this type of lifestyle is that it comes at a price.  That price is debt. Debt is like having a weight shackled to your neck, dragging you down.  It prevents you from being able to stand tall and proud.  To some, having debt is similar to being covered in feces.

It is because of this debt that we force ourselves to work at a “secure” job that we loathe.  It is out of necessity, not desire.  We feel as though we are slaves to our employer, but the reality is that we are slaves to ourselves.  We are the ones who built the walls of debt that imprison us and we are the ones who are shoveling the ground out from beneath our feet as we continue to spend.

It is no wonder why our goals seem so far away, do distant, so impossible.

If you are looking for something more from life than what you have today, I have great news you may have heard before; “Past performance is not an indicator of future results.”  You have the power to change your future.  It will take hard work, dedication and sacrifice.  If you want the freedom to chase your dreams, you may have to change your life in profound ways.

If you use debt as an excuse for why you can’t do something, eliminate it.  If you don’t think you are smart enough, educate yourself.  Maybe you want to climb a mountain but aren’t in a physical condition to do so.  Get to the gym and start getting in shape.  Whatever your excuse, stop letting them get in the way of your dreams and your success.

If we don’t take matters into our own hands and do everything we can to make our lives the way we want them to be, things will never change or get better.  There will always be exceptions to the rules, those who will get lucky, but why should you rely on luck when you already have the ability to change your life?
You have to decide which you want more, the life you have now or the life you have always dreamed of having.  Even though it may feel like you are against insurmountable odds, with enough hard work and determination you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

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Thanks Steven, I appreciate you making yourself available for our audience here at “Do You Dave Ramsey?”.  You’ve provided us with some great thoughts and motivations to consider.  If we’re not intentional, life has a way of numbing us to our very existance.  The good news, however, as you share, is that we can reclaim ourselves and reset our life’s course at any time.  Thanks for ringing the bell for intentional living!

For everyone else, I strongly encourage you to hop over and check out Steven’s work at Hundred Goals.

Photo By: Lisa at TSS

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