Today I want to warn you about a little enemy I like to call Normalcy, a.k.a. The Champion Crusher.

You can’t see him, but he’s attacking you every time you step on the playing field. He attacks you with his weapons of doubt and fear and deceit.

I remember the way he attacked me when I was training for my first marathon. See if you can spot the fear and doubts in my running journal entries:

August 14: Three miles in clear weather. First official day of training. Hard getting started. Probably would have skipped my run today if I had no purpose in mind.

September 15: Fifteen miles in cool weather. I made it! I lapped the lake twice, plus one mile! It was chilly out, but a gorgeous day. I seem to be on track to actually run in Raleigh. I haven’t registered yet, though. Maybe I never will. Maybe that will be the reason I don’t become a marathoner. Surely something will prevent me from running on December 2.

October 13: Eighteen miles in warm weather. Toughest run ever. Felt dead the last half. Didn’t think I’d make it. Somehow pushed myself to the end. Knew I wouldn’t be able to face my family and friends if I didn’t reach my daily goal. They may not run the miles with me, but their interest in my training is perhaps my greatest reason to run. They expect me to succeed. I can’t disappoint them. But if I can barely survive 18, how will I run 26.2?

October 27: Twenty miles in cool weather. I did it! I was worried about today’s run after having trouble with 18. Spent the last two weeks mentally preparing for today. Never thought I’d have to do that, but I’ve learned that running distance is more of a mental challenge than a physical one.

November 9: Twenty-two miles in sunny weather. Horrible run. Had to run longest distance before the race Friday instead of Saturday because of last minute trip out of town. Thought I could handle the switch. I was wrong. I never found a good rhythm. Did not enjoy myself at all. Legs hurt. Knees hurt. Shoulders hurt. Dragged along final lap of lake. Prodded to finish. I was insane to think I can run a marathon. Only it’s too late to back out. I’ve already paid the entrance fee.

November 17: Twelve miles in cool weather. Felt good through six, then wanted to walk. Made myself keep running. Worked through it. Finished strong.

November 29: Four miles in warm weather. Slowed my pace to be more like race pace. Good finish before big run. I’ve done all I can do.

The doubts I had about being able to actually run 26.2 miles didn’t end with my training. If anything, they got worse.

I’ll tell you more about that next week…and share if I was able to crush Normalcy during my marathon…or if he crushed me.

So what about you? What are some of the fears and doubts you deal with when you compete?

To your sports dreams,
Bonnie Jean

Welcome to another wacky, totally fictional interview of a ‘Weirdo Friend.’ Today’s story features Ymara Ecrof Tency, best tv watcher. (Video of this interview is coming soon…)

When we first met Ymara, she loved to watch TV on all six of her televisions in her room at once any time she wasn’t sleeping or in school. As a matter of fact, her big dream was to be ‘the best tv watcher ever.’

After completing the first 30 days of missions, though, she realized that wasn’t a very motivating dream. But she wasn’t sure what her new big dream was. Let’s check in with her on Day 60 of the game and see if she’s figured out what she wants.

*****

YMARA: Amazing news! I only have one TV in my room now. One! I’m like so much more calm now that my attention isn’t scattered all over the place. It’s kind of relaxing to focus on just one show at a time (when I’m not using the picture in picture feature and watching two shows at once…cause I still do that sometimes).

Bonnie Jean: What did you do with the extra tv’s?

YMARA: Check it out—I traded them with a dude down at the pawn shop for a video camera! I decided that I love tv so much I should make tv shows of my own. That’s my new big dream: create my own TV channel!

Bonnie Jean: Now that you have a new big dream, what’s your Day 90 goal?

YMARA: This is going to be so much fun. By Day 90, I want to create my first ten minute show and post it on my YouTube channel. I don’t know what I’m going to call my channel yet.  Or what the show’s going to be about. Or who’s going to write it. Or who’s going to act in it. But I know I’m going to record it and direct it!

*****

We’ll check back in with Ymara in several weeks to see if she’s able to find a way to make her dream of filming her own 10 minute show happen.

She does have a few weird quirks, but as long as she follows through with the missions, she’ll be able to find a way to do what she dreams.

Weird quirks or not, you can find a way to do what you dream, too. Life is really much more fun when you set goals and take action to make them happen. So…

Join the Dream Doer League. Play The Champion Creator Game. And DO what you DREAM!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Stay tuned for details about how you can play The Champion Creator Game. (‘Ymara’ may be made up, but the game is REAL!) Until then, enjoy listening to the entire bestselling young adult novel The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets by clicking here!

Have you ever wanted something but only had a brief amount of time to choose to chase that dream to try to get what you wanted? Except by the time you chose to go after it, it was too late?

I have.

Now I always have to wonder ‘what if?’ I’m never going to get another chance, and I’m never going to know for sure if I could have made it.

I’m talking about the chance I had in high school to play Division I softball in college.

I wanted to be good enough to compete at the top level of college competition. Looking back now, I know I could have been if I had just tried.

So why didn’t I?

The answer comes down to this: I didn’t have enough confidence in my softball skills to even attempt to play softball at a Division I college.

I knew I was a decent player, but I never let myself see how good I was. I was too busy pointing out my mistakes to anyone who would listen, secretly comparing myself to every other player on my team and trash talking to me about me.

Even when my coaches, teammates and parents would encourage me, I didn’t want to listen. I thought I needed to be negative and hard on myself to become a better player, so I didn’t want their praise or encouragement.

To be honest, I was downright grouchy and unbearable to be around if I played a bad game!

I realize how wrong I was now, but back then, I seriously believed the way to make myself better was to mentally beat myself up on a regular basis. And I believed the way to keep from being cocky and obnoxious was to focus on my mistakes, not praise my successes.

As a result of my negative mindset, I killed my own confidence. So as much as I wanted to play Division I college softball, I didn’t want to endure the embarrassment of not making a Division I team at the college of my choice.

I did want to play softball in college, though, so my goal was to find a small college that had a varsity softball program. That’s why I didn’t even consider attending a Division I school.

I chickened out on pushing myself to be my best because I had no confidence.

Part of me regrets that decision; the other part is glad I had the college experience I did. Still, I’ll always have to wonder if I could have made it at the next level.

Don’t lose your chance to be your best. If you want something, go for it no matter how scared you are.

Learn what it takes to be good, then practice DOING the skills you learn. The more action you take, the stronger your confidence will become.

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Please don’t wait as long as I did to find your unshakable confidence! No matter how old you are, you can be an unshakable, unbreakable, unstoppable Dream Doer today! To help, I want to give you three FREE gifts, which includes the entire audio book of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. To claim your FREE gifts, visit TheDreamDoers.com now.

Welcome to another wacky, totally fictional interview of a ‘Weirdo Friend.’ Today’s story features Sally ‘Super Fit/Super Smart’ Safari, scientist-in-training. (Video of this interview is coming soon…)

When we first met Sally before she started playing The Champion Creator Game, she called herself ‘Super Fit’ because her big dream was to be a ‘personal trainer for dogs.’

But when we checked in with her on Day 30 of the game, she had changed her big dream to becoming a ‘Super Smart’ scientist who invented a way for humans to survive without sleep.

Let’s catch up with her on Day 60 to see if she was able to achieve her goal of staying awake for 30 straight days using her super secret strategy.

*****

SALLY: I am ready to answer your questions. You may begin. (See what I was doing there? I’m being Sally “Super Powerful” Safari. Cause that’s how powerful people talk.)

Bonnie Jean: What happened to being Sally ‘Super Smart’ Safari and your ‘stay awake’ experiment?

SALLY: (shrugs) It turns out that I’m really not all that smart. I tried all kinds of experiments to keep myself awake, but after 33 hours and 27 minutes, I…fell asleep…in school. My teachers and my parents got a little bit mad, and my mom told me I couldn’t do any more “weird” experiments. She let me keep playing The Champion Creator Game, though, and by working through the integrity and passion and focus missions, I came up with a new big dream.

Bonnie Jean: So what’s your big dream as Sally ‘Super Powerful’ Safari?

SALLY: I’m going to be the Super Powerful President of the United States of America. That’s like years and years away, though, so I’m going to start by being the Super Powerful Class President in school.

That’s my Day 90 goal: to be elected class President. I’ve already started working on my campaign posters and my campaign speech and dreaming about all the Super Powerful stuff I get to do once I get elected.

*****

We’ll check back in with Sally in several weeks to see if she sticks with her ‘super powerful’ dream and reaches her Day 90 target to be elected class president. She does have a few weird quirks (which you’ll be able to see in the video of the interview that’s coming soon), but as long as she follows through with the missions, she’ll be able to find a way to do what she dreams.

Weird quirks or not, you can find a way to do what you dream, too. Life is really much more fun when you set goals and take action to make them happen. So…

Join the Dream Doer League. Play The Champion Creator Game. And DO what you DREAM!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Stay tuned for details about how you can play The Champion Creator Game. (‘Sally’ may be made up, but the game is REAL!) Until then, enjoy listening to the entire bestselling young adult novel The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets by clicking here!

My big dream in high school was to be a super star athlete in all three sports I played: volleyball, basketball and softball.

I could see myself winning games for my teams at the last second, collecting all kinds of awards at the end of each season and having dozens of college scouts offer me scholarships to their schools.

Those dreams sure were exciting. They filled me with hope and gave me a reason to go to practice every day. Too bad I wasn’t a talented enough athlete to be a super star and make those big dreams come true!

I was, however, a good athlete. I had enough talent to be a starter on my volleyball and softball teams all four years, and after playing a lot of minutes coming off the bench on my basketball team my first three years, I earned my way into a starting role by my senior year.

In other words, I had enough talent to be one of the better players on my teams. What I never had enough of, though, was confidence. Especially in basketball.

When I stepped onto a softball field, I believed I was good. I just never believed I was great. But I’ll share more in another episode about my shakable softball confidence and how that limited my softball success. Today I want to focus on my nonexistent basketball confidence.

When I stepped onto a basketball court, I believed I was lousy. I had no confidence at all in my ability to shoot or dribble the basketball, play defense or rebound. And because I kept telling myself I was a lousy basketball player, I never let myself gain the confidence I needed to become good.

Every time I took a shot, I was afraid the other team would block it. Or I was afraid I’d miss the rim entirely and shoot an embarrassing air ball.

Every time I caught a pass or had to dribble, I was afraid the other team would steal it.

Every time I had a player to defend, I was afraid she would dribble by me or shoot the ball and hit a shot in my face.

Every time I went for a rebound, I was afraid someone bigger and stronger would push me out of the way and take the ball from me.

I spent a lot of time being afraid and not a lot of time building my skills so that I wouldn’t have to be afraid to step onto a basketball court any more.

I’ll always have to wonder how good I could have been as a high school basketball player. I lost my chance to be good. Don’t lose yours. If you want something, go for it no matter how scared you are.

Learn what it takes to be good, then practice DOING the skills you learn. The more action you take, the stronger your confidence will become.

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Please don’t wait as long as I did to find your unshakable confidence! No matter how old you are, you can be an unshakable, unbreakable, unstoppable Dream Doer today! To help, I want to give you three FREE gifts, which includes the entire audio book of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. To claim your FREE gifts, visit TheDreamDoers.com now.

Welcome to another wacky, totally fictional interview of a ‘Weirdo Friend.’ Today’s story features Randaru Rebnitch, sun photographer. (Video of this interview is coming soon…)

When we first met Randaru, we learned her big dream is to be a ‘sun photographer.’ Before she started playing The Champion Creator Game, she had never actually taken a picture of any sunrises or sunsets like she dreamed of doing.

Her Day 30 target was to finally take a picture of a sunrise, and she did! Now let’s check in with her on Day 60 to see if she hit her target to take a picture of a sunset.

*****

RANDARU: Oh. Hey! Glad to be back for my Day 60 update. I just gotta say…the last 30 days have been awesome!

Bonnie Jean: Have you been playing The Champion Creator Game?

RANDARU: Uh…yeah. I’m having so much fun with the missions that I can’t imagine not doing them now. I mean, my brothers and sisters used to not take me seriously because I would just talk about my dream of taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets but not actually do anything about my dream.

Now that I’ve hit my Champion targets and taken pictures of 12 sunrises and 12 sunsets, they respect my dream more. I’ve even started a collection of all my pictures!

Bonnie Jean: How do you want to end the Rookie Season? What’s your Day 90 target?

RANDARU: My goal is to take a picture of a sunrise and a sunset on the same day, print them both out on my picture printer, frame them side by side and give it to my dentist to hang in his office.

I’m gonna have to earn some money to buy the frame, and I’m gonna have to wait for a super cool and colorful sunrise and sunset to happen on the same day, but I’ve got 30 days.

If I keep doing the champion missions and stay focused like I’m learning about, I believe I can make it happen. I just hope my dentist will want to hang the picture in his office.

*****

We’ll check back in with Randaru in several weeks to see if she’s able to hit her Day 90 goal. She does have a few weird quirks, but as long as she follows through with the missions, she’ll be able to find a way to do what she dreams.

Weird quirks or not, you can find a way to do what you dream, too. Life is really much more fun when you set goals and take action to make them happen. So…

Join the Dream Doer League. Play The Champion Creator Game. And DO what you DREAM!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Stay tuned for details about how you can play The Champion Creator Game. (‘Randaru’ may be made up, but the game is REAL!) Until then, enjoy listening to the entire bestselling young adult novel The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets by clicking here!

I couldn’t wait to be old enough to go to high school for one reason: sports.

My older sisters all played high school sports, and I was jealous of the fact that they got to practice or play a game every single day after school. So when it was finally my turn to be in high school and play high school sports, I was going to take advantage of it by playing at least one sport all year long.

In the fall of my freshman year, I started with a sport I had never played before: volleyball.

I had to try out for the team before school even started. Even though I had no idea how to play the game, I made the junior varsity team that year. I was so excited. I loved being part of a team and working hard every day in practice.

But the problem I had was that I worked a little too hard at not making any mistakes.

I thought that if the coach saw me make lots of bad passes or hit lots of balls out of bounds, I wouldn’t be able to play in any of the matches and would have to sit the bench all season.

So I practiced with caution. I wouldn’t hit the ball as hard as I could because I was afraid of hitting it too hard and messing up. Or I would hesitate when the ball came near me because I was afraid that if I called the ball, I might miss it or make a bad pass.

By not hitting as hard as I could, I never learned to control my power. And by not going all out and being aggressive as a passer or setter, I never learned what I could and could not get to or how to make good passes in tough situations.

In other words, I didn’t let myself make enough mistakes in practices to ever be great in games. I never became a great athlete because I never let myself be a really bad athlete first.

That’s why any time I try something new today, I make as many mistakes as I can as fast as I can. By letting myself mess up, I don’t have to worry about being perfect. I’m allowed to make mistakes so I can learn how to fix them and not make those same mistakes again.

It’ll work for you, too.

When you try something new, make as many mistakes as you can as fast as you can. You’ll be amazed at how fast you learn new skills and how much faster you gain confidence in your ability to succeed.

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Please don’t wait as long as I did to find your unshakable confidence! No matter how old you are, you can be an unshakable, unbreakable, unstoppable Dream Doer today! To help, I want to give you three FREE gifts, which includes the entire audio book of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. To claim your FREE gifts, visit TheDreamDoers.com now.

Welcome to another wacky, totally fictional interview of a ‘Weirdo Friend.’ Today’s story features lulilulelindia verickent, grammarnotarian. (Video of this interview is coming soon…)

When we chatted with Luli on Day 30 of the game, she realized she wasn’t passionate about her big dream to be a ‘travel around the world person.’ So she was hoping to find a big dream she could be passionate about. Before she started playing The Champion Creator Game, she was a Grammarnotarian who didn’t believe in capitalization or punctuation.

Let’s check in with her on Day 60 of the game and see if she’s learned anything about how to live her dreams. Remember, she doesn’t like punctuation or capitalization, so her quotes might look a little strange…

*****

lulilulelindia ive seriously got great news today i’m so seriously super excited to share my new big dream with you i figured it out by playing the champion creator game you know with those missions that seriously helped me tap into my passion ready okay remember how my old big dream was to be a travel around the world person well ill still get to travel whenever i want because im seriously going to make lots of money being a hair and makeup specialist

Bonnie Jean: Why did you choose to become a hair and makeup specialist?

lulilulelindia since im a grammarnotarian i seriously dont want to do anything that makes me have to use correct grammar thats why i seriously love dealing with makeup and hair. i get to seriously help other girls like me seriously find their own special style so they can seriously stand out and express who they really are

Bonnie Jean: How are you going to make your big dream come true?

lulilulelindia im seriously going to keep playing the champion creator game its helping me break down my big dream into smaller simple seriously easy to do goals that way i seriously dont feel overwhelmed and my dream seriously seems possible i seriously just have to do one little thing every day thats related to my big dream all these little things are going to add up and one day ill seriously be the best expert ever at like styling peoples hair how seriously awesome is that

Bonnie Jean: How do you want to end the Rookie Season? What’s your Day 90 target?

lulilulelindia thats easy i want to give one of my friends a seriously cool makeover so i can practice living my big dream i seriously cant wait because thats going to be so much fun seriously

*****

We’ll check back in with Luli in several weeks to see if she’s able to hit her Day 90 target. She does have a few weird quirks (which you’ll be able to see in the video of the interview that’s coming soon), but as long as she follows through with the missions, she’ll be able to find a way to do what she dreams.

Weird quirks or not, you can find a way to do what you dream, too. Life is really much more fun when you set goals and take action to make them happen. So…

Join the Dream Doer League. Play The Champion Creator Game. And DO what you DREAM!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Stay tuned for details about how you can play The Champion Creator Game. (‘Luli’ may be made up, but the game is REAL!) Until then, enjoy listening to the entire bestselling young adult novel The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets by clicking here!

Ever realize how much easier it is to be negative than it is to be positive?

Or how much easier it is to talk about things you’re bad at than recognize things you’re good at?

Here’s the really strange thing. When I was in middle school and high school, I taught myself to believe that being negative and talking about how bad I was was a good thing.

Weird, right? Well, that’s because I didn’t like cocky kids. It bothered me when they bragged about how smart they were in school. Because if they bragged about their grades and I didn’t score as high on the test or paper or homework, I would feel stupid.

Since I played a lot of sports, I also didn’t like it when my teammates or someone I was playing against bragged about how good they were. Because if they bragged about things like how hard they could throw or how far they could hit a ball, I would feel invisible and useless. I would feel like I wasn’t any good and didn’t belong on the team.

I didn’t want to make other kids feel stupid or invisible or useless, so instead of bragging about myself, I would do just the opposite. I would think about and talk about all the mistakes I made on my school work or in the sports I played.

And the more I focused on all the bad results I was getting in school or sports, the more confidence I lost in myself. I began to believe I couldn’t get great grades or be a great athlete.

Since I didn’t believe in myself, I didn’t believe in my dreams, either. I believed I couldn’t have what I wanted to have or be who I wanted to be.

I taught myself to believe I couldn’t do a lot of things, and I was right.

I wasn’t right because my dreams were impossible; I was right because I never tried to live my dreams…until I learned I could always find a way to do what I dream when I stick to my strengths.

I learned I could be positive and confident about the things I was good at without being cocky.

I learned that the more confident I am in myself and my dreams, I’m happier, I’m more fun to be around and I’m better able to help you find your confidence and live your dreams.

The great news is that you don’t have to spend your middle school and high school days focusing on negative things and losing confidence in yourself. Because no matter how old you are, you can be an unshakable, unbreakable, unstoppable Dream Doer today!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Please don’t wait as long as I did to find your unshakable confidence! To help you live your dreams now, I want to give you three FREE gifts, which includes the entire audio book of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. To claim your FREE gifts, visit TheDreamDoers.com now.

Welcome to another wacky, totally fictional interview of a ‘Weirdo Friend.’ Today’s story features Zikrintember Onthom, no big dream yet. (Video of this interview is coming soon…)

We met Zikrintember a few weeks ago and learned she doesn’t know what her big dream is yet. Remember, she is a little shy. After all, she does have 11 older brothers and sisters and 43 cousins who all live on the same street as her family.

Before she started playing The Champion Creator Game, she felt overshadowed and invisible and unsure of what she wants.

Let’s check in with her on Day 30 of the game and see if she’s learned anything about who she is and what she wants.

*****

ZIKRINTEMBER: Ummmmm….hi.

Bonnie Jean: Has playing The Champion Creator Game helped you figure out what you’re passionate about?

ZIKRINTEMBER: Uh huh.

Bonnie Jean: Will you tell us?

ZIKRINTEMBER: Oh. Okay. Well…I learned I like to investigate stuff. I like to follow clues to solve mysteries…or do experiments to figure out how things work. So my big dream is to be a police detective, an FBI Agent or a scientist. I still haven’t decided.

Bonnie Jean: Why will you keep playing The Champion Creator Game?

ZIKRINTEMBER: I like belonging to the Dream Doer League. Nobody laughs at me even though I get nervous when I have to talk to people.

I also want to learn how to be a good goal setter now that I actually have things I want. This makes setting goals fun and easy.

You might find this silly…but my goal for Day 60 is to set a goal for Day 90…I’m done talking now. Can I go?

*****

We’ll check back in with Zikrintember in several weeks to see if she’s able to hit her Day 60 target. She does have a few weird quirks (which you’ll be able to see in the video of the interview that’s coming soon), but as long as she follows through with the missions, she’ll be able to find a way to do what she dreams.

Weird quirks or not, you can find a way to do what you dream, too. Life is really much more fun when you set goals and take action to make them happen. So…

Join the Dream Doer League. Play The Champion Creator Game. And DO what you DREAM!

To Your Dreams,
Bonnie Jean

P.S. Stay tuned for details about how you can play The Champion Creator Game. (‘Zikrintember’ may be made up, but the game is REAL!) Until then, enjoy listening to the entire bestselling young adult novel The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets by clicking here!