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!”

How well rounded is your life? I know for me personally, there have been many times where it was pretty oddly shaped! One of the most valuable concepts I ever learned from Michael Clouse was that you should look at your life like a wheel with 7 spokes — or in other words, the 7 areas of your life.

Each spoke needs to be even (or relatively so) in order for your wheel to roll smoothly across the ground. Otherwise, it will stutter and stop completely.

The Family/Relationship Side:

Reality is, we were created to have relationships — we were created to have friends! How is this side of your life looking?

Do you have a good relationship with your family? Do you have friends in your life that you can count on? If you can answer YES to those questions, then chances are you doing quite well in this department.

Personally, this has been an area I have struggled with in the past. Over the past several months though, I can say without a doubt that my relationship with my family has never been better, and God has blessed me with some pretty awesome friends in my life.

That brings me to the second part…

The Spiritual Side:

How’s yours looking? If you’re wondering “What is this?” then chances are you don’t have it. Whatever your personal beliefs are, you should be living them out fully!

Again, this has been something I have struggled with in the past. About a year ago though, I found this awesome church and as a result have gotten plugged into a couple of study groups. Something I am still actively working on is setting aside time each day to read my Bible — so while this spoke of my wheel may not be perfectly round (and really, are any of them ever perfect?) I have to say I am feeling pretty good about this area.

Moving on…

The Career Side:

Here’s a big one! In fact, you are probably spending about 40 hours a week on your career. How do you like it? Do you feel happy with where you’re at? Is it what you’ve always seen yourself doing? Are you moving forward?

No one likes to be stalled out in their careers. So do a check on yours and see how you feel about it! You don’t need to be living on your dream job in order to be completely happy in this area, but you should probably at least feel like you are moving that direction.

Personally, I love my career. I know that there is not another out there that would be better for me!

The Social/Cultural Side:

What are you doing to move yourself forward in this area? Maybe you don’t even know what this area is… I know I didn’t, until I learned it from Michael Clouse a couple of years ago.

Think of it this way… let’s say you are doing GREAT on the career side of your life. You’ve gotten a couple of promotions, a pretty hefty raise, and during this time you’ve married a great person.

Because of your new status within the company, you are asked to attend a formal dinner, hosted by the CEO. You don your fancy clothes, get into your brand new BMW (hefty raise, remember?) and head out.

Then, during dinner, you proceed to: put your elbows on the table, talk with your mouth full, forget to use your napkin and *gasp* eat your salad with the wrong fork.

See what I’m getting at? As you move forward in your life, you should be doing and learning things that bring you forward culturally as well! Read a few books, go to some plays, maybe study a foreign language! Consider this area to be self education.

Personally, I do read quite a few books — other than that though, there’s not much I do in this area. Something I’ve been wanting to do is brush up on my French (haven’t studied it since high school) — but I just haven’t done it yet. While I don’t feel too terribly out of the loop yet, I know that I need to get on the ball or else I will fall behind in this area.

Something to work at

The Health Side:

Basically there are 3 things in this area: Are you working out? Are you eating healthy? Are you getting enough sleep?

A good exercise program is essential to good health. So go buy you a couple of dumbbells, maybe a pull up bar, and go for a walk a few days a week. One program I recently started and highly recommend (if you’re up to it) is P90X — you can read all about it at http://www.beachbody.com

You also have to eat healthy! Drink those 8 glasses of water a day! Lay off the junk food (I may possibly be the world’s worst in this category) and eat a few more veggies and fruits!

Finally, are you getting enough sleep? Many people don’t realize how important sleep is to your overall health. So do your best to turn off the TV and get in bet a little earlier. Make sure you’re getting as close to those 8 hours as possible!

(almost done now…)

The Financial Side:

How are you doing here? Are you in debt? That’s okay if you are, but you should be working on getting out of it. Is your salary where you want it to be (this part links into your career)? Are you putting money in a savings account each time you get paid?

After all, what good would it do you to earn a large income, and then get ruined one day due to an emergency because you had failed to save any of it? Something we should all be working on is earning, saving and investing.

A good book on this topic is The Richest Man in Babylon — I highly recommend it!!

And finally…

The Fun Side!

Are you having fun? Are you a fun person to be around? What good is it to have everything going for you in life, but to not be having fun while you’re at it?

So many people set financial goals, career goals, health goals… but they forget to set FUN goals! All I can say here is make sure you are setting aside time each week to have a little fun in your life

That’s about it! This formula, since I started actively working on it, has made my life infinitely better! There is just something to be said about living a well rounded life. After all, like Michael Clouse has said — What good would it be to have all the money in the world, and not be healthy enough to spend it? What good would it be to have the career of your dreams, but to see your life falling apart at home?

Check your spokes — work on the ones that need some help, cut back on the ones that are demanding too much time, and watch your life transform before your eyes!

The quote I leave you with today is this, by Jim Rohn:

“To have more, we must first become more.”

We’ve all made them — we wake up on January 1st, determined that “this year will be better!”

This year I will work out consistently.
This year I will save 10% of my income.
This year I will go to church every Sunday.
This year I will…. (you fill in the blank).

And we all know where it goes from there! You stick to your resolution… for a couple of weeks. Maybe a month. If you’re REALLY motivated, you might make it 2 or 3. Then, as all the hype and excitement from the New Year begins to fade, so does your motivation.

THEN 365 days later… you find yourself making the same empty promises to yourself as you did the year before.

So what can we do to end this vicious cycle? What if I told you there was a way to set a “New Year’s Resolution” 4 times a year? Do you think that might be easier? Of course it would!

The method is simple — divide your life into 90 day increments. Set 90 Day goals, a 90 Day Game-plan, and a 90 Day Schedule.

Looking ahead a full year in advance is difficult to do — there is too much time between the act of setting the goal, and the day of accountability. You tell yourself “Oh, it’s only January”… “It’s only March”… “It’s only June, I have half the year left!” Then, you look up and find yourself saying “It’s DECEMBER! How am I ever going to reach this goal now?”

If, however, you set your life up in increments of 90 days, you will find yourself working towards smaller goals that must be completed in a shorter period of time. 12 weeks is all you get — no ifs, ands, or buts about it!

You will be able to look at your calendar and find no logical reason why you could put your goal off for another day, or another week. The day you set your goal is already crunch time — you don’t have the option to procrastinate!

Once you have determined your goals, set up a game-plan for reaching those goals. This is called your Daily Action Steps. Do something each day that will take you one step closer to reaching each goal you have set for yourself.

If your goal is to weigh a certain amount… go for a walk, or spend some time at the gym!
If your goal is to reach a certain income level… go prospecting and do a presentation!
If your goal is to spend more time with your family… take your kids to the park after school!

But as you set up your goals, remember this: These are 90 day goals, so don’t be too hard on yourself! Make sure your goal holds up to the “reality check” — is it doable? Can it be accomplished in the amount of time you have allowed? Start out small, and don’t spread yourself too thin. You are much more likely to reach a goal if it is not too overwhelming!

If you are not in the habit of setting and reaching goals, then begin with VERY small goals! Develop the habit of reaching goals! Become accostomed to that feeling you get when you reach the end of the 90 Day Period and you can say to yourself “I did it!” That feeling alone will keep you more motivated during the next 90 Day cycle.

The final important thing I will share with you today is this: Once you have set a 90 Day Goal, become COMMITTED to reaching it!

And with that, the quote I leave you with today is this:
“Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the feeling you said it in has passed”

We’re all familiar with the common name to describe a person who is always negative. You know, that person who never has a good thing to say about ANYTHING. That person who blames everything and everyONE (except themselves, of course) for anything bad that happens TO them.

Unfortunately for them, bad things probably happen to them pretty often. When they say “Nothing ever goes my way”, they probably aren’t too far from the truth — in fact, it’s probably not an exageration at all.

Because you see, Debbie Downer keeps his/her thoughts on the negative side of the spectrum. They are constantly thinking about the things they DON’T want, and rarely (if ever) spend time focusing on the positive things that COULD potentially happen to them or for them!

They see the negative in every situation, and therefore, they see the all of the negative things that could/should/will happen to them rather these thoughts are meritted or not.

Poor Debbie Downer — you really can do nothing but feel sorry for him/her. Because you see, for Debbie Downer, success and happiness will be virtually impossible UNTIL (or unless) they change their thinking!

 People so often overlook the power of their own thoughts — but the mind, specificaly the subconsious mind, is a very powerful tool, not to be taken lightly.

I feel as if I constantly referring back to the post on the 5 points that can ultimately lead to your success; your philosophy, your attitude, your actions, your results, and your lifestyle.

You see if your philosophy (your opinion) is that you never catch a break, the world is a horrible place with horrible people, and that nothing EVER goes your way, then that philosophy translates into your attitude.

Your attitude is what you think about all day long — so if you constantly have negative thoughts, then you will have a negative attitude.

Your attitude then determines your actions — you operate based on this phiolosphy and your thoughts that result from it. You don’t trust people, you expect something bad to be lurking behind every corner, and unfortunatley for you — you are rarely dissapointed.

Because you see, your actions create your results, and your results in turn create your lifestyle. So, a negative phiolosophy, leads to a negative lifestyle. Plain and simple!

You may be wondering by now, HOW does a Debbie Downer go about changing? What can he/she do to experience a radical change in his/her life that will turn it around for the better?

Well, it will take some reprogramming — some practice — and most of all, persistance.

I reccommend Maximum Achievement, by Brian Tracy as a GREAT place to start! This book will (among countless other things) teach you about the Seven Laws of Mental Mastery — just as the law of gravity and the laws of physics are in effect all day every day, whether you are aware of them or not, so are the 7 mental laws.

He will teach you about becoming an “inverse paranoid”, or in other words — how to become convinced that the world is out to do you GOOD!

No one likes a Debbie Downer — and a negative outlook on life will lead to nothing but discouragement and letdowns — do not let your mindset stand in the way of your success!

 The quote I leave you with is this, by Brian Tracy:

“Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.”

When I was little I used to take all of my dolls, set them up in chairs with papers and books and “teach” them. I LOVED playing school! Part of me has always wanted to be a teacher, at least of some kind.

I recently shared that story with someone and was posed with the question “Well, why didn’t you become a teacher then?”

I’ve often thought about this question… long before this particular conversation even took place. The conclusion I have reached is I AM a teacher! That is truly what I do, all day long, is teach!

If I am talking to prospects, I am teaching them about a business opportunity that has the power to totally transform their lives! How rewarding! My job, every day, is to share my story about a company, a product and an industry that I believe in — how many teachers can say that much?

I get to share, what I believe, is the best opportunity in the world with as many people as I can every day — how cool is that?

It goes further than that though… once a prospect DOES decide to join, I get to teach them how to own and operate their own business — something that most of them have never done before! I get to witness the excitement, the nervousness, the dissapointments, AND best of all the successes that every single one of my team members has as they make their journey with their new business!

I get to teach people the action steps they need to pursue a life of not only financial freedom, but the freedom of their time as well — I get to teach people how to reach their dreams!!

Lastly, I get to teach people (some not even on MY team) about goal setting, the power of visualization and positive thinking, how to personally improve their lives and theirselves to a point where most of them didn’t even realize was possible!

So, in short, my answer to that person’s question is; “I AM a teacher!! I teach all day long!”

I love what I do — I love everything about it, really. Not too many people can say that about what they do all day every day!

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by one of the geniuses of our day, Zig Ziglar –

“You can have anything you want, if you help enough other people get what they want!”