Not Just Another Day, But A New Day!

Today is December 12, 2014...My 50th birthday.    Happy Friday!   Remember Casey Kasem and the top 40 Countdown?  What about Dick Clark and the annual New Years Eve Countdown? Or the countdown waiting for an Apollo mission to get underway?  Ok, with NASA essentially defunct, I really just showed my age!   The past 30 days or so, I have been counting down to the milestone of turning 50.  The intent was not to celebrate me, but to celebrate life...yours and mine.    As I type this, there is a subtle sense that nothing has really changed.  That would make all of this somewhat anticlimactic.  The reality is, that so much has changed.  In the process of time, change seems like a gentle process that reveals an evolution.  That yields a harvest.  A result.   Only in the face of a "before and after" do you see the stark contrast of where you started...and where you are...and a shadowy glimpse of where you are going.

Looking at that little boy, I can't help but wonder if he knew.  He looks wise.    Did he know that I would find and marry the love of my life? That we would have 3 talented and loving children and a beautiful new daughter and granddaughter?  Did he know that I would struggle mightily to find a place in the world and through a series or mistakes and calamities stumble upon a path that would bring provision through passion and purpose.   The smile on his face says yes.  I just wish he could have told me.   I just watched "A Christmas Carol" (I watch every year - the black and white ones are the best!).  Ebenezer Scrooge's journey to his past, present and possible future is one that resonates with me each year, but particularly with this milestone.    I cry each time he is given another chance.  Another day to live, love and contribute.  The one thing the tale confirms and that I know for sure is that each day is precious.    Each day is a new beginning.  Each day is a renewal.  Every day a Birth Day.   "There is also a sense in which every day is to be regarded as the beginning of a new life, in which one can think, act, and live newly, and in a wiser and better spirit." James Allen   So take a few moments to celebrate your new day.  Your life.  I know there are things you would change and some things that have not gone the way you planned.  My life is not perfect either, but with the dawning of each New Day, I am given the awesome privilege to give gratitude for the things that are right and the responsibility to change the things that aren't.   "I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning." J. B. Priestley   Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and special days of celebration are fine, but the key to living a high-quality life is to understand that...    It's Not Just Another Day, But A New Day!   Happy New Day to you and yours...   Until Monday, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

The Thing!

Today is December 11, 2014...1 days from my 50th birthday on December 12th.        The Thing.   No, not the 1982 John Carpenter movie with Kurt Russell (even though that was a great one - think Alien with more suspense!).  I am not talking about the rock looking creature, Ben Grimm, from the Fantastic Four.   I'm talking about your work, your calling, your gift, your passion and purpose...   The Thing.  Your Thing.   There is an expression that we used to use back in my day when we asked someone how they are doing.  The would answer,   "I am just trying to do my thang!"  or I am putting my thang down!"   There was hope in that expression.  There was a connotation of following a dream.  Now people might say,"I am trying to hold it down" or "Just working for a living" or as the youth might say, "I am grinding" (ok, at 1 day from 50, I may be a little out of touch!).  From how I see it, the optimism and hope have gone out of the way we talk about our work... which encompasses the majority of our lives.    Have you lost touch with The Thing?   The Tests - To let you know whether or not you are doing The Thing, there are all kinds of things people will ask you;   If you won 20 million dollars would you still do it? Sitting on your rocking chair at 90, what would you wish you had done? If you knew there was no way you could fail, what would you try? If you had 2 years to live, what would you do?     "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." Steve Jobs   Mortality is sobering.   Why wait for some "magical event", threat of death or live with regret.  To deny their true calling is making people sick.  They live lives of despair and daily torment.  Sure, that sounds over dramatic, but what happens to most people is that they get used to it.  It becomes their normal.   "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12 NIV   What would you rather do - Make a good living doing something you hate for the next 40 years and enjoy 15 years of retirement, or struggle 5-10 years to have 70 years of joyful living doing The Thing?   I know you have to eat, put a roof over your heads and pay your bills, but there is more to life.   "Get busy living, or get busy dying." Andy Dufresne- The Shawshank Redemption I am asking you today to find The Thing.  If you know what The Thing is, I am asking you to pursue it.  No, don't walk off that job (that would be dumb!), but do like Andy Dufresne and throw a few rocks a day into the yard.  Think your way out, dig your way out, sweat and cry your way out.    Get out!   When someone asks you how you are doing say, "I am putting my thing down"...and mean it!   T.D Jakes has a sermon where he admonishes and encourages his congregation to   Dream about That Thang...Work for That Thang...Sweat for That Thang... Pursue That Thang!    I want to add my voice of agreement to his that you would live a life filled with (back to the King's English)...   The Thing!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

Words to Live By!

Today is December 10, 2014...2 days from my 50th birthday on December 12th.        Words.    What are words?   They are the way we convey the innermost thoughts from our mind.  A way to turn the electric impulses of inspiration, ideas and emotion  into tangible things that can be transferred and translated to others. Words are how we turn "a picture" into a "1,000 words".    Words are containers.  Spoken vividly, words become the plastic mold of our dreams and aspirations.  Spoken passionately, they become the catalyst of our actions.  Spoken frequently, they inform those actions we do automatically as habit.  This progression of how we use words then determines what experiences we will enjoy or endure in life...our destiny.  Make your words count.  Let them dictate (pun intended) the things you want out of life, the things you will do in life and the difference you will make.   In 1993, I had decided to start a business where I would help people with their finances - think Larry Burkett or Dave Ramsey.  I had been through a decade of financial chaos and my promise to God was, "Help me...and I will help people."  I started with a small gospel radio station and would do a live broadcast weekly called, The Journey to Prosperity.   The disc jockey (do they still call them that?) asked me what my "tagline" was.  I had never really thought about it, but in the spontaneity of the moment said,   "Helping Millions Achieve Success...One At A Time."   That has stuck with me the past 20 years.  Each word in that phase means something to me.  It reminds me that my mission is helping people achieve success.  While my ultimate goal is to help millions, I am reminded daily to remain humble and help "the one at a time" that Providence sends to me.     While service minded, make no mistake, I want to make a good living doing this.  In the law of reciprocity, that means that as I help them, good things will happen for me.  That gave birth to my Law of Compensation (sorry Emerson!) that allows me to feel good about the money I make...   "As I serve, I deserve."   I have evolved and merged those two into my work/life mantra,   "Having Fun Helping People Enjoying Rich Experiences, While Building Great Wealth"   As most of you know, it is hard to separate what you do for a living...from your life.  That is why it is important to have a passion for what you do so it no longer feels like work. Sit down today and write down the words, your mantra, that will govern your work, your service to others and what you expect to receive in exchange for that work and service.   Over time, your thoughts that become your words will become your actions, habits, character and ultimately...your destiny.  Who knows, they may become your...   Words To Live By!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

Get a Life...Stat!

Today is December 9, 2014...4 days from my 50th birthday on December 12th.        During this whole turning 50 countdown thing, I have tried to make you evaluate and look at your life as I look at mine.  Not so much a greatest hits retrospective album as much as a "Behind the Music" episode that chronicles how the music was made.   With only a few days left, I want to leave you with some sage wisdom.  If I were being interviewed now and the question was asked, "What is your secret to a happy life?" my answer would be,   "Get a Life"   What that means would be different for each one of us, but there are 5 core things that I think are required to have not just life, but a happy, abundant one;     1. Find someone to love. Life is too long to endure it with poor relationships. Find the love of your lifetime.  Have good friends...real friends.    2. Find something to do that you love  Life is too short to miss your calling, your labor of love in service to mankind.  Chasing money will wear you out.  Yes, you can say it, "Do what you love and the money will follow".   3. Find something to believe in.  Faith is active, not passive.  It gives of time, money and resources.  Make a difference where you want to see a difference.   4. Find wonderful things to love.  Smart, inventive, and artistic people have filled the planet with amazing things.  Things that are ok for you to desire and acquire.  Life is willing to give them to you if you are willing to work for them...and sometimes wait for them.   5. Find a way to love your life and have joy.  At 50, I am still learning that enduring life makes you count minutes...having joy helps you count moments.   The common theme is love.   Short but sweet, but my advice is the same...   Get A Life!   Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!

You Create Your Life! part 2

 

Today is December 8, 2014...5days from my 50th birthday on December 12th.        " The aphorism "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he" not only embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts." James Allen   Happy Monday! Where did I leave off?  Oh, yes...I was telling you that... You Create Your Life!    At 25 years of age, I was at a valley of my life but also at the apex of self-discovery.  I did major soul searching and realized that everything I was going through was directly tied to the thoughts I had been thinking up to that point.  That was terrifying and liberating at the same time.  It took away all my excuses of why "bad things were happening to a good person" but also empowered me to know that if I caused it...I could change it.   I needed guidance on how to change so I became a student of the success classics, reading and re-reading every book my father had ever given me.  I could not afford to buy books, so I went back to my childhood roots and spent hours (I was unemployed at the time!) in the library...reading and writing (click here to read reviews of the books that changed my life).    In the span of about 2 years, I had read well over 200 books on a wide range of subjects - mostly self-improvement, inspirational and financial.  I would like to tell you that things changed on a dime...they didn't  I had many failings but they were progressively leading me to higher and higher levels.  I had learned to win the "inner battle" before I faced the outer challenges. In 1993, my father in law gave me a tiny copy of James Allen's "As A Man Thinketh".  I had read it before in the library, but this little copy fit right in my pocket.  I read it every day...for months until the lessons it could transfer were inherent to my character...my being.  One of the most impactful passages; "Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power." James Allen As A Man Thinketh   So I kept reading...and writing.  My life kept getting better...and better.  It took about a decade for the new seeds of thought to germinate, grow and become a harvest of a better life.  The old seeds of thought had to run their course and since I had learned the lessons their harvest provided, I was sure not to re-plant them.   As I turn the corner to the milestone of 50, that is all so much clearer now in hindsight.  It also provides the foresight into my next 50 years.    I am closing in on another major milestone...1,000,000 words in print.  Books, blogs, training programs etc.  Think that is easy?  Stare at a blank page and type for 1 hour...count the words.   Was it hard?  Not for me.    In fact, since I was 25, I have always been writing - mainly to myself.  I have well over a 1,000,000 words that most of you will never see.  The picture below is everything I have ever written to myself for the past 25 years.  When I need a reminder that I Create My Life, I look a the words the 25 year-old Brandon is telling the 50 year old Brandon.  He is a smart kid and the 50 year old is wise enough to listen. My wisdom of the ages...to myself!   What are you telling yourself today?  Is it congruent with what you want in your life?  If not, change it, because...   You Create Your Life!    Until tomorrow, I wish you Money, Power, Success!