The hardest person in the world to control is yourself. Self-control and self-discipline are not needed when we are sleep but only when we are awake. Unfortunately, they often wake up when we go to sleep and go to sleep when we wake up. So, we dream about doing great things but when we wake up, we are often paralyzed and unable to do the things we dreamed about. The 20th century poet and writer, asked the question in a poem, “What happens to a dream deferred?” In his query, he suggests, “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.”My mother was not a waster, but she wasn’t able to get rid of things. Towards the end of her life the weight of her stockpiled things weighed on her. Often, she would say, “I have to get upstairs or downstairs and get rid of some things.” She passed ten months ago and the things are still being cleared out. Could it be that we are weighed down with so many things that we can no longer lift ourselves from under the weight of our obligations, fears, and disappointments? You put on ankle weights if you want to strengthen your legs to run faster. You use an anchor weight to hold a boat in place. Something must go if we are going to reach the places we saw in our dreams. Whether you are 19 or 90, there is another destination to reach. We must establish the discipline of offloading. I realized, again, today that I must find a way to lighten the load so that this ship can sail, and this eagle can soar. Let’s discipline ourselves, reduce our to-do-list, to a manageable load of one or a few major things, so that we can soar with success.