I was interviewed by the legendary, Gayle King a few years back. It was an amazing experience to sit with her, who at one point was known just as Oprah’s friend, but has made a name for herself as the host of her own show, The Gayle King Show on Oprah’s OWN network. Thought you’d enjoy it with a cup of coffee to start your day off on the right foot.
Your destiny is all around you. Be observant and be creative. As you work with the tools and techniques you are learning, you will be better able to take advantage of opportunities. And as you develop your confidence, more opportunities will come, and you will be able to take full advantage of them.
Challenge:
Make yourself a dream board or a success scrapbook: cut out pictures and stories about people who are living the life you want to live. Keep it where you can look at it or will pass by it many times a day. If you use your computer/ipad/smartphone, make it your screen saver. Use words and pictures that remind you of the utmost life you want to live.
Start a personal record book. Every time you accomplish something…anything…that you haven’t been able to do before, write it down.
Dream bigger. Look at the list of things that you never thought you would be able to accomplish. Imagine what you will need to make those dreams come true.
Pick a teacher for the day or the week. Think about someone who has a characteristic you admire…a friend, a relative, a colleague, or someone you’ve heard or read about. Think about what you can learn from that person.
Pick someone to appreciate once a week. Drop that person a note about how much you enjoy their company or admire their work. If it’s someone you know, you’ll be amazed at the warmth it will give to your life. If it’s someone you don’t know, you may surprised at their gratitude. I find it especially rewarding to verbally appreciate those who go unnoticed (cleaning lady, drive-thru cashier, doorman, TSA agent, DMV clerk, kids everywhere, etc).
If you are going to ever see your dreams become reality…you are going to have to make time and space for those dreams.
I was driving down Sunset Boulevard one night, it was late, after a great night of motivating people with my good friend Dyan Cannon at the Hollywood Bible Study. That night, something interesting happened on one of the world’s most familiar streets.
One traffic light after another kept coming up green. That was definitely unusual on a street that is usually busy with tourism. I passed the Comedy Store, House of Blues, the Viper Room, and even the Chateau Marmont, all on green lights. I remember that I began to smile as though I was getting away with something.
So many times in life, we face more red lights than we do green lights.
We all know that green means go. And red means stop. When you’re a child, it seems that the world is one green light of momentum and a whole lot of fun. All you do is play, watch cartoons, and make new friends. The worst thing that happens in your green light world is your brother or sister may steal your toy. But with some good crying you’ll usually get your toy back and get to see your sibling punished. Which takes it back to green light.
The more green lights you go through in your childhood, the more your expectation is built on believing that life can be somewhat of a breeze. But soon after the thought of green is almost engrained in you, the red lights can start flashing. Discipline, rejection, and misunderstandings can all feel like red lights.
As you get older, it sometimes seems like there are more red lights than there are green lights. You can find yourself looking for the STOP instead of the GO. Your life can feel like rush hour traffic in a very busy city. You long for the days of childhood when you woke up to a giant green light.
It is true that life is sometimes stop and go. But it is important for us, even as adults, to GO unless you are asked to STOP.
There are three main reasons in Scripture that God asks us to stop.
Ecclesiastes 3.1 says there is a time and a season for everything. Later in the chapter it says, ‘a time to be silent and a time to speak.’ In other words, there is a season for the hush, the quiet, the whisper, the wait. But there is also a season for the go.
Many people have sat back and watched others live in their season of the go. Whether it be celebrities like Oprah, Ryan Seacrest, or even Joel Osteen, it’s easy to sit around and admire.
But what if this is your season for acceleration?
Just like that late night, driving through Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard, seeing green light, green light, green light—maybe this is your green light season.
So proceed, accelerate, smile and don’t feel guilty. Surely, you and God know that you have waited in front of many red lights in your life. Listen for the click, because the light has changed from red to green.
Written by Rockwell Thorpe
Rockwell Thorpe works for Tim Storey