You have to expect more to obtain more

As I meet new people and get a better understanding for what makes them tick and for what they dream it continues to amaze me how little some people expect out of life. Some will say, “I would really like to get my degree and establish my own company but no one from my family has ever went to college. I could never do that.” Someone else said, “Since I was born in rural Alabama God must have meant for me to be a line worker like my dad. But if I had a choice I would go to school and become a doctor.”

These are just a few examples of how placing invisible barriers between you and your expectations can keep you from obtaining your dreams. The government, their family, friends or education is keeping them from expecting and obtaining their dreams in life. The only barrier keeping them from obtaining their dreams is self.

There are very few circumstances beyond our control that keep us from expecting and obtaining more from life. When we fail to expect and obtain more out of life it’s more often than not because we placed invisible barriers between ourselves and our expectations. Be the first person in your family to obtain a degree and own a business. Be the doctor you dream to be and use those teachings from rural Alabama to better care for your patients.

Remove those barriers that keep you from expecting and getting the best out of life. Look at obstacles as opportunities; use that wall as a stepping stone. When you expect the best and you don’t obtain it’s still good. But when you expect the best and receive the best, it’s great.

Giving leads to gaining

One of the greatest legacy builders of our time passed away one week ago. For 26 years a secret Santa roamed the areas in and around the Kansas City area handing out $100 bills. Over those years many people including the media had attempted unsuccessfully to identify this secret Santa. It was only a few months ago that the world was introduced to Larry Stewart, the secret Santa. Stewart, 58 was dieing of cancer and thought it would be best if he “outed” himself in the hopes it would impress someone to keep the practice of secret Santa going.
Before he died, Stewart handed out $100k this Christmas running his total up to $1.3 million over the 26 years of secret Santa. A quote from Stewart before he died summed up his feelings on giving, “That’s what we’re here for,” Stewart said in a November interview, “to help other people out.” Stewart, from the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit, made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.
Stewart started secret Santa after being fired from a cable company for the second straight year. As he put it, “It was cold and this carhop didn’t have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, ‘I think I got it bad. She’s out there in this cold making nickels and dimes.” He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.
As Larry Stewart has proven and I can attest, if you’re going through a tough time financially, the best way to open the door to prosperity is through giving to another. I encourage to read the newspaper article I’ve linked below and after doing so, start being a secret Santa. Remember, giving leads to gaining. ARTICLE

He who is greatest among you shall be your servant

I’ve read and listened to many of the great sermons and speeches given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and am amazed and touched each time I do. Everyone knows about the “I have a dream” speech but one that I think is just as important is “The Drum Major Instinct.”

If you never take the time to read any of Dr. King’s speeches or sermons I do encourage you to read the following excerpt of “The Drum Major Instinct.” I encourage you to read the excerpt below several times and record it in your memory bank. If you want to be great, if you want to leave a legacy that lives on beyond you days on earth, then these words are your blueprint.

If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.
And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

Dr. King left a legacy that keeps on giving and will continue to do so for as long as mankind exists. He inspired men and women, regardless of color, to greatness. He encouraged mankind to serve others and to stand up, in a non-violent way, for what is right