Daily Inspiration 10-28-14

"If you judge, 

investigate." 

-- Seneca 

Maybe you've heard someone say, or maybe you've said to someone, "they have a bad marriage," or "that was a bad business decision," or "their behavior is so bad," or "he has a bad temper," or "that was a bad move," or "what a bad choice that was," or "business is so bad," and hundreds more.

Questions: Was it really bad? Was it all bad? What specifically was bad about it?

I had a thought the other day and wrote it down. It was this: What is good about bad? What is right about wrong? What was fantastic in the terrible?

In yesterday's sharing, I mentioned learning from Anthony Robbins and his book, Awaken the Giant Within. I know this is where my idea the other day came from. It comes from page 201 in the hardcover volume that he calls The Problem-Solving Questions. There are five of them, but I only want to focus on number one right now. That question is, "What is great about this problem?" This led me to ask, "what is good about bad?"

So, what is good about bad? It is impossible that anything is all bad, or all good for that matter, so there have to be things that are good about bad. The life-changing key to asking these kinds of questions is a renewed and more whole perspective of life in general.

Let's try a few. Let's say you're broke and you're barely getting by and all you can think of is how little you have and how much you want some more money. I've been there and know that feeling. It sucks. Big time. So, what is good about this? You might scream, "nothing is good about that." But, that isn't true, so let me ask, "if there could be something good about it, what might it be?"

Some possibilities: you always wanted to know what it was like to be broke and now you're experiencing it for real. Or, now that you are here, there is only better from this point." Or, look how much I have learned about what not to do about money, so I am going to make a list of better choices so that I need not experience this again. Or, I'm seeing now how my lack-mentality or lack-thoughts have brought me to this place. Now I can change those thoughts to prosperous thoughts and draw more from the world of abundance. There are a long list of positive aspects that can be seen if one only takes the chance to open up and look.

Whatever the problem is, whatever is perceived as bad, or wrong, find the wherewithal to ask Anthony's question number one: What is great about this problem. Or what is good about this bad? Everything is perception and perception is one of the most malleable things in our life. It is as easily changed as we allow it to be.


"Questions Change The Resources Available To Us." -- Anthony Robbins 

Spread Some Joy Today--by asking good questions. What is great about today? How does that make me feel?

Daily Inspiration 10-27-14

"It's not what happens to you, 

but how you react that matters." 

-- Epictetus 

As I grow and become a more calm and joyous person, I still have what feels like automatic reactions to things. It might be a statement someone made, a criticism directed toward me or something I was a part of. I know it is my ego and my ego is the one reacting, but I am ultimately in control of that aspect of me as much as any other, so by virtue of the idea of practice, I improve the results over time.

What is true now is that even though I may initially react and even open my mouth and speak back to the perceived attack, I catch myself in action and take back my control and sensibility. I might even stop mid-sentence, but stop I will. And, over the years of practice, these outbursts of emotion are less, and they are absolutely less intense and far shorter in duration. That is what I love about practice.

My goal is a calm consideration and if I am to react, I want to react with love. Life is way too short to go around being upset about trivial things--and believe me, in the scheme of life and death, all this stuff is trivial. Besides, when someone is attacking another for whatever reason, it really isn't about the one they attack, it is always about themselves and how they feel and think. We create our own enemies inside ourselves. That's still too deep for many, so I promote practicing calm consideration and love in all our reactive moments.

Anthony Robbins helped me with some vocabulary on this subject and others by simply changing a typically overused word or phrase to something different. For example, go from, "I'm so pissed at you!" to "I'm quite tinkled about you right now." That changes everything. If it doesn't get you laughing, we can dig deeper into Anthony's word and phrase arsenal.

I quoted this from Mr. Robbins back in 2012 in the February 12th Daily Inspiration, and it is easily worth quoting again from his book, Awaken The Giant Within: "From Tinkled To Turbo-Charged -- What would your life be like if you could take all the negative emotions you ever felt and lower their intensity so they didn't impact you as powerfully, so you were always in charge? What would your life be like if you could take the most positive emotions and intensify them, thereby taking your life to a higher level? You can do both of these in a heartbeat."

Go from being angry to disenchanted, anxious to expectant, disgusted to surprised, exhausted to a little droopy, frustrated to fascinated, overwhelmed to in demand, stressed to energized. Then go from being awake to raring to go, cool to outrageous, determined to unstoppable, energized to turbo-charged, good to vibrant, happy to totally blissed, strong to invincible.

These are the kind of word changes I have so much fun with when people ask mundane questions such as, "how are you today?" or "what's new with you?"


Going From Pumped Up To Soaring! 

Spread Some Joy Today--It's as easy as flipping a switch. You get to flip it.

Daily Inspiration 10-26-14

"Almost all absurdity of conduct 

arises from the limitation 

of those whom we cannot resemble." 

-- Samuel Johnson 

You see the lives of well known people such as, Steve Jobs, and others who found their place in life and continued on that path to greatness. On a more personal scale, we might see those in our family or from our list of friends who find something they are good at and then they do that all their lives becoming experts at what they do.

Often when we might think of these people, we might think they had passion for what they did and that drove them on toward greatness. It does make sense that they would have a passion for what they were doing and even though it might be a life-long passion, we find that even more endearing.

I had this thought the other day that I have had a number of mini-passions, rather than one lifelong passion. I had a passion for playing guitar and singing; albeit without lessons, but it was a mini-passion. Then I had a passion for songwriting, and then recording music, working sound reinforcement, then just being a musician. I had a passion to sell things on eBay and get a shooting star rating. I've had a mini-passion for commercial trucks, teaching, being a sales manager, writing a book, being a husband, and the list goes on.

What I've come to find is that these mini-passions are just perfect for me. If we really looked at Steve Jobs, we might find that he too had a lot of mini-passions, yet so many along a certain path, yet off the path enough that it wasn't one long passion.

In addition, as I look at what I've read about Steve Jobs and his life, it was adversity that caused his real rise to fame. It was getting fired from Apple that led to his greatness because it caused him to become great within himself. I can relate to that because I've had a similar situation where I got fired and it led me to places I never would have thought of and all of them a substantial improvement.

So, where ever you find yourself, I think allowing the passions within you to express themselves is perfect and being concerned about whether they have a long lasting presence is a waste of energy. Go with the flow however long it lasts and move on to the new passion. I'm hoping that with myself and with you that those passionate thoughts will keep a steady stream of excitement and suspense.


A Long Time Ago, A Friend Said To Me: "When The Surf Is Up, Hang Ten!" It Is Still Great Advice. 

Spread Some Joy Today--Choose to have some fun today. It is always that easy.

Daily Inspiration 10-25-14

"He who trims himself to suit everyone 

will soon whittle himself away." 

-- Raymond Hull 

I was talking with an old friend today who shared some of the mentors that I was reading and listening to in the mid-80s like Anthony Robbins and others. In addition, after I was not in this persons life anymore, she was following the edicts and advice of some friends who were also studying self-help and some organized help services to help become a better person.

What was interesting in this conversation today was that she said that at some point she just decided that she was not in need of being fixed and that there wasn't anything wrong with her and so she just let all that stuff go.

Now, of course, there are things that we all need to continue to learn to expand as beings on this planet, but chasing the latest self-help guru is not for everyone. Some will obviously benefit from that, but others, like my friend, have heard enough and decided to pursue their life ambitions and life experiences rather than try to be someone who they are not.

I applaud that decision and that she was consciously choosing to accept herself the way she was as being already whole and not in need of change at that time. This may also change, but I could tell that she felt so good about her choice back then.


Accepting Ourselves The Way We Are Is Always Our Own Choice. . . So Is Changing. We Are In Control. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by taking what resonates with you and leaving the rest for someone else. There is no joy in resistance.

Daily Inspiration 10-24-14

"Henry Ford, poor and uneducated,

dreamed of a horseless carriage,

went to work with what tools he possessed,

without waiting for an opportunity to favor him,

and now evidence of his dream belts the entire earth.

He has put more wheels into operation

than any other man who ever lived,

because he was not afraid to back his dreams."

-- Napoleon Hill,

Think and Grow Rich

I love Henry Ford. In my heart, I have always sort of been a Chevy guy, but I love Henry Ford. The quote above is a good part of it. He believed in himself and he had a strong desire. He had to have said to himself many times, "I'm going to get 'er done, no matter what it takes." Well maybe without the drawl. . . However, he has been known to say, "I want it and I'll have it!" Now, that is a pure power right there. Pure power. Desire, commitment, determination, follow through. An amazing man.

Have you ever felt so strongly about anything you wanted? If you did, you must have received it. There is so much power in the decision. To say, "I'm going this way!" And, then confidently, going that way. Believing all the way.

Or, beginning on a project knowing full well you don't have everything you need and doing it anyway, expecting it to all work out well. That, my friends, is courage!

I've heard people say, "you have to count the cost," or, "wait until you're ready, the time is not right," or, "what do you know about ______?" A lot of dreams and ideas get washed away like a wave covering the sand on the beach with those comments.

Here's an idea for you: Any of you have children? Did you have it all planned out up front before the moment of conception? All the issues were covered and consulted with experts? All financial preparations made prior to the need, like college, tutors, braces, etc.? How about all the emotional coverage? The spiritual stuff too?

How about marriage? Was all that planned out ahead of the need and the funds set aside for the home, furnishings, transportation, children, etc.? The emotional issues? The spiritual issues? The daily issues?

All good, right? Yeah, sure!

Well, you found a way anyway, didn't you? You dealt with it as it was happening, right? You might have even enjoyed the process of the transitions from one place to another. You also made mistakes. Plenty of them. And, of course, you had many, many successes. You dealt with all of them in real time.

So, what's the deal? If you can take two of life's biggest challenges like marriage and children and figure it out, you can do the same with business, your career, the things you've always wanted to do and have put off year after year. If that doesn't give you a bit of confidence, I don't know what will.


YOU'RE GOOD. YOU'RE SMART. YOU CAN GET 'ER DONE. YOU'VE ALREADY DONE IT. YOU'RE WORTHY! YOU CAN ENJOY THE JOURNEY TOO. SO GO 'FER IT! TODAY! START NOW! Give Yourself The Praise You Deserve!

Spread Some Joy Today--Give Someone Else Some Well Deserved Praise (Or Just-For-The-Heck-Of-It-Praise). The Practice Will Help You Praise Yourself!

Daily Inspiration 10-23-14

"After a time, you may find that 'having'

is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as 'wanting.'

It is not logical, but it is often true."

- Mr. Spock, Star Trek

When I read this quote, I related to it immediately. It is often very true for me.

Some recent (last few years) examples: I wanted a very special and very rare electric guitar. I found one, bought it. Then I never played it and sold it. I wanted a treadmill, bought it and I have used it about 5 times in three years. Mostly it takes up space by owning it. I could probably list almost every possession I have and it would be that way, though most of them are just here or in storage, again not being used.

I've thought about this often and it feels kind of weird to want things, finally get them and then not care about them anymore. I think Spock is right: "It is not logical, but it is often true." Of course, I also have things I love and use and continue to take pleasure in.

The thing for me to reconcile is that it is natural and okay to want things. It is also okay to get them. And, if I no longer really want them, or they no longer hold that value I thought they would have, it is okay to let them go again. Sort of like catch and release fishing. It's that the things are just not that important, but the desire is.

This made me think of advertising by P.G. & E., our local electric and gas provider. They advertise that they encourage people to conserve power as if that is critical. The government encourages the same and I'm sure that P.G. & E. does this partly due to government encouragement. But conservation is not the answer.

I see a lot of ads by Shell Oil and Chevron about conservation, using less fuel and how good a thing this is for everyone. That's like a car dealer saying don't buy so many cars. It's so stupid to hear them say that when this is diametrically opposed to what they do as a business. Conservation is not the answer.

The answer is not conservation, it is desire and expansion. The energy solution is new types of energy, and especially cheaper and renewable energy, instead of doing the same things and expecting a different result (insanity). The desire for something new creates expansion until something new arrives.

The same is true with us. We are desire-driven creatures. Desire is good. Holding it down and beating it up is not good. An expansion is a good thing. Believing that abundance exists is good. Creating shortages and promoting that concept is not good.

Play with your desires: I ran across this from Bob Proctor and others. It is big fun and quite rewarding. Take out a few sheets of paper or a notebook. Now, write everything you want until to have at least 101 things. Trips, places you want to go, things you want to do, people you want to meet, situations you want to happen, businesses you want, anything you want regardless of its size or cost. Pay no attention to any of the 'how' part, just focus on what pleases you when you think of it. Pay attention only to 'what' you want, as if the 'how' did not really matter at all.

This will be a powerful thing for you to read again and again and watch what gets crossed off. It is really fun and you will be amazed at how many get crossed off in a relatively short period of time. We are desire-driven. You are in charge!


I Will Get My. . . Satisfaction. I Will Get My. . .

Spread Some Joy Today--Call One Or Two Special People And Tell Them You Love Them. Out Of The Blue Is Cool.

Daily Inspiration 10-22-14

"Strength does not come from winning. 
Your struggles develop your strength. 
When you go through hardship 
and decide not to surrender, 
that is strength."

-- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"What convinces is conviction. 
Believe in the argument you're advancing. 
If you don't, you're as good as dead. 
The other person will sense that something isn't there, 
and no chain of reasoning, 
no matter how logical or elegant or brilliant, 
will win your case for you."

-- Lyndon B Johnson

Rags to riches. Don't you love those kind of stories. It's not always hard work, though it certainly looks like it and maybe it even feels like it at the time. Whether it is hard or not is not the real issue, it's the commitment--the belief in your own ideas and dreams and plans. No one else will be convinced unless you are, so you will need to work on yourself far more than everyone else.

Frankly, I think that is the good news because that is where all the power of your idea is born: in your developing belief. It is easy to think you believe when you think about it and even visualize it and perhaps carry it with you for a time, yet it is the testing of your belief in your own dreams that gives you the strength you really need to succeed.

Isn't that interesting? I know it because I am going through this very thing and I am amazed and enlightened by the realization of what is really going on. Actually, this realization excites me and I am looking forward with keen interest at what will transpire in the year 2015. It will no doubt be a critical year in my growth and the growth of our companies.

The more I see how this works, the more fascinated I become.

Do you have anything that is testing and strengthening you? If you become fascinated rather than frustrated, you can walk confidently through the valley of the shadow of strange times and do it with joy. How cool is that?


I Turn My Frustration Into Fascination! It Is So Much More Interesting And Rewarding.

Spread Some Joy Today--Whatever is testing you can be changed to joy. Fine tune your argument to strengthen your belief. Enjoy the process. It can be fun.

Daily Inspiration 10-21-14

"Formal education 
will make you a living; 

self-education 
will make you a fortune." 

-- Jim Rohn 

There's a movie that just came out on DVD titled, The Ivory Tower. It is about how college in this country has become a serious problem in that there is well over a trillion dollars in student loan debt and what a burden it is on the students and also the country and how one used to be able to work part-time jobs and put themselves through college and now the costs have risen so high and so fast that it is nearly impossible today.

I have long thought that college can be wonderful if someone wants to be there and they are there to absorb all they can, and at the same time, it is equally responsible and acceptable to do something other than college.

Earlier in my life, people would state that you make so much more money with a college degree and yet I've known people with college degrees who are poor. It is said to open up opportunities not open to others, and I have found that to be a falsehood. It is true that it is pushed from the top down and the bottom up as the minimum requirement for success in the world, and that is bunk too.

I work a little in a disadvantaged youth program and in that program they are all also encouraged to go to college. Most will not.

Here's a quote from the movie, The Ivory Tower by Michael Roth, President of Wesleyan University: "Many intellectuals are saying that it would be better if some people don't go to college at all. I think that's an assault on democracy and it's an attempt to keep people in their place and reinforce social inequality." So, according to him, college is the ultimate equalizer, and of course, all colleges are equal as well, right? An assault on democracy? Really? . . . Interesting.

I'm not against college. That would be silly. I'm not against people being in debt. That is certainly their choice. They must have signed the papers at some point and spent the money. I'm not against the need for more education, or so-called higher education. I'm not against people who have college degrees and multiple degrees.

The movie tends to paint a picture of a national problem larger than health care and is expounding on the problems and how they came to be. I am with the movie on the point of the reality of where a college education is now, but I am not much of an advocate of focusing on problems.

I am for the idea that college can be a choice and not going to college can be an equally good choice. I am for the idea of education and including higher education, whatever that is. I am for the idea of life-long learning. I am for the idea of self-education. I am for the idea that all people are equal in their opportunity of education in this country, regardless of how disadvantaged they may think they are. Education is a choice. It is still a choice. We are all in full control of our own choices.

There has never been an opportunity for education as exists in today's world. We still have free libraries. We have free Internet education sessions--even college-level courses online. These choices did not exist even 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago, or even 25 years ago. And. here's the best news: They exist NOW.


If You Think About It, It Really Is A Brave New World. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by listening to your inner knowing. You already know the answer, just allow it to come forth.

Daily Inspiration 10-20-14

"I think of life itself now 

as a wonderful play 

that I've written for myself, 

and so my purpose 
is to have the utmost fun 

playing my part." 

-- Shirley MacLaine 

What a perfect attitude and philosophy for life. I create my own reality. I create my own circumstance. I am the creator of my life. I am responsible and I am fully in charge of it. Nothing external to me has more power than I myself control. I am.

I love how Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel says, "How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone."

Even the ancients decree as Euripides stated: "There is just one life for each of us: our own."


"Wheresoever You Go, Go With All Your Heart." 
 -- Kongzi 

Spread Some Joy Today--by simply and exquisitely being you.

Daily Inspiration 10-19-14

"Mistakes are the best teachers. 

One does not learn from success. 

It is desirable to learn vicariously 

from other people's failures, 

but it gets much more firmly seared in 

when they are your own." 

-- Mohnish Pabrai 

Although I agree that mistakes are great teachers and that doing and missing the mark can have huge advantages to lead toward the ultimate objective. I also agree that it is great to learn from others and their mistakes so that we might avoid the necessity to make our own, and that probably it is our own mistakes that give us the most power of learning.

Yet, there is one statement in this quote that I completely disagree with. Mr. Pabrai says that "one does not learn from success." Indeed, I think we learn as much from success or perhaps even more than from any mistakes. All you have to do is watch children when they are very young and one can see how much children learn from success.

From a willingness to do, there is the potential for success or failure. Although those words can be confusing, each of them indicates an outcome. It is not necessarily the final outcome because each outcome indicates some kind of movement along a path. You've heard the old phrase that two wrongs don't make a right, so two failures don't make success either. Potentially one can make mistake after mistake and never succeed I suppose, yet they can make success after success and grow stronger, wiser, and more fluent in success.

I think it is far more important to praise what is being done well or right, and so success is as much a learning tool as a failure in any endeavor.

The easier way to see this is that they are just actions and results, neither good nor bad, they just are. What we do with those results is the key, and we will typically grow much faster and more surely by stringing successes together.


Little Successes Lead To Larger Ones. Go Forth and Play With Success. 

Spread Some Joy Today--by giving yourself the gift of allowing yourself to enjoy your day fully.

Daily Inspiration 10-18-14

"To practice the process of conflict resolution, 

we must completely abandon the goal 

of getting people to do what we want." 

-- Marshall B Rosenberg 

Today I want to share a most powerful video that holds relevance in all areas of our lives, from interactions with clients and employers, coworkers, spouses, children, antagonists, and more. Maybe even watch twice. See this link to see some of his excellent books on the subject of nonviolent communications: Amazon

"We Only Have What We Give." -- Isabel Allende 

Spread Some Joy Today--by allowing your love to flow freely and without any need of return.

Daily Inspiration 10-17-14

"Life is never against you 

because you are the one 

who is creating it." 

-- Akemi G 

Once we can choose to accept that (and it is a choice), we are purely empowered to never ever be a victim again. We simply make another choice if one we have chosen is not to our liking. You could call it personal responsibility, but I think it is more like ultimate authority.


"When Things Happen, Live Them. When They End, Move On. Accept And Enjoy Bewilderment In The Flow." -- Akemi G 

Spread Some Joy Today--by accepting your own choices and celebrating them.

Daily Inspiration 10-16-14

"There is always a gift in any challenge." 

-- Bronnie Ware 

We're in the Internet business, and specifically in Internet marketing via websites, blogs, social media, etc. It is alive and moving all the time, so there is always something new to learn. As soon as you think you know what you're doing, you find that you're not quite there, nor does it look like you will ever be. It is like a lifetime journey without a destination.

In our travels we have run across a number of IT people. IT stands for Internet Technology and it generally is associated with setting up networks, testing systems, insuring Internet security and such. Some of those we have come across have been so arrogant in thinking they know so much and questioning everything we say. It is like ego's run amok. Of course, arrogance is a fearful emotion, and when we realize this, we know where their mind is really at.

Then sometimes a client will bring a new employee in to work with us and sometimes it feels like against us because they are thinking that they know how it should work and of course, we are not up to speed and in need of assistance. So, there is a lot to tiptoe through sometimes with these knowledgeable people.

Then again--and this is the important part, they are right. We do have things to learn, and they can be helpful in teaching us. They do this most often by bringing up what they see as a problem that we didn't see as a problem. And, if we don't address it well, they will often be persistent in getting their problem answered.

Considering that we have been doing this for seven years, it would be easy enough for us to get arrogant about such requests. We have to remind ourselves that we will always have much to learn about what we do and all of the nuances that are involved.

And guess what? When we let go of the rope of resistance and sincerely search for the answer to their question, we learn. Often we learn something we were clueless about and it reminds us the power and ultimate purpose of challenges. In the last month, we have learned about two such things that are important to learn about what we do. I won't tell you what they were because then you would know how little we know. . .

So there are two important lessons here. One is that in the face of any challenge, it is a really good idea to look for the gift, because somewhere in that challenge, it is surely there. And, the second thing is to choose to remain an eager student. There is always something to learn and it doesn't matter where we learn it from as long as we are open to learning more.


"You Are An Unfinished Work In Progress. One Of The Good Things About Life's Challenges: You Get To Find Out That You're Capable Of Being Far More Than You Ever Thought Possible." -- Karen Salmonsohn 

Spread Some Joy Today--by sending someone a note of gratitude and appreciation.

Daily Inspiration 10-15-14

"Confidence is what we get 

when we take fear, 

face it and replace it." 

-- Tim Fargo 

Sales training is something I've been involved in for a very long time, and I've come to know some things about training people up to do well in sales. In the last many years, I've been more focused on outside sales people which involves going out and finding business rather than awaiting its arrival by default. I've learned even more about that aspect of sales.

I have a sort of "system" about outside sales to insure that when someone is hired for the position the sales person themselves and the manager who manages them will know relatively soon how it is going to go. If the system is not used, it is often more of a guessing game and people will be held longer than necessary and then fail. That's the whole purpose of the system. I always remembered that my mentor Jim Rohn said that "the purpose of training is to find out who you have." I have learned that this is wise and true.

I was thinking a day or two ago about this subject and how I thought that if I could get that trainee's head in the right place, that all would go forward like magic. Isn't that the same thing with our children and when dealing with each other? So, as with salespeople, children and each other, one of the purposes of training, or at least surviving training, is to get their head, and our own in the right place that is most conducive to success.

When you're trying to sell a concept to a potential buyer. You may know they need it and how beneficial it may be, along with what an awesome value it is, but that knowledge is not fully effective until we can transfer it to our prospect. If we could just get their head right, it would be a slam-dunk, right? Of course, that is in essence the sales challenge always. We all know this I'm sure, but I'm now applying that scenario to training.

We have a relatively short window for initial training to do its job. Because we have a short window and results are what we are ultimately looking for, we focus on action. It's what we have been trained to do since childhood. But, it is the mind that matters most. The mind and the heart working together, or rather playing together, along with some knowledge and practice can work wonders quickly enough if properly done.

Some speak of motivation. I want to motivate my team to perform. That's not really how it works, especially long-term. What works best from my own experience is leading them, complimenting them, explaining benefits to them, finding things they do right or well, even when it is not as well as we would do. There is one really good word for that: Encouragement. I have found nothing in my own life, and nothing in my training life that works as well as encouragement. It's okay to find things that are not working to try to get them back on track as long as we find more things that deserve encouragement and praise.

These are the things that get the head and heart in the right place. The system is only a tool to use in the meantime until we can see who we have and then having found them, win them over.


"Nine Tenths Of Education Is Encouragement." 
-- Anatole France 

Spread Some Joy Today--by allowing the real you to show. Take the mask off.