I found myself getting off a plane in Colorado Springs, Colorado on a sunny Friday afternoon, but was rather behind schedule due to every single flight I had being delayed by a good hour at least. This being a trip to a private, invitation-only conference on trends in the e-Commerce industry, I was obviously aiming to make it on time and was literally running to get where I needed to go.
Not long after the delayed flight landed, I was lost in my massive hotel. You should have seen the intricate maze of hallways and walkways that made up the Crowne Plaza hotel! It had halls shooting off every which angle and I went to the wrong room twice before I finally made it to my own. The size was really rather deceiving from the outside since the hotel covered more ground square footage than it had in height. Don't get me wrong, just because it was a little difficult to navigate the halls doesn't mean it was not a very nice hotel. When you have plasma TV's in every room and a huge indoor pool that looks like it's outside, it can't be that bad a deal.
The town itself did not seem very interesting to me, quite honestly. Pike's Peak seemed the highlight of the town and probably would have been neat to check out given more time. I am sure there was perhaps a more active area or at least a more busy part of town nearby, but I never saw it. Just looking over the city from the plane, there appears no distinguishable landmarks (other than the previously mentioned mountain) or interesting downtown areas.
Despite the town not necessarily being the most interesting thing on the planet, I was fascinated by the event I was attending in many ways. Of course, the speakers had incredible things to say, both about our economy and success principles everyone can practice in their lives. Now trends in the economy and trends in the e-Commerce industry may sound a bit dull, but truthfully, there is so much going on today with business the main thing to see is the profit potential and the opportunity anyone can capitalize on. Great wealth has always been created in times both during and after recessionary and depression periods in the economy. Forecasters like Harry S. Dent have been saying that we will see the greatest shift of wealth the country has ever seen coming with the Internet and all the commercial traffic going on as we speak (http://www.hsdent.com/).
Can you imagine never having to trade hours for dollars for the rest of your life? Never having to set the alarm clock for 5:00 am to get to am shift at work? You would be free with both time and money to do the things you want to do, with the people you want to do things with, when you want to do it! No 40-40; 40 hours a week 40 years of your life. Actually now, it is more like the 40-50. We as a country can not rely on others to make a financial difference in our lives and the lives of the one's we care about. I know I need to take responsibility for my future and my future family's as well. I would much rather work hard for a few years of my life, than work average for 60 years of my life. So sue me.
I think it is incredible how many people do not understand that. I mean, do what you want- that's more than okay with me, but to look down on what I am doing and the positive choices I am making because I have allocated my time elsewhere and my priorities on other things is unacceptable to me. It is true, I have been spending less and less time hanging out and reading comics or just passing the time. Frankly, I am done passing the time and playing games because time is too valuable a thing to waste. There is too much at stake in what I want for my own future to let things pull me away from where I really want to go. I work hard now and read books that apply to what I need to learn and spend time with people who are living how I want to live, and I will play so much harder... later. Delayed gratification, ladies and gentlemen.
I'll be honest with you: I am just now practicing this. I had been treating my goals and efforts in business just like I had been many other areas in life. I had invested such minimal effort in education, relationships and many other important areas of my life, that I had become comfortable with simply getting by. I have realized not that there is too much at stake now, but there has always been and I am just waking up to it. I have seen the progress I have made, or lack thereof, and know now that my previous way of going about things will not cut it. The knowledge I have gained, the research I have done and the advice I have been given over that period of time has now clicked and is being put to use; much like a factory coming to life in times of war and producing more than it was able to before. I must remember this, and consistently do what I know I need to do for my future. For this has become a war; a war against myself every day, every decision and every thought a battle for my future.
