To be honest, this Dare is more like a “double-dog dare.”
 
Do you remember this particular type of dare?
 
Simple, everyday dares are usually presented as challenging opportunities to test your mettle. 
 
On the other hand, a “double-dog dare” presents a much greater challenge than the everyday, standard dare.
 
And my Dare for you today fully qualifies for that distinction.
 
Trust me: I’m going somewhere with this…
 
Admittedly, our curiosity stirs a bit whenever we hear the phrase “Truth or Dare?”  
 
Of course, as a teenager, if you had the opportunity to engage in this fun activity, you are probably well-versed in the creative and often memorable aspects of such a magical game.
 
Today, the magic continues.
 
But today’s Dare will likely surprise you.
 
After nine really good dares, I believe this 10th dare will truly test your mettle.
 
Today, I offer a Dare that has the potential to prompt a serious pause from you.
 
Yet, it is a Dare that, if carried out enthusiastically, it can dramatically shift your perspective from “here” to “there…” and then back again to “here,” albeit to a totally different “here” than the initial “here” that was “here” when you were headed to “there.”
 
Too many here’s and there’s?
 
Allow me to re-state it in a different manner:
 
In other words, today’s Dare could possibly forever change how you view this world – my world – your world – our world. 
 
As today morphs into yet one more night, and as this week marches into the next month, I wonder if our paths will ever cross again. After all, our lives hold no guarantees, except one. 
 
In fact, the United States Geological Survey recently reported that several million earthquakes take place in the world each year. Many of the tremors go undetected by people in the area of the quakes. It’s true: approximately fifty earthquakes are recorded every single day (about 20,000 earthquakes every year).  
 
Trust me: I’m going somewhere with this…
 
Hurricanes, floods, tornados, and many other natural disasters occur quite frequently… some with little or no warning. In the late 90’s, deaths caused by automobile accidents occurred at the rate of five per hour here in the United States.  And if you think you’re safe because you don’t drive, keep in mind that several thousand of those automobile-related accidents resulted in the deaths of pedestrians and bicyclists.  
 
And yet, we all remain aloof to the fact that the Valley of the Shadow of Death is not some distant desert basin. 
 
It’s your den, your driveway, and your daily commute. 
 
It’s your health, your home, and your whole neighborhood.
 
The Valley of the Shadow of Death is right here… right now. 
 
And pretending The Valley doesn’t exist… does not change the Truth of its existence.
 
In other words, ignoring the prospect, probability, and absolute assuredness of your eventual death does not decrease the likelihood that you will die.
 
So what’s my point?
 
More importantly, why is the optimistically realistic John Clark III talking about this morbid topic of death? Isn’t this blog supposed to be about the lighter side of life?
 
Indeed; it is.
 
And death is as much a part of life as is the air that you and I breathe.
 
Accordingly, today I Dare you to…
 
   ~ Write Your Eulogy ~
 
“WHAT?” 
 
Trust me: I’m going somewhere with this…
 
If you can find the confidence, courage, faith, fidelity, and freedom to write about the person that WAS you… you are fully equipped to initiate a powerful, life-altering transformation that can inspire you beyond any other event through which you have lived.
 
Yes: I realize that most people absolutely HATE thinking about their death, let alone talking about it… or planning for it. It took many, many conversations and years of prodding before my own mother finally visited an attorney and set forth a “last will and testament.” Every time I brought it up, she would do that “eye-fluttering thing,” and say, “I don’t want to talk about it.” 
 
And she didn’t… wouldn’t… 
 
Could have… but chose not to.
 
Eventually, she realized that merely planning for the inevitable would not hasten her demise; she is still with us, fluttering her eyes every so often, and still looking forward to tomorrow. 
 
Likewise, I beseech you to take a step back from the edge of fear, and take a faithful leap forward to a day that is sure to occur within the next 5, 10, 50, or 60 years. 
 
Invest an hour or so in thinking about what “they” might say about the person that WAS you.
 
Think about it.
 
And then write about it. 
 
Write about YOU: the most important person in the world today… and on THAT day.
 
And when you write about you, keep in mind those elements I delineated earlier in this blog: confidence, courage, faith, fidelity, and freedom.
 
Be confident that your version of the eulogy is the “correct” version.  
 
How can this be true? 
 
After all, aren’t other people often a better judge of you than you, your self?  
 
Indeed, that’s the point: people judge you. 
 
They don’t KNOW you like you do – and they never will. 
 
But you… the All-Knowing, All-Powerful amalgamation that is you (when it comes to you)… you now have the opportunity to set the record straight and complete those last several chapters.  
 
How? 
 
Well, the final record has yet to be created; your manuscript is still in progress. Therefore, your new edits can now make these last few chapters amazingly amazing! Dare I say, regardless of what has transpired before this moment, “You can (still) make the story of you a best seller!”
 
Indeed… Have the courage to make a few liner notes. These liner notes are those things that will not be discussed in the Final Draft, but rather those few things, habits, and characteristics you might want to change while you still have such a significant and awesome opportunity.
 
Have the faith to realize that you literally COMMAND a whole life ahead of you. Your life ahead is still led by one specific person: you. 
 
Was your “previous life” perfect (the life you lived before reading this)? 
 
Of course not!
 
Better still: NO ONE has ever lived “a perfect life.”
 
And for some reason, that last factoid helps me get past some of my greatest, uhm, lessons (they’re not mistakes if I can actually learn from them).
 
And while your previous life offered significant opportunities to “learn,” your life ahead is foreshadowed, if not launched (in a good way) or deflated (in a bad way) by your current attitude. 
 
With a self-written eulogy, YOU have an awesome opportunity to underline the things you have been known to SAY are important.  
 
Other people can undermine your current and future life only if you fail to strengthen your relationship with the most important person in your life: you.  
 
And like the various heads of state throughout this wild, wonderful, and sometimes-wacky world of ours, you probably have many advisors. But in the final analysis, you are the Head of Your State of Mind.
 
And so it is: You are HERE, today.
 
But one day, you will be THERE, soon enough.
 
I urge you to invest some serious thought into “THAT day.”
 
If you can do this with fidelity (a great commitment and an absolute conformance) to conceptualizing the day when you will no longer physically exist, you will have the potential to free yourself from four specific things:
 
1. Freedom from FEAR OF THAT DAY.  
Other than very real dangers, most of our fears over-rated. By whom? Take a guess. And as I have previously said, “Fear is created and destroyed in the same place: our minds.” Accordingly, as soon as we confront this very real thing called death, we actually move from “confronting it” to “embracing it.” More importantly, if and when we can view death as an inevitable component to this magical thing called life, we will miraculously begin to see how magical this life really is. Better yet, we will all be much better off, primarily because we will have stopped pretending like “that day” will never get here. It will.
 
2. Freedom from INCORRECTLY TREATING THINGS THAT ARE FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU CURRENTLY THINK & ACT.  
In other words, “the things that matter the most should never be at the mercy of the things that matter the least.” In your eulogy, your life matters will be clear. (Note 1) If your faith is paramount, your eulogy will echo this point of fact. Family? Friends? Food? Fun? What best describes you now? How will you be described then? Your eulogy does not have to be a mere postscript on the good things people might feel compelled to say about you; it can just as easily be an exclamatory statement on and of what you actually did. Do it!
 
3. Freedom from THINGS THAT ARE FAR LESS IMPORTANT THAN THEY CURRENTLY SEEM.
(See Note 1 above). Fill in the blank for specific examples. Here are a few examples to get you going: criticizing, complaining, comparing, and capriciously concerning your SELF with other people, problems, and processes of which you have zero ability to change. Specifically:
 
For every 60 seconds of strife we live, we surrender one full minute of bliss. 
 
And for every negative thought we embrace, we purposefully evict two constructive thoughts.  
 
Two?  
 
Yes… Two; and here’s why: 
 
The one negative thought obviously displaces one positive thought. 
 
But it also sets you back one “space” from where you could have been all along **IF** you had started with that positive thought instead of that negative thought. 
 
Think of life as a number line. From the time you arise in the morning… until you close your eyes at night, you can “plus up” in positivity, continuously, until you are far, far ahead of the negativity nuts.
 
But if you start your day with a negative thought, you have already taken one step back (minus one). You are already two positive steps behind the happy-go-lucky people who have launched their days with an expectation of great things to come. They will continue to move forward.
 
4. Freedom from FAILURE. 
Interestingly enough, though we are each an aggregate sum of our respective experiences, one particular experience or another can have a fantastically strong effects on our respective lives. This particular experience and the subsequent effect can be positive or negative. Moreover, this experience and effect, in and of themselves, are not necessarily important to anyone else. 
 
In other words: you, and only you, provide the relative importance for that one particular experience… or any and every experience in YOUR life.
 
Accordingly, you define your own benchmark for success (or failure). 
 
Yes: We are born, we live, and then we die. 
 
In between, each of us has the undeniable ability to create our very own Personal Heaven. 
 
We also have the distinct ability to create our very own Personal Hell. 
 
The creation of these very real dichotomies is manifested via the pursuit of our perceived needs, and, more specifically, how and when those needs are satisfied.  
 
Sure, there is an abundance of activities, events, challenges, and noteworthy causes & effects that punctuate the timeline nestled between birth and death.  
 
But for the most part, our simplistic existence is complicated by pugnacious atrocities called WANTS. 
 
These wants are then continuously defined and refined into perceived NEED. 
 
Such a precarious leap of faith from WANT to NEED is the first step in misconstruing a quaint, unassuming, and uncomplicated life into a series of painful lessons about what we need and what we think we need… a potentially and probable inaccurate perception. 
 
In the final analysis, life is painfully simple. 
 
Even simpler is this related thing called death.
 
Today I challenge you to embrace the latter event it as if you were planning for it.
 
Today I double-dog dare you to…
 
Indeed…
 
It’s all about YOU. But tell me: 
 
What’s your role in your soul, your goal, and for whom the bell tolls? 
 
Today, I dare you:
 
     ~ Write Your Eulogy ~
 
What you do with it afterwards is up to you.
 
Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®

John H. Clark III is an optimistic realist.
 
He believes better development of leaders is what we (all) need.  And to be better organizations, we need more good leaders, not followers. To build better leaders, we must start with the individual (you, she, he, and me).
 
Described as “an innovative leader,” John teaches leaders, organizations, and individuals how to inspire each other. With a bold goal to inspire a worldwide community of optimistic realists who continuously accept, adapt to, and achieve the bold and beautiful concept of The Ideal Life, John is leading a movement to inspire people to apply his trademarked mantra {Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®}.
 
An innovative business manager and retired naval officer, John is fascinated by leaders and organizations that make the greatest impact within their organizational culture and within the “real” world — people who “get it.” Over the course of his life as a military leader, corporate mentor, and innovative content creator, John has discovered a wealth of insight about how we think, act and communicate within our respective work/life environments. As a career naval officer, mentor, educator, and optimistic realist, he has devoted his life to sharing insights to assist in our quests to become better at what we all do – live @ work!
 
An optimist with a penchant for writing about realistic solutions to the challenges of everyday life, John is the author of 3 books: a leadership-development insider, "The Ideal: Your guide to An Ideal Life," a teen-focused guide, "Getting Out: Expert Advice for Today’s Teens," and the Christian-based book, "God’s Heartbeat: A Powerful Premise for Leading a Christian Life."
 
He delivers a unique and refreshing point of view to life's seemingly overwhelming situations. 
 
Through books, blogs, and everyday conversation, John's message resonates with an empowering blend of ideals that enrich, uplift, and “authorize” people to set and achieve goals far beyond current mindsets.  His trademarked phrase is a winner: ​

​So tell me: What did you dream about last night?
 
Did you dream? I’m sure you did; we all dream.
 
However, most of us don’t remember our dreams.
 
Forgetting last night’s dream is truly a forgettable event.
 
However, forgetting your Life’s Dream?
 
Well, that’s another story altogether.
 
So, in an effort to rekindle your dreamy thoughts, in today’s Dare I offer two short poems to reawaken, revitalize, and restore your superior sense of what can be.
 
Yes: If you can dream it, the possibilities are here (and there) to achieve it.
 
But like the daylight, daily tasks, and daily drama following each night’s sleep, our dreams are often replaced by the hustle and bustle of the “real world.”
 
Today’s post is a reMINDer that your Life’s Dream is as much a part of the “real world” as are your shoes; your socks; your breakfast; your lunch; your email; this blog, and anything else that works its way into that mind of yours. 
 
In fact, I would argue that YOUR Life’s Dream is actually a bigger part of YOUR reality than all the other stuff combined.
 
Combined?
 
Yes.
 
And here’s why:
 
Your Life’s Dream is a thought, an idea, and a creation that has been established by the creator that is you. All of that other stuff is the result of someone else’s Life Dreams. And for “them,” and their respective Life’s Dream… life has become a dream come true.  
 
Indeed, we are all “living the dream.” 
 
The only question is, “Whose dream is it?”
 
This amazing thing called the television is the result of someone’s dream. The movies and sitcoms on TV are the result of someone else’s dream.  The simple but amazing concept of a mobile (cell) phone originated in someone’s head some time ago. 
 
Your cell phone, your clothes, and the town in which you live… 
 
They are all the result of someone’s dream.
 
Interestingly enough, your cell phone, your clothes, and the town in which you live are also the result of YOUR specific dreams.
 
Yes, despite the fact that all those things were created by other people, the one fact that integrates all of them is the fact that each of those things are connected to and by only one specific person: you.
 
You own the dream that has come to be your life.
 
Do you love the dream? 
 
If so, keep dreaming, my friend.
 
On the other hand, if you DON’T like the dream you are currently living… 
 
Then change the script.
 
How? 
 
Simply acquire the faith, fearlessness, and fundamental belief that your (new) dream can come to true. If you seek to acquire the faith, fearlessness, and fundamental belief that your dream CAN come true, there is a significant likelihood that your dream WILL come true.
 
Seeking to acquire the faith of which I speak is a very simple task. 
 
But “simple” and “easy” are vastly different descriptors. 
 
After all, it’s rarely easy to stare failure in the face, learn from it, and then move on. And yet, Thomas Edison “failed” hundreds of times before succeeding with his invention called the commercial light bulb. Regarding failure, Edison is quoted as saying:
 
"After we had conducted thousands of experiments on a certain project without solving the problem, one of my associates, after we had conducted the crowning experiment and it had proved a failure, expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed to find out anything. I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn't be done that way, and that we would have to try some other way."  
 
Edison’s dream came true, but not without significant faith, work, and faith in his work.
 
In one of my all-time favorite speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., proclaimed:

1. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
2. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.  
3. With this faith we will be able to work together; to pray together, to struggle together; to go to jail together; to stand up for freedom together… knowing that we will be free one day.

 
Dr. King’s dream is an ideal just shy of perfection. 
 
And though perfection is something that can never be fully realized, Dr. King’s dream has certainly brought us much closer to forming a “more perfect union.” 
 
And then there’s this thing called fearlessness…
 
Ah, to be fearless.
 
Me? After being bitten by a couple of dogs (and having the scars to prove it), and seeing a few people attacked by “friendly” dogs, I tend to be somewhat apprehensive and anxious around dogs.
 
Am I fearful of dogs? Well… not FULL of fear, no.
 
But I have my firm reservations.
 
So, what does one do to overcome fear?
 
The popular answer to this question is “get more courage.”
 
However, courage is not the answer to combating fear.
 
The answer may surprise you.
 
The answer is simple.
 
The answer might not be easy…
 
But it’s already in you.
 
The answer is to simply “increase your faith.”
 
If and when you increase your faith, fear becomes an unrelated aspect of your dreams. And when fear is removed from the pursuit of your dream, there is automatically more room, more time, and more energy to invest in transforming your dreams to goals… and then those goals into plans… and then those plans into actions…
 
And the next thing ya’ know… YOUR actions facilitate “a dream come true.”
 
But it all starts with YOUR dream… and YOUR fundamental belief that YOUR dream can come to fruition. And if it can, it will…. But you, my friend, must first wake up from the daily drudgery of living someone else’s dream.
 
One last point:
  - Fear is created AND destroyed in the same place: your mind.
 
Below are two AWEsome poems that, when fully understood, embraced, and established within the creator that is you… will ignite your dream machine and launch a renewed vigor toward YOUR life’s dream. The poems speak for themselves, but I will add one small comment:
 
It’s all about YOU. 
 
But tell me: 
 
What’s your role in your soul, your goal, and for whom the bell tolls? 

​POEM #1:
​"The Winds of Fate"
​Ella Wheeler Wilcox
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One ship drives east
and another drives west
with the selfsame winds that blow.
 
'Tis the set of the sails,
and not the gales,
that tell us the way to go.
 
Like the winds of the sea
are the ways of fate
as we voyage along through life...
 
'Tis the set of a soul
that decides its goal,
...and not the calm or the strife.

​POEM #2:
​“Follow Your Dreams”
Bruce Wilmer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
If while pursuing distant dreams,
your bright hopes turn to gray.
 
Don't wait for reassuring words
or hands to lead the way.
 
For seldom will you find a soul
with dreams the same as yours.
 
Not often will another help you
pass through untried doors.
 
If inner forces urge you
to take a course unknown,
 
Be ready to go all the way...
yes, all the way alone.
 
That's not to say you shouldn't
draw lessons from the best;
 
Just don't depend on lauding words
to spur you on your quest.
 
Find confidence within your heart,
and let it be your guide.
 
Strive ever harder toward your dreams,
and they won't be denied.
​~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

​Today, I dare you: 
 
     ~ Follow YOUR Dreams ~
 
Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®

​John H. Clark III is an optimistic realist.
 
He believes better development of leaders is what we (all) need.  And to be better organizations, we need more good leaders, not followers. To build better leaders, we must start with the individual (you, she, he, and me).
 
Described as “an innovative leader,” John teaches leaders, organizations, and individuals how to inspire each other. With a bold goal to inspire a worldwide community of optimistic realists who continuously accept, adapt to, and achieve the bold and beautiful concept of The Ideal Life, John is leading a movement to inspire people to apply his trademarked mantra {Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®}.
 
An innovative business manager and retired naval officer, John is fascinated by leaders and organizations that make the greatest impact within their organizational culture and within the “real” world — people who “get it.” Over the course of his life as a military leader, corporate mentor, and innovative content creator, John has discovered a wealth of insight about how we think, act and communicate within our respective work/life environments. As a career naval officer, mentor, educator, and optimistic realist, he has devoted his life to sharing insights to assist in our quests to become better at what we all do – live @ work!
 
An optimist with a penchant for writing about realistic solutions to the challenges of everyday life, John is the author of 3 books: a leadership-development insider, "The Ideal: Your guide to An Ideal Life," a teen-focused guide, "Getting Out: Expert Advice for Today’s Teens," and the Christian-based book, "God’s Heartbeat: A Powerful Premise for Leading a Christian Life."
 
He delivers a unique and refreshing point of view to life's seemingly overwhelming situations. 
 
Through books, blogs, and everyday conversation, John's message resonates with an empowering blend of ideals that enrich, uplift, and “authorize” people to set and achieve goals far beyond current mindsets.  His trademarked phrase is a winner: 

Ahhh… the stock market.
 
What is this place of so much prestige, power, and peculiar pangs of price, probability, and prized payments?
 
I’ll tell you what it is: one big, fat, lie.
 
       Or is it?
 
In a nutshell, the stock market is a place where belief not only outmaneuvers reality; it’s also a place where belief actually CREATES an entirely different realm of reality.
 
In psychiatry, when one creates a different realm of reality, that person is said to be psychotic, or at least having an episode of psychosis. And yet, there we were in 2008, witnessing the historic downfall of our splendid financial systems: billion-dollar banks were being swallowed up by other bigger-billion-dollar-banks; governments crammed subsequent billions of bucks into the commercial marketplace; and the stock market inspired yet another break from reality.
 
How does this continually happen? Why does it repeatedly occur?
 
And what does the stock market have to do with you, he, she, and me anyway?
 
Quite simply, the stock market is a place where, if enough people think, believe, and act like a stock is worth more (or less) than it is currently valued, then (guess what?) the stock is worth more (or less) than what it is currently valued.
 
If more people desire said stock, the price of that stock goes up.
 
And if more people desire to get rid of that same stock, the price goes down.
 
Now this may be a simplistic explanation of the stock market, given the vast sums of money that flow through the various world exchanges on a daily basis. Nonetheless, it is an accurate description (except for the fact that billion-dollar hedge funds contort the market and actually usurp and undermine the marketplace concept – but that’s for another blog, on another day).
 
So, ask yourself: What happens if and when people are wrong?
 
What happens when people think the stock will appreciate in price, but it subsequently goes down? 

 And vice versa: 

​What happens when people speculate on a decrease in the price of a stock, but the value of the stock actually goes up? 

Quite simply: one person’s loss is another person’s gain.
 
Therein lies the magic of making money in the market.
 
It’s all based on the outcome. Or, more specifically, it’s based on the outcome of the person who gains the most benefits from the trade.
 
But let’s not forget one critically important fact: Regardless of the outcome, the entire transaction started with an expressions of individual BELIEF.
 
And, truth be told, if enough people simply believed that all the stocks were worthless, every stock would become worthless. If enough people believed the American, Australian, or Canadian dollars were worthless, each of those currencies would immediately become worthless.  
 
FACT: Our financial system is based almost entirely on faith. 
 
Likewise, the same is true of life outside the world’s stock markets.
 
Right where you are sitting or standing, your ultimate outcome is heavily influenced by your very own beliefs. 
 
“Outcome to what?” you may ask. 
 
Well, that’s your question to answer. 
 
My purpose is to provide you with yet one more Dare.  
 
And today, I dare you to…
 
    Accept Your Fate.
 
In fact, as we build on Dare #1 through Dare #7 and begin moving toward a higher sense of self, and as I dare you to Accept Your Fate, I am also asking you to get a little crazy and give yourself a break from reality. Yes: join me as we go through our very own path of psychosis. 
 
Don’t worry… this won’t hurt a bit. But like the various stock markets (which seems to control the world), this little journey will, indeed, require your profound ability to sincerely believe what I am sharing with you.
 
[And, by the way, in case you haven’t noticed, we have already inculcated ourselves in daily rituals of psychosis, or “breaks from reality.” We now afford ourselves a break from reality every time we tune in to the television, turn on our favorite radio station, or scroll through the smooth little screen on our smartphone (not really “here,” but “there”; not really “there,” nor “here”).  And if you don't think this type of behavior is at least a little bit crazy, then you might want to double-back to the last challenge (Dare #7) and “Know Your G.P.A.”] 
 
But I digress; we were discussing my dare to Accept Your Fate.
 
I guarantee you: regardless of what you have been told about this word “fate,” today is the day it gains a better meaning for you and for everyone who knows you.  
 
This little four-lettered word has so much meaning, and yet it remains mired in so much misunderstanding. To be clear: the textbook definition of “fate” centers on the idea that life is (somehow) predetermined. And perhaps it is.
 
But for me, the word "fate" is a very specific algorithm for achieving blissful balance. And in a connected, yet seemingly disconnected world of, shall we say, wonderful people, I find myself using this algorithm more and more with each passing day.
 
As an author, I am an avid wordsmith. And I enjoy some words more than others.
 
The word “fate” has allowed me to set my daily sights upon a belief that has literally changed the world. I’m not worried about being redundant. So, for emphasis, I will repeat that last sentence: This word “fate” has allowed me to set my sights upon a belief that has literally changed the world.  
 
Yes: this one little word has changed the world.
 
For you see, (like the two previous dares), FATE is an acronym:
 
~  Faithfulness And Thankfulness Everyday ~
 
Notice the insistence of these four separate yet integrated words:
 
|| FAITHFULNESS || When you are faithful, you are not just full of faith toward your committed ideal.  You are actually devoid of hopelessness toward the same. You literally have no room for decreased commitment; you are all in on what you believe.  The question is: To what are you committed? What are you full of?

​|| AND || Yes, this little word “and” is a very important part of the acronym FATE. No matter where you go or what you do, there is at least one other person who needs you… or who YOU will need.

Period.  
 
Moreover, You are not just You.  
 
By the mere act of reading this, You are now You **and** Me.  
 
By my sharing of this essay and its precepts across Facebook, LinkedIn, and several other sites… for days, weeks, moths, and perhaps years to come, You and this newly defined interpretation of FATE are now linked with untold other readers.
 
It is the AND that makes us THIS (whatever “this” may be).
 
It is the AND that makes You much more than who you were.
 
It is also what makes our human problems global, if not universal.

​|| THANKFULNESS ||  Of course, the simple definition of thankfulness is “full of thanks.” 
 
A better definition is found in the act of being “expressive with gratitude.” 
 
After all, being thankful is not just about saying, “Thank you,” and then moving on. 
 
Being thankful is more about “being the thank you” and then passing it on in the form of being a more appreciative You.  
 
And, much like faithfulness, when you are full of thanks -- when you are BEING the thank you -- there’s very little room for any action that is remotely dissimilar or opposite to the action of a person who lives a life of gratitude.
 
I’ll try to be overtly clear:  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
When we are thankful, there is absolutely no room for apathy toward our fellow humans; no room for criticism concerning **our** Creator’s creatures; not enough space for dishonoring our friends and enemies; no extra leeway to disregard human rights; no spare contempt for disrespecting different tribes; no ready reservoir for hatred to be hurled across the aisle, street, or kitchen table; no excess capability for issuing ignorance in place of insight; no idle time for exhibiting indifference to known injustices; no unused hate to fuel insensitivity to the less (or more) fortunate; and certainly no extra room for an overall misunderstanding of men and women by other respective men or women.
 
Take a step back intellectually, and a step forward spiritually to realize that, when we are full of thanks, we are empty of enmity, because we are far too busy counting our blessings, showing our light, and increasing the value of our personal stock.

​|| EVERYDAY || And finally, the last word of this powerful acronym is a tall but accessible timetable for you to follow. I won’t belabor this straightforward point of expectation except to say this: When the day for which you are less than thankful arrives, your fate might already be sealed.

So… what is my overall point?
 
After all, I started this essay with a nod toward the stock market, and wound up asking you to commit a tiny but powerful acronym to memory. FATE: Faithfulness And Thankfulness Everyday!

​(As an author, I tend to be a bit wordy. On the bright side, this post is free! You don’t have to spend cold hard cash buying any of my books!)  Anyway… here’s my point:
 
In the final analysis, our existing prosperity is not based entirely upon what we have, but rather on what we believe. To wit, the smartest person in the world is actually senseless without a firm belief in self - and a true application of that belief.  
 
These days, it seems most people equate prosperity to economic wealth. Yet, the wealthiest person in the world is not the one who has the most money, it is the person who is fulfilled by the four corners of self.
 
Interestingly, in Latin, the word “prosperity” has the root words of “fortune” and “hope.” 
 
So… to be prosperous is to be “fortunate and full of hope.”
 
Are you, he, she, and me actually fortunate?  Yes. 
 
And if you’re not, flip the switch and watch your fortunes turn. 
 
This is to say that, in reality, when we appreciate certain things, those same things ultimately appreciate in value – to us. 
 
Thus, we are as fortunate as we are thankful; if we can somehow be continuously thankful, we can more easily see just how fortunate we really are. And if you are grateful for every moment - including the (perceived) good, bad, and ugly moments, then you are most appreciative, most grateful, and most fortunate. 
 
Perceptions are most important because, in the reality of today (now - this very moment), there is neither good nor bad… except for how YOU define it and plan to leverage it in the very near future.
 
And that brings us to the little thing called hope… a parallel to “faith.”
 
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It is the assurance of things not seen.
 
And the truth of the matter is: Going forward, everything is not (yet) seen.
 
So again, the central question is, “What do YOU think; what do YOU believe?”
 
More precisely, “What do you CHOOSE to believe?”
 
If everything forward is unseen (and it is, indeed, ALL unseen and unknown), shouldn’t we CHOOSE to be prosperous – full of thanks and appreciation for what was - and full of hope for what can be?
 
To choose anything else is proactively setting up our personal stock for future failure.
 
Instead of setting our personal stock up for failure, let’s invest ourselves wisely:
 
Every single day, we must be full of faith toward our commitments.
 
Every single day, we must be full of thanks. 
 
Actually, we must BE the thanks.
 
If we can do this, we can truly begin to accept our FATE.
 
Accepting such a FATE is perhaps more simplistic than easy.
 
It’s not easy having faith in me, this writer whom you don’t even know…
 
Moreover, it’s not easy having faith in…
 
…your president, prime minister, or powerful political opponent…
 
…these liberals… those conservatives…
 
…this neighbor whom we do not know…
 
…this neighbor whom we might not love.
 
But if we could somehow extend a little faithfulness AND a little thankfulness, every single day, I believe we would all do well to accept just such a fate.  
 
Dare I say: We could very well predetermine our very own glorious global fate.
 
Today, I dare you: Accept Your FATE.

​John H. Clark III is an optimistic realist.
 
He believes better development of leaders is what we (all) need.  And to be better organizations, we need more good leaders, not followers. To build better leaders, we must start with the individual (you, she, he, and me).
 
Described as “an innovative leader,” John teaches leaders, organizations, and individuals how to inspire each other. With a bold goal to inspire a worldwide community of optimistic realists who continuously accept, adapt to, and achieve the bold and beautiful concept of The Ideal Life, John is leading a movement to inspire people to apply his trademarked mantra {Accept. Adapt. Achieve! ®}.
 
An innovative business manager and retired naval officer, John is fascinated by leaders and organizations that make the greatest impact within their organizational culture and within the “real” world — people who “get it.” Over the course of his life as a military leader, corporate mentor, and innovative content creator, John has discovered a wealth of insight about how we think, act and communicate within our respective work/life environments. As a career naval officer, mentor, educator, and optimistic realist, he has devoted his life to sharing insights to assist in our quests to become better at what we all do – live @ work!

An optimist with a penchant for writing about realistic solutions to the challenges of everyday life, John is the author of 3 books: a leadership-development insider, "The Ideal: Your guide to An Ideal Life," a teen-focused guide, "Getting Out: Expert Advice for Today’s Teens," and the Christian-based book, "God’s Heartbeat: A Powerful Premise for Leading a Christian Life."
 
He delivers a unique and refreshing point of view to life's seemingly overwhelming situations. 
 
Through books, blogs, and everyday conversation, John's message resonates with an empowering blend of ideals that enrich, uplift, and “authorize” people to set and achieve goals far beyond current mindsets.  His trademarked phrase is a winner: