I spent the better part of the morning reflecting on the past year.

I know we have seen a time of wild turmoil in the financial markets and scary headlines in the economy, but it is good to step back and really see where you have gone.

It's been a good year for me personally, spiritually, and financially.

I made some great friends, grown closer to long term friends and ended up making over 50% in the stock market.

It's been hell of ride this year though. Some of the bad things that happened include:

-being stuck in Memphis while traveling by airplane in a night of freezing snow that grownded flights with no one else in the airport

- having a construction project I am involved in get blown up by a tornado almost killing some of the workers

-have some con man try to black mail me by threatening to sue me for running an internet advertisement that he claims is a copy of his. I've been running the ad for over four years and find his site hasn't even been up for a full year. I find out that one of the people behind the site has been in jail for several years for running fraud against insurance companies. He would take yachts out into the ocean and sink them and collect insurance. He got caught because the coast guard saw his boat sink during one of his "sinkings" and rescued him. He claimed pirates did it. Sounds like something out of a crazy movie, but its true. Life is weirder than stories sometimes.

-some good friends getting sick and others getting in trouble.

-taking a big position in a certain sector in the stock market in August and September and then getting stopped out both times for a small loss. Turns out to be the best trades I did all year, because if I held I would have lost half of my money.

But the thing that struck me the most, is that in some of these situations I grew as a person, learned things about myself, and actually ended up PROSPERRING!

It all boils down to how you manage your emotions, your belief system, and your mind. It also matters a lot what goals you set. Probably the most important thing I learned this year is to set goals and imagine bigger possibilities for yourself. It is amazing how something you can do now in any day a few years ago may have seemed like a big deal. You may not even have imagined it possible. But if you can imagine bigger things for you in the future than even what you are doing now the possibillities are endless.

What we all want is to grow.

Thinking about this made me think of a presentation I saw earlier this year.

It was done by someone I used to see on TV a lot about ten years ago all of the time. I bought some of his stuff once, liked some of it, didn't like some of it, but this presentation is great.

I want you to watch it:

You need to set big goals for yourself next year when it comes to the stock market. I know millions of people lost money in the stock market this year, but there are people who actually made money. If you could turn back the clock a year ago I know there are things you would do differently in the market again if you had a chance. You don't. But you can make this next year a hugely profitable one for yourself no matter what the market does if you just set the goals to do it and commit yourself to them.

Thanks for listening to me and reading my stuff this year. You all have taught me many many things and I am grateful.