The Most Inspried Father & Son Team to Race in an Ironman

Personal development is about personal achievement beyond what is normally expected of someone given their obvious talents, education and upbringing.

In our world today many people choose to do just enough to get by and they expect the world owes them a living...

but there are a few who know their true purpose in life can only be realized when giving back with an open heart and no expectation of payment in return.

This is the story of Dick & Rick Hoyt, the most inspirational father and son team to race in an Ironman. It is my hope their story will inspire you to go beyond what is normally expected and reach for the reality of what is possible.

Success in Business and in Life is a Matter of Degree

At 211 degrees water s hot, at 212 degrees it boils.

All too often the margin between a real breakthrough to the success you have always dreamed about and the life you currently live is separated by a razors edge.

My wish for you...

is for you to enjoy a breakthrough to the life you deserve to live! May the months ahead be the ones where your accomplishments exceed your wildest dreams.

watch "212 Degrees" the movie

I hope you'll enjoy this movie, feel its inspiration in your life and share it with your friends. Everything we do and enjoy in life is because of the other people in our lives. There is plenty of room at the top where the view is always better the air is always clearer and it's not very crowded, so bring a friend.

and may everything you touch in the months ahead turn to gold!

Where Is Your Financial Thermostat Set?

What's a financial thermostat you ask?

If you refer back to one of my earlier posts "Defining Money" we discussed that money is a concept not a thing.

To better explain what I am referring to let's use flying as an example.

Flying is a concept. In order for a human being to fly it requires the use of a tool called an airplane.

Yes, I do understand that it's entirely possible to fly without an airplane however for a human being the risk of such an activity goes way up.

The point here is that in order to fly a person has to first get it straight in their heads that they are going to go somewhere by leaving the ground for an extended period of time (this is the concept part).

To fly you must use a tool called an airplane. In this example I am saying that the airplane and the cash (aka, money) in your pocket are both tools.

Based on your concept of the activity your choice of tools will vary.

For instance if I say I am going to fly to Detroit tomorrow most people will imagine me going to the airport and getting in an airliner.

If Bill Gates told you he was flying to Detroit tomorrow some of us realize that it would be ridiculous for him to fly commercial and we picture him getting in a private jet.

Bill Gates' choice of tools for flying would be based on his concept of flying and it is probably different for him than it is for most people. So is his concept of money and the value he places on his time.

I once heard that Bill Gates earns so much money, that if he was walking down the sidewalk and dropped a one hundred dollar bill every dozen or so yards that it wouldn't be worth his time to stop or go back and pick up the money. Bill's time is worth much more than a few lousy hundred dollar bills.

Naturally Bill Gates isn't going to go around dropping cash out of his pockets but he does give millions of dollars a year to various charities and he can afford to do so (when most people can't) because his concept of money is different than the average man on the street.

You could say that Bill's financial thermostat is set much higher and in fact I'll bet it is set so high that it would be impossible for him to be "just" a millionaire. Bill Gates has a Billionaire setting on his thermostat.

Consider the case of Donald Trump who has lost Billions of dollars several times over in the last thirty or so years. Once upon a time not too long ago Trump was twelve billion dollars in the hole and even the bum on the street corner begging for quarters had more "cash" than he did at that moment. Donald Trump's financial thermostat wouldn't allow him to give up, feel sorry for himself or settle for a few million...so...

in no time at all Donald was back in Billionaire status again.

You see, success leaves clues...

Your bank account looks exactly the way it does because of how you think about money.

In most cases the very wealthy people in our world are no smarter or more intelligent than broke people who struggle with money. In many cases the exact opposite is true. Some of the most brilliant people in our society have a lousy relationship with money.

People like Bill gates and Donald Trump have a different concept of money than a broke person does. Their self image is that of a Billionaire.

People will never out perform their own self image but they can change their self image and set the bar a little higher. In other words they can adjust their financial thermostat.

Get it?

See, there are literally thousands of people every year, right here in America who have turned their annual income into a monthly income.

They're probably no smarter than you are.

They're probably not as educated as you or many people you know who struggle with money.

In most cases they didn't start out with a "trust fund" or win the lottery or have a rich uncle die and put them in the will.

In fact in many cases these people have been dead broke for most of their lives.

Here's what made the difference for them, they made a choice to start thinking like a millionaire. They simple got information that helped them change their concept of money and in the process they changed how they think about themselves.

They changed their self image. They raised the bar a little higher and adjusted their financial thermostat and they made their dream a reality.

Here's another clue...

They got new information that helped them!

They made a decision to seek out and learn and they took action on their decision until they got the results they were after. Hmmmmmm this sounds a lot like the example I gave earlier about Donald trump when he was broke.

Life is a choice. If you're ready to start exploring the differences between the group of people who struggles and the group of people who wins...

then you have to start with a change of your own self image.

Based on this new concept of yourself you'll want to find some tools to help you on your journey. The book stores a full of titles that claim they can help you but knowing which ones to read an deciding who your millionaire mentor will be could make a huge difference in the time it takes for you to complete your journey

You may never see yourself as a Billionaire or even a Millionaire. Your financial thermostat may never go higher than $40,000/month of income but I will guarantee that until you adjust the thermostat and turn up the heat, living paycheck to paycheck is the best you can hope for.

Who Wants To Get Rick Quick And Be A Millionaire?

Only about 80% of the people I talk to say they want to be rich.

Kind of unbelievable isn't it? I mean that 20% of the population honestly answers the question "Who Wants To Get Rich Quick And Be A Millionaire" by saying no, not me, all I want is enough to be happy and live comfortably.

When asked why they feel that way the most common response is that they don't really believe they could have that much money in the first place so why get their hopes up.

Many will answer that question by saying something to the effect that having that much money would leave them feeling greedy ins pite of the fact that they could always give money to a charity, if it would make them feel better, which it won't because deep down inside they truly believe money is the root of all evil. (For a better understanding of money read my blog post "Defining Money.")

So I have a question for you...

Do you sincerely want to be rich?

By rich I mean in excess of a million dollars.

I you answered yes to the above question then the first thing you should consider is having a success coach. I mean really, if getting rich quick was something you really believed you could do on your own then wouldn't you have already done it?

In the book "Think and Grow Rich" Napoleon Hill talks about having mentors and a board of directors to help you with your plans and goals. In fact it is one of the most important ingredients and he dedicated an entire chapter to it in Chapter 10 "The Power of the Master Mind: The Driving Force."

Napoleon defines the Master Mind as "Coordination of knowledge and effort, in the spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose."

So back to my question...

Do you seriously want to be rich, in excess of a million dollars?

Then at least for the time being, let me be your success coach. I have some important information to share with you and if you're serious about being rich I know this information will save you a lot of time figuring things out entirely on your own. I would like to thank you in advance for trusting me to be your success coach.

So back to the subject of getting rich.

Did you know that these days you are not rich if you have one million dollars?

Although not pocket change, a million in the bank would merely allow you to live in moderate comfort for the rest of your life. You would have to be careful with your money. You could not be extravagant.

One million in disposable capital would give you around $50,000 a year in salary after taxes which is a lot less than a good company CEO or director gets.

If you took this salary the million dollars would slowly be eaten away by inflation until it was worth just $350,000 (today's buying power) in about fifteen years. Hardly a king's ransom, I think we can agree on that.

One million dollars buys you a crappy "matchbox" one bedroom condominium in New York City. That's all.

After you bought the condo, all the money has gone and there would not be a penny left to furnish it, pay the bills or for other living expenses. No, the truth is that these days a million dollars isn't what it used to be and the days are gone when becoming a millionaire was a crazy out of reach dream. These days it's just a good start at best.

Being a millionaire is not what it used to be. A millionaire in 1990 would be equivalent to at least ten million dollars in today's money...

ah, so now we're talking sensible money aren't we?

Ten million dollars is worth the same as one million used to be worth just a short time ago and back in the 1950s when a "millionaire" really was someone with a lot of money we can begin to get the big picture.

The point here is perspective.

Here's another point, when you've had ten or a hundred million, this level of wealth seems normal to you. To be down to your last million would feel like being flat broke - a horrific state to be in.

It is exactly this sense of perspective which aids the rich person and hampers the poor.

If you have made a few million, how do you think you view your chances of making it again if you were to lose it? A bit of a nuisance, right? An irritation but certainly not a ludicrous fantasy or crazy impossible dream. Poor people look at making a million dollars very differently because they have never done it. This is exactly why you Napoleon Hill said that you need a millionaire mentor.

So do you think people with a can do mentality and attitude manages to make another million dollars whether they have lost their first million or not?

Yes, they do.

No problemo.

In fact they often do it several times over and their success leaves clues that people who desire the same results can use to improve their own results.

So I trust you'll agree with me when I say they have the right perspective about making money.

If the answer is yes, then do yourself a favor and find out more about what I am doing that makes a big difference in my perspective about making money. What I have learned since I started on this path of being a millionaire is worth far more money to me today than the dollar value of what I invested to get my home based business started.

The choice is yours, are you busy creating your dream or making excuses for having what you currently have?

My purpose in life is to help other people get out of the rat race and get rich in life.

What Was The Secret That Really Made a Difference?

A Simple book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill?

No...well yes...but...a more precise statement would be 'new information' is the secret.

Information is valuable because it changes people's lives.

In my last blog post we talked about writing your truest desires on a card and being specific. We talked about carrying this card with you and stop wishing for it by starting to believe you can have it.

In his book, Hill said "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it."

You become ready by believing you can do it. Every great book on philosophy and religion tells us that belief IS the essential ingredient we must have first.

William James said "Believe and your belief will create the fact."

So how do you alter your belief system? Is there some kind of god out there that will reward you for trying? That isn't how it works, there are certain rules you have to follow and if you aren't ready you won't receive it until you are. Being ready is the belief we're talking about and so the question arises...how do we get ready?

Rule #1: Beliefs are based on our evaluation of something and our repeated thoughts about it so the belief that you can change the results you are getting in life must be based on your evaluation of yourself. If the results you're after are still elusive then it only stands to reason that your evaluation of yourself must change first.

For example, we don't know or truly appreciate what an incredible miracle the human body and mind actually are.

Did you know that all of the blood in your body circulates through hundreds of miles of passages every thirty-three seconds? How about giving consideration to the thousands of electrical messages that must take place in order for you to sign your own name? Your brain is an electronic switching station that has more power than the super computers that guide space missions to the moon. The point I'm making here is the fact that we aren't taught about who and what we are. There is genius locked up inside of each and every one of us and all we have to do is bring it to the surface.

As we study the material and information in 'personal development' we discover principles like those taught in Napoleon Hill's book and this information causes us to re-evaluate ourselves and become more familiar and aware with whom and what we really are. As this journey of introspection continues we start to change our beliefs of what we can do and gradually at first we discover, then we actually start to believe we can do what we've set out to do.

Rule #2: You have to take actions that on the surface would appear to be radical. They may even go against the grain o conventional wisdom. Did you know that 1% of the world's population earns 96% of the world's money? Why is that?

If you studied 100 people who set out to make real change in their life you'd discover; one will make it, three more will do 'ok' and the rest are out of the game entirely...so why is that?

They ignored rules #1 & #2

You've got to understand that as you start down the road of personal development you'll begin to discover that most of the information we were taught about ourselves, how things work, how we work and how to accumulate wealth is incorrect. This discovery will challenge your thinking and many people will simply refuse to accept it and quit...but...it's still the truth.

Here are two examples: first we're told you have to have a formal education to get ahead in life and second we're told you need to have some kind of business experience to be successful as an entrepreneur. Neither of these is correct or I wouldn't be writing this article today.

Although I attended college I didn't have time for book learning, life got in the way and I found myself spending time on things that kept a roof over my head. My only formal business experience came when I jumped out of the pan and into the fire when I opened my own Real Estate Business at the age of 24...without any formal training what so ever.

It wasn't until I started studying myself and changing my belief in my own abilities that things in my life began to really make a change. I discovered exactly what Hill wrote in his book when he said "it takes no more effort to aim high in life to demand abundance and prosperity than is required to accept misery and poverty."

Rule #3: If you're going to win in life you've got to e ready to take a lot of flack. The people around you will see you moving away from them and where you're at and they will criticize and laugh at you. They will try their hardest to keep you exactly where you're at. They do this subconsciously because they notice you making changes and they feel somehow left out or less adequate. Deep inside they know they should looki at themselves too and they get really uncomfortable with that idea. Some people even get irrational, almost violent (verbally) about it.

As you start to read and study the principles and materials of personal development you'll begin to change in almost every way and you'll separate yourself from the masses.

Rule #4: Take massive inspired actions immediately upon your desires.

In my last blog I mentioned getting emotionally involved with your statement of desire. Hill said "hand over the thought...to your imagination" in other words, you've got to see it, feel it and believe it and actually become the actor in your own movie of your own desire in your mind. "See what your imagination can and will do to create practical plans for the accumulation of the money through the transmutation of your desire."

What he's saying is that when you get this idea and become emotionally involved and can see in your mind's eye the fulfillment of your desire it's going to do something inside of you and change will begin to take place.

"Do not wait for a definite plan through which you intend to exchange services or merchandise in return for the money which you are visualizing...begin at once to see yourself in possession of the money demanding and expecting...meanwhile your subconscious mind will hand over the plan or plans you need." for the accumulation of this money.

You see, with your imagination working as we've described above, it alters the vibration you're in and your physical body literally changes how it resonates within the universe. Vibration is the natural law of the universe and it's this vibration that is the law of attraction at work and Hill is telling us about it. The laws of the universe are so precise we don't have any difficulties using them to build space ships that can land on the moon with the kind of precision of a fraction of a meter and second. Don't you think they can work for you too?

You must get emotionally involved and get your imagination working for you understanding your imagination is attracting the universal energy and it is setting up a powerful force of nature that will work for you.

Hill said "Be on the alert for plans and when they appear, put them into action immediately. When the plans appear they will probably flash on the screen of your mind through your sixth sense in the form of an inspiration. This inspiration may be considered a direct telegram or message from the infinite intelligence, treat it with respect and act on it as soon as you receive it...failure to do this may be fatal to your success."

As you do these things with integrity (what you do when no one else is looking) and take the inspired actions, your friends, neighbors, co-workers and others will begin to question your behavior and actions. Take no never mind of them because they have no idea what you're up to and why you're doing what you're doing. In fact they will most likely and quite inadvertently sabotage your efforts, especially if you take them into your confidence. You may even begin to question your own sanity but stay the course or the changes you seek will avoid you.

Be prepared to do anything honest to earn money and take action on your desires. Usually these things will at first seem impossible and most unreasonable but don't let their appearances fool you or stop your efforts because only these inspired actions will bring you the changes you seek.

Remember that if you could do this on your own, you would have already done so. You MUST follow these rules and this process. Divine order which is inspiration of the universe has no logical progression until AFTER we are standing there and looking back.

Rule #5: Get one or more mentors to guide you. Learning is a lifelong process and the best way to acquire this new information is to find a program or programs that include mentors who have been there and can teach you what they have done. Look for people who actually use these principles and don't just give them lip service. Make the decision and don't let anything de-rail your determined efforts.

You must stay tuned into this kind of information and realize that not many people will study 'personal development' the way you are and you've got to separate yourself from the masses. You can either follow the plan that wins or you can follow the plans of the masses (you were already on).

If you already knew how to achieve your own goals you would have already done so. The fact is you need to acquire more information and learn something new if you are actually going to achieve you own goals. This is an investment in yourself. You must have the desire to see it through and be the best you can be and follow these instructions, they work every single time.

Making Affirmations Work

To begin to know the secret power within ourselves and our own ability to change our lives with positive affirmations let's begin to explore the world of personal development with one of the industries most famous writers...

Napoleon Hill and his book "Think and Grow Rich."

I have personally read this book several times and my copy has underlining, highlights and notes galore in the margins. It would seem that every time I read it, there is wisdom that reveals itself to me that I had previously overlooked.

You can't possibly know all there is to know by simply reading something once and then putting it aside. To get all there is to get out of personal development and the study of it's principles one must dedicate themselves to a daily habit of study and reflection.

Napoleon Hill mentions that there is a secret contained within the pages of his book "Think and Grow Rich" which if you can find it and harness it you can have all that you ever desired and even more. So what exactly is that secret?

The answer was really quite simple:

Sit down, decide what you really want, write it down on a card, carry that card with you and read it to yourself as often as possible every day.

As with all principles in the universe, most are really quite simple to look at and see but the applicaion isn't always so easy. In fact most are simple but not easy. If this were not the case then anybody could simply write down on a piece of paper what they want and read it a few times a day and it would suddenly appear. We all know this is not the case, so what else is necessary to make ths secret work for us in our lives?

You must apply yourself to the understanding of the principles you seek to use by consistantly studying them. By doing this you will evoke a process where faith based study will begin to form a belief in the things you are learning and as your belief grows so will your understanding and ability to put these principles into your own words and meaning for you in your own life.

This is a critical part of the process. Just saying something from rote memory with no emotion or meaning to yourself is worthless and so it is with most peoples affirmations. They write down their goals and repeat them outloud, somethimes for a few weeks, with little or no feeling and then they quit. No wonder it doesn't work for them, they're missing the point.

Truth be know that most of us will write down or goals and when we make them huge and seemingly unobtainable, most of us dont really believe we can achieve them. This is the natural point of beginning for any worthy goal and it is this state of disbelief that we must alter and transform into belief in order for this principle to work for us and our goals to manifest.

Napoleon Hill wrote:

"There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it." (in the chapter on Desire) "No one is ready for a thing until they believe they can acquire it."

Most of us aren't ready for the good we desire I know I wasn't when I started down the path of personal development.

Furthermore Hill wrote:

"The state of mind must be belief and not meer hope or wish... open mindeness is essential to belief... closed minds do not inspire faith, courage or belief."

Our belief systems are based on what we have known from our past to be true and achieving new higher levels of achievement is outside of those prevously held beliefs.

We have within ourselves the ability to develop the skill of achievement by learning to develop our beliefs beyond what our common senses or conventional wisdom tells us is true.

When we study personal development we will learn to re-evaluate thigs by coming to know the meaning and purpose these principles have and as we do, we will begin to re-evaluate who we are and what we can do. In fact that is exactly what you are doing right now.

Open your mind up to new ideas and the secret within the secret will be found within this understanding...open mindedness is essential to creating new beliefs.

You have to start to believe you can achieve your goals or the application of affirmation is nearly worthless which is why most people have never made it work.

Hill wrote:

"No more effort is required in order to aim high in life to demand abundance and prosperity than is required to seek misery and poverty."

Furthermore;

"Your subconsiuos mind recognizes and acts only upon thoughts which have been well mixed with emotion and feeling...this is a fact of such importance as to warrant repetition in practically every chapter... because the lack of understandingof this is the main reason the majority of people who try to apply these principles of auto suggestion get no desireabl results."

Start to mix your goals and affirmations of them with emotion and visualize yourself as though you have actually acheived the results you seek to create. I have personally used mediatation with a great amount of success in assisting me in getting into a state of mind where this has actually been possible for me to do. Other people I know can just close their eyes and start imagining but I needed a little extra help to get past the road blocks of practicality that my past conditioning had set up in front of me.

"Start where you are right now and give it everyhting you've got... you dont have to know where it is coming from."

This is so important as well and I call it taking inspired action. Rarely is there an individual who has been gifted with the ability to sit down and draw up a list of steps necessary to acheive a goal and get half of it right. From my own experience I discovered   I couldn't even get the first few steps right so I found that the actions I was taking needed to be inspired by something within myself (because I continuedto study every day) which is where meditation came into the picture. Some of you are presently doing it but you call it prayer. By any name it is the same thing which involves getting very quiet and calming the noise in your head until there are gaps inbetween the thoughts. It is in these gaps that the answers to your questions lie unheard and undetected due to the din of your conventional wisdom and thinking.

With meditation I was able to quiet that noise and reveal the inspired thoughts that formed the basis of my actions. If I can do it you can too.

Taking massive action, especially when the actions are based on the intuitive inspiration from within is essential in giving life to the creation of your goals. You are training your mind to operate on a different frequency and by changing that frequency, everything in your world will begin to change. Money will begin to take on a meaning that is totally different than you ever imagined it would have.

Napoleon Hill spent his entire lifetime writing this book and he interviewed and studied over 500 people durring the Great Depression and he found a golden thread running through their lives and he wrote this book to assist you in undestanding how you too can use this golden thread to make changes in your own life.

As you start studying these principles and playing with them in your life you will begin to believe they can assist you in your journey.

Start allowing yourself to get emotionally involved with your affirmations and goals and live the part of the person who already has them and give everything into what you've got with where you are.

With the consistant daily application these principles you are raising your own level of conscious awareness. Thoughts and things will begin to come to you in strange ways. Make up your mind right now that you are going to change your life and realise that no matter how good it gets it can always get better. Study this material and the more you study the more you will believe in yourself because you begin to understand yourself.

Its the simple little things that you do that you do everyday that will make the most difference in your life.