Making a Difference with Your Life ~ 2012
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard;
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect
And more often wear a smile,
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So when your eulogy is being read
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?
~ Linda Ellis
Laura’s Latest Blog ~ <3 ~ 1/2/2012
Life Tips . . .
When you stop chasing the wrong things you give
the right things a chance to catch you.
30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself
As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.
- Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
- Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled
.
- Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.
- Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
- Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.
- Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.
- Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.
- Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.
- Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness
.
- Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
- Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
- Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.
- Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.
- Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.
- Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”
- Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.
- Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.
- Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.
- Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.
- Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.
- Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.
- Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done
.
- Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.
- Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.
- Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.
- Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.
- Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.
- Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
- Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.
reprint from Practical Tips for Productive Living
The Right to Lead . . .
The Right to Lead,
by John Maxwell
What gives a man or woman the right to lead? It certainly isn’t gained by election or appointment. Having position, title, rank or degrees doesn’t qualify anyone to lead other people. And the ability doesn’t come automatically from age or experience, either.
No, it would be accurate to say that no one can be given the right to lead. The right to lead can only be earned. And that takes time.
The Kind of Leader Others Want to Follow
The key to becoming an effective leader is not to focus on making other people follow, but on making yourself the kind of person they want to follow. You must become someone others can trust to take them where they want to go.
As you prepare yourself to become a better leader, use the following guidelines to help you grow:
1. Let go of your ego.
The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, “Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.”
2. Become a good follower first.
Rare is the effective leader who didn’t learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first – and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.
3. Build positive relationships.
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today’s generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.
4. Work with excellence.
No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work. They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.
5. Rely on discipline, not emotion.
Leadership is often easy during the good times. It’s when everything seems to be against you – when you’re out of energy, and you don’t want to lead – that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.
6. Make adding value your goal.
When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership – and its highest value.
7. Give your power away.
One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You’re meant to be a river, not a reservoir. If you use your power to empower others, your leadership will extend far beyond your grasp.
The truly great leaders are not in leadership for personal gain. They lead in order to serve other people. Perhaps that is why Lawrence D. Bell remarked, “Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.”
Rare is the effective leader who didn’t learn to become a good follower first. That is why a leadership institution such as the United States Military Academy teaches its officers to become effective followers first – and why West Point has produced more leaders than the Harvard Business School.
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. That means it is by nature relational. Today’s generation of leaders seem particularly aware of this because title and position mean so little to them. They know intuitively that people go along with people they get along with.
No one respects and follows mediocrity. Leaders who earn the right to lead give their all to what they do. They bring into play not only their skills and talents, but also great passion and hard work. They perform on the highest level of which they are capable.
Leadership is often easy during the good times. It’s when everything seems to be against you – when you’re out of energy, and you don’t want to lead – that you earn your place as a leader. During every season of life, leaders face crucial moments when they must choose between gearing up or giving up. To make it through those times, rely on the rock of discipline, not the shifting sand of emotion.
When you look at the leaders whose names are revered long after they have finished leading, you find that they were men and women who helped people to live better lives and reach their potential. That is the highest calling of leadership – and its highest value.
One of the ironies of leadership is that you become a better leader by sharing whatever power you have, not by saving it all for yourself. You’re meant to be a river, not a reservoir. If you use your power to empower others, your leadership will extend far beyond your grasp.
Are you “Living the Life of Reilly”?
“Living the Life of Reilly”
My question is what does ’Living The Life of Reilly’ really mean?
Everyone it seems, knows that ‘phrase – Life of Reilly’ but not what it really means and where it originated.
So I needed to find out . . .
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I found two different origins for that expression:
Meaning: An easy and pleasant life.
Origin: The phrase originated with the Irish/American soldiers in the US Army during WWI. The first known citation is in a letter from a Private Walter J. Kennedy, stationed at Camp Dix, New Jersey, which was published in The Syracuse Herald on 29th June 1918. The piece was headed “Great Life, Writes Soldier at Camp”:
“This is surely one great life.” writes Kennedy. “We call it the Life of Riley. We are having fine eats, are in a great detachment and the experience one gets is fine.”
Later that year, on 22nd October, The Bridgeport Telegram published a letter from Private Samuel S. Polley, 102 Regiment, stationed in France.
“They [German officers] must have led the life of Reilly as we caught them all asleep in beds…”
Who Riley (or Reilly, or Reiley) was isn’t clear. If he had been a known individual then it surely would have been recorded. The lack of any such records points to the name being chosen as that of a generic Irishman, much as Paddy is used now.
The phrase may have been brought to America by Irish immigrants, although there’s no known use of it in Ireland prior to 1918, or, more likely, it originated in the Irish community in the USA. It reached the wider public via the 1919 song by Howard Pease – My name is Kelly: Faith and my name is Kelly, Michael Kelly, but I’m living the life of Reiley just the same. http://www.phrases.org.uk/
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The second one that I found said:
Origin
The name Riley is of Irish and Gaelic origin. It means Valiant and Courageous.
The meaning behind the name Riley begins when the name originally appeared in Gaelic as O’Raghailligh, which means descendant of Raghallach.
Living the Life of Riley
Living the Life of Riley” suggest an ideal life of prosperity and contentment, possibly living on someone else’s money, time or work. Rather than a negative freeloading or gold digging aspect, it instead implies that someone is kept or advantaged. This expression was popular in the 1880s a time when James Whitcomb Riley’s Poems depicted the comforts of a prosperous home life, but it could have an Irish origin: After the Riley clan consolidated its hold on country caravan, they minted their own money accepted as legal tender even in England. These coins called O’Rileys and Reillys became synonymous with a monied person and a gentleman freely spending was “living on his Reillys”.
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The Life of Riley even became a Radio Show and then a TV Series
“Living the life of Riley” suggests an ideal life of prosperity and contentment, possibly living on someone else’s…
The Life of Riley, with William Bendix in the title role, was a popular radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film and continued as a long-running television series during the 1950s, originally with Jackie Gleason playing Bendix’s role.
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“Living the Life of Reilly” has long been synonymous
with living life to the fullest or at the very least living life well!
So Yes…lately, I’ve been “Living the Life of Reilly” ! Being ’50′ is going to be a good year!!!!!! ~Laura
~ Wonderful Wacky Words… Believe in Yourself ~
~ Wonderful Wacky Words… Believe in Yourself ~
*Don’t be a victim to anyone or anything… you control your destiny * When life gives you a second chance, take it * Your future does not lie ahead of you; it lies deep inside of you * You serve the world best by lifting others * Think big… if that doesn’t work, think bigger * Trust your crazy ideas * Live like you mean it * Color outside the lines * Don’t let your frame of mind frame you in * Reach outside your comfort zone * Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission * Let your dreams take flight and create the life you’ve always imagined *
You Are Amazing!!! ~ ♥ ~
100 Day Countdown to 2012 . . .
100 Day Countdown to 2012 –Hard to believe in just 100 days 2011 will be ending! Another Chapter in “Your Book of Life” completed. How will your 2011 story read?
Where are you at, after 265 days so far? Most people write down their resolutions at the beginning of the year and then check in on them at the beginning of the next year. And they wonder why they never reach their goals & dreams. I know… I’ve been guilty myself. But this year, I am doing something I have never done before to have something I’ve never had before…financial freedom. I am committing to a 100 Day Countdown Challenge! Want to join me?
Dust off your goals & dreams, you can make them happen. Do you want your 2011 resolutions, goals and dreams to fizzle out, coast along or go out with a bang? Don’t wait until January 1st to reflect back on 2011 and then set New Years resolutions for next year… there are 100 days left in to achieve what you want! Make an ‘End of Year Resolution’ and start today!
Is there something you can do for the next 100 days to make a difference for yourself and those around you? YES, there is! I’m inviting you to join me in committing to a 100 Day Countdown Challenge. A good old fashioned challenge to push the boundaries, test the limits and be fired up & focused!!!
The good news is 2011 is not over yet…
* Make a list of everything you still want to achieve in 2011, including; Health, Wealth,
Family, Personal & Spiritual.
* Make a 100 day Action Plan – go from goal setting to goal getting in 100 days!
* Post your commitment to the 100 Day Challenge to this page and share your stories
along the journey.
* Let’s keep each other fired up & focused!You are the secret to making your 2011 Story what you want. You have everything inside you to make it happen.
Love this quote: ”Commitment is the ability to continue to do what you set out to do,
long after the mood you set it in is gone.”Are you ready to commit to the 100 Day Challenge? Will you do it? Or will you make excuses?
What if… someone were to follow you with a camera crew for the next 100 days while you went for your goals? I bet three things would happen . . .
1) You would START doing the things you say you need to do.
2) You would STOP doing the things you shouldn’t be doing.
3) You could UNLEASH a major performance explosion & change your life.September 22, 2011 is an important date… If you are up for it. Accept the Challenge. Make a commitment….right here, right now! Join me in the 100 Day Challenge!
Make your ’2011 Story’ end with a bang! Finish strong. Make the choice.What do you want for the last 100 days of the year?
The Countdown begins . . .
To be Continued,
Laura Dalessio Baccini
Right Place, Right Time…
Bill Gates, the Wealthiest Man In The World Said …
It only takes 3 things to make a lot of money:
1) You need to be in the right place at the right time
2) You need to be in front of a rapidly expanding industry
3) You need to take immediate massive action.
The time is here… call me!
http://diamonddynastyinternational.wordpress.com/about/
A Winners Attitude “Being a Champion”
reprint of blog post written by Two-A-Days on HubPages GingerSnow.com
Before last year I would not have been able to write this. Or if so, it wouldn’t have been honest. I had never won a Championship in any sport my previous 32 years in athletics. I see things different now. I can finally look back and understand what was happening within our team that led us to win.
So YOU want to be Champion? For that you’ll need a few things. Belief, attitude, discipline, dedication, determination and passion, just for starters. Are you prepared to fight harder, faster and longer than your opponents? Keep yourself mentally and physically tough? Put in 110% every single day? Take your mind and body beyond any threshold you ever thought possible? Sacrifice life and limb for your teammates?
The most winning college Coach of all time, John Wooden had a Pyramid of Success in which some of the principles he included were: Poise, Loyalty, Intentness, Confidence and Skill.
However, not all traits of a Champion are roses and unicorns. To take your game to the next level you’ll need a few other things. Arrogance; You have you believe no one else can do it but you. Fear; fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of getting out of your comfort zone. Selfishness; last play of the game, no time on the clock, YOU have to be the one who wants the ball!
How bad do you want to win? Would you like to? Maybe one day, or that would be nice, kind of thing? Then just forget it right now. You have to feel it deep in your gut. That fuel inside you that wants to explode. The will to win, at any cost. That killer instinct to just fuck someone up when you have him up on the ropes. Michael Jordan was quoted as saying “I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.” Jordan was a winner. A six-time NBA Champion and one of the most competitive players of all time.
That being said, don’t forget to have fun. When we were young and first starting out we did it for the love of the game, and it was so much fun. No matter what level of achievement you attain, how hard you work or how many hours you put in, don’t forget to smile and truly enjoy what you’re doing.
Before every game Coach gave us the opportunity to have a quiet moment for last minute thoughts and dedications. In those final moments was the time for internal affirmations and visualizations. It’s no different in life, you must see it, FEEL IT, and believe it FIRST, and only then will it manifest. When breaking a huddle every team will say a statement to end on. Ours was simple, and made us who we are. “On 3. 1, 2, 3, CHAMPIONS!”
Feelings can actually change the physiology of your brain. According to The Talent Code, in the case of an athlete, certain thoughts can make your body relax, your mind more creative and actually decrease reaction time. Thoughts create feelings. Feelings preclude actions. The basis of all action is emotion.
Stay with me here….
Paraphrasing The Habit Code web site, within Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill talks about Definiteness of Purpose. The big secret is that you must get emotionally attached to it.
This is where I think most people fall down.
You MUST get emotional about your goal.
Now, I’m not talking about getting a bit excited. I’m not talking about urging, or wishing, shouting, screaming or even jumping up and down emotional. I mean you have to get emotional “as if someone had tied a concrete ball around your neck and thrown you into the Boston Harbor” emotional.
On a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being drowning) The closer you are to a 10 the better. It depends on your DESIRE, how much you want something. A 1 is when you’re just wishing for something, because it might be nice to have. A 10 is when your life depends on it.
The reason you need to get emotional is this – ONLY Emotionalized thoughts have any ACTION influence upon the subconscious mind. The more Emotion you can mix with a thought, the more your subconscious will take action on that thought.
This can be achieved SLOWLY using the principle of AUTOSUGGESTION. Or it can happen quickly such as when having a breakdown, crisis, accident or even when being super emotionally charged (The Habit Code).
Ever seen an NFL team walk the field with a “ho hum”, passive attitude? Yeah right! It’s not JUST testosterone getting these guys all riled up. They know the power of emotion.
Positive self-talk, self-analysis and lifelong self-improvement are other qualities Hill relates to a winning attitude.
Lastly, it’s said that Opportunity is one of the determining factors of who becomes a Champion. Having access to coaches, facilities and training play a major role in development. Clearly that applies in business as much as sport. We have in our hands an opportunity few before us have ever had. It’s time to step up to the plate, seize this opportunity and create our destiny.
I’m going to wrap up today with Al Pachino’s Inch By Inch speech from the movie, Any Given Sunday. For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, Al Pachino is the coach of an NFL team and this is in the locker room before a big game.
I don’t know what to say really.
Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives
all comes down to today.
Either we heal as a team, or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch, play by play, till we’re finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen believe me
we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us,
or we can fight our way back into the light.
We CAN climb out of hell.
One inch at a time.
Now I can’t do it for you.
I’m too old.
I look around and I see these young faces
and I think I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I pissed away all my money believe it or not.
I chased off anyone who has ever loved me.
And lately, I can’t even stand the face I see in the mirror.
You know when you get old in life, things get taken from you.
That’s part of life.
But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game life or football the margin for error is so small.
I mean one half step too late or to early, you don’t quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast, and you don’t quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second.
On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone around us to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know when we add up all those inches
that’s going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.
I’ll tell you this
in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die, who is going to win that inch.
And I know if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.
Now I can’t make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.
That’s a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team,
or we will die as individuals.
That’s football guys.
That’s all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?
Procrastination . . .
Laura Baccini
“When I did the Apprentice, it was a long shot This is not a long shot.
This is going to be something that’s really amazing.”
~ Chairman & President, The Trump Organization – Donald J. Trump ~
THE PRICE OF THE PROMISE
THE PRICE OF PROMISE
The Power Of Network Marketing
Mark Yarnell, a minister in a small town in Texas, was headed for bankruptcy and just about to lose his car and home. He looked for a way out and discovered network marketing. Luckily, he had a wise sponsor.
The sponsor gave Mark “THE PRICE OF PROMISE”.
“This business can set you free financially in one to three years.”
But he also gave him “THE PRICE”. “To succeed, you will have to face and conquer 4 major enemies.”
Mark said, “It’s a deal.”
Mark began by inviting 200 friends over to his house to watch a video. 80 said “No, not interested”
- Mark had encountered ENEMY #1: Rejection.
He thought, “No problem. My sponsor warned me about that. I’ve got 120 people still coming over.” Guess what?
- He had just encountered ENEMY #2: Deception.
Mark thought, “No problem. My sponsor warned me about that. I’ve got 70 people who watched the tape.” Guess what? 57 said “Not Interested”.
- He had just encountered ENEMY #3: Apathy.
Undaunted, Mark thought, “No problem. 13 people signed up.” Guess what? 12 of them dropped out of the business shortly thereafter.
- He had just encountered ENEMY #4: Attrition.
Attrition had left Mark with just one serious associate. But to this day, that single distributor earns Mark over $50,000 per month.
Mark Yarnell’s story is NOT Unique!
You may have heard of Bill Britt, one of the most successful distributors in Amway. Some years ago, 20/20 did a feature story on Amway. They spent 19 minutes interviewing whiners and complainers – several distributors who had failed and showed the garages full of products they couldn’t sell. During the last minute of the show, Mr. Britt was interviewed in front of his palatial home.
He was asked, “Mr. Britt, this business has obviously worked for you. What’s your secret?”
He replied, “There is no secret. I simply showed the plan to 1200 people. 900 said, ‘No’ and only 300 signed up. Out of those 300, only 85 did anything at all. Out of those 85 only 35 were serious, and out of those 35, 11 made me a millionaire.”
Like Mark Yarnell, Bill worked through the numbers.
Jason Boreyko, former co-founder of New Vision, told this story. When he was a distributor in Matol, he signed up 50 people. He heard a lot of “No’s” on the way to those 50. Jason took one man, who he knew would be terrific in the business to lunch, told him about the business and the man said “No.” Jason took the man to lunch again the next month and told him the updates.
Once again the man said, “No.” Jason sent him more information and took him to lunch again the next month. And again the man said, “No.” That went on for six months. The seventh month, something had changed for the man, and he said, “Yes.”
That man made Jason over one million dollars. Jason also worked through his numbers.
According to Richard Poe in Wave Three while starting Amway, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, America’s eleventh richest people, recruited 500 people. 495 dropped out. The five that didn’t quit built Amway. All $7 billion of Amway’s business was built under those 5 people. Jay and Rich had to work through their numbers. There are many similar stories.
Jeff, the top money earner in Mannatech, signed up 27 people his first month. One might think that he is especially talented at sponsoring. Actually, Jeff will be the first to tell you that he is not talented at all. In fact, he feels that he did very poorly. To recruit those 27, Jeff talked to 2,000 people that first month. And of the 27, the only one who did anything significant with the business was Ray Gebauer, who has more than half of Mannatech in his downline.
Jeff’s word to you is that the numbers never lie. Pick your goal and then get into massive action. If you talk to enough people, you will make it!
Here’s the lesson: Your success is directly related to the degree to which you are willing to work to find others like yourself who are committed to succeed. Mark Yarnell’s odds were 1 out of 50. (Jeff’s were really 1 out of 2000.) Would you be willing to go through 200 people to find the 1 who will make you $50,000 a month? Or go through 200 people to become a millionaire? Or hear uncounted “No’s” to sign up 50 people to find a million dollar person? I hope you will. It’s easier when you know the
odds up front.
But here’s the catch: You have your own set of odds and you won’t know what they are until AFTER YOU’VE SUCCEEDED. So if you’ve gone through 50 or 100 people and you haven’t found 1 serious person yet, you can either give up and assume the business doesn’t work or recognize that you are working through your own numbers.
Are you willing to find out what your own set of odds is?
That means that you must pay the price for freedom. Remember that the numbers never fail you. Despite where you are in your skill level, your success is assured if you talk to enough people. And as your skill improves, so will your odds.
There is no such thing as luck in this industry. Winning big is a matter of being willing to pay the price. Are you? Your future is in your hands! The choices which you make today will determine the course of your entire future.
