For those of you who have children, how many of their events at school have you missed out on this year due to your job or your timely business? Now it doesn’t matter how big or how small these school events are. So whether you go just to see them sing a few songs, eat a popsicle or walk across the stage for a graduation, all are equally important to your child. If your child brings home a paper with something happening at school, most likely, parents are invited and you should go!

What I have noticed, if my daughter tells me about something coming up at her school, or asks me to go, she really wants me to go. She not just inviting me or telling me because her teacher told her to. If I can’t go, they feel left out when the actual event happens. Even if just one other parent shows up with their child and nobody else does, your child will still feel left out wondering why her Mom and Dad couldn’t be there. It means a lot to them, and it means a ton to me as a parent as well. I know it does to you also!

Tell me, is an hour of pay worth more to you than an hour with your child at school?

Today my daughter is having her end of school field day. I will be there. Earlier this week my daughter had a presentation at school. I was there. They sang four songs and then we ate cookies and punch with them for the rest of the time. It was something so simple, yet, I could see her beaming the entire time we were there. I loved every bit of it. Every event she has had at school this year, I was there.

If your job or your business is keeping you from “being there” for your kids, it isn’t worth your time! Let me say that again, if your job or business is taking precedence over your children, drop it like a rock. It isn’t worth your time.

Now, I realize that you must have an income to feed and clothe your children. There are better ways to create an income than what most people are doing right now. You can work from your own home in a home based business and have the time freedom to always “Be there!” You just have to do it. It is a choice!

And regardless of whether this offends you or not, by having a job that requires you to miss your kids events, you have directly chosen to miss those events. You can’t blame it on your job, your business or whatever. You have directly chosen not to “Be there!” You always have a choice and I want you all to realize that. Don’t spend the rest of your childrens childhood absent. Be present. Don’t ever miss out on your kids.

The other day my wife and I watched “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” It was an okay movie. It was a little out there but I thought that it was well put together. I was wanting a little more action than what the movie had, but that’s just me I guess. I’m and action kind of guy.

Out of this entire movie, one word stuck out to me. I had heard the word before but never really knew exactly what it meant. It is the word, “Precipice.” In the movie, Keanu Reeves was an extraterrestrial being who came to earth to save it from the human race. In order to do that, his solution was to exterminate them. Well, through the entire movie, the woman who is with him is trying to convince him not to do it. She took him to a Professors home who gave him this line:

Professor Barnhardt: But it’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve. This is our moment. Don’t take it from us, we are close to an answer.

Only at our precipice do we choose to change.

I looked up the definition online and this is what it came up with:

–noun
1. a cliff with a vertical, nearly vertical, or overhanging face.
2. a situation of great peril: on the precipice of war.

So basically, only when times are at their worst do people find the will to change. In most cases, they find the will to change because they really have no other choice. It’s either find the will or perish and most people will find the will.

Isn’t this so true. Don’t most people wait until things are nearly unbearable before they decide to make a move and change it. As you all know, I teach people how to create a lifestyle of wealth and time freedom while working from home. I speak with hundreds of people every month who really, really want to become wealthy, or really want to have more time for their families, but will never take action. I think it’s because they aren’t at their precipice yet. They’re not staring down the edge of the cliff yet because they haven’t quite arrived there. Things aren’t bad enough and honestly, when they are bad enough, it may be too late. They may not have the resources available to them to make a significant change. But it is in those moments, the moments of peril, standing at the precipice, are leaders born. This is where people are given the opportunity to become great and will accomplish great things.

In your own life, if it is a life of wealth and freedom you seek, don’t wait until your precipice, or moment of peril before you evolve into the person you wish to be. Take the action now that will move you towards the things you know you deserve in your life. Have the vision to see where your life is headed if you don’t take that action. Operate from there, knowing that the precipice is coming, and avoid it. It’s just a choice.

A man was walking down a street. It was a very nice street with all kinds of shops, restaurants and people. It was the most prosperous street in town and this certain man was having a fantastic time. He was headed to a restaurant he had heard about and lunch time was approaching. Well, before eating the best meal he would ever have, he looked at a wall down an alley, and read something someone wrote. It said, “This is the worst street in the world. Don’t eat the food, it’s the worst food you will ever have and it costs way too much!” Well, naturally, the guy decided not to eat at the restaurant, which is also the choice that most people would make. Only very few actually go into the restaurant after reading the writing on the wall. These very few are the people that enjoy the best food and will continue to return to the restaurant regardless of what someone else says, because they know first hand and create their own opinions. It turns out, the guy who wrote that comment on the wall, which is graffiti, lives just below it in a cardboard box.

The Graffiti Restaurant

The internet is a wall full of graffiti from people who have been offended, found fault, found what they thought were greener pastures or just plainly quit. That’s why it is there. They can’t blame themselves for their own failure. That would be crazy right?! So they make their blame public by using the internet.

I mean, someone could walk into paradise and still find something wrong with it if they were looking for it. Right!? Thus is life. As an example, I live near Phoenix Arizona. I’m not saying that Phoenix is paradise okay, but when it rains, it cools off the entire town, and for a brief moment, can be paradisical. It only rains a few times a year there and people were actually complaining about the rain, wishing it would stop. This is proof that people will complain about anything, regardless of what a blessing it is.

Ten times out of ten, the guy to listen to is definitely not the guy who moves from one opportunity to the next, hoping that it will be better than the last. And ten times out of ten, the ones to listen to are not the bums writing graffiti in forums. The ones to listen to are the people who have created success. It just makes sense! You just have to ask yourself the questions, “Who do want to become like?” If you want to be a graffiti bum, take advice from the graffiti bum. If you want to be outrageously successful, take advice from the outrageously successful. Simple!

I eagerly await the day when the majority of the people take the advice of someone successful over the opinion of 30 people who are not. Following the majority has never been the way to create success in life. Otherwise, everyone would be outrageously successful. If you are following the majority, chances are, your results are just like the majority, average! Ask Albert Einstein if he followed the majority, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jordan. There a leaders and there are followers. A follower, is not a leader.

It turns out, the restaurant owner in the story decides to leave the statement on the wall that deters so many people and is glad it is there. Why? It’s because he now gets the perfect customer. The customer who is loyal and returns often and tells all his other loyal friends about this great restaurant. The statement on the wall keeps out the ones who would have found fault, even in paradise! It keeps the ones out that are “wishy-washy” in their decisions and jump from one thing to the next. It keeps out the ones who are terrified to experience change. It keeps out the followers of the majority. The graffiti bum has actually done the restaurant owner a huge favor!

You, the one reading this, might be the one who bases decisions on what the graffiti says. If it is you, I hope you are enjoying “average!”

Choose to be the one out of 30 who can see past the graffiti and the bum living below it, who was the author of it.

Better yet, who are you? Don’t you know? Example: Every once in a while you’ll get a day off and you happen to be walking down the beach. You see a guy sitting there, on the beach, on the phone, telling the person on the other end to wire the $22,000 to his bank account. Naturally, you would automatically think, who is that guy and what does he do that allows him to be on the beach in the middle of the week making that kind of money.

Most likely, the guy making that kind of money is not wondering who the guy is that is wondering who he is. He probably doesn’t even know who he really is, but he sure as heck knows what he wants. He is who he has chosen to be and who he is being is his ideal person.

Knowing the answer to the question, “Who am I,” is by simply doing the things that you love to do and want to do. The choices you make every single day are the only things that dictate who you are, or at least who you are being. If you choose to go to your job everyday, you are choosing to be the employee who works 12 hour days. If that’s what you want, be that person. On the other hand, if you want to be the guy on the beach making $22,000 with a single phone call, then choose to be that guy. There’s nothing difficult about it. It’s just a choice!

People complicate things by thinking they can’t be who they want to be because of “whatever!” Well, they have chosen to not be who they want to be and have allowed such a small obstacle keep them from that. So instead of being the successful person who takes action, he now becomes the Elephant who is scared of a mouse. He becomes the excuse maker instead of the decision maker.

So if you keep making excuses in your life, who are you? You’re not being who you want to be.

How many times have we all done that? How many times have we caught wind of a conversation, and wondered how that person was so successful, or so happy. How many times have we wondered how they did it or what they do to to make it all happen? I can tell you one thing, it doesn’t happen anymore for me. I am that person now because of my decisions to act on what I want.

In the words of Batman Begins, ‘It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you!’ It’s not what you think about doing, it’s what you actually do. Michael Jordan didn’t become the greatest player in the history of the NBA because of who he thought he was. He had to actually do it. That is who he is because he acted.

Life is real time! It’s happening right now. When you step up to that plate to take the first pitch, are you going to blame your strikeout on an injury or a broken bat…….or are you going to lean in, take a firm grip on the bat, point to the bleachers and hit a homerun? You have the potential to become all that you have ever wanted to be. Don’t be a wuss about making it happen. It takes guts, it takes a knowing and it takes you making bold choices regardless of the obstacles.

From time to time I will get the question, “Is this a get rich quick scheme?” I think it is hilarious when I do because most people probably can’t even define what a “Get rich quick scheme” really is. I assume it is something that promises you that you’ll get rich with little or no risk or effort. I would think this would be something a little more like gambling or pyramids, something you can just throw a little bit of cash at in hopes to get a ton back.

Is this a get rich quick scheme?

Let’s analyze the phrase, “Get rich quick,” a little bit. I guess it really all depends on the rate at which one gets rich, right? Before we get into that, let’s establish what being “Rich” really is. It would be safe to say that being a “millionaire” would be a good starting point. There are a lot of factors to consider when determining if someone is really rich, so for the sake of time, let’s say a millionaire is someone who is rich.

Let’s do some basic math. I believe the average annual income in the USA is right around $35,000. How many years, at that income, would it take a person to make a million bucks? Don’t worry, I couldn’t figure it out in my head either. Here’s the numbers:

The average person will take 28.57 years to make an accumulative million dollars, with all or most of that going to pay their costs of living. This business opportunity puts you on a much quicker path to making your first million. Instead of a 29 year track, you hold the potential to do it here within 18 months to 5 years. It’s been done over and over again. It’s definitely not a get rich quick scheme, or a scheme of any kind, but definitely a get rich quicker “theme!”

Take a look at it this way. When on a long walk you come to a mountain. You can either choose to go over it or around it. Both ways will take you to the same destination. One will obviously take longer than the other and one will be a lot more risky. Which one will you choose? The one who chooses to go around, will happily stroll along using just enough energy and risk as needed to get around the mountain. The one who chooses to go over it, will become stronger with each risk, building muscle and confidence with every obstacle.

I don’t know about you guys, but I sure didn’t want to spread my first million over a period of 29 years. I took the shorter path. Really all it is, is the ability to take a risk. The risk in this business opportunity is not whether it works or not, but instead, a risk in whether or not you will work. That is the only risk there is. If you will work and make it happen, welcome to the shorter path. I look forward to working with you and seeing your tremendous success!

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