Welcome to another edition of Unshakable, Unbreakable, Unstoppable Stories with Bonnie Jean.

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.

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**The Dream*Featuring audio book Chapters 7-9 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.***

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You may not realize it, but you have an enemy.  And his name is Normalcy.

You can’t see him, but he is real.  He wants you to be quiet about your dreams.  He wants you to be unclear about what you want.  He wants you to be…normal.

When you’re normal, he’s winning because you’re not doing what you dream.    

When he’s winning, your confidence is shaky.

When he’s winning, your dreams are breakable.

When he’s winning, your success is stoppable. 

When he’s winning, you’re not thinking and living like an unshakable, unbreakable, unstoppable champion Dream Doer.

To beat Normalcy and learn to do what you dream, you need to know what his strengths and weaknesses are. 

So I put together this scouting report for you.  It tells you what some of the weapons are that Normalcy uses to keep people normal and shows you how to fight back.

The Scouting Report on Normalcy

Offense

Normalcy is great at offense.  These are some of the weapons he uses to keep you normal: 

  • Fear:  freezes you; keeps you from doing things you’ve never done before because you’re too scared to try something new.
     
  • Doubt:  prevents you from trusting your instincts and doing things that get you closer to your dreams.
     
  • Deceit:  creates false thoughts; makes you believe you can’t do things you are capable of doing or makes you believe you can do things you aren’t capable of doing.
     
  • Pride:  makes you arrogant, selfish and obsessed with your own success.
     
  • Mistakes:  drains hope and makes you feel like a failure.
     
  • Blame:  shifts your responsibility to someone or something else so that you never learn how to fix your own mistakes.
     
  • Negativity:  words like can’t, don’t, etc., makes you feel like nothing is possible.  
     
  • Inconsistency:  prevents constant, effective results because you never know what to expect of yourself.
     
  • Distractions:  makes it impossible for you to concentrate on what you are doing.
     
  • Procrastination:  encourages you to put off important tasks until the last minute so it either does not get done or does not get done as well as it could have if you took the time to do it right.
     
  • Laziness:  nothing gets done; dreams remain dreams because you don’t ever feel like taking action.
     

Defense

Although Normalcy is great at offense, he has a lousy defense.  He is not able to fight against the following attacks of a Champion Dream Doer: 

  • Courage:  bold action in spite of fear.
     
  • Faith:  believing in things you can’t see or touch.
     
  • Honesty:  being truthful about what you can and cannot do.
     
  • Humility:  not thinking too much of yourself.
     
  • Success:  learning from mistakes and fixing them.
     
  • Personal Responsibility:  taking responsibility for your mistakes so you can learn from them.
     
  • Positive Outlook:  using positive language; seeing how to do things right instead of how not to do them.
     
  • Consistency:  developing habits and routines that lead to great things.
     
  • Concentration:  ignoring all distractions and focusing on what you are doing.
     
  • Planning:  important tasks get done on time.
     
  • Action:  doing things that get you closer to your dreams.

The Comfort Zone Strategy

Locking you inside a comfort zone is Normalcy’s overall strategy.  When you are in your comfort zone, you feel safe and comfortable.  Normalcy creates this comfort zone through the following process:  

  • Finds your personal mental weakness.
     
  • Uses lots of different weapons to attack your weakness.
     
  • Creates lies that being normal and fitting in are good things and that following your dreams is foolish.
     
  • Gets you to focus your attention on your weaknesses.  Then you forget you have strengths that can overcome him and help you achieve your dreams.
     
  • Contains you within your personal comfort zone.  This makes you believe you are safe and don’t need to take any risks…like following your dreams. 

Notes on Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone

Trying new and different things is the only way to break out of your comfort zones and do what you dream.  That’s why Normalcy uses his weapons to block you from trying new and different things.

The Most Effective Strategy to Defy Normalcy

  • Be passionate:  dream big; discover what you want and why; commit to pursuing your dreams. 
     
  • Be mentally tough:  discipline your mind to be focused; concentrate on improving your strengths daily.
     
  • Develop a balance:  learn how to combine the power of your heart and mind every day so that you can do what you dream.

Now that you know your enemy’s strengths and weaknesses, you know who you’re fighting against.

But knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your enemy is not enough; you need to know how he’s using his weapons against you to keep you normal.  Plus when you know what your strengths are, you have the power to fight back and WIN.

So tomorrow, you’ll learn how to “scout” yourself.  You’ll also learn about a GAME you can play along with Tyler and Alex that will help you become a CHAMPION and DO what you DREAM.

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 SecretsJoin 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?  What weapons are your biggest obstacles?  Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!