A few posts back I spoke of a story I was reading out of a book by Andy Andrews. In that story the zoo keeper shared his secret to success. He used a word called “leverage” and applied it in his business to get what he wanted. He used leverage over his animals and also his employees. He knew how to provide just the minimum in exchange for what he wanted. In exchange for their freedom, he would give them food and shelter. Food and shelter is definitely a necessity, but you can still get it and so much more without having to sacrifice your freedom?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

You have all heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs right? It outlines the human races level of needs starting with the basics, food and shelter. It is said that until one has mastered one level, they will not rise to the next. So in Laman’s terms, unless you have food, shelter, are breathing, are getting sleep and can go to the bathroom, you won’t really progress to the next level of the scale. Now that speaks words! How many people are still stuck on the bottom level of the 5 level scale because they have not mastered food and shelter? How many people struggle to pay rent or their mortgage and cannot progress along this scale because of it? Sure, they may jump up the scale for brief periods of time but what does it all come down to? It all comes back to the basics for that person!

Wouldn’t it be nice if one could master the bottom four and actually hit the top level and stay there? To have graduated from level four with complete and utter self confidence and respect from others and to be on a path of pure growth and self actualization? It is amazing how people limit their potential by focusing only on the things that seem to be the most important, like food and shelter. Sure, if I really focus on just making a living, I am sure to get it. But do I really want to just make a living? Or do I want to live my life? There is a big difference and I sure hope you realize that. Most employees make a living, paycheck to paycheck, or in other words, they get food and shelter.

Self actualization is the ultimate destination and very few reach it in this lifetime. The secret to it, is to simply look beyond the basics. By doing this, the basics will just be basics instead of the main focus. I finally realized this when I started a business, became an Entrepreneur and engulfed myself in Personal Development. I realized that I had been so focused on my basic needs that I had no clue as to my ultimate potential. Here are a few clues to determine of you are doing the same:

• Are you constantly stressed out over paying your bills?
• Are you barely making your rent or mortgage?
• While grocery shopping do you limit what you get because of your budget?
• Are you loosing sleep because of financial reasons?
• Are you living paycheck to paycheck?
• Do you seem to lack the time in your day after going to work to get much else done with your family, or your own personal needs?

If any of these things are true in your life, chances are you are still trying to master the basics!

All in all, stop settling for the basics in life and start living it!

You have all heard of the phrase “prosperity conscious” right? We all know that in order to change your current circumstance, you must first change the way you think. It doesn’t start with the economy or your job. It all starts from the noodle wrapped up and stuffed into that skull of yours. It starts from your thoughts and then effects all of those other things. If the world started thinking differently about their situation then their situation would be different. Sounds simple right? So how do we start thinking differently?

Here is something so simple yet brilliant and very effective that will effect your thinking in a good way. This is something that we have taught our children to do and you can see the difference in the way they operate. This directly effects your relationship with money. I think that most of the world, when talk of money comes around, associates it with negative thoughts and feelings. This can be for many different reasons such as debt, the lack of, or bills.

Now, for a moment, think of money as a person. Now what would a person do if they knew that every time they came around or were spoken of by you that you had negative feelings and thoughts about them? They would be very very elusive right? They would never come around. The same goes for money. If you have negative thoughts or feeling towards money because of debt, the lack of, or anything that is not positive, you must change that in order to have more money flow into your life.

I’m a Money Magnet!

So every time we see a coin, whether it is a silver dollar or just a penny, we pick it up and yell, “I’m a money magnet” in the air. Our kids absolutely love doing this! They think it is a big game, and after saying they are a money magnet, they have the biggest smiles on their faces! I love it and can see the positive relationship they are building with money that will have a positive effect on their income in the future.

Believe me when I tell you this…..It Makes A Difference! Some of you will probably think it is silly and won’t do it. That is your choice. But since we have started doing this, we have had more money come into our lives than before. We are money magnets because we appreciate money, whether a little or a lot, it is attracted to us because we use it to live the life of our dreams. It is a tool that has provided so much joy and abundance in our lives and we welcome it.

Change your thoughts, change your world!

This is a quick post to let everyone know publicly that I have been slacking off the last few days! I have a good excuse even though I am not a big fan of excuses. There is always a way, if you think about it, to prevent the need for an excuse. But I failed to plan and thus I planned to fail at successfully keeping my blogging up for the last few days.

But we are officially moved to Payson Arizona and are loving it here! It is a little warmer with a lot less snow here and still with the small town feel that we love so much. We wanted to be closer to Phoenix and are just an hour away here instead of the grueling 3 hour drive we had before. We are huge on family and we have a lot of that in the valley!

So once again, I apologize for the lack of blogging and things are now returning to normal. At least here on this blog. I still have crap all over the place to organize still in boxes. You’ve gotta love moving! The cool thing is….I was able to work this business less than an hour a day over the past week and have still make 5k! Lovin’ it!

I am reading a book by Andy Andrews called “Mastering the Seven Decision” right now and wanted to share a brief story with you. It talks about this man who owns a zoo. This guy lived a few years back and at the time, all the other zoos would go out on safaris to catch the animals to feature in their zoo, but this one gentleman would breed his own animals and so it made his zoo that much better. Well, this guy heard about an animal that no other zoo in the world had and set out on a safari to find this animal and to bring it home for his zoo.

When telling the natives what his intentions were, they all laughed at him and told him that he would never be able to catch one, that they were too strong and fast. The only way to catch one of those was to shoot it from a distance and bring it back dead. This guy just shrugged and then told the natives that he would catch as many of these animals as he wanted and then pick the best of them for his zoo.

Out he went to find this animal. He laid down barley and honey every night for 6 weeks and every night these animals would eat all the food. Then, as he laid down the food, he placed a post near to it and continued to feed them for another week. The next week he placed another post just opposite of the last one, and fed the animals for another week. He did this for two more weeks until he had four posts. For the next several weeks he added boards in between these posts to make a coral. The last week the coral was nearly complete except for one board. That night he laid out the same amount of food and these animals squeezed through the gap to get to the food and he came up behind them and nailed on the last board and captured all of these beautiful animals. He picked the ones he wanted and let the rest go free.

Later on he was asked how he did it and his reply was: “I treat animals the same way I treat people: I give them what they want. I give them food and shelter. In exchange, they give me their beauty and their freedom.”

That statement was described as “bone chilling” in the book. Most of the world is giving away their beauty(talent, skills) and their freedom in exchange for food and shelter, not much more. Take a look, a serious look at your life, your job, what you are doing to provide for you and your family. Are you seriously free to do as you please? Are you living life to the fullest? Or, are you trading your freedom for pennies?

Let me take you back, I mean way back, to what we all know as the beginning of time. The reason I would like to do this is to show you your nature, or human nature. This is why we are having government bailouts, economic trouble and something called “The blame game!” This all started from the very moment that Eve bit into that apple. What did she do when Adam asked her why she had bitten the apple? She blamed it all on Lucifer. Oh, it was all his fault that I made the decision to bite the apple. Really? So it was someone elses fault that you used your own mouth to bite that apple! I see!

Now, let’s not put it all on the woman. What did Adam do? Adam blames it on the woman, saying that she gave me the apple and I ate it. The blame game! It’s in human nature to blame, but in order to create the results you desire in your life, it must not exist in your nature.

Take Personal Responsibility

You can change it. You can assume full responsibility for all that you have done, are doing and will ever do. It is called personal responsibility! You must realize and accept the fact that your current circumstances are a result of your choices and that your choices are a result of your thoughts. So who controls what thoughts are entertained and what thoughts are not? You guessed it, YOU!

So if you have a thought that tells you to do absolutely nothing today in your business, your life, or your relationship and you obey, who’s fault is it? Yours! If someone else tells you to do nothing today in your business or life and you do it, who fault is that? Yours! If the economy goes into rough times and your business fails, who’s fault is it? This is controversial for most people but the fault is still YOURS! Why? You allowed something as silly as a so called “broken economy” effect you. So for years after people will ask you what happened to that awesome business you had and you will respond by blaming it on the economy. Are you comfortable with that? I sure hope not.

Taking personal responsibility means that anything and everything that happens to you in your life is a direct result of your thoughts, and is ultimately your fault, your celebration or your doing! Take the credit. It is all you! Don’t sit on the sidelines and expect others to bail you out, help you out or give you great ideas. That privilege lies on you and only you! That is exciting. To know that you are the creator or the destroyer of your own life is marvelous. Why? For those of you who have dug yourselves into a hole, and have no life, know that you created it. But also know this: By knowing and accepting the fact that you created your horrible life, you automatically know as well, that you can also create an exceptional, rich and abundant life!

I could go on forever! It’s your life, no one elses. Now what are you going to do with it?

I was up late last night watching some college basketball, ASU vs Oregon if you were wondering. Usually I just mute the TV during commercials as they are usually way too loud and most of the time are very annoying! I spaced out during this particular commercial break and saw a commercial that was very inspirational. It had a great message to it. There was no “Buy this now!” or ” We are the best in the world!” It was just a good and inspirational message.

It started out showing a couple sitting at a concert. Well, they suddenly realized he wasn’t with them and they both frantically started looking around a bit until they heard the piano playing on stage only to see their son playing a childhood song. Well, the guy they all came to watch came out on stage, snuck up behind the boy and whispered “Keep Playing” in his ear. He then reached around him a did his thing around the little boys playing and it turned out great. They both finished and then took a bow to the applauding audience.

It ended with the word across the screen, INSPIRATION!

It was a commercial by “The Foundation for a Better Life.” This is definitely a site to check out. Watch a few of their videos and subscribe to their daily quotes. It’s a great find!

http://www.forbetterlife.org