A little tired tonight...

...but we pressed on. I know, big deal. It's the 2nd day. The thing is, whenever you start to try to create a habit, the biggest resistance happens at the beginning. It's called inertia. I'm sure most people remember the laws of inertia from high school, but here goes anyway. An object in motion tends to remain in motion. An object at rest tends to remain at rest. These laws apply unless they are acted upon by an outside force. Well, in our case, the objects (Dawn and I) have been at rest for a while. The fact is, we have to force it to get things rolling. We are going to do that.

Today's baby-steps were a different sort than yesterday's. Today we sat down and read about blogging software called wordpress, one of the most widely used programs by professional bloggers. We are going to learn to use it via wordpress.com and have a blog there as well. I know that sitting and writing a blog doesn't exactly sound all that productive, but we both are amatuer writers and want to become more proficient at it. One of our potential goals is to blog as a business, attempting to gain a following and earn money from ads via Google AdSense. So, we learned a little about that.

We also decided to say a short prayer at the beginning of our hour every day. Some may consider this a waste of time. Here's what I say: Even if you don't believe in God, taking a moment to gain your focus through a higher power, as we believe, or to just get in focus with the universe like a new-ager, or to meditate like a Buddhist... taking this time is beneficial. It sharpens the mind and invigorates the body. We believe in prayer.

Enough about that. Another decision we came to tonight is that we will occasionally post a funny video that has absolutely nothing to do with our blog. We also believe in laughter. Every now and then, you must laugh. When a good speaker is leading a seminar, (s)he doesn't strictly stick with the subject at hand. In most cases, that would bore the audience to tears. The speaker will throw in a joke or two to break the monotony and to grab your attention. It's also why I try to think of funny things to say to my co-workers even on a busy day. Laughter is important. It is what gets me through most days.

Fianlly for tonight, I promised you I'd go over some of our goals. We believe that setting goals creates a road map in your mind of where you are and where you want to be. Then all you have to do is figure out how to get from point A to point B. Actually, I'd say we are at point C right now. We are pretty average as far as acheivement goes. We want to get to point A+. Some of our goals were the obvious ones; get a nicer car for each of us, gain financial independence, get in shape etc., while some are different than what most people would want. I am going to do stand-up comedy one day. It may be a one time shot, or I may try to do it often. But I am going to put together a routine. Dawn is going to become a published photographer. She plans on traveling to do various photo shoots and will be taking a course on photography in the fall in order to bring this dream of hers one baby-step closer to becoming reality.

Some of our goals are what I'd call "maybe goals". I think I'd like to own a restaurant. It's been in my head for years. I also want to be a novelist, screenplay writer, radio station owner/operator, talk show host, voice-over talent, sportscaster, professional blogger, website owner, and stock investor. Dawn would like to be a professional photographer, scrapbooking supply store owner, web designer, freelance author, and world traveller. Now obviously, we won't end up doing all of these, but having them listed out like that tends to make our brain try to make them happen.

My suggestion to you is that you spell out your goals as we have done. Examine your lives together. Where are you? Where do you want to be? Plan for your lives like you will live forever, but live today like it is your last day on earth. Seize it. Live it. Love it.

Tomorrow will be a special day for us. We are expecting the birth of our 3rd grandchild. We will fill you in more tomorrow night on details, and tell you what we've done to further our goals while sitting around in a hospital waiting room.