Fortune Favors The Brave

Fortune favors the brave

It's all worked out, my road is clear
The lines of latitude extend
Way beyond my wildest dreams
Toward some great triumphant end

We seize the day
We turned the tide
We touched the stars
We mocked the grave
We moved into uncharted lands

Fortune favors the brave

The more we find, the more we see
The more we come to learn
The more that we explore
The more we shall return

Nothing is an accident
We are free to have it all
We are what we want to be
It's in ourselves to rise or fall

This is easy to believe
When distant places call to me
It's harder from the palace yard

Fortune favors the brave!

http://www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/aida.htm
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These lyrics are from the musical Aida. This song could be the theme song for anyone who has a goal they want to achieve- so that is everyone, hopefully. Let's dig deeper.

First of all the title: Fortune Favors the Brave. Sometimes I look at all the successful people, and all I see is their success, where they are now. I don't know the back story of the hours spent doing the nitty-gritty hard work. The staying up all night to meet a deadline. The hours and hours spent in the trenches practicing or working hard. The multiple failures that ended in tears.

Some people are extremely lucky and get successful by pure chance and no talent and work. For the other 99% of us, it takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to be successful in something. But, fortune favors the brave.

I've read in books and heard many times, that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It's true. If you have a dream or a goal, you can't just spend all your time wishing it will come true, you need to have a plan to make it come true.

It's all worked out, my road is clear
The lines of latitude extend
Way beyond my wildest dreams
Toward some great triumphant end
Make a plan so the path to your goal is all worked out, and the road is clear. The path you follow will hopefully take you beyond what you could have imagined would happen.

Like in the movie What About Bob?, you need to take baby steps! Start with your end goal. Break that down in to what you can do this year, this month, this week, and then today. Then do it today!
The more we find, the more we see
The more we come to learn
The more that we explore
The more we shall return

As you start working on your baby step goals, you will learn more about what it is you are working towards. You start to become an expert in that area. The more time you put into it, the more reward you will get out of it. Research is a big part of goals. Learn as much about what you want to achieve, how others achieved it, and how you can achieve it.

Nothing is an accident
We are free to have it all
We are what we want to be
It's in ourselves to rise or fall

We are free to have it all, but we need to be willing to work for it, nothing is an accident. We are what we want to be. You may think that you don't want to be the way you are, but if you've been that way for years, it has been because you chose it. It's in ourselves to rise or fall. You have to chose to break free from the past, from the fear that's holding you back, to become the amazing person you've always wanted to be.

It starts with a seed of desire, that slowly builds into a wanting, a yearning for something more. That feeling will grow inside you as mull over plans in your head. You start to research out the thought and see what others think. Then one day when you just can't stand it anymore, you do something that gets you moving in the right direction, that first step! Then you make a plan, set long term and short term goals. Then you fight every day to make your dream come true. You will fall and get hurt, probably several times. But you will get up and get going again because you have a dream that no one can stop you from.

There will always be people who are downers and nay-sayers, who will try to stop you and drag you down. Do your best to ignore them. They can hardly stand the thought that you are working towards your dream while they sit in their mediocrity and failure, so they will try to stop you. Don't let them! Don't let others darkness keep you from letting your light shine.

Tell them: If you don't like your fate, change it. You are your own master, there are no shackles on you. So don't expect any pity or understanding from this humble palace slave! (from Enchantment Passing Through- Aida)

We've all been in bad places, but that's no reason to stay there. Yes, there are extenuating circumstances that can make it difficult to achieve our dreams, but people have overcome many obstacles, and you can too.

If the most you can do right now is stay up ten minutes after everyone has gone to bed and do one little thing to work towards your dream, then that's ten minutes more than everyone else! Ten minutes a day adds up to over an hour a week.

This is easy to believe
When distant places call to me
It's harder from the palace yard

While planning your goals, it's easy to see how they could work out, to dream the impossible dream. But when you are stuck in the palace yard, it can be discouraging. You just have to remember that fortune favors the brave. The universe seems to help those that are working towards their goals. You are in the right place at the right time with the right people to do what you want to do. Fortune favors the brave who work on their goals rather than those who do nothing.

You can't expect your life to change, no matter how much you want it to, if you don't change what you are doing. You have to make changes in ways that are sustainable for your life. No diet lifestyle changes. By that I mean that you can't change your diet/exercise habits, lose a lot of weight, then expect to go back to your normal eating/exercise habits and expecet the weight to stay off. Incorporate your dream little by little into your life until it becomes your life.

Seize the day, turn the tide, touch the stars, mock the grave, move into uncharted lands, fortune favors the brave!