Daring to Dream – Making it real.

These aren’t platitudes. This is real. Thousands have based their entire success platform on these ideas. Internalize them. It will make you better in anything and every thing in your life. Don’t agree? Post here. Let’s argue it out.

What gets in the way of us as humans is taking our fears and translating them into action.

“Daring dreams can be great things. Daring dreams have changed the world. Galileo had daring dreams to see the planets and developed the first telescope. Lindbergh had a daring dream and flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Ford had a daring dream, so did Ray Kroc, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Daring dreams change the world. But there is a difference between a daring dream and a mere daydream. One fires you up and moves you forward. The other is nothing more than wishful thinking. Daring dreams are worth dying on the hill to take them. Daydreams do little more than make you want to take a nap.”

-John Maxwell

My purpose for 2018: To finish what I start. To do things that matter. To execute. To honor my Creator. To mentor and be mentored. To coach and take coaching. To take responsibility for all my faults, all my failures and own my wins. To increase my level of efficiency with my team.

I will be grateful. I will listen. I will be on time.

In 2014 I was miserable. I weighed 313 lbs. I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror. Frustrated. Between health issues and not knowing what lay ahead, I was overwhelmed.

With amazing support from my mentors, family and friends, I’m happy to report I weighed in at 223 lbs on Friday, and moving that right along.

Work wise, I had my best performance year yet in 2017, and I’m just getting started.

I want to challenge all of you, every one. What are you going to do that matters? Who will you share your goals with? What will you commit to your own education?

Take whatever your handicaps are, and make them work for you. Don’t be afraid to be audacious. Set huge goals and get an accountability partner to hold you responsible for meeting your objectives.

Do something that matters. Beat you. It’s time. Don’t procrastinate, do it now.

 

Latitude U

I came across a really cool website while reading through my morning updates and e-lists today.

It’s called Latitude U. It’s a free learning platform built and run by Saline, Michigan based consultants “Latitude Consulting Group“, which is a business consulting group who focuses on improvement of operational performance.

So, Latitude U essentially is a public web platform where anyone can post and view courses. Posting the courses is free, and the courses range across many subjects. The quality of the content varies from simply people who have uploaded documents and e-books to peruse, to more sophisticated delivery with presentations, audio, and streaming media.

There are 170 courses online right now, and it appears to be growing rapidly.

Some of the training is free, and some of the courses have a fee associated with them. The site uses PayPal to collect payment. One frustration I found is that you have to enter your CC#- no simple entry of your existing PayPal username and password. The fees range from ninety-nine cents and up.

I found a few really good ones this morning:

Series from Ann Arbor SPARK (Powerpoint with audio and still photos)

“This FREE lesson on Assessing Business Feasibility is taken from the Ann Arbor SPARK Entrepreneurial Boot Camp Program. The main topics covered are Identifying Customer Benefits, Mapping the Competition, and the Iterative Process of Defining the Business.”

Business Models and Strategy

High Impact Marketing for Startups and Small Businesses

Perfecting Your Positioning

Level 5 Leadership

All of Ann Arbor SPARK’s posted Entrepreneurial boot camp courses can be found here.

Don’t get me wrong, either, some of the PDFs and e-books have good content as well.

I know I will be spending a lot of time at this site. I also use ITunesU a lot with my iPod. What are some of YOUR favorite online learning resources?