I wake up daily searching for purpose and meaning; longing to know who I am supposed to be, and what I am here to do…this comes after I make my morning coffee of course.

How can I be the best dad I can be for my daughters? How can I be the best husband I can be for my wife? How do I make the most of each day?

Hungry for inspiration and clarity.

The overriding question to all of this is How can I be significant?

How does one even start to answer that question? It is a daily answer, a constant answer; and it requires direction. To be significant means that you have a positive impact in this life, and this means realizing that how we live affects others.

To work towards something, means you need something to work towards. I recently listened to a great interview with college football coach/analyst Lou Holtz. It’s about an hour, and it is totally worth it. Here is the link to the audio podcast: Lou Holtz interview

One of his keys to success is remembering W.I.N. What’s Important Now. This is how we stay on track with our goals; which means we need to have goals. One of my goals I set is to become more patient, and realize that how I  react to situations affect my family. If I truly want to achieve this, I need to exercise my mind and my heart. I need to ask my self each morning as the alarm goes off at the butt crack o’ dawn, what’s important now? I don’t really want to wake up, I’d rather sleep; but I need have time to start my day with prayer, meditation, exercise, and nutrition if I want to have a stable mindset for the day. If I truly want to strengthen my mind, improve how I react to change and unmet expectations, and think clearly; then I must invest daily in activities and practices that promote these things.

If your goal is to get stronger or drop wait, then being intentional about exercise and nutrition is important now. If your goal is to make more money, then showing up to work on time and working hard is important now. If I want to take my my family to Disneyland every year, then choosing to save a few bucks here and there instead of spending a few bucks here and there is important now.

The list goes on and on, but the idea helps gives direction and focus.

All of this is worth nothing if it were only benefiting myself, but the impact spreads so much wider than that. If I become more patient, then my family is happier; and we can do more in life. If we make more money, then we can give more money.

I hope you listen to that podcast and get inspired and laugh. My hope is that you realize that you are important to this life and this world. If we learn to set and achieve goals, our range of positive impact will constantly grow.