It's Simple, it's not easy but it's simple!!

What a month!!

I did a teleconference yesterday to our company and I normally really look forward to these calls. I see them as an opportunity for me to share the things I am going through and look forward to finding the positive direction that exists with those experiences. Over the past several weeks I have had the hardest time finding motivation to consistently do my "job". There were some things we found in doing our annual company audit that showed a past employee had falsified data that we were driving many of our decisions around. It was disappointing to think that someone you paid not only did a horrible job maintaining their workload but also went out of their way to purposely deceive and destroy something you were working so hard to build. I can remember many times of supporting this past employee and many other employees to find their failures out after they are gone. It had a huge impact on our entire team and we have all been doing double duty to clean up what one person was allowed to undermine. The angst, the fears, the frustration the anger?? I started asking myself why do I really want to jack with all of this crap? 

It took me to a low spot I had not been at in a long while and I really wanted to understand how this was having such a huge impact. I have this never ending belief system that I can accomplish anything I want to accomplish. I also have the same belief system for all of those around me. I am very black and white in the capitalist dream that all people have the opportunity to raise themselves up and be whatever they desire to be. I love the stories we all hear of people who come from the most unlikely of places to accomplish the most incredible feats. 

Non college graduates who take over the world with computer companies. 

Children born with walking disabilities who win the Heisman and go on to star in the NFL.

People born in relative poverty who build the greatest fortunes in the world like Carnegie and Walton.

I LOVE these stories because they remind me of how true our own personal freedom is when it comes to determining our lives accomplishments. It also confuses me. It confuses me to try and understand why any person who is not accomplishing what they want would choose not to do so. Why would you purposely work somewhere and not look for ways to succeed instead of looking for ways to deceive others about your failures. I know if you are honestly searching for an answer you will find one but why would someone not want to honestly search??

I have many loves in life and I have had many opportunities to experience many things I enjoy doing. I have to admit as I went through this past month my mind wandered to the things I have enjoyed building in my life that just revolved around me or perhaps me and someone close I could truly trust. When I thought of how many people I exchange with daily who say they want to be successful but yet they are not finding it, it frustrated me more this past month than ever before. I started wandering are some people just not able?

This question shook me at the core and made me want to run from the idea of leading people to find success who just may not be able! It was a horrible thought that all that I am fighting to do and teach may not be real. Perhaps I am just one of the lucky ones who works at something and succeeds? I was not born into affluence in fact quite the opposite. Lower middle class at best so why have I always been so fortunate to turn things I am given around and succeed? 

This past few weeks made me want to do less and less interaction because my faith in peoples ability to climb any mountain was in question. As I went through this period I did all the mechanics I was required to do but I was leaving out the spirit of hope and belief each day. The further I went into this tunnel the more I wanted out. If this is what life has to be in leading others to a possible false hope I want to do something where I only have to count on me. I had all of these thoughts of lack and question until last Friday when with little energy and little hope I drove to a hotel in Dallas to meet with 20 doctors who were holding a mastermind in search of hope. In search of success. In search of being who they were called to be. It reminded me that there are many people who really want this success and will stop at no barrier to get it. It revived my hope and excitement in spite of the dark cloud I had felt looming for this period of time. I shared with the people in that room what I knew to be the truths of life. The things I have learned from so many authors and teachers and business people on how to reach new heights. The same beliefs I have held in my own life when facing adversity. After two days of being present with them I felt what was really good about what I do and it picked me up some. I was reminded of my purpose in life and that life is not about mechanical process or task lists but rather about changing the lives of those around you. It was a great but brief reminder of why I do what I do.

Why Brief?

Because Monday came right after the weekend!! Monday's have always been a day I pride myself on looking forward to. I have for quite a while had such a conviction about my opportunity to help others succeed that Monday's have represented a furthering of those opportunities. Imagine knowing exactly what you were created to do and getting to wake up each day and do it! Such an awesome feeling and always exciting to begin the week doing just that. On this Monday I was reminded of my recent questions. I started my day with a text from one Doctor asking me when will people get what they are supposed to get? Do I just keep firing people until one day I stumble upon someone who is motivated and desires to be lead? On this day this question rang true because it fed my fear that maybe some people just do not have it. This was a horrible thought to think that some people are predetermined for greatness while others are set for a life of mediocrity or failure. That was the most depressing thing I could think of and it made me not want to explore solutions if there were even the slightest chance that maybe for some there are none? 

It was not long after that call that I spoke with a business owner who's business was failing. After that a leader in our company who's partnership was failing, then a discussion on future alignments that we did not see eye to eye on, then a demand by another person in our company for something they felt they deserved and I did not. These all bothered me but the last one stood out. The last one was an individual who claimed they deserved reward and respect for the tenure and investment they had made of the past. This person attacked me for not being of character due to not seeing the value of that tenure and investment. I honestly gave no value to either one. I started thinking about how much time and effort this person had put into what they were doing and I agreed they had. I started thinking about how much this person wanted to succeed and I agreed because it looked to me like they did. The questions I have been asking myself as of late came rushing back to me...

If this person wants it so bad and has worked so hard for so long why are they not getting their just reward? Is it only available to some people? Is success only reserved for the predetermined few?

Once again this mindset of questioning killed my motivation to teach others and rely upon others to build my own future and success. I allowed this questioning to frustrate me and it kept me up all night on Monday. I had a national teleconference to do for the whole company on Tuesday and I was asking myself what do you teach if there is no hope for some? How do I select only the predetermined winners to speak to on this broadcast call?

I still had a schedule to keep and so at around 4am I started listening to some of my own favorite teachers as they shared truth after truth. I listened to Ziglar tell me "you don't have to be great to start but you have to start to be great" I knew this to be true but I knew many people who have started but are still not great.

I listened to Ziglar say " you have to put something in to get something out" again true but many struggling people who see themselves as putting in.

I listened to Ziglar say " 100% of the people who will not take step # 1 will never take step #2"  again true but people taking steps often fall and fail. 

I listened to Vic Johnson say "It takes Action plus Desire plus Belief" I thought of the leader who wanted me to respect their "tenure" and "investment" and I did not feel as if I questioned if they had action, desire or belief?

I listened to Rohn talk about J.C. Penney and his quote "Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will show you a man to make history. Give me a man without a goal and I will show you a stock clerk" True true true but I knew people with expressed and written goals who were failing.

I listened for hours looking for an answer to negativity being entertained in my head. I listened until Anthony Robbins said it takes more than Action and belief and desire. Robbins said it takes Potential to ever start to Act. It takes action to get Results. It takes Results to reinforce beliefs and it takes belief to reinforce potential. There is the word I was looking for!!

RESULTS

It does not mater what task I am given it is up to me and me alone to determine how I find RESULTS. I may need others to find them. I may need to change me to find them. I may have to beg borrow and plead to find them but it is only up to me to get RESULTS in my life. This was adverse to the garbage I was buying into then...

I listened to another talk by Jm Rohn and he said the name of the game is "RESULTS"

Jim went on to say that you can be a valuable person with great intent and have no value in the marketplace. He said the Marketplace is "REALITY" and if you are valuable to marketplace you will have results. If you are not it is your job to create that value through whatever means necessary. I started remembering that all of the success I have found over the years were not found alone but by aligning myself with the right people. I started remembering that the success I had accomplished did not come easy but rather by persistence and hard work!

I started believing in hard work again and I started finding a message I could share!!

I listened again and Rohn gave me two more killer reminders in the form of questions....

the first of which was "How long should a baby try to walk?"  The answer "UNTIL" There is never a stopping point in our search for success. It may be in this form, a different form but it is waiting for our persistent nature to determine we will not give up.

the second question also helped me in knowing when enough was enough from someone on my team who was not succeeding and it went like this... "How long should a fourth grader be given to complete fourth grade?" "ONE YEAR!!!"

Jim Rohn told me on this early morning that every human being is expected to make "measurable progress in a reasonable time". My optimism tells me ALL can do it. My realist tells me when it it is being done. There is no pessimism because it is not needed. All that is need is our belief in ourselves and  our belief in others put together with our unyielding determination to create results in a measurable time. 

It is available to all who want it if we will only remain constant in our desire and action to create results. If you are not getting results then your actions are wrong so change them. This is a message I was willing to share yesterday and one I am committed to sharing forever. Do not let yourself believe that your destiny is dependent upon someone else. It is yours for the taking but you must take the right steps to create it. 

Here are the 5 things you will need;

A goal.

A willingness to give of yourself to obtain that goal

A written plan with detail and timeline.

A willingness to read that plan every day, twice a day and modify as needed until you reach your success.

What's the 5th thing you may ask?

The most important of all is a reason to get out of bed. It is your PURPOSE. If your have a purpose then you understand when the wind of doubt crosses your life you will struggle to find the truth in order to meet head on your PURPOSE with the passion it was meant to have. It is the reason I am still fighting instead of retreating to live in a world only dependent upon me and a selected few in my life. My life was meant to be lived and searched so that I can help others from what I am learning. I am thankful to everyone of you who has read this because you just helped me fulfill my purpose and that is the reason I live. 

When my life is over, I want people to say of me that I helped them face reality and know that they were in control of their lives. I want people to find success and to lead others to finding theirs and say that I helped to create that pattern. I am not concerned as much with being liked as I am with fulfilling my purpose to grow a movement of awareness and positive impact by caring for the responsibility I have been given. It is my opportunity to make a difference and I will return to being a rock in understanding that EVERY person can have WHATEVER they want if they really are serious about it!

Have a successful day!

A Conference call link I did on this same subject......
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/896436030

Running out of Gas??

I was thinking this past week (while recovering from altitude sickness) how easy it is to simply run out of the fuel so often needed in life. I looked back over the past month and realized some great things had been happening but as great as they were I let them take charge more than I remained in charge. As I go back in time and look forward at the month I just lived, my schedule was packed!! I had meeting after meeting, task after task and all types of masterminds and conferences to attend and then after three weeks of hosting events I would be traveling to Southern California for a conference full of new people and opportunities followed by a week in Colorado with friends and colleagues. 

Now do not get me wrong I am not at all complaining about my agenda. I am the one who is creating it in advance doing the things I love to do but there is still a challenge in maintaining control of my schedule and and not letting it control me. There has been so much change lately in life while still doing all that I try to pack into a week that it made me think of the difference between these two phrases;

Letting my schedule run my life.

Deciding for my life to run my schedule.

This just like all things is still a decision and I am the only determining factor. Each of us always are  the determining factor if we understand it. We are never bound by any circumstance unless we allow it to bind us. I think back over the past 4 weeks and realize that as good as my intent may have been and even as great as the outcome of the events may have been, that there were many days that just took over. I have found the more I let my purposely chosen life lead the way of my schedule that my energy and potency is dependent upon certain routines to feed me. My exercise, My meditation, My journaling, My reading, My affirmations, My listening to great speakers and just finding time to make me better. The stronger I am in these routines the more developed I am when I am called upon to play the role I play in my scheduled activities for "giving to others". 

I just used a term that could have been interchanged with "doing business" "building a company" "managing employees" and many other "things" that keep most people going while they are doing their "work". I purposely chose the phrase "giving to others" in order to remind myself (and hopefully a few of you) that in order for me to do great things I must be filled with purpose and accomplishing tasks does not meet that objective in my life.

I digress so to return, it's my schedule that started taking over the past 4 weeks but I am here to declare that I am back! Regardless of the chosen activity I am committing to I must remain steadfast to that which feeds me and makes me more effective when called upon to meet my opportunities. The realization I have now that I did not always have is that I can show up and be 110% ready to make change or I can show up and be 50% ready to make change. If spending one, two three or four hours per day building me is what it takes then I can actually be ahead of the game. Do the math!! If my "duties require 8 hours of my day and I am 50% effective then it will take 16 hours to do the work I needed to get done. If I spend 2 hours a day building me up to make sure I am fully present then I can, by my example above exceed all expectations in less time while still giving to me. 

It's up to us!! Whatever we want we can have if we do just one thing....

Realize we are in charge of determining our lives and the way we want to spend them. This is such a liberating thought that I wanted to share it with you today. I am sitting on a plane while writing these thoughts. I am on my way home right now. I have a friend visiting from Europe this week while he is training for the olympics this summer and I want to spend some time with him. I have an event tomorrow night I want to attend in Dallas. I have a flip house that I need to put a little thought in this week and choose some contractors. I have an incredible amount of work to do from being so out of pocket the last month. I have teleconferences, reviews, phone meetings, contracts, structural meetings, annual super conference to work on and the list could go on forever then I remember I leave town on Thursday again!!

I am excited as I write this because I know that the first ting I am doing when I get home is going on  a bike ride (exercise) afterwards a chill evening cooking some dinner and I will read, listen to some audio clips from one of my favorite speakers, journal and prepare my schedule for this week. First thing tomorrow will be to exercise, affirmation, read and start the week off by making me a better me. I will give 110% to every activity this week and I will be more effective, more potent, more determined and more successful in all I choose to do. I will do so well that when I leave on Thursday I will feel appreciative of what an awesome week this was and I hope you find the same space in your life to be who I know you want to be. 

And finally you choose for you..........

Are you?

Letting your schedule run your life?

or 

Deciding for your life to run my schedule?

Make you vocation your vacation by doing what you love and loving what you do! - Dr. John Demartini