Consider The Positive Possibilities

“Instead of placing judgments on where you find yourself, consider the positive possibilities. Instead of extending assumptions out from your limitations, imagine your most treasured dreams extending out from your current situation." ~Ralph Marston

Are you placing judgments on where you find yourself? STOP IT!! RIGHT NOW!! Start to consider the positive aspects of where you are now and stop only looking at the negatives.

Instead of extending your assumptions from your limitations, extend NEW assumptions that are unlimited. See, we often view the world from our limited perspective, rather than from the infinite perspective that it exists in!

Take your dreams and put them to work from this point forward. Don't worry that you haven't done it until now, celebrate the fact that you are doing it now!

Action:
Stop placing judgments on where you are now.
Stop viewing the situation from a limited point of view.
Start working on your dream. NOW!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

“Instead of placing judgments on where you find yourself, consider the positive possibilities. Instead of extending assumptions out from your limitations, imagine your most treasured dreams extending out from your current situation."

Unhappy For The Rest Of Your Life

"If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I must warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."~Abraham Maslow


Are you planning on only accepting a little of life? Why? We were made for abundance. I don't think that most people plan on being less than they can be, but have the desire to be all they can be driven out of them. By well-meaning teachers, parents and friends...


How can you reclaim the feeling of becoming capable of doing anything? Confidence, belief in yourself and knowledge that there are no accidents or coincidences. There's a reason that you are where you are right now. It could be to help someone else out, it could be because you have something to learn, but there is a reason why we are all where we are.


"Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you."


Action:
Play BIG. GO FOR EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET! Don't allow how others feel about you to diminish who you are. STOP PLAYING SMALL!


Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!


"If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I must warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life."

Come To The Edge

"Come to the edge, Life said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, Life said. They came. Life pushed them... And they flew." ~Guilliame Apollinaire

Are you on the edge or are you safely in the middle? Are you afraid? Why? Fear doesn't exist anywhere...but in your mind! That's right, it's all in your head and the stories that you are telling yourself. Harry Truman said "Don't be afraid to go out on a limb...that's where the fruit is." "The only thing in the middle of the road is yellow stripes and dead armadillos."  That is so true, but you have to convince yourself of that, daily.

Action:
Realize that the only thing holding you back are the stories your are telling yourself and often those stories are just not true. They have been programmed in you for a long time. Start eliminating those stories today that don't serve you any more.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Come to the edge, Life said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, Life said. They came. Life pushed them... And they flew."

Opportunity, Not Security

"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death."~James F. Byrnes

Are you missing opportunity? Most people are because they are too worried about security. They stay in a dead-end job, that they hate because of security. Is this you?? I hope not.

EVERY SINGLE THING YOU DO MATTERS.
YOU HAVE BEEN CREATED IN ORDER THAT YOU MIGHT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
YOU HAVE WITHIN YOU THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

Know that your actions cannot be hoarded, saved for later, or selectively used. So stop living looking for security. See the opportunities and start to play big! If you don't, there world will never know what you had to offer, because only your can provide it to the world.

Your life…And what you do with it today…MATTERS FOREVER.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference

"Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death."

Forward, Not Backwards

"Life moves forward not backwards. It cannot move back and you cannot go back. It is like time. It is time. Do not let words or judgments that people put on you stop you from moving forward. You have no time to waste to allow anyone to push you back. You must move forward to keep up with who you are and what you want in life."


Are you moving forward or are you moving backwards? Life always moves forward, but sometimes we get stuck and don't move forward or even go backwards, but all the while, life continues to move forward!


Too often, we allow other people's words and judgments push us backwards. One of my favorite quotes says, "It is none of my business what you think of me." Don't allow other people's judgments of you and your work push you back. If you allow their judgments to change who you are, you stop being authentic.


You must move forward to keep up with who you are and what you want in life. Keep moving forward, keep being who you are and keep going for what you want out of life. Do it now!!


Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!


"Life moves forward not backwards. It cannot move back and you cannot go back. It is like time. It is time. Do not let words or judgments that people put on you stop you from moving forward. You have no time to waste to allow anyone to push you back. You must move forward to keep up with who you are and what you want in life."

The Tyranny of Immediacy

"I will not be governed by the tyranny of immediacy."~Mary Anne Radmacher


Are you governed by the tyranny of immediacy? Do you allow others immediacy to govern you? Why? What do you get? Take control your life and stop that NOW! Here's an example; email. Do you keep it open and look at it as soon as they come in??? I hope not.


In today's microwave society, we want everything 2 minutes ago. We have lost the ability to have delayed gratification and are constantly seeking immediate gratification. Why?


The problem with immediate gratification is that as fast as it comes, it's gone again that fast and then we need to  find another source of gratification. It's a vicious cycle that never ends until we step back and slow down and stop the tyranny of immediacy.


Very often it's our friends and clients who try to impose the tyranny of THEIR immediacy on us. We need to learn to politely tell them that that we run our own life and that their issue while important, it doesn't rise to OUR immediacy level. Don't allow them to give you their issue.


Here's a challenge for today, don't allow the tyranny of immediacy to win even once today.


Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!


"I will not be governed by the tyranny of immediacy."

Trust, Not Technology

"Trust, not technology, is the issue of the decade." ~Tom Peters

In our microwave society, we are being brought back to issues that were relevant 20-30 years ago that some people thought went out of relevancy. They were wrong. Technology is not the be all end all that many people think and want it to be.

Businesses, now more than in the last 30 years, is realizing that Trust is the key element. Think of all the challenges that we have faced over the last few years. What do they have in common? A lack or an abuse of Trust.


We do business with people we know, like and trust. I would say that out of those things, trust is the most important because you can not like someone, but if you trust them, still do business with them. You can not know the salesman but if you trust his company, they can get the business.


Start working on your trust level. Is it lacking? Part of being trustworthy is trusting others. How's your trusting level? I find most people do have a hard time trusting others. Here's the challenge...Trust people. Sure, some will let you down, but most people will honor that trust.


Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!


"Trust, not technology, is the issue of the decade."

Find Your Place

"If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place." ~ Orison Swett Marden

Wow, it was like Marden was speaking to us today, instead of 100 years ago. With the recent statistics that close to 80% of people who ARE employed, hating their job, I guess most people haven't found their place yet. If that's you, keep reading...if not keep reading anyway...

Are you growing in your work? Is your life broadening and deepening? Unfortunately, most people aren't. It's not easy to find what you love to do and grow with that. It's difficult to make changes, especially after you've lived life for a while...Believe me, I know. It was 4 years ago that I realized that I wasn't growing, deepening and broadening my life. The changes haven't been easy but they have been worthwhile!

Find your place! Remember, that the place for the things you want is currently occupied by what you've settled for...Don't settle! It's never too late to be who you were meant to be!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place."

Decide What Matters To You

“Our greatest fear should not be failing, but it should be succeeding at things that don’t matter.”

Why have we developed this sense of fear of failure? What has led us to thinking that failure is a bad thing? Most people have come to realize that success isn't possible without failure, but we make that failure label so painful that people will do just about anything to not fail. Including nothing at all...for fear of failure.

Our greatest fear should instead be succeeding at something that doesn't matter! I know a lot of people who are great at things that don't matter. What's the point? Are you succeeding at something that doesn't matter? What makes it matter for you? Maybe someone else has decided that it needs to matter to you, but does it?

Does what you do matter?? (Other than providing you with a paycheck) Does it really matter? I think too often we get stuck doing things just because...Just because it pays the bills...just because it's easy to do...just because it's what I've always done...

Decide what matters to you and do that!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!
“Our greatest fear should not be failing, but it should be succeeding at things that don’t matter.”

Make More Time

"Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions." ~John Randolph

How often do we think about time that way? Not often enough! Our most valuable yet perishable of all our possessions. We need to remember that tomorrow is promised to no one. NO ONE! So make each minute count.

"In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking."~ Sir John Lubbock

Here's the truth about time. You will make the time for the things you choose to do. So the next time someone asks you to do something, don't say, "I'm too busy." Be honest. Tell them that what they want you to do isn't important enough for you to do it. They may thank you for it or they may hate you for telling them the truth, but you will feel a lot better.

Here's another thing about time...You will never FIND more time. You need to MAKE more time. This comes down to priorities. Make sure that you are always doing the most productive thing at any given moment!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions."

Make A New Start

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."~Maria Robinson

How true is that?? The challenge is that most of us get caught up in the hashing, re-hashing and bitching about the choices we made before. We need to let go of those thoughts and start fresh every day!

YES, YOU can start today and make a new ending. Yes you can. Don't let those doubts slow you down or stop you. John Kanary said "If doubt is challenging you and you do not act, doubts will GROW. Challenge the doubts with action and YOU will grow." Don't let them grow, act on your new beginning and you will grow, not your doubts. After all, doubts are just stories that we tell ourselves, usually not based in truth or reality, just stories we tell ourselves.

Gandhi said "The future depends on what we do in the present," and Friday's quote was "The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine." It's all determined by what you do today! Remember, every single thing you do matters!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

Your Daily Routine

"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."~Mike Murdock

Can it really be that easy? Yes, it can. The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. So, that being the case, what is your daily routine? Is it serving you or hurting you? How often do you even consider your daily routine?

Too often we keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results. Maybe if I try  harder...Maybe if I work longer...but doing the same things. Einstein called that INSANITY!

The best thing about this is the fact that you can change your daily routine today! Right now! You don't need to remain stuck in that old, depressing routine, you can change it!

If your business is slow now, look back a couple of months and take a look at the effort that you put in then. It's really easy to see how effective you were then, based on the results that you get today.

"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine." If you aren't succeeding like you want to, look at your daily routine.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine."  

New Eyes

"True discovery consists not in finding new landscapes, but in seeing the same landscape with new eyes."~Marcel Proust

Are you ready to see new landscapes? Change your eyes!! Proust really means, change the way you think about things. When you see something, do you always think the same thing? Why? Start asking questions about why you think those same things...you might be surprised by the answers.

When was the last time you challenged your thinking? How often do you think about what you are thinking about? It's called Metacognition and you should be doing it all the time. Too often we just let those thoughts that are nonsupportive of what we want stay in our mind too long. Then it holds us back.

Are you ready to change the way you think? Einstein said that "You can't fix a problem with thinking the same way that created the problem." He was saying, change the way you think! I challenge you to do it, change the way you think. A whole new world might open up for you.

See the landscape with new eyes! Change the way you think!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"True discovery consists not in finding new landscapes, but in seeing the same landscape with new eyes."

Transform Without Challenges?

“You can’t make an omelet without breaking the eggs.”~Joseph Campbell

Why is it that people think that they can transform their lives without some challenges? And when the challenges come, they quit working on themselves. Is this you? Challenges are a part of life. They are what makes us grow, learn and help us become who we were meant to be.

Wayne Dyer says "In my world, nothing ever goes wrong." Wow!! What a great view of life to have. Can you have that kind of view? Why not? Everything that happens to you happens for a reason, that's how he can view the world that way. I know that you realize this but have you ever thought about it this way? How do you view your destiny?

“So that’s what destiny is: simply the fulfillment of the potentialities of the energies in your own system.”~ Joseph Campbell

Simply the fulfillment of the potentialities in your own system. Are you reaching your full potential? Why not? What is holding you back? Stop letting reasons keep you from becoming who you were meant to be!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference


“You can’t make an omelet without breaking the eggs.”

Ask These Questions

"You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." ~Jim Rohn

Who are you hanging with and how are they affecting you? Alright, I hear some of you saying "My friends don't affect me, I affect them." Right...
If EVERYTHING YOU DO MATTERS, then it would also be true that everything the people you are hanging around does matters...AND AFFECTS YOU!!

What are you becoming by hanging with them? Better? Smarter? Healthier? Are you growing or shrinking...there is not staying put. Too often, we don't analyze our relationships and whether or not they are positive or negative for us. Start doing that now. Stop letting what others want and do affect you, even in the slightest way.

Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change. You might have to change some of the people you are hanging with, maybe even some family. Make the changes that YOU need first before you try to help others with their changes. If the people that you are around aren't challenging you, find some who will!!

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."

Fear vs. Confidence

“Fear of all kinds and sizes is a form of psychological infection. We can cure a mental infection the same way we cure a body infection with specific, proved treatments, condition yourself with this fact: all confidence is acquired, developed. No one is born with confidence. Those people around you who radiate confidence, who have conquered worry, who are at ease everywhere and all the time, acquired their confidence, every bit of it.”~ David J. Schwartz

ARE YOU INFECTED BY FEAR??? Why? Why are you letting it hold you back from becoming all that you can be? Are you playing small because of your infection? Get some anti-virus attitudes right now!!

What is the anti-virus attitude that beats fear you ask? Glad you asked! It's confidence and action! Confidence is not something we are born with but it is something that is developed. You can develop that confidence any time you want. Why not start right now?? You are good at some things, start there. Know that you are good and work to be better at them. This will build your confidence. The more confidence you get, the more you are likely to do bigger and better things.

The other anti-virus attitude is action. We will talk about action tomorrow.
Grow your confidence, grow your business, grow your life.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

“Fear of all kinds and sizes is a form of psychological infection. We can cure a mental infection the same way we cure a body infection with specific, proved treatments, condition yourself with this fact: all confidence is acquired, developed. No one is born with confidence. Those people around you who radiate confidence, who have conquered worry, who are at ease everywhere and all the time, acquired their confidence, every bit of it.”

Start Dreaming! It's Possible!

"Are you disappointed, discouraged and discontented with your present level of success? Are you secretly dissatisfied with your present status? Then start dreaming! It’s possible! You can become the person you have always wanted to be!"~ Robert H. Schuller

Are you disappointed, discouraged and discontented with your present level of success? Thoreau said that "most men live lives of quiet desperation." Is that you? Are you disappointed and discouraged by your present level of success? Your present level of success is the direct result of the work that you put  in the past. So if you are discouraged, there's an easy solution to that...Do more of the right things!

You can become the person that you want to be and you can start right NOW!!! Because, "it's never too late to be who you might have been." All it takes is your decision to start now and do things better and differently than you did them before.

If you are unsure of what the right things to do are, ask someone who has already done what you are trying to do. No one can do it all by themselves, we all need friends, mentors and coaches. A Mentor is "someone who makes you do the things that you don't want to do and makes you see things you don't want to see, to help you become all that you can be."

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Are you disappointed, discouraged and discontented with your present level of success? Are you secretly dissatisfied with your present status? Then start dreaming! It’s possible! You can become the person you have always wanted to be!"

Living With Unused Potential

“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people's lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.” ~Stephen R. Covey

Are you living with unused potential? Don't think so?? Hate to break it to ya...but we all are, some just more than others. Why are we living with unused potential? A lot of reasons...Fear. Complacency. Lack of Knowledge. The list could go on and on.

Our society, in order to make sure that no one feels bad, has been rewarding mediocrity as excellence. Little League baseball teams don't keep score, lest some one's feeling get hurt. I read about a League that wants to make sure that all the teams end up with an even won/loss record. Why? To make sure everybody is equal.

Here's the thing about equality. You can't dictate equality of outcomes, only equality of opportunity. We are now trying to dictate equality of outcomes.

It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure Are you personally secure and open? Most people would say yes, but if you really think about it, most people aren't. They aren't secure in who they are. Some are unsure of who they are while the rest...simply lack the spirit of adventure. Be secure in who you are and revel in that spirit of adventure.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people's lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.”

Be Yourself

"Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why are there so many penguins and so few peacocks? Because in the world, we are told to "fit in," "Don't stand out," "This is the way we've always done things." (thankfully in Arizona at least, we are losing the penguin suits...) Our individuality has been systematically beaten out of us. So who we are sometimes is a second hand version of someone else...How sad!

Be yourself, your best self! Too often, we hide our best self for fear of it being not enough, for fear of people not liking us, for lots of reasons. There is something that you can do better than any one else and if you don't do it, the world will never see it, because you were put here for that one thing.

Listen to the inner voice and bravely obey that. How often do you turn that voice off or down so low that it can't be heard? Why do we do that? Because we need courage to listen to our own intuition...and act on it.

Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for. Are you doing things that you were never made for? Most small business owners are...for all the wrong reasons. Do the things at which you are great.

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"Be yourself; no base imitator of another, but your best self. There is something which you can do better than another. Listen to the inward voice and bravely obey that. Do the things at which you are great, not what you were never made for."

Every Single Thing You Do Matters

"How far forward would we need to go in your life to show the difference you make? There are generations yet unborn whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And the next."~Andy Andrews

"EVERY SINGLE THING YOU DO MATTERS.

You have been created as one of a kind. On the planet Earth, there has never been one like you…and there never will be again. Your spirit, your thoughts and feelings, you ability to reason and act all exist in no one else. The rarities that make you special are no mere accident or quirk of fate.

YOU HAVE BEEN CREATED IN ORDER THAT YOU MIGHT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

YOU HAVE WITHIN YOU THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

Know that your actions cannot be hoarded, saved for later, or selectively used.

By your hand, millions – billions – of lives will be altered, caught up in a chain of events begun by you this day.

The very beating of your heart has meaning and purpose.
Your actions have value far greater than silver or gold.

Your life…And what you do with it today…"

Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

Thanks, Andy Andrews

Devoted...Not Disciplined

"People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference."~ Luciano Pavarotti

Are you disciplined or devoted? Really?? I believe that most people are disciplined and only a few are devoted, but as Pavarotti says, there is a great difference. Do you see the difference?

If you are disciplined, you will get the job done, (usually) no matter what. If you are devoted, you will get the job done because. Because you love what you do, because it's not really work to you and because it is what you are on the earth to do.

It seems to me that great workers are disciplined, while those who are devoted are great workers and also the ones who really enjoy life and all it has to offer. Does this mean that those who are disciplined don't enjoy life or that those who are devoted aren't disciplined? No, not at all, but I think you can tell the  difference between the two.

The devoted ones are the ones who always play big, always stretch for bigger and better things and dream more. Can you say that you are devoted to your job or are you disciplined in your job? The mere fact that 78% of people hate their jobs in the US leads me to think that most are just disciplined and not devoted (and maybe not even disciplined, but know how to show up to get a paycheck...)

Be devoted. Play Big. Know. Be Known. Make A Difference!

"People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion. There is a great difference."