1. If you can imagine it, maybe your children's children will be able to do it.

The more common sentiment "If you can imagine it, you can do it" is more than a bit overreaching. Obviously it is quite possible to think of many things which you are unable to do... satisfying three hot bi-sexual women in one session would be a common example for you guys. However, our imagination is not a chaotic random thing, and it is rarely hard to see how something we might now imagine may be possible given decades or centuries of development. Even the most fantastic sci-fi, set in the far future, seems plausible for a reason: because it is.

2. The practical is always the next step towards any goal.

Future planning is really just the first step in future creating, and the first step in that creation is always something practical. If you can't imagine the next step, then your future planning is worthless.

3. However, the practical need not be mundane.

The next step may be "write the Great American Novel," or "Cure Cancer". These are certain grand, perhaps even whimsical goals, but most people have the capacity to act towards them and possibly succeed. Interesting futures invariably require bold action in their genesis.

4. Forget about goals.

The only goal is improvement, everything else is just a way station. Focusing on goals hurts us twice over: first, we don't give ourselves credit because maybe we didn't "make it" to where ever it was we thought we should be going, never noticing the value in what we did do. Second, when we do "make it," the goal oriented mindset says, "Okay, then stop." Focusing on the journey keeps us both content in the moment and constantly moving forward.

5. Understand compromise.

A good excercise program always has a goal that is beyond one's current abilities. Getting to that goal means dealing with compromise correctly. If we push to hard, we injure ourselves and are set way back. There is no such as "no compromise" because when we take that atitude, we are invariably forced to compromise by reality. On the other hand, if we don't push hard enough we never make any gains. Advancing forward is always a compromise between these extremes.

File under: 'milk something long enough and the teat begins to chafe'. Looks like Giuliani, already unpopular in New York (they'd know best) for his exploitation of 9/11 is finally starting to wear on the Republican faithful. His latest campaign asks people to donate $9.11... get it? It's a reference to the day over a thousand people were killed. "Clever."

Giuliani (or his spokes-people rather) claim that the theme was selected without their knowledge. Not so says the fundraisers host, who refers questions back to the campaign machine. Doesn't really matter since there's no denying that Giuliani's made exploiting 9/11 his calling card.