Treasure Your Dreams

Tonight, one of my favorite movies came on TV — Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I haven’t seen the movie in years, so of course I felt compelled to curl up with a warm blanket on my couch and watch it.

The story (as I’m sure you are familiar) is centered around a young boy, Charlie, who has very few material possessions in life. He and his family live in a one-room shack, and his mother works long, hard hours to support Charlie’s invalid grandparents.

In watching the movie tonight, I was presented with an entirely new outlook on the story behind it — Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is not about chocolates and candy at all, but rather it is a movie about opportunity and the power of believing.

According the “percentages” Charlie had less than a 1% chance to open a Wonka Bar with a golden ticket in it. But he believed that he could be lucky enough to receive one. The look on his face as he peeled back the wrapper on every one of those chocolate bars is a look of pure expectation and hope — not a shred of doubt.

His belief paid off — even when it seemed all hope was lost, he received a golden ticket. An opportunity.

Opportunity is what this ticket truly was — an opportunity for a better life, for a future he could have only dreamed about — disguised as a tour of a chocolate factory.

5 people received golden tickets.
5 people were presented with the same opportunity.
5 people experienced 5 different outcomes.

Were these outcomes based on chance, or luck? No — they were based on the ACTIONS each of these 5 individuals chose to make throughout the experience. These actions were based on their attitudes.

Now often, when we are faced with a new opportunity — we turn and walk away. We walk away because it is scary, because the outcome is unknown.  We put our thoughts on the consideration of failure rather than on the consideration of success.

Upon entering the factory, each child had the same opportunity — AND they each had the chance to walk away from it. They were asked to sign a contract, with print so fine that it wasn’t legible, in order to proceed. They could choose not to sign, but doing so would forfeit their admittance into the factory.

Several of the parents’ had concerns — and would have preferred to walk away. Charlie’s grandpa said it best when he told him, “Sign it, Charlie! We’ve got nothin’ to lose!”

What have you got to lose? It is my hope that you will never turn your back on an opportunity simply because you are afraid you might fail. The only true failure is in never trying at all.

What if Charlie hadn’t signed that paper? What if he had turned around and walked away? He would have shut the door on the greatest opportunity to ever present itself in his life!

Slowly throughout the movie the children began to lose their chances at the opportunity — they were selfish, conniving, and stubborn. Charlie, who chose to remain pure and humble to the very end, is the only one who passed the test.

His reward was greater than that which he could have ever imagined — his life, and the life of his family, was forever changed simply because he had seized an opportunity and remained trustworthy throughout its execution.

So here’s my challenge to you; 
Believe that you are destined to encounter exceptional opportunities.
Seize every opportunity that presents itself into your life.
Follow through with that opportunity, and take the actions necessary to reap the full benefits of its outcome.
Never, walk away from something because you fear you may fail — because that, is failure in itself.

The quote I leave you with today is by Charles Swindoll;

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

I meant to post this last Thursday, but became busy getting ready to go out of town so I didn’t get it done — that being said, I would like to state that I am sick and tired of hearing about this “recession” our country seems to be going through.

I have stopped listening to the news… stopped reading the paper — I am tired of being plagued everywhere I turn by the voices of dooms-dayers predicting the economic fall of our country.

We are in a recession because people BELIEVE we are in a recession. If the media were to report tomorrow that “our country’s economic fate has made a dramatic turnaround! The recession is over!” I believe that we as a country would be shocked at the change in our economy.

The power of your thoughts is tremendous — everything you see, hear, encounter over the course of the day affects you in one way or another, whether that be positive or negative. YOU are the only person who can determine how the thoughts in your head affect your daily actions.

Last night I had the opportunity to listen to a live training call by Michael Clouse — as the keynote speaker at our upcoming seminar in Vegas, he agreed to give a couple of preliminary training calls prior to the event.

He spoke on 5 important points that effect your everyday life:

1st, your philosophy — which is what you know, and what you FEEL about what you know.

2nd, your attitude — this is determined by your philosophy, and is what you think about (and how you think about it) all day long.

3rd, your actions — this is, obviously, what you do. BUT your actions are determined by your attitude.

4th, your results — what you get from what you’ve done (from what you’ve thought about from what you knew and believed to be true)

5th, your lifestyle — your lifestyle is determined by a combination of all the results of your actions.

During the call, Michael Clouse took these five points and related them to building a business — but they can be applied in almost any area of life, including this “recession”.

For example — according to the media, you KNOW that we are in a recession, and (if you are like the majority of people in the United States today) you allow that information to affect you in a negative way. This is your philosophy (or your OPINION) of the economic state of our country.

As a result of this opinion you have formed, you spend your day thinking about the economic crisis and of the negative effect it is having on your life (your business, education, family life, etc).

Consequently, as a result of this attitude you have on a day-to-day basis, you begin to ACT accordingly by becoming “money conscious” — spending less, taking measures to secure your job, downsizing, etc.

Your RESULTS then combine together to form the LIFESTYLE of someone who is constantly worrying about finances, job security, retirement, and the list goes on.

Well, I have something to inform you of now — in the words of Zig Ziglar, I have an announcement: “I hear there is a recession going on in this country, and I would just like you to know that [I] will NOT be participating.”

You may laugh — you may think to yourself “Hmm, I didn’t realize that was an option!”

Well, I’m here to tell you that it is. Turn off the TV, put down the newspaper, open up your internet browser and run a search for something you’ve always wanted! A dream house, a dream car, a vacation destination — dream a little!

Fill your mind with positive, uplifting thoughts. Allow those thoughts to consume you, think on them “all day long” and allow them to become a part of your attitude. Take actions that reflect this new attitude and you will soon begin to see the results and live the lifestyle that reflect it as well.

I leave you with a quote from one of the great financial geniuses of our day, Robert Kiyosaki:

“Inside of every problem lies an opportunity.”

Create an opportunity for yourself today — refuse to participate in the recession.

**EDIT** After posting this I sat down to read a little of Napoleon Hill’s masterpiece “Think and Grow Rich” (my current book of choice), and came across a quote that fits perfectly in with this post. Here it is, by Napoleon Hill:

“There are no limitations to the mind except those we aknowledge; both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought.”

What it is about some people that makes them successful, while others are not?

This thought is one that has plagued my mind many many times… and through my endless thoughts, and insights from great books by Brian Tracy, Michael Clouse, Napoleon Hill, etc, I have come to two conclusions:

1) Mindset and
2) Action

Let’s start with the first: They say that a successful lifestyle starts with a successful mindset. Believing that you are successful, and believing that you hold (within yourself) the power to achieve your dreams. For a while, this was my MAIN focus when it came to building my business. I let the thoughts of success consume me… and I figured that, hey — if you truly can become successful by thinking like a successful person, then I had it in the bag.

But this brings me to my second point — which is action. Now, this one has taken me longer to “get” — and I think many people have the same problem as me. There is a BIG difference in knowing what it takes to become a successful person (no matter what your ambition), an actually DOING what it takes to become a successful person.

That difference, (action), is what makes up the difference between successful and unsuccessful people.

You can read all the books, set all the goals and make all the plans — but if you never get down to DOING the actions, you will never succeed in life.

This new insight has had a powerful impact on my daily routine — I have my day fully mapped out on paper… in my day planner — that way, I know exactly what I should be doing at any given hour. I have time set aside for checking emails, cleaning the house, running errands, attending meetings, working out, calling prospects, training team members, etc. And I try (or should I say I am striving daily) to stick to that schedule until it becomes a habit.

I say this because I know that when I can habitually follow the schedule I have set for myself, I will have all the ingredients, perfectly combined, for success. Success will have become inevitable.

As always, I’ll leave you with a quote — this is on the desktop background of my computer, and it by Epictetus:

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

What a wonderful weekend! Quality time spent with family and friends with still enough time left over to get a jump-start on the work week!

Today I made two Scrolls with upcoming goals on them. Wondering what in the world a scroll is? Check out “The Oracle’s Secret” written by Anthony Fernando. I received the book as a Christmas gift from my mom, and I have to say it represents goal setting in the simplest form I’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read several books on the subject, and all have been great — but if you are looking for a straight-forward step-by-step book, this is it! One of the most unique aspects of the book is that it is written like a fictional novel, which makes the read much more interesting!

The boy in the book is told by the Oracle to write his goal out on a scroll (which is fitting for the time period of the story), and to review that scroll each morning and night. On the scroll is a statement of the goal, a picture of it, a description, action steps to reach it and a target date. Then, at the bottom, is a space to write the result of the goal and the lesson you learned along the way!

While I have many, many goals for myself, I chose to follow the advice of Michael Clouse in his CD series “Building a Better Life” and select one or two of the goals that would create the greatest effect in my life and focus my attention on them. For example, oftentimes with the achievement of a financial goal, you also reach a career goal (perhaps a promotion) and vice versa.

I also drew from a lesson found in Napoleon Hill’s classic, “The Law of Success”, which states that you must have one “chief aim” in life — or in other words, one goal that surpasses all the others in importance. Your main goal in life.

So seeing as how my chief aim is to attain financial freedom, which will then allow all of my other goals to be reached as well, I chose the following goals for my two scrolls:

#1: To reach the rank of Double Diamond by March 25, 2009. This date is not insignificant, as it is the day before our regional convention in Las Vegas. How rewarding to reach the goal before the event and be able to receive the recognition there rather than having to wait for the convention at the begininng of August!

#2: To own a Lexus RX350, Pebble Beach Edition by August of 2009. While this may seem like “just a car”, and not a financial or career goal, it really is all three. In order to afford the new car I would need to qualify for the monthly car bonus given by the company to anyone ranked as a director or above — so in essence my goal is to reach the rank of Director by the end of July 09 in order to qualify for the car bonus in the month of August! Reaching the rank of Director would also have an effect on my financial goals, as your income increases as your rank increases.

Do YOU have a goal? I took my two scrolls and hung them on a nail beside my bed. They are low enough to be inconspicuous from anywhere else in the room, but in just the right place for me to notice them each night as I go to sleep and each morning when I wake up — this is to remind me to read over my scrolls twice a day.

If you have a goal, but have always wondered about how to SET and ACHIEVE what you want in life, I encourage you to visit www.theoraclessecret.com and order the book for yourself — it truly is an EXCELLENT book and is short enough to be read in one sitting!

Quote of the Day — by Norman Vincent Peale

“Know what you want and believe that you can have it.”

There is something about a new year that makes me so excited! A fresh start, 365 new days to look forward to. A fresh take on your goals, and a full account of how well (or how not well) you did on the goals you set for yourself last year.

In reflecting on my past year, I am both proud of myself and disappointed. Some goals I reached, even surpassed, and yet of others I fell a bit short.

My number one goal for 2008 was to improve upon myself — and that, I feel, I did quite significantly. I don’t believe that at the beginning of the year I could even fathom the changes I would have the strength to create within myself over the next 12 months, but I did… and for that I am pleased, and grateful beyond measure.

I set a goal to get out of debt — another goal I succeeded in, although I hardly realized it until December 29th when I was finishing up my bookkeeping for the year. After signing one final check, placing it in the envelope and dropping it in the mail, I had accomplished my goal. What a since of freedom and pride that gave me!

I set a goal to double my business. This is one I did not quite reach. I (along with the help of my team) was able to take the number of people in my organization from 253, to 373 — not a bad number, but not what I was hoping for. In all honesty though, perhaps it was falling short of that goal that has lit a fire in my heart for making my business absolutely explode in 2009 — and explode it will, I can feel it.

I have done all the necessary preparations — every possible detail, to create an incredible growth in my business over the next 12 months. Things already seem to be falling into place — there is a feeling in my head and in my heart that simply will not accept “failure” as an option.

To put it even stronger, its as if failure does not exist.

I can’t say what exactly has put me in such an intense state of mind, most likely a combination of things. In part, it comes from a few of the books I’ve read over the past year; “Maximum Achievement” and “Goals” written by Brian Tracy, “Beach Money” written by Jordan Adler, “The Fifth Principle” by Michael Clouse and so many more.

Also, it comes in part from the CDs I’ve listened too; Michael Clouse’s “Building a Better Life”, “The Recepie for Success” and “How to Build the Network Marketing Business YOU Really Want”.

I know it comes in part from the encouragement and support I receive, daily, from Robert — his never-ending unquestioning faith in me… that I am destined to be successful.

I know it comes in part from the goals I have set for myself — and the great want in my heart to achieve them. “A life without a goal is like an arrow without a target”

Possibly it is also attributed in part to my growing up — even if it is just a little more. I feel as thought I have grown immensely in this past year, and for that, I am very grateful.

Regardless of where it has come from though, it’s there — this undeniable desire, thirst, for success. It is a thirst that cannot be quenched until the final destination has been reached, and so reaching it has become my only option.

When I look at this upcoming year in my mind, I cannot help but to smile — a huge giddy smile that is almost ridiculous. Some might call it daydreaming… but I see it as visualizing, seeing MY future in the way that I choose to make it.

I can’t wait — already this year is proving to be more than I have expected, and I have every belief that it will only continue to get better and better.

“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”