This year, I wrote another book.  A book on goal-setting.

Right now, I am in the process of editing.  I am guessing it will take me a few weeks.  As I edit, I will post sections as blog posts.

As for the title, I am still tossing some ideas around.  For now, I will simply title the blog posts as Goals.

This is from the introduction.

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After college, I made a bad financial mistake.  

I became a school teacher.  

At the same time, I married and started a family.  

Almost immediately, my wife and I began struggling financially.  

Financial strain led to emotional strain.  Professionally, I was not off to a great start.  

Things got tough.  Quickly.  I needed to find a solution.   I needed help.   I needed a breakthrough.  

Then, I got it.  I got the breakthrough I needed.  It wasn’t the breakthrough I wanted.  

I wanted someone to come along and hand me a check.  Or, buy me a car.  Or, help pay our rent.  That didn’t happen.  

This is what happened.  

One day, my wife was out shopping at garage sales.  Also known as yard sales in some parts of America.  Thrift stores, garage sales, and yard sales were the only places she could afford to shop.  

At one of the garage sales, she happened upon an audio series by Zig Ziglar.  The name of the series was simply: Goals. 

This was in the early 2,000’s.  Back then, many audiobooks were still on cassettes.  This particular series consisted of two cassettes.  

I am not exaggerating when I say, I listened to those cassettes until I wore them out.”

Mr. Ziglar could have hired me to give the talk for him if he had wanted to.  

Just like that, thanks to my wife’s garage sale discovery, I had discovered goal-setting.  

(The truth is, I had re-discovered goal setting.  I will explain further in an later chapter.)

So, what happened next?  

Did goal-setting make a difference in my life?

Yes, it did.  

Ten years later, at the age of 43, I retired from teaching.   Since most Americans retire at age 65 years, I had retired 27 years ahead of schedule. 

That’s the power of goal setting.  

In this book, I am going to show you exactly how I did it, and, more importantly, I am going to show you how you can do it, too!

Before we get too far, I have to be honest with you.  I am still teaching.  But, these days, I teach because I want to, not because I have to.  

There is a difference. 

That’s what I want for you.  I want you to be able to spend your time professionally the way you want to spend your time.  Not the way you have to spend your time.