Month: July 2015

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.
—James Allen

Ever since I read “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen 9 years ago, I’ve taken his words to my heart, and think about his wisdom every day. I can say, every day of my life, I spend time thinking about my thoughts, and how my thoughts today will bring about my future tomorrow. I visualize and dream about who and where and what I want to be in meticulous detail.

I remember when I first began my journey, I had no idea who I wanted to be, and what I was suppose to do. I didn’t finish high school, and I was living on a couch. I had no plan and no direction. I didn’t have a dream.

So that’s exactly what I began to do: I dreamed. I would spend my mornings journaling the kind of life I’d like to live one day. The clothes I would wear, the people I would socialize with, the home I would live in, the traveling I would do and the vacations I would take, the job I would have, the money I would make. I didn’t know how I would get there, but I dreamed about it. I dreamed about it in such detail that I could almost taste it, smell it, and touch it. I would write about it as if it were real, as if it was just a matter of time before it would happen. I visualized my lifestyle, the restaurants, the cars, the type of relationship I would have with my wife and my kids. I visualized myself jet setting here and there, exploring countries, and backpacking.

Every night I would spend time playing this life over and over in my head. I would embody this person, I would go about my day to day in this life as I lay in bed, dreaming, waiting to sleep.

I had no idea at the time how I would make this happen, but because it provided me a destination, a reality that I could believe in, I could begin tracing the steps I would need to take to get me there.

I began creating goals, and setting time lines. Daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, quarterly goals, annual goals, five year goals, ten year goals. They would evolve, and I would add new goals, and remove old goals.

I remembered, I knew I liked helping people and problem solving, and that I would want to be involved in business. So I decided I would work to be some sort of business consultant. I asked myself what majors would best compliment this. Originally I thought business and psychology would fit nice, but the skills they taught were too vague. So I changed to economics and philosophy. Complex quantitative reasoning with a business market context, and critical problem solving unusual questions. I applied to the best schools I could, retook my SAT, studied all the time, I decided to forego any partying and leisure. Academic success was paramount. I would not rest until I accomplished what was necessary. I took the most challenging summer internships in the fields of my interest, and the fields where a person can make the absolute most money: direct sales, law, finance.

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
—James Allen

Fast forward 9 years.

I work as a Sales Engineer in the industrial automation industry. I consult with manufacturers on ways to improve production processes, then sell them solutions designed by my engineers.

I make $165,000 a year.

I have traveled to 13 countries.

I graduated from a top 16 university in the US, and a top university in the world.

I double majored in Economics and Philosophy, and minored in Finance.

I am a professional fitness model, signed with the top fitness model agency in the world, and shoot with industries top photographers, and compete and win professionally on an international level.

I live in a swanky industrial loft situated in the heart of Nashville.

I have just begun my journey.

I am 28 years old.

I have dreams. I will continue dreaming.

I can’t wait to see where I will be in the next five years. Ten years. Twenty years.