In teaching the DASH Principles to people across the country, I make a lot of promises. I promise that by faithfully living by these principles, people can achieve greater wealth, health and happiness. I promise that the DASH Principles will help people to achieve more fulfilling family relationships and a sense of purpose. However, I never promise that the DASH Principles will relieve the pressures of life. In fact, just the opposite is true. As you constantly strive to make the most out of your dash, you can be assured that you will encounter more than your fair share of pressures.

However, this is a good thing. Pressure is a key driving force in life. And while we normally associate pressure with anxiety, stress and overwhelm, the truth of the matter is that pressure also adds excitement, exhilaration and joy to our lives. Of course, as with all things in life, you must achieve a balance. Yet, if you're going to err on one side or the other, I would suggest that you err on the side of pressure. After all, as bad as high blood pressure is for you, it's a lot better for you than no blood pressure.

Right now, blood is pumping through your entire body through the use of pressure. Without this pressure, gravity would pull all of the blood into your feet, leaving no blood (or oxygen) in your upper extremities, including your brain. And while there are some individuals who seem to be able to get along just fine in this condition, you and I would be in serious trouble in this state. We need this internal pressure to survive.

Well, if you're going to thrive in your life, you'll need external pressure. You can only reach your maximum potential when you're being "pushed" by some external pressure. If you're an athlete, then you're probably at your best when you face your stiffest competition. The same is true in business. You reach your peak in terms of resourcefulness and efficiency when a co- worker is after your job or a competitor is after your clients. However, without pressure, we all tend to become victims of gravity and slowly drift downward in terms of our performance.

In my view, the key to getting the most out of your life is to control the pressure in your life as opposed to being controlled by the pressure. The question is not whether you will have pressure in your life. The question is what type of pressure it will be. Will it be a self-imposed pressure or a pressure dictated by circumstances? Self-imposed pressures allow you to take better control of your life.

For instance, you can take control of your health by putting pressure on yourself to lose weight or quit smoking or you can deal with the pressure of suffering from a heart attack or stroke down the road. Likewise, you can put pressure on yourself to spend more time with your spouse or you can deal with the pressure of a divorce. In the end, always remember that too much pressure can burst pipes so there is a limitation as to how much pressure you can handle. It is up to you to gauge and control.

One way to establish pressure on ourselves is to set some firm deadlines. Very often, people intend to reduce their debt, start a business or take a vacation to Greece. However, they never set a firm deadline for doing so. They simply assign these tasks to the magical day of "someday." The problem is that someday is never today. As a result, they find themselves never really making any progress toward these objectives. The way to solve this problem is to establish firm deadlines for their completion.

By a firm deadline, I mean a deadline for which there are either rewards for meeting the deadline or consequences for missing it. A classic example of a firm deadline is April 15th. The vast majority of Americans file their tax returns (or obtain an extension) by this deadline. Why? Because there are severe consequences for not doing so. However, what do you think would happen if this deadline was not so firm? Do you think people would stand in line at the Post Office at 11:59 p.m. on April 15th to meet a "suggested" deadline? Probably not. In fact, some Americans would never "get around" to filing a return at all

Without a firm deadline, you may never get around to taking the action required to fulfill your destiny. Therefore, make sure that you set (and keep) your own firm deadlines in life. By keeping the pressure on yourself, you can prevent a lot of unwanted pressure from the outside world. As Zig Ziglar says, "If you have enough push, you don't have to worry about the pull." .