Go For Your Goals and Mixed Daikon Salad with Tomato Basil Dressing

Do you have goals? 

Do you keep reaching for them even though you encounter setbacks?

1.  There are goals that are far reaching which we may or may not achieve.  There are risks and consequences to be faced.  We progress slowly with the ultimate endeavor in the back of our mind.

2.  We set goals we know we can obtain.  We need to put a lot of heart and soul into the effort but we have come so close or are so close that we know one day that challenge will be met.

3.  Finally, the immediate goals that we set for ourselves on a daily basis.  We complete them come the end of the day and feel a sense of accomplishment.  The rewards of daily living and hard work.

Lets go back to those far reaching goals.  We put ourselves out there.  There is risk involved and sometimes it is physical, sometimes it’s monetary, but it is risk and it is a scary step to take. We know that if we don’t take that step forward the goal will never be obtained because we didn’t even try.

When you’re shooting for the stars keep in mind that learning from our failures is part of the progression.  Keep trying because you never know if success is just around the corner.  It could come with your next big effort.

Some famous folks who failed before they finally achieved greatness.  SOURCE.

Starting with the Athletes…

• Michael Jordan:  He was initially cut from the high school basketball team. This didn’t stop him  “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
• Babe Ruth:  Along with “The Babe’s” home run record came an awful lot of strike outs. He actually held the record for the most strikeouts.  When asked about this he simply said, “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

In Business:

• Henry Ford:  his early businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the successful Ford Motor Company.
• R.H. Macy: Macy started seven failed business before finally hitting big with his store in New York City.
• F.W.Woolworth: Woolworth was once one of the biggest names in department stores in the U.S. Before starting his own business, Woolworth worked at a dry goods store and was not allowed to wait on customers because his boss said he lacked the mental ability to do so.
• Harland David Sanders:  Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken. His famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
• Walt Disney: Walt was fired from a newspaper job because, “he lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn’t last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

The Scientists:

• Albert Einstein:   

• Einstein equals genius, right?  He didn’t always exhibit such smarts.  Einstein didn’t speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven.  He was initially thought to be mentally handicapped.  Einstein was expelled from school and rejected admittance into the  Zurich Polytechnic School. In the face of all those set backs, we all know he went on to achieve the Nobel Prize and is the most revered name in modern physics.
• Robert Goddard:  Goddard is known for his research and experimentation with liquid-fueled rockets.  When he began, his ideas were thought to be outrageous and impossible. Because he ignored what others said, rockets and space travel is now possible.  He kept working in the face of adversity.
• Isaac Newton: A math genius but not so smart as a whip when it came to school studies.  When he was put in charge of running the family farm, he failed so badly that his uncle took it over, sent Newton to Cambridge University where he finally found his calling as the scholar known today.

Of course there are more:  Inventors, Public Figures, Hollywood Stars, Writers/Artists.  The point is, you absolutely must take risks in order to achieve your greatness. Don’t visualize any outcome but success and when you’re met with setbacks, take on the challenge of picking yourself up and forging ahead even stronger.   Assess the competition:  What are they doing that’s good? What are they doing that’s bad? What can you do to set yourself apart and win?   This is the exciting competition of life.  Highs and lows but OH WHAT A FEELING when you make it!

Mixed Daikon Salad with Tomato Basil Dressing – a nutritionally packed salad to serve 2

• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 cups mixed greens : spinach, crisp romaine, etc.
• 1/2 a cucumber, sliced -seeds removed
• 1/4 Daikon radish, grated
• 2 TBS toasted pine nuts: simply put in the toaster oven on broil and watch carefully. In a preheated oven, this will take about 1 to 2  minutes max.
• 1 TBS Brewers Yeast (nutritional yeast)
• 1 TBS sesame seeds or Gomasio (a sesame seed mixture with sea vegetables sold in health food stores)

Toss together the garlic and mixed greens and divide between two serving plates. Top each plate evenly with the cucumber, daikon, pine nuts.

Mix together the yeast and sesame seeds and sprinkle on top of plated salad.

Drizzle on the dressing.

Dressing:

• 6 cherry tomatoes, diced
• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1 TBS Hemp Oil
• 1 TBS dried basil leaves
• 1 TBS agave nectar (or honey)
• pepper and salt to taste

Mix the dressing by blending all ingredients in a sealed container and shaking vigorously.

To please Ted’s protein craving palate, we topped the salad with some super jumbo shrimp, broiled in a citrus marinade.

One of the key components to achieving anything in life is to stay healthy.  Start by cutting out as much processed foods as possible and eating whole, nutritionally packed, fresh choices.

Can you offer one key factor that has helped you reach your goals?  I always ask for help and support.  Friends, family, they all have offered something, big and small to help me reach my goals.