Achieve Anything In Just One Year
Be Inspired Daily to Live Your Dreams and Accomplish Your Goals
Jason Harvey
Copyright © 2010 by Jason Harvey
All rights reserved.
Published in Canada by Amazing Life Press
www.amazinglifepress.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, graphics, electronics, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews, quotes, or references.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data:
Harvey, Jason
Achieve anything in just one year: be inspired daily to live your dreams and accomplish your goals / Jason Harvey.
1. Self-actualization (Psychology). 2. Goal (Psychology). 3. Success. I. Title.
BF637.S8H295 2009 158.1 C2009-906450-2
Book cover design: Stefan Chinof
Introduction
The Simple Minds creep into John’s hazy blue dreams. They poke and prod him into wakefulness with their haunting drones that sound relaxed and confident at the same time. Don’t you forget about me. There is a hint of arrogance there. John smiles as the song takes him back to a time when he was fearless and hopeful. He sees himself waving goodbye to his parents in the rear-view mirror of his beat-up Honda Civic as he takes off in the direction of a brilliant sunrise.
John instinctively rubs his eyes in the blinding light and rolls onto his side. Neon green numbers slowly come into focus. 6:00 AM. Damn. He slams his hand down on the snooze button and cuts off the blaring song that reminds him of who he once was and what he hoped to be.
It’s not a decade ago anymore. John thinks to himself, “You’re an adult with a job and a family . . . and a life that is tied to alarm clocks and cell phones and computers. What happened to that idealistic young person who thought he would make a mark on the world? Is he lost?”
Slowly John unwinds himself from the sheets, trying not to wake his wife of ten years. He shuffles to the bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet without bothering to turn on the light. The reflection of a man he hardly knows anymore stares back at him as he brushes his teeth. Gray early-morning light creeps through the frosted window and matches the streaks of gray that have appeared at his temples. He doesn’t want to get dressed. He doesn’t want to go to work. He doesn’t want to dutifully fulfill every little, insignificant obligation he has today. John is tired of going through the motions and not getting anywhere. His journey through life has become uninteresting. The view is always the same.
What happened to that energized teenager driving toward opportunity? Is there any way John can bring him back? Right now his life is defined by scribbled appointments on a calendar, and it seems like his only accomplishment is successfully checking each activity off the list.
What happened?
Does your life look a lot like John’s? Maybe it is entirely different. Maybe you are a twenty-three-year-old woman who still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. You have few family or financial obligations. Still, you empathize with John. You know what it’s like to feel stuck. You wonder where and when you lost speed and let your dreams be filed in the back of a drawer and stored in the basement of your thoughts.
The point is that life does not have to be a predictable, flat road to nowhere. You can change your choices and change your entire outlook. You can retrieve that motivation you experienced in more idealistic times and channel it toward new opportunities. A brilliant, shining you is eager to break free and fulfill your dreams, whether you are twenty years old or seventy. It’s time to nurture that spark and let it catch fire.
How do you do that? Do you start over completely? Should you drop your current life, move to a town where no one knows you, and assume a new identity? Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? The problem with that logic is that you haven’t changed the most important aspect of the equation—you.
Maybe what you really need to do is take a long, hard look at yourself and commit to small changes every day. That doesn’t sound very exciting, you may be thinking. But heed this warning: the rewards for quick fixes are shallow. This book is not an infomercial that promises a smarter, funnier, skinnier you in thirty days. Changing from the inside out takes time and practice, but the rewards are infinite. At this moment, you may not be able to change your specific life circumstances, but you can change yourself. You can take small steps toward great rewards.
With this book as a guide, you will begin to catalogue your dreams. You will take that file out of the basement and open it up, dig into your archives, and research what makes you tick. Every day for a full year you will find a quote and an accompanying lesson or story in this book. Every lesson will include one small idea for you to consider. You decide whether or not to follow each directive. The purpose is to explore new paths of self-awareness and fulfillment. Think of it as a series of experiments. Through experimentation you will find your own path, and it will lead you to opportunities that have been there all along, waiting for you to notice them.
This method is simple and requires nothing but honesty and a bit of work on your part. Are you willing to give it a shot? Are you curious to find out what you may discover about yourself? Would you like to witness how others respond to you when you start to grow into your own skin and own up to your potential?
Many of us capture the spark of motivation for a period of time, but then it fizzles out and drops us back into our familiar routines. This book is meant to give you a daily nudge or a daily glimmer of hope to keep you motivated. Change is not a one-time explosion of opportunity. It is a slow burning fire that needs to be tended constantly. These pages will provide fuel for your fire.
What are your dreams? What are the lofty goals you filed away? You can retrieve those bits of inspiration and mold your life into something that gives you a sense of satisfaction and pride. When you see your reflection in the mirror, you will recognize it . . . and smile.
How to Get Started
This book is designed to be used daily over the span of one year. You will need a quiet place and five to ten minutes, along with a pen and a notebook. So turn the page to Day 1 and begin your journey.
DAY
1
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
What will your future hold? Have you even thought about it? Are you afraid to think about it? Are you looking forward to the future, or are you dreading it? Why?
Are you willing to have a little faith? What is faith? Sometimes it is described as a strong belief in something for which there is no proof. If that’s the case, then faith is exactly what you need right now.
You can’t predict the future. What you can do is let go of the baggage of your past and move forward without expectations. There is no evidence to prove this book will change your life. Take that first step in faith. Walk boldly into this endeavor, and have faith that if you are simply willing to make one small change at a time, you will begin to see huge results. You don’t need to see the whole staircase. You don’t need to put any limitations on your future. Just take that first step toward change.
Your lesson today is easy and fun. You get to dream about your staircase. Your assignment is to get a notebook. You can go to a bookstore and pick out a fancy journal or find a quirky spiral notebook at your local drug store. It can be silly or pretty or bold or non-descript. The only requirement is that you take it with you wherever you go. Keep that notebook with you for at least a week and write down your dreams whenever they pop into your head. It doesn’t matter if they are impossible. Don’t judge them. Just write them down. Have faith. Take that first step.