“Live today as if it’s already tomorrow!” Lately, this is a motto I have come to know well in my life. Basically, if it’s today, yesterday is already gone. You can’t change it, alter it or get it back. What’s done is done…or on the other hand, what’s not done is just a missed opportunity. It’s gone! So seriously, live today as though you will never have today again…and the crazy thing is, you won’t ever have it again. I know….deep right!?

My point is simple. Yesterday, I listened in on a conversation my wife was having, and it was the most motivating conversation I have ever heard. It brought tears to my eyes to sit there and listen to this man pour out a life of regret. He had spent his life striving to live the dream, business venture after business venture. He started out in the Glass Industry. Instead of running his business, his business ran him. His paperwork kept him at the office into the late hours of the night. He rarely saw his family. Then one day, he decided to build a shop behind his house and his daughter said, “Mommy, I’m so happy that Daddy is building his house so close to our house because we can go visit him now.”

He went on to say that the big house, the nice cars, the huge successful business, the glory and the fame just don’t matter. Looking back on his life now, he realizes that he was never there. The words “I wish I would have” rolled off his tongue as he spoke of his children. He wishes he would have been around more when they were little. That’s all that matters to him now, and now he is full of regret. He can never get that time back.

To me, to hear stories like this, is very, very depressing….yet at the same time, extremely motivating! I don’t ever want to say, “I wish I would have.” Ever! I don’t want to be the guy with 20/20 hindsight. I want to be the guy who lives today as if there is no tomorrow…..and so I do. If I have  and idea or a gumption, I act on it. I don’t wait. Waiting is a waste of time and besides, what are you waiting for? A better time? There will never be a better time in the history of YOU, to act on your dreams.

So just don’t. Don’t be the guy that says “I wish I had!” Don’t live a life of regrets. Don’t put off your dreams for anything. And yes, that includes the lack of knowledge on how to achieve your dreams. That’s no excuse. Live a full and fulfilling life. Every moment counts!

How good is your vision? I mean, how far can you really see? Well, the answer to those questions depend on your vision, right? The stronger your eyes, the better you see. It’s a fact. So if I asked you how far you could see, depending on where you are standing the answer would vary. If you were standing in a building, your answer you be “to that wall over there.” If you were standing on the edge of a cliff or a mountain peak, you could literally see for miles and only the curvature of the earth could keep you from seeing farther.

Now most of us can see pretty good with our physical eyes, some better than others. They are what we use to see all that is happening in the here and now. They show us present events. The things right in front of us. Depending on the health of these eyes, these present objects and events can be completely blurry, kind of fuzzy or completely clear. Using glasses, contacts and corrective surgery, we can improve our vision and see more clearly. These eyes have a purpose.

Now, if you plan on making any progress in life or creating any degree of success, you must learn how to use your physical eyes as well as your “other” eyes! We have many different eyes…the eyes of the past are our memories. We can always gaze into our past just as far as we can remember….and there’s a purpose for that. Through these eyes we learn from our mistakes. Hind sight is always 20/20.

The third set of eyes are more abstract. These are the eyes that sense, feel, dream and create. These are the eyes upon which all progress lies. Through these eyes, we can see further than the curvature of the earth or the farthest Galaxy. Through these eyes we can see things that have yet to be created or which don’t even exist. These are the eyes that know, regardless of physical sight, who we are going to become tomorrow, or a year from now. It has always worked that way.

So many people have it backwards. What you see right in front of you should NEVER, and I say NEVER, influence what you have already envisioned to for yourself. So many people live their lives being influenced solely by the present. They move from one job to the next, making zero progress in their lives, and have not learned to use their “other” eyes. They just haven’t exercised them enough to know how to use them. So they keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, because they can’t see farther than that. They can only see as far as their circumstances allow them to. It’s like being in a building, only being able to see to the wall in front, not knowing about the endless universes outside. If these “other” eyes of ours aren’t ever used….they’re going to be blurry.

Just as we can nurture and strengthen our physical eyes to see better in the present, we can also nurture and strengthen our other eyes, and I say “other” because I don’t know any single word that can define their purpose. That exercise is self education, personal development and self mastery. We must realize our true potential and it is then and only then will we realize how far we can really see. It’s an amazing thing and the boundaries are endless.

The power of the human mind is beyond comprehension, if we but learn how to use it. It is the greatest tool on the earth today with the most potential….and combined with the soul, is beyond this world. We were created for a purpose and that purpose is to realize our full potential and to fulfill the measure of that creation to is greatest.

All I can say is think bigger. If you have an idea, see how far you can take it. Push it until you think you have reached your limitations…..and once there, push it just a little farther. You’ll be completely surprised and also extremely impressed with how things turn out. You have an endless amount of potential within you. All you have to do is open your eyes and have the vision to see it. It’s right there and it always has been. You just have to open your “other” eyes a bit more in order to see it. So don’t just think big…..think much, much bigger.

Facebook is such a great resource for positive people. I absolutely love being surrounded by such optimistic, ambitious people. It makes my journey in life so much easier, as I am sure most of you can agree. Here recently I asked “Which one word would you use to describe your life right now?” and I received some great responses. Honestly, I wasn’t sure of the answers I would get to that question. I thought the majority of the answers would have been average answers, such as, “crappy, monotonous, stagnant, interesting, lame…etc,” I think you get the point. But I was positively surprised  at the response. As you can see to the right, most of the words are positive and motivating.

In fact, most of the people that responded to my question are Entrepreneurs in some way, shape or form. I have worked with many of them. I have seen their lifestyle and they speak truth in their “one word.”

In the past I have asked that same question to people and could tell they were lying through their teeth as they told me their life was wonderful. That’s the worst thing anyone could do. It’s not the fact that they lied to me….the true damage is that they actually only lied to themselves. If your life is a wreck, admit it. Accept the truth…and after you do, set course to change it. One of my mentors, Jim Rohn, spoke about affirmations being a joke. It doesn’t do anyone any good to tell yourself that you are “Skinny and beautiful” when you are 600 lbs and can’t remember the last time you took a shower or brushed your teeth. There must be action behind the belief. To say your life is “Fantastic” when it is truly in shambles is more damaging then not.

Now what you can do is affirm the actions you are taking. That’s a true affirmation. As you are exercising, eating healthy, practicing regular hygiene and learning how to put on make-up, you can definitely affirm that you are “becoming thinner and more beautiful.”

As the common phrase puts it,”Keep it Real!”…..and as Shakespeare put it, just a bit more elegantly, “To thine own self be true.”

Question: Does it ever feel like no matter what you do, everything seems to be trying to pull you or keep you doing the same thing everyone else is doing? At times do you feel like the herd is calling you, begging you to come back and trying everything in its power to make sure you do come back? Eventually, most do. Everyday for me…and every time I think of what my life would be like should I choose to submit, I just want to start “mooooing.” That’s the role I would play.

I read a quote the other day that would motivate anyone with a true entrepreneur spirit:

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight; and never
stop fighting.”  – E.E. Cummings

Just by being an entrepreneur, you are at war. This isn’t a violent war or a war that is even noticed by most, but is in the here and the now. It’s imminent and you are the Brigadier General. Your thoughts, your ambitions, your individuality, your goals and everything you desire in life is the “cause” you are fighting for.

It’s seems that every corner I turn, there’s a loved one, a stranger or a friend encouraging me to fit back into the mold of what the world has taught them to be normal. My life isn’t in alignment with theirs and it’s difficult for them to understand why. It’s not their fault. That’s just the way they were taught, and they accepted that. I didn’t. I’ve never been the guy who wants to hang out with the crowd or do what everyone else is doing. It never got me excited. I always did my own thing, no matter what, and was I always successful in that? No….but at least it was my idea, my choice.

For those of you who love the popular “mold,” none of this may make any sense to you.

Life is way too short to waste it wishing instead of just doing. It takes guts. It takes ambition….but is so dang rewarding. It’s liberating, exciting and extremely fulfilling to know that you have your own compass and are charting your own course by doing something that nobody else on the planet has done.

So yes, in order to do just this, it’s a constant battle against all that is common and normally accepted. To be the best YOU possible, you must declare war, make your strategy and then…..STRIKE!! I’m with you and support you. Don’t wait. Timing is everything….and the time is NOW!

Recently I have had many thoughts and conversations and what it truly takes to create success in a home based business. If we were to look at the statistics of successful home business owners versus unsuccessful ones, I am pretty sure the majority of the numbers would point towards those who have failed, given up or have not yet experienced the success they had expected. In fact, if we look at any business or industry, not singling out just network marketing, the statistics would be in favor of the unsuccessful.

It’s a sad thing, I know…..but in my industry, network marketing, there’s a significant difference between those who succeed and those who don’t. That difference is contained in the word “Expert!” That’s the secret. In order to truly succeed in your home business, you MUST become an expert in your field. There’s no way around it.

Now, I know there are success stories of people who have zero experience that come into a home business and make a ton of money really quickly…..but where’s the rest of the story? Someone can make a quarter million dollars with a good home business opportunity simply by pursuing their warm market….the people they know. But what happens when that warm market is all spent. They are stuck in the mud without  four wheel drive and the momentum they had once before because they have run out of people to talk to about their amazing home business. And guys, I’m not making this up! I have seen it happen over and over again. They come, they have an awesome first year, they halt in income, and they check out. This is one of the reasons you see people doing what we call “Opportunity Jumping.”

The secret to true, prolonged consistent success in a home business, is to become an Expert. And what I mean by that, is to become really, really good at whatever it is you do. To give you an example: You can obviously see my blog, since you are reading it at this very moment. I have some decent traffic coming into this site through the marketing I have done for it. I rank first page on Google, Yahoo and Bing for some of the most competitive keyphrases in my industry. I have a presence on the internet and have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars because of it. Now, a year and a half after starting this business, I had no clue about marketing. I was having someone else do it all for me and was paying them to do it. I distinctly remember not even knowing what a URL was or that it needed an http://. I was clueless.

But you know what happened? The paid marketing fell through and I was forced to learn it all. I studied, I Googled,  I did everything I needed to do to learn how to market. I became and expert in my field. I became really good at what I do and in order to create prolonged success, that’s what it takes. Sure, you may make money by paying someone else to do it all for you, but what happens when that falls through? What happens when your new distributor gets started and your marketing guy can’t take any more clients? Then what? You must become a marketing expert! It’s all about duplication…..and that is able to be duplicated.

When all the smoke and mirrors are gone, the excitement of starting that new business wears off and your warm market is exhausted, your success really teeters on how good you really are in your niche. If you are actively engaged in your self education, you’ll excel and create the success that you deserve…..and you’ll keep it going for a really long time. Become an expert marketer and success will follow you like it has never done before. I promise you that!