This is not a race.

You're not competing against anyone.  There's no finish line.  No one gets a trophy.

This is simply life.  And although sometimes it may seem that others are often holding the golden tickets, the reality is that those who have what they want just figured out how to make IT happen.

Sure, some have to follow a longer road than others, but in the end it is all the same.

We need to take what we have and find a way to turn it into what we want.

Don't tell the kids this, but Willy Wonka isn't real.  Believe me - I've looked into it!

No, all we can do is get down to it.  Look around at what we have that's good, get rid of the bad, and see what we can create.

Billions On The Same Path

Maybe the best part of running a blog like this is getting to know people and their stories.  I have the great privilege of getting to meet people who are constantly pushing through and trying make their own magic happen.  It seems everyone is at a difference place in life, and yet everyone is still doing all they can to push forward.

Maria is working like crazy to pay off her student loan debt, but can't seem to keep those travel dreams on hold much longer.  Choices must be made.

Jennifer is living what seems to many like the ideal life with her family in Thailand, but beyond the surface there is an incredible amount of work and sacrifice being done to keep this dream alive.

Clark and his family nearly lost everything, and yet they still found a way to get a blog going, get it sponsored, and travel to Central America for 6 weeks with the kids.

Jill and her husband are now bouncing around China.  They also have 5 kids and a wheelchair in tow, but that's no big deal when you are willing to find a way.

Kyla left a comment here just yesterday that read: I would have to continue for another 15 years or so to get that 20 000 saved for travel... I work hard and still only make about 10 000 a year with annual expenses of about 12 000.  I know I've been here as well!  Time to find a way.

Amy was doing everything she could to keep a good perspective on things when she and her family struggled to sell their house, and less than a year later they find themselves here.

Different places on the same path, but all moving towards the same goal:  Turning what we have into what we want.

5 Tips On How To Turn What You Have Into What You Want

Recently I told a colleague of mine that we we're setting off to travel the world with the kids and had no idea how long we would be traveling.

She responded with a look of confusion, and then said, "How does one even begin to do that?"

And to this I replied, "Well, you basically just say you're going to do it, and then you do it." This didn't seem to help her.

The point I was trying to make was that it's really no different than doing else.  Spanish is foreign to me now, but I will learn it soon enough.  I'll just sit down and study, and practice, and work at it.  In a few months it will be mine.

We have the ability now to get what we want, we just need to stick to the tips below and watch things happen.

1.  Don't Compare.  If you compare yourself with others, then you will lose.  It will always seem like someone has it better than you do, and it's easy to sit where you are and look at the good day someone else is having, and say, "Man, aren't they lucky!"  It will always feel like someone found that golden ticket - but they didn't.  We all just have to let that go and focus on ourselves.  We have to realize that, at some point, those you envy had it just as tough as you - maybe even worse.  It's not a contest.  If you want to compete, compete against yourself.  You're the only thing that can make IT happen.

2.  Go With What You've Got.  Your family, friends, skills, assets, connections, funds, job, hopes - everything you have now you should start working with today.  What are you good at?  What do people need you for?  Where can you get support?  What are people around you good at?  How can you help those around you?  Embrace what you have.  Work with it.  Use it to help guide you down the road.  Focus on your haves, not your have-nots.

3.  Work Daily.  Today, we all have a choice to start working towards what we want.  Yes, we are all busy.  Yes, we have a million things to do before we can get to what we want to do.  We've all said it and heard it before.  Bottom Line:  Big things happen when you do a thousand little things each and every day.  Don't write a book today, write a paragraph.  The key is in doing.  We have the ability to do this every day.  This is how we get what we want.

4.  Destroy Your Distractions.  I am easily distracted.  But, I also know that if something is not working for me, it's working against me.  What is the point in doing anything that doesn't help me get to where I want to be? If there is one thing we can control, it's how we spend our time.  Every minute spent watching some mindless program or scanning people's lives on Facebook, is a minute we can not get back.  All we have to do is ask ourselves the magic question each time we plop ourselves down: Is this helping me get what I want?  Well - is it?

5.  Quit The Worrying.  We worry when things don't work out as planned.  What did we do wrong?  What should we do differently next time?  How will we fix this?  But bad things - or things we think are bad - are supposed to happen now and then. It's the way things are.  Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't.  The trick is just letting those "bad" things come and go while we stay on the path.  If you can commit to the tips above, then you'll have nothing to worry about.  Keep working.  Make changes.  Stay focused.  Things will happen.

It doesn't matter if you're 8 or 80 - you have things you can use to get to where you want to be.

We start today.

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