Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Is it okay for me to be perfectly honest with you? As you are aware I’m running a business. I feel that there is a need, and I want to help solve that need so I’m reaching out to do what I can to help solve that need.

Simple, right?

I get the question about money a lot of times. Because after-all, the assumption is I’m in business because I have to make money. Well, of course I do, that’s why it’s business. But it’s not the only reason why I do it.

I know you smell BS right now, but listen for just a moment.

I’ve designed a way that I can spend most of my time serving you for free, but I still get paid. You know why? Because there is only so much time that I can put into a week doing free stuff, and the only way I’m able to get more free stuff out to you is by packaging programs and systems that have prices attached to them, so you can get the high value meat of what I’ve been producing for a price while I continue to have time to pump out for more free stuff to you.

So in essence, I’ve created a business so that it’s a business by default. By serving overwhelmingly I have no choice but to charge for a product or service, in order to keep doing what I want to do for you all day long; and that’s provide services and solutions that help and serve you now.

I’m really enjoying running with my wife. We never really worked out together much, but Cheryl and I just started doing some trail running and we are loving it! We get to spend a lot of time together, and get to stay healthy together. All around it has so many positive affects in all of our life areas; starting with the Core investments like our health. As a result it’s feeding lots of extra love and attention into our marriage.

I guess you can say it used to bother me that we weren’t working out together. I wish we could do everything together, but I’ve soon learned that nobody can force anything to happen. The only thing I can do is live my life in the best example I know how; I lead by living.

Now, because I’m more fully alive and have created my own positive habits, it seems that Cheryl and I are naturally flowing in unison and are able to find the time to run together.

It’s like a dream come true!

 

___________________________

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I drop my son Nicholas off at school in the mornings and in doing so I have to go through a car pool line. At the stop where he gets off there are a line of teachers waiting to escort the kids out of the cars and into the buildings.

I noticed at the beginning of this year, one particular lady was very intentional about smiling and waving to everyone. It wasn’t always like this in the line, but she brought a new level of enthusiasm to helping with the kids and it’s been refreshing to watch.

Now, here we are its almost summer time and she hasn’t stopped smiling and waving; and as you can imagine this had an interesting affect on others. Her enthusiasm is contagious and the ones who stand in her section of the car pool seem to have adopted the same attitude. Once my car gets closer to that spot, I always get a smile and a wave whether I initiate the wave or not.

I love watching this contagious affect of positive energy and as you can really tell, she loves her job; and if she doesn’t then she’s a darn good faker.

The way I see it, it only takes one; just one individual with the right attitude. By there example they can ignite a powerful transformation in their surrounding world.

Two things that I’m reminded of that we can always do if we want to see more successes.

1. Surround ourselves with people who help us come alive.
2. Be the spark that helps everyone else come alive.

Sure we can choose, but I say be both! Be the spark and seek the greatest.

Just smile and wave!

 

___________________________

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Relationships are tough to manage. That’s why I don’t manage them, I invest in them. That’s the only way a relationship should be looked at; an investment. If you try to manage it, you’ll end stepping all over yourself because you’re only making decisions about what benefits yourself.

All decisions you make with regards to the relationship with someone else must be with the intentions that you are investing in something else, or in other words, beyond yourself.

There are two sides to this. One is a nourishing investment, and the other is a constructive investment. Both types are evolved out of love for that person or other people involved in the same circle.

1. Let’s begin with the Constructive; of course this one is the most painful sometimes because you have to make constructive decisions that invest towards the betterment of someone’s or some people’s wrong doing or wrong way of living. Again, this type of investment is out of love and it’s not about you.

I’ve had to encounter this situation in my life before and it doesn’t feel good especially if it involves close relatives. Sometimes you run into those situations where you don’t want to make a decision because it may hurt someone’s feeling and cause them to hate you for it, but regardless you know in your heart it’s for the better on all parties involved.

It’s for the better because you see the situation as long term. The short term benefit would have you appease the situation and the individual, but it provides no lasting value for them long term, and as a result it turns out worse in the end.

So constructively investing in others is an act of love, or as my dad used to say, “Tough love”.

2. The second one is Nourishing, and this one is easy to talk about, but even still it seems so hard to do because many people neglect this part almost unconsciously. It’s seems easier to just put aside the most meaningful things in our lives, such as our own families, for short term appeasing.

Whether it’s over-working, hanging out late and partying all the time when you have a family to love and nurture, or doing anything that keeps you away from the people that truly matter.

But regardless there are those two things again, “Short Term” and “Appeasing”. The people that matter are definitely long term investments, but if we’re always appeasing something else, or living in a “got to have it now” mentality so that what matters to the heart can wait just a little bit longer, then we’re going to really miss out on the true essence that life offers. Nothing is more important than the things you can’t buy with money.

You have to ask yourself the tough questions sometimes in order to get to the heart of what is really happening in your life. One of the biggest questions to start with is, “from a 30,000 foot view perspective of my life as a whole from young to old, what and who CAN I NOT live without; followed by what and who CAN I live without?”

Let that be the start of your prioritization for what truly matters to you and be completely honest with yourself.

Once you start living from that place or real importance, your life will rise to another level of reality, and you will begin doing things that are important for others right now for the purposes of creating life lasting impacts on your relationships and in the lives of others.

 

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Problem solving is a way of life. It’s how we find a need and feel a need that makes us innovators. Nothing ever evolves enter something better if we’re only fixed on the way things have always been done.

Sometimes “the way it’s always been done” mindset keeps us from seeing the obvious. Break your own rules sometimes and try something different if you experience a certain problem that could use a little solving.

When I was young I can remember my dad showing me how to make a house of cards. I think my dad taught me differently than I taught my kids because I remember the cards standing up just fine for me when he was showing me; it doesn’t seem as easy now.

So one night I was working on this with my son, Nicholas. We were having a few issues getting it going, and I tried putting a little fold in the card and that worked; but we still had to move very delicately as the slightest move would knock them over.

Of course, we always had to be on the lookout for my daughter Alena, who will probably be storming in the room any minute now like a tornado with all of her power and might until everything comes tumbling down!
Nicholas knows he has to quickly learn and adapt to his surroundings with her. Knowing she may be entering that room at any second he wants to be ready. Doesn’t always remember to get ready but when he does he prepares for the worst.

So that night, in the midst of our slow start he decides to grab the scotch tape and put his house of cards together. Now, it’s standing and it’s going no where; that is unless Alena decides to physically pick them up and rip them apart! At that point, Nicholas would have a new problem to deal with.

Nicholas knows that he’s defying the way stacking cards has always been done, but do you think he cares? Not a bit. As matter of fact he’s proud of himself because he recognized the problem, saw what needed to be done, and thus solved a problem.

Now he can build that house of cards as big as he wants, or as big as however many cards we have lying around the house!

 

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Do you have a vision? There are many who have trouble visioning, but sometimes you just need to set out to do something crazy and buck wild. Try something crazy and see what it does to your spirit; something that seems impossible but you know is doable if the circumstances came together. Something you want bad enough, that you’ll go to great lengths to get the world’s attention?

If you want something bad enough, you better get people’s attention to make it happen, and that’s what I’m going to be doing. Here’s an example of a buck wild and crazy vision, and yes I am going to be getting some serious attention, because I have something to say!

Now be prepared; I’m going to be the first to admit that you are probably going to think I’m crazy after you hear this one. No, you’ll probably think I’m insane, and you’ll probably be right!

Regardless, no matter what, this is going to happen and me mentioning this to you now gives me that initial stage of accountability to take this to the next level. Every so often and until its development really starts rolling I’m going to be mentioning something about this process in one my posts on where it’s heading, or where it’s currently at.

I am confident that some perhaps many are going to join, many might even sponsor, and many are going to support the efforts. However, it inspires me so much that I would do this even without the support. I would still make this happen alone!

That’s what your vision should be like. Something that inspires you so much that you would go to great lengths to accomplish even if everyone was against you. This is where you begin to really lead and make the path.

I’ve been very inspired by this and so far I’ve shared this with just a few and the one’s who have heard it, were excited about this as well.

So anyways, I won’t give the exact dates yet, but I will say we have just over a couple of years to get ready for this, and it’s going to be here before we know it.

Here is what’s happening…

This country is seeing many challenges, job losses, divorces, health crisis, especially with how we over-eat and teach our kids how to eat only what they can afford; not what’s healthy. People are not active; they’re not taking action but spend days placing blame. People are living through excuse after excuse and not investing into the important areas of their lives that matter. As result, we’re all dying to the world and to ourselves in each of these areas.

Slowly, little by little but rapidly increasing we are depleting as a nation, and we feel like we’ve lost hope. So the mentality is “why try?”…

I’m here to tell you that there is hope. I don’t care how impossible a given circumstance may seem there is hope, there is the possibility that anything is possible, and I’m going to prove it to you by tackling my own impossible mission, and sending a message to this country to wake up!

We have so much potential and opportunity right front of us, but we’re spending too much time dreaming of greener grass in some far off place that may not even be there, and neglecting what’s important. The greener grass is right here, and we just have to uncover it.

No more waiting for it to show up, it’s time to go to it and make it happen!

My cry out for this country and for this world even is quite simple, but very challenging; perhaps impossible, but I believe differently. I am going to block out four to six months of an entire year and set out to run across the country within that time frame!

I’m going to begin somewhere along the East Coast, anywhere from Washington DC to the tip ofMaine, and run straight through the heart of this country and finish right into the waters of  southern California.

It’s going to be an adventure, it’s going to be the challenge of my life, but it’s going to be worth every step.

My hope is for the world to come alive! Though it’s a large threshold to cross, I believe that when the world comes alive, then we’ve reached a new level this world has never seen.

I’m doing this for the challenge; I’m doing this for the memory and life story; I’m doing this for the opportunity to excel and be my very best; but mostly I’m doing this for YOU!

I don’t know how I’m going to get there quite yet. All I know is that this is happening, and the only thing that can stop me is death.

Don’t be afraid to dream enormously impossible when you vision. Think about everything that makes you who you are, and think about what you care about most or what you want to see happen.  Then go out there and exaggerate it; make the dream gigantic! So gigantic that it gets attention, and it gets people moving in their own dreams as well.

With the right vision, and the right attitude nothing can stop you.

 

___________________________

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I had a vice not too long ago but didn’t really see it as a vice; it was coffee.

Now, I love coffee and that was always my excuse; I loved it. Since I love coffee I was going to drink it and be caught up and absorbed in this simple pleasure of taste, aroma, and comfort. However, what I didn’t realize was that I was drinking it a little too much.

I had thought about laying it down, just for the sake of putting a stop to my 6 to 8 cups a day. The fact that it was my only vice really bothered me, so I was really going to quit, and the next thing that was demonstrated to me was probably going to send me over to the ‘coffee free’ zone.

Well, that’s exactly what happened. I watched a video that my friend Camden Ross sent me and it talked a lot about the brain, and the presenter didn’t have anything good to say about coffee.

So that was the straw that broke the Camel’s back, and I quit.

Afterwards I had a couple days of headaches and I was home-free. After a week I felt great, and after a month I no longer had the vice. Success!

Now, since I love coffee so much, I still didn’t see a reason to deprive myself completely of the drink. I still enjoy the scent and flavor, and it’s got a lot of sentimental meaning to me, as I remember times of sitting around and drinking coffee with Dad talking about anything. So as a result of that knowing, I’ve given myself an excuse to drink coffee once a week, as sort of a neat little treat to look forward and I chose Monday mornings.

Sounds like an excuse, and it is, but I think this one gives me something extra special, and the bottom line is that it doesn’t have a hold on me. I don’t get headaches throughout the week; it’s gone.

Now since I’m drinking once a week, why did I choose Monday mornings? Well, to me Monday is a representation to many as a very stressful day. Many people are not looking forward to Monday. So I chose Monday, so I can show you that you can give yourself a reason to look forward to Monday even if you’re not living your perfect Monday quite yet. You can always do something small to make Monday a little bit more pleasurable.

You might want to think about this angle when you’re going afterward toward goals that you’ve set out to accomplish. Sometimes, we get bogged down in the long monotonous journey going after something that’s not visible yet. To make your adventure just a little bit more exciting, add something special to the end as a result of you accomplishing it.

Give all things that you have dreaded over a long haul, but you know that you need to get there one more reason why you should keep going.

And if coffee is your reason, then make it so. We need all the help we can get; so rewarding ourselves I believe is a great idea.

What do you think? Am I just giving myself an excuse or is their power behind what I’m doing?

If there’s power, do you think you should be doing something similar for your goals; perhaps even Monday?

 

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I think it used to be my job to put out fires. Though I was hired to implement projects, or support certain systems there was always a fire to put out; there was always something that went wrong.

What I figured out later that what was wrong was my perspective; my attitude. What was wrong was my inability to see the situations for what they were.

I saw them as fires that needed to be put out, not as an opportunity to prepare for a great implementation, or to make a positive change or difference in the way we went about our system.

I was re-active, and felt I couldn’t catch-up. Had I been pro-active, then the system would have had to catch-up with me because I would have always been ahead the curve.

Stop spending your days putting out fires. If there’s a fire and you set out to only put it out, then you’ve already lost.

Deal with the fire by preparing well so that the next fire doesn’t come; leaving greater growth and higher chances for better opportunities to be ahead of the curve.

 

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The things we do each day have built upon something that preceded it. Nothing just appears, as it’s all about preparation. You need to always prepare.

Even the thoughts you think are all thoughts you are thinking because you are prepared to. The ideas you get are ideas that you’re prepared to have. You’re mind is equipped with what it needs to think such thoughts.

To put this into perspective, it’s just another example of how everything reflects something else. What you do in the office, or out in the field; how you work with the people at your job or in your business; how you steward or handle your resources are all reflections of how you are handling something else.

Whenever you feel you are mismanaging a certain area of your life, or it’s starting to consume you and you can’t understand why then you can always take a step a little more inward to see what’s happening there.

Sometimes we find it’s how we’re managing or investing in our own home and family; sometimes it goes much deeper; as in our core self.

Either way, always remember that if you want to be the best you can be for this world then make sure that you are investing and managing well in all of the areas that feed your ability to serve this world.

The better the check-up in each area’s health, the better service you’ll give, and thus glory is given to something much bigger than yourself.

 

___________________________

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Someone once had a struggle with discerning whether or not they should keep pursuing what appeared to be a dead end. It’s sometimes hard knowing if you’re being called to overcome certain obstacles, or totally avoid it and start something new.

An individual once explained to me that they’ve watched people push hard to make things happen only to find out down the road that it wasn’t God’s path for them. Sounds frustrating and I know many have felt that way from time to time – including me.

Being in the data processing and banking industry for 10 years, there were many moments that I felt it wasn’t for me, and that I was climbing the wrong ladder. But I kept pushing, and pushing to make it work. I have a family, and I take on the role of the knight and shining amour. Though I was frustrated and working hard at trying to get out of that industry, I thought surely that just climbing the ladder, and making a decent living, that the clouds will start clear up, and I can finally enjoy some prosperity with my family.

Well, in all actuality, it turns out that my journey in that world was both the right path and the wrong path.

Even, when I was laid off, I was at a frustrating point with that career, and just knew that I had wasted 10 years of my life. On top of that I even spun my family into a $50,000 debt hole from a business crash, when I started that call center in 2004. That was a decade I was ready to throw in the trash.

Or was it?

Now, I look back and realize that no matter how frustrating it seemed at that time, and how pointless, every part of that journey had everything to do with who I am now.

Here are some things I know I’ve been blessed with as a result of experiencing that 10 year downward spiral.

1. A deeper and more genuine relationship with my Creator.
2. A Stronger marriage and relationship with my wife and children.
3. More fit physically and healthy from deciding that drifting through life and circumstances was not the way to go.
4. A more defined sense of community and what that’s all about, and that everything begins from the heart, to the home, the loved ones, and finally to the relationships outside of inner circle à in that order.
5. I prioritize way better!
6. I have dreams, and know that with consistent action they can be accomplished.
7. I know business, I can start one, I can run one, make it successful, and teach someone else how to do the same.
8. 10 years of knowing the things that do work for me.
9. 10 years of knowing the things that don’t work for me.
10. I’ve become a better leader and doer.
11. I can make things happen.
12. I have a better heart, better attitude, and the drive of a real champion!

Bottom line, nothing is ever wasted. If you are wanting to know whether or not something is God’s path for you. Here’s a great indicator:

If it’s not of God, you would have no dreams that you’re aiming for, and you would be sitting idle and doing nothing.

 

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