Did you ever have a dream? I'm not talking about a dream you have when you sleep. I'm talking about a conscious dream where you would like to see a new future, a different choice of employment, and a business of you own. How many times have you wished that you could be living a different existence than the one you are currently experiencing?

Dreams. No doubt we've all had them from time to time in our lives. Did you fulfill your dream? If not, why not? Did you start on your way to fulfilling a dream only to be derailed by letting other life's events get in the way? Did you make some initial first steps only to find roadblocks in your way that convinced you to give up? Or, if you fulfilled some aspects of your dream, did you find that you had limited success, and, therefore gave in to a negative view that you weren't meant to succeed?

Several years ago, I had a dream about inventing a board game that would change my life's fortunes. Along with a partner, who also had a similar dream, those dreams were turned into goals that were translated to action steps. After many long hours and many revisions, a board game was developed. Then came issues of financing. Not to be defeated by this obstacle, a plan was developed and carried out that saw shares being offered, all sold to a group of supporters, and a real live company created. Then, came marketing strategies, T.V. appearances, newspaper articles, trade show attendance, weekend promotional appearances, magazine advertising, and spot radio commercials.

It was an exciting time. The one time dream seemed to take off with sales starting to accumulate, a potential sale to a large and established game board company, and inroads to large chain stores. Then, it happened. Introduced to the board game market came one of the biggest hits never seen before. In short, their sales blew us out of the water, our distributor failed to pay us, and the business, once dreamed of, came to a screeching halt.

To make a long story short, the company was dissolved having dashed our dreams, and those of our shareholders. How devastating after all the hours of work, the hours of marketing, promotion, not to mention the loss of our own financial investment. It wasn't meant to be. The same old job, the same old daily grind loomed larger than ever.

Is that the end of the story? Well, it was for one of the game developers; the negative emotions, "it never was meant to be" thoughts dominated any future dreams of a different life. This person returned to the daily grind of a nine to five job always cynical, always jealous of those who had succeeded.

But, did it mean being unsuccessful to me? I didn't succeed to the level I wanted or desired, but, to me, at the very least I lived my dream by turning it into a reality. If I had never turned my dream into goals and then to action, I would have always wondered - what if. Was it then a failure? No, it wasn't. Was it the flaming success I'd hoped for - no. But, there were valuable lessons to be learned. After all, how many successful business people, inventors, authors, artists, etc. had immediate success in their first attempt? Probably none. Failure is our greatest teacher as long as the experience is viewed as lessons, and those lessons are internalized to provide fruits for greater achievements later.

It may take a few more attempts, or many attempts but success is only achieved once dreams are put into action, where failure becomes the launching pad for smarter choices, or better action plans in future endeavors. Will success come on the next adventure, or the next one after that, or will it take many more? Who is to say? The important point here is that success only comes by turning dreams into reality and realizing that obstacles are only stepping-stones to final success.

For those who are wondering about my own eventual success, I'll tell you this.

After many attempts, many failures, many lessons, and many false starts, success arrived but only through believing in what I've said earlier. Learn valuable lessons from failure; turn dreams into action plans, and don't let a dream only be that - a dream!

By Byron Pulsifer

Cash, check or charge?" I asked, after folding items the woman wished to
purchase.
As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television
set in her purse.
"So, do you always carry your TV remote?" I asked.
"No," she replied, " but my husband refused to come shopping with me,
and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally."


UNDERSTANDING WOMEN
(A MAN'S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I'm not going to understand women.
I'll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax,
pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root,
and still be afraid of a spider.



WIFE VS. HUSBAND
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word.
An earlier discussion had led to an argument and
neither of them wanted to concede their position.
As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs,
the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"
"Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."

W O R D S
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a
day...
30,000 to a man's 15,000.
The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything
to men...
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

CREATION
A man said to his wife one day, "I don't know how you can be
so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.
" The wife responded, "Allow me to explain.
God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me;
God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were having an argument about who
should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first,
and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."
The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and
you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my
coffee."
Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible
that the man should do the coffee."
Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament
and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed
says.........."HEBREWS"

The Silent Treatment
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each
other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day,
he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business
flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a
piece of paper,
"Please wake me at 5:00 AM." He left it where he knew she would find it.
The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM
and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and
see why his wife hadn't wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by
the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."
Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

God may have created man before woman,
but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.