I listened to a podcast called Truck Talk by a Navy Seal.  The Navy Seal talked about how not to be a “broke turd,” which I’d been most of my life.  He made a point that stuck with me: have something big we want to buy.  At that moment, I realized that there was nothing big I wanted to buy.  I would love to hit an annual salary target of a quarter million a year, but I researched a woman with similar education but more experience than me, who earns half a million a year as a CMO of a pharmaceutical company, so now I want her salary instead.  But that was a problem, namely because I didn’t have anything in mind to spend the money on.

But today, I found the big dream, the goal of a lifetime, a dream come true.  It’s to spend four days in California, getting elite training from Olympian coaches through the elite swim camp at the Race Club.  I recommended the Race Club to my swim coach, who is trying out for the Olympics this year, but then I thought I could go, too.  I’ve since discovered that the Race Club caters to Olympians and beginners, providing five hours of daily training camps over four days.  So, it’s twenty hours of hard swimming over four days.  My Olympian-potential swim coach swims sixteen hours a week and spends over three hours in the gym but only gets 6 to 7 hours of sleep most nights.  And she’s my role model, so I’ll do 20 hours over four days but get more sleep.  She’ll be proud of me.

If I am to choose between a consumption holiday (where I eat and relax) and an active holiday (where I do extreme fitness), I’ll take the A for Active over the C for Consumption any day.  I loathe travel and just want to stay home and work.  But if it’s a vacation that will teach me elite fitness skills, even if I presently bomb at the skill, that is my version of a holiday in heaven.

For two people for four days, the camp will cost $3600.  I’ll also need to cover the costs of airfare, hotel, and a lot of food.  We’ll swim hard for 20 hours over four days in the pool.  I hope the water is not too deep, or I may need a flotation device.  About eleven months ago, I swam the dog paddle so severely that I looked like the biggest fool in the pool, and I even wore water wings once, much to the scorn of my friend.  I can now swim the entire length of an Olympic-sized pool doing the front crawl without stopping, although I’ve only done it once.

It’s weird thinking like this because, back in the year 2016 range and later, I was so sick with chronic fatigue that walking the hallway back and forth was a significant challenge.  And then, when I started lifting weights to up my fitness game, I felt like my brain was not appropriately lodged in my skull and would painfully move around.  I could hear it move, and it felt like it had dried, crusty syrup covering it, which gave it an alarming sticky friction.  I believe any disease or state can be turned around, and we can be super fit and wealthy—and acquire big material goals– even in our 90s or 100s.  Anything is possible.

Although everything could, at any moment, fall apart, opportunities are infinite if we start by setting a goal.  Like quantum physics, observation creates a reality from endless possibilities.  Similarly, setting a goal, just like observation, fixes that goal into our conscious awareness.  And then that goal appears everywhere we look, in multiple forms.

So, think of something big for a grand material gift we wish to obtain, and watch it start unraveling at hyper speed, no matter our present circumstances.  Nothing is impossible, and all it takes to start a series of chemical reactions is the first spark: the goal.  So, picture it now and make it magnificent; over time, it will become our magical reality.  So, what one big material goal can we set our hearts on today–and have tomorrow?