{"id":1728,"date":"2009-11-04T12:35:49","date_gmt":"2009-11-04T17:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dobermandan.com\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2010-07-25T14:09:59","modified_gmt":"2010-07-25T19:09:59","slug":"twenty-twelve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/twenty-twelve\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-Twelve"},"content":{"rendered":"

Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

— Ayn Rand<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Friend,<\/span><\/p>\n

Stick with me for a minute because this might be a life changing epiphany for you.
<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw the Michael Jackson documentary “This Is It” this past weekend.<\/p>\n

Good flick. It triggered some thinking about some really important stuff.<\/p>\n

And the preview for the new movie “2012” coming out in November triggered similar thinking.<\/p>\n

The Michael Jackson film was footage of him and his crew rehearsing for what was going to be a huge comeback tour.<\/p>\n

It was really exciting for me because I imagined myself in one of the guitar spots.<\/p>\n

See, I’ve been involved in various bands and productions over the years (none even CLOSE to the scale of MJ’s) and they’re a blast. So much fun and camaraderie.<\/p>\n

It’s exciting to see them go from just a vision in somebody’s head to a full blown polished production.<\/p>\n

And my dream since I picked up a guitar at age 7 was to play in a band like that.<\/p>\n

After high school, I planned on doing just that. Unfortunately, I didn’t know then what I know now and I let the dream stealers (family and friends) talk me out of it.<\/p>\n

I’ve got a great life now and I have very few regrets… except <\/em> the music thing. That is still<\/em> my biggest regret to this day. Some days it really eats at me.<\/p>\n

Anyhoo, let’s swing back around to the preview before the MJ movie. It was for “2012” the movie about the end of the world.<\/p>\n

It looks like a pretty exciting flick… but are you hip to all the talk about the year 2012?<\/p>\n

I’m not an expert on all this stuff, but the ancient Mayan calendar (which is incredibly accurate) ends on December 21, 2012. Some people claim that means it’s the end of the world as we know it on that date.<\/p>\n

(Cue the R.E.M. song here. lol)<\/p>\n

“It’s the end of the world as we know… and I feel fine!<\/strong>“<\/p>\n

When I had a church gig a few years ago, leading the worship team, I cued the band into that song after the pastor’s sermon on Revelations.<\/p>\n

The congregation LOVED it. Although the next Sunday somebody else was leading the worship team.<\/p>\n

It just seemed like the most appropriate song at the time. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Where was I?<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, December 21, 2012.<\/p>\n

I guess there are other credible sources that corroborate that date is associated with some big pending event.<\/p>\n

I have no idea if there’s anything to this or not. Frankly, I’m not all that concerned about it.<\/p>\n

The truth is, nobody has any idea what will happen TOMORROW, let alone three years from now.<\/p>\n

But it got my demented mind to thinking…<\/p>\n

What if the world really is
going to end December 21, 2012?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or, God forbid, what if you got a diagnosis that you only had three years to live? And you were going to have a normal and healthy quality of life up until the very minute you died December 21, 2012?<\/p>\n

Would you do anything differently in your life now?<\/p>\n

I would.<\/p>\n

This might sound completely crazy to you but stick with me for a sec.<\/p>\n

What if instead of spending a large chunk of your life working, chasing more and more dollars…<\/p>\n

…Accumulating more and more stuff…<\/p>\n

…Or just trying to keep up the payments on the stuff you’ve already accumulated…<\/p>\n

…What if you sold off all that stuff you’ve been a prisoner to…<\/p>\n

…Scaled back your lifestyle and expenses…<\/p>\n

…Without having to make so much damn money to pay all this stuff you don’t really need…<\/p>\n

…And started doing something you’re really passionate about…<\/p>\n

What if?<\/p>\n

Seriously.<\/p>\n

You don’t NEED an $85,000 BMW 7 series. You can get a nice, clean, well maintained eight or nine year old Ford Taurus for about $1,500.<\/p>\n

I know because I’ve had both.<\/p>\n

The Ford will run well and get you where you need to go without a whole lot of expensive maintenance.<\/p>\n

If you’ve got a few more bucks to spend, get a 5 or 6 year old Japanese car and pay cash. That thing will run FOREVER with not a lot more than just oil changes.<\/p>\n

Trust me, your 7 series BMW can wind up being more of a pain in the ass and money pit than the used car.<\/p>\n

And what if you sold your mini-mansion and moved to a more affordable middle class neighborhood?<\/p>\n

Or maybe found an apartment on a farm and got it free or half off your rent for helping out with some of the farm work?<\/p>\n

Don’t laugh. I’ve done that. And it was probably one of the best places I’ve lived so far.<\/p>\n

Or Here’s A Different Option…<\/strong><\/p>\n

What if you just focused on making the maximum money possible for a short period of time?<\/p>\n

Say, take the next 12 months and do whatever it takes to make as much money as you possibly can and don’t spend a dime<\/em> on anything you don’t really need.<\/p>\n

And then after a year of intense effort, you did all the things I’ve been talking about and started focusing on what you’re truly passionate about… without having to worry about making money.<\/p>\n

Hey, maybe you’re passionate about your business.<\/p>\n

That’s great! Then you’re doing exactly what you should be doing.<\/p>\n

A Dream Deferred…<\/strong><\/p>\n

But what if you’ve still got regrets about that dream you never pursued.<\/p>\n

It’s not too late. (It’s only too late if you’re dead. And if you’re still reading this, you’re not dead yet.)<\/p>\n

I have to be honest. Your friends and family will more than likely think you’re crazy if you started scaling back your lifestyle to follow your passion.<\/p>\n

Screw ’em.\u00a0 They’re all broke and miserable. You do NOT want their advice and you don’t need their permission.<\/p>\n

Look, I gotta stop. If I keep going I’ll get too wound up and I have to leave for a rehearsal with my new band.<\/p>\n

I guess this was a different kind of post from me today. I just wanted to share what’s been floating around in my demented noggin since this past weekend.<\/p>\n

I hope it sparked some thinking.<\/p>\n

I’d really like to see you doing whatever makes you happy.<\/p>\n

All the best,
\"dobedansig_sm12\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

P.S. If you like the idea of making a lot of money quickly I talked about, you really should check this out<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values. — Ayn Rand Dear Friend, Stick with me for a minute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-success-mindset"},"yoast_head":"\nTwenty-Twelve - Doberman Dan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/twenty-twelve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twenty-Twelve - 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