While in Puerto Rico at this last event, I must have taken around 10 full pages of notes. Six of those were from Yossi Ghinsberg. The guy was a walking quote book and if you’re like me, you get more out of a simple, blunt and to the point statement than you do a long drawn out explanation. Simple minded! That’s me.

One of the things he said was, “I don’t dream when I sleep….the dreams keep me awake.” This statement had a little deeper meaning for me than what it might have intending. Now it’s obvious that we all dream when we sleep and if you’re anything like me, most dreams you might have really make no sense at all and have very little meaning. If you forget them the moment you wake up, it’s okay. But, every once in a while you might have a dream that wakes you up in the middle of the night because if feels as if you just had instant revelation or pure knowledge flow into your brain. Instead of being able to sleep you are prompted to get up and write it down so that you can remember it in the morning. It has you inspired and excited to face the next day. You now have an immediate purpose or a direction…. and that’s exciting! Don’t under estimate the power of your dreams. If you are on purpose, they can be a great source of direction to you.

How many of you just can’t wait until the days passes so that you can hit the pillow? On the other hand, how many of you just can’t find enough hours in the day to fulfill your passions and accomplish your goals, having to be forced to sleep while eagerly awaiting to start the next day? Some people love to dream without action and others love to dream in real time….in action. That’s the difference. One is really happening and the other is forgotten.

In a true dream, you should be awake. Stop sleeping through your dreams and start living them!

Yossi went on to say, “If you don’t have a purpose or a dream, that is the most dangerous place you can be.” If you don’t have a purpose, then you fall back into the default purpose….which is the purpose of those that have a purpose. This means YOU are the victim, the one being directed…not the one directing. That is default.

If your purpose is to help everyone else in the world achieve their purpose, the way to do it is proactively. A dream is only a dream and will never become reality without belief that it actually can. Today, define your purpose or your dream. What is it that you are here on Earth to do? Stop thinking of what others would have you do! What is it that YOU want to do? Now, write it down, IN DETAIL, and then go do it. You are right in the midst of your dreams. The only difference between a sleeping dream and that same dream awake, is that one is done without your body. Just include it next time. It really is that simple. And according to my watch, that time is NOW!

So yesterday I took the morning off to hand out with my one year old daughter while Amy volunteered at my daughters school. She volunteers every Monday, and so instead of trying to struggle with working around my daughter, I just take the morning off and hang out. One of the perks of being a home business Entrepreneur….the ability to dictate my own schedule day by day.

Now this particular morning, my one year old daughter decided to sleep in pretty late. She slept until around 9 am. While she was drooling, we had a few Javelina drop by for a quick bite to eat. And I got it on tape for you. Check it out:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V6HguyRa1o[/youtube]

We have all heard of the common phrase “think outside the box!” At times, it is used WAY too much. While in Puerto Rico, Yossi Ghinsberg gave a description of the meaning of this so called, “box,” and how it effects our lives. At this very moment in time, as you read this post, you are using a box. It’s all about leaving the normal grind and getting in touch with nature. Enjoy the video!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4RcpMVLvM0[/youtube]

Yossi Ghinsberg has an amazing message. For those of you who follow this blog, my wife and I attended a conference in Puerto Rico last week that included Yossi as one of the speakers. The overall theme of this conference was “Exotic Adventures.” So all three speakers at this event had accomplished some sort of tremendous adventure and have a story to tell.

Yossi Ghinsberg

Yossi has a pretty thick accent, and at first, I was a little worried that I was going to suffer through his presentation. He started out pretty slow but picked up the pace pretty quickly. As he spoke, he sucked his audience into his story by his passion and the dramatic use of his words. His story began as he entered the uncharted jungles of the Amazon. Shortly after entering the Amazon, tragedy struck a member of their camp, a division happened among them and he found himself alone, in the middle of the Amazon, fighting for his life. His story of survival was the turning point in his life and one that I will not soon forget.

Without telling you the entire presentation he gave, I will tell you a few points that really hit home with me.

Yossi made a reference to fear, and how so many people in this world are controlled by it. Fear of losing their job, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of heights, fear of talking to a pretty woman, fear of success. It dictates the very decisions we make and for the most part, when faced with fear, most move in the opposite direction. Of course they would. If you see something you are afraid of, you try to avoid it, go around it or shy away from it. Yossi has a different point of view. Instead of running, “When fear arises, head to it. Confront it. Say thank you for showing me the way!” How much more would we be able to accomplish if we all lived by that philosophy? When faced with fear, confront it, because most likely, that’s the way you should be going. Awesome!

“Our true power is revealed when we give it away…because our true purpose is to serve.” This quote came when he was describing a point in time during his exile in the Amazon when times weren’t so hopeful. He felt like dying and if I remember right, had just prayed to die. His was laying face down in the mud, his feet were shredded, he had no will to go on when all of the sudden he heard a voice. He looked to the side and saw a woman begging him to help her. Even though just moments before he had wanted to die, thinking all was lost, he jumped up and grabbed the woman by the hand and started moving towards the river. Well, the woman was not real. She was a vision, an imagination, hallucination or whatever you want to call it. But the principle here is….that when he had already given up on himself, without the will-power or strength to carry on, he still had strength enough to help someone else. “Our true purpose is to serve.”

These are just a few points I wanted to cover. Look for a video of Yossi in tomorrows post. Well be talking about something you and I are very familiar with called the box. Very cool stuff! And if you have seen Yossi speak or have any of his material, I’d like to hear the effects of his story on your thoughts.

To learn more about Yossi Ghinsberg and his exotic adventure of survival in the Amazon, pick up your copy of his book by clicking on the image to the right!

Last week while Amy and I were in Puerto Rico we attended an inspirational conference. This was a three day event centered around the Positive Media and Personal Development industries. This conference, just like many others we host around the world, is a setting to learn from some of the most amazing speakers, individuals, authors, entrepreneurs and guru’s in existence today. This is what I do! I show people with ambition, such as yourself, how to grow personally and financially through these events. It’s a huge industry and for the next three blog posts I am going to give you a sneak peek of the three top notch speakers I was able to meet and listen to while at one of these conferences in Puerto Rico.

All three of these individuals inspired me with their stories and for me, life is all about your story. As you near the end of your life, what story are you going to be able to tell to your grandchildren and great grandchildren? Is it going to be a story of passion? Excitement? Adventure? Accomplishment? Or is it going to be a story of wishing? Failure? Mediocrity? Misery? The choice really is yours and the start of your story isn’t what really matters…we all have to start from somewhere. It’s the middle and end that should be the climax!

What do you think will inspire a child more: Telling that child of all the hardship you had in your life’s story and all the things that child should learn from your mistakes, or telling that child of all the amazing things you were able to accomplish and experience? As I ask that question I can literally picture that child’s face. As I picture the child, the first story has his eyebrows looking stern and wrinkled. With the second, you can nearly see the dreams stirring through the child’s eyes. That’s more powerful than anything. Inspiring a child to dream by sharing your own dreams will allow him to soar far beyond a child who is simply taught how to avoid your mistakes. A dream speaks volumes in comparison to anything else.

Whether you can picture that day or not, it will come. You will one day tell your story. Is it going to be a story that inspires or restricts? Making a difference today creates a great story right now….but that story will continue to inspire and make a difference many years after it was created. That’s the beauty of it!

So what actions will you take today to make sure your story is exactly the way your heart wants it to be….not the way your brain tells you it should be?

Last week my wife and I dropped the kids off at the parents house and took off to the tropical island of Puerto Rico! We had an absolute blast and with this being our second visit to the island, we appreciated it even that much more. The weather was perfect and the resort we stayed at was top notch. We stayed at the El Conquistador in Fajardo in the Las Casitas section of the resort. Our room was a one bedroom with a living area and kitchen. It had a patio that overlooked the ocean from up high on the tropical ocean side cliff. The view was inspiring!

So while were were there, our days looked like this:

Saturday – We arrived at the San Juan airport and were greeted by our transportation to the resort by a woman holding a sign with our name on it. We identified our luggage and didn’t have to touch it from that point on. We had a Ford Excursion limo pick us up for the hour long ride to the El Conquistador resort in Fajardo. We ate lunch on a balcony that overlooked the ocean with other self-made millionaires and multiple 6-figure earners in my business opportunity. We hung out at the pool most of that day, just soaking up the sun. That night we went kayaking through a jungle channel which contained Bio-luminescent micro plankton.(I’ll tell you more about that later! Awesome!) After kayaking we hung out in the hot tub until midnight right on our balcony.

Sunday – We paid a visit to Palamino Island just off the coast of the resort. There I snorkeled while Amy soaked up the sun as she normally does. Later that night we had a catered dinner in one of the top steak restaurants in the country called the Strip House which overlooked the channel and cove we kayaked to on Saturday night. This dinner was followed by a small get-together for leaders in my business called “The Repeaters party.”

Monday – We went hiking through the Puerto Rican Rain Forest and guess what….we got rained on! Go figure. The rain forest was amazing. Look for some video footage a little later on. Monday night we attended a welcome reception to the event we were there to attend. We ate buffet style and were entertained by music and awesome company.

Tuesday – Yossi Ghinsberg was our first speaker of the conference. If you have never heard Yossi speak, do it. He is amazing. Following Yossi we heard from Steve Donahue and his uncharted journey across the desert. That night was pretty eventful. We went out to eat with Tony and Jessica Rush and Roger and Suzanne Curwin. Tuesday was the 13th of October, my birthday. The day I turned 33 years old I also broke my tooth on the wrapped duck! Later that night we watched the a new documentary that is soon to be released by our company featuring Michael Jr.

Wednesday – We heard from our final speaker, Neal Petersen, on Wednesday morning. He was great as well. More on him coming in my future posts. We spent our entire afternoon on Palamino Island once again where Danny Hawman and I snorkeled to a separate island approximately 100 yds x 50 yds in size. It was gorgeous! That night we attended a black tie gala to conclude the conference. The steak melted in your mouth..it was perfect. Amy and I spent much of the night taking pictures of ourselves making goofy faces with random cameras we found laying around. Fun stuff. We danced the night away to a band that was the best I have seen in a long time. After which we soaked it up on our balcony in the hot tub. What a great way to close out the event.

Thursday – Our car came to pick us up at 5:50 am, just when the sun was rising across the ocean. Our room faced the east so as soon as you walk out the door….there it was! Amazing! And I tell you what…the best place to ride is in the back of a nice car! Our trip to the airport was just as nice as our trip to the resort.

So that’s it. That was our experience in Puerto Rico. It was amazing, life changing and inspiring and at this very moment, I am going through some withdrawals, wanting to go back. Aside from me breaking my tooth, it was an absolutely perfect trip!