Simple Tools

"A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere."

--Joyce A. Myers

You don't need much to craft a life. Not alot of money, or the latest technology, or an Ivy League degree, or a cadre of assistants at your beck and call. Passion and a pencil -- that's it. If you have those two, the whole world is laid out before you.

In 1999 I decided to get rid of everything I owned and start the new millennium afresh. Well, almost everything. So as not to get busted for indecent exposure I kept some clothes. I kept about 20 of my favorite books. I kept my computer and a handful of keepsakes like family pictures, and a few small heirlooms passed down from my parents and grandparents. That was it. I sold my house, my furniture, hundreds upon hundreds of books, electronic equipment, car, etc. What I couldn't sell, I gave to Goodwill. My feeling at that point was all I needed to start a new life was a computer, $1000, and an empty room. Just a little more upscale version of Joyce Myers pencil and a dream.

Now, eight years later, I've got an Internet book business with an inventory of over 10,000 books, a condo packed full of furniture, clothes, electronic equipment and hundreds upon hundreds of more books. I followed a dream, created a new life, and I think it's about time to give it all up and do it again.

You see, the nice thing about having little more than a pencil and a passion is that there's little to get in your way or distract you. You don't have to spend your time maintaining a lifestyle full of stuff you no longer need or want, relationships that are no longer supportive, or a career that's no longer fulfilling. Simplicity is powerful. It frees you and gives you the space to create a new life, a new you.

Inc. magazine has repeatedly found that most successful businesses were started with little more than a back-of-a-napkin business plan. A dream, a few beers, a napkin, and the naivete to believe you can do it, are all it takes.

So, today dream, dream big. And capture those dreams with a #2 pencil, whether on a napkin, a yellow legal pad, or in your Hello Kitty diary. Pour out your passion, lay forth your ideas, develop your visions in a simple, yet powerful, format. And then act upon them. Act today, tomorrow, and on and on, modifying your dreams as you go, always in flux, always in process, life unfolding, ideas unfurling, Spirit manifesting in new and creative ways through the unique individual that is you.