We all have dreams of what we want our life to be. The challenge, of course, is to make that dream a reality.

At the age of 19, I was playing basketball for a small college in Nevada and had great dreams of my future. One week before our season began, I was hit by a drunk driver and consequently lost my scholarship, my starting position, and my lower right leg. You would think that this would be the end of my life, or at least my spirit. It may have been the end of my life alright - but only the end as a person with two legs. It was the beginning of my existence as a person with one leg. My New Life! I knew my life would be different but I was determined that it would be just as good. Actually, I was determined to make it better. At the time, I had never even seen a pair of inline skates. But by following a simple plan, I was able to make inline skating my profession. Certainly not a route one would expect from a one-legged ex-basketball player.

The plan I used is very simple. It has three steps:

The first step of my plan is to choose a goal. When you select a goal, shoot for the moon and aim for your biggest dream. You want to do this for two reasons. One, if you pick a goal that is something you love to do, then it will be easy for you to put in the time and effort required to succeed at that goal. Two, if you don't go after your biggest dream, it will never happen.

The second step of my plan is to choose several smaller goals that will help guide you toward your top goal. Visualize these smaller goals as personal 'base camps' to your own Mount Everest. Utilize them as your way of checking in, gaining strength, and reevaluating your path toward your big goal. If upon waking every morning you say to yourself, "Today is the day I will succeed at reaching my biggest dream!", you may become discouraged and quit long before you reach your destination. When you have a set of smaller goals on which to focus, it enables you to take successful steps without becoming overwhelmed by the elevation of your ultimate goal.

The third step is to reward yourself for each small goal successfully achieved. A reward doesn't need to be large or material; it may be as simple as self-recognition for the good feelings earned from the achievement. Recognition of a goal becomes a valuable tool for maintaining confidence should you run into some frustration or failure with a successive goal. Rather than becoming discouraged and self destructive, recall the positive feelings of your prior achievement and continue to move forward. This gives you the motivation to jump back up and attack that last goal.

Another ingredient of my plan is level of commitment. Before striving for your goal, sit down and decide how much it means to you to succeed. Determine how much of your time will be required in order to be successful at that goal. Isolate what areas in your life you are willing to sacrifice to make it happen. If this goal of yours is one of your biggest dreams, sacrifices may seem a bit easier since you are striving for something that comes from your heart. Achievement of your goals is an expression of your passion, your determination, your sacrifice, your commitment, your hard work, and your spirit.

That's it! The plan is simple but effective.