ONCE AGAIN I'M WORKING TO IMPROVE MY DRIVE, MY AMBITION, MY REASON FOR LIVING.

MOTIVATION, DRIVE, AMBITION, DREAM, AND GOALS.

Your question should be; "What do all those things have in common".

 The answer is, everything. Each of those words are action words, having to do with what makes you tick. What makes you get up in the morning and go to work, day in and day out. Let's discuss each point in turn.

MOTIVATION - Motivation is something that makes you get up and go. You have a dream, a family, or a special someone that you are motivated to provide for, to care for, and to take care of. Why because it makes you feel good.

DRIVE - Drive is the emotion that enables you to accomplish your goals, it is the emotion that makes you want to overcome any obstacles placed in your way, either by accident or on purpose.

AMBITION - This emotion wants you to make yourself better then you are right now. Whether that something is a higher status, a higher level of living, a better golfer, a better business man, or anything else you can Dream of.

DREAM - This is also an emotion and it is not normally about what you dream when you are asleep. It is about your dream for yourself and your loved ones. Your dream can be about anything you want it to be; whether it is a new house, a new car, to be a millionaire, or to own your own island. It doesn't matter what the dream is, but whatever it is, it takes Motivation, Drive, and Ambition to achieve it.

GOALS - You might ask, "Aren't Goals the same thing as your Dream?" the answer is, yes it can be, as in, your Ultimate Goal. But your goals are usually incremental. I can explain this best by using an example: Let's say you want to be a millionaire by the age of 35. This is your dream or ultimate goal. But how do you get there. Your first goal would be to figure out what you can do to get to that point. It is doubtful that you can just go to work everyday and set aside money in savings to do it. I couldn't do it, at least not with an ordinary job, so I have to look for a means to do so. One goal you might try is to locate millionaires and interview them to find out how they did it. Then after doing that, you decide what means you will use to achieve your end goal or your dream. My point is, that you usually have to set incremental goals in order to achieve your Dream.

CAUGHT IN A WHIRLPOOL OF REPETITION.

That's me, caught in a whirlpool of repetition. When I was forced to retire back in 2000, because of medical problems, my days were taken up being there for Claudia. For a long time I tried to establish a business on line and even joined a couple of pyramid schemes that didn't work out. After looking back on each of those schemes I discovered that you only make money if you first have a lot of money to invest in getting started, and then didn't give a damn what kind of problems you caused your so called followers. the people that make big money in those schemes are already rich before they joined the program, and they just wind up being richer while leaving everybody else, sucking dry wind.

Getting back to what I was referring to concerning, "Caught in a whirlpool of repetition", that is where I am now. So here I am addicted to reading, Facebook, Twitter, fixing meals, cleaning house, doing the dishes, doing the laundry and endlessly repeating this cycle. Once a week I take my granddaughter to her Tae Kwon Doe classes, and go to Church on Sundays, but not much else.

I really need to find or develop another source of income, because the income I receive from Social Security and a small annuity is being eaten up by all the payments required for Medicare and supplemental medical insurance, and by premiums for life insurance, car insurance, not to mention the rising cost of food and gas. And let's not talk about how much I owe my Dentist, which comes to just under $5000.00. I just have to find a way to earn lots of money in a short period of time. On top of what I already owe the Dentist, I have about another $1500 to $2000 worth of work needing done. Leh Sigh.
If any of my readers knows of a way to earn lots of money in a short time, I'd love to here from you.

God  Bless from the gahillbilly.



"(C) Copyright by Victor Winebrenner"

How do you regain your moxie and your drive?

Hello everyone,

That is the question, "How do you regain your moxie and your drive(ambition)?" Especially when you have reached age 75?

I don't know the answer to this question, but it is a question I am having to deal with now. How do you set new goals? How? Do you do it for yourself, your children, your grandchildren, or do you do it for yourself?
Each of these questions need an answer, otherwise what is the point in living?

For those of you who haven't been involved in the ongoing situation with my wife, a bit of explanation is in order.

For the last 12 years I have been taking care of my wife as she is suffering from Post Polio Syndrome. This disease causes the person to become steadily weaker and weaker over time. It is a degenerative disease that has no cure and will finally be fatal. About 6 weeks ago, Claudia had a rather violent attack which left her pretty much paralyzed. In the intervening weeks she has regained enough strength and motion in her one arm and both hands to allow her to feed herself, most of the time. I am no longer able to care for her, because of my weak heart. I have 40% loss of heart function, so I don't have the strength or the stamina to take care of Claudia as she should be cared for. Claudia is now in a nursing home with included hospice care. This means that she has 24/7 attendance and the means for ensuring that she receives the pain medications that she needs.
I must give kudoos and huzzaahs to my daughter Elizabeth for being the major mover and shaker in getting Claudia into the nursing home. I am certain, that had I tried to do what she did, I would now be in a rubber room babbling incoherently, and drooling at the mouth. I certainly went through a hell of a lot of nitro tablets, because of angina pains. 

Post Polio attacks and kills the nerves and it burns like fire as it progresses. God Bless Claudia for the strength and resolve she has shown over the years.
Now that Claudia is in a nursing home, I need to find something to do with my time, so that I don't sit and brood all day long.


During all of the trials and challenges of getting Claudia taken care of,  Elizabeth and her family and friends have helped me to move into an apartment much nearer to her and her husbands family, and of course my grandchildren. Unfortunately, my move is not complete, as there is still a significant amount of stuff to be moved.

I remember as a newly married young man, I was trying to go to college, on the GI Bill, while also trying to pay for an apartment and normal everyday expenses for two of us. My major challenge was trying to find some kind of part time work, while going to college. This was in 1958, which was a major recession at the time. I couldn't even find work pumping gas,(yes, pumping gas was a paying job) as college graduates were taking those kind of jobs on a full time basis. I tried everywhere I could think of to find some kind of work, with absolutely no luck. Then, since I really was feeling lacking as a husband and wage earner, I decided to try and find work full time.

Again, I wasn't having any luck, until my dad said, why didn't I call ASA Headquarters in Arlington, VA and see if they were hiring crypto repairmen. It turns out that they were indeed in need of repairman, so I went to work for the Department of Defense as a civilian in the Army Security Agency. Since this was a full time job, I had to quit college, since they didn't have evening and weekend classes back in those days.
What I am trying to do with all of this explanation, is to show that what I wound up doing as a career, wasn't so much planned as it was luck and/or fate driving me to do what I did.
In my own defense, once I set out to do this kind of work, I did it to the very best of my ability. And for the most part I enjoyed the work that I did.

Most of the time my work was in the repair of crypto equipment of one kind or another, but occasionally I was sent out on undercover(as in spy) work. And since I couldn't talk about what I did, my first wife didn't know what I was doing. I would go off on these undercover jobs, but I couldn't tell her where I was going or why. I know this had to be extremely hard on her, as we had three girls, who are very close in age within the first four years of our marriage. It was extremely tough for her.

As for me, all I could think of, was my responsibility for earning a living so that I could provide all the things that a family needs. Did I do a good job? I thought so at the time. Do I think so now? I am not so sure! You like to think you did some good, but you never really know, do you?

Well! have I answered my original question? No! I haven't! Would anybody out there have any answers to my original question? You tell me!

As it happens I ran across an article in the AARP Magazine called the "The Boss of Me". I am going to quote some of what the article puts forth:

FIND YOUR FOCUS Struggling to motivate yourself? Take this expert advice:
Use new words; Try terms that reflect your life now, says Helen Dennis coauthor of Project Renewment: After you retire, "is there a new way to define productivity?"

Time your tasks; Notice the hours when you think the most clearly, says Barbara Waxman, a certified personal coach. Schedule your most challenging work then.

Log off; Carve out work time without e-mail and phone, says Robert Dittmer, author of 151 Quick Ideas to Manage your Time.

Each of these ideas has merit and I am going to try and implement them. But first I need to determine what I am going to focus on.

I would love hearing from you folks, with any suggestions as to what to do.

God Bless from the gahillbilly.



"(C) Copyright by Victor Winebrenner"