NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU!

I'm almost embarrassed to tell this story but there is actually a point.

My mother retired about 20 years ago from a job that she had been working on for about 30 years. After she retired her friends and loved ones gave her a retirement party. At the retirement party there was plenty of laughter and plenty of tears. Apparently my mother had a huge impact on a lot of people. Throughout her retirement party many people had given her quite a few gifts. But, there was one gift that was very special to her. A few of her friends and co-workers had prepared a speech and  got together and bought her this beautiful 24 Karat gold herringbone bracelet. My mother is a tough lady but when they gave the speech and gave her this bracelet, as tough as my mother is she shed a few tears behind it. She really cherished this bracelet, not so much for the monetary value. She cherished this bracelet because of the sentimental and emotional value that was attached to it. She was friends with and worked with some of the people who gave it to her for 25 30 years. So there was a lot of emotion and time and history attached to this bracelet.

I happened to have an event or some sort of dressy affair that I was going to shortly after my mothers retirement party and I asked her if I could borrow her gold bracelet and she was hesitant but I begged and begged. She finally said yes. But, not before giving me the "Be careful. this bracelet means a lot to me" disclaimer. So after telling my mom how careful I would be and promising that I would take care of her bracelet and promising that I wouldn't lose it or let anything happen to it, she let me borrow it. I took it and put it on and went on my merry way with her prized bracelet. At the time I was working for the County and I was working on a garbage truck. So I came in that night from my event and I ran out the next morning and went to my job and came home. The next day my mother asked me for her bracelet back and I had forgotten all about it. I forgot that I even borrowed it or had it on.  I checked my wrist and my heart sank. The bracelet wasn't on my wrist. I did the best I could to retrace all of my steps but I couldn't find the bracelet anywhere. I felt absolutely horrible. She cherished this bracelet. It had sentimental and emotional value attached to it that I could never replace. She put her prized possession in my hands and I carelessly lost it.

In hindsight I believe that maybe I lost it because it wasn't mine. I didn't have the same emotional attachment that she had to it. I wasn't friends for 20 or 30 years with the people who gave it to her like she was. The bracelet didn't have the same sentimental value to me as it did to her so in my childish immature mind I didn't care for it or take the same cautions with it that she would have as the actual owner of it. It didn't mean to me what it meant to her.

Years later I recalled this story when I had a business idea and a dream that I was working on. I had a plan to build this business from the ground up and there were a few people whose help I needed to get the idea off the ground. These were people that I felt that I could leave my dreams in their hands. They told me "Yeah, no doubt! I got you kid! I got you! I can help you with this! I can do this for you  and I'm gonna do that for you!". They told me a whole bunch of stuff which led me to believe that I would be able to trust them to develop and nurture and take care of my dream just like I would. I trusted that my dreams were being left in good hands. Time went on and I would call the people whose hands I left my dreams to follow up and see how things were going, and would get no answer, I would text and get no response, I would leave voice mails and no return calls. What I have learned is that NO ONE AND I MEAN NO ONE WILL CARE FOR AND NURTURE AND PROTECT YOUR DREAM LIKE YOU! No one has the emotional ties to your dream like you do. No one has spent as much time with your dream as you have. Your dream doesn't have the same emotional sentimental value to others as it does to you. NO ONE WILL EVER CARE ABOUT YOUR SUCCESS OR YOUR FULFILLING YOUR DREAMS LIKE YOU! I have learned that if you leave your dreams in other peoples hands, your dreams will end up in the garbage truck, your dreams will be left in the trunk of someone's car. If left in other peoples hands your dreams will be under the front seat of someone's car with old French fries and cookie crumbs stuck to them.

I have learned that when YOU have a dream it is YOUR duty and YOUR obligation to protect it and to make sure it comes true. Be extra careful about whose hands YOU leave YOUR dream in. YOUR success or YOUR failure is on YOU. Don't leave your dreams in anyone else's hands and count on or depend on ANYONE to make YOUR dreams come true. People are busy and have their own lives and priorities and YOUR dreams will be put on the back burner of other peoples lives. Delegate, maybe ask for help when you need it but do not put your dreams in other peoples hands and expect for others or depend on other people to make YOUR dreams come true. TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN DREAMS! As much as people love/like you, your dreams will never mean as much to them as they do to you.

I have learned that being able to blame someone for your failure is not the same thing as success.

Keep in mind that...

Responsibility is the price of greatness.
-Winston Churchill
The mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands.
-Francis Bacon

DREAM BIG, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR DREAMS AND THE WORLD IS YOURS!

NO ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU!!!

KEEP GOING!

PEACE!

HOME RUN HITTERS STRIKE OUT A LOT!

 

 

I used to be the biggest baseball fan in the world when I was a little kid. I mean we would practice twice a week and I would get up early in the morning on Saturdays and play baseball. I was in 2 different leagues. After my games on Saturdays, my father and I would go to baseball card shows and I would spend hours looking at baseball cards. After the baseball card shows, we would come home and I would hang out with my father and we would watch baseball for the rest of the night. My whole life was baseball baseball baseball. I knew all of the players and I knew their statistics and everything. One of my favorite players maybe of all time was Reggie Jackson. I missed a lot of years while he was playing because I wasn't old enough. But I read and heard all kinds of stories about him when he played with the Yankees. Reggie Jackson was the ma. I'm talking Being 14× All-Star. 5 World Championships , MVPs, Silver Slugger Awards, Home Run Leader etc. He was such an extraordinary clutch player that the guys nickname was "Mr. October"  (For those who might not follow baseball the world series which is the championship series for Major League Baseball takes place in October). Reggie Jackson would always come through for his team in a major way during the World Series. 1977 World Series against the Dodgers Reggie Jackson hits three-home-runs off of three pitches clinching Game Six. I mean this guy was the man. An absolute hero.

What's interesting is that if you were to look up Reggie Jackson's statistics, you would quickly find the number of home runs he hit, his batting average, RBIs (Runs Batted In), On base percentage etc. But one detail that isn't so often publicized is that for as many home runs as Reggie Jackson hit, as many games as he saved with his clutch home runs, as many time he was named MVP (Most Valuable Player), As many times as we was named an All-Star and while he hit 563 career home runs, at the same time Reggie Jackson leads the Major League Baseball Association with all time career strikeouts. Mr. October, the man who was known for saving games and winning world series championships voted MVP because of how great of a hitter he was, also struck out more times than any player in baseball history. In fact some of the greatest hitters in history's names are on the all time career strike out list. Players who have established themselves as some of the best hitters in history, names like Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Jose Canseco, Ken Griffey, Barry Bonds etc. All the names that we associate with Home Runs and everyone we know for their tremendous batting skills, have struck out more than everybody in order to get there.

I guess my point is that if there is ANYTHING that you want to be known for or something you are looking to achieve, If you have a business idea that you are looking to launch or a business that you are trying to start and things don't seem to be taking off the way you would have liked or hoped or expected. If you are in a sales position and sales don't seem to be closing the way you'd like, If its a new job you are trying to succeed in and maybe it seems you are off to a slow start, if it is a new skill you are trying to acquire or develop to develop a career as a barber, writer, actor etc, If you are searching for a job and it seems like you just aren't having any luck. Just remember that some of the GREATEST hitters, rappers, poets, barbers, authors, mechanics, actors etc had to strike out several times along the way in order to become the GREATEST. Most have had more failures than successes. Most have had more "Strikeouts" than "Home runs". One thing that they all have in common is that they had the nerve the gumption, the drive, the desire to stand in the batters box and take a swing. More importantly, after they swung and missed they kept swinging again and again and again. They got in the batters box determined to knock the ball out of the park and they did not stop swinging until they did so.

I say all of  this that to say that if you want to be an award winning actor, if you want a successful business or ministry, if you want to be a successful poet, author, auto mechanic, rapper, singer, dancer, athlete, entrepreneur, salesperson etc. GET IN THE BATTERS BOX AND START SWINGING. KNOW THAT FAILURE IS A PART OF THE PROCESS AND YOU WILL SUCCEED WITH ANOTHER BLOW! DO NOT GIVE UP ON YOURSELF OR YOUR DREAM! ITS RIGHT THERE! JUST KEEP GOING! BIG HOME RUN HITTERS STRIKE OUT A LOT!

I HAVE LEARNED THAT...

FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION, IT IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY!

My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.
-Hank Aaron


Remember that .....

"Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt-
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worse that YOU MUST NOT QUIT."

KEEP SWINGING AND THE WORLD IS YOURS!

PEACE!    

MOVE FORWARD VERBOT!

When I was a kid in the early 80's there was this robot toy called Verbot. Verbot had buttons on it that you would use to program it. Once you had it programmed and it recognized the sound of your voice, you can give it verbal instructions and you can control it simply by saying stuff to it and shouting commands into it. It would react to whatever you say to it. So you could be like Verbot speak and the mouth would light up like its speaking. If you said move forward Verbot or backwards it would move according to your instructions. If you said Verbot pick it up Verbot or Put it down Verbot it would do it.  So you completely controlled this thing simply by using words. It was pretty cool technology especially for the 80's.

I recently had a conversation with someone and I didn't particularly like the conversation. I didn't like their choice of words, their tone, their demeanor or attitude towards me. I felt that they were being totally condescending and I just didn't like anything about the interaction. It just wasn't a positive conversation or experience. Initially I started to get all upset and react out of anger and start using a few choice words of my own. But, then I thought of Verbot and how it was controlled.  For me to have gotten angry and changed my attitude and demeanor, if I would've started getting angry and using choice words of my own, would mean that I would have had to have completely lost control of myself and my ability to think for myself. It means that I would have completely relinquished control to the person that I was speaking with. It means that they would have had full control over me and my actions just by the use of their words. They would have had as much control over me as I had over Verbot. If I would have lost control and lost my temper and would have just started saying angry stuff, I would have no longer been a man in control of himself. I would have been reduced to a $30 plastic toy robot, who has no ability to think for himself or control his own actions. It means that I react and respond to this persons words and verbal cue's and commands. It would mean that THEY CONTROL ME.  

One of the cool parts about Verbot was that the buttons that were on it were how you programmed it to the sound of your voice and also how you input the specific commands. So the person who programmed it was the only persons voice it would react to. If anyone else tried to control it, Verbot would straight up ignore them and leave them there shouting a bunch of commands out loud like a fool.  If Verbot didn't  recognize your voice or your tone it would simply ignore you and not do any of the commands. I suppose my point is, the next time you have a conversation or interaction with someone who's is less than positive or pleasant or respectful, don't let their words control you and make you fly off the handle. Don't relinquish control of yourself and your behavior by allowing others words to control your actions. Instead, the next time someone is mean and nasty or angry handle it like Verbot and simply don't recognize their voice. Don't react! Simply leave the person standing there mean, bitter and angry and shouting at themselves like a fool. You continue being your POSITIVE, PRODUCTIVE, DRIVEN, FOCUSED AND AMBITIOUS self and move on! Surround yourself with other people who have POSITIVE, PRODUCTIVE, DRIVEN, FOCUSED AND AMBITIOUS voices that you can understand and react and respond to. leave the angry, bitter, negative, voices alone. Only respond to the voices that command you to MOVE FORWARD.

A WISE MAN ONCE TOLD ME....

"NEVER ARGUE WITH A FOOL, ONLOOKERS MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE"
-Mark twain

ONCE YOU ENTERTAIN A CLOWN, YOU BECOME A PART OF THE CIRCUS!

STAY POSITIVE, PRODUCTIVE, DRIVEN, FOCUSED, AMBITIOUS AND DETERMINED!

THE WORLD IS YOURS!

PEACE!

MONEY CANT BUY LIFE!

Ever since I could remember, I always wanted to be rich. I wanted to be filthy stinking rich. I'm talking fleet of private jets and a helicopter, a 175 foot yacht, 13 to 15 homes in various states and countries, a suite of luxury vehicles, hundreds of pairs of thousand dollar shoes and suits and colognes, jewelry and trinkets, I'm talking millions and millions of dollars in cash, Billions of dollars in net worth kind of rich. I remember when I was younger, it was all I thought about, it was all I could think about, it was all that my decisions were based on. My obsession may have even caused me to do some immoral things to get it. I wanted it so bad. I thought that it would be the solution to every one of life's problems that I could or would ever encounter. I wanted the money so bad because I was just a kid and I thought that there is nothing that you cant do if you have enough money. That was until I got a little older and I actually had a problem that money couldn't fix.

When my daughter Brianna was born in Danbury Hospital in Danbury CT. She was born extremely ill and needed to be rushed to the Maria Fareri's children's hospital in Westchester County NY. She was sent down in an ambulance and my wife and I followed in our car. I remember when we pulled into the parking lot, I remember seeing big huge ridiculous Mercedes Benz's and BMW's, Audi's, Range Rovers etc. This was Westchester County so I knew that some of these big fancy cars get parked in the driveways of some big ridiculous mansions somewhere and that these same people whose cars were parked outside in this parking lot had big huge ridiculous bank accounts as well. I had a Honda Accord at the time. So on the OUTSIDE of the building my little Honda Accord was parked next to these big fancy luxury vehicles. But, when we walked INSIDE of the building to check on our daughter, I noticed that some of the parents inside, some of which were the owners of these big fancy cars and houses and huge bank accounts had children who were just as sick as my daughter. Some of these people were crying and shedding tears and on their knees praying for their children's lives to be spared, just like we were. It turns out that even if I would have had a fleet of private jets and helicopters, 13 to 15 homes in various states and countries, a suite of luxury vehicles, hundreds of pairs of thousand dollar shoes and suits and colognes, jewelry and trinkets, I'm talking millions and millions of dollars in cash, Billions of dollars in net worth IT WOULD HAVE DONE ME NO GOOD. THERE WAS NO WAY TO BUY MY DAUGHTERS LIFE. Til this day, even right now at this very moment, if I did have all of the money in the world, and all the "things" in the world I would gladly trade it ALL in to just to have my daughter back and hear her talk and laugh and giggle. EVEN IF I HAD ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, I COULDN'T BUY MY DAUGHTERS LIFE BACK!

I thought that money would some day solve all of my problems, THAT WAS UNTIL I LEARNED THAT THERE WERE CERTAIN PROBLEMS THAT MONEY COULDN'T SOLVE! I HAVE LEARNED THAT THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE, AREN'T THINGS AT ALL!

Nowadays, Its not the money I focus on. I focus on my family and loved ones and friends who I could never replace with money! I focus on contributing something to society and accomplishing and achieving something BIG and knowing that if I do that right, the money will come.

The true measure of ones wealth is what he has after he loses all of his money!

MAKE NO MISTAKE MY FRIEND, IT TAKES MORE THAN MONEY TO MAKE MEN RICH!
- A. P. Gouthey

I HAVE LEARNED THAT.......

A TRULY RICH MAN IS ONE WHOSE CHILDREN RUN INTO HIS ARMS WHEN HIS HANDS AND HIS POCKETS ARE EMPTY. 
-Unkown

PLEASE, CELEBRATE YOUR LIVES, AND GIVE THANKS FOR YOUR CHILDREN!


PEACE!

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SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THOSE WHO ARE ON THE SAME MISSION AS YOU!

Many years ago when I was in a training program to be a stock broker, we would make lots and lots of phone calls every day all day with the hopes/intention of getting a potential investor on the phone who could potentially invest in one of our stock ideas or recommendations. We were primarily looking for those who had lots of money so that they could invest with us or hire us as their broker. To be successful it took lots and lots of effort, lots and lots of practice, hours and hours of making hundreds and hundreds of phone calls etc. We would get the names of people to call from services that rated and gathered and sold information on people and businesses and business owners etc. The prospects information would come on a lead card.  The lead cards were color coded so for example if it was a blue card it meant that that person has a net worth of ____ or an orange card meant that they just bought or sold a house, or a red card might mean that their business makes ____ revenue per year. I was just a kid so I wasn't really savvy or yet comfortable speaking to multi millionaires. I was a little intimidated at first. So I go to one of my mentors who brought me into the business and I explained to him that I was a little intimidated by speaking to millionaires so I'm going to practice on the people who had lower net worth and less money and I will get better and work my way up to talking to the high net worth millionaire guys. He explained to me that my theory wouldn't work because a $5,000 $10,000 $25,000 or $50,000 net worth guy doesn't live in the same world or even speak the same language as a $20 $50 $100 $250 million dollar guy. They have different tax laws, different financial concerns, different perspectives and views of business and the future, different views and feelings about risk. A $25 $50 $100,000 guy might not even understand what you are even talking about. They may not understand your story, or your idea. Your ideas wont resonate with them the same way they would a guy who has a few million that he is willing to invest knowing that he could possibly lose it. A $25 $50 $100,000 guy wouldn't even say the right things you would need him to say to be able to practice on him. Because he wouldn't understand

I learned something extremely valuable from that experience. I have learned that you must be very careful about sharing your $20 $50 $100 $250 MILLION DOLLAR ENERGY, THOUGHTS, IDEAS, DREAMS, GOALS AND PLANS, with individuals who have $100 $500 $1000 mentalities. When I say $100 $500 $1000 mentalities it doesn't relate to how much money a person has or their net worth. It refers to their attitudes and the size of their thoughts and dreams and ambitions and often negative mentalities and what they think is possible for themselves. Because of that, $100 $500 $1,000 mentalities wont understand your ideas, plans, your energy, your dreams, goals or ambitions. Because they cant fathom the concept of being a $20 $50 $100 $250  MILLION DOLLAR person themselves, they don't live in that same world so they wont be able to see it for you either. They just wont get it. By sharing your $20 $50 $100 $250 MILLION DOLLAR IDEAS AND PLANS with $100 $500 $1,000 mentalities you run the risk of inviting their mentality into your life. By having them try to tell you how bad your idea is and how you wont succeed and how your dreams and goals and plans will never work or how they are impossible. You run the risk of  them trying to discourage you. You run the risk of adapting to a $100 $500 $1000 mentality yourself.

Be careful who you share your energy with. I'm not suggesting that those who have $100 $500 $1,000 mentalities are bad people. I'm just saying be careful sharing your $20 $50 $100 $250 MILLION ENERGY, PLANS, IDEAS, DREAMS or GOALS with them.

If you have shared what you know in your heart of hearts to be a  $50 $100 $250 Million DREAM, GOAL, PLAN, ASPIRATION, IDEA, GOAL, AMBITION and a person isn't as excited about it as you are, or tries to discourage you, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED, DO NOT GIVE UP, you may have shared it with $100 $500 $1,000 mentality. DONT WORRY, KEEP GOING!

IF ANYONE AT ALL NEEDS LIFTING UP AND ENCOURAGEMENT AND HELP AND YOU CAN PROVIDE IT, BY ALL MEANS PROVIDE IT BUT....

I have learned that....

“Life is too short to spend your precious time trying to convince a person who wants to live in gloom and doom otherwise. Give lifting that person your best shot, but don't hang around long enough for his or her bad attitude to pull you down. Instead, surround yourself with optimistic people.”

-Zig Ziglar

CONTINUE TO DREAM BIG, CONTINUE TO PLAN, CONTINUE TO WORK, CONTINUE TO BELIEVE, CONTINUE TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE $20 $50 $100 $250 MILLION DOLLAR ATTITUDES, MENTALITIES, DREAMS, GOALS, AMBITIONS, IDEAS AND PLANS, CONTINUE TO SURROUND YOURSELF WITH THOSE  WHO ARE ON THE SAME MISSION AS YOU AND.....

THE WORLD IS YOURS!

PEACE!