2 Days left until the New Year...

Only 2 days left of 2016!!!

Are you ready for it?  In eager anticipation, waiting for a fresh new start.  Hoping that this coming year will be better than the last or at least not worse.  Let us delve into what 2016 has done for me...

2016 has proved to be a much better year from those past.  I have saved more than I ever imagined.  Gave more than I ever did before.  Earned more than I ever have in my entire life.  I have been able to get things for my family that I probably would never have if I didn't follow some tried and true financial steps.  All in books I continue to read.  I have a lot of time to do this on my numerous flights through the year.  It still might not have been the perfect year but it leads me to believe that I am better prepared than ever before for any financial challenges that might occur.

In December of 2015 my wife had weight loss surgery. Even the whole year of preparation for this was life changing for the family.  Our eating habits have changed and the foods we get have improved.  Ingredient checking is a must, even more so than in the past. Part of the process is that my wife needs to exercise everyday.  Having a back issue can cause this to be problematic.  Way back in 2009 we bought a pool, against my better judgment, and have been paying for it since.  This is one of the last loans I need to clear before being pretty much free other than our mortgage which has tax saving qualities.  To help with her exercising, at least in the summer months, I decided I'd open it.  It had not been used in two years and now needed a liner.  In the past this would have been a problem financially but I was able to afford it because I had spent the last few years taking steps to insure funds for unexpected projects.  I will elaborate further at a later time on how you can accomplish this as well.  The problem that confronted me next was how to empty the now very pungent and stagnant water that was still in the pool.  This had to be done in order to remove the old liner and install the new one.  More funding was needed to obtain a gas powered trash pump that could siphon out the bad water.  This investment proved to be worth while since I used it again at the end of the season to bring the level down to close the pool for the winter.  Another project that cost a bit of cash was the new garage door.  Our old door was built by a company that was no longer in business and from the 1950's.  I had to special order the door since only a commercial size door would fit.  Some time was involved in assembling the door and my son helped a bit.  Our schedules didn't match very well but in the end a new door was in place.  I once again attempted to install my new set of windows that I had boarded up but found I needed some more materials to rebuild the frame.  Our 2005 Yukon XL had seen better days so I started looking for a 3/4 Ton from 1999 to replace it.  I was able to get a great deal on a low mileage '99 GMC Suburban in CA.  I flew out, spent the night in a Double Tree near the airport.  Used Uber for the first time and paid cash for the truck.  I then proceeded on the 24 hour drive home.  This may sound crazy but I was able to see parts of the country I never would have if I didn't.  Needless to say, if I hadn't followed some of the learned strategies that my books had offered, the opportunity would have been missed.

2016 also allowed me to help my son get another car and I lent the 2005 Yukon XL to them until he can get his truck fixed.  None of this would have been possible a few years ago.  I continue to watch what I spend and caution the wife on items she's looking at but we have been freer to buy things unobtainable in the past.

So let's recap on how you too can achieve this kind of success...

1. Pay Yourself First...  You've earned it, worked for it and deserve it!!!
2. Give... Of yourself either time or money to help others, it will come back to you ten fold.
3. Have a goal...  Where do you see yourself in the next 5 yrs, 10 yrs?  Write it down!!! No goal is too big... New house, car, career... Only you can decide this.
4. Find your passion... What are you passionate about and how can it help you succeed?
5. Focus on your goal(s)... How can you achieve it?  Is what you are doing now going to help you get there?
6. Reward yourself... When you reach a goal, you need to give yourself something back.  Our minds work better when we know that there will be some reward to the hard work we've done.
7. Stop worrying and start living...  What's the worst that can happen?  What will the result be if it does?  We sometimes think and then worry about the worst but 9 out of 10 this never comes to pass.  So why worry about it?  Except the worst and breath easier when it doesn't.
8. Make even the little things in life count...  When you wake up, take a deep breath and thank God or the Universe for another day.
9. Change the "I'll try" attitude to a "I Will" attitude...  If you continually tell yourself "I'll try", nothing will be accomplished.  There is no such thing as try.  Your mind works with "I will" and having a strong "Will do" attitude brings in many positive things into your life.
10. Reduce the clutter... I'll admit I'm a bit of a hoarder and need to channel my focus at times.  So I've created a journal to keep thoughts in.  In the process of doing this I have found a system that seems to work very well.  It's called the Bullet Journal and is very effective at organizing your life.

I could probably go on with many other things to help you get closer to your inner success but these are some things that helped me over the past few years.

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to 2016 so be safe and Happy Holidays...

Thrive! In 2012

     Thrive!  Enter the year with an expectant heart!  That was the message from Pastor Doug at this mornings service.  As 2011 slipped away into oblivion at 11:59:59 PM last night, a sigh of relief came over me.  It was finally over, done, gone and just a figment of my memory.  I had thought that 2010 was a year to forget but I was wrong.  2011 presented itself as a year of hope but became a let down.  When I went to service this morning, I did so with peace and more joy then I had in a long time.  2012 truly is a year of hope and great prosperity.  How can I say this and know it's true?  I realize, I was wrong about last year, but I also made some grave mistakes that cost me.  The cost was mental, physical and financial, but I've learned from this.  I've learned that I am repeating mistakes that I've made before and now was the time for change.

     Pastor Doug went on to say that there are four things to expect this year...

1. Expect a prophetic word.
• A new word and Proverbs 29:2 came to mind
• Where the righteous thrive, the family will rejoice!   
2. Expect a message.
• Repentance
• Forgiveness
3. Expect to be Fruitful.
4. Expect a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

     I've grown spiritually this past year and for that I am thankful for of last year.  The strains placed on myself and my family weighed heavy through the year.  I have created a plan and have been monitoring it and sticking to it.  Making adjustments as needed to stay in line with my set goals for 2012.  I've made positive changes and have created constant reminders to keep me on track.  I see great freedom just around the corner and have the days marked on the calendar.  Counting the days until I am free of some major debt.  I've sought out knowledgeable people that can help me overcome my fears and get my creativity started.  I've regained the confidence I had years ago that helped me climb to new success.

     So if you're looking to make a New Years Resolution look no further.  Make the first one a commitment to yourself, your dreams, your goals, your greatest desires.  Take them all and make a plan to have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.  This will bring you Success from within!

What is your definition of success?

What is your definition of success?

          When I started this blog, I gave the definition that Websters Dictionary had for success.  As noted by them, the definition changed.  I know it has been a while since my last posting but on occasion, everyone needs time to reflect.  Society today, looks very differently at success then we did in the past.  The whole point of this blog is to show everyone that our perception of success is wrong.  After spending 8 weeks in Dale Carnegie training, I have learned many things about getting my point across and giving my readers a true visualization of what I'm talking about.  First off, how can anyone relate to what I'm trying to convey without proper examples?  Real life examples, to show that everyone has experienced success at some point in their life.  Stories of real people who found out that success is not just being wealthy or having that high paying career.  I have also been travelling much of this year and found a lot of time to read several books on debt elimination.  This subject can be tied into ones desire to discover success from within.

          Let's start with the basics shall we...  Success to me is setting a goal and seeing it through to it's conclusion.  Resolving a problem or issue can also be called success.  Why?  Simple, if John needs some money to replace his tires he could go to the bank but if he doesn't have enough in his account, he will need to get the money somewhere.  With this example, John has two goals.  First is to get the money needed for the tires and second is to take the money and get the tires he needs.  John can solve first situation in a few ways.  John can save up the money, putting a few dollars away each pay period until he has enough for the tires.  He can work more hours and use the extra money earned to get the tires.  He can borrow the money, this is not recommended seeing how the value of the tires decrease over time.  All of the debt management books I have read agree that using credit to buy such an item is finacial suicide.  John can sell something he no longer wants or needs to pay for the tires.  So you see John has many options to get the money.  Once John has collected enough money to cover the costs, we can say that John was "successful" at reaching this first goal.  Next is getting the tires.  John simply needs to find a tire dealer, make the appointment and purchase the tires.  John now has "succeeded" in replacing the tires he needed.  Society doesn't see this as a success but John was successful in getting the tires by being successful in getting the money needed to purchase them.  It is the little successes we have that lead us to greater success.

          All the experts and guru's tend to agree, that we need to take little steps to reach a big goal.  A hand written plan that lays out little goals that help advance us to our final goal.  If a goal is set too big, we tend to get frustrated and give up easily but, if we set smaller goals, not achieving one is just a minor set back.  I, myself, have been battling a finacial crisis for the last fee years.  Every time I think I'm getting close to surmounting the situation, something new pops up to knock me down a few pegs.  I use to worry about this constantly, causing many nights of lost sleep and stomach ailments.  While attending the Dale Carnegie training, I was assigned to read How To Stop Worring & Start Living by Dale Carnegie.  The information contained within this book was life changing.  Sir William Osler was quoted "Live in Day-tight Compartments."  Shut the doors on the past and the future, live the day and the day alone.  With this the past is the past and should not be relived and the future hasn't happened yet so why fret over it?  I also learned to write my worries down and stick them in a drawer.  In a month or so pull them out and see the results.  Most of our worries are for nothing, by writing them down and later seeing the outcome reassures us of that.  I worried about my job, home and vehicle, just to see that my worries never materialized.  Now I use what is called a worry stone.  I take the worries I have writen down and place them under the worry stone.  Now the worry stone can worry about them.

          The last thing for today would be another quote from Dale Carnegie's book How To Stop Worrying & Start Living is "Thy will be done".  All the books that I have read dealing with overcoming financial burden mentioned giving and accepting the will of God.  Following the belief that if it is God's will for this to happen to me, than so be it.  It is said in the Bible that God provides for our every need and rewards us when we are deserving.  The mistake that most people make is that we, myself included, believe things are owed us but in God's eyes we truely are not deserving.  I will leave the giving discussion for another day but want to point out that unless we are thankful for the things we have, the Lord may take them away.  It has taken me many years to realize that I should be thankful for even the smallest things.  By being thankful everyday, my life has greatly improved and brought me to greater accomplishments.  With that in mind, be sincere and truely appreciative of the things and people in your life.  This will bring great opportunity to your door.

          In closing "God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change... the Courage to change the things I can... and the Wisdom to know the difference."

How badly do you want it?

How badly do you want it?

That is the question of the day.  How badly DO YOU want it?  How badly do you want Success?  I recently found myself asking that question.  When I look at how the past year turned out, I realized that it was time to change the strategy.  I had written down in "My book of knowledge" that you can't expect a change if you don't change the strategy.  If the results you are getting now are not what you want then you'll need to make a change.  How big of a change?  You may only need to make a small adjustment in order to get your desired results.  When I look back at the past few years I realized that I had made many mistakes.  I didn't stick with what was working for me.  I didn't even realize that I made that change until the results were near devastating.  I took a step back and formulated a new game plan to make this year the best yet.  It still comes down to how badly I want it.

I had mentioned in the past about conviction to yourself and your goals.  This still holds true and correlates to how big your desire is to achieve something.  I also spoke about perseverance and this also ties to your conviction and your desire for success.  This is why Writing your goals down is essential and placing reminders in plain sight.  This keeps that burning desire to drive forward towards your goal.  Success does not come from thin air.  I wish at times that I could just wave my magic wand and say "Abra freakin' cadabra" *POOF* your a success but that just isn't realistic.  I have had such burning desires to accomplish a task that I couldn't sleep at night.  My mind constantly thinking about the problem at hand, searching for a solution.  Sometimes the solution is so simple that is often overlooked.  So how badly do you want it, the success, the achievement, your dream, your goal?  Do you have that overwhelming desire and drive to see it through?  Here again I'm on top of the soap box, preaching about things I have found to work for me.  You may get tired of hearing it but I can't drive this home hard enough that everyone and I mean everyone runs into a state suspended animation.  By this I mean we literally stall out and float with no motivation to move forward.  Inspiration does not always just come to us, we need to find it.

I enjoy receiving The Daily Energize sent out by Rich German or receiving my daily Enlightened Messages.  They both help to keep me focused and on track.  They have a way of picking me up when I have fallen into a state of inactivity.  People like Rich German or Patric Chan are an inspiration by overcoming the obstacles and reaching a level of life that they enjoy. So as I had mentioned in a previous blog along with a Stevie Nicks video, don't let the "Landslide" bring you down.  Here is to all of your future successes.  Cheers! 

What Time Is It?

What Time Is It?

This is a popular question that comes up on Cartoon Network.  What time is it?  It's Adventure Time!  That's what Jake on Adventure Time exclaims as he's off on some new, wild adventure.  For most of us though when asked "What Time Is It?" we just look for a clock or our watches for the actual time.  We don't really realize that time is more valuable then we perceive it.  How quickly time seems to pass us by.  Another quote that comes from a teachers wall above their clock is "Time Will Pass Will You?".  This quote made you think of your not so distant future of being able to pass or fail the class.  The truth in that statement is that time will pass.  Time is infinite and will never stop so what we do with our time is so very important.  So why am I bringing time up now in the midst of helping you focus on creating your convictions?  The answer is simple, there is no time like the present to get your life in order and make a difference in your success.

Tom Hanks as Forest Gump had said "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get".  This is true to a point and that point is whether or not you make the active decision to do what it takes to make a change in your life.  So many of us are constantly picking through the box of chocolates searching for what's best.  It's hard to figure out which one is the one we are looking for unless we are given a map to which chocolate is which.  This is why writing down our objectives is so important.  With out a map we become lost.  So what does time have to do with all this?  We can not reach our goals with the map alone, it takes time and effort to reach the end.  If we do not set a time to reach a goal we may never achieve our objectives.  Our mind will think that it's OK because there is no sense of urgency.  If we set a time to reach our goal then our mind will start to work on ways to reach the objective.

I have set many goals for 2011, some are very ambitious and others are not so but with one month down already I am on track.  Hopefully you have set your goals, have your objectives in sight and are on track with your resolutions as well.  If you haven't started yet then there is no time like the present to get started.  Goal setting and time management are a big part of a successful persons life.  I have personally started using several tools to strengthen my conviction towards my goals and objectives.  Better organizing my time and energy so I can be successful in achieving my goals sooner.  I have even looked into different programs that will strengthen my weaknesses and make me a better person in the future.  I have checked my lists to determine which goals are still valid and where I need to focus my attention so I can reach my objectives.  You will find yourself doing the same thing.  You may find that a goal you had set last month no longer applies and you will need to rethink your strategy to achieve your new goal.  As life goes on our goals and desires change as well.

I'd like to leave you with a song that's been on my mind a lot lately Joe Walsh "Life's Been Good".

Words to live by...

          Words to live by...  In our endless pursuit of happiness and success, we are left with many decisions.  Different paths to follow that will hopefully lead us to our goals, dreams and desires.  The one thing that always remains true is the fact that we each need a definite and defined purpose.  It is part of the Law of Attraction and is a key component to achieving success.  I have stumbled across a great video of Napoleon Hill that I'd like to share with you.