Be Thankful For the Wealth You Have

A short note on the true nature of wealth…

8 years ago today I was sitting on an airplane in San Jose, CA when they annonunced a short delay.

Then they announced an air traffic control hold on all take offs.

Then they asked us to get off the plane.

When we got back into the terminal, the world had changed forever.

Wealth is not measured solely in monetary terms. Today, remember to be grateful for what you have (that you even have a 401K or other assets to complain about puts you in a small % of people on Earth). My grandma used to say that any day on the right side of the ground is a good day. Today, tell someone… anyone … that you appreciate them. It will make them feel good. Might make you feel good too!

Cheers to your wealth!

Mark & Jack: Principle #3 - Decide What You Want

This is the third week in my series, Mark & Jack: 52.4 Weeks of Living the Success Principles, my quest to master the Success Principles as written by Jack Canfield in his book of the same name.  Last week’s blogs were about being clear why you are here and finding significance and meaning in your life. It can get pretty philosophical if you allow yourself to go there but can come down to a few simple questions if you allow that instead.  If you didnt read it, check out how I applied this in my own life and some tips on how it can help you to be successful.

This week’s Principle is Decide What You Want.  What DO you want?  Aladdin’s lamp type question: if there were no limitations on your asking, what would be on your list?

“If they granted you one final wish, would you ask for something, like another chance?”
- Steve Winwood, fr. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys

Understand one thing: this is one of the most important things in your life for you to decide.  Consider this:

1. If you dont know, who does?
2. If you dont say, who will?
3. If you dont put these things (what you want) in front of you as goals, values, objectives, dreams … whatever you want to call WHERE I AM GOING TO TAKE MY LIFE, how do you think you are going to get there.

And the other thing that I have found is that it is harder than you think.  Next time I’ll post some of what I have learned in doing this in my own life and how you can make some progress on this in your life.

While I am thinking about it, here is one of my favorite quotes on this subject:

Cheshire Puss,” she began, rather timidly… “Would you tell me,
please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where…” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Success Principle #2: Be Clear Why You Are Here

OK, week #2 and 2nd in the series “Mark & Jack: 52.4 Weeks of Living the Success Principles.”  This week we deal with purpose, significance, meaningful lives … lightweight stuff like that.

Some people drift aimlessly through life.  Others specifically state that humans (themselves included I suspect) have no purpose or that the question - what is your purpose in life - is meaningless.

I dont buy it. 

If you get into a spiritual arguement about the meaning or existence of God, free will and if you have a role as a part of God’s plan, I agree - this might make your head hurt.  However, if you are able to discover how your life has meaning and significance you are on the right track.  How do you do this?This is exactly what I teach people how to do in developing Your Inner Expert, my method of helping people to develop a niche that is willing and able to compensate you for what you do best: Be Yourself. 

The first step is to Identify Your Inner Expert - who you are, what you want and the passions and Read more

Creating Reality: Stimulus + Response = Outcome

Creating your own reality is not for sissies….

This is the last post for week 1: Mark & Jack: 52.4 Weeks of Living the Success Priniciples.  As such, it’s my final comments on Taking 100% Responsibility for Your Life (Success Principle #1).  In his book, The Success Principles, Jack Canfield notes a “formula” for success that he attributes to Dr. Robert Resnick, a psychotherapist in Los Angeles: Event + Response = Outcome.

If you look at my previous posts on this Success Principle, you’ll note that I have been talking about this to some degree: the only thing you truly control is your response to the world around you.  No one else will make you mad, happy, jealous, deranged, blissful or any of a number of others states of emotion and consciousness.  You do all of that.

What I think is even more powerful about this formula has to do with the realization I came to when I Read more

Success Principle #1: Take 100% Responsibility For Your Life

And so it begins…52.4 weeks of The Success Principles.

Taking responsibility for your life is a given.  I soooo get this one.  It is really easy to fall into a pattern where there is ALWAYS someone else you can blame for what has happened to you and where you are in your life.  And to complain about it.  You have said it yourself or you have heard it from others:

1. I had a horrible childhood (parents beat/abused you, i was raised by wolves in the forest, etc)
2. I have this … problem (fill in latest made up disease…can you even keep up with the acronyms?)
3. They (family members, kids, co-workers, Moms at the bus stop where you drop off the kids, the CIA) are out to get me.
4. Life is not fair … why do these thing always happen to me?

Get the idea?  Well then knock it off!  What we need to get is that we have the power to change just about anything in our lives.  No, you cannot grow another limb if you are an amputee.  No you cannot instantly have $1.237M in your bank account (I dont like round numbers).  But you can change your attitude about how you react to your circumstances and what you are going to do about it.  You can get a prosthesis, you can start working towards that $1.237M.

THIS principle is truly one of the secrets to success in anything: Accept responsibility for who you are RIIGHT NOW and pay attention to how you react to your reality on a daily basis … it is all you really control. 

Success Action For The Day: Think of the last time you got mad at someone for something.  Think about how you reacted and come up with at least 3 other ways you could have reacted.  Which option makes you feel better, emotionally or physically?  Which puts you closer to joy?  Is this the reaction you chose?  Think about - and commit to - how you will react differently next time.

Religion and Reality: It IS What You Believe

People who believe in one particular religion (and all its ideology and dogma and baggage) are often  convinced that their God is the right God, the correct God, the Highest and Best God.

And they are right and wrong at the same time.  They are right for themselves because this is the reality they create; it’s what they believe more than anything else on Earth.  It becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

On the other hand, they are wrong in the broader sense of things because they cannot justly impose that reality on someone else: we have to come up with our own version of what we each individually believe.  Your version/vision of Higher Power will always be more real and meaningful than when someone else is trying to shove their belief system down your throat.

Not going to happen unless you let them do it.

Creating Your Own Reality - A Placebo For the Good Life

I get these random ideas all the time.  Some juxtaposition of facts, current events, old school learnings that I have from way back, lead to some kind of epiphany that lends itself to my current philosophy of life.

Much of which ends up in here.  This is today’s version of exactly that ….

It is most often the case that when someone is discussing or describing the test results for a new drug (or process or whatever … I’ll use a drug in my example), that they focus on the number of subjects that reacted positively or “recovered” from whatever the drug was designed to address.  This makes sense as the reason for having developed the drug in the first place was to cure the condition, disease, etc.

The number of people who reacted positively to the drug are quite often compared to a control group that was given a placebo or something to give them the impression that there was nothing different between what they were given and what those receiving the actual drug were given. Read more

Love the Adventure - The Power of Presence

You have probably heard an expression something along the lines of Life is a Journey - Enjoy the Ride.  I really do believe this and personally think it is important to move this out of the realm of bumper sticker wisdom and make it a part of your waking consciousness.

Every personal growth coach or self help guru on the planet will tell you it is important to set goals.  I tell my coaching clients and audiences the same thing,  encouraging them to set goals within the various dimensions of their lives in which they find value.  This is how I define wealth, a more holistic approach beyond the traditional financial perspective of wealth. This is important as it focuses our energies and intention on something we define as important to us.  There are several practical reasons for adopting this philosophy. Read more

The Quantum Edge

I talk a lot about cause and effect because the “real” world, the one typically known to our 5 senses, is governed by the mechanistic laws of Newtonian physics.  You know, the ‘every action having an equal and opposite reaction’ type of stuff. I stick to this principle in my speaking and training programs because way too many people are a) either unclear on just what they have to do (cause) to get what they want (effect) or (and much more concerning by the way) b) have got into the idea that they should get something for nothing, or at least for the least amount of effort possible.

I am also a firm believer that cause and effect extends into how you think as well. Read more

Burn the Boats

The story goes that when Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico, one of his first orders to his men was to burn the ships.  Cortez was committed to his mission and did not want to allow himself or his men the option of going back to Spain.  By removing this option, Cortez and his men were forced to focus on how they could make the mission successful.

In reality, it was likely that Cortez’ men were threatening to desert him and Cortez made such an action impossible by removing the one truly viable option his men had to get out of what was no doubt a challenging situation.  Don’t know that this is the BEST example of leadership BUT, that is not the point of mentioning this little historical anecdote.

I had this little message from my subconscious a few days ago: “Burn the Boats,” it said. Read more

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