What a kick up the back side does?

Last week I was blind sided and hit from behind while waiting at an intersection. It reminded me of the importance of living my life and not allowing others to live it for me. Eg others making my decisions and or just watching TV...filling in time.

It is so important to be living in prime time, rather than watching TV in prime time. On your way to success make certain you grow friendships, not just bank and mutual fund accounts. Life is a collection of memories, not of material things. The Egyptian pharaohs were buried with all their treasures, and were mummified in hopes that they could enjoy their bounty in the next life. But we are only caretakers of possessions. There is a big difference between standard of living and quality of life. Standard of living is based on income earned. Quality of life is the enjoyment of the millions of minutes in between accomplishments.

Having money is only one aspect of wealth. To the sick person, wealth is health. To the lonely person, wealth is someone to talk to and share with. To the estranged person, wealth is hearing words of love and forgiveness.

Borrowing the free verse style from Brother Jeremiah's classic poem, I'd Pick More Daisies, here are a few things I'd do, the second time around.

I'd laugh at my misfortunes more. Spend more time counting my blessings than my blemishes. Spend more time playing with my children and grandchildren and less time watching performers in the arena. More time enjoying what I have, less time thinking about the things I don't have. If I could live my life again, I'd walk in the rain more without an umbrella and listen less to weather reports. I'd spend more time looking at trees and climbing them, less time flipping through magazines made from dead trees. I'd spend more time fully involved in the present moment, less time remembering and anticipating. I'd smile more, frown less.

And most of all I'd be more spontaneous and active, less hesitant and subdued. When some spur of the moment idea came up to go hiking, playing Frisbee, coloring Easter eggs, singing in a chorus, going kayaking, or watching an eclipse, I'd be less likely to sit in my chair objecting, "It's not in our plan."

I'd be inclined to jump up and run out the door next time and say, "Yes, we can!" Although I can't live my life again, I'm still going to live the new way every day any way. I'll never have all the moments I've missed, but I do have all the time remaining.

Hopefully I don't experience the feeling of that afternoon again. However one good side is that it has got my thinking back on track.

Action Idea: Choose one activity this month that you really want to engage in, but that you have been putting off because it isn't a priority. Schedule that activity in your planner, as if it were a "must do" business or financial commitment. When you have done it, while you are still feeling good, schedule one for next month, and do it as long as you live.

How one man made his seminar a success.

I am a very avid fan of Bob Proctor.
Here is his personal recount of how he got his self started...

As you step in the front door of the home I lived in on Maple Wood Lane in Glenview, Illinois, in 1973, there was a room immediately to your left I referred to as the den. Imagine a small room, approximately 12 feet by 12 feet. There are two very comfortable chairs on one wall, with a window in between. The opposite wall is a love seat. There are a couple of plants and pictures on the wall, a rug on the floor and that would be it.

As I go back in time, I see myself sitting in the first chair on the left hand side as you enter the room, with a pen and a pad. I'm beginning to write a description of the company I am going to build. I feel myself experiencing emotional discomfort. I have just left my position as Vice President of Sales with the Nightingale-Conant Corporation. I had been there for 5 years, and I am feeling a little insecure having left there. I know it is my old paradigm having flashes of control over me.

It's an odd thing. Intellectually I knew feeling insecure was silly. I had built a very successful company on my own prior to joining Nightingale-Conant; I could do it again. I had well over a decade of serious study of the human personality. I clearly understood why we do what we do and why we don't do many of the things we want to do.. Regardless, that feeling of insecurity was there. I am sure you know what I am talking about. I had worked with Nightingale-Conant for 5 years, and I realized that working for someone else, receiving a paycheck from them over a 60- month period had created a relationship in my mind where the company and my security were connected. They were writing the check; they were looking after me so I was secure.

Intellectually I knew that was a false concept, but I wasn't dealing with my intellect, I was dealing with my emotions. I was dealing with my old paradigm. We're raised with the idea, get a good job, you'll be safe. It's such a false idea and yet it's one that a high percentage of the population believes in.

Fortunately, I understood what was causing this emotional discomfort. It was the paradigm, and I would not let the paradigm win. Intellectually I knew if I built one company I could build another and that's what I intended to do.

With pen and pad in hand I began to describe what I was going to do with my life from that point on. I had once heard Earl Nightingale say that we should find out what we love to do and then dedicate our life to it. When he said that I made a physical and mental note of it. I had an innate understanding that that was one of the beautiful truths we should all live by. And that idea was running around my mind as I sat preparing to mentally create my company.

I knew what I loved doing. I loved teaching people the Truth. I loved showing people how their paradigm is nothing but a multitude of habits that had been fixed in their subconscious mind by other people. It was robbing them of their dream. It was controlling their thinking. It was controlling their life. I love teaching people how to recognize and change that.

I made up my mind sitting in that little 12 x 12 room that day that I would dedicate the rest of my life to this work. With that decision made, quitting was not an option. My dream had to manifest. There was only one way to go.

Initially my new company consisted of just a few notes on a lined pad. But those few notes triggered a picture in my mind that was awesome. And I had enough experience under my belt to know that all you have to do is hold the picture and then follow your feelings. Your feelings will direct you on what your next step is. I think Thomas Carlisle put it very well when he said, "Go as far as you can see; when you get there you'll see how to go further."

The first step became obvious. If I was going to teach a seminar I would have to write one first. I had sufficient information but it had to be organized into a seminar format. Another thought came to my mind almost simultaneously -- go ahead and sell the seminar and then you'll have to write it. I had two people that wanted to work with me. One lived in Belleville, Ontario, about 150 miles East of Toronto. The other one was in Gary, Indiana. I was planning on moving back to Toronto from Chicago. So I decided we would do a seminar in 3 different cities each week: Belleville on Monday night, Toronto on Tuesday night and Gary, Indiana on Thursday night. It would be an 8-week seminar, 3 hours each week from 7-10pm.

I sold it, wrote it and taught it all at the same time during that 8 week period. I wrote the first seminar and the week I was teaching it I wrote the 2^nd one and so on. It was a busy 8 weeks. I clearly remember the last week of the seminar series . the last seminar was on leadership. I worked all night and then lay down on the floor and went to sleep. The seminar was taken to the printer. When it was delivered to the hotel in Belleville on Monday night for me to teach, the ink was still wet on the paper. That was a crazy 8 weeks. Although the experience was worth millions, I sure would never want to do it again.

That's where it all started.

Then I sold the seminar to The Prudential of America Insurance Company. It was highly successful.

The seminar was showing people why they weren't doing the things they really wanted to do. It explained how their mind operated on two different levels. The Conscious Mind is our thinking mind. It's where we make our plans. And sometimes that is where the plans stay - they never see the light of day as the Subconscious Mind controls our behavior. If you are going to realize your plans and turn them into results, you must deposit those plans in the treasury of your Subconscious Mind. That requires changing the conditioning.

Right from the beginning we were very successful. The word of what we were doing was spreading. We were invited into various companies and into other countries.

Every cent that we earned was pumped back into the Company. I believed this was a safe bet because I was betting on me. I had eliminated all options. The company must grow; it must continue. I could not lose. I often wonder about people who want to be in business for themselves but don't want to spend any money to do it. A lot of people start a business and say "I'm going to give it a try." That never works. You must give it your all.

I was invited to Australia to do a seminar. I had to go to the Australian Embassy to get a Visa to enter the country. I got talking to the man that ran the Australian Embassy in Toronto, and I ended up selling him a license to operate our company in Australia.

Based on a write up in Success Magazine, I got a call from Malaysia from a man in Kuala Lumpur. I ended up conducting seminars for all the insurance companies in Malaysia and Singapore. Our company was selected over a number of other companies to conduct a complete program for all the personnel of Malaysia Airlines from the Captain to the baggage claim personnel, from the board of directors to the ticket counter representatives.

I was virtually living on an airplane. Fortunately, I don't mind flying, and I get a lot of work done when I'm in the air. However, I knew that if the company was going to continue to grow I could not be the only one that was teaching seminars.

It was then that we decided that we would set up a consulting/facilitation division where individuals who had a desire to do what I was doing could purchase a license to teach all of our material. That concept has been very successful and enabled LifeSuccess Productions to be represented in approximately 90 countries around the world.

Like any business, ours had its ups and downs, but I always refused to quit. After all, I had burned all my bridges.

I can't think of anything where I could get more satisfaction than that which I enjoy in this business. As I'm writing this, I am getting ready to fly to Zurich in a few hours, from there to Los Angeles, then to Phoenix, then onto Helsinki in Finland. That's this month. And that's only a part of what I'm doing. I believe this has to be the most exciting business there is. I've been in it since 1968. Every year I enjoy it more than the prior year.

Bob Proctor