The Dream Doer League » Book 1: The Summer of Secrets

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 14: The Secret to DOING What You DREAM

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:37:31 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapter 26 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

(Note: Only Dream Doer League members can hear the audio chapters of this Amazon bestselling young adult novel, but joining is completely, totally, 100% FREE! Just fill out the short form on the right or click here to sign up.)

In the final chapter of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, everything spins out of control for Tyler and Alex. (Don’t worry…everything happens for a reason, but you’ll have to keep reading The Dream Doers series to find out what that reason is!)

They’ve just spent all summer working together to do what they dream. But if Hector hadn’t helped them, they never would have learned the secret to living their dreams.

That secret can be summed up in one word: CONFIDENCE.

When you’re confident in yourself, you trust your instincts. Trusting your instincts helps you make quick decisions, take action and defy Normalcy.

Where does this confidence come from? It comes from being a person of great character. People of great character know how to use their emotions and their minds to do things they dream.

So what are the basic characteristics that come from the heart you must develop to be a champion?

COURAGE: a quality that helps you take action even when you’re scared.

CREATIVITY: reaching beyond what is obvious into your imagination so you can see how to do what you dream.

ENTHUSIASM: emotional energy that feeds on dreams, desires and goals.

PASSION: expressing intense emotional drive and excitement toward your dreams.

Passion is the foundation. Without developing this trait first, enthusiasm, creativity and courage are possible but weak. The great thing about passion is that it lives inside every person.

The problem is that not every person knows how to find it. Being able to find it, express it and pursue it is what separates Champions from those trapped by Normalcy inside comfort zones.

But you can’t just rely on your emotions. You need to balance your emotions with these four basic mental characteristics:

STRENGTH: holding strongly to an idea or action.

DISCIPLINE: the ability to choose what is RIGHT over what is easy.

ENERGY: the habit of vigorous activity.

FOCUS: concentrating complete attention on one thing at a time.

Controlling your actions begins by controlling your thoughts. Thoughts determine how you feel. Feelings determine how you speak. Your language determines what you do. What you do gives you your results. Your results determine what you believe, and that determines what you think.

And the only way to change your results is to combine the power of your heart and mind by developing these four characteristics:

WISDOM: combining your knowledge, experience, understanding and instincts to figure out the best thing to do.

LEADERSHIP: blazing trails for others to follow; a leader takes command and guides people.

CONSISTENCY: being reliable, dependable and persistent.

INTEGRITY: being honest and trustworthy.

Champion Dream Doers have a habit of combining the power of their hearts and minds to achieve their dreams.

This creates CONFIDENCE.

And confidence is the secret ingredient you need to DO what you DREAM.

Like Alex and Tyler, you can develop unshakable confidence by playing The Champion Creator Game. Visit www.UnshakableUnbreakableUnstoppable.com to find out how to start playing now!

Don’t forget to enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S. Don’t risk missing a day of the Dream Doer Crash Course or a chapter of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. Join the Dream Doer League now to get every crash course lesson emailed to you along with the members only link to the audio chapters.

P.S.S. What about you? What would you be able to do with more confidence? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 13: The One Thing You Can Always Control

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:18:48 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapter 25 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

In chapter 25, Alex is devastated because the tournament did not turn out the way she wanted it to. She didn’t get the result she wanted.

But even though she couldn’t control the results of the tournament, she can control how she reacts to her loss. She can choose to be happy that she did her very best, and she can choose to keep practicing tennis.

Or she can choose to pout and give up playing tennis just because the results didn’t turn out the way she wanted.

The same thing is true in your life. No matter what happens to you, you can always control how you respond.

What you say and what you do is more important than the results you end up with. Because results don’t determine champions; the way you respond to results determines whether or not you are an unshakable, unbreakable unstoppable Dream Doer.

But losing the tournament isn’t the only challenge Alex has to deal with in chapter 25.

A series of strange events begin to unravel. But they start while Tyler and Alex are separated from each other: Tyler is on his family vacation in Colorado and Alex is home in Winston-Salem.

Without each other to rely on and talk to, they have trouble making sense of these events. Then things just get worse in chapter 26.

But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happens in the conclusion of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets.

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S. Don’t risk missing a day of the Dream Doer Crash Course or a chapter of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. Join the Dream Doer League for FREE now to get every crash course lesson emailed to you along with the members only link to the audio chapters.

P.S.S. What about you? Have you ever been disappointed with your results? How did you react? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 12: You Can Always Find a Way to Win

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:05:23 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapter 24 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

Alex has been working all summer for the chance to play in a tennis tournament. In chapter 24, she finally gets that chance.

But she doesn’t just want to play; she wants to WIN. She wants to be the one who wins the most games in each set, and the most sets in each match.

At the end of the tournament, she wants to be the one who is the CHAMPION. The first place player. The one who gets to meet her tennis hero, Margaret Colle.

Once she starts playing, though, she realizes how tough winning is going to be. As she loses game after game in the first set, she’s going to have to dig deep to find a way to win.

The good news is that you can always find a way to win, even if you’re the underdog like Alex. The tricky part is that you first have to understand exactly what winning is.

In sports, winning is not just about the score at the end of the game. I used to think it was, though. I used to think the only way to be a champion was to win every game or match or sport I played.

What about you? What do you think about when you hear the word “champion?”

The athlete in me sees an Olympic gold medalist. Or the winners of the World Series. Or a state championship team.

In other words, the athlete in me sees a person or team who is better than everyone else they compete against. But when I started running marathons, I realized there was more to winning that just the score (or how fast I could run).

You see, I am not a fast runner. With my super slow Schaefer speed, I knew I had zero chance of being the first person to cross the finish line in my marathon race. So I wasn’t sure I should even run the race. Why would I want to compete in something where I had NO chance of winning?

Then I realized winning wasn’t about being first. Winning was about doing my best. As long as I finished that marathon, I would win. I would win because 26.2 miles was a longer distance than I had ever run before. And like Alex and her tennis tournament, it was always something I wanted to do.

I got to decide what winning meant for me. I didn’t have the talent or ability to be first, but I did have the ability to finish that long, challenging distance. Now I’ve finished FOUR marathons, and I ‘won’ every one because I did my best each time.

In other words, a unshakable, unbreakable, unstoppable champion Dream Doer is someone who pursues their dreams based on their own talents and abilities. A Champion Dream Doer understands that being a winner is about being your best.

Besides, when you think that winning is just about the score, it’s easy to think that you have to do whatever it takes to win, even if that means you have to cheat or hurt others.

If you play sports that way (like Zach does), you’ll behave that way in other things, too…like cheating in school to get the best grade. Or gossiping about a classmate to make yourself look better.

Champion Dream Doers, however, would rather lose than compromise their integrity by cheating or hurting someone else. Because they know that being the best they can be is what winning is all about.

And when you always give your best, you always find a way to win.

Then no matter what challenges come your way, you have the confidence you need to overcome those challenges.

Tomorrow, Tyler and Alex will have to face some tough challenges of their own. Will they be able to overcome them?

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? When have you found a way to win? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 11: Your Dreams Require Practice

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 23:56:10 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapters 22-23 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

In chapter 22, Tyler finally has a chance to live his summer dream. But he never would have had the chance without weeks and weeks of practice.

He had to practice thinking positive thoughts about his pitching, and he had to practice DOING the right pitching motions.

If he just thought about being a good pitcher, that wouldn’t get him anywhere.

And if he pitched without getting his mindset right, he wouldn’t make much progress.

He had to practice both thinking the right thoughts and doing the right things.

He also didn’t just practice one or twice. He worked hard day after day, even when he was not doing well. He believed that he would find a way to get better and live his dreams. He kept practicing and never gave up (for good, anyway!).

Like Tyler’s dream, your dreams require action, too. You can’t expect to dream something and have it true just because you want it to. You have to be willing and able to DO something about it everyday.

That’s why your dreams need an action plan.

To create an action plan, start by writing down one dream you want to make come true. Now that you know what you want, write down everything you can do to make that dream happen.

Got your list yet? Good!

Look at your list. What three things will make the biggest difference? Those are the three things you want to focus on doing because they will get you to your goal the fastest.

Since you know what you want and how to get it, go! Start taking action now and live like a Dream Doer.

Then tomorrow, you’ll find out if Alex is able to live her summer dream, too.

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? What is one thing you can DO about your dreams TODAY? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 10: How to Blast Through Your Fears

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:50:53 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapters 20-21 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

In chapter 20, Alex is forced to face one of her biggest fears: playing a tennis match against Alicia, Zach’s cousin.

The thing that scared her most was the idea of making mistakes. If she made mistakes, she would look like she didn’t know how to play tennis. And she would lose.

Nobody likes to make mistakes or lose.

Normalcy knows this. So he tries to convince you that mistakes are a bad thing. When you believe mistakes are bad, you’ll hold back and try NOT to make mistakes. But the more mistakes you try not to make, the more you mess up!

The truth is that you NEED to make mistakes. Doing something wrong is the BEST way to learn how to do it right.

When you learn what doesn’t work, you can change your approach and figure out what does work.

That’s why you should try to make as many mistakes as you can as fast as you can. Then you have to learn what you’re doing wrong and fix it. By trying to make mistakes because you know your mistakes give you a chance to learn, you won’t be afraid of making mistakes ever again!

So when you make a mistake, don’t cover it up with an excuse.

Normalites avoid responsibility for their mistakes. For instance, when Zach makes mistakes on the baseball field, he’ll find someone else to blame. He’ll say things like:

“The umpire made a bad call.”

“The sun was in my eyes.”

“I hurt my ankle.”

“The other team cheated.”

“I wasn’t ready.”

Because Zach never learns from his mistakes, he keeps making the same mistakes over and over. And he never gets any better.

But Alex and Tyler are Dream Doers. They face their fears by making mistakes. Then they accept responsibility for their mistakes, figure out what they did wrong and get better.

Tyler has spent all summer making mistakes with his pitching. Tomorrow, he’ll have a chance to learn from those mistakes and live his dream…unless Zach gets his way and steals Tyler’s dream of pitching in an All-star game.

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? What’s your biggest fear you need to blast through? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 9: Why Integrity is Important

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:37:49 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapters 18-19 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

Of all the Champion traits, INTEGRITY is the most important.

The integrity of both Alex and Tyler is tested in chapters 18 and 19, but their integrity is tested in different ways. We’ll get to that in a minute. First, let’s talk about what integrity is and why it’s important.

You see, integrity is about being honest and trustworthy with other people.

That means people can trust you to tell the truth when they ask you a question. That means people can trust you to do what you tell them you’re going to do. That means people can trust you to help them when they need help.

Integrity is also about being honest with yourself.

You have to be honest about what you’re good at and what you’re not so good at. You have to be honest about what you are capable of doing. And you have to be honest about what you tell yourself; if you tell yourself you’re going to do something, you better do it!

The problem is that Normalcy likes to make you believe things that aren’t true.

For instance, he can make you believe your dreams aren’t possible even though you have the ability to do what you dream. And when you don’t believe your dreams are possible, you don’t do anything about them. You just stay stuck in your comfort zones, far away from your dreams.

In The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, Hector learned that he could trust Tyler and Alex. They promised to keep their visits with him a secret, and they’re keeping that promise. In return, Hector is helping them learn how to do what they dream.

Part of their training involves developing integrity. They both have a chance to live with integrity in today’s chapters.

Following the fight with Zach in chapter 18, Tyler and Alex visit Hector in chapter 19. Because Hector can trust them to do what they say they will do, he gives them a stack of mysterious envelopes but makes them promise not to open them right away.

Tyler is tempted to break his promise when he’s alone, and he has to choose whether or not to live with integrity.

Then when playing The Champion Creator mission, Alex has to figure out what’s true and not true about her tennis skills.

In order to defy Normalcy and DO what you DREAM, you have to be honest with others and you have to be honest with yourself.

But when things don’t go your way, it’s easy to lose sight of the truth, start making excuses for your mistakes and give up on your dreams.

In tomorrow’s chapters, things don’t go the way Alex and Tyler want them to. Will they respond like Normalites or Dream Doers?

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? When have you had a chance to live with integrity? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 8: Look Where You Want to Go

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:32:44 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapters 16-17 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

You do have dreams, right?

These dreams could be about things you want do, places you want to go, people you want to meet or stuff you want to own.

These are the things that spark your passion and make you happy. You get excited when you think about making these dreams come true. Because these dreams are part of who you are.

Alex shows her passion when she plays tennis; Tyler shows his passion when he plays baseball.

But when they aren’t allowed to practice with each other, it’s harder for them to focus on their dreams. They have new obstacles to face, like figuring out how to practice alone and how to find time to practice.

With all the new distractions, it’s getting harder and harder for them to do what they dream.

Then Hector tells Alex a story about his daughter. The story teaches Alex how important it is to look where she wants to go. In other words, she needs to be able to see in her mind the dreams she wants to accomplish.

The easiest way to help you “see” your dreams is to make them into pictures. For instance, the gold medal Tyler made with construction paper for Alex helps Alex stay focused on her big dream—to win a gold medal one day in the Olympics.

So what can you do to make your dreams into pictures and look where you want to go?

Remember that one of Normalcy’s weapons is to create all sorts of distractions to make you forget about your dreams. The best way to defend against this kind of attack is to:

Get a very clear picture in your mind of what you want.

Find or draw a picture that represents your dream.
Look at that picture everyday.

When you look where you want to go, your mind will start figuring out ways to make that dream happen.

Then it’s your job to TAKE ACTION!

Tomorrow you’ll find out how Alex and Tyler take action to make their dreams happen…even though they aren’t allowed to practice together…

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? Where do you want to go? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 7: Why Quitting is for Normalites

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:25:04 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapters 14-15 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

Stop. Quit. Give up.

That’s what Normalites do when things get tough. They don’t want to lose, look bad or make a mistake, so they quit.

It’s much easier to quit than it is to keep going when you’re not doing well.

Tyler almost quit pitching when he wasn’t doing well. No matter how much he practiced, he didn’t seem to be getting any better. Then he overheard his dad say he would never be a pitcher.

So he stopped pitching. He quit. He gave up.

Until the Champion Creator mission sparked his passion.

Then he remembered why he wanted to pitch and how much he loved it.

So he started practicing again. Even though he struggled, he kept practicing. Then he finally got another chance to pitch in a game.

This time the weeks and weeks of pitching practice finally paid off. This time he recognized the negative thoughts Normalcy tried to control him with. And this time, he replaced those negative thoughts with positive ones.

His practice, perseverance and positive thoughts finally helped him do something he had never done before.

If you want to be a Dream Doer, you have to practice, practice and practice some more. The only way to develop your skills and do what you dream is by working hard. You have to take consistent, focused, positive action toward your dreams every day.

If you want to be a Dream Doer, you have to persevere. You have to know what you want, why you want it and how to get it. That passion and motivation then drives you to keep going toward your dreams even when you face obstacles and challenges.

If you want to be a Dream Doer, you have to be positive. You have to think about what IS possible and focus on what you DO want. You have to replace your negative thoughts with positive ones.

Normalites give up. Dream Doers persevere. Be a DREAM DOER.

Tomorrow, Alex learns another important lesson about being a Dream Doer…but she doesn’t learn the lesson until after she breaks a few rules…

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? Have you ever felt like quitting before? Why did you? Or why did you keep going even though you felt like quitting? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 6: Do Negative Nightmares Haunt Your Thoughts?

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:14:51 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapters 12-13 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

Have you ever realized how easy it is to think negative thoughts and say negative things?

That’s because Normalcy makes being negative easier than being positive. He doesn’t want you to think about what IS possible; he wants you to think about what IS NOT possible.

If you believe you CAN’T do something, you won’t even try.

If you believe only BAD things will happen if you try something new, you won’t want to try anything new at all.

Focusing on negative things also makes you feel grumpy, sad and depressed—just like Tyler in chapter 12. He was focusing on how bad of a pitcher he was and stopped believing he could get better.

His negative thoughts and negative feelings led to him say negative things to Alex and do negative things (like throwing a rock at an innocent squirrel).

In other words, he was mean to his best friend and wasn’t very much fun to be around.

He was acting like a Normalite, not a Dream Doer.

You see, the things which you feel, think and believe determine what you say, do and have.

You can’t see your feelings, thoughts or beliefs, but Normalcy can. So that’s where he targets his attacks.

In chapter 12, he attacked Tyler with negative thoughts.

But in chapter 13, Tyler faced those negative thoughts and realized how bad things could get if he let Normalcy keep winning.

When Tyler started thinking positive thoughts, he wanted to follow his dreams. And he believed making his pitching dream come true was possible.

What negative thoughts are keeping you normal? How can you turn those negative thoughts into positive thoughts? How can you do what you dream?

Tomorrow, Tyler’s coach will give him another chance to pitch in a game. So stay tuned to find out if Tyler’s positive passion for pitching helps him finally throw a strike.

Until then, enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean

P.S.S. What about you? Have you ever had any negative thoughts? What were they? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

Dream Doer Crash Course, Day 5: Ready for Your First Mission?

Bonnie Jean Schaefer — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:59:21 +0000

***Featuring audio book Chapter 11 of The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets, a YA Novel about best friends Alex and Tyler who must battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to DO what they DREAM.***

In chapter 11, Alex and Tyler play the first mission of The Champion Creator Game.

Playing the mission helps Alex figure out exactly what dreams she wants to do something about during the Rookie Season. Then she has the confidence she needs to finally tell her mom about her big dream of playing in the tennis tournament.

Since the mission helped her so much, she wanted to you to play, too. So I’ve included the details of the mission here:

Day 1

Integrity Mission:

Think About Who You Are Now and What You Want to Have on Day 90

Details

Living with INTEGRITY starts by being HONEST with YOURSELF. That means you need to be honest about who you are and what you feel about the results you’re getting in your life right now. There is no right or wrong answer. Nobody is going to check your work and give you a grade. So just relax and complete the mission as honestly and truthfully as you know how.

STEP 1: Fill out your personal scouting report. Do this before you do anything else. Write something down for each section even if you’re not quite sure if your answers are right. Just write what you believe is true…because there are no right or wrong answers!

STEP 2: Using the COMFORT ZONE RESULTS from your scouting report, give yourself a score between 1-10 (with 10 being FABULOUS! and 1 being MISERABLE) based on how you feel about your results in each area of your life:

_____ Spiritual Life

_____ Health/Fitness Level

_____ BIG DREAM

_____ School

_____ Relationships with Family and Friends

STEP 3: Give yourself a score of 1-10 (with 10 being EXCELLENT! and 1 being NOT AT ALL), based on how well you are expressing these champion traits in your life right now:

_____ Integrity (Do you do what you say you will do?)

_____ Passion (Do you know what your dreams are and do you share your dreams?)

_____ Focus (Do you concentrate complete attention on one thing at a time?)

STEP 4: Now that you’ve figured out where you are now, it’s time to set some targets for the Rookie season. Although each area of your life is important, we’re just going to focus on setting BIG DREAM targets for the Rookie Season, which lasts 90 days. If you’re not sure what your big dream is yet, that’s okay. Just think about something FUN you want to accomplish by Day 30, Day 60 and Day 90. You can set three completely different goals, or have one big goal broken into three smaller steps.

Either way, your goals—or BIG DREAM TARGETS—should challenge you to break out of your comfort zone. Later, as you work your way through the mission, you’ll learn how to break down these 30, 60 and 90 day targets into weekly and daily goals. Right now, just focus on the big picture.

This mission is about integrity, and that means you need to be honest with yourself. So as you set your targets, ask yourself these questions:

What is something I can honestly do in the next 30 days?
What is something I can honestly do in the next 60 days?
What is something I can honestly do in the next 90 days?

This is important. If you don’t know what your dreams are, you can’t do anything about them! For example, this is what Alex wrote for her BIG DREAM targets:

Ultimate BIG DREAM: Win a Gold medal in the Olympics

Day 30: I want to scrimmage Alicia.

Day 60: I want to play in the tennis tournament and win.

Day 90: I want to join a tennis league.

And this is what Tyler wrote for his BIG DREAM targets:

Ultimate BIG DREAM: Pitch for the Chicago Cubs

Day 30: I want to pitch in an All-star game.

Day 60: I want to pitch 50 strikes in a row.

Day 90: I want to learn how to pitch a change-up.

Okay…it’s your turn!

YOUR Big Dream Targets

Ultimate BIG DREAM

Day 30:

Day 60:

Day 90:

Once you have your targets set, post them in a place you can see them everyday. You can start by posting a comment so we call all see what your targets are!

And don’t forget to enjoy the story!

To your dreams,

Bonnie Jean