The Game of Life

I love playing games with my children! So, this Christmas, my wife and I gave my boys several games that we could play together as a family. Among these games was The Game of Life by Milton Bradley. I used to love playing this game as a kid at my grandmother's house growing up. Of course, we bought the electronic banking version since my wife has an aversion to handling cash after years and years of working in the banking industry.

After playing a round with my children, I noticed my wife and I had a very different perspective on the game than my children. We weren't nearly as impressed with the careers that were so easily obtained and the very high salaries that accompanied them. I think our years of struggle and facing the realities of life dimmed our enjoyment of the Game of Life. I couldn't help but think how poorly the game would prepare my children to face the challenges that were sure to come their way. They weren't going to be able to start off with $400,000 in their pocket. They wouldn't have the choice of paying for all of their college up front with the cash they have on hand. Marriage won't come about just because of what point the have reached in life and children won't come into their lives just by the spin of the wheel.

I still enjoyed playing the game with my boys, and, yes, I did beat them soundly at it without any feelings of regret or remorse. But I couldn't help but think the next day about why the game kept bothering me. Ultimately, what bothered me most was that the Game of Life was so easy and that isn't how life really is...

Life is hard!

But the more that I thought about it, the more I was reminded that while, yes, life is a pain, we get to choose which kind of pain we get to deal with. As Jim Rohn always taught:

“There are two types of pain you will go through in life, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

 

Most of us follow the rut we have carved out in life and face daily the pain of everything we wish we had in life, but don't. We wish we had a nicer home. We wish we had a more enjoyable and fulfilling career. We wish we had a better body. We wish we had an exciting life. And all of these regrets weigh down on our shoulders as we watch American Idol, the Bachelor, Dancing With the Stars and athletic competitions thinking: "Wouldn't it be nice to have that in my life." I am as guilty of this as anyone.

 

But here we are at the start of a new year, marking a new beginning for each and every one of us. Here we have the opportunity to resolve to be a little better and to move away from that pain of regret by choosing the pain of discipline to improve some small part of our life in some way. Are you resolving to improve your health? Your relationships? Your finances? Develop a new talent? Pursue a dream? I hope so!

 

My first resolution of 2016 is to revive this blog and to share bits of wisdom and inspiration that I have collected and gathered and those things that I find help me in my life as I play the game of life and purse my own dreams and aspirations. So come back often and leave a comment when you find something that you really connect with or that inspires you on your own journey. And may this new year, and every year that follows, be the best you have ever had!

You Ought to Be Committed!

We are now in the second day of the New Year and how many of you have already broken your resolutions or completely given up on them. I hope none of you. But have you taken action on your new resolutions yet? If not, you may not be fully committed to your goals for the new year. You may have been interested in the resolution you made, the goal you set, but until you take consistent, forward-moving action you aren't really committed.

“There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”
~ Unknown

Starting today and every day from here on out practice Zero Tolerance No Excuse Living! Whatever you have resolved to accomplish this year, do not lay your head down on your pillow at night without having taken some action, no matter how small it is, towards accomplishing your goal. So put on those running shoes, crack that book, pick up that musical instrument, balance that bank account, make that new contact, whatever you need to do to move yourself forward.

Do it now!

Right now!

Stop reading!

GO!!!

Own the Future

I can't hardly believe that I haven't posted on this blog for 21 months now, but I've decided it is well past time to revive it and get back to sharing tips, quotes and stories that inspire and motivate us to become better today than we have ever been before! So I hope you will come back often and leave a comment to share any insights you may have gained in your visit here or just to let us know that you dropped in.

Today I would like to share a quote that was e-mailed to me this morning by Brian Tracy:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Nothing of significance is ever accomplished without first believe in yourself and your ability to do it. Dare to believe as you set and pursue the New Year's Resolutions you have made for 2012.

(You did write out your resolutions, didn't you? If not, read through my Celebrate 2008 blog series where I help you to gain a better understanding of why resolutions are important, how to set effective and exciting resolutions and tips and techniques for making sure you keep them throughout the whole year ... and beyond.)

Commitment Issues

My wife just experienced another milestone in her Mary Kay business. She just earned her 4th free car in the Mary Kay Career Car program, but this one is especially significant because it is her 1st Premier Club level car. As a result, she will be receiving a brand new, straight off the line, custom built Chevy Equinox!

I am very proud of her and all that she is accomplishing and grateful to her wonderful team of women she is working with who have made this possible. We never could have done it without them and I, personally, look forward to celebrating with many of them when they receive their first Career Car from Mary Kay!

When these women earn their first car, it really is a special day because it is a defining moment that allows them to say without equivocation, "Yes! I am a successful Mary Kay consultant!" The recognition is nice. And the commissions on their sales is great, but few people outside their family actually sees that. But when the company gives you a brand new car to drive around for free, that's a tangible, visible mark of success for them.

Unfortunately, not everyone earns their car in Mary Kay. Many of the women coming into the business say that they want the car, but so few ever actually earn it.

Why?

In a word...

COMMITMENT!

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"

W. H. Murray in The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951

Every single woman on my wife's team, regardless of their current circumstances, could drive a brand new car in the next six months or less if they committed themselves to doing it. Do you want to know how I know? Because my wife has done it four times!!! As great as my wife is (and I do think she is pretty spectacular) she started at the same place as everyone else. But she committed herself to doing what her Director and National told her to do in order to get the results she wanted to get.

She still does that. Just three days ago, she was $3,000 in team wholesale orders away from earning her car. That equates to over $6,000 in retail product. And if that $3,000 in orders hadn't been put in by the end of the month, my wife would have had to start all over from the beginning to try and earn this car over the next six months. I'll be honest with you. She was a little frustrated to be so close and yet still be so far away.

We had several team members step up in big ways. One of them, on her first solo class, sold $1,043. (Well done, grasshopper! She has now made over $1,100 in PROFIT over her first two classes and she was one who joined the company just to have a little extra spending money. Not too shabby!) We had a couple $200 orders and a $500 order and even a $43 order, among others, helped get us a little closer. But all that would not have been enough if my wife hadn't committed herself to making it happen NO MATTER WHAT!!! She went to work and sold enough in the last two days to place a $600 of her own. Now that's commitment to a goal!

“There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

There is always a reason why someone doesn't commit to their goal. I've heard people use pets, parents, illness, spouses, car trouble, kids, church assignments, friends and a plethora of other "reasons" why they can't keep their commitments. It makes me laugh to hear people tell my wife, "My family comes first!" as if to imply hers does not. And yet my wife spends loads of time with our kids, serves actively in our church, hangs out with friends, spends quality time with me and still runs a successful, profitable business with the car score being 4-0 in my wife's favor!

If your family really comes first, discipline yourself, establish better time management habits and commit yourself to succeeding for your family so that you aren't struggling so badly financially. Imagine for one moment how much less stressful your marriage would be with the extra income a successful business would provide. At least the kids won't be embarrassed by the car you drive when you drop them off at school.

I'm not saying that there aren't valid reasons out there for not keeping a commitment. We totally understand those situations and we feel bad when they happen. But here is a good test for whether you have a good reason or just a poor excuse:

• Is it a reason you would give if you had to call your boss at the last second to tell them you weren't going to show up at work that day?
• Would you still have a job the next day if you did give that reason?

In case you are wondering, reasons like "My dog is sick", "My best friend came into town" and "I just don't feel like it right now" will land you in the unemployment line.

It is sad how many women I have seen who have come into this business over the last few years who had such high hopes and grand dreams that have left it to get a job where the discipline of showing up is enforced, you have absolutely no control over how much you earn and, no matter how good you are at your job, they will never, ever give you a free car. Don't let that be you.

Whatever worthwhile goal you may have, remember the example set by Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez. When he landed in Mexico, he gave his men the orders to burn the ships. He cut off their escape route. There would be no retreat. They would succeed in their mission or they would die trying.

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
~ Mario Andretti

Commit yourself to your goals and your dreams at every step of the process. Re-commit every morning when you wake up no matter how poor your results may have been from the day before. Throw out your excuses and press on through your trials.

Amazing things lie within your reach if you commit yourself to achieving them!

The Treasure

The Treasure
by Alice Grey

The cheerful girl with bouncy curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.

“Oh, please, mommy, can I have them? Can I have them? Please, Please, mommy?”

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face.

“A dollar and ninety-five cents. That’s almost two dollars. If you really want them, in no time, you can save enough to buy them for yourself. Your birthday is only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”

As soon as Jenny got home, the little girl emptied her penny box and counted out seventeen pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and went to the neighbors and asked Mrs McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she was swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother had said that if they got wet, they might turn the back of her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she went to bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he had finished the story, he asked Jenny.

“Do you love me?”


“Oh, yes, Daddy, you know I love you.”


“Then give me your pearls.”


“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls, but you can have Princess, the white horse, from my collection. The one with the pink tail, remember daddy? The one you gave me. She is my favorite.”


“That’s ok, honey.”

He brushed her cheek with a kiss. About a week later, after the story, Jenny’s daddy asked again.

“Do you love me?”


“Daddy, you know I love you.”


“Then give me the pearls.”


“Oh, daddy, not my pearls, but you can have my baby doll and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper.”


“That’s ok, sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you.”

And as always he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when Daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed in Indian style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear ran down her cheek.

“What is it?”

Jenny did not say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy and when she opened it, there was her pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, “Here, Daddy, it’s for you.”

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny’s kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace and with the other hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was waiting for her to give up the dime store stuff so he could give her a genuine treasure.

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What are you holding on to that is preventing God from giving you the genuine treasure? What are you hanging on to? What beliefs are holding you back?

There is so much more in store for you in this life than you currently have, but you must make room for it. You must be willing to give up the good in order to receive the great.

Will you give up your pearls?

Choose Your Own Adventure

When I was growing up, I used to love reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books. You remember those, don't you? It was the books where you were the hero of the story and every few pages you were presented with a choice. If you chose to enter the mine shaft, you were directed to turn to page 66. If you chose not to enter the mine, but continued to climb up the side of the mountain, you were directed to turn to page 43. And you would have a different adventure based on the choice that you made.

I think what I liked most about those books is that, if I didn't like the ending I chose, I could back up and choose a different one.


Everybody, every day, is living the adventure they have chosen. Some have chosen to be broke while others have chosen to be rich. Some have chosen to be overweight while others have chosen to be thin. Some have chosen to be stressed while others have chosen to be relaxed. Some have chosen to fail while others have chosen to succeed.


The conditions that we are experiencing every single day are a direct result of the choices we have made!


We can blame Obama, blame the bank, blame our spouse, blame the economy, blame the car, blame the kids, blame the dog until we are blue in the face but nothing will change until we decide to change it.


So, if you don't like the results you are getting ... back up, look at the choices you have made that brought you to where you are, and make a better choice.

You can
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!!!

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Featured on the Official Choose Your Own Adventure website under Notable Blog Posts.

How to Stop Stressing and Start Living

Darren Hardy, publisher of Success magazine, blogs about an experience he had as he attended a social function where he had to listen to constant complaining about the economy, how bad Obama was doing, the heathcare plan and on and on and on. He finally got fed up with all the negativity and had a great response to this small group of whiners and complainers. Click here to read his response and to learn a simple exercise that can help you break free when you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, stressed and defeated.