…with Gary Moss

I take great pride in the skills that I have developed as a scrabble maven. I have put in more hours of study than many people who have studied to become doctors and nuclear physicists. That may seem trivial to some, but I have learned many valuable life lessons on my scrabble journey that are priceless. The scrabble journey is but one of many roads that can provide the teachings to which I refer. You can learn such lessons while pursuing a profession or a trade; you can learn these lessons in the garden or at the feet of a guru. You can likewise learn lessons while in hot pursuit of your dream and you can learn the lessons simply by having the right attitude, at the right time, in the right place.

To be ‘GOOD’ at most things is rather simple and relatively easy:

1. Choose Something To Do.
Pick something of your own choosing. Don’t play dumb and say, “I haven’t a clue; what I should do?” Don’t look to someone else to choose your path. (You may, if you choose, take an aptitude tests or talk with counselors to help you decide.) Don’t pick a fork in the road simply because you imagine that it will produce great wealth and riches. There is nothing wrong with wealth. . . but it cannot guarantee your happiness.

2. Become Passionate
Make a plan as to how you are going to merge your new passion into your life. Think about it often, always keeping it in mind when thinking about and planning the other pieces of your life. Keep a note pad with you at all times; keep one on the nightstand next to your bed. Jot down all the ideas that titillate you. Write your notes and ideas clearly so they will make sense to you when you reread them later.

3. Make A Plan
Start with an outline. Then expound on each point with vivid detail. New ideas will generate themselves and flow; add them to your outline and narrative. Some early ideas will wither and beg to be abandoned; let them go. Challenges will emerge: All she wanted to do was to find some inexpensive solution to rearrange the closet and make enough space to accommodate both of their clothes. First she noticed the ads in the weekend newspapers from Home Depot and Lowes that featured ‘instant closet solutions’; the items that she liked required some building alterations; the space was still too limited for everything that she already had and some hard decisions had to be made about which items to leave behind. A plan is never easy. A plan usually reveals many things that you never considered when you first began your project.

Do Not permit the potential obstacles in your path from squashing your enthusiasm. ~ Froggy The Gremlin

3. Share Your Passion With Others
At least two good things will occur when you share with others. First, you will be declaring your intention aloud. That alone moves your passion from the realm of conjecture toward reality. Sharing with others invites their support and approval, as well as their nay-saying and pessimism. The negatives are often very helpful, in that they challenge you to rethink parts or all of your projects. At times, such challenges will boost your resolve. **Never dig in your heels and tune out your critics, just for the sake of ‘being right’; always welcome positive and negative input as a tool for you to use in reevaluating your plan.

4. Always wake up in the morning with the resolve to take one more step.

There is no little pill or secret road to get you or I to greatness. Greatness appears as a result of people following their passions, doing all the big and little things day after day, becoming the best that they can be, and becoming a shining example to others.