Treasure Your Dreams

Wow, there’s just something about listening to a call by Michael Clouse that gets my head spinning. Whether it be a live call, his recorded material or (my personal favorite) at a live event, the information he has to share is always relevant and applicable no matter how many times you’ve heard it before.

Tonight he did a short 30 minute call as a gear-up for our upcoming Texas Event in January. On a side note — man, I can’t WAIT to see everyone again! I guess I will never understand those who grumble and complain about attending live events because  they are one of my FAVORITE things about this business! It was just a little over 2 months ago that I saw everyone last, and already I can’t wait until the next time we meet… just 88 more days!

But back to Michael Clouse… tonight he shared 5 Steps you should take if you are wanting to propel your business forward. While yes, these steps are fabulous for your Network Marketing business, they can be applied to any one’s life in a general sense as well — so here they are:

#1: Decide What You Want

Surprisingly, this one is tougher than it may initially seem. What do YOU want out of your life? What do you want? If you could create your perfect future, what would it look like? Start with something easy… start with 12 months from today. What do you want your life to look like 12 months from now? To make it even easier, don’t even worry about your WHOLE life (yet), focus on one area — if you have your own business (or are in an industry where your income is directly proportional to something you do, rather than a fixed salary) then I suggest you use your income. If you’re not, focus on something that IS in your control.

For me, what came to mind is “What number do I want to see on my check in November of 2010, and what title do I want to have in front of my name?”

#2: WHY do you want it?

Behind every good goal, there is a strong why. Why, you ask? Well, because without the WHY it becomes much to easy to say “Why not.”

As in… “Why not put this off for another day, another week, another month, another…” Yeah, you get the idea.

So — WHY do you want what you said you wanted in #1? Think about it, be honest with yourself… but here’s the trick — as Michael Clouse shared with us on tonight’s call, life WILL get in the way of your goals. If you want to achieve those goals, your WHY must be bigger than anything that could get in the way!

I have a few “whys”…
The first, I have always promised myself that I would start riding again once I reached a certain title. I’m going with the “work hard now, play hard later” mentality and I know that if I dedicate these few years to my business, then I will reach a point where I can ride every day for the rest of my life if I so choose. A little hint… if I reach the title goal I set for next November — I WILL start riding again. After a 4 year hiatus from a passion I pursued everyday for 12 years, I will finally be “back in the saddle” (quite literally, really).
My other whys are more generic… financial security, time freedom, the usual. And then one other that is very personal and close to my heart — a newly developed “why” that just might prove to be the strongest of them all.

SO — what’s your WHY?

#3: Make a Game Plan

Michael Clouse suggests something that I have found to be a gold mine in my life — break your 12 months down into 4, 90 Day chunks. Mother Nature has this one pretty well figured out with the whole seasons thing… reality is, people need “something new” every 3 months or so.

If you focus on an entire 12 months with nothing in between, chances are you will not reach your goal. You will (more than likely) procrastinate, letting the 12-month-mark sneak up on you until all of a sudden BAM! there it is and, well, you’re not much further along than you were a year ago!

3 months though… that’s not very long! So — make a game plan! Set “mini-goals” for how far you want to be along the path to your 12-month goal. For example… where do you want to be on February 1st, May 1st, August 1st, and November 1st (your 12 months)

Get it? Great! Moving on…

#4: Commit!!

Michael Clouse made an interesting point tonight… commitment has become a lost art. I love the definition of commitment he shares — “Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the feeling you said it in has passed.”

Think about that for a moment — have you ever got really excited about something, promised to do a lot of things and then, 1-2 weeks later realize you over-extended yourself and maybe you just don’t feel up to doing all the things you said you would do anymore?

Of course you have, but unfortunately, that’s too bad. You committed, you must do it anyway! Your ability to stay committed to something long after you have promised to do it says a lot about your integrity and who you are as a person. This is something that I struggle in daily — I’m really good at steps 1-3… but when it comes to sticking with the game plans I set, well… that’s something I work on daily!

This is a good example of why it’s important to have a strong WHY for your goal. A strong why will help keep you motivated and help the “feeling you said it in” to stay with you for longer.

So… BE COMMITTED!

#5: Take Action, Get Better!

Once you’ve decided exactly what it is that you want, figured out why it is that you want it, created a game plan for how to get it and committed yourself to following through (no matter what), the only thing left to do is simply DO IT!

So, what is it that you have to do to reach your goals? If you will apply these 5 steps to any area of your life you wish to improve upon, you will be amazed at what your life will look like 12-months from the time you start. What’s holding you back? Make a goal for yourself today… whether it be a business goal, a financial goal, a fitness goal, a fun goal, a spiritual goal, a relationship goal or a social/cultural goal — set ONE! And then go through the 5 steps and get started achieving it today!

The quote I leave you with is this:
“A goal without a deadline is nothing but a wish.”

I had the honor of spending 6 hours listening to Michael Clouse speak at our company convention in Las Vegas this past Friday. It’s funny, because of those 6 hours, there was one phrase, really 3 words, that I believe will have the most incredible impact on my business growth over the next few months, and even years.

Of course, there were so many wonderful things shared by Michael, as well as by our company leaders, this weekend, and I definitely came away with much more knowledge and insight than what I arrived with, but this one phrase is what really stuck with me.

More ironically still, is that this phrase is not even one of Michael’s own, but rather a quote he shared with us by Paul J. Meyer:

“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”

Enthusiastically act upon.

Wow. What an incredible and powerful phrase.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am all about goal setting — it was on that topic that I gave my own presentation. I have read several books, listened to several audios and taken down many notes on the subject. Another one of my favorites is the power of your mind; visualization, the Mental Laws, etc.

But what about the power of action?

Without action, goals have no power. Without action, the activation of the Mental Laws and the power of Visualization will have no effect. They will be empty.

It is action that drives those goals. It is action that makes those laws work in our favor!

Action.

But not just action — enthusiastic action. How incredible is that?

I looked up some synonyms for the word enthusiastic. This is what I found:

eager, fervent, zealous, passionate, vehemet, fervid, impassioned.

Again, WOW!

Imagine, if you were to go about your daily tasks eagerly, fervently, zealously, passionately, etc.

Imagine the possibilities!

I can’t speak for you, but I can speak for myself — and I know that while I do tru to spend time each day vividly imagining my goals, and while I do ardently desire them and sincerely believe that they will one day become a reality in my life, I very rarely approach my actions enthusiastically.

I can’t remember ever saying to myself, “WOW I just can’t WAIT to dial that phone today! Whoo hoo!”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike what I do. Far from it. I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I love talking to people, teaching people, watching them realize their goals again and then helping them take the action steps to reach those goals. BUT — this does not mean that I always approach the mundane tasks of every day with an enthusiastic attitude.

Usually my thoughts to myself are more along the lines of, “Well, I need to get these calls done so I can _____________.”

What about you?

Not too long ago I blogged on another insight I acquired by listening to Michael Clouse — he talked about waking up each day and doing the #1 most important thing you could possibly do that day. Regardless of whether you are a network marketer, a student, or anything else, we ALL have that one thing, every day that is THE most important thing we could possibly accomplish.

You can read that blog here: http://treasureyourdreams.com/treasure/?p=47

My challenge to you, and of course to myself as well, is to make it a goal for the next 90 days to appraoch your #1 most important thing each day with ENTHUSIASM! Then, take a look at then end of 90 days and see what it has done for your life. I think you and I both will be amazed.

It seems only fitting that the quote I leave you with is this, by Paul J. Meyer:

“Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”

This is the thought, or rather the question, weighing most heavily on my mind tonight. For that reason, this blog will be different from my others. Typically, I try to write about things I know; tonight I come from the opposite side of the coin — I will write about something I have a desire to know.

What makes a leader?

I have always aspired to be a leader, but the truth of the matter is, I have really never had anyone to lead. Now, as I see leaders — or rather, potential leaders — begin to form within my team I feel this huge burden to BE a leader to them.

My first instinct is to run to Barnes and Noble, pick up every book I can find on leadership and read and read and read until I “get it” — I know this wouldn’t be a bad place to start, but I know also that this is not enough.

Unfortunately, leaders are not born overnight. In order to become a leader, one must gain the trust and respect of those he or she wishes to lead. Reading books on leadership will not make someone a leader — so what will?

The most logical answer I can come up with is to lead by example — in order to become a leader, one must become a person worthy of being followed.

So, if this is true, then the best way to become a leader is to continually be working on improving oneself.

If I want my team members to commit to their businesses, I must be commited.
If I want my team members to consistently call their prospects, I must be consistent.
If I want my team members to become good managers of their time, I must become a good manager of my own.
If I want my team members to become great leaders, I must first become a great leader.

When you look at the great leaders in history, the best ones are remembered for practicing what they preached. That is what I, what anyone striving to become a leader, must work towards every day.

How could I ever ask someone to do what I do not do myself?

This concept of leadership is a new challenge to me — however, I can only surmise from recent circumstances that it is a challenge that I am ready for; a challenge I can overcome.

The Law of Attraction states that you attract people who are like yourself — in his CD “Recipe for Success”, Michael Clouse states that in looking at the people you have brought into your business, you will be able to see a reflection of yourself.

Well, to me, that reflection is one of leadership. For the first time I can truly look at my team and “see” 5 leaders, or rather, 5 people with the qualities to become leaders if they themselves are lead properly.

In James 1 it states that “God will never test you beyond what you can bear.” God would never hand me leaders to lead, if I was incapable of leading them.

Based on these two things; the law of attraction, backed up by God’s Word, I can only surmise that this test is truly one I am ready for. I am nervous, I am excited, but more than anything I am committed to learning what it takes to become a leader.

I know I do not have all the answers. But I do know that I will start at the most logical place; within myself. I will continue to work daily towards improving myself; however unlike before there is a new passion driving my actions.

In order to truly help others improve THEIR lives, I must constantly be working toward improving my own.

The quote I leave you with today is this, by Michael S Clouse:

“Leadership is knowledge is action!”

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.”