Treasure Your Dreams

It’s SO tempting to give up when the going gets tough — no matter what area of life you might be dealing with. It’s important to remember though that those who push through the hard times are the same ones who get to experience the great times!

Nothing great every comes easily… you must be willing to persevere and stick with it until you see the success you’ve been shooting for!

If you don’t have the motivation to work through the hard times, then your “Why” obviously isn’t big enough — if your WHY (your reason for doing whatever it is you’re doing) is big enough, then you won’t be able to quit… you will want that success too bad to give up!

So whatever you’re tackling in life, make sure your reason for doing it is clearly defined, then remind yourself of that reason every day and get busy working towards your goal! And whatever you do… if you want to win, don’t quit!

The quote I leave you with is this, by one of my mentors and friends, Michael S. Clouse,

“Always move towards your dreams!”

Hands down, one of my favorite things about my chosen profession is that you can incorporate your work into your already busy lifestyle.

I’ve always known this was possible, but it took a long time for me to actually “get it” — once I did though, my life and my business changed incredibly!

Admittedly, before I “got it” my day-to-day schedule was pretty boring. Like most people, I lived for the weekends and for vacations. One of the few advantages I had over the typical 9-5 person was that I was in charge of my schedule — but I was looking for more benefits than that.

I can’t pinpoint an exact moment when I began to make the shift… from living with two separate schedules (life and work) to blending my day into a fun mix of the two… I don’t believe there really was such a moment; more of a gradual change as my mind began to truly wrap around what was possible.

I have always read about lifestyling your business — it’s something I’ve heard about from many different trainers, and even taught on myself. It took several years though for me to finally begin living it!

Yesterday I spent less than 3 hours in the “office” — I was gone from 11:30 – 4:30 eating lunch, shopping and going to a movie with my Nana and my little sister. Talk about a rough Monday

While I was gone though, I met 4 prospective business partners… the man who processed my order at Kinkos; the waiter at Cheddars; and the two people behind the counter at KKs Craft Mall. If you’re a Network Marketer who is actively building a team, then you know prospecting is the lifeblood of your business. Without people to talk to, your business can’t grow, and your team cannot develop. I would have never met 4 people yesterday had I chosen to sit at home and “work” instead of to go out and “play” !

Sometimes I look at the giant calendar on my desk and wonder how on earth I ever get any work done…  appointments like shopping with my Mom, attending church functions and volunteering are scribbled all over it. Then I think back though and remember all the conversations that have come out of those activities. I think about all the presentations that have come out of those conversations, and all the new business partners (and friends) I will have the privilege of working with all because I chose to meld my work time with my play time.

I think back to the time, not too terribly long ago, when I would spend my work day making 50+ phone calls to prospects who had answered an ad online. This worked. I built a good business doing it. But it wasn’t NEAR as much fun as lifestyling! 

So my question to you is this — when you’re playing are you working, and when you’re working are you playing? If you’re not, then you haven’t truly discovered the joys of this industry! You shouldn’t stop living your life because you’re too busy working, but then neither should you stop working because you’re too busy living your life. If you will learn how to combine the two though, your life (and your business) will never be the same!

The quote I leave you with is this, by Arnold Glasgow:

“Make your life a mission — not an intermission.”

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.”

When you set a goal, do you believe you will reach it? I’m sure you at least hope you will… think you might… but do you truly, truly believe that it will happen?

There’s a phrase I’m sure you’ve heard of — “Fake it ’till you make it.” And that is exactly what you must do when you set a new goal. You need to talk the talk and walk the walk as if the possibility of not reaching whatever goal you have set for yourself is simply just not an option. It’s already happened — it’s a done deal, no matter what.

When you can adopt that philosophy, your whole world will begin to shift. I know mine did! Oh I know some people look at my like I’m crazy when I say things like “Oh yeah well this time next year my check will be ______”, or “In two years we’re moving into __________ neighborhood”, etc — but in my mind those things are already a reality, and I see no problem sharing my belief with others!

Now don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to go out there blurting all your goals to everyone you meet — if you want to know why, you should check out my blog post on that subject here: http://treasureyourdreams.com/treasure/?p=55

What I’m saying is that you should eventually be able to reach a point when you are completely comfortable with your goals — a point where they are already such a part of your life (through the reality in your mind) that you can’t imagine your future without them! It is at this point that magical things will begin to happen in your life — as long you have the belief to back up the actions, and the actions to back up the belief, you will be unstoppable!

 The quote I leave you with is this (one of my all time favorites), by Paul J. Meyer:

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

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt

Never be afraid to take risks; to have the courage to pursue your dreams; to take the chance of failing at something. Failure is really never possible unless you simply quit trying – until then, it is simply a delay on your journey to success. Successful people not only dream big, but DO big as well – when you dream big and complete big actions to follow those dreams, success won’t be too far behind.