
Chances, Choices, Experiences & Goals
They’re all inter-related and determine your destiny. The term “Pre-destined” doesn’t necessarily mean that your destiny has already been decided. Because of a simple gift God gave you.
FREE WILL!
God could have built robots that obeyed His every command. But He wants you to trust His will. If the life span of a North American is 80 years old, then let’s approach this article as if we are all 40 year olds. Let’s pretend that you have half your life ahead of you and half your life behind you.
THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT IN THIS LIFE IS VISION
EINSTEIN SAID: “Dreams are more important than knowledge”
Vision is your career compass in life. Your burning passion is your inner voice. Everything you do should be done with this compass of passion. This means focusing on your future or focusing on the carnal instant gratification of youth. If you don’t reference your Compass, you will lose track of direction, time and experience. And if this happens; you will not be able to recognize opportunity when it is staring at you from across a table
TIMING
Timing is so important. It has such an influence on your goals which are achieved by your choices, skills, experience, all based on your vision. Are you with me?
It’s never too late to……..
This sentence can only be determined by you. The questions you ask yourself in determining the end of this sentence will ALWAYS BE THE SAME.
- Are there rules of age? (ex. You have to be 17 to join the military
You have to be 35 to run for President of the United States).
The next question will be, do I have time develop the skills I need to achieve my goal. (And will my goal still be my goal when I’m older as society changes) For example, do I really want to open a VCR or Radio Pager shop?
And probably the most important decision you will need to make is: how much are you willing to risk to reach your goal? Are you willing to leave Peoria Illinois to travel to Paris France to become a fashion designer?
An even bigger and more common decision is, do you want to have a family? If you want to be a parent, it limits the doors that will be opened to you. Unless your last name is Rockefeller; you’re going to have to establish some negotiable skills to buy diapers and a new car for your spouse. (Should you choose a conventional family.)
CHANCES
I can’t begin to tell you how vital chances are. Even with the highest skills attainable, they’ll do you no good unless you have a chance to prove yourself. But here’s something even deeper to think about. You need to consider everything you do a chance to advance towards your goal. Sometimes God throws us a golden bone and we’re too stupid or vain to see it as a chance to humble ourselves and beg for an internship.
EXPERIENCE
Sometimes we climb the ladder of success only to get to the top rung and find out that our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. This is often an unintended consequence of an over achiever who has decided to have a family. You may have been a division top ten quarterback in your high school; however, once you have a kid in diapers, your love for football will lead you to a job at Big Five Sporting Goods. By the time your two kids graduate and move out, you’ll be 40 plus. What are your chances of trying out for the New England Patriots then? But you were one hell of a sporting goods salesman. So you question is: “It’s never too late to pursue a career in the NFL if you’re not over 25?
Jim Morris, better known as “the rookie” made a pitching comeback at the age of 36. He threw a 100 MPH fastball and went from teaching a science class to throwing in “The Ball Park in Texas” in 3 months. But sadly, his MLB career ended basically due to his age and his body’s inability to repair its’ self.
Also remember that what we esteem as being important enough to light the fire of our passion when we’re young, can change just as technology and culture change. We’ve seen technology completely send businesses to the cemetery.
Soon, all but the very few motivated ones, will be living virtual lives. Which in the end, is not really living at all. Know what lights that burning passion in your life.
If society changes, never forget where the spark came from and see what other fuses it can light. Because man has four inherent needs: “To Live, to learn, to love and finally to leave a legacy”.
Or you can be like the man Thorough wrote about in Walden: “’The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”.

I say go out of this life with the pedal to the metal like race car driver Dale Earnhardt going into the final turn of the 2001 Daytona 500. He died doing what he loved and left a fantastic legacy. I’m not a Racing Fan or a NASCAR fan, but Dale Earnhardt’s death was glorious and a death anyone would be proud to have as their “Exclamation Point” on life!