https://soundcloud.com/jamila-chambers-329292286/dream-studio-radio-bringing-the-kingdom-culture-to-your-dreams-part-2

I don’t know about you, but I am committed to studying greatness. I am fascinated by how ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things against the odds, without the resources, when someone said they “can’t,” and after contending with the two biggest dream killers: fear and failure.

I don’t know about you, but I am committed to studying greatness. I am fascinated by how ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things against the odds, without the resources, when someone said they “can’t,” and after contending with the two biggest dream killers: fear and failure.

Each person has taken a different path to greatness, but there are some things that have been fundamental truths of every person that has left a lasting impact on the world, even if the “world” was defined as their immediate family.

It all begins with a choice. Ordinary people deciding that they are not going to wait for change to happen, but that they are going to BE the change that happens. You will know when you have truly made a decision to change when you no longer negotiate with yourself about whether or not you will act. You won’t give yourself the option to “do…” You just “will.”

When you make the decision to accomplish the extraordinary, there is a line drawn in the sand and a point of no return, resulting in the death of what was past, and the birth of greatness.

 You must be willing to let go of who you currently are for the sake of who you are destined to become.

What I find most fascinating about people that have “created a life without limits,” is that often times there is nothing different about their natural ability and what truly makes them extraordinary are their habits.

Greatness is born by being willing to do, what most people won’t… over, and over, and over again.

So, like you… I’ve attended seminars, been trained, and received information about how I can live the life of my dreams. But, I would walk away from those sessions inspired, but would still have one burning question:

“What do I need to start doing TODAY that will help me create a life without limits?”

No, really… What do I DO? With that in mind, I’ve connected with some of the world’s most transformational leaders to ask them the following question:

What one (1) action did you take or habit did you develop PRIOR to “making it big” that you credit for helping you “create a life without limits?”

 It was curious about what steps they took when all they had was their dream, with no evidence that it would ever be a reality. When there was vision and nothing tangible in sight. And, when they had something “crazy” inside of them that had not been done before that they just needed to get out!

In this post, I am pleased to feature none other than Jack Canfield, who is best known as the Co-Creator of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series which has nearly 200 titles and sold 112 million copies in print in over 40 languages.

I asked Mr. Canfield what one action he took, or habit that he developed PRIOR to making it big, that helped him “create a life without limits.” Here’s what he shared with me:

“Really two habits: Reading an hour a day so as to continually learn and grow in every area of my life — personal, psychological, spiritual, financial, management skills, parenting skills, communication skills, therapy and counseling skills, presentation skills, etc.

I have read over 3,000 books. For a while I was reading a book a day due to speed reading skills I developed.

The second is meditation and visualization. This is where all the breakthrough ideas (such as Chicken Soup for the Soul) came from. I am a big believer in following inner guidance and then visualizing the results of the guidance as if it were already manifested (Law of Attraction stuff).”

I am so grateful to have Jack Canfield make a contribution to The Dream Studio and this series on “How Today’s Transformational Leaders, Create a Life Without Limits.” His words will pay me dividends for MANY years to come.

Our next featured leader will be Dr. Samuel R. Chand who is a Dream Releaser that serves pastors, ministries, and businesses as a Leadership Architect and Change Strategist. Subscribe today to “The Dream Studio” blog to make sure you don’t miss out on your opportunity to be the first to know what you need to start doing TODAY that will help you “create a life without limits.”

I was meeting with a group of colleagues and at the beginning of each meeting we do an individual check-in and provide a status update. The question posed to the group was, “What are you grateful for in 2015?”  My desire was to answer that question in earnest, and I didn’t know that I was going to have such an emotional response when I took the time to reflect.  There was a time in my life where gratitude was an expression of being thankful, like when I’d receive a wonderful birthday gift.  But, I didn’t know what it was like to have a grateful heart until I had my joy taken and restored. Until I lacked and was in plenty. Until things were taken and then restored.

Gratitude is not only an an expression, but at a deeper level it is a heart condition.  A grateful heart comes from a position of “knowing.” Knowing is not achieved by reading, hearing about it from someone else, or consulting with Google about the matter.  Knowing is experiential.  As my father always says, “Keep living.”  Meaning, if you don’t “know” now… You will.  I know what it is like to lose a home. To have my character attacked, and be lied on. To lose a loved one suddenly and tragically. To have to start over… Again.

Gratitude is best experienced when you know what it is like to be without something, and find that in the areas where there was lack, now there is plenty… Or, where you were broken you find joy. At the end of each year, I take a few days to reflect like so many do on the ups and downs of the previous year.  2015 was the year that I learned to have a grateful heart. For the first time since my brother’s passing I was able to breathe, we moved into a new home that we own for the first time since 2009, and I started a new career as a voiceover artist and the president of Jamila Chambers Enterprises, LLC.  I am not sharing this with you to boast, but I am sharing because I have experienced a season of lack for the past 7 years, and there were times when I couldn’t see myself out. When I thought God forgot about me. When I had to fight against the “that’s just the way it is” disease. When I lost the fight of faith.

If you find yourself fighting, and need to change the condition of your heart, here’s a few tips that I used that might be helpful for you:

• Choose Your Response – You don’t have a choice over what happens to you, but you do have a choice regarding how you respond. How will you handle that “space” between your choice and your response?  Choose forgiveness, choose kindness, choose love. Don’t fill that space with unforgiveness, bitterness, and hatred. I don’t know what happened to you, and your unforgiveness may be “justified” but by allowing love to fill that space laying the foundation for a change in your heart condition.

• Start Where You Are – No. Everything is NOT OK. But, you have a new day, a new opportunity, a fresh start.  You won’t be able to see all the moves from the beginning, but as you begin to step forward the resources, people, relationships, finances that you need will become available.

• Run Your Race – Avoid comparison at all cost! You might be feeling great until you check FaceBook and see that your best girlfriend is on a vacation that you can’t afford, or that an old buddy from college got the VP position and you are still looking for your next career opportunity.  What a major distraction!  What God has for you, is for you and keep moving forward with your plan and don’t look over your neighbor’s fence!

• Just Do It, Then Do It Again – One of my favorite quotes from Oprah Winfrey is “Do what you have to do UNTIL you can do what you want to do.” How long to you have to keep at it? The answer is, “UNTIL!” Often we give up right before we have a breakthrough!  Today may look ordinary, but your “yes” is just around the corner.  So do it, then do it again!

• Believe – As a person of Faith, I’ve read the scriptures which share that the “just shall live by faith.” [Hebrews 10:38]. That reads well as a Bible study until it is something that you truly have to live, and it ain’t easy to “walk in the dark.”  The only thing you are sure about is what your foot is standing on now, yet you can’t stay where you are and have to move forward… Arms groping to get your bearings, you slowly move forward one step at a time… But, the point is you keep moving forward.  When you doubt. Only believe. When you fear. Only believe. When your faith is shaken. Only believe.

I would love to tell you that I followed each of these steps perfectly, and that I have this mastered.  But, the truth is I am still working on each step!  But, I am standing on the word shared in Psalm 27:25 – “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread.”  I believed that I would be better than “alright” even when things were just OK.  Walls began to fall, and doors began to open for me, and they will also for you!  So, with a grateful heart… Here’s to “creating a life without limits” in 2016 and beyond!