Treasure Your Dreams

One of my favorite books of all time is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. I was first introduced to this book by Michael Clouse at our Vegas convention in March of 09… and in the past year I have read it so many times the pages are already falling apart!

Love, love love that book!

The main concept in it is that your whole life is based on the little things you do (or don’t do) every day — it’s the little things that make all the difference. You are always moving either up the Slight Edge curve, or down it. You are never static.

For example, working out. Wow, do I hate to do it. I’ve ridden horses several days a week my whole life, up until a few years ago. Until I quit riding I never had a reason to do any other type of workout, but now… well, anyway.

I finally found a program that seems to be working for me… and by working I mean I actually will do it (most) days. I tried creating my own schedule, tried attending classes at a gym, tried sticking an elliptical in front of my TV… but so far P90X seems to be the only thing I’ve stuck with for any period of time.

Yesterday, I goofed. I did not do my P90X workout. Why not? Well, I wasn’t sick… I wasn’t injured… I wasn’t being held prisoner anywhere… I was just being lazy. I put it off all day, went to a church thing last night and got home late. Could of done it then, but I opted for bed instead.

So, yesterday, I travelled down the Slight Edge curve just a bit.

Can I tell any difference today? No. Can I suddenly not touch my toes because I failed one time to do the Yoga workout? No. But what if I skip today? Will I tell a difference tomorrow? Probably not.

If I skip the rest of this week though… then I might notice a small difference next week. If I skip the rest of the month… that difference will be a little bigger. If I skip the rest of this year… then I might as well have not ever started at all.

And what if I never workout again for the next 30 years?
And what if I do the opposite… what if I workout 6 days a week for the next 30 years.

A small daily decision doesn’t seem to make much difference. So what if you opt for the pizza instead of the salad? Who cares if don’t put a percentage of this week’s paycheck into your savings account? Does it really matter that much?

It might not matter much today… but those small decisions (or indecisions), compounded over time, make all the difference in your life.

If you think about it, the Slight Edge can be put to work in any area of your life — your finances, your career, your health, your family, your relationship with God, etc, etc, etc.

So my challenge to myself… and you too if you’re up for it… is to make it habit to have the Slight Edge work FOR you rather than against you. Start with one area, then add another, then another.

Before you know it you’ll be moving up, up, up! You might not notice it today… or tomorrow… or even next week. But I guarantee you that 30 years from now, you’ll be sitting up high on that mountain very happy that you’ve been climbing instead of digging!

The quote I leave you with is this, from the Slight Edge written by Jeff Olson (of course)…

“Time will either promote you or expose you”

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.”

You know, that light at the end of the tunnel. The one everyone says is there… but for some reason, you’re just not seeing it! With every turn you make you expect it to be there, and you’re imagining it so vividly that sometimes you actually convince yourself that you DO see it… only to have it disappear again.

So, where’s the light? Does it even exist? Believe me… it’s there.

It’s easy to become discouraged when you work towards something for a long time and don’t seem to be reaping the benefits. It’s easy to say to yourself “This isn’t working.” or, “Maybe it’s time to try something else.” But please, don’t give up!

There is one source I always turn to when I begin to wonder if that light is ever going to appear at the end of the tunnel. It reminds me that the light IS there… it always has been — but the only way I am ever going to reach it is by continuing to do the little things, every day, that take me closer to that light. If you’ve read very many of my blogs you probably already know where I’m heading with this… come on, you know what I’m talking about… “The little things that are easy to do, and also easy not to do”

The source I’m talking about, of course, is “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — what a FANTASTIC book!! So encouraging, so uplifting and yes… so realistic. Sometimes, this concept truly brings me back to reality.

You see, what this book teaches is that life’s journey takes place on a slope — and you are always either moving UP the slope, or going back down it. If you aren’t going up, you are going down… you are NEVER staying in the same place! Now of course it can sometimes appear that you are in the same place… for example if you spend 3 days going UP and the next 3 going down… well, at the end of 6 days you are pretty much where you started. My question to you is, do you want to be constantly climbing or constantly sliding? I can probably guess your answer.

Of course we all want to be constantly climbing up life’s slope of success. We want to be healty, successful, financially secure. We want to have great relationships, friendships, careers. We want to live in a clean house, drive a clean car and stay caught up on our laundry. We want to be physically fit, eat healthy meals and take our vitamins.

But do we? Ha… I can probably guess your answer to that one too

Reality is, you are always going up or sliding down. It’s the little things you do (or don’t do) every day that determine whether you are moving towards that light at the end of the tunnel, or walking away from it. Consistency is the key here! You can go along at a steady pace for a few days, then with just a few days of mess ups you find yourself winding your way back through the tunnel towards the direction you came from.

In his book, Jeff Olson gives several examples of how The Slight Edge is constantly at work in our lives…

If you decide not to go to the gym, you aren’t going to get flabby…. today.
If you decide to eat a couple of donuts, you aren’t going to gain 30 pounds… today.
If you decide to go on a shopping spree, you aren’t going to spiral into debt… today.
If you choose not to complete your “To Do” List, your business isn’t going to fail… today.

Get the point? The little things we decide to do (or not do) aren’t going to have that much affect of our lives… today. BUT, compounded over time, it is these little decisions that will determine whether or not you end up on the UPWARD climb or the downward spiral of life’s slope.

What if you decided not to go to the gym, one day at a time, for 20 years? What if you decided to eat a couple of donuts for breakfast, one morning at a time, for 20 years? What if you decided to go on a major shopping spree, every week, for 5 years? By now, I’m sure you get the point.

All that life is, is a compilation of little decisions compounded over time. Good decisions or bad ones, it doesn’t matter — the Slight Edge works both ways! And the biggest secret is that The Slight Edge does not care about tomorrow, or yesterday. It only cares about today, in this moment. Wherever you are on life’s slope, you can make the decision beginning today that you are going to be climbing UP, not sliding down. You are going to be moving towards that light at the end of the tunnel… not walking away from it.

So, if you have been wondering “Where’s the light” in your life lately… take a look at your Slight Edge decisions. Make the decision to do (or not do) the little things every day that will be moving you forward and not pushing you back!

The Slight Edge is my reality check. It makes me accountable to myself, and to my own progress. When I’m not where I want to be, when my goals are being reached as quickly as I would like them to be, I force myself to become completely honest with myself about my Slight Edge decisions… and in those decisions (always) is the answer!

The quote I leave you with is this, one of my favorites, by Jeff Olson:
“Time will either promote you, or expose you.”

The book I’m currently reading is a classic — one of those books that has been referred to me over, and over again and one of those books that I have picked up and started reading several times, but never finished.

I think some books are like that — you have to be in the right place, and at the right time, in order to fully benefit from what’s written inside. I remember one of the first personal development books I ever read… the first one that had any real impact on my life — “Maximum Achievement” written by Brian Tracy. In the very beginning it says that everything you read in that book should have a “feel good” feeling attached to it; if it doesn’t, then you aren’t ready to read it yet and you should come back to it at another time.

I feel like that is the place I’ve reached with the book I’m reading now — “How to Win Friends and Influence People”

I’ve thought a lot about why I’ve never brought myself to finish this book before now… it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for 3 1/2 years, unopened. The first two chapters have turned down pages and underlined sentences, but after that point… well, it might as well be brand new.

The mistake I made was one I would never make today — for many reasons. I took it with me to high school. I left it sitting on my desk next to my text books and I can still hear the comment that was made by a person in my class as if they were standing beside me right now, “Wow — what kind of book is that?! I can’t believe you’re reading a book about tricking people into being your friend.”

Ouch. Talk about a shot to someone’s self confidence! There I was, new not only to the industry of Network Marketing but also to this incredible world of personal development and one of my peers just snuffed out that small spark that was beginning to burn there. I took the book home, put it in my nightstand drawer and haven’t opened it since.

Over the past 3 1/2 years I have heard it recommended by countless people and countless sources. It can be found in the “Recommended Reading” section of virtually every single other book I’ve read. But none of those things were strong enough to drown out that one crushing comment.

What finally made me pick it back up? In all honesty, I couldn’t tell you — because I really don’t know. I finished Jeff Olsen’s “The Slight Edge” last week, put it back on the shelf and spent a couple of minutes scanning the titles of the books on my personal development shelf. I debated with myself whether to re-read an old favorite or to pick something new, and for some reason something made me pick up this book.

Wow, am I glad I did. I have been missing out on SO much!

You see, the mistake I made 3 1/2 years ago was not so uncommon. It’s the same mistake so many people make when they get excited about a new goal they have set for themselves. It’s the same mistake that causes so many people to fail in their attempt to reach their dreams — my mistake was this:

In my excitement about my new goal — to pursue Network Marketing, and begin my personal development education, I didn’t care WHO knew. I was so excited that I wanted to share this goal, this dream of mine, with anyone and everyone no matter who they were.

My parents were so supportive of my new venture that, in my mind, why wouldn’t everyone else be just as excited for me?

What a huge mistake.

I believe it was something in Jeff Olsen’s book, “The Slight Edge”, that caused me to realize why that person had criticized my reading choice so many years ago; that reason being that the main reason people criticize another person’s dreams is because if that person sets a big goal and reaches it, then they themselves have failed. They see their own failure in that other person’s success — they see their own fears, their own doubts, their own unfulfilled and unsatisfying life.

Their only defense is to criticize that person — in hopes of deterring them from following their dream.

 Reality is, the bigger your dream, the more criticism you will encounter along your path to reaching it. Guard your dreams — hold them close to your heart. Nurture them, daily, through the expansion of your own belief. Share them only with those you know, like and trust; only with those who will be just as supportive and nurturing of them as you will be.

Then, one day, your dreams WILL be strong enough for you to share with the world. You may still face criticism, but you (and your dreams) will be strong enough to handle that criticism and use it to empower you rather than allowing it to hold you back.

Never be afraid to dream big. Dream as big as you can! Through big dreams will come big successes — and through those successes you will create for yourself and incredible, incredible life.

My challenge to you today, is to remember a dream you once had. Maybe it was crushed by someone; maybe it has been placed on the bookshelf of your life and left there to collect dust. Take it down, dust it off, and start dreaming again. Nurture it, grow your own belief in it — and, if you must share it with someone, share it with someone who will help it grow, not with someone who will stomp on it again.

Oh, and go read Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends and Influence People”, it is truly an incredble book that should be read by everyone! I can promise you it doesn’t teach you how to “trick people into being your friend.” What great insight on human relationships and dealing with people in day-to-day life… it’s called a masterpiece and a classic for a reason!  

The quote I leave you with is this, by Jeff Olsen from his book “The Slight Edge” — it’s kind of a long one:

“If you are one of those rare and special five-percenters who decides to ignore gravity and take to the sky…who chooses to break free of the downward pull of life and rise to a higher quality of life, accomplishment and success, to be a pioneer and risk discomfort and ridicule for the sake of your dreams — well, I’ve got good news and bad news.

The good news is, you’re already exceptionally well oriented toward success.

The bad news is, all those ninety-five others are going to be yanking on you, sitting on you, naysaying and doomsaying on you, and doing their level best to pull you back down. Why? Because if you succeed, you’ll make them look as scared and desperate as they’re afraid they really are.

If you win, they lose. If you succeed, they fail.”

Would you rather have a penny, that will be put in a bank account with the total amount doubled every day for a month, or would you rather have 1 million dollars?

On impluse, most of us would probably choose the million dollars – however, I’m here to tell you… that would be a REALLY bad choice! You see, if you have a penny, and each day over the course of the month you double its value (Day 1: 1 cent, Day 2: 2 cents, Day 3: 4 cents, Day 4: 8 cents, etc…), by the end of the 30th day you would have over 5 MILLION dollars in that bank account!

Don’t believe me? Do the math!

This is the incredible value of what we call compound interest — and it works in ALL areas of your life; not just with pennies!

This was one of the many enlightenments I received while reading Jeff Olson’s incredible masterpiece, “The Slight Edge”

Everything we do in life is connected to compound interest — especially the little things! You know, those little things we do (or don’t do) every day that, when compounded over time, make ALL the difference!

It could be something like going to the gym — no, if you don’t go you aren’t going to die of a heartattack…today. But if make that little choice “not to workout today”, or this week, or this month, you will look up 20 years from now and find yourself overweight and out of shape. All of those “not todays” will have compounded over time to produce a very negative result!

But what if you choose TO workout today, and then you get up tomorrow and choose to workout that day too, and then get up the next day and choose to workout again?! Even if it is something as simple as spending 20 minutes jogging around your neighborhood, those 20 minutes a day, compounded over time, will produce a very POSITIVE result!

The same goes for eating healthy, putting a little money in a savings account, taking time to develop yourself daily, improving your performance in your career, enhancing your relationships, etc.

Most couples, when they are filing for divorce, cannot name “that one thing” that ended it all — normally, it’s “all the little things” that were… that’s right, compounded over time.

Take a minute to reflect on your day today, or even your last week — is your life heading up the success curve or down the steep slope of failure? When you look at the big picture, it can sometimes be hard to tell; but it’s those little actions (or inactions) each day that take you where you want to go.

Decide today to get on the success curve. No, you won’t see the results…today. You probably won’t even see them tomorrow, or the next day — or even the next week, or the next month. BUT when you continue to do those little things every day, in each area of your life, you WILL look up in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and see a VERY positive result!

The quote I leave you with is this, by the author of “The Slight Edge”, Jeff Olsen:

“Time will either promote you or expose you.”