Dream and Succeed: An Inspirational Daybook

By Dr. Alfred Nkut

The Art of Excellence -

What is your lifetime dream? Have you set goals to achieve this dream? It is through setting goals and steps to achieve our dreams that we harness the inner potential that lies dormant within us. It is the pursuit of these goals that gives us a sense of purpose and personal fulfillment.

A dream can be anything, it is what resonates with the essence of your personal philosophy and, in the process of its achievement, makes you feel good about yourself. The journey to achieve the dream is as important as the dream itself. Behind each dream is the desire not only to succeed, but feel good about ourselves too.

This book is designed to help you set goals and steps to achieve your dream. Begin each day with a motivating affirmation, followed by an inspiring message or real life story meant to guide you through your daily journaling. Each day includes a journaling template to help focus your life on dreams, goals, character qualities to cultivate and the action steps to take towards achieving them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456741242

Dr. Alfred Nkut

Dr. Alfred Nkut, M.D., is an accomplished physician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist with avid interest in leadership. His experience has shown him that self-improvement, especially development of character goals, is not emphasized in most formal educational systems. For this reason, he grew increasingly interested in studying, learning, growing, and researching to provide additional insight into the subject of leadership.   Dr. Nkut sees every day as an opportunity to add value not only to his own life, but to the lives of others as well. He has also founded the Skylimit Corporation to make a difference in the lives of people, and a financial institution in Cameroon, West Africa with the goal of poverty relief.   The more he learns and understands the area of leadership and success, the more passion he has for sharing that knowledge and for encouraging those who wish to improve their lives. He knows of no better way to get a kick out of life than to give, because for him giving is receiving; it is love—and that’s how you make your way to “heaven.”   Dr. Nkut and his wife, Dr. Elaine Blacklock, both practice medicine in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and are proud to call the city home along with their children Jacob and Ruthie.

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© 2011 Dr. Alfred Nkut. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 2/4/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-4126-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-4124-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011905926

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

January 1

January 2

January 3

January 4

January 5

January 6

January 7

January 8

January 9

January 10

January 11

January 12

January 13

January 14

January 15

January 16

January 17

January 18

January 19

January 20

January 21

January 22

January 23

January 24

January 25

January 26

January 27

January 28

January 29

January 30

January 31

February 1

February 2

February 3

February 4

February 5

February 6

February 7

February 8

February 9

February 10

February 11

February 12

February 13

February 14

February 15

February 16

February 17

February 18

February 19

February 20

February 21

February 22

February 23

February 24

February 25

February 26

February 27

February 28

March 1

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March 3

March 4

March 5

March 6

March 7

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March 9

March 10

March 11

March 12

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April 1

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May 1

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June 1

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September 1

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October 1

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October 31

November 1

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November 27

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November 30

December 1

December 2

December 3

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December 6

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December 11

December 12

December 13

December 14

December 15

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December 31

Sources

About the Author

Other Books By Dr. Alfred Nkut

Introduction

If you have not decided what you want to do with your life, then you are just existing from day to day. Without lifetime goals, which only come from knowing exactly what your dreams are, your activities are not performance-directed, but scattered.

There is hardly any single thing that gives people more meaning and significance than their lifetime goals. Why? Because it is through the goals that we harness our vitality or the potential that lies dormant within us. It is no small wonder that the pursuit of these goals for the most part is what gives us a sense of purpose and personal fulfillment.

Being a soccer coach, I understand that a life without specific goals is like playing a soccer match without a goalpost. Well, the twenty-two players will run around aimlessly on the field and dribble the ball. But then what? There is no goalpost, so they cannot score a goal!

The jubilation that comes with scoring a goal is a sign of happiness. Everybody, including the coach, players and spectators, feels good about scoring the goal because it rewards the hard work, and yes, success too, and the feeling of exhilaration ensues.

A dream is whatever resonates with the essence of one’s philosophy and makes one feel good about oneself in the process of its achievement. It could be either spiritual or material. Different people dream of different things. A dream for some people could be having a happy family, having a motor house, being happy, visiting a foreign country, writing a book, seeing one of the seven wonders of the world, and much more.

This book is a perfect tool for anyone who wants to be more successful in any area of his or her life. The stories shared in it are a great vehicle to encourage people to consciously lift themselves to higher ground day by day. That is a path for them to achieve their dreams. Encouragement uplifts people’s spirits and raises both their level of confidence and expectations. These are all critical elements in the art of dreaming and succeeding.

Ultimately, behind each dream is the desire not only to succeed, but to feel good about ourselves too. To this end, success is inseparable from happiness.

But how do we dream? Imagination! We dream by using our minds, so knowing how the mind works is crucial. In essence, the mind principle is at work when it comes to dreaming. The mind principle states that the mind is like a magnet that draws onto itself whatever it dwells on. That is how dreams or thoughts become reality when held long enough in our consciousness. The mind principle is as immutable a law as the law of gravity because in like manner it is present all the time. It cannot simply be turned off.

This is why out lives follow our thoughts, consciously or unconsciously. So you choose your life either by default or purposefully by choosing your dreams or thoughts.

Our creation of the mental picture of what we want is needed in order to succeed, but people cannot feel or think their way to success. Good, old-fashioned hard work and knowing how to face challenges are integral parts of the puzzle. This is why the stories in this book represent real-life experiences, so that the inspiration gained from them can be applied to similar situations.

When we dream about something worthy of achieving, it fires us up to create goals that are consistent with what we want. That makes our activities performance-driven, rather than aimless, like being in a soccer match without a chance to score a goal.

But without taking concrete, practical steps to achieve our lifetime goals, we remain dreamers, not doers. You can see why each day in this book begins with an affirmation that captures the essence of the short story that is written on the page. The reason is to stimulate you to ponder. It is a way of helping you brainstorm, because it engages your imagination, especially when coupled with the journaling exercise here that is meant to be a dialogue with your inner voice of wisdom. It is not doing a diary!

Each page ends with a template to help focus your life on dreams, goals, character qualities to cultivate, and the action steps to take toward achieving them.

To put things into perspective, if your wider purpose or dream is to relieve global poverty, then the goals are the different actions that you take in order to achieve it. An example of one of your goals could be educating the poor. The action steps will involve the tasks that you need to perform depending on how you want to do it. One of your action steps could be to build a school for the poor or give them a scholarship to fund their study, depending on how you want to do it. Those action steps could be divided into further smaller steps depending on how you want to approach it.

Again, the journaling here is a focused exercise on how to dream and succeed. It is therefore a dialogue with your higher self, and not a diary.

Image304.JPG

January 1

I love, accept, and respect myself. ⁸

The Power of Dreams

Imagine playing a soccer match without the goalpost! Being a soccer coach, I know what would happen. The twenty-two players would all get onto the field, run around aimlessly, and dribble the ball. That is good. But the question is, then what happens? Imagine how boring it would appear, both to the players and the spectators.

What is wrong with this picture? There is lack of focus. Why? Because there is no goal. Since there is no goal, there is no focus, no excitement, nothing to look forward to. None of the teams will say later on that they were better or more powerful than the other team. There is no dog in the chase.

What makes goals powerful are that they give you focus! You have something to shoot for. That gives you direction.

Dreams are very powerful because they give you the drive, the expansive feeling of excitement, or passion for even just the thought of achieving them. The significance is that you gain through reaching out and helping another person; it empowers you both.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 2

"I am a well-loved and well-respected person⁸

Affirmations

You become what you do. Your future depends on what you do today. The first step is to plant the seed. This is because you first have to picture it within you before it manifests in the exterior. This is why affirmations are very powerful. According to your purpose, create an affirmation. A simple example could be I have confidence if building your character in that area is what interests you.

If inner peace is what you desire to improve, you could just softly repeat as many times as you can during the day I feel good about myself. Pick out a phrase that resonates with who you are. This is a great technique for improving any character trait that you desire. Repeat this exercise for twenty-one days in order to install this quality into your subconscious mind. Shaping or reshaping your awareness is an important step in acting, but you become what you do. Your thoughts must be accompanied by action in order to make a difference.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 3

I am filled with energy to do all the daily activities in my life. ⁸

Success Toolbox

What is your real passion? What is your joy? I love the idea of a toolbox because it has the kinds of things for which you constantly need to reach in order to build your dream. This is important because people do not wander to the top. It takes thinking, planning, and sacrifice to achieve dreams. People do not do it because it is easy. If you are a handyman, then you see why a toolbox is important.

A handyman constantly reaches into the toolbox to get what he needs in order to do the work. Good handymen know that sometimes they need tools beyond their toolbox. In order to dream right, your primary tool is your mind. So put your attention to the number one tool inside this toolbox. The toolbox helps you harness your potential. You have to form the gifts into skills and talents. If you are not great at what you do, why not make a move? Either improve it or quit. Follow your passion or joy. Belief in your abilities and the courage to achieve what you want are key in your toolbox. If you have this main tool, the rest will follow. You can assemble the rest!

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 4

I find deep inner peace within myself as I am. ⁶

Desire for Your Dream

Do things always turn out as you hoped? Steadiness is a great quality for winners. Losers waiver. Losers have lots of reservations about their dreams. They have lots of ifs in their language. Their dream is predicated on so many factors, such as what their parents or best friends think.

That is a way of outsourcing your life. That is a way of opting out of life. The right thing to do is opt in. These two statements may seem like two sides of the same coin, but there is a significant difference between the two philosophies.

When you opt in, you stick your neck out, or at least you are ready to do so if need be. Winners simply have a great desire for their dream. The level of their desire is so high that no matter the size of the obstacle, they are ready to overcome it. That is being adventuresome. That gets adrenaline running through your body and your heard thumping in your chest, and that goes with the great thrill or exhilaration of achievement.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 5

I can be a winner. ¹⁶

Be Proactive

Do you see the big picture? Winners are proactive because they know the big picture. They see many steps ahead. I love the story of the lion and the skunk. The skunk invited the lion to fight. The lion declined, and his explanation was that he knew very well that he would give the skunk a good beating, but that would only elevate the skunk. Why?

The fact that he even fought with the skunk in the first place would serve as great publicity for the skunk.

You can see that even the lion, who is arguably the strongest in the animal kingdom, keeps his energy for bigger and better things by taking the high road. He simply picks and chooses his battles. Well, we have only so much time and energy for our cause!

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 6

I have the power to control my health. ²⁰

Vision

Do you have a vision? We all have a vision. Why? Because we all have expectations. Those expectations could be by default because we do not choose conscious awareness to set the tone in our mind.

This is very important, because our life will follow our vision. What we conceive is what we will work toward and eventually be blessed with. It may not happen, but unless we visualize whatever it is that we want and work toward it, we will not achieve it.

Do you have a big or small vision? It is up to you; you can set your mind on small or big vision. If you do not visualize excellence in your life, you’ll never work for it, and you will never see it happen.

Living each day of your life without a clear vision of where you want to go is like getting into the car and just wandering aimlessly all over the city without a set destination. A big vision stimulates and motivates you. It also paces your life for you. If your vision involves only you alone, then it is not big enough. This is a simple rule of thumb.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 7

Itrust my intuition to lead me to abundance. ⁹

Prioritize

Do you have time to do all the things that you wish to do each day? If you don’t have a time crunch, then you are either underachieving or not using your time wisely.

It has been said that activity is not necessarily achievement, so ordering your time in such a way as to get the best out of it on a daily basis is crucial. Use every day to the fullest so as to leave little room for regrets at the end of the day.

My experience has been that we have only enough time to do the things that are important. How do we get to what is important each time? In every situation, I ask myself the question, If I had to do only one thing, what would it be? Once that question is answered, the rest of the picture becomes clear. That is my main guiding principle for cutting to the chase, because you have to make time for important things, rather than let chance determine their fate.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 8

I take small steps in life, and appreciate the time I have. ²²

Identify With Dreams

What do you identify with? Your identity is a puzzle with many different pieces. Generally speaking, victims identify with problems. I like the expression a man is not robbed until he feels robbed. The victim mentality makes people drag a lot of their baggage with them.

To carry painful memories with you is to identify with them, one way or another because as you tell the so-called story of your life, you rehearse it. It just takes over your life. You may mention it in passing, but it should not be the essence of the story you tell. Maybe you got robbed in a business deal, and you learned a lesson from it. Focus on the lesson that you learned from the event.

Losers identify with their problems. Winners identify with their dreams. In that way, it puts their attention on what counts.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 9

I am successful; success follows me everywhere I go. ¹⁷

Expect to Succeed

What are you dwelling on in your life? If you are dwelling on the things that you like about your life, there is no limit to how high you can go. Some people are not productive because they do not use their thoughts effectively.

When you focus on your potential, you open doors for all kinds of possibilities. You cannot harbor destructive, negative thoughts and expect to live a positive life simply for the reason that we get what we dwell on.

Be appreciative of what you like, either for your life or others, and see how much more of the same that you attract into your life.

Thoughts are a very powerful tool in aiding us to succeed if we use them the right way. The key is to choose the right thoughts. Set your mind on the right source or things. Why would we set our minds on what we do not want? It is like planning to fail. Plan to succeed by dwelling on success.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 10

I draw abundance to myself today and every day. ⁴

Follow the Light

Dreams often start as a wish. Having a wish and expecting it to be fulfilled makes us think of the best, rather than the worst. Thoughts become reality when held long enough in our consciousness. Knowing this fact, why not cultivate a victorious mentality?

By choosing the right thoughts we can ascend to the divine perfection, and by the wrong application of our thoughts we can descend to the lowest level. Both are in our minds, and we make it so by the kinds of thoughts we choose.

When we expect the best, we are likely to be hopeful and see some light at the end of the tunnel. We are likely to count our blessings even in the midst of apparent loss or failure. That bit of hope nourishes the courage to continue following the light. This is by far more invigorating and exciting than wallowing in self-pity.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 11

I am becoming more and more confident. ⁸

Master Designer

Do you make the most of your time? Time is like a vacuum in the sense that you can fill it up with almost whatever you want. If you don’t, then you get whatever comes your way by default.

I often compare living by default to deliberately staying out of the banquet and going for the leftovers after the feast. Life itself is like a banquet set before you. You can choose to enjoy it or let it pass!

It is always in your best interest to choose your path, and this you do with your thoughts. You can choose to be joyous today. You can also choose to be a worrier today. No matter what is going on in your life, you can redirect your attention to whatever you wish to experience.

Happy thoughts foster steadiness and calm. Negative thoughts inspire anxiety and increase your stress level! To fill your time with negative, poisonous thoughts is not a wise way of using your precious time.

My Dreams:

My Goals:

Character Qualities to Cultivate:

My Action Steps:

January 12

I reject negative thoughts. ²²

Fight or Flight

The options that we face on a daily basis with challenges are either run or fight, the basis of the fight or flight instinct. Which one of these options do you usually settle for? That will tell you in an instant that you are either a loser or a winner.

If you are ready to fight to the end, then you have a very high level of commitment. That is