Thoughts for the Day

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer "Present" or "Not guilty."
---Theodore Roosevelt

"If you want to elevate your personal esteem, or lift yourself out of the doldrums of depression, perform an anonymous, unexpected act of kindness for someone. You will immediately feel better."
---Lee Brower, author of The Brower Quadrant.

"Happiness is knowing that you've done all that you're capable of doing to achieve all that you're capable of achieving."
---John Wooden, Legendary UCLA basketball coach

"The more you pursue meaning in your life, the more money ends up pursuing you."
---Lee Brower, author of The Brower Quadrant.

"When riches come they come so quickly, in such great abundance, that one wonders where they have been hiding during all those lean years."
---Napolean Hill, from Think and Grow Rich

by Terry Christensen

Recently I attended a business meeting with a group of business people who are basically in the same related market as me. I found that they are all experiencing different levels of success. I guess it's the same in any business. I was sitting next to a gentleman who is already having his best year ever. He was all smiles. His phone was ringing. Positive energy was oozing from every pore. He was fun to be around and I found myself wanting to help him succeed. He was what I would call a "happy guy".

An interesting thing happened after the meeting was over. A competitor of the gentleman I was sitting next to, in the exact same business, with the exact same opportunities, came up to me after the meeting and started to cry. 2010 had been the worst year ever for the "happy guy's" competitor. In that particular meeting there were definitely more "criers". My feeling is that most of the difference is simply attitude.

What are some things we can do to become the "happy guy" in the example above? We all would rather be the "happy guy" than the "crier"! In another meeting I was in recently, I brought up the fact that every morning I read a list of 100 things I'm grateful for. It is impossible for our conscious minds to focus on two things at the same time. If we focus on things we are thankful for it is impossible for negative thoughts to enter our minds. One colleague and friend told me that focusing on gratitude every morning had changed her life. Her marriage was better. Her relationships with her children were better. She was happier at work. She was happier in life! I would challenge every single person reading this to stop right now. I mean it. . . STOP!!! Grab a piece of paper and a pen and start to write everything you are thankful for in your life. At first you may feel this is difficult, but the more you write the easier it gets. Would you be interested in some ideas?

Here's one for you: I saw a photo of Roger Ebert (the famous movie critic) yesterday on Yahoo. I will be honest, I could not recognize him. He had a bout with thyroid cancer and most of his lower neck had been cut out. He could no longer eat or talk like you or me. He had to be fed through a tube attached to his stomach. He had been on the Oprah show and Oprah asked him if he missed eating. He waved his arms in the air and gestured to his mouth that he would give anything to taste food again. He was able to communicate through a special computer.

I will tell you that I was thankful to be able to savor every bite of dinner last night and breakfast this morning. I enjoyed my bacon like never before! That cranberry juice tasted SO good! I was thankful I could talk with my wife and children at the table and they could talk to me.

Let's think of a few more things. How about the ability to get out of bed and walk every morning? I remember a few years back; I slipped on my staircase and rammed my pinky-toe into a metal stair rail. The stair rail won and my pinky-toe lost. I was gimping around for about two weeks. I had never been so grateful for a healthy pinky-toe in all my life after it was healed. If you think a pinky-toe is bad, try breaking your big-toe. As a matter of fact, you should be able to go from your pinky toes to the hair on the top of your head (if it applies) and list every part of your body you're thankful for. I have a neighbor whose 16 year old broke both wrists while tubing one winter. Think how that would change your life?

List everyone you love and that loves you. List every song that makes you happy. List every book that has made a positive impact on your life. List every person that has made a positive impact in your life. List your favorite foods. List your favorite beverages. How about your warm bed, your car, your job, your clothes, your blackberry, your computer, your printer, the internet, your gun, your X-Box, your favorite football team, your credit card, your favorite television program, your freedom, your country, your faith and the list goes on and on and on! Are you feeling any better yet?

Please take my advice and put your list in the glove box of your car or the middle console if you have one. When you start your car in the morning (you're supposed to let it warm up anyway) take your list out and read it. I promise you it will change your life. You will become like the "happy guy" that we started our story with. Everyone will wonder why you are so happy. You will have an answer for them that will change their life (which by the way, will make you more thankful and even more happy).

by John Assaraf

With so many different beliefs about the definitions of success, it seems the word is overused. Certainly, success too often refers to how much money someone earns in a year or to net worth. Of course, earning a lot of money can be wonderful. Yet there are plenty of people who have acquired great wealth only to find themselves emotionally or physically broke. Relationships with a spouse or kids have been the sacrificial lambs for money. Many have even forfeited their own health for the mighty dollar. I don't know one person who has lost good health and wouldn't give every nickel to regain it. The same is true for those who have lost a child's or spouse's love in the pursuit of financial gain and material riches. Many people achieve financial success at the expense of the rest of their lives. They keep thinking that once they make a certain amount of money, they'll slow down and have time for other important things like family, God, and health. But most people never get there; there's always more money to be made, one more thing to do. It's usually too late before they realize that every day is the journey, and it's not just about the money. It's important to create a successful and fulfilling balance in each area of life.

One of my friends, Michael J. Stefonik, spent more than twenty years building a multimillion-dollar business while his marriage and relationship with his two children suffered. Shortly after his annual physical, his doctors disclosed the results of an MRI scan of his brain. They found a large tumor that would soon cause him to go blind or kill him. When he asked for a solution to the problem, he was told surgery was the only answer; however, there was only a fifty percent chance he would make it through the operation.

Within seventy-two hours, Michael arranged to sell his company and made all the other necessary preparations in anticipation of his possible death.

After ten hours of surgery, a large and benign tumor was removed. Michael spent three weeks in the hospital, then went home for recovery, where he was nursed for several months by the very people he had neglected---his family. Today, he's doing great and working to build a successful consulting business in the same industry in which he made his first fortune. More important, he's also making sure he gives plenty of attention to his health, his kids, his ex-wife, and his true friends. Somehow, what's important becomes obvious when life is on the line.

Guess what? Life is on the line every day, and you are trading what you do for it. In other words, life is a series of trade-offs, and every moment is literally spent: Time and, therefore, our lives are traded for the things we choose to do.

Imagine for a moment if my friend had been you. How would you have felt and reacted? Would you have wished you could go back in time and make different decisions?

Success can be incredibly elusive or it can come in abundance with the right mind-set and know-how. Few people really understand how to create abundance, particularly abundance in every facet of their lives. Fewer still have studied the cause of results. As a consequence, most people have no clue as the awesome power that resides within them or how to tap into nature's intelligence. Even successful people don't really understand the true cause of their success. They can tell you what they do, but rarely can they explain why or how they do it.

Yet, you can have it all, including but not limited to lots of money. Instead of realizing this, most people accept the way things are in their lives as some kind of foregone conclusion. They blame the circumstances or conditions into which they were born for the way they live today. But the truth is, you create your circumstances and reality. How many people have overcome trying circumstances to create the life of their dreams? You can become one of those people and have it all!

From the book "Having it All" by John Assaraf