Tall Pipi

But I am having a God moment. This blog is all about encouraging others, as well as myself to follow dreams, make dreams, create circumstances, and yes, for me, God is in all of that. At the moment, God is my everything. Sometimes He is not when He should be, but right now, in the midst of circumstances I find myself in, He is my rock, my saviour and my guide. More than anything He is my advisor. Some might see these words as meaning 'crutch' but I see us as more of a partnership. I ask, He advises, I usually follow, but have to keep coming back for reassessment. God to me, is the one place I can go where He will always tell me the truth, always in a loving way, but without beating around the bush or trying to make it sound nicer than it is. Then, when I am armed with the truth, he equips me to fight, change, whatever it is I need to do to deal with the situation.

It's not just in 'situations' that He is there for me, He guides me in my everyday life, He makes me a better person. Sometimes I think "oh that's just common sense" but sometimes the 'common sense' is to act in the face of adversity, in a world where the 'idea' of God is not always welcome so who's 'common sense' is that? Well it certainly wouldn't come from my brain! So here's to my God, my Father, my Protector, my Everything.

Just couldn't resist!

I still haven't found my piece of paper with Kev's and my goals for Vision 2010 but I think I pretty much know them off by heart.



We split our paper into 3 sections and headed them "Business", "Personal", and "Spiritual". These are the three areas of greatest importance in our lives. We then brainstormed what we would like to see in our lives by 1 January 2011 - woah! Seems a long time away but it'll go fast.

Here are our goals:
Business:

1. Kev to have Property Management business up and running.
   
2. Tan to have online shop up and running.
   
3. Collectively be bringing in $2000 passive income each week.

Personal:

1. Have a date night once a week.
2. Exercise regularly together.
3. Attend ceroc classes regularly.

Spiritual:

1. Have people around for dinner to yarn about God.
2. Pray together 3x per week.
3. Be more settled and established in a church family.

After this we sat down and nutted out a 3 month time line and then a weekly to-do list that will help us take the small steps to reach our goals for this year.

BUT THEN my friend Timothy Ferriss got me thinking. The vision we have is great, but what is the carrot - the DREAM that causes us to set those goals. He says we need to make the carrot big and juicy enough to take the challenge with both hands. Here is an example: If I had the choice of either running a marathon to receive a cruise around the Greek Islands, or changing the type of bread I ate for a weekend trip to Wellington, I know which one I'd choose! The challenge might be harder, but the reward at the end makes it desirable. (More on this tomorrow).

When I really thought about it, I wasn't sure that our goals actually encapsulated our dreams. Hmmm...What Do I Want? It is very hard to put into words.

What Do You Want? What is your carrot?

Just a quick note. I'm trying out Adsense to generate some revenue. I'm having a few problems with what I think are inappropriate ads, so while I'm working out how to fix this, I ask for your grace and forgiveness in advance. I don't want to offend anyone, but I also need some sleep! Goodnight.

To build a good foundation for our marriage and to develop other areas of our lives Kev and I have committed to having one day during the week that is internet free. I have done 2 Sundays and Kev did his first fast yesterday. It has been very challenging, which I was surprised by, but I loved our Sunday together and the tangible absence of Kev's laptop with him staring at it. YAY! It also means that over the weekend I have come up with lots of creative business ideas and also lots of things to blog about!

Today my thoughts are around the timing of our dreams. I am reading a book called "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss. It is a real 'think outside the square' kinda book and it has some real pearls of wisdom. Here is an exerpt from the book that resonates with my thinking around this.

I once asked my mom how she decided when to have her first child, little ole' me. The answer was simple:"It was something we wanted, and we decided there was no point in putting it off. The timing is never right to have a baby." And so it is.
For all the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn't conspire against you, but it doesn't go out of it's way to line up all the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. "Someday" is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it's important to you and you want to do it "eventually", just do it and correct course along the way.

Now, I do agree, it might sound a little risqué but that's where our brains come in (that's called wisdom) and of course there are always other people in our lives to consider. If you wait for the right time, you may never get there because something else will always step in it's way. Sometimes we just need to make a start and elicit a little change for the timing to alter and suddenly be right. Remember: they don't have to be huge, they can be created around the circumstance you find yourself in right now.

So I want to encourage you to take that big dream and do one thing now that will make a difference.

Here's two recent examples from my own life.
Problem: Want to get married + no savings = Lovely outdoor wedding and picnic reception, bridal outfit all thanks to Trade Me, Honeymoon Register for Wedding Gifts = Best thing we ever did, no regrets, lovely day, awesome trip to Australia, finally able to live with the love of my life, never been happier.

Problem: Uncomfortable bed + sore backs + scared of amount of money to part with + "just do it already!" = best decision made, good night sleeps, no sore backs, happy marriage, more productive at work.

I know I haven't shared my dreams yet but Kev and I have misplaced our paper with them all written down. So next post, I promise! I'd love to hear some of yours too. You never know who else might read this and can help you get there.

Tania

My husband and I have both started blogging this year; I think just to try and make a difference in our worlds, in the circumstances we are in right now and also to keep ourselves accountable, recording our progress. We haven't really talked about our blogs with each other, but after spell checking Kev's latest post for him today, I have to say I can see why we are together!

It smacks of so many similarities, yet his is from a boy perspective. If you are a guy, or a girl who likes the more practical aspect of life, then check out his blog. You may find something there that will be helpful to you while formulating your dreams.

www.themilliondollarlab.blogspot.com

Tania

The word 'dream' in the dictionary has 3 meanings. I think the last two can kinda go together. Sometimes we can have ambitions and they can seem quite wild or fanciful.

At the beginning of this year, Kev and I developed our vision for 2010. For us, this required a little bit of dreaming. I can tell you, I was a little stumped! I thought I was a big dreamer but it is easy to let little things get in your way, such as time, money, other people, doubts, lack of confidence, abilities (or lack of), circumstance, etc, etc, etc. Kev also had a hard time putting into words what he held in his heart of hearts.

I realised that there are probably many other people out there like us, who have let the day to day living, that is oh so necessary, to cloud our dreams and sometimes erase them from existence. But you know what? We were all put on this earth to dream, and see our dreams get fulfilled. We were given brains to think, eyes to see, hearts to feel, hands to do and legs to move, all to help us with our dreams. Your dreams don't have to be huge, they can fit right in to the circumstances you are in now; they just have to make a difference.

Kev and I actually used these questions we found in a book by Darlene Zschech. (Can't remember the title but can get it if you want it). You might find these helpful too. We read them out loud and let them percolate for a couple of days before talking again.

What is your dream?

What is in your heart to do?
What are the secret petitions of your heart?
What do you wish you could be?
What could you do to bless someone else's world?
What are you good at?
What would you do if time and resources were unlimited to you?
What do you find easy?
What moves you?
What idea are you hesitant to speak out loud because it is so big and so daring?

So, I'm encouraging you, sit down, have a cuppa and dare to dream again. Next time I'll share with you our dreams for the year. I'd love to hear some of yours.

Tania

I have more bones to add to this blog but because I wanted to get started straight away in the land of blogging, I have made a start, chosen a template etc. My first post will not have a lot to do with what the blog will be about but it is a start and it introduces the best things about my life.

Blessed
I am truly blessed to be living in New Zealand, to be in a career that I absolutely love, to have a lovely home in paradise and have an ultimate husband who adores me and will do anything for me simply because he loves me.

Yesterday we were going out and I saw some birds on the lawn. I said, "cool look at all the birds we get round here. It would be cool to have a bird feeder or something." Later, I got home and Kevin took me outside to show me a post and pot plant base he had got from the hardware store. He explained that he intended on making me a bird feeder but didn't want to put it up without checking exactly where I wanted it. Well, I cried! Why? Because I had come home grumpy, stressed and grumbling, and because Kev's love language is certainly not acts of service! However, this act was so thoughtful and loving, I was overwhelmed by his love and respect for me!

Check my hunky, hard-working husband out!