Are you ready to accomplish more in the rest of this year than you have in the last five years — combined! And it’s as easy as “flipping the switch”…when you know which switch to flip.

I’ve been working on this for several years and finally put it together — two living legends who transformed my life and the lives of millions of others around the globe are getting together for the first time. And they’ll show you how to create an action plan that virtually guarantees you will be more, earn more, love more and live more!

Find out how to Claim Your Power Now….

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Steve Vaught started walking across America one year, 2465 miles and 130 pounds ago.  His original motivation was to lose weight and regain his life.  “I am not happy because I am fat and being fat makes every day unhappy,” Steve said when starting on his journey.

With his goals in sight and less than 400 miles to go, Steve gives us all cause to stop and celebrate a goal achiever extraordinaire.  Spend a moment getting inspired and read the rest of his story…

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Our good friend, Dr. Philip Humbert, offers some outstanding advice on how to create and manage opportunity:

Most of us are used to the concepts of risk management or time management. Many of the same principles can be applied to creating and responding to opportunities. Instead of thinking of opportunities as just “coming along”, you can actually increase the number of opportunities available to you, and there are specific principles you can use to assess whether a “possibility” has real “probability” and “profitability” for you. In times of rapid change, increasing the number of options you have available, and a system for prioritizing and responding to possibilities are critical business functions.

1. Enlarge your circle of friends.   To increase the number of opportunities available, you need to go beyond traditional networking to generate friendships and trust with people who “aren’t like me”. Use any system you prefer, but be certain that your friendships include various ethnic, economic and social backgrounds, people who “think differently” – artists, engineers, teachers, “kids” and “old timers”. Don’t just “think outside the box”; network outside your circle!
2. Always be open to possibility.   Years ago one of my mentors told me, “Everything I have is for sale, except my wife.” That may be rather crude and politically incorrect today, but his point was that any business opportunity, any creative idea or investment suggestion was worth at least a few seconds of his time. Look for the unlikely, consider the unthinkable and ponder the improbable. Life’s biggest opportunities are often disguised.
3. Practice creativity.  Intentionally think of a way to turn every crack-pot, bad idea into something useful. This is not about finding a way to invest in every scheme that comes your way, it’s about practicing creativity, turning ideas on their heads, finding the kernel of wisdom or value, and throwing the rest away.
4. Avoid being overly tied to your goals.  Goals, and plans for achieving them, can be extremely useful. They can keep us on track, focus our efforts, and motivate us when we’re tired. But they can also blind us to new possibilities. Work toward your goals; don’t let them run your life. New ideas and alternative possibilities will come along. Don’t drive right past them in your hurry to finish last year’s project!
5. “He who hesitates is a damned fool!”  This quote from Mae West is a classic call to action. Being “light on your feet”, or in Muhammad Ali’s old phrase, being able to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” is useful business advice. There are times when opportunity knocks, but only stays at the door for a moment. Be prepared to respond quickly.
6. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”  Being able to respond quickly is not the same as being foolish. About 95% of the opportunities, ideas and invitations that come your way will not be worth pursuing. If it’s a good idea today, it will likely still be a good idea after a night’s sleep and consultation with your trusted advisors. Balance, thoughtfulness and a healthy skepticism are also critical.
7. Assess the probability of success.  Just as risk management compares the odds of being struck by lightening (extremely unlikely) to the chances of a critical shipment being lost (more likely), and assigns different values to each, so opportunities have differing probabilities of success. Just because an opportunity could work out, doesn’t mean it will.
8. Assess the potential payoffs.  Again, borrowing from risk management, it’s essential to asses the potential for “winning big”. The guy who invented the Frisbee had a strange idea with a low probability of catching on, but the rewards have been enormous! The same goes for turning a coffee bar into Starbucks or sneakers into Nike. What were the probabilities that a couple of college students could turn some computer code into an operating system and end up with Microsoft? Low probability of success, but huge payoffs!
9. Actively invite opportunities.  Let friends, co-workers, colleagues, competitors and customers know that you are receptive to new ideas. They are much more likely to share a possibility with you if they know you are always “looking for ideas”, having fun with possibilities and trying to understand the “next big thing”.   Let them know you aren’t necessarily hoping to change careers, just open and interested in new opportunities. And don’t ridicule anything! Every idea is someone’s baby and, amazingly, most of them have some value hidden in there somewhere!
10. Assess opportunities in terms of your values.  You know your strengths, your interests and your core values. There will be opportunities that will ask you to become someone you aren’t. You could make a fortune in stocks, real estate, software, or a thousand other industries, but you have to live with yourself. First, maintain your integrity.

For other great Resources for Success visit www.PhilipHumbert.com .

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Lisa recently ran across this.  Although the author is unknown, it’s still something to think about.   As you read this does it resonate with you?  Are you flapping your wings so hard, hitting your head against the wall and going nowhere?  Read on.  Your answer. your resolution, your breakthrough is sooooo simple!

Buzzard
If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

BAT
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

BUMBLEBEE
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

PEOPLE
In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not ever realizing that all they have to do is look up.

Wow!  Do you remember the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!  Look around, look up … get outside your box. Get outside your comfort zone. Only YOU are blocking your success.  You won’t find your solution staying right where you are.  You have to move.  What does it take to move?  Change.  Change your point of view.  Change what you are doing.  Change how you are thinking.  Your breakthrough is yours for the taking!    So take it!

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I was on a call tonight with Christopher Guerriero and he shared these 30 simple rules anyone can live by to live life as it was intended.  Check off how many you’re currently doing — and underline the ones you’ll start doing TODAY!

How To Have A Great Day According To Christopher Guerriero

1. Smile more
2. Write out your top 5 most important goals for the coming day, before going to bed
3. Get a great night’s sleep every night
4. Ask not what others can do for you, but what you can do for others
5. Eat your vegetables
6. Always focus on self improvement
7. Read more
8. Live in the moment
9. Exercise hard
10. Be grateful
11. Learn to breath properly
12. Take your vitamins
13. Tell a joke
14. Don’t put things off
15. Avoid negative people
16. Visualize yourself having already achieved your goal
17. Listen to a child laugh
18. Make a child laugh
19. Drink at least 8 ounces of plain, fresh water, for every 20 pounds of bodyweight you currently carry around
20. Be there for others
21. Stretch daily
22. Don’t blame others
23. Give more than you promise
24. Keep it simple
25. Be someone’s hero
26. Learn from every mistake
27. Forgive others
28. Forgive yourself
29. Dance
30. Never give up

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Like a lot of “jokes,” the little ditty below is not far from the truth.  It’s talking about a person’s romantic feelings but it can apply to anything.

I’d cross the hottest desert,
I’d swim the deepest sea,
I’d climb the highest mountain,
But I can’t come over tonight because it’s raining.

It made me think about how grandiose some of our goals are and yet how tiny and weak our commitments are to those goals.

Remember the old adage, “Plans are made in sand.  Commitments are made in concrete.”

Maybe circumstances have caused your plans to change, but if you feel your commitment wavering (or gone altogether) it’s time to get back to the real reason you want to accomplish the goal.  If it’s still important then re-inforce your commitment — write it in concrete!

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Here’s a great reason to pause and reflect on the value of time and how important it is that you create priorities.

One of the basic tenets of goal setting is that we choose, in advance, how we’re going to allocate our time. This helps to ensure that we use it in the best way….watch this short movie and you’ll understand why.

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This is a great insight on the power of big goals by my friend Michael Angier:

Big goals are not only more fun and exciting; they carry more weight than small ones. Ambitious, serious, “weighty goals” have attraction power. They attract others into the process and magnetize ideas and resources. Big goals pull you along. They pull you through the difficult times and help you remain diligent. They inspire you to greater innovation and effective action.

I’m not a scientist, but from what I understand, the bigger the mass, the greater the gravity. Larger planets like Jupiter have more gravitational pull than Earth because of their greater mass.

And so it is with our goals and dreams. The bigger they are, the more they tend to attract what’s needed for their fulfillment.

And it’s not just the SIZE of the goal that matters. It’s how important it is—how badly you want it. Your passion and your desire infuse your goals with magnetism.

An inspiring goal that benefits many will grow in size and weight. And the greater the good, the bigger the goal.

Let’s say you have a goal to improve your credit rating. It’s not that big of a goal, but it’s a worthy one. Your credit report impacts your ability to obtain loans—even your job opportunities. But when you realize that a higher credit rating could save tens of thousands of dollars because of lower mortgage rates, it becomes a much more important goal. It gains weight because you see how it affects the livelihood of you and your family. It’s emotionally charged.

What about starting a business? You’ve always wanted to own your own enterprise. Another good goal.

But when you have a VISION for your business, when you write a business plan and launch the enterprise, your goal becomes serious. Everything and everybody pays attention to it. It begins to draw to it all that’s needed to bring it to fruition.

We are unlimited in what we can choose to achieve. But our time IS limited. We must think carefully about what we really want and why we want it. This way, we can choose wisely and invest our time and energy in goals worthy of our best efforts.

When we do this, we become aligned with our goals. By choosing and working toward weighty, worthy goals, we allow their magnetism to work in our favor. They’re easier and more fun to achieve. There’s less frustration and faster progress.

Make sure your goals have gravity.

Michael Angier is the founder of SuccessNet, which is celebrating ten years of helping people empower themselves to be their best.

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How would you respond if the day before a really big day at work your spouse, who is hundreds of miles away, is unexpectedly taken off to jail…and you’ve got young children at home…and you just can’t walk away from your commitment?

Would you be a little distracted?

That scenario actually happened to PGA Golfer John Daly several days ago. How did he respond? He went out and shot a 69 (if you’re not a golfer, that’s very good!) on a very tough course. He was, as Fox Sports described him, “seemingly without a care in the world.”

Did the incident bother Daly? Sure it did — he’s human like the rest of us. But when Daly, who has had his share of personal problems over the years, is on his game, he’s one of the very best golfers in the world. He knew at the moment that he couldn’t change his wife’s situation but he could change his own situation at hand. He FOCUSED on his game despite an incredible distraction. “Asked how he put his personal life aside, Daly offered a wry grin. “You don’t,” he said. “I’m just out here.”

What distraction in your life is beyond your ability to change it? Why not put it aside for the moment and FOCUS on what you can change.

Read the Fox Sports story here…

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We’ve blogged earlier about the amazing feats of the “real-life Indiana Jones,” so it was an extremely gratifying experience to actually get to spend some time with the “World’s #1 Goal Achiever.” Lisa and I had the great fortune to spend the morning of January 4th with John and his gracious wife Carol and we were not disappointed. He’s the real deal and getting ready to achieve another of the great goals he laid out almost 65 years ago.

Learn more about John Goddard here and see his amazing Life List of Goals here…

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