One day when I was driving around in my friend’s car, we began speculating the problems of the world and how to make a difference. During our talk I recall how he promptly stated, “We are living in a world where it is more OK to follow than to lead”. After this statement I thought to myself for a little while and wondered why it was so painful to live in a world where so many people still struggle to get by. For too many years we have lived in a world where people would rather follow than lead.

For many folks of different spectrum’s, it is hard to see separation from the regular everyday life. For most people, life consists of a 9-5 schedule or a regular course of classes, which has been drilled into the heads of the American public for many years now. Most people don’t know anything other than to follow the orders set up by other people, let alone, how to train themselves out of this way of thinking.

If you ask me, it seems like too many people look up to figure’s who they assume to be on-top of them.

However what I can say is that if you’re willing to stand out in the crowd and do things that others are not willing to do, it will often result in more success.

The ability to be original and unique and putting yourself out into the world will always work in your favor. All the crazy thoughts that often bounce around in one’s mind often have some purpose to serve. With unemployment and underemployment becoming a larger factor in today’s job market it helps to have your own identity that you can always refer back to.

If you can develop an ability to expand upon your interests and develop a closer connection to people around you, all your crazy talk may end up working in your favor. It may seem like a strange concept to some people, but when you actually speak your mind, you feel more empowered and grateful. All the abundance that life can potentially provide you, can begin to stack with more benevolence, once you get past all the weirdness.

The keys to building yourself are to develop a passion and find forms of motivation that will drive your inner being. The importance of believing in yourself and being self-driven will ultimately determine your destiny.

It is never easy to accomplish anything that you have in mind, but if you are crazy enough to stick to your beliefs you will achieve and evade your enemies.

The stepping stones of craziness include doing things like…

1. Upsetting the norm.
2. Taking Calculable and Incalculable Risks.
3. Pursuing What Some May Say Is Impossible or Out of Your Reach.
4. Doing What You Enjoy Rather Than What Others Script For You.
5. Pursuing Things for Love Not Just Currency.

The ability and the willingness to take risks will result in good things. As long as you can manage to utilize your resources well enough and manage time wisely, things will work out well. Focus not on the small things that may upset you and build up a reputation. Just about everyone has their own crazy ways of thinking, and your own may not be so crazy in the long run if you can turn them into reality.

Expanding upon possibilities is important, so it is always important to take steps forward. If you constantly question all aspects of your purpose, you will expand while moving forward. In essence this will create affluence within your life. Also if you can be crazy in some ways and not care when other people say things like, “you’re foolish or silly in your ways of thinking,” this will benefit you. Try your best to escape the pain of listening to negative vibes that people give you in your life as hard as it can be sometimes.

Managing any dilemmas and juggling any situation can be a struggle. Nobody knows exactly why suffering occurs, but what is known is that it is a part of life and it often makes people stronger. Being crazy is just another way of expressing yourself and inner being. Everyone is crazy in their own ways, and I’m pretty sure that you’re not really human if you don’t have any crazy attributes or talents within you.

In life there are no guarantees but what one can guarantee is that one will always grow. Everyone has room to improve all qualities in their life. Nobody is perfectly good at everything as strange as it may seem, we all have strengths and weaknesses.

Being crazy, chances are you will be laughed at and asked why you make certain choices of importance. However you can look at any professional athlete who makes plays during prime time and you can see, just how crazy it is to perform in clutch moments. If you put yourself in an athlete’s shoes, chances are you will develop your skills and you will start making big time moves which may be crazy to some but a great attribute to others. In essence take chances with the talents that are unique to you, and explore the possibilities.

Sometimes you have to be a little crazy if you’re going to make a difference in the world. However, if you truly focus, you may just provide a beacon of light upon those around you.

Without realizing at first we all face little confrontations in our daily life. No matter how big or small we have different challenges or dilemmas in our life at varying levels.

The thing that people have to realize though is that in the end everybody is facing similar struggles. All people really want in life is to get by and live their life to the fullest and face the least amount of challenges possible.

Well maybe I’m wrong, maybe challenge is necessary. Perhaps with challenges come a sense of triumph and a sense of purpose in life. After all, through trial and error, people generally learn that you can overcome obstacles.

With that being said though, I still feel like nobody is completely free of confrontation and making errors. Nobody is perfect and flaws are part of human nature.

A quote by James Altucher an author of the book Choose Yourself once wrote, “Everyone is trying to get by. Both the rejected and the rejecters in life.”

So with life their will always be those who will get rejected, and those who conduct the rejecting. In life you can find people who are satisfied in some ways and empty and unbalanced in other ways due to neglect.

You can receive every pricey gift and fulfill every desire, but still look around and fear the relevance of your status and question your level of attention that you draw.

If you want something you can pursue it, but pursuit doesn’t always translate into receiving what you want.  Life requires resilience, yet not all things can be completely overcome. There are internal scars and there are external scars.

You can receive  praise and you can receive criticism. No matter how many times you try, you may still be told that you are not good enough. People will always try and mold you and shape you into what “they” want you to be. However someone else’s intention may not always be your best suited journey.

So you might think why should I take criticism? Why should I listen when I don’t want to listen? Why should I do what someone else is telling me? You may even face your own ego and think that you’re just too good at what you do and too good to listen to advice of what other people say.

Everything that I mentioned above are all questions of certain degree and egocentric qualities that people possess. We all face our own questions and we can never escape all the chatter our mind withholds from the world. Liberation of the mind is possible but it takes a lot of dedication and spiritual pursuit which may not be a part of everyone’s best interest.

Nothing is attainable without facing some sort of dilemma or challenges. Whether you want to separate yourself from others around you or join together in arms. Everyone has to conquer. Whether your goal is providing value for yourself or providing value for others you have to aim for achievement.

In order to divide and conquer your own beliefs and your own challenges you have to be willing to fight for what you stand for. Once you can utilize the knowledge that you possess and the knowledge that has been passed down for millenniums you can provide some answers to internal questions.

Through the basis of self-control and self-restraint you test your abilities and you reach for limits that your body is capable of doing but often never brought to.

Gaining and maintaining power in the position of a government perspective is all about fulfilling the need to control all aspects and variables of community life. But when you can gain and maintain power in the position of your own hands and mind you put that power at your own feet.

If you can have the position of power in your hands and your neighbors hands would you choose that gain? If you could place all the power in the position of those people whom you are not sure are trustworthy would you do it?

In any aspect and with any problem you have to put up a fight. With any win or loss you always confront a battle. Without a fight their is never internal freedom and their is never freedom for the outside world, in which we all live.

Look at the world and ask yourself where we would all be if people never put up when they had to. Remember that struggle helps make people stronger. Everything you stand for, that you feel is truthful and worthy must be stood by firmly and pursued.

I hope people seek out the struggles of life and overcome what has always restrained them from their highest ambitions. With every problem you’ve gotta fight raging rapids, but giving up just cannot be done. Live up to the battles of today, and bring upon a better tomorrow!

Some of the most powerful people of our time and forward-thinkers have always had loads of imagination. If you look at people like Steve Jobs or Walt Disney who are just two people that come to my mind, they utilized their resources to the fullest and never wasted a minute of their day.

If you are a deep thinker or someone who constantly envisions things, but you happen to look outside only to find so much that can still be improved, then you are a visionary.

Despite all the struggle and turmoil that our world continually pushes through with, their is so much beauty in the world that it is hard not to be excited about what can be done with our surroundings.

The hardest thing for most forward-thinkers though, I believe is actually letting go of things and letting their own success determine their destiny.

If you can let go of the restraints that hold you back or ideas in your head that keep you rooted in a stationary stage in your life then you will begin to move on into your personal endeavors.

Here are some ways that Imagination really begins to seep out in real life…

1. During the first stages of imagining you really begin to think deep.
2. You begin to be very curious.
3. It becomes apparent that you’re eager for knowledge and further “knowing”.
4. You start to hear your inner-voice or intuition.
5. The writing down of your ideas becomes a practiced art.
6. You begin to take a course of action.
7. Created value begins to be shown for the world.
8. Others begin to recognize the value that is put forth.

If you can keep your target audience in-shape and release some form of art, you will feel much happier inside and build a stronger balance with the world around you.

In order to be in harmony you have to begin doing the things you say and the things that you most want to do. The only way that magical things can happen is when you keep taking strives forward with your own imagination.

We all know certain people that we’ve meet in life that can have contagious personalities. These people are always exciting to be around, because they fill your day with such joy and happiness. Perhaps it’s a few people or only a handful of people,  or maybe even more! The point is the more you surround yourself with positive like-minded people, the more likely you are to succeed and achieve great things.

The world is a vast place and ever-growing in population. There are jobs that need to be fulfilled and empty bellies of starving children aching. Prioritizing the things in your life and making sure that you can affect the world and give back to those people who can use your helping hands is important. Helping out people is one of the greatest feats one can submit them self to. I’ve always had a deep level of respect for people who go out of their way to help out someone else expecting nothing in return. Some of the greatest news and headlines are stories that sadly never even make it because they are simply too good and positive that news anchors wouldn’t know what to do with themselves if they read them out loud.

The key idea that I’m trying to get at is, we all need good people around us. By carrying a clean character and building strong personal relationships with other people, we can build a world of great people who think of ways to change the world in more ways than one.

Here are some simple ways good people can affect your life…

1. Good People Brighten Your Day
2. They Are Fun People
3. Good People Make Life Easier For You
4. They Fill You With More Energy
5. Good People Are Easy To Get Along With
6. Good People Are Never Afraid To Give A Helping Hand

Without good people in your life, life can be stressful, hectic, and startling. But if you can find good people in your life its always hard to turn away from them, since they can provide you with so much, often times without realizing. I hope people can start to appreciate the good people in life, so they can start reaching the headlines rather than the negative news feeds, that televisions like to portray. Just remember a little helping hand never hurt anybody.

Remember you can always awaken the hero within you. Never let the villain within you take over your personality and especially your mindset.

Consumption, hoarding, and accumulating excess things above your needs, can lead to an addiction to a clutter filled lifestyle. One of the problems that people face without realizing at times is that they have accumulated too many material things to the point of exhaustion. What I mean about that specifically is that people may get to the point where they just make purchases to the point where they are not really fulfilling any needs but rather just impulses. In order to to get over slumps or get ride of the questions of why you have so many things piled around your living space or closet, start looking at what you have.

In order to prevent yourself from being in insurmountable debt and having a ton of things that just sit around picking up dust start looking for ways you can clean up your space.

If you feel you have too much here are some helpful ideas…

1. Give things away to Goodwill.
2. Give things away to Purple Heart Veterans.
3. Give things to friends and family who may have interest
4. Sell things on Garage Sales
5. Sells things on Ebay or Craigslist
6. Start living a minimalist lifestyle

There are plenty of ways to still live a happy fulfilling life without having a bunch of junk, or things that you feel you have to show off to everyone in the world. In my own life I feel like I’ve grown a lot by learning how to dissociate wants and needs and move on from there. Once you find the things you really like, you tend to stick with those things. Whether you like quality products, clothing, food, or cars you will likely stick with those things as long as you can afford to do so. But with different lifestyles come different price tags. Some people want to just accumulate more and more, while other people just want to have less and less.

Whether you want to maintain a lavish lifestyle or a simple life it helps if you learn the skills of simplifying and cutting out unnecessary things. As strange of a concept as it is to some people if you want to have more abundance in your life, you first have to learn how to let go of things and have less. If you begin by spending less and build up a budget plan you can then move on and pursue whatever desires and motivations you hold. If you want to maximize your potential begin by cutting out the maximum consumption. Then turn more towards moderation, the key is learning how to adopt the ideals of simplicity and look at your lifestyle and how it currently revolves. By starting a simple life you may have to make adjustments and step out of some comforts but in the end it’s up to you whether you stick with your ideals and pursue the things you want. Start off easy but don’t set things off too much, simplifying is easier said than done.

Throughout life people always look up to other people or try to replicate what others do. When mimicking the actions of others it really does nothing to separate you from the crowd. One of the most important things to avoid is the idea of trying to be just like everyone else or keep up with others around you. Everyone has their own unique abilities and talents that can be expressed and getting away from the notion of reciprocating the ways of life that is taught to you early on in life throughout school is important if you are to diversify.

Part of being original and growing, is developing the ability to separate yourself from the pack and allowing your inner-self to really be expressed. If you can come to the point where you’re willing to step up and perform tasks that you feel need to be done or accomplished without any regard to what someone else might think, than you are beginning to pave your way. By setting aside outer chatter and focusing your totality on what your true skills sets are, you can do what it is you intend to do.

Here are some of my thoughts…

1. Live Out Your Interests Once They Are Found
2. Research and Expand Your Present Knowledge
3. Do What YOU Like
4. Always Do The Best You Can Despite What Others May Say
5. Find Ways To Express Your Creativity
6. Find Your Niche and Let It Out For The World
7. Avoid The Victim Ideology
8. Avoid Becoming Another Clone of Somebody

Whether you have ideas floating around in your mind or not there is plenty that can be done out in the world. There are fresh new waves of opportunities out in the midst, you just have to conquer yourself first so you avoid being fearful. Disappointments happen and successes happen. Learn to play odds in your favor and always be yourself first, rather than the second best version of your favorite idols. You might be surprised by what you’re actually capable of doing if you start trying and pry open hidden talents. The keys to yourself are only owned by you. Other people can only try, but they will often fall short when trying to be someone else. By keeping originality closely gripped you will always travel far in any endeavor.

The hardest thing for people to do at times is to actually do what it is they are capable of doing. Finding out what you enjoy doing the most is one of the most important things to determine during adolescence in my eyes. When you really research topics that interest you and you pursue knowledge with a sense of love, this is often a sign that this is your passion. One of the biggest problems that people face nowadays though is finding something that they are passionate about and still being able to make a living and pay their bills on time not to mention any credit that may have piled up along the course of time. However some might argue that even if you accumulated a lot of debt over the course of time, by still pursuing your dreams and whatever your devotion is, you can still make it out alright. In the long run, pursuing your inner bliss often results in an outcome of satisfaction. By sailing towards the force that is leading you in your life you can cultivate successful outcomes.

So you might wonder how do you truly find your potential?

1. Find The Things That Bother You Personally About The World
2. Do The Things You Enjoy Doing
3. Spend Time With Older People Who Have Experience In Many Areas
4. Shadow People Who Do The Things You Enjoy
5. Spend Time Researching And Pursuing Passions
6. Experience Teaches Best

By tapping into ideas that drive you and ideas that inspire you, life will open up doors. All you have to do is chase the most precious thing out there, your true purpose. Everyone has their own talents and gifts you just have to learn how to start tapping into what it is you enjoy doing. Once you find your inner bliss you will know it cause everything you do will focus around your bliss. At times it is difficult to focus but getting out their in the world and trying new things and looking into things that generate your interest is the best way to start. Always keep your options open towards new ideas. Also look to discover ways more of your talents can be expressed creatively.

One of the best ways to make an impact in your community is through volunteering your time. Some of my most memorable hours that I have spent have been when I was surrounded by those who were less fortunate in health than me. Spending time with elderly patients who held mental health issues helped me learn how to be patient and caring. Most importantly I helped develop a bond with the idea of how people should truly be treated when elderly, which is with true respect. If you believe in the statement, “treat others the way you would like to be treated”, then living it out in real life is the first step to making a difference in your community.

By volunteering you can steer yourself into the direction of giving. By giving back it does your community a favor and affects the world around you with global effect. Also often times you will find more satisfaction when giving your time away for free to others than receiving pay because you feel a different level of appreciation. By helping others you start to develop a new love for life and learn what being unselfish is.

The time that you spend with the youth helps nurture tomorrows seeds. It’s always critical to always teach and lead the youth in the right direction. I have always enjoyed spending time with my nieces and nephew knowing that it is critical to feed them with wisdom in this crooked world.

Some ideas I have for making a difference among the young and the old…

1. Look Into Volunteer Locations Near You
2. Discover Your Particular Area of Interest That You Enjoy
3. Find Others Who’d be Interested to Join Your Effort
4. Get to Know People and Meet Them

If you don’t know where to start, you can look into nursing homes, assisted living facilities, homeless shelters, or soup kitchens just to name a few places. The sooner you go out into your community and meet a broad spectrum of people from all aspects of life, the more you’ll appreciate the art of helping people out. Many people often don’t realize how lucky they are to have what they have. When you go out in the world you begin to see people who are less fortunate than you and everyone could use a helping hand sometimes.

Through some of my experience in an Assisted Living Facility I gained a lot of wisdom from war veterans, farmers, and business men who helped out the U.S. during their prime years. By developing the heart to help others, you will go far in emotional and spiritual wealth. The results of volunteering can affect the build up of a facility which can in effect build up a community. By aiming to make a positive difference in the lives of others you aim for the development of a better tomorrow. Strengthening your community starts through strengthening yourself.

Connecting with people that you meet in life is one of the greatest skills that you can develop. When you start to connect with people who think like you, or who have skill sets that may be of benefit to you, it can lead to great achievements. Part of the struggle is overcoming certain obstacles that may be holding you back from your true potential.

Here are just five things that come to mind that I’ve personally experienced at different levels…

1. Fear
2. Rejection
3. Poor Self-Portrayal
4. Social Incompetence
5. Comfort Zone Mentality

Although we all hold flaws and characteristics that we may regret or wish to get rid of, we as humans beings are easily adaptable, and have the ability to make change. If you have a past that you would prefer to forget, than changing your mindset and focusing on creating today, will result in a better foundation tomorrow.

Setting obstacles aside, your network of communication is a key to your success and development in the world around you. If you want to maneuver your way to a successful path in career, family, spirituality, physical health, and or emotional health you need to know how to communicate effectively. The power of talking to others and broadening your network along with knowledge only leads to positive outcomes. This is especially true when you network with people who share similar ideas and goals in life as your own. The sources that you obtain your wealth of social skills from, depend upon your network of communication.

In order to be an effective net-worker you need to establish a level ground of confidence to the point where fear and rejection are no longer emotions that hold you back from your potential. One needs to develop an idea in their mind that for every person that you meet that person could potentially be another person that will cooperate and effectively work with you in your working environment. If you can make it a priority to cooperate with other people even if you don’t like everything about someones personality this way of living will greatly lead you. By establishing a level ground with other people and effectively communicating your goals and forming friendships, you can develop a strong team of people in your network. Your team of workers will be destined to change the world and help shape the world in a positive way if you can effectively cooperate and get rid of the idea of always trying to be number one in each and every category.

Through exploration and seeking out new experiences it leads to growth in ways you may have never thought possible. Just by taking chances you can enhance your inner wealth. By being courageous and seeking out the world around you will defeat fear. Your network will be strong and build in numbers if you can continue to make a difference in lives around you and cooperate with yourself. If you want to be good at what you do you have to build a strong network within the outer-net of the world around you. The world is a large vast environment and only through the course of action do bridges get built.

The only way to expand your potential and see more new faces is to network and spread your name out there. Nothing works better than a nice hello, a handshake, and a short introduction.

When growing up, we all face certain obstacles in our life that may be inevitable. The qualities that you carry upon your shoulders really depend on a multitude of factors, beginning with the nature of the environment you’re born into. Everything that you showcase is a self-representation. We all hold certain traits that help define who we truly are as well as free us from the chains of carbon-copy replications.

To possess what one would consider to be good character, one has to be in line with integrity. In order to obtain any representation or alignment of good characteristics one must also hold key qualities.

In my eyes these are some good character traits:

1. Loyalty
2. Honesty
3. Independence
4. Sincerity
5. Self-less love
6. Courage
7. Patience
8. Respect

If you hold regrets or can’t come to face with real-life problems and situations you will weaken your character. Nobody enjoys letting people into their life who simply look to cash-in on everything you have to offer them, for no respect in return. I love helping other people and displaying my kindness in everyday circumstances but dishonesty really eradicates ones values. By judging other people it is often unfair to speak poorly of other people. We can never truly experience other people’s lives simply through a gaze or by simple conversations because a lifetime of wealth is only defined through character. Despite all odds and circumstances it really helps to always put your truest reputation out their for other people to see. You can hold sympathy or empathy for others but the best thing you can do is put yourself at another person’s level.

For Ages people have always tried to change themselves in certain ways. Another thing is people often attempt to be other people or replicate other’s actions instead of just being oneself. As hard as it may be to address false identities and people who don’t always walk their talk, nobody is perfect. Everyone has flaws, so perfection is just a fantasy we all strive for but fall short of in the end. So what am I trying to say you might ask, well I’m not trying to say much, I’m just suggesting that people relate back to their experiences and build new experiences that can help nourish the body of ones character. We all have our own unique personalities and life experiences which blend together to make-up who we truly are.

If you can learn ways to make the best of every situation with any person you are with, you have good character. Always show that you care and people will appreciate your presence. With every new day, just always look for ways to better yourself and make a difference for those around you!