When I was sorting all the content I have collected over the years I came across an old email for Billy Cox, with the title “3 Step to reach your dreams”.
It brought me to the realisation, I have had my dream for as long as I can remember and have been on this search for answers for almost just as long – ever since my Step-Father told me that “You will study Accounting, Economics and computers, cause that is the way our world is going…” and although at that stage I felt as if he was cursing me to the same life him and my mother was living, I really want to thank him today for forcing me into that academic direction.
Now you may ask yourself what does that get to do with reaching for your dream…?
Right?
Well short and simple – VERY THING!
First, you have to understand that I have always had this passion, no… it’s more a deep heart-throbbing need to help others who needed it most. As a child, I always thought this need would be fulfilled by becoming a Trauma Doctor, but not the kind that sits in an emergency room waiting for the patients to come to them – no! The kind that goes out to the scene of an accident. The one that saves lives on ground zero, there where the ‘hurt’ has happened… and my grades, understanding of the subject matter, interest and of course the fact that I can handle and comfort those in pain – made it all seem to fit perfectly.
Alas, with being forced into a financial academic high school career, I thought that this would never happen. Yet, I hold on to that dream, to the extent I today believe which was one of the reasons I married my ex-husband.
For you see, he helped me to realise the reality of that dream for a brief moment in my life. Becoming a volunteer at the Fire brigade, working beside him and effectively obtaining my qualifications and experience as a paramedic. And for that, I am thankful to him.
Until the day, I almost met my Maker; the day I was forced to choose between my own life and that of saving a 3-year-old child’s life. Forced with what I only found out later was an AK-47… That was the last call-out I attended and also the last time I thought I would ever be able to help those in dire need. By the way – we did get the child out, with
By the way – we did get the child out, with the protection of the police to the hospital. From the last that I heard he was doing well with his recovery after the burns almost claimed his life. But I digress from the reason for this section…
You see even after that event and taking into account my own personal history, I still had this burning, throbbing, deep-seated need to fulfil – this yearning to help and assist. For years I have tried to crack my brain open, and on a few occasions almost did, but really tried to find a way. How to help in a way that I best can to ‘save’ their lives…. And after the last time, I almost succeeded in physically breaking my scalp open – it hit me with the same force that the torque wrench did… and today I have the scar to prove it; for in that moment when my husband [who just that day, received the news that it was cancer that they have removed] ran to get a towel to stop the blood, my oldest son getting a full-on panic attack, our then 4 year old not understanding what is going on other than something has gone wrong, and a mother almost incapable to drive me to the emergency rooms due to her own shock… I realised that I have been sitting on all the answers for so long, I was just not able to see the bigger picture.
In that moment of clarity, flat on my back on the garage floor and once again later that evening while the doctor was stitching me up, I knew! For less than a month before that day – I was driving back from the hospital, where my hubby has almost collapsed on me after his surgery the previous day; I was sobbing my eyes out because of the fear of losing my best friend, my love, my soul mate to an unseen evil, an evil that most of who I personally know, did not win the fight against…. I wished, prayed and even cursed that it was not fair.
Not fair that neither of us had achieved our lifelong dreams and that it is unfair that now that when we are just getting ahead, this must come across our path; but to be honest the cursing was more towards the fact that it is unfair to leave me alone with our three boys, who are so young; leaving them with just one role-model who was still trying to find her own direction in life…
That evening I wrote a letter to the boys in which I prayed to be able to find my way through it all and be the parent I wished I had as a child. That was the first time I actually committed to paper what I have always thought my lifelong desire was. In the days that followed, up to the day of my scalp-cracking attempt – I have read the letter several times. I repeated the words over and over in an attempt to ensure what I have written down will be understood by all three of them…
Today, I realise that I have eventually got it right without realising it. What all the Guru’s and coaches always tell us to do… those 3 simple steps …
As Jim Dornan states in one of his book titles: “It’s simple, Not Obvious“. The reality of change only happens when you take action… in the doing!
When I wrote the letter, I Listed my dreams; when placing the letter in a safe place where I could get to it easily at any time, I Posted my dreams; and by repeatedly reading the letter to ensure that the wording was correct and understandable for even the smallest, I Read them Daily. Thus, by accident enforcing what so many of the coaches have repeatedly told me to do.
Where I am sitting now – I can honestly say that it is so simple, yet because we close our minds with the preconceived ideas of what people are trying to share with us, we miss the simple instruction and it obviously slips by us.
Robert T. Kiyosaki stated in his book “The Business School for people who like helping people”, he himself had a closed mind for several years, until the day a friend who he respected for his financial wisdom, gave him a snipped – a single sentence – that create curiosity in him. This leads to a change of mind and later an open mind to the business type.
Thus, to summarise what I am trying to convey to you is this…
- When you commit to self-development, do so with an open mind. Look at the content as if you are hearing or seeing this for the first time and exclude any negative or preconceived thoughts about what you think you know.
- Once you start a month commit for the full month, if you have honestly at the end of that month not seen the smallest of changes in your own life, then we can call it a day. And part as friends.
- You must do self-development for yourself! Actually do it, physically take action, follow and implement the instructions. Otherwise, we are just wasting each other’s time and it would be best that we part ways as friends.
So, your first instruction is as follows – anywhere on a page write the following words “Enough has been enough, today and every day moving forward is going to be 100% better than the previous day and for that I am grateful!” ………
Furthermore, should you not really know what your real lifelong dream is here are some tools which will assist you with assessing it for yourself…
#FromZero2Hero: 100 Dreams List – This one you can either draft yourself or use my template.
#FromZero2Hero: Life Mapping – The easiest way to find your sweet spot: Template
#FromZero2Hero: Clarify your Goal Plan: Template
#FromZero2Hero: Build your own diary/ planner/ journal
For more information on these and other templates and tools from our #FromZero2Hero Toolbox – contact us directly
To your success,
With Love, Gratitude and Grace,
Yvonne E. Venter-Louw
– Founding Director and Principal Advisor/ Coach/ Mentor
– [Certified: -Financial Planner, -Financial Management, -Financial Coach, -Life Coach, Hypnotherapist (Subliminal & NLP), Numerologist, Herbologist, RE5, KI1, MBA, MLOLP, Accredited CMS, Dip. Psych.]