For all the marbles

What moves you? What keeps you up at night thinking? What gives you the faith to know that you will actually succeed? What are you playing for?

You may not think like me…but I hope you ask yourself these types of questions too. Questions like this inspire me. Even as I write this I feel the adrenaline pumping through my body. I believe we have unlimited potential and that we can achieve anything we set out to do. Don’t get me wrong…it’s extremely difficult to achieve any level of success in any area of our life. But I believe it is possible and that it enough for me to play the game. Often I think about all the overnight success stories out there and laugh. There are very few “overnight successes” but the world would have us think that this may be the case. When people set out to try and achieve their goals, very often they find how difficult it is and they quit. Most times we fail to realize the amount of work that went into building the success of the individuals we think are overnight successes.

I believe we knew how difficult it was going to be to live on this earth before we decided to come here….but we chose to come anyway. I admit there are days that this is difficult to comprehend for me….but there are days that this knowledge inspires me to do more and to be more. You don’t have to agree with my beliefs to be my friend…but know that this is what I believe.

So let me ask you again… What moves you? What keeps you up at night thinking? What gives you the faith to know that you will actually succeed? What are you playing for?

As for me?…. I know what moves me...and I am playing for all the marbles.

Sacrifice for futures and success

On this Memorial Day, I sit here and think about those that have sacrificed much for people like me and you. Not only the incredible men and women in war that have sacrificed their lives in order for us to enjoy our freedoms, but also the easier to forget and often overlooked ancestors that sacrificed more than we can imagine to give us what we now have.

What is your background and where do you really come from? My ancestors come from Scotland and Ireland. As peasants and farmers they made their way to the United States many many years ago in hopes of a better future, not only for them but for future generations. They came here and made their way out west and always kept their faith in their beliefs. I can't imagine what they must have gone through in order to leave their homes and come to a new world just to face opposition and trials. I often think about how they must have had rock solid belief in what they had chosen to do, in order to see it through.

How often do we second guess ourselves and our decisions? It is easy to hear and let the "noise" in which we allow to distract us. I know my ancestors had a lot of opposition and distractions come their way...but they kept moving in the direction where they knew they would find happiness.

Now hundreds of years later the sacrifices of my peasant ancestors have led to generations of doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, committed mothers, fathers and children that recognize that sacrifice and work hard on a daily basis to give back and influence others for good.

How does this story relate to me and my life? I wake up each day with the knowledge of my responsibility to do good and influence people's lives for good. My opinion is that success can only be achieved through sacrifice. The more one sacrifices in the pursuit of a worthy goal, the higher the reward. There will be obstacles and some may feel too big to overcome, but the law of sacrifice does not change. Work towards your goal and you will achieve it in the end.

Sometime you may feel like the people headed out west in pursuit of the happiness they dreamt of, but just know that no matter how hard the road is, your sacrifice will provide generations of future successes and freedoms.

So on this Memorial Day I say thank you to those ancestors, men and women that have died and sacrificed for me and you.

This is just one blessing and success story that is because of sacrifices made by pathfinders (leaders) long ago. This is my family!