Change - Quote of the Day

"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me." - Carol Burnett

Challenges - Quote of the Day

Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. - Bernice Johnson Reagon

Tackling Fear

"What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do." - Timothy Ferris, Author of "The 4-Hour Workweek"

One of the quickest ways to grow and learn about yourself is to tackle things that are uncomfortable and that you fear.

The more uncomfortable the situation is that you conquer, the greater the growth and the rewards can be for you. Many times you will see that you are capable of doing so much more than you have lived up to.

Take risks, live outside the box, expand those horizons, seek new things, challenge yourself. It can be the most fulfilling thing you do for yourself.

Try visualizing yourself doing what you fear with extreme confidence, reassurance and completing it fully. Your mind doesn't know the difference between reality and what you visual in your mind. If you see yourself being brave and doing what you fear most, it can help you combat it!

Fear can be a manifestation of your own imagination. So use your imagination with visualization to offset it!

Life is too good not to allow yourself this gift.

A couple of examples:

• If you fear public speaking, join a local Toastmasters.

• If you fear the water, take swimming lessons.

• If you fear heights, you could get extreme and skydive. Once I did that, no height bothers me anymore.

You may these links useful:

Combat Fear

Leap of Faith from Indiana Jones - The Last Crusade

Listening - Quote of the Day

"The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words." - Rachel Naomi Remen

Take Responsibility - Quote of the Day

"We are each responsible for our own life - no other person is or even can be. - Oprah Winfrey

Dad's Advice - Quote of the Day

"My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life." - Lee Iacocca

Don't Settle for Second Best - Quote of the Day

"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life." - John F. Kennedy

Find the Right Charity To Volunteer For

Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,400 of America's largest charities.

TOMS Shoes - Shoe Drop - Helping Children

TOMS Shoes is a social company that was founded on a simple premise: For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what TOMS is all about.

This is a quick touching video about the difference this company makes for others around the world and how we each can make a difference by either purchasing shoes for TOMS or going out into our community and actively helping others.

Yes! You can make the difference and there are hundreds if not thousands of people who can use your help.

Remember to count the blessings you have. Many others in the world and in our own neighborhoods are suffering. With whatever time, money and help you can give...making a difference with just one person will make it all worth the while. Pay your blessings forward, don't forget your fellow man.

4-Hour Workweek Introduction

We have been in the information age for years now.

Inundated and overwhelmed with email, instant messages, iPhones, Blackberries, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, Myspace, etc.

Entrepreneur and Author of the "The 4-Hour Workweek" Tim Ferriss, gives some quick guidelines on how to work productively and accomplish your most important tasks. He has done it successfully and is living a lifestyle that all of us would dream of. Check out this quick video:

Ability - Quote of the Day

"Ability will never catch up with the demand for it." - Malcolm Forbes

Choose Your Attitude - Quote of the Day

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” - Charles R. Swindoll

A Great Attitude - Quote of the Day

A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change." - Earl Nightingale

Wasting Time - Quote of the Day

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. - Charles Darwin

Giving - Quote of the Day

"You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others - something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it." - Albert Schweitzer

Failure Equals Success - Quote of the Day

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

Taking Aim - Quote of the Day

"Everyone needs something to aim for. You can call it a challenge, or you can call it a goal. It is what makes us human. It was challenges that took us from being cavemen to reaching for the stars." - Sir Richard Branson

Immortality - Quote of the Day

“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.” - Bruce Lee

Being Uncomfortable - Quote of the Day

A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. - Timothy Ferris, Author The 4-Hour Workweek

Excellence - Quote of the Day

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. - Michael J. Fox

Mistakes - Quote of the Day

The only person who never makes mistakes is the person who never does anything. - Denis Waitley

Choices - Quote of the Day

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise." - Robert Fritz

One Day This Will Be You - Quote of the Weekend

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these." - George Washington Carver

Make the Most of Your Life - Quote of the Day

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs, CEO - Apple, Inc

What's Important - Quote of the Day

"I am going to concentrate on what's important in life. I'm going to strive everyday to be a kind and generous and loving person. I'm going to keep death right here, so that anytime I even think about getting angry at you or anybody else, I'll see death and I'll remember." - Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, Do The Right Thing, 1992

Mentor - Anthony Nelson

Continuing on my series on mentorship.

What makes a mentor? What makes an individual want to take time and interest to help you be all that you can be. Is it because he went through so much to achieve his successes and he wants to help others shortcut the process? Is it because he sees something in that person and recognize that he or she possesses the ability to accomplish whatever that person desires? Is it a way to give back?

Throughout my life, I have asked that question. Some where out of nowhere, a gift appears. A person who was willing to show me the ropes, help me through difficult times, console me when I was hurting, lifting me up when I was down, believing in me when I couldn't believe in myself and asking me to stretch myself.

That person was Anthony Nelson. Tony showed up during my college years at San Francisco State University. I was dating a great gal I had met there and I had the blessed opportunity of meeting and becoming friends with Tony, her father.

Tony had owned his own real estate business and was primarily living his life working with upcoming startup companies and investing in those companies he believed in, while being the owner of several real estate properties. Up to this point my Dad had been my mentor and I learned the best of who he was, but Tony was that special person that made me think outside the box. Similar to Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad book, Tony was my rich dad. He was a person who shined with optimism, a unwavering belief, demonstrated a positive mental attitude and always seemed to make lemonade out of lemons. It was hard to get this man down.

When I met Tony, he had been battling failed kidneys for several years and had dialysis three times a week. It was something that definitely took its toll on his body and every once in a while would tire his spirit. But then again, even showing that he was human once in a while, you couldn't stop his determination and rosy outlook.

I had never met anyone like him, nor have I met anybody like him since. Tony smiled often, admitted his mistakes, told of his encounters during business, challenged me, and really wanted me to do well in life.

Some of my most favorite times were playing Tony in chess. My grandfather had been the only other person I had played chess with in my life. Oh, how Tony loved that game. The thinking ahead a few moves at a time, thinking how his opponent would move to counter his own moves, strategizing at the highest level and continually whipping my butt. Only once did I ever beat Tony at chess and as think back, I still think he let me have that one, perhaps to keep my spirits up.

Tony taught me the basics of selling and to be proud of this profession. We sell every moment of the day and sometimes we forget how it is the oldest profession in all the world and the most needed. Without sales, not much would happen...think about it.

Tony challenged me in chess, but also with my mind. He taught me how to think outside the box.

One day, he asked me what are the benefits of communism? Those who know me, sometimes I tend to react to quickly without really thinking. This process and that question he asked me still impacts me to this day. His goal was not to teach me the benefits of communism, but to really focus on thinking differently. After I had spout off on the evils of communism and why it didn't work, he asked me again. I couldn't believe this man I respected would continue to ask me this question. Why does he believe in it? Why does he care about communism?

At first I didn't get his point. Finally, I succumbed to his question and came up with about five answers discussing the positivism of communism. Not realizing I could even come up with answers in the first place, I was surprised that my mind was able to seek those answers. Then he smiled and pointed out the exercise he was experimenting with me. He shared that many times in life, I will be faced with a challenge or a decision that will require me to look at all facets and possibilities. Sometimes the gut is the best answer, but at other times, I will need to be more thorough with my thought processes in order to seek the best answer to my situation. This one exercise has helped me greatly throughout my life and helped me be a better-rounded person who can think outside the box and operate in a world of possibility. How often would you thank someone for a single lesson that help reshaped your life in such a way?

Tony gave me hope, made me want to be a better man, and made me want to strive to be the best that I can. Without his love, inspiration, kindness and belief in me, I am not sure of where I would be today. My actions would have been different. I would have missed out on meeting other mentors in my life. Who knows how my life would have turned out by not meeting Tony. What I do know that meeting him has made me grateful for every minute I got to spend time with him: talking, playing chess, having debates or simply listening to his lively business and life stories.

Faced with monumental health issues, he always took it in stride. One endearing story that Tony shared with me about his failed kidneys really demonstrated how he would seek a positive viewpoint.

He once kidded with me that he could drive from Newark to Los Angeles in four hours. Of course I debated that was impossible and asked how that was possible. He replied, “Because I don't have to pee and I drive a diesel, I don't have to stop at all. Plus I love to drive fast, so I am able to do that drive in only four hours, when most folks take five or more.”

I thought that simple statement demonstrated that he always worked hard to find the positive in his situation and I am fortunate to have had that short time in my life to be in the presence of such a phenomenal man. How often do we take our health for granted? How often do we forget our blessings? How often do we drown ourselves in negativity? At least when I was around Tony, he always showed his gratitude to be alive and that he appreciated what he had been given. We have a lot to learn from Tony.

 

Optimism - Quote of the Day

"The point of living and being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come." - Peter Ustinov (1921-2004)

Live Life Fully - Quote of the Day

" Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human!"

Thanks to Anthony Robbins for his quote