My chops as a boundary dispute attorney gives me both credibility and pause to step into the fray of our nation’s border wall debate.

This matter is not strictly similar to a boundary dispute between neighbors because neither side is seeking to redefine the location of the line.

What is at issue is at issue which is very similar to boundary disputes is that at least one side wants to be clear as to what is acceptable on its side of the line.

The other side doesn’t seem to give a hoot what happens. Though not wanting to minimize the issue, a large degree of the debate can be analogized to a neighbor who likes to maintain a pristine yard getting frustrated with the neighbor who has an unruly tree which is unmaintained and sheds its leaves onto the first neighbors lawn.

In most boundary disputes there is some degree of what I have come to call: “an external manifestation of an internal problem.”

There is plenty which has been said about President Trump regarding his uncommonplace antics to suggest that he is the one with the problem.

But that is an incomplete picture. In any boundary dispute, both disputants have a problem simply for the fact that there is a lack of harmony.

Who wants to be in harmony with Donald Trump? He certainly doesn’t make it easy!

But, to a certain extent – some much more and some much less – we all share aspects which are more pronounced in other people.

Trump appears to have a very dark side. This is a side which many seek to delimit exposure.

People do this because it is much easier to castigate that which is “out there” than to seek to change that which is “in here” … at a person’s core.

Trump is living this out too. He is on record as indicating that (some of) those who cross the border into the U.S. are “murderers and rapists.”

By building a wall – at least with respect to political symbolism – he is keeping that “element” at abeyance.

Perhaps a better way to consider what’s going on is that as – or at least a representative of a those who are – conservative, Trump exhibits one of the primary factors for which conservatives are known – low openness and low agreeableness.

For folks like this, that which is beyond the boundary – in this case normalcy and order – is a threat.

But instead of this being a threat which remains just that, because the border is porous … there is the perception of an invasion.

Overall, the whole thing seems silly to me. Because at the other end, it is in large part because of the liberal entitlements which appear to create the economic vacuum which the border crossers seek to illegally fill because people are unwilling to pay minimum wages for the value of work which falls below these arbitrarily identified values.

That is simple economics which is something it seems that most liberals are unwilling to publicly acknowledge.

To fully understand the perspective that conservative thinkers have with respect to the idea of building a wall, I encourage you to review this message from the late, Charles Krauthammer [HERE].

Krauthammer indicates that the wall serves the purpose of both allowing the illegal immigrants who are already here to have an amnesty – but not ability – to become citizens, but their children will be citizens while future illegal immigration is prevented.

When viewed in this light and as expressed calmly by Krauthammer, the border wall actually does make sense.

The problem is that we have a deal maker in the role of president, who fails to alter his conduct from that of a top-down businessman to a consensus building politician.

I suspect that Trump will wait this governmental, shut-down out and get his wall not just for what it represents to America, but also because he can’t lose by not holding pat to this position.

If he compromises here, there will be a perception that there is blood in the water and the investigations against him will gain additional momentum.

On the other hand, if he is forced out there will be plenty of backers that indicate that the president that they sought to have represent them was illegitimately pushed out and point to his iron will to hold fast on the point of the border wall.

Trump appears to be someone who enjoys the game in the moment and this is just another one of the many moments that we will see from him. I have no doubt he will find an exit.

Is all of this making America better? That’s really hard to tell. But, if the legacy of the Trump presidency becomes that of a nation which comes together across political lines to expel that which is deemed abhorrent – the incivility which is so much a centerpiece of Trump’s personality – he might actually turn out to be one of the greatest presidents … despite himself!

Photo Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection as per https://abc3340.com/news/nation-world/go-fund-me-launched-to-pay-for-trumps-border-wall-nears-1m-in-two-days

When I was studying Chinese in Taiwan over two decades ago, one of the lessons related the story of the  lead monk who had all sorts of events befall him.

I think the first had something to do about a wild horse that came upon his property; his neighbors exclaimed he was lucky.

The second event was something like his son was riding the horse and was thrown from it and broke his legs; his neighbors exclaimed he was unlucky.

The third event involved a military conscription in which his son was passed over because of his broken leg; his neighbors now exclaimed he was lucky.

Then there was a fourth event in which perhaps the invading army took his horse as a beast of burden to pack away many of his possessions as he and his family retreated to the woods and this did not occur to the neighbors; so, yes you guessed it his neighbors now exclaimed he was unlucky.

The story toggled back and forth like this for six or eight iterations. And to each the monk had one thing to say: “Whether it’s good luck or bad is impossible to tell.”

So, basically the monk went through life in a state of indifference.

This is better than going through life like the neighbors who place a conventional interpretation upon events as they occur, instead of standing outside of them and looking at them with dispassion as did the monk.

It’s certainly better than the persons stricken with “rectopticitus” – i.e. “a crappy outlook on life.” These folks tend to find the negative in everything.

But, the prize go to you when: “You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life. Their the facts of life.”

And then, like any good attorney whether those facts are “good or bad” you look at them both individually and in aggregate to see how they can be viewed in the best light for the client you represent … in this case you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, acquaintances, and even strangers.

It all starts with having a positive attitude that radiates out.

At Christmas, Christians celebrate the fact that a family was able to put love at the top of the list when everything in society suggested that the appropriate thing would be to fall back into fear.

Love just does that. In our work we are often times advised to love what you do and everything else will fall into place.

Well that is a better approach than to hate your work! But, just enjoying your work doesn’t quite get you there. Your “neighbor” has to love it too.

Think if business was composed generally of Win/Lose transactions – the equivalent here of the Love/Hate – which one witness in boundary dispute law.

People love their own thing, but if nobody else does, or worse they actually take offense at that which you love, then there is no transaction … right?

So in a roundabout way, isn’t the rule “love your neighbor as yourself” really one of the best pieces of business advice there is.

Both have something different and that difference can be shared across the line through transaction. Economics then is not a dismal science. Instead, it’s incredibly optimistic!

So, getting back to the monk … If you have fantastic relationships with your neighbors, you are truly blessed.

And, if your relationship with your neighbor is poor and you are in conflict … guess what, you are truly blessed again!

As the compound, Chinese word that comprises “crisis” – 危機 – is quite literally composed by the words “danger” – 危险 – and “opportunity” – 機會.

When you get to these points when on a downward trajectory, will you be able to pivot to make it only the nadir or will it become an inflection point that takes you further down?

Either can have benefit, so just learn from it, figure out the next goal, and work towards its attainment.

The only alternative course would be to live a life of indifference where you sit still as the world goes by.

When you know you can do a lot better than that and don’t, is there any chance you will be satisfied?

Of course not, so get after it. And count your blessings as you go. Cheers!

 

 

Imagine enlisting a couple of buddies to go on the journey of a lifetime in pursuit of a dream which is going to require the sacrifice of the greatest each of them have to give.

How many people would go on this adventure? Now, add to it that there is a fair chance that it will turn into misadventure. Each of you could die of dehydration, starve, or any number of other issues that might occur.

It seems that a number of things are really necessary. First, the aim must really be vividly clear to everyone.

Second, the relationships between the friends must be really solid. One in which opposing views are not only tolerated, but encouraged in order to determine the best approach, while not damaging the relationship amongst individuals.

Third, it seems that the goal must remain both purposeful and attainable.

All of these areas are difficult, but this third one seems to be the most difficult.

Motivational speaker Les Brown seems to be the best at figuring out how to do this in my estimation.

He doesn’t have people attempt to go for the low hanging fruit. He also doesn’t seek to have people undertake the “impossible.”

He instead seeks for people to repeatedly say to themselves that which they dream about is … “possible.” Repeatedly, he extorts: “It’s possible.”

The use of the term “impossible” severs us from what can become with thoughtful, hard, deliberate work … not only possible, but later plausible.

Once, you pull something into the realm of plausibility, how much more effort does it take to bring it into the real of probability?

And once it’s to that point, how much more does it take just to finish the job and make it reality?

I don’t know enough about all these ideas of the “Law of Attraction” which seem to flow from Napoleon Hill’s works.

Yet, I do understand the idea of the concentric circles in which immediately beyond the person is their “sphere of control” and beyond that is their “sphere of influence.”

Beyond the “sphere of influence” is “everything else”. Ok, then. First, is there a strict boundary between the “sphere of influence” and “everything else?”

What happens when you start to understand and work together with your friends who have their own “spheres of control” and “spheres of interest?”

It seems that whether you have the goal of being a great entrepreneurial start up or one of the first on the scene in Jerusalem, whatever your vision is, if you hold tight to it and work it with friends you can trust … you will be able to find a way to succeed.

Even if you are predisposed to set aside the religious dogma, the triumph of the human spirit and its capacity to love in an imperfect world is what we celebrate tonight. Cheers!

Photo Credit: https://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/29379658_s.jpg

At Church this morning, the pastor indicated that his folks have property in Maryland’s Appalachia where the Amish also reside. He then spoke to the fact that a draft horse had the ability to individually pull 8,000 lbs.

His question was then what is the amount that two draft horses together can pull. The answer is not the additive of 16,000 lbs. It’s an initial geometric tripling to 24,000 lbs.

Then, the pastor noted something even more amazing yet. When the horses have been teamed together for a fair amount of time, the draw load can go up as high as 32,000 lbs.

Now, I will admit that I know absolutely nothing on this subject and I have not done any fact checking to assure that all of this is accurate. So, I guess if you think that I may be mislead by a man of the cloth, by all means feel free to do the research and correct me.

Until that happens though, I am going to assume that this is the reality. And in doing so, I want to draw another point to Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.

He indicates that it is critical to have a mastermind group which he describes as at least 2 or more people who are working in harmony towards a common purpose.

If I am to understand the takeaway properly, the result is that there is not an additive benefit when working in harmony with others, but rather one can increase benefit geometrically. Good!

Now, let’s think about what happens if you pair a couple of draft horses, but have them pulling in exactly the opposite direction.

Sure, it’s nice to think that a pair of Levis Jeans can hold up to the pressure, but that’s a lot of countervailing force.

If that which binds though is stronger than the force of the two horses diametrically opposed, what happens as to progress?

Obviously, there is little to none!

And this is exactly where I want to make may point. For those folks that want to hitch up and pull against their neighbors by pulling the boundary line in the neighbors direction and vice versa, the law essentially is going to have you at a virtual stalemate.

So, wouldn’t it be much better to get on the same page as your neighbor and just sort out the problem?

That has always been my approach. Yet, this approach takes a tremendous amount of sales effort to get my clients, opposing counsel, and the neighbors all on board.

At the end of the day, week, month, year, and now decade, when I look at the benefit, while I know it is important to help people to come to peace and that lawyers provide a better alternative than for two warring parties to simply step of ten paces, turn, draw, and shoot … I want to help people work together to get meaningful things accomplished.

I still have a fair degree of reticence about moving in this new direction, but as my friends this holiday season all seem to advise … so, you have about 15 – 20 years of work left ahead of you.

That’s time I can’t be wasting doing something that no longer makes sense for me.

I’m not adverse to doing the equivalent of a draft horse, but the work has to be meaningful.

If not, I’m just marking the days until I get a chance to go to the great beyond.

That’s just not at all the way to live! Wouldn’t you agree? Cheers!

Photo Credit: https://www.hobbyfarms.com/burning-question-will-we-ever-farm-with-draft-horses-again/

When I lived in China, I had an expat friend who made this pithy note: “May you always be able to look a little further beyond the horizon than your neighbors. But, may it not be so far beyond that you can’t point it out to them.”

I thought that this was some sort of sage, ancient chinese secret that he had picked up in his more in depth Chinese interactions. I was mistaken.

It is a (paraphrased) line from Samuel Butler’s book The Way of All Flesh. Sounds racy, I know. But, it’s a book in which Butler explores the hypocrisy of Victorian England.

Returning to the quote – It’s great to be able to see the future right? That’s kind of like having a chance to take a racing table back in time like Biff in the second Back to the Future. 

This is theme that’s been explored in the negative too though. The classic that you might be enticed to watch this time of year by the family elders is It’s a Wonderful Life.

The what if in that case contends with how poor the world would have turned out, but for all the good that came about due to George Bailey’s life.

As it turns out, the idea of having a vision and perceiving yourself as having attained that vision is one of the greatest “tricks” that one can play on their subconscious.

Look at any book about goal achievement and it will insist that you gain clarity as to your goals. The result then becomes not so much that you strive to attain them, but that you work along and are pulled to them.

So what’s this bit about the second part though? What the heck is the meaning of the phrase: “may [your “look”] not be so far beyond [the horizon] that you can’t point it out to [your neighbors]?”

Essentially, this speaks to the idea that it’s really tough when you are not able to show what it is that you see. Why? Because people will think your crazy!

Well, perhaps the best example of this is Marconi who came up with the notion of radio waves and notwithstanding the fact that his family sought to have him committed, he reduced his idea to form.

Imagine the degree of self-confidence he had to generate in order to overcome all the doubters? Can you imagine anyone spouting off about being able to broadcast across hundreds of miles in the days before anyone else could even conceive this idea. Yet, here we are now with the ubiquitous use of smart phones.

Also, think about the people in your life. There are some who are game to at least entertain an idea. There are others for whom if you aren’t immediately able to demonstrate “how” … it’s a waste.

A waste of time, a waste of money, and a waste of energy. These are the people that generally seek to keep their nose to the grindstone.

The ideal though is to have a worthwhile match of apparent unrealistic optimism which you attach to a goal and then work like hell to attain.

This was what Edison did to finally come to the point of inventing the light bulb.

One other thing that helps is that you have a previous demonstration of leadership. People take proven leaders much more seriously even when the goal is audacious.

On September 12, 1962 the US President – JFK – held forth the vision of sending man to the moon and returning him safely … before the end of the decade.

We are less than a year from the 50th anniversary of the realization of that vision.

Here, I dismiss the idea that Stanley Kubrick represented this as a reality to the world.

But even if he had, is it possible that the clarity of the representation of that vision has drawn others since into the wonderful void of outer space in an effort to expand understanding and growth?

Returning to the overall point, what could you possibly have to fear for staking a claim to an outlandish goal and working towards it as we approach 2019 and through that year and beyond?

The answer: Barring death, absolutely nothing! The apt comment remains: “Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you will still land amongst the stars.”

Identify the visionary aim and it becomes easier done than said. This is to say, all that then becomes necessary is the work. So get after it. Cheers!

Photo Credit: https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/187/apollo-11-mission-image-view-of-moon-limb-with-earth-on-the-horizon/

Today, I sent out an application for employment. Just one. I’ve found that this works best.

I applied to only two colleges. One for which I wasn’t serious, but rather because I was encouraged by a friend. I got into both. I went to Colorado College.

For law school, again I applied to just one – Seattle University.

When I returned from working in China, I applied myself in just one job – boundary dispute law.

By contrast, I have also taken jobs just to take a job. That’s meaningless! About 3/4 of the working population doesn’t enjoy their work. That stinks!

I stayed too long in a job which had not only gone stale for me, but that is generally a pretty toxic environment and had consumed far more emotional energy than it was worth.

The positive part is that I learned what it really takes to go on a learning deep dive.

That’s knowledge that can be applied in other arenas. I have a particular arena in mind.

That arena is to secure on the job training so that I can bring my ideas about depicting the law graphically to full fruition.

It’s been over five years since I wrote my two articles detailing my thoughts [HERE] and [HERE].

I looked back over my resume and it was hard to imagine how much I have accomplished over that period – especially the articles published in the King County Bar Bulletin.

But, it is clear that this came at a cost. Where was I for my family at the time. At least for me, I find that being the boss means that I was not able to fully disengage from work.

Well, it’s Friday night on the shortest day of 2018 here in the northern hemisphere.

I hope that I come out of the gates and land the job I applied to right away.

But, if I don’t I’ll find something that still will serve to pull me forward.

I’m looking forward to rejoining the work world.

But, I will never again allow myself to lose sight of the ultimate purpose that I have before me.

This is to democratize the law by giving it visual representation so that the legal fiction that people know the law becomes really fake … people will actually know the law. No fiction!

Photo Credit: https://stock.adobe.com/bg/search?k=starting%20block&load_type=tagged%20keyword&prev_url=detail

Above is a depictional representation of the general mismatch between higher educational offerings the (primary cluster which is presented right of center to which most lines appear to converge) and to the left domains of various professional fields. There is a general disconnect.

The abstract of this Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (“PNAS”) from which this depiction was lifted states:

Rapid research progress in science and technology (S&T) and continuously shifting workforce needs exert pressure on each other and on the educational and training systems that link them. Higher education institutions aim to equip new generations of students with skills and expertise relevant to workforce participation for decades to come, but their offerings sometimes misalign with commercial needs and new techniques forged at the frontiers of research. Here, we analyze and visualize the dynamic skill (mis-)alignment between academic push, industry pull, and educational offerings, paying special attention to the rapidly emerging areas of data science and data engineering (DS/DE). The visualizations and computational models presented here can help key decision makers understand the evolving structure of skills so that they can craft educational programs that serve workforce needs. Our study uses millions of publications, course syllabi, and job advertisements published between 2010 and 2016. We show how courses mediate between research and jobs. We also discover responsiveness in the academic, educational, and industrial system in how skill demands from industry are as likely to drive skill attention in research as the converse. Finally, we reveal the increasing importance of uniquely human skills, such as communication, negotiation, and persuasion. These skills are currently underexamined in research and undersupplied through education for the labor market. In an increasingly data-driven economy, the demand for “soft” social skills, like teamwork and communication, increase with greater demand for “hard” technical skills and tools.

Within the article a rhetorical question is posed which seems to capture the overarching concern: What balance of timely vs. timeless knowledge should [we, as as a society] teach?

Without an educational cannon, how are we ever going to be able to relate to one another beyond perhaps: “It’s a nice day.”

The benefits of a cannon of knowledge allows for us to not only relate to one another casually, but also to have the richness of a “conceptual language” with which to analogize.

By way of further explaining this concept, consider our use of acronyms – like “PNAS” above.

The equivalent concept of the acronym – shorthand for the name of an organization in this case – in Chinese can represent a rich story.

The reason for this is that almost every character in chinese is a fully encapsulated concept – i.e. word.

So then, the four characters “Straddle, Tigger, Difficult, Dismount” colorfully can be drawn out as a story in which someone essentially ‘caught the tiger by the tail’ and couldn’t let go lest they be attacked specifically or more generally that ‘once you get started on a perilous course, it’s exceedingly difficult to walk away unhurt.’

Now. on the flip side of the coin. Being able to relate to everyone, but not having any specialized skill or skills beyond that also falls far short of the mark.

Various industries, which have a composite of those skills are represented generally along the left. So there is a mismatch.

What a general liberal arts education provides is an overarching base of general knowledge and perhaps the most important education of all – learning how to learn.

That type of education then allows one to strike out and start climbing knowledge hierarchies in fields in which there is demand for immediate skills.

When those skills go away, well then it becomes time to retool by learning something new and useful which can then be applied to another hierarchy.

So then, while the study of law which is a robust course allows allows entrance into a guild – upon certification of ability by bar passage – only gets you to the base of the legal mountain, this is a huge attainment nevertheless.

To then find a path to climb this mountain is an even greater demonstration of ability. But there might be a problem.

What happens when you realize that the mountain you have been climbing no longer holds meaning for you?

Well, look around at the other mountain tops – i.e. hierarchies of industries – and try to figure out which one is going to be more meaningful to climb.

Then, you got to go down the mountain you are on, get over to that other mountain, and start climbing afresh.

Though it might be nice to parachute in to the top, if it calls for starting at the bottom … that’s fine, you know how to learn, you have a tremendous base of skills and “specialized knowledge; and just get moving!

Photo Credit: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/50/12630

Yesterday, I wrote the note below to a former employee checking up on me. Take a read and I will add some additional comments at the end about the importance of a mastermind group.

Perhaps if I had put together a mastermind group, I would have turned the corner earlier with the AI component which had been – hell, still remains – my dream and the reason why I continued in my role as a boundary dispute attorney for so long.

Ten years of soul crushing work for what for an outside observer appears to be meaningless has been too much time already.

I just received a call from an opposing attorney who indicated how one of his partners was involved in a dispute between two brothers over a deed which allegedly failed to get filed by the mother before her demise.

The end result? After verdict, the one brother shot and killed the other.

It finally dawned on me that if people were willing to spend 1/10th as much effort on changing themselves as they do attempting to change their neighbor, they would probably have the resources to pay for the down payment on the neighbors house, adjust the land the way they want it, and then sell it. Or, just take the loss and move on to a better life.

Though this might be difficult to comprehend, ironically I noticed that Penny Marshall of Laverne and Shirley just passed on. Do you recall the show? At the close of the opening credits, Laverne places a glove on one of the beer bottles which rolls on down the conveyor belt.

Well, my tie in to that was when I was back in Shanghai 11 years ago in December 2007. I was going to partner with a guy who had built up a diplomatic group that brought US Exporters to China and Chinese Foreign Direct Investment to various states in America.

He had some loon that thought he would purchase the “Laverne and Shirley Brewery” and carve it up into whole sellers booths to sell all sorts and types of bulk building products.

Obviously, there is no chance that this plan came into fruition because of the worldwide meltdown of the economy in September 2008.

But, it was in December 2007 that I pulled the plug on that opportunity and made my return for Christmas my exit. I came back because we had enrolled my daughter in kindergarten in the US and I couldn’t stand the idea of trying to live out of a suitcase overseas with my family back home.

As it turns out, though I haven’t been overseas, it’s been incredibly hard to disengage from business here at home … in the US too. I hope that the time and my work hasn’t been a complete sacrifice.

I invite you to take a look at my blogging efforts as of late. I suspect much of these comments will show up … tomorrow.

My advice, make your dream to be a good parent while your kids are still young and then if you want to chase after a business when their out have at it.

Of course, if it had worked out the way I had planned … I would be giving you advice of a completely different sort.

Merry Christmas!

I’ll add that coming off that plane from China and having my daughter at age 5 followed by her brother at age 3 running to greet me with my wife happily bringing up the rear after having been separated for about 10 weeks is one of my most cherished memories.

Then, much like I am now, I found myself at the crossroads pondering my navel for about nine months before I finally decided on a new aim – bringing my ideas of legal, conceptual spaces (or as I called them “legal geometrics”) together in the one area in which I had most cleanly figured out the means for representation – adverse possession.

By 2013, I had published a couple of articles astoundingly the first in May, when unbeknownst to me at the time of writing the source of a key insight went public – Tableau Software.

Coming back from China, we found an apartment at the NW on-ramp of the Aurora Bridge just up from the Troll in the Seattle neighborhood at the “Center of the Universe” – Fremont.

I don’t know exactly how Tableau came onto my radar, but I knew these folks when they were operating out of the north wing of the Gilman Building.

President Christian Chabot gave me an audience and I also had a lunch with their marketing chief Elissa Fink. I don’t know why I didn’t press for work opportunity … other than being stubbornly committed to not go to work for or with someone else.

Well, I got one heck of an “education” as a result. Working for yourself teaches an incredible amount about what you like dislike as well as what you can tolerate and can’t tolerate.

Turns out I can tolerate quite a bit. But, that doesn’t mean that it was a good choice. Far from it.

Whether to my credit or discredit, I have a very hard time remaining dispassionate about my clients’ cases.

I would call it putting a matter on “slow simmer”. But the reality was, this just meant that they needn’t worry about the bill while I spent my time in constant rumination over their case.

What would have been a much better course … the course that I now seek to take?

I want to get an opportunity with Tableau Software at their marketing department AND release my mind from work when I’m not at it so I can concentrate on at the very least delivering the insights I have gleaned as to conceptual spaces and even more importantly – my family. That’s my dream now.

Returning to the insights I drew from a review of Robert Frosts Road Less Taken [HERE], I “sigh” at the “difference” it made for me to go and work in China and to be my own boss – both.

Most people have not done either. There is a reason for that. It takes not only guts to try something so different, but the likelihood that it will generate success is slight.

On the other hand, for someone who has the appetite for risk and adventure, to have not made the attempt would have kept me in a state of … “if only I had” … for the rest of my life.

I have now come to terms that this is not going to be my fate with respect to boundary dispute law, but I just can’t give up the dream of bringing out my popularizing ideas on conceptual spaces. But, to do this I need more skills – which I believe are available for the development at Tableau Software – AND a mastermind group of others to work on this together – i.e. the pronouns: “We, Us & Our.” So then …

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,

Schemeil, Schlimazel, Hasenpheffer, Incorporated

We’re gonna do it!

 

Give us any chance, we’ll take it.

Give us any rule, we’ll break it.

We’re gonna make our dreams come true.

Doin’ it our way.

 

Nothin’s gonna turn us back now.

Straight ahead and on the track now.

We’re gonna make our dreams come true.

Doin’ it our way.

 

There is nothin’ we won’t try.

Never heard the word impossible.

This time there’s no stopping us.

We’re gonna do it.

 

On your mark, get set, and go now.

Got a dream and we just know now.

We’re gonna make our dreams come true.

 

And we’ll do it our way, yes our way.

Make all our dreams come true.

And we’ll do it our way, yes our way.

Make all our dreams come true …

For me and you … ….. .

But don’t just take my word for it.

Enjoy the Laverne and Shirley Opening for yourselves [HERE].

Photo Credit: https://www.imcdb.org/m74016.html

 

 

If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

It is almost certain you won’t.

 

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost

For out of the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will—

It’s all in the state of mind.

 

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

 

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

Thinking is the name of this poem penned by a man for whom not much is known – Walter D Wintle.

Apparently so little so that Napoleon Hill failed to accredit anything more than the name “poet” in Think and Grow Rich.

Perhaps this is fitting not for the fact that Wintle is not provided due credit, but rather because the anonymity of attribution renders the poem even more timeless.

Have you ever come to a point where you think that you just can’t go forward any longer? What was the reason for this feeling?

If it was because of fear that you don’t have it in you to succeed, then maybe you just ought to throw in the towel … you are through!

Leveling that degree of self-judgment at oneself can really be dispiriting. So, I invite you to consider distinguishing whether it is because you have lost faith that you can bring a project to realization, or whether the project has meaningful merit.

This has been my struggle for no less than the last couple of years and doubt crept in perhaps perhaps two or three years even before that time.

So, all told I have struggled to maintain a sense of purpose for my work for about a 1/2 decade. That’s an incredibly long time, yet again there are many stories out there of “overnight successes” who were no less than a decade in the making.

In fact, even the quickest “overnight success” take at least three years of incubation as demonstrated by this Business Insider article about the most powerful tech start-ups [HERE].

It seems that with both faith and incredible persistence, there is a way to fulfill one’s dreams. This is the hero’s journey that only a few choose to undertake and for which even fewer succeed.

But what happens when you realize that your dream is meaningless? Is this true? Or, is it the deceiving attempt to staunch the the flow of pain for letting go of that for which you have sacrificed so much!

Perhaps you need to forgive yourself not for giving up on the “impossible”, but rather acknowledge that you are redirecting in an effort to gain knowledge, skills, and new faith in yourself.

You are doing this in order to achieve your aim. The aim of living a life, both in the moment and upon its conclusion, which has meaning.

The more distant the aim, the more important it is to have faith it will all come together. Yet, there has to be meaning in daily tasks too.

Decide what to do. Think positively. Have faith. Move forward. Continue along your path.

You are still alive!

Photo Credit: https://uuchurchofriverside.org/services/the-power-of-evolving-faith/