Inch by dreaded inch, you push your land-locked hooves across the gravel and soot. Crushed stone in orange and deep red. More ancient than life itself, without a whisper of effort.

You have made it this far.

You kept creeping forward. Bit by bit. Step by scraping step.

Stiff toes hover now over the jagged cliff. Naught but air and a thousand foot drop separate them — and you — from the ground so far below.

This is the edge.

The one you that thought you wanted. Dreamed of. Demanded.

But when your eyes gaze beyond the abyss below, outward to the horizon with empty terror . . . your breath fallen so short into terse, desperate gasps . . . and every gust of wind — even the gentlest — feels like a fatal blow . . . you start to wonder, second-guess, even regret everything that has brought you here.

Frozen and stiff. Hov’ring upon the edge.

. . . Is it everything you dreamed of?

They are called ‘dreams’ for a reason.

“Sweet dreams,” your mother whispers as she turns off the light.

Young pupils pulse to adjust to the sudden dark. Blinded, a second or three of terrified uncertainty washes across what of you is not enveloped by protective folds of cotton and feather.

The moon stands quietly. The sun has laid to rest. The pitter-patter of a vibrant young heart begins to steady and wane, as your eager mind replays the brilliance and excitement from the day-that-was.

Fun. Laughter. Smiles. Learning and growing. Racing and chasing.

Sweet dreams, she says . . .  the door to one day closes. The next, yet to begin. But in between, a flash of endless chance and possibility. Limitlessness. Opportunity. Infinitude. It is time to dream.

Sweet dreams, she says . . . and permission is granted.

As if to dictate what chance scenario might ensue, your still-conscious mind unleashes its unapologetic imagination. Fanciful landscapes. Affable characters. Heroic circumstance. Each detail, so flawlessly ideal.

As children, we dream because we can. “Why” is never asked; no justification is ever required.

But as we age, sleep is not opportune, but opportunity lost.

Sleep we shall, but with reluctant acceptance; as if we forced to resign the day’s fight. And “know-better” hearts refuse to rest, commanding the quick pace of our oft-frenzied minds.

Memories of playground smiles fade into those of rush-hour road rage. Learning and growing curtail into yearning for knowing; the desperate urge to have “figured it all out.” And yet, as we grow older — the more we begin to understand — the less we seem to know.

Dreams begin to lose their luster, merely revealing the hidden workings of our subconscious thoughts; a minefield of anguish and unknown, as if the space between our ears were some desolate battlefield in a war of “We” against “Ourselves.”

But they are called dreams for a reason.

The endless promise and limitlessness of dreams — what frees us as children — is what cripples us as adults with paralyzing anxiety, dreadful uncertainty, and the black depths of unknown.

To dare to dream of the path before your feet is just the same to invite one ominous step too far, into a trail unknown, down an irreversible course.

As children, we dream because we can.

Grown, our matured fears of the unknown — of the road less traveled — ground dreams long before they can take flight.

The road is ‘less traveled’ for a reason.

Hiking boots are required.

The path may be rough. It is unknown, desolate, lonely. But to you, it beckons like a canvas to the painter; a track to the runner; a stage to the singer; empty paper to the writer.

Boulders may litter your path. Walk around them.

No, you cannot ever see beyond the present moment. Accept this. A flower does not know if the sun will rise again, but it never stops reaching for the sky.

Within this present moment — only here, never anywhere else — is the only opportunity you need. It is the only opportunity that exists. This one. And this one. All action happens here. It can only happen right here, now.

Permit your brilliant mind to dare to imagine what may lay beyond the sunset, for no one else will tuck you in and turn off the light to grant it for you. You can begin to create, to build, right now.

But far more than the “What,” you must ask yourself… why?

Remember the jagged cliff?

When you look with terror beyond the abyss, the “What” that got you there is almost meaningless.

Why did I want to write a book? Create this product? Spread this idea? Give this talk? Why put myself out there to fail, to crumble, to be judged and criticized, to be slandered and vilified, to either fly or fall to my disastrous end?

When you reach the edge — when you question, doubt, fear, and begin to regret everything — the “What” won’t matter one damn. The “Why” will.

“Why” is what pushes your toes to hover over the edge crippling self-doubt. “Why” is all of the reasons that move you, push you, fuel you, sustain you, give you life and empower you to flourish.

“What” will let you down.

“Why” will keep you grounded, and it will give you flight.

Reasons. You need to understand yours. And you need to understand their roots in what you do; and how you live; and what you dream of; and what you strive for. Unearth the “why” beyond the “what.”

The “what” — the ends, the objectives, the goals, the things and sums and stuff — will always change because their worth is ultimately trivial.

The “why” — every element behind your personal values, lifelong aspirations, deeply-rooted dreams, the fundamental core of your Being, the place from which every decision and action and word originates — is unshakeable.

Not concrete, but steadfast. Not static, but unshakably you. Your roots. Your feet, firmly grounded. The pristine, precisely-cut glass holder of your candle, upon which the flame of your soul burns.

Reasons. What are yours?

Answer for yourself, or warmly open your heart and share with us in a comment below.

Flickr photo by natamagat

Why do I do what I do?

What do I hope for, strive for, work for, suffer for; live, breathe and dream for?

Whether or not you’ve ever asked these question of me, I find myself asking them all the time. I’m sure you’ve done the same yourself.

“Why” is a tricky beast for us all, but because words have been quite fast to escape me as of late, I’ll sum up my “why” in as few as I might need.

Why I’m here:

I’m here because I want you to succeed, brilliantly, for all the right reasons. In ways that endure, effortlessly.

I want to see good people who do good (and help people do the same) succeed in wildly creative and flourishing ways, for all of their goals and dreams and achievements, and in ways that resonate purely within their souls to cultivate earnest goodness, and happiness, and purpose, and passion, and lifelong fulfillment.

I want to see that in you.

And I may not have the answers to get you there — maybe just not yet, maybe not ever because instead it’s the work of another to help you succeed in such ways — but I will always hope, and strive, and work, and suffer, and live-breathe-dream to make that outcome your reality.

Of course, I want that for myself, too.

But if I alone could take the world upon my shoulders to get you there, surely, it would be a price that I’d pay gladly.

Over the time that I quit my job, started this blog and began to embark upon an unknown path to become a lifelong author and positively change the world with inspiring messages, I could have netted over $70,000 in salary plus benefits while working at any “normal” 9-to-5 desk job.

But, I chose not to.

In fact, I’ve even turned down two job opportunities in the last two years since I said “I quit”, which was prompted by a time of debilitating depression and my so-called “quarterlife” crisis.

Could I have started a blog and built my platform as a thought-leader and aspiring author on nights and weekends while still grinding it out at an ordinary job? Probably. Would it have been easy? Not likely, but it also wouldn’t have been rocket science. Would I be in the same position I find myself today? Maybe, maybe not.

So, why did I do it?

1) I’m confident that I will achieve far greater financial comfort in doing what I am 100% invested in, passionate about, and that can make (and, is already making) a remarkably positive impact in the lives of others across the globe than doing anything else.

2) I believe in my mission, in people, and in my message.

3) I believe that my alternative leadership philosophy and future book, Lead Without Followers (formerly, The Quiet Leader), will help save the meaning of leadership in our world and inspire a new wave of conventional and unconventional leaders to rise up, both at home and abroad.

4) My persuasive writing skills and my content creation and idea-curating abilities have benefited incredibly… to the tune of thousands of hours of dedicated practice.

5) I knew I could start changing lives, right now, and refused to wait until “later” — some vague and elusive point in the future that I knew, deep down, I would really never “arrive” at unless I made the outright decision to begin, now.

6) Escaping from ego-dominated work environments and unhealthy social cultures that skew morals, forcibly distort values, and discourage people from taking the initiative and embodying leadership.

7) I want it all to fall on my shoulders. No excuses, no one else to blame. I can shoulder the weight of the world… on behalf of something I truly believe in. Whether that means saving it, helping people, inspiring good…

8) I want to be a superhero. And no radioactive spiders have bitten me… yet.

9) If I died today, I know I have lived true to myself and will have left a positive, inspiring, and lasting impact on this world — however quietly.

10) I think I’ve personally matured and learned far more in the last couple of years than I would have in any other walk of life — something that I really believe would have taken me upwards of a full decade to achieve, otherwise.

11) Every moment I invest in this blog is an investment in my digital platform — my own personal “writing enterprise” — and contributes to my dreamed career as an author and speaker.

Yes, I want this blog and my writing to transition into a wildly successful career

I want to travel the country (and the world) speaking to diverse audiences of all ages with people from different walks of life on how to become genuine leaders, devoid of the corrupting forces that have plagued the human species over history. I’m getting close to that point already.

I know I will author best-selling books — my goal is to write 15 — that challenge the status quo and propel inspired growth in readers while blending genres of spirituality, positive psychology, personal leadership, science, political theory and more to create wildly life-changing works.

This endeavor is not a get-rich-quick dream. Hardly.

And, while I’m ready (really!) to create and offer some truly fantastic e-book products and guides for you in the next few weeks that I will — gasp! – actually encourage you to buy, after two full years of living off of savings and the mish-mash of freelance work and scraping coins off the sidewalk just to get by, I can officially say that I’m ready :)

And I hope you are too.

Yeah, I gave up $70,000 to write this blog for you, patiently confident and ever-determined that it will be a major — if not the most significant — factor that I’ll look back upon many years from now and know that it truly set me up for financial comfort for the rest of my life.

But by that point, any concerns about my own financial well-being will have been long-since replaced by altruistic motivations and philanthropic endeavors that will endure far beyond my lifetime. And maybe even my own comic book, too… no spiders bites required.

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Flickr photo credit: Nick Ares

My dreams are many, but the one that tops my list is becoming a multi-published, best-selling career author who will take to the road and speak to audiences across the world on the subjects I love to explore and write about.

…Go big or go home. :)

When I started pursuing this endeavor in 2009 in a major leap of faith, I figured that the best way to pursue that dream was to go full force at it. I figured that I would just start trying to become an author. So, I wrote my nonfiction book proposal, built a list of agents to send it to, sent out my queries and proposals and… got rejected by almost all of them.

Listen, pursuing dreams is supposed to be tough.

Remember what Randy Pausch said in The Last Lecture: brick walls exist for us to prove to ourselves and others just how badly we want our dreams to become realities. Adhering to my own advice that life and our pursuits are far more about the journey than the results, I’ve come to genuinely enjoy the hard work of the process (after loathing it for quite a while).

Even still, that seemingly distant end-goal — becoming a hardcover rock-star of epic authordom — remains in the forefront of my mind. How could I continue to pursue that goal without repeating the same unproductive process as I had tried earlier (and without slamming my head into my dreams’ brick wall) along the way?

More importantly, how can YOU pursue your biggest and loftiest dreams without falling by the wayside?

–

Enter: The Art of Dream-Hitching

Dream-Hitching is the practice of attaching your hugely ambitious, seemingly “far-off” dreams to an endeavor that you can begin and run with right here, right now.

• Dream-Hitching means using other, quicker, cheaper, and more immediately productive means to build forward momentum.
• The goal is to latch your “big picture” dream to something that’ll help you eventually get there.
• Along the way, Dream-Hitching starts the snowball effect that helps to carry you forward.

Many blogs (probably your own, like mine!) serve this very purpose. You began a small and inexpensive personal website to generate a following and spheres of social influence to (if only have the chance) to leverage something bigger down the line. Dream-Hitching doesn’t make the distant dream of yours immediately achieved, but provides you with the means to begin working on it right now and working toward it right now.

–

The Grand Opening of RenegadeGuides.com

DaveUrsillo.com is one act of Dream-Hitching. And now, I’m thrilled to announce a further development in the grand scheme of my dreams of becoming a super-badass career author (and part-time undercover superhero, but let’s just focus on one step at a time): RenegadeGuides.com.

RenegadeGuides.com is my new online store that — as the name implies — will provide you with awesome guides (manifestos, programs, courses and more) on how to be a better renegade in your everyday life. The topics of those guides will largely be dictated by what you, my tribe, want to learn the most.

I envision RenegadeGuides.com as providing some incredibly special books to inspire better living and especially to help you become a catalyst of happiness, positivity and love for others. RenegadeGuides.com will also feature original apparel with motivating slogans and awesome designs to brandish your renegade attitude in style.

–

The Business Plan of Action

RenegadeGuides.com is a completely ground-up operation. I’ve included a business Plan of Action below for you. We’re going to start small together, because starting small right now is better than starting later, or never — Dream-Hitching, remember?

I’m starting by selling one t-shirt design: the “Ready For You” Renegade Tee, available now. The inaugural design is a motivating ode to grabbing life by the horns, taking personal responsibility for our lives and defiantly telling the world, “Here I am, and here’s what I’ve got to say.”

As those sell, I will be working hard to write the first batch of Renegade Guides and developing new apparel designs. Then, I’ll release those. Then, I’ll use those funds to develop more. And so on, and so on :)

–

I’m asking for your help with RenegadeGuides.com — and that doesn’t mean just asking for your money.

Firstly, I’m going to be offering special discounts and coupon codes — right on Renegade Guides’ own Coupon page — to help you save your hard earned money. Secondly, I’ll be donating a percentage of every purchase to charity (to start, I’m thinking of the Run To Home Base 9K Road Race). Last year, I donated hundreds and hundreds of dollars to nearly two dozen charities, nonprofit org’s and fundraisers. I want to double the number of charities I donate to in 2011.

Your dollars not only support me, but will go to some incredibly noble causes across the globe.

I’m asking for your help by promoting products you enjoy to those in your social circles who might be interested in them, and especially for your helpful input on the future development of apparel designs and, particularly, the actual Renegade Guides.

–

RenegadeGuides.com is an act of Dream-Hitching

It’s a small step, but an immediate momentum-building action that will help me move forward towards that big dream. Now, my questions for you:

• Is your blog an act of Dream-Hitching? How?
• Do you Dream-Hitch in other ways?
• If not, how can Dream-Hitching help you move toward your huge goals?

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** To commemorate the start of my friend Steven Aitchison’s new, 100% free 28-day Mind Alchemy course at his blog (StevenAitchison.co.uk), you can use Discount Code “CYT28″ for a 28% discount at RenegadeGuides.com. You need to check out this awesome program Steve is offering — and, completely for free — and think about joining me and 600+ other participants in this life-changing exercise :)

Flickr photo credit: JoonYoung.Kim

The Renegade Spotlight on DaveUrsillo.com showcases the real-life stories of everyday “Renegades” — men and women who are pursuing big dreams while defying criticism, cynicism and being misunderstood by others around them.

Today, I’d like you to meet my friend Lou, a businesswoman and personal development writer from the Philippines who I met and befriended through her blog, LifeToFullest.com.

Together on DaveUrsillo.com, we are building an inspired community of genuine dream-pursuers — the Ranks of the Renegades — who are striving to change the world. We are the Renegades. Are you among our ranks?

1.) In your own words, introduce yourself!

Hi Everyone! I’m Lou Macabasco, a 24-year-old woman from the islands of the Philippines. I’m a Professional Certified Public Accountant, full-time Businesswoman, Investor and Personal Development Blogger/Writer. If I’ll describe myself in three words, I’d say, “Simple but Extra-Ordinary”.

I’m a very simple person. I keep my mindset and life simple. I’m often cheerful and positive. I love traveling to places, meeting different people and experiencing variety of culture. I can live without television but I can’t imagine life without music. What makes me extra-ordinary is that I can be both creative and logical. I strive to balance my time on both of my profession and passion.

It’s my passion to keep learning and understanding the wonders of life, the people, the circumstance and all other things that affect it. I love to share things through writing. I dream to teach and inspire others with all the things I’ve learned in this journey of life, both in my professional and personal side. I do this by creating a site entitled Live Life to the Fullest. You may check it here: www.lifetofullest.com

2.) What are some of the short- and long-term dreams you are pursuing?

Dreaming is part of my system. I’ve always believed in “What you desire is often what you become.”

I dream to reach millions of readers, publish best-selling books and conduct seminars around the world. I also want to travel the world and build my own international organization. And lastly, I want to become a great wife and have wonderful children.

3.) What effects have these pursuits had on your life?

I’m a natural dreamer and believer that dreams do come true. As a Disney song lyrics goes, “You will when you believe!” It’s a child-like attitude that I will always carry with me. Such attitude has helped me a lot in the past and has proven its worth countless times.

Dreaming and believing have helped me reached almost every single goal I’ve had in my life. From graduating and passing the Accountancy Board Exam at the young age of 19, landing on the dream jobs and company I’ve wanted to work with, connecting to people I look up to, visiting places I’ve wanted to see, maintaining relationships I’ve always dream of, acquiring things I’ve wanted to have, pursuing my own business and spreading words of motivation to people. All these were dreams that turned into reality.

Other than turning my dreams into reality, having a dream to pursue gives meaning and purpose to my life. It gives me motivation and enthusiasm to wake up each morning knowing I have something to look forward to.

And lastly, pursuing my dream has made a huge difference and impact to other people’s lives. As such, it doubles the meaning of my life.

4.) What has pursuing your dreams taught you about yourself? About others? About life?

I remember an article I’ve written 2 years ago entitled, Why Grown-Ups Stopped Dreaming?, I’ve mentioned the changes in dreams as people grow older. As people grow older, they give lesser value to dreaming. In my pursuit, I’ve learned a saying that is so true,

“Most people don’t get what they want because they don’t know what they want.”

Because when you know what you want, when you have dreams, a burning desire to achieve and pursue something, it directs you to achieve and have it. Additionally, I’ve proved that when you have a dream or pursuit, it puts meaning into your life.

5.) Do you have any special methods or practices that help you along the way? What are your sources of inspiration?

Yes, I do. There are 4 sources that keep me motivated to keep developing myself, pursue my dreams and live life to the fullest.

a) Significant People in my Life. Other than me, these people are the reasons that I continue to enjoy and pursue life.

b) Experiences and Lessons Learned in Life. It’s true that experience is a great teacher. And I’d like to believe that I’m striving to become a great student of life.

c) Books. I forgot to mention earlier that I love to read and collect books. And I have gained a lot of wisdom from all the books I have read. To share some of my favourites, you may check the Recommended page of my website for the list of books I recommend my readers to read.

d) Seminars/Mentors/Coaches. Despite my love for sharing, I also love to listen. I always try to be like an empty cup, striving to learn from each person I meet and deal with. And it helps a lot, especially when you meet and connect with people you look up to.

6.) Do cynics, doubters and pessimists affect you and your pursuits? If so, how? If not, do you avoid them, tune them out, use them to your advantage, etc.?

Other attitudes that I’d always try to maintain are FOCUS and WILLPOWER. When you pursue anything in life, expect that setbacks will enter, such as failure, criticism, doubts and all other negative thoughts. That’s why it is very important that you keep your focus and willpower intact. Use negative sayings and circumstances as motivation to pursue, not as hindrance to stop and let go of your dreams.

There’s a story that I always look back whenever I encounter setbacks in my pursuit, it’s the Success Story of the 7 Up. The story always gives me an inspiration to get up and keep moving towards my dream, despite all the challenges and setbacks. I have written a post in my website entitled, 7-Up Success Story: Is it the same With Your Story?

For a final note, I’d like to thank you Dave for this opportunity to share my thoughts and stories to your readers. More power to you and all the readers of this site.

Happy Journey to your Life!

~ Lou Macabasco, www.lifetofullest.com

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Are you or is someone you know a genuine Renegade? Your story can be here on DaveUrsillo.com in the new Renegade Spotlight feature! Send me an email! Tell the world your story, inspire hundreds of men and women, and get your name and face known by thousands of fellow Renegades across the world!