I Am Not A Blogger

A few months ago I created a 30 Day Challenge for myself to write a blog post every day. It was a really REALLY important challenge for me because too many times I’ve found myself not following through on ideas. Long story short lol..I completed the Challenge and counted it as a big win personally. But noooowww another big win personally was turning the 30 blog posts into my 1st published book which was also a life long goal of mine. 🤷🏽‍♂️📖. Ok long story short fareal.. The book is titled I AM NOT A BLOGGER and it’s available on Amazon RIGHT NOW (E-book and Paperback Available). Feel free to support. Feel free to share. Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey. I’m just tryna do the all the things I wrote in my notebooks over the years. The people who’ve known me for years can cosign I never go anywhere without my book bag and notebooks.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this lifelong goal of mine. I’m really on a mission to empty out all the ideas from the notebooks I’ve stashed over the years. I’m really on a mission to inspire anyone who has followed my story from day 1 or from today to empty out their notebooks too. And people from Day 1 know my message has been consistent. Work on yourself every day. Work on your dreams everyday even if it’s just 1 thing to get you closer. Another Day Another Chance. It might work. It might not work. But I’d rather shoot 0 out of 100 then 0 out of 0. 🤷🏽‍♂️ . That’s a little what the book is about.

Sense of Urgency

All the books…All the studying….All the challenges, goals, plans etc, will be all for naught if no action is implemented consistently. Information overload is a real thing. Sometimes we get so caught up in the meal prep that by the time the food is ready, those who were once hungry have settled on a different meal or lost the appetite for what you were cooking

What if I walked from New Jersey to California?

You are your own biggest enemy. That’s not a myth. That’s not click bait. It’s a hard thing to admit to ourselves but it’s very important that we acknowledge it. WE ARE OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES. Now that we got that out of the way, let’s have a conversation.

Is it harder for some of us to become successful with our gifts? Yes. Is it ways to at least make it a little bit easier? Absolutely. Only if we would just get out of our own way. Figuring out how to make it just a little bit easier every day is better than being stuck forever.

If I wanted to walk from New Jersey to California, would it feel like forever? I’m pretty sure it would. Just the thought of it would feel overwhelming. But if we know our destination and plan accordingly how to get there, eventually we’ll make it. Even if it took years, the goal and the purpose needs to keep us motivated. Yes a bike would be a little faster. A car or train would be a whole lot faster. An of course a plane would get us there in a few hours. But if all we had at the moment was our 2 feet, should we sit there and wait or should we start our journey on our own?

Once we get started you never know what will happen. Worst case scenario. WE WILL DIE. But we knew that already. Best case scenario. We get to our destination and find out for ourselves if the journey was worth it or not. The main thing is to start moving. Maybe someone will see you and offer to drive you a few miles. Maybe even a state or 2. Maybe someone will offer a train or plane ticket. Maybe. MAYBE. We’ll never know if we never put that first foot in front. The only thing we do know for sure is we won’t live forever. But hey, we can just sit here and play it safe. That’s 100% our decision. Or we could decide to take a risk. We can decide to take a chance. But 1st we have to stop being our own worst enemies. Trust yourself for a change.

It took me 10 years to read the Bible

For the past 10 years one of my top New Years Resolutions was to read The Bible from front to back. TEN YEARS. Each time ending in a failed attempt. And that wasn’t the only failed New Years Resolution. Almost every other resolution ended prematurely. But this year I made a commitment to myself. Honestly, the commitment was made in late September, Early October right around my Birthday October 6th. A commitment that saw me cut down on alcohol consumption, a 30 Day Cold Shower Challenge, a 3 day water fast and finally reading The Bible from front to back. I’m not the most religious person by any stretch but I do believe you can build a closer relationship with God. So reading The Bible was a personal goal for me that always was supposed to be one of the highlights of my New Years Resolutions.

Year after year. Notebook after notebook. 1st page with bold letters. NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS. And like clockwork, somewhere in the top 3 read something like ..”Read The Bible Completely.” Somewhere in between “Write a song everyday” and “Spend more time with my sisters.” The song everyday was wishful thinking but spending more time with my sisters has been happening throughout the years. Not as much time as we could, but always enjoying every moment.

After many years of starting and stopping in my attempt to read The Bible completely, and some years not even starting at all, this needed to be the time it all changed. These last few months I’ve been really working on my discipline and mental strength, so this was important to complete and avoid disappointing myself again. Most days I would wake up at 4-430am so I can read it without distractions. Usually stopping once I had to wake up my Wife and Kids to get ready for their days. Even on the days I didn’t get up that early, I would try to get at least 15-20 minutes in. Some days I got ZERO minutes in but I didn’t let it stop me from getting back to it. I started in the beginning of October an I probably would’ve finished sooner but I was taking notes as I was reading. A lot of things that were Eye Opening. A lot of wisdom. A lot of knowledge. But the main thing is I finally read it in full. An it only took 10 years lol 🤷🏽‍♂️. 1 day at a time. 1 chapter. 1 verse. Early morning. Midday. Night time. I just kept going. Then, this morning, I got to the Proverbs and started to get excited. It felt like a big monkey was coming off my back. These last few months have been so motivating for me to see what I can accomplish once I commit myself. Only time will tell if it becomes more transparent in my life.

Which way is the right way?

Most successful people say money won’t make you happy. Most people without money would rather find out if that’s true for themselves. We tell kids to hurry and grow up. We tell grownups to keep that child like passion when it comes to chasing their dreams. We say speak it into existence and you shall receive. We say talk is cheap. Action matters. Which way is the right way of thinking? One thing I can say is you have to do what’s best for you and be responsible with information that you gather. Which way of thinking is the right way depends on you. Focusing on the purpose should be the driving force. One side will tell you one story and the other side will tell you a different story. But this is YOUR book that’s being written and YOU are the author. Believe in your pen.

Be Present

Be Present. Show your face. Give your time. Spread your ideas. Do something. Just Be Present. Don’t let your anxiety win this time. Don’t let apathy describe your being. You have so much to offer to the world.

Don’t let “WORLD” overwhelm you especially when the world has never been smaller and you can create your own world with the push of a button. Or, which I think is a better way, you can create your own world by getting out in your neighborhood and saying Hi. Be Present.

It’s probably 2-3 people that you see regularly that have similar goals of yours. Don’t let your anxiety get in the way of connecting with them. Start planting the seeds to make them apart of your “WORLD.” Talk everyday. Text everyday. Create everyday. Spread ideas EVERYDAY. You have to do something. I have to do something. WE have to do something. But first we at least have to Be Present.

Choose Wisely

10,000 Hours sounds like forever. If someone asked you to do ANYTHING for 10,000 Hours you would probably look at them like they’re crazy. But what if meant mastering a skill you always wanted to master. What if it was the difference in living out your dreams or living with regrets. It’s been a long running theory that it takes about 10,000(+ some natural ability) to become a expert at something. I’m not a math expert so bare with me lol. At a normal work schedule of 8 hours a day that means in 3 1/2 years you COULD become a master of a skill. Now 8 hours is probably overwhelming for some especially those with kids an other duties of life that consume most of our time. So what if you break it down to half. 4 Hours a Day for 7 years? Are you willing put yourself and your dreams 1st for at least 3-7 years. I meeeean, we’ve put ourselves and our dreams 4th and 5th for waaaay longer. Life does get overwhelming at times but that is what defines our legacy. Who was able to beat the odds when everything pointed to Quitting being the “easy option.” Are you willing to put in the 10,000 to master your craft. Master your gift. Master your skill. We all have choices.

Life comes down to decisions. Doing or Not Doing effects more people than we think. Our decision to put our passion into our dreams might inspire a person that sees us everyday. It might influence someone who comes across your work online. It might spark a kid to train harder at basketball practice or read more books outside of school. Of course we want to think that the things we do only effect our homes. Newsflash. We have a community that is depending on and needs each other. But we have to decide are we willing to put in the work. 10,000, 5000, 1000 hours. But I know for too many years it has been 0 hours put in. There’s a whole world out there waiting for each other to decide. You can be that spark that gets it going. I can be that spark that gets it going. But it’s time to make a move. Life is about choices. Choose wisely.

“Service to others is the rent we pay for living on earth” – Muhammad Ali

This Weekend

Tell your friends you can’t go out this weekend. You’re working on your dreams. Tell your spouse “Let’s cook in instead of going out for dinner this weekend and start saving for our dreams.” Tell your kids to give you 10 ideas this weekend. Make that dream thing a family thing. Tell your job you can’t do voluntary overtime this week. You need this free time to work on your dreams. Tell your TV it gets no love this weekend. Falling down the rabbit hole of just FINDING something to watch is not an option. Nope..not this weekend. Tell social media you’re gonna need 2 days to lock in. Just 2 days. You’ll be back on Monday recharged. 2 Days. This weekend. Not next weekend. Not New Year’s Eve. Not the 1st. No New Year New Me. That way didn’t work the 1st 12 times. Well at least for me it didn’t. I dont even know if this new way of trying is gonna work. But the old way didn’t. And they say the first sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. As long as the purpose remains genuine, the plan should be flexible. But start NOW. Make this weekend be the weekend you decided to show yourself how important you are.