Living It With Lisa

This quote from Jim Rohn says it all.  It epitomizes the legacy he leaves behind.  I was blessed to have known him.

“Get around people who have something of value to share with you. Their impact will continue to have a significant effect on your life long after they have departed.” ~ Jim Rohn

MyDailyInsights will feature Jim Rohn quotes for the remainder of December.  We have never done that before.  It was amazing how I felt once I immursed myself in his quotes.  I hope our subscribers get the same feeling and get empowered to start the new year with momentum.

Here are a few of my favorite Jim Rohn quotes:

• The major value in life is not what you get.  The major value in life is what you become.
• How long should you try? Until.
• Either you run the day or the day runs you.
• If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan.  And guess what they have planned for you?  Not much.
• Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.
• Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.
• Commit yourself to something bigger than yourself.
• Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
• Affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
• Don’t blow your own horn, or you might just miss the music.
• Learn to say NO to the good, so you can say YES to the great.
• Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.
• Don’t just read the easy stuff.  You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.
• Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.
• Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.
• If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
• You don’t get paid for the hour.  You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.
• Give so much to the improvement of yourself, that you don’t have time to criticize others.
• Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know.
• You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

Little did I know how magical Disney World would be.

Joseph was born in 1986.  Epcot opened in 1982.  I decided that I was going to take him there when he was 10 so that he would really appreciated it more.  I had been to Disneyland (California) so knew that it would be fun.  Somewhere along the way I kept moving other things in front of it.

Then I married a Floridian.  I didn’t realize just how imbedded the park culture is for those who live near Orlando.  And of course Vic’s favorite cruise line is none other than the Big Red Boat aka Disney!

Needless to say last year when we decided to take all the kids to Orlando for Thanksgiving and go to 4 parks in 3 days, it still hadn’t sunk in that one of my dreams was coming true.  So the planning began.

We had children, grandchildren and extended family coming from all over Florida, Texas, Mississippi and Kentucky. There were rooms to reserve, plane tickets to book,  food to cook and itinerary to implement.

Once everyone started to arrive on Wednesday and gathered at the hotel you could see the planning in action.  Thursday morning we all got up and went to Epcot.  As Vic and I pulled into the parking lot and I saw that big silver globe, I got tears in my eyes.  It was a very unexpected reaction.  Here I was on property with my son in tow, realizing a small dream 23 years ago.

It seemed so simple and not a big deal on the surface.  I mean really… I have taken my son on many trips from coast to coast (14 states at last count), to almost every ski destination where American flies, to Italy with Vic and the kids.  So it wasn’t like we sat at home and did nothing for the past 23 years.  But here I was.  At Epcot with Joseph, trying to control the tears in my eyes.

What I realize, now that I reflect, is this.  Yes, I had a dream, a wish. But I had not taken any significant action.  Yes, I wanted to take him when he was 10, and there were a lot of reasons why that didn’t happen then.  Disney’s tag line is “Make a Dream Come True”.   Now how can anyone make a dream come true if they are not taking any action?  A dream remains just that until it moves into the goal column.  Once it is a goal you have to take action to make that dream come true.

Our goal was to take our children and grandchildren snow skiing for Christmas this year.  For Vic’s family it would have been snow skiing for the first time.  So Thanksgiving was not on the family get together radar, but because we lost Austin this year and then Tyler and Savannah were blessed with another arrival (Nathan) and a due date of December 21st… that snow skiing goal got moved to another year.  So we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with the children this year instead and Orlando popped up as an option.  So you see, making that dream list is always a good thing.  The seed gets planted.  The intention is set.  Then all that has to happen is to move that dream to the goal list and take action.

I can tell you that this trip was better than I could have imagined 23 years ago and it had nothing to do with where we stayed or the money that was spent.  It had everything to do with the experience.    Joseph really understood the magic of Disney.  How Walt Disney was an amazing visionary where there was … no dream too big.  Disney’s dreams were off the chart.  Each park was unique.  Each park touched young and old.  And if you looked around there was no age limit.  You can go time and time again and not see it all.  And if you finally do see it all … you just might be showing it to your children and experiencing the magic all over again.

So become your own Imagineer.  Make YOUR dreams come true.