I don’t know if it is just me or did this Summer seem to just fly by!? It feels like it just started and here we are, already putting our girls back in school. This year, we have two girls in school instead of just one. As much as I have loved having my kids at home everyday, I always look forward to school for them. Well, the obvious reasons are the fact that they won’t be so bored, they will get to learn, make new friends and experience something new and exciting every day. Also, back to school time means more time for Mom and Dad at home!

The First Day of School

So, use your imagination for a second. What does that mean for you? If you have children that are returning to school or attending for the first time, what do you plan on doing with your free time? What can you create with your time? What great things will you accomplish?

What did you think of? Did you think of sitting around most of the day eating cookies and milk while watching your favorite daytime TV shows? Did you think of improving on your talents and hobbies? How about increasing your income? You’d be shocked at what a Big Thinker could accomplish in my income opportunity in just 2-3 hours of extra time during the day!

When my kids are at school, I use every moment of the day for complete productivity so that when my kids do get home, I can spend Daddy time with them. From 8am to 2:30pm, I am able to build myself, build my business and build my lifestyle. Instead of watching TV or lounging, I choose to learn about my passions and increase my skill set. I spend that time on purpose.

So tell me, can you tell the difference between those who spend their alone time as I do and those who waste away their alone time? Absolutely you can. It shows in every other action they perform during the day.

It has always been said: That which you do while no one else is around is what defines who you are!

What are you defined as? Better yet, what will you choose to continue to be defined as? The time between 8 am to 2:30 pm will define that for me and my results will show it! It is the difference between going somewhere and going nowhere!

Be always actively engaged in your future! Especially, when you are alone!

Think back on your life to a period of time when you decided to wait for something. It may have been a business or a diet you were thinking about starting or maybe even a person you were thinking about asking out on a date. Whatever it might have been, why did you choose to wait? What was the main reason?

There are obviously different reasons for people wanting to wait ranging from fear of an unwanted result to self doubt. Basically, it all leads back to the one word which is an enemy to success, “Fear!” Fear of change, fear of success (It does exist) and fear of failure are the three major fears. Most people won’t even realize they have a fear of success or a fear of change. The big one is fear of failure.

Lesson: What do successful people do when faced with a BIG decision to make? They always choose to act. What do unsuccessful people do when faced with a BIG decision? They think about it, they decide halfheartedly, they make an excuse, they wait! Where does waiting get you in the overall picture of success? Allow me to show you….

The 7 Effects of Waiting

1. You may never stop waiting. If we measure success as if it were a journey, which it is, then someone who is waiting would still be considered “behind” the starting line. That would be the person who isn’t even on the journey to success. Now, I always thought that in order to win the race, you actually have to be on the track. Am I confused?
2. Your Confidence will fade. I learned a new word today, “Obnubilate”, which means to cloud or obscure. The longer you wait, the more clouded your vision gets. If it is a business you are waiting to start, due to indecision, your passion for wanting to start a business will begin to fade almost immediately.
3. Fear will increase. You’ve probably heard of the term, “Cold Feet!” Well, the longer you wait, the colder your feet will get. Why do you think salesman are so persistent? Those who are left to sit on a decision will probably remain sitting on that decision. If they’re sitting on it, obviously it’s not in front of their face and not a priority.
4. Expecting something for nothing will land you right where you are at. A wise man once said, “A bird waiting with mouth open wide for a worm to fall out of the sky might be waiting for a very long time!” Waiting only produces waiting, nothing more. If you expect your dream lifestyle to drop into your lap by waiting to make a decision to create your dream lifestyle, pull up your recliner, get out your TV remote and enjoy those soap operas as you are currently living the lifestyle of your choice, not your dreams. Your friend Wait has chosen this lifestyle for you.
5. If neglected and ignored, goals will fade and go away. If you have children or have ever been a child, you can relate to this example. What will your child think of you and of their importance in your life if when they ask you a question about something important to them and you keep telling them to “wait” because you are glued to American Idol or your computer game. If it is just once and for a brief moment, they will understand. But what happens if that “wait just a second honey” turns into an hour, or maybe happens all the time? What happens to your children? They will fade away, they won’t ask you very many questions anymore and may not even enjoy being around you because you have put them off! Why are your goals and aspirations any different than children? The more you wait, goals will disappear and become a fuzz of a memory because doing whatever you are doing and waiting is obviously more important. They will fade away!
6. The Opportunity may pass you by! I am looking for action takers. I look for people who can make decisions right out of the gate to get started. I don’t sit around waiting for someone that contacted me 6 months to maybe finally make a decision. I move on as does opportunity.
7. Waiting can become a habit. If someone takes 6 months to make a decision to get started in a business, how long will they wait before they choose to place their first ad or make their first call. It’s a ripple effect!

The time to act has and will always be NOW! It has never, ever been later, tomorrow, next week, or next month. How does waiting ever serve you? The only thing waiting ever does, is destroy your confidence. It is the tool of the unsuccessful and the excuse maker. Allow others to wait, but not you. Be a person of action. When faced with a decision to act or to wait, always choose to act.

For the next 30 days I am going to take a challenge to arise before the sun does. Why am I doing this? Well, there are multiple reasons.

First, I am a father of three girls all under the age of 8 and for the most part, the only “Me” time I get is early in the morning. I use this time to educate myself. I once read a quote by Mark Twain, “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.” If I am not learning, I am wasting my life away doing nothing. What good am I and what difference can I make in the world if I am not making a difference in my life. Educate yourself! Learn as much as you can. As you do, apply it and use it to serve and inspire others.

Second, there is a power spoken of in ancient scripture about arising early. I certainly don’t write all these blog posts just to write them. I do it to teach people what I have learned. Scriptures were written to teach wisdom. Amazingly enough, the principles taught thousands of years ago still work today, and may even be working better today than then. Just as I write, they have written, with the intent for others to read. Scripture reads, “Retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.”

Third, I take a moment every morning to express my gratitude for all that I have and know. This is actually the first thing I do every morning. Unless I am grateful for what I currently have, I will never be blessed with more. As I take the time to think of all the abundance in my life, more abundance is added to it throughout the day.

Fourth, I set goals in the morning and come up with some of my best ideas. My mind is rested and fresh. Ideas just pour in like rain in the morning time. It is a self mastery period for me. Visualizing, goal setting, thinking of ways to improve, saying affirmations and setting courses of action for the day are a few of the things I do. For all you fisherman, remember, the big fish are always caught in the morning!

During this challenge I will think of 5 new ideas that will move me toward my goals, every morning. At the end of 30 days, I will have a ton of new ideas to work with, of which, many will already be put into action. I will have my journal on hand to keep record of these ideas as they come to me. I challenge each of you to do the same.

Think about the power that comes with arising early on your own terms. What I mean by, “your own terms,” is doing it not because you have to, but because you choose to. If you are employed and are compelled to get up before the sun does, wake up a little earlier on your own terms. Claim victory on your day instead of giving credit to someone else or doing it because you have to. It will change your outlook. I promise.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I love getting up early. I love it even more than sleeping in, but it can be hard, if you’re not in the habit of doing it. Once that habit is created, it is as easy as brushing your teeth every morning. So starting tomorrow, June the 6th 2009, I’ll beat the sun up.

If you’d like to take this challenge along with me, congratulations! Let me know your thoughts and experiences! See you in the morning!

This morning after I dropped my oldest daughter off at school I decided to take a jog. It was around 8 am and every morning I listen to a wake-up to success call. It’s a 15 minute call and different people are invited to this call as guests. The topics vary but the guests are always very inspiring, successful people. My wife and I have been guests on this call several times and absolutely have a blast with it.

So I took my phone with me, dialed into the call straight up at 8am and started listening to the call. It was a great call and before I knew it, I was already done with my jog. It was much easier than usual this time and I ran even further than before. Two days before, I felt like I was going to die right there in the middle of my run. It was a ton easier today. Why?

In the military, we would run all the time. For me, 5 to 6 miles every other day is murder, at least it was at first. The military has this all figured out. They use cadence to distract you while you run. While you are concentrating on the beat and the words of the cadence, you all of the sudden find 5 or 6 miles an easy task. It is all about the distraction. It takes your mind off the distance you are having to run and directs it to something simple.

Now, if it’s that easy to take your mind off of a simple thing like running long distances, can we apply that to our lives and how? It is through visualizing!

How and Why do we Visualize?

For me, visualizing is done several different ways and at different times throughout the day. But I always take a few minutes, every day, sitting there in silence, just thinking about my future. What do I want? How do I want it to happen and what is it going to feel like when it does? That is what I visualize and I get so clear on what I want that it feels so real at times.

Visualizing is the very simple technique of taking your mind off of the here and now, the struggles of life, by thinking of what you want your life to be like. It’s a lot more powerful than you may think. Some people may call it daydreaming, but it is so much more. Day dreaming is something that your mind does when you have nothing else to do or are bored. Visualizing takes effort. You are creating an ideal situation and placing yourself right smack in the middle of it. That’s takes effort. It is productive where daydreaming is just burning time. It is an escape, a self mastermind, getting  clear on your purpose, a way to know exactly what your future can hold for you.

Your subconscious mind has no idea what is real and what isn’t. Simply visualizing your goals consistently will cause your subconscious to start to believe it is really happening. When that happens, your actions will start to move you in that direction. Visualizing creates a dream atmosphere for your mind and we all know that if your mind can dream it up, it can happen, and will happen the more you want it.

So my advice is to take time every single day to visualize about what you want in life. It makes the  journey a ton easier, it helps you to become clear on what you want and takes your mind off of anything that may deter you. It really does work!

In the words of one of my all time favorites, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” -Walt Disney

Everyone starts a home based business for their own reasons. For some it’s for the nice home, the fancy cars, the gadgets and the nice clothes. For others it’s for the time freedom. Some people may just want to start a home business to do something different than what they are currently doing or just to get away from their job. Every single individual has their own reason. This reason, is unique, and powerful and is the fuel behind their success. It is the reason they will either fail or succeed. If their desire to obtain this “reason” is strong enough, they will succeed.

The purpose of this post is not to educate you all on the will to succeed. It’s to discuss the importance of having a reason, and knowing when you have obtained your reason.

To give you a quick example, our reason for starting a home based business initially was to make money. At least we thought that was the main reason. We had a mortgage staring at us in the face, bills that were piling up and a shortage of income to make all our ends meet. But once the money started coming in, we found out our true reason. We could have gotten a second job to make ends meet, but we were looking for so much more. We were looking for the lifestyle, the lifestyle that would allow us to spend more time together.

So many parents rarely see their children due to their work. They are not the primary influence in the lives of their children. After missing eight months out of the first year of my oldest daughters life, we made a decision to change. We weren’t about to see our children grow up without us.

Now that I look at my life, I have everything I set out to get by starting my home business. Amy and I were sitting on the back porch, reflecting on some of our goals and thinking of the life we have created for ourselves. The youngest was down for a nap, and Amy brought up our main reason for getting started with this business opportunity. It was to bring Daddy home, to make the income to support our lifestyle and to use that income to travel the world and enjoy each other. We have obtained all that we came here for. Anything we do beyond that is extra and adds to our main reason.

Four years ago when we made the decision to get started, to leave the job and to create our new future, we really had no idea how sweet it would really be. Now that we are living it, it really is that sweet.

Living your reason, your ideal life, is not a difficult thing to do. It just involves making a big choice….and then following through with passionate consistent action. And trust me, it’s a lot closer than you think…..and has always been within your grasp!

Thoughts are very interesting and very powerful things. If you truly understood the effect they can have on your life’s destination, you would be  extremely conscious of which thoughts you entertain and which ones you quickly discard. Every thought you have either changes the current path you are on or completely makes a new one. I want you all to really understand that, so I will repeat it once again. Every thought you have either changes the current path you are on or completely leaves that path to make a new one.

Those who really understand the power of a thought know that by thinking a certain way, they are choosing a certain path. Thoughts can be recorded and used, in a sense, as a compass. Now this compass will point you in a certain direction, but this compass does not have a true north. It’s more like the compass Jack Sparrow uses in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” It only points the way to what you most desire in this world.

So is it fair to say that the things you think about all day long are the things you desire the most? I don’t think that statement is entirely accurate. Thoughts can be influenced by so many different circumstances, whether interior or exterior. People get into a rut, or can’t seem to break free from struggle because they just haven’t learned to control which thoughts they entertain. Thus, they just entertain nearly every thought that pops into their head, sending them spinning through life out of control, jumping from one path to the next completely at the whim of thoughts that do not serve them.

Here’s an example: Picture yourself standing in front of a thick jungle. There is no way to get through this jungle unless a path is created. Just in front of you you see a path that has been well traveled by. It seems like the easiest path to travel by as many have gone that way before. Sometimes, the easiest is not always the best choice, especially in the middle of a jungle. Predators know this path as well. They wait towards the end to find their prey. Danger lurks on this path. So you decide to change your path by taking out your machete, hacking away at the vines and jungle growth, creating your own path. You are in complete control of your direction. When a vine comes along, you can choose to allow it to deter you or you can just hack your way through, heading in the same direction.

At times is seems that just entertaining every thought that comes into your mind is the easiest way to go. It is the path that is most traveled by. I mean, it won’t effect your destination in the end right? It’s just a thought! Wrong! Entertaining every thought is like having a fruit salad with Salsa, Guacamole, peanut butter and jelly, chocolate, ketchup and and a big cup of mustard. It just doesn’t go together and quite frankly, just ain’t right! Eat that salad and you will likely end up in the hospital. The easiest decision may or may not end up being the easiest decision in the long run, as you usually pay for your decision later.

Learn to take out your machete and hack away at the thoughts that don’t serve you and stand as an obstacle on your chosen path. By learning this one simple discipline, you can literally change your course and ultimately change your world. If a thought does not serve you or move you closer to your most desired destination, replace it or discard it immediately. If you don’t like it, hack it away and move forward without it. It does not own you, it’s just a thought placed there by one of many sources. Sources that are not based within your own heart. Learn to discern between those that are and those that aren’t. It becomes easier with practice. I promise!

I truly hope you understand how simple it can be to veer off course and how simple it also can be to change your course. Just think your way there by controlling or choosing your thoughts. Then the saying, “Change your thoughts, change your world,” is a real thing. You truly do have complete control. You wonder why we only are able to use one third of our brain capacity? If most of the human race can’t even learn to master the third, how will it ever learn to master the other two thirds. Know your potential, and then choose it to be so!