Monthly Archives: November 2013

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Welcome To The Message From the Road – 3 Keys to Happiness

Greetings my friends! Welcome to the new edition of The Message From the Road. What you may ask is The Message From the Road all about? The answer is, it’s an exciting new version of our popular weekly video blog that we have been producing since April of 2011. This weeks message is on the 3 Components to Happiness. I hope you will find it not only enjoyable, but also thought provoking.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen! How are you this beautiful day? As you can see it’s a spectacular day, isn’t it? How blessed I am to be out riding, enjoying this beautiful sunshine, blue skies, and white clouds. It just can’t get any better than this can it?  I am one happy camper!

For some of you this might be your first time joining us, so let me welcome you to The Message From the Road. As I’m out riding my bike, up and down different parts of the country, like this beautiful Pacific Ocean, ideas pop into my head and I’ll stop and talk a little bit about them. Hopefully they are things that you will find interesting and ideas that might be food for thought as you move forward in your life or even into the next day or week.

As I was riding this morning the idea of happiness and success, which seems to be a somewhat recurring theme, kept coming to me. So I thought we could discuss the dichotomy between success and happiness.

It’s interesting when you look at this idea of happiness and you’ve got an external and internal driver. The external says, “When I’m successful I’ll be happy. When I’ve got all the money and I’ve got all the status, and I’ve got all the toys, then I’m going to be happy.” But the internal is a much stronger motivator for most people. Studies have shown that the people that are the most happy have some of the following components in their life.

1. They have a personal growth program, they’re excited about growing personally and they’re involved with other people that are growing. Consequently their outlook on life is just far better, more optimistic and full of excitement.

2. The other part is in their relationships. They have a stronger, healthier, and more fulfilling relationships. Why? Probably because they have a personal growth plan that’s in place and their relationships grow as they grow. They have a support system of like-minded friends and family.

3. They have a strong sense of community. Giving back and a sense of being involved with other people are vital to their happiness.

When we look at the cultures that are living the longest, that have the highest sense of happiness, where do we find them? We see them in Okinawa, where they have some of the longest living people on the planet. Denmark, that has one of the highest happiness ratings in the world. Bhutan, who has what they call, Gross Domestic Happiness. That’s how they are measuring the success of their communities, government, and country, on the happiness of the people.

Not one of those I just mentioned has had status or income as part of the driving force. So what’s going to make you happy the rest of your life? Is it the external things? You know, “When I get that car, I’m going to be happy. When I get that promotion I’m going to be happy. When I get married I’m going to be happy.”

Or is it taking a look at yourself and asking, “How can I grow? How can I increase my relationships to the point where they are energized and fulfilling? What am I doing to give back to my community, to the rest of the world, or to the rest of the country?”

So these are just some thoughts for you to consider as we move into 2014 and beyond. I hope that you have enjoyed todays message.  Please pass it along if you believe it’s been valuable. Until next time…

Keep on growing, keep on learning and keep on leading! It’s a choice! Your choice and mine!

Question: How would you grade yourself on personal growth, relationships and community? How would you grade your Gross Domestic Happiness?

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This Will Change Your Life! The Secret Sauce to Success!

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, there lived a man who was loved and admired by all. His family adored him, his business associates sought him out for advice and he helped people make positive changes in their lives. Everyone sought his counsel and he received invitations to all the major social events in the community. Sometimes he was humorous, sometimes he was melancholy and often he was excited beyond words.

Who was this man and what did he possess that attracted so many people to him? He is a storyteller! An individual who tells purposeful stories designed to influence people in a positive way.

The Art of Storytelling is one of the oldest and most effective forms of connecting with other human beings. Storytelling is traceable back thousands of years, before the written word, and definitely before the current technology age that we are currently immersed in. So why is storytelling so influential?

Peter Guber, in his bestselling book, Tell To Win, says “While virtually every form of human communication can contain stories, most conversations and speeches are not, in and of themselves, stories. What’s the difference? Non-stories may provide information, but stories have a unique power to move people’s hearts, minds, feet, and wallets in the story teller’s intended direction. Stories teach, model, unite, and motivate by transporting audiences emotionally. It goes far beyond just entertaining. It’s a purposeful call to action because your audience is emotionally moved. They in turn pass your message on to others by telling and retelling the story of their own experience.”

Storytelling is the Secret Sauce to your success! It is a vital skill that’s readily available to anyone and its fun! I have watched and heard some amazing storytellers, spoken word artist spin their tale of adventure and the message has always made a far greater impression on me than a lecture, or a seminar. It attacks the emotional sinew of the soul when you hear a great story!

Stories change lives, there the secret sauce to success in all aspects of life. I have always been amazed at the stories found in the various TED Talks, www.ted.com check out the spectacular spoken word poetry of young artist like Sarah Kay  and Shane Koyczan. No matter what or who you’re trying to influence, all the greats have integrated storytelling. Sometimes you heard it in a song lyric, a poem or fable and each time your emotions were moved.

What stories are you telling? Are they purposeful empowering stories, or are they “old baggage stories” that you’ve been re-telling to yourself over and over again since childhood? Are they stories to move you forward or stories that are holding you back?

What are the components or building blocks of any great story? They all have a challenge, there’s always struggle involved and ultimately a resolution. What do you think would happen if you started looking at life’s circumstances and you began to ask, “What’s the challenge here? Where’s the struggle? And how can I facilitate a resolution? I bet you will be far more excited about your life and you’d be handling life’s adversities a lot better.

So remember, “It was a long and winding road that I traveled on that cold dark starless night. I was exhausted from the day’s challenges and I wasn’t sure what was around the next bend, but I knew when I arrived at my destination, I’d have a great story to tell.”

Don’t miss out on the adventures in life, learn to tell wonderful purposeful stories.

Question: What stories have you told that have made the biggest impact in your life? Let us know by engaging in our community and commenting.

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The REAL SECRET to becoming a Super-Achiever

Everyone is looking for “The Secret”! You have seen the movie, read the books, listened to authors by the hundreds who have shared their formula for achieving your dreams. Yet why is it that people are still in a state of confusion around living life with maximum enjoyment and happiness?

I believe it’s because we make it far too complicated! So today I thought I would give you my K.I.S.S. philosophy for success, harmony and happiness.

KEEP IT SIMPLE SILLY!

D x F x A = Success (Whatever that means to you)

Why is it that so few people actually live up to their potential, become the best version of themselves and fulfill their legitimate needs? The reason is that we are too busy pursuing our illegitimate wants. The reality is that you can never get enough of what you don’t really need. Fulfillment comes from having what you need. The whole world is chasing illegitimate wants with reckless abandon. We must learn to move beyond our superficial wants and begin to discover our deepest desires.

D=Desire: A desire is a want with meaning. Our deepest desires are things we want because we know they will help us become the-best-version-of-ourselves. Napoleon Hill calls it a “Burning Desire”. Not an everyday desire but a desire so attached to your heart that it guides you to fulfillment and happiness.

F=Focus: Two stories of Super Achievers made a significant impact on my DESIRE to begin to apply this principle. The first is about Sir Richard Branson who was asked to be keynote speaker at a major corporation for $100,000 for one hour. His people were contacted and they immediately replied that Sir Richard wasn’t interested. Undaunted the corporation came back with $250,ooo and we’ll send a private plane and from the time he hits the ground to the time he’s back on the plane will be no more than an hour. Sir Richard Branson declined. Ok then $500,ooo was the offer! The response…”Sir Richard is not available at ANY price, he is focused on ONLY three projects and won’t be distracted by anything!”

The second example is from billionaire Warren Buffet who says, and this is paraphrased “out of 100 projects that are brought my way, I will only get involved with perhaps one.” How focused are you? What are you willing to say NO to, in order to make room for what you should say YES to? Years ago I heard an acronym for FOCUS which has stuck with me: Follow One Course Until Successful. All Super Achievers FOCUS!

A=Action: Without this key element no success is possible. An old sage once asked the question to his students, “If you had five birds sitting on a wire and three decided to fly off, how many birds would you have left?” All the students chimed in, “You would only have two left master!” The wise sage replied “No, you would still have five. You see the three decided to fly off but they never took the action and actually flew away.”  So many of us go through life making decisions to do things yet we never ACT on the decision!

So very simply, THE SECRET, is to get a Burning DESIRE, FOCUS on that desire and ACT to become the Best-Version-Of-Yourself possible. Success is possible, become a Super Achiever and begin NOW!

What is your answer to these questions? 

1).  I have a burning desire to______________________.

2). I will say NO to _______________, to make room for __________________.

3). I will take action on _______________ to become a Super Achiever

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