Do you know why the Panama Canal was built? Do you know why we made it to the moon? Or do you know why the light bulb was invented?

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
Before the Panama Canal, if you wanted to get a ship from California to New York there was some serious travel time involved. You had to go all the way around South America on a trip comparable to one around the world. Anyone can take a look at a map and see that putting the canal in Panama would be the most ideal to significantly shorten the trip.

To get to the moon, it would be an understatement to say there was a fair amount of work involved. Despite the massive amounts of data to crunch and problems to solve, engineers were able to figure them out and the end goal stayed the same. Get to the moon.

While working on the light bulb, there was over 900 prototypes before one actually worked as well as Thomas Edison wanted it to (That is another post about persistence). A little known fact is that Thomas Edison was actually the 23rd person to invent the light bulb (That in itself is a whole different post on persistence, strategy, and dedication!). The light bulb was really only part of the problem for Edison. The real problem was the fact that there were no electric lines running to people’s houses, that was the actual goal. Edison once said “We’ll make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.”

While you could easily go deeper into the specifics of each one, there is one answer that explains all three. Because someone planned on it. Almost everything great that mankind has done has been planned out.

Not everything has to be planned out, but the achievements are much easier to chisel out when they are defined. Anybody can come up with a goal for something, and when put together with a killer plan you might actually have a shot at reaching it.

Over the week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the benefits of working for one’s self instead of a 9 to 5 boss. These bloggers really struck a note with me, and I think you might enjoy their works, too:

12-Month Plan to Becoming a Real Estate Investor at Sillicon Valley Real Estate Blog
Summarizing the Wall Street Journal, this article shows you point blank: do these things first. Had I thought about a few of the things mentioned here before I dove into real estate, I might have been a bit better off. Patience vs. preparation…

8 Steps to 7 Figures from DINK
I’ve always enjoyed reading the personalized writing of this DC couple. Their newest book review shares a few lessons on stock investing…
They’ve already started this new strategy.

The Five Ways to Earn Money Part 2 on Pile of Coins
Without even reading the text, you’ll notice two obvious pyramids by Dennis… and notice that most of us aren’t quite in the right place. I love the get-to-the-point style that Dennis uses in this piece. His graphic says it all:

Have a great–productive!–week, and don’t forget to check out our casual poetry contest. Business majors welcome!

I always expect my Saturday mornings to be a little groggy. This morning, though, I woke up with a million ideas about wealth and net worth, the good feelings that make me excited to begin my day. The following articles in our achieves can help bring the same freshness to your Saturday.

After all, the weekend is the time to make money for yourself, not your boss!

• Your goals are the engines that move, how’s yours running?
  Think of money from a grassroot perspective. “I want a million dollars” isn’t the same as thinking “This is how I’m going to get my first million”

• I met a millionaire today
  I never would have guessed it, though. At age 53, she hasn’t worked in years. Read her secret.

• Time: what I’ve learned in my 90 years
  This afternoon, I am meeting with a 90-year-old friend for lunch. He flew into town for an aircraft convention and re-certification conference. He shared his wisdom on time with Aridni.lessons about today that we could all benefit from in the path to wealth.

Last year, Todd and I ran a rather successful and valuable column called “Weekend Homework” every Friday. We wanted to educate our readers on the basics of personal finance and development, ranging from calculating your net worth to reducing redundancies. Today we’re proud to announce that the column is back by request.

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When I was young, my little sister would snap at anything. I could antagonize her without even trying. Most of the time, in fact, I didn’t even know that my actions stressed her out. My dad would turn to her and ask, “Do you need to read”Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” again?”

She’d grumble, “NO.”

Do you find yourself grumbling? The little details of business driving you bonkers? Sometimes I want to go crazy. I’m letting details that don’t even matter control my perspective.

I’m not going to lecture you on how to let things go because the solution is different for everyone. For example, I start baking (maybe even crying). Something tells me that Todd doesn’t do that stuff. Maybe he goes out and shoots tin cans. We all have our own ways of dealing with stress. In any case, check out the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff website. They have a few quick-read articles that you might find refreshing. Plus you can get your mind off of work for a few minutes.

Then throw your rants and raves into our comment box of this article. Get those silly frustrations out before your weekend really starts.