Tag: #greatness

The Five Principles to help you step away from average and unleash your inner greatness. Principle number Three

There are 5 principles that I believe are critical if you are going to step away from accepting an average existences and unleash your inner greatness. You must learn them and live them. I’ll be sharing each of the five in a series over the next few weeks. Over the last two weeks we covered the first two, as a reminder they are;

1. You are responsible for everything in your life, everything.
2. Continuous learning and personal development are essential in living your life to the fullest.

Principle number three

Action drives change and results


Nothing happens without action. They say knowledge is power but I disagree, knowledge is stored power. knowledge only becomes power when it is applied through action.

Everyone has hopes and dreams, everyone want a fit body, they want money and wealth, well why doesn’t everyone have these things? Why don’t people who say they have dreams and goals achieve those goals and make their dreams a reality? I say the biggest reason is that most people wont take the actions required on a consistent basis. The issue is not in the knowing what to do, but actually doing what you know needs to be done. Everyone knows that if you want a fit healthy body you must eat right and exercise, yet most will not commit to this on a long term consistent basis. Its no different with every other area of your life.

Action drive all change, results, achievement. The problem is not in the knowing what to do, but actually doing what we know needs to be done.

You must accept principle number one understanding you are responsible for your results. you must adhere to principle number two by continually learning and growing your knowledge base, but without action, nothing happens, nothing changes, dreams die.

Often the reason we don’t commit to taking the action required is because we look at the goal or dream as a whole and it seems too daunting so we procrastinate. The pain in the discipline it takes to do the work seems like its to much to handle, especially when sitting on the couch and watching just one more episode of what ever show you are into is much easier. Keep this in mind while you sit there, the actors in that show are pursing their goals and dreams while you are sitting on the couch as time keeps marching on and you are falling further behind. Every day you don’t start is another day you are behind.

We often over estimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year. Breakdown your goals into small components and milestones and then commit to daily action in achieving the smaller components of the bigger goal. I hear a lot about having to take massive action, I think this sets many up for failure. What if you took small “bite” size actions every day, first for a week, then and month? Soon you start developing the habit of taking action every day, what would you look like a year from today if you developed the daily action habit? If you are thinking, a year out is to far out to try and conceive, ask your self this question, if I don’t start now and take consistent action, will I ever be, do, or achieve what I want in life?

You must be intentional about what you want out of your life, Intention means an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result. Be intentional about taking those small actionable steps every day, the compound effect of those small steps will carry you to the realization of you dreams.

Knowledge is the fuel, action is the engine. Get your motor running.

The Five Principles to help you step away from average and unleash your inner greatness. Principle number Two

There are 5 principles that I believe are critical if you are going to step away from accepting an average existences and unleash your inner greatness. You must learn them and live them. I’ll be sharing each of the five in a series over the next few weeks. Last week we discussed Principle number 1 and that is, you are responsible for everything in your life, everything.

Principle Number two

Continuous learning and personal development are essential for living your life to the fullest.


We are here on this earth to pursue, stretch, and test the limits of our potential. We can not do that unless we are continuously improving ourselves, learning new skills, and developing our ability function at a high level.

They say success leaves clues, Tom Corely studied wealthy people and found that 83% of the wealthy read at least 30 minutes a day for education or career and 63% listen to audio books on their commute.

You’ve heard the saying that failure or mistakes teach the best lessons. I would agree with that, we certainly want to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them but I would add, while your failures may teach lessons, it is even better to learn from the failures and the mistakes of others.

This is where reading books, listening to podcast, and taking courses have the most value. Learn from others who have already done what you are trying to do, they’ve already made the mistakes. You don’t have to always reinvent the wheel. Learning from others can help you avoid mistakes and delays in the pursuit of achieving of your goals and can even propel you forward.

Want to be number one at your company? Number one in your industry? Why not seek out who is number one now and study that person. Learn what it is that is making them successful and implement it. What if you chose a career or industry specific subject every 90 days and studied it, read a book a month on it, researched on the internet, study industry product literature, etc. What if you reached out to others with the skill or knowledge you want to learn and asked questions? If you picked a subject every 90 days and studied it like I suggest, how far ahead would you be in a year? Three years?

Jim Rohn always said, work harder on yourself than you do on your job. What he meant was by continuously learning and improving your skills you become more valuable. It is a fact that your value in the market place is in direct proportion to your skills and knowledge. You want to make more? Be more? You must continue to lean. The real learning starts when you leave school. Mr. Rohn also said, formal education can make you a living, continuous learning and personal development can make you a fortune.

Continuous learning and personal development is essential to living life to the fullest

Lastly, developing your interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence is key in any business, job, or personal relationships. Learning how to communicate which also means focusing on the lost art of listening. One way I have found to hone these skills is by reading and listening to sales trainers, not the shading used car salesman guy but real salesman. Real sales trainers teach communication skills with an emphasis on listening skills. It is important not to just hear the words of the person in front of you but to know what they mean, what the really mean, what they feel, what the pain points are. We are all selling, maybe not a product but maybe an idea, maybe a path forward, maybe that we understand. If you learn, build on, and exercise great communications skills this skill alone can take you a long way.

Continuous learning and personal development are essential, If you don’t continue to grow and learn, you are falling behind. Continuous learning and personal development are like fuel in the fuel tank, without it the race car isn’t going anywhere. They say that knowledge is power, I disagree with that, Knowledge is stored power. We’ll discuss in the next article how we turn knowledge into real power.

5 Principles to step away from average and unleash your greatness. Principle 1

There are 5 principles that I believe are critical if you are to step away from accepting an average existences and unleash your inner greatness. You must learn them and live them. I’ll be sharing each of the five in a series over the next few weeks, Here is my thoughts on number one.

I believe as Les Brown always says, you have greatness within you, we all do. I believe we are here on earth to pursue, stretch, and test the limits of our god given talents and potential. You have greatness within you

I also believe that we live in a society that has accepted mediocre and thrives on being average. The statistics bear this out. 78% live paycheck to paycheck and that’s pre-pandemic, 67% are disengaged at work or in their career, 63% of Americans don’t have $500 on hand to cover an emergency, 50% of marriages end in divorces and of the remaining 50%, almost half of them are unhappy. I could go on but you get the point.

We are not here just to get by. We are here to expand, create, and to live in abundance in all areas of our lives. We grow and expand by thoroughly exercising our talents and exploring the limits of our potential. By doing this we live a more fulfilled exciting life filled with meaning and significance.

A by-product of this is the creation of wealth, meaning, impact, and blessings. We should pursue being blessed so we can bless others. We should be a conduit of blessings.

So how do we pursue the limits of our potential and unleash our inner greatness? Live by and execute on the five principles, number one;

Principle # 1. You are responsible for everything in your life, everything.

Every decision and action you have taken in your life has delivered you to where you are right now, financially, career, relationships, everything. Every decision you make and action you take moving forward will drive you to where you’ll be in the future and will determine whether or not you live a life of achievement, meaning, and success. You can set that course starting today. Are you going to commit to growing, expanding, and intentionally becoming everything you can be? You have greatness within you, you aren’t meant to live an average mediocre existence.

Once you understand that your condition and your destiny is not captive to what others think, the economy, who the President is, whether people are biased against you, or anything else outside of you. Once you stop looking outside of yourself for reasons why you aren’t where you want to be, you take control. Focusing on outside forces is just a way to rationalize to yourself why you wont do what’s required to get, do, or be what you want.

That doesn’t mean there wont be challenges, setbacks, failures or problems. The only people who don’t have problems are in grave yards. That doesn’t mean there wont be people who let you down, that’s life, and by the way, life isn’t fair. You get out of life what you put in, what you go get, and what you intentionally become.

We should not be arrogant enough to believe that we should not have any problems. Problems are an opportunity to grow. Problems should not be impediments that cause you to fold up and quit and settle for average. Problems and set backs are just indications that its time to re-evaluate the path forward, pivot, adapt and charge forward.

We all have problems, we are all going through something. The difference between the successful and average? Successful people understand they are responsible for everything in their life so when they encounter the same problems everyone has, they quickly find solutions, they adjust, and they plow forward through the problem. Most importantly, they don’t quit.

Stop listening to Yourself and Start Talking to yourself.

If you are going to do big things, make your dreams come true, be the best at your job or industry, you must stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself.

You’ve got to shut down the negative self talk. You know, that voice in your head that plants the seeds of doubt and fear. I don’t care what level of success one has achieved, we all have the negative self talk that impacts how or if we take action, our confidence, and our performance. Studies say that we have 50,000 thoughts a day and of those, 70% are negative. That’s 35,000 negative thoughts a day, that’s an astounding number, its a wonder we achieve anything.

The majority of your thoughts are subconscious with a limited number making it to the conscious. Its my belief that this massive number of negative sub couscous thoughts shape the conscious thought, impact your attitude, and feed your fears and doubt.

How do you fight those negative thoughts both conscious and subconscious?

Eradicate the negative limiting talk in your mind

Fill your mind with so much good only good can come out


We are inundated with thousands of negative messages every day all day from the media, television shows, news, and social media post. You must tune these messages out. I suggest filling your mind with so much positive information and messages that it overrides the negative stored in subconscious, deprogramming and replacing stored negative beliefs and thoughts with better positive mental data.

You’ve probably seen the presentation with the pitcher of dark water representing negative thought, and then clear clean water is poured into the pitcher and the water is cleared representing positive mental beliefs and thoughts flushing out the negative. You can do the same.

Having said that, I am not one that believes all you have to do is think positive and all will be well and achievement is assured. In any endeavor action is required, but action fueled by a positive mental attitude will out perform a negative mindset every time, easily.

A positive mindset also doesn’t mean that bad things wont happen to you, we all face adversity, but if you’ll focus on a positive mental attitude you will deal with and handle hardships better.

Look for books, podcast, videos, and mentors that feed your positive mental state. Its probably unfair because there are so many great examples out there but I’ll give you one that I’ve been obsessed with recently, check out Ed Mylett

Be intentional about Eradicating Negative Speak


We must be self aware of the thoughts that make there way into our mind. We all have heard that voice, I don’t think I’m good enough, What if I fail, what will they think of me, I’m going to look stupid. We all have these messages running around inside our heads at some point or another, based on the statistics of 35,000 negative messages a day, I’m pretty sure I am correct.

I am suggesting that the moment we start hearing these messages that we don’t entertain them. We must immediately be intentional about shutting down the negative speak. It may be tough at first but I am telling you to develop the habit. The second that voice starts, you shut it down. You tell that voice that you are good enough, you do have what it take, that you can do it. I suggest sentences that start with these small but powerful words, I can, I am, I will, I must. Keep this in mind, it doesn’t matter who says you can as long as it isn’t you.

Stop Making Excuses


Stop making excuses because when you do you are focusing your control outside of yourself. Excuses are how we rationalize to ourselves that our doubt and fears are valid because of outside forces. When you accept that you are responsible for exactly where you are, relationally, financially, or career, you own your power. Once you own your power you can believe and be confident in yourself when you say you can, you must, you will.

Life Lessons we can Learn from the Super Bowl Champions

What life lessons can you learn from the Super Bowl Champions?

I believe there are strong lessons to learn from every player on that field last night.

Obviously Tom Brady is getting a lot of the attention and rightly so, he deserves it But every player on that field can teach us all a lesson, a lesson that if we applied to our lives, our goals and dreams would radically change our destiny.

Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady
TAMPA, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 07: Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrates with the Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium on February 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs 31-9. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Every player on that field had a dream since they were little kids playing Pop Warner football to play in the NFL and to play in a Super Bowl. Yes, every player was born with athletics ability and potential. But so were tens of thousands of others who never made it to the highest level, What’s sets these players out above the others?

The players on the field last night relentlessly pursued and stretched the limits of their potential their entire lives for this moment.

Since they were little boys they had the dream and they committed do doing what ever it took to get there. Yes we see all the money, the life style, the fame and we think somehow it was easier for them. False.

These players worked every day of there lives up to this moment to push every ounce of talent out of their bodies. They pushed through the pain, through injuries, through setbacks, and they never quit.

That is the difference, they never quit. every step of the journey they worked harder, studied more, trained more. When others were taking off, playing video games, giving limited effort in practice, they were working, giving everything.

What if you applied this discipline to your goals and dreams? What kind of exponential growth in your life would you see in a year, three years, and decade? You could achieve any goal you set your mind to. You could create the life you dream of.

I challenge you to commit to relentlessly pursuing the limits of your potential. Its your responsibility, your duty.

Don’t be lazy with your potential.

You are in control, dont let anyone derail your dream. 3 Tips to achievment

You are in control, dont let anyone derail your dream. Just wanted to send out a reminder that where ever you are in your life, financially, job, career, business, or relationship, whatever, it does mean you have to stay there. Its a fact that we are all where we are because of the decisions we have made and the actions we either have taken or not taken. But the truth is, those past decisions do not have to dictate your future.

You have the ability to choose the future you want right now. Once you decide what your goals and dreams are you have started the process of changing and shaping the future you want. However, this is the easy part.

The key to making any change and achieving any goal requires action. This is where people stumble and fail. Everyone wants the money but are’nt willing to commit to what it takes. Everybody wants the fit and attractive body but manny are’nt willing to put the work in, to sacrifice. You can achieve your goals and dreams but you must be willing to work and sacrifice. Nothing great comes easy.

Commit goals to paper


Once you decide what it is you really want to accomplish or what you really want to become you must commit it to paper. I know we all have high tech devises but Im telling you to pick up a pen and a sheet of paper and write your goals out. Right out exactly what it is you want to achieve or become. Detail what your plan is and the effort you will put in to achieve your goal. Review those goals every morning and every evening. Hold yourself accountable. For a time tested method for setting and achieving your goals and dreams I highly suggest you read “think and grow rich” by Napolian Hill.

Commit to massive action


Commit to taking consistent massive action. We get fired up starting off while we are all excited about our new goals that will deliver the life we dream of. Once we experience a little friction and that excitement wears down, it gets a little tougher to keep putting out that effort. It can get diffuicult pushing forward without seeing results or at least the results we think we should be seeing. Keep in mind that results follow momentum, keep pushing, cosnsistent effort is always rewarded. The reason why most fail is because they fail to accurately consider the work required to accomplish their goals. Understand up front that what ever your first thoughts are on what action is required, double it, tripple it. Doing this you start to find out if you are actually committed. Grant Cardone author of “The 10X rule” says that what ever goals you have, what ever effort you think it will take multiply that by ten. Its actually a great mindset, I agree with Cardone that we think to small, we must think much bigger and set our goals higher. We set our goals to low and hit them, we should be setting our goals so high it stretches the limits of our potential.

Prepare for the cynics


Prepare yourself for the naysayer, the critics, cynics, and detractors. There will always be naysayers and critics, people who will always find the negative in everything and everyone. When you start stepping out of your comfort zone, you’ll be putting your self out there for the world to see. You are going to be vulnerable, again, here is where you find out how committed you are. Some will criticize and try to ridicule, they do this mainly because you are a threat. You by your actions are challenging them to question their own abilities and commiment to pursuing their own potential, some cant handle this. Rather than re-evaluate themselves they feel better criticizing you. You must get your friends and family on board also, share with them what your trying to accomplish and the effort it will take. You’ll need them to understand that you must block out the time required to acieve your dreams, Its in their best interest as well. Make sure you commit special time for them as well. You need them on your side, on your team.

Where ever you come from, lower financial background or status, High school drop out, over weight, what ever it is doesnt matter. What matters now is that you have decided now to make a change,set goals, and chase your dream. Whatever they may be, you want to achieve financial freedom, you are going to become a Senior Poject Manager, or you are going to get in the best shape of your life; whatever you dream of it can become real. You are in control, dont let anyone derails your dream.

We are all Leaders, yes you to

Leadership


We are all leaders, yes you to. It doesn’t matter what your position or title is.
According to John Maxwell the definition of leadership is influence. I believe it is the ability to influence others but how do we do that?
We influence others by how we live our lives, how we carry ourselves, how we treat people, and the example of excellence we present to those around us.
Notice, none of these things require a title or position.
All of us can set an example of excellence in how we approach our jobs, our friendships, our parenting, and our relationships with our significant others.
I was talking with a young man who was asking what he should do about a career, he didn’t go to college and had been working service jobs, fast food, waiter, pizza shop while he was performing in a band. He was having a great time, they recorded a couple of albums, they even went on a few short tours, but he realized they probably weren’t going to make it to the big time and the years were passing him by. He was afraid he was falling behind.

He was thinking of getting into a trade to try and learn a skill. As an old Electrician I told him I was a little biased but if he wanted to get into a trade he should pursue the electrical field. I reached out to a Contractor I knew, and they hired him. He asked me before he started If I had any advice.

I explained to him my position on creating value, I believe creating value is what we all need to do to keep a job, to be compensated well, and to rise in the ranks. Anyone can do the bare minimum and most people do. Value is created after you do what’s expected of you, when you go beyond what’s expected. You need to do what is expected and then do a little more.

Leaders dont fear hard work, they set the example.

I shared with him these tips;

• Arrive early every day, if you aren’t early, you are late. Be there early and ready to work.

• Do everything you are expected and or asked to do with a great attitude. I told this young man, if they tell you to carry 4” rigid pipe (very heavy) from one side of the site to the other, you be the best 4” rigid pipe carrier they ever saw.

• Pay attention to the smallest of details. Excellence is in the details. If you have done a task and you think, that’s good enough, then its not good enough. In my mind if its “good enough” it leaves room for improvement. The task is not done until it is done and done right to the best of your ability. It typically doesn’t take much longer or not much harder to close the gap between good enough and done right.

• Be willing to accept extra work, responsibility, and staying late.

• Don’t get caught up in gossip, complaining, and negative talk with other employees.

• Be the example of excellence, over the long term it will pay great rewards.

If you live these principles it will be recognized, and you will be rewarded. These principles translate to work, relationships, and life in general. Be the example of leadership.

Human Potential and Living a Full Abundant Life

Human Potential and living a full and Abundant life


I’ve been thinking a lot lately about human potential and living a full an abundant life. When I say abundant life I mean not just financial, I’m talking deep meaningful relationships with family and friends, making real impact on my community. I’m talking about making a difference in the lives of people I don’t even know. Living a life of significance.

Be a Champion


I have visions of making significant and meaningful impact on young men and women needing a mentor. There are those who believe they aren’t worthy, they’ll never succeed, their dreams will never come true. There are people my age and older who believe its to late to chase their dreams, they believe their time, and there opportunity has slipped through their fingers. They need a champion, I want to be their champion.

We All Have Greatness Within Us


You see I believe I was truly meant to make an impact, I believe that I have the potential within me to impact and change peoples lives for the better. There is greatness within me just waiting to be unleashed. I don’t think I am any different or better than anyone else. Its my belief that we all have greatness within us. We need only the courage to release it, to cultivate it, to unleash it.
Stretch The Limits of Your Potential

I believe it is our responsibility to push and test the limits of our full God given potential. We should set big fat audacious goals and then set out a plan of action to achieve them. We should aspire to be the greatest version of ourselves that we can possibly be. Remember, you can have all the potential in the world but it means nothing if you don’t take action. You can have a powerful race car but it wont move and get down the track until you put the pedal to the floor.

Will we ever really max out our potential, and be the absolute best version of ourselves? No, I don’t think its possible, and I can accept that. What is not acceptable for me any longer is not pursuing my best. Nothing less than a relentless pursuit of my full potential on a consistent bases is acceptable. Success is in the mission, in the journey where you leave a trail of meaningful relationships, achievements, and victories.

So What does Testing the Limits of Your Potential Look Like?

So what does pushing and testing your potential look like? Again, big fat audacious goals and an action plan to achieve them. It means taking consistent action daily towards our goals. It also means facing the questions, the unknown, facing your fears. Questions like, how could I ever do great things? You don’t have to have it mapped out, you just have to start, as you take baby steps the path will become clear. What will my friends and family think? What if I fail and everyone sees that? There is no failure unless we quit, only learning opportunities we can use to make course corrections. Through set backs and hardship, no matter how slow the process, we will still be ahead of those not even trying, and ahead of those rolling their eyes at us for trying.

I challenge you to test the limits of your potential and live a full and abundant life.

My greatest fear

My biggest fear when I really think about it is not death but dying without truly living life to the fullest.  I fear most dying without leaving anything for my children, without leaving any real legacy, without coming close to realizing my full potential.

What it all boils down to is when I am done here on Earth I want to leave a mark, some sort of proof that I was here and made a difference. I’m not there yet, not even close…………..you?

Its gone on too long, living in mediocrity. Its easy, its comfortable, just do what most others are doing muddling along through life scared to be different.

As I get older mortality becomes more real and the fear of not achieving all the dreams gets greater.   I will use these fears as fuel to the fire of my desire to be more, achieve more, and create a legacy.

I challenge you, face your fears and use them.  We are NOT here to be mediocre. We are here to be great, to be significant, and to impact others. My mission is to help and inspire others to go after their goals and dreams and test the limits of their potential.

I’m not afraid of dying but I am afraid of dying without really living