To get what you want, you first have to identify it

You know that game we play? The one where we see the potential winnings in the current lottery pool and you start listing, in order, the things you'd do with all that money?
Well, this post is about two completely different thoughts.

1. My thoughts about what to do with that money almost inevitably start with giving something to someone in my life who is currently struggling or needs money. Sometimes it's tuition, a safe car, an amount of money that will help with medical bills, monthly stipends to make someone's life easier, the use of someone's services to help their bottom line ... it makes me happy to realize that this has consistently been my first impulse - from as far back as I can remember. And I'm also glad that it still is.
As an aside, all of those people who told me I'd be less liberal when I got older were wrong. And I knew that then. And I affirm it now. My understanding of solutions to certain problems has changed, but I'm no more conservative than I was at 21.... ask anyone who knows me as Mouthful.

2. If I won tomorrow night's drawing ($59M in Texas), there are a lot of things I'd like to do for people. And then, there's a list of things I want to do for myself. It starts like this:
Pay someone else to get my yard in shape for summer. Have dirt brought in. Start over with sod. Buy full grown plants that don't have to 'grow' into the vision of a yard I have for them. Hire the labor to take out and re-pour the sidewalk. Create a proper driveway out of cement. Have someone working at a decent hourly wage hand-scrape the outside of the house and repaint it. And the porch. And the fence. Purchase a power washer that an employee will use to refurbish the deck before sealing it. Build a garage. Install new windows. Remodel the attic. Refinish the hardwoods. Retile the kitchen.
And the list goes on.
Odd, I know, that this is where my thoughts turn. If I won $59M, I could simply buy a new house and give this one to someone else. And who's to say I'd want to be in Texas?

But this list of things that my house needs is ever-present, and so I understand that it would be the first place my desires go.

And that, my friends, should tell us something about how our thoughts shape our lives. And if you can stop today, make the effort to consciously think of a list of things you'd do if you had no restrictions. If you can, let yourself really go down that path. Get creative. Dare to dream. You will notice that down the road, these things will be much more real to you. And when an opportunity presents itself (or when you win the lottery), you'll know what it is you really want.

There's power in that. Trust me.