Excuse for Life

     We all have our vices.  There is always some remnant of temptation that calls out from the past to sink us back into old habits.  For some it is gambling.  Others have problems with drinking.  The issues that I am focusing on are much simpler than that though.  I'm referring to laziness, gluttony, procrastination, and the endless excuses that form to protect those habits. 
     Each day is filled with choices that must be made and many of them are decided on without a second thought.  They have been performed repetitively so often and for so long that the need for conscious thought no longer exists.  It is these actions that plague the society as a whole and it is why success, or the achievement of personal goals, is often left on the side of the road. 
     How many times have you thought "I really need to get in the gym."  This thought starts as a small whisper in the back of your mind while driving to work.  By lunch time, it has grown to a booming voice of excitement and you have decided that it's time and you will start right after work.  When that time comes you find that you are tired and no longer have the energy to carry out the plan so the start date gets moved to Monday.  The intentions are still there and the excitement is still there but the energy to carry out the task has left the building so instead, you retire to your home where you enjoy a nice dinner with a little bowl of ice cream and watch 4 hours of television before bed.  Was the excuse actually a valid one?  If you answer anything other than "no", your wrong.  The same concepts go for food and the idea of healthy eating.  Even work items can fall prey to excuses and procrastination. 
       So the duty of fault recognition and personal development fall on none other than yourself.  Where do you go from here?  The decision is yours but this time, put some thought into it before you jump to the normal routine. 

Inside the Box

                Our minds tend to remain stuck inside the proverbial box.  No matter how often we feel like we are thinking from the outside angle, many times that assumption is wrong.  We always tend to revert back to the training and education that was pounded into our heads from birth and whether we realize it or not, it inhibits our abilities in a major way. 

                The world has changed.  It is no longer the realm of secure jobs and social security retirements.  This change began when the Berlin Wall fell and is within the last days of its metamorphosis as you read this.  We were raised in a reality where our parents drilled us with logic like this:

Go to school and get good grades + Go to college and get a degree = financial and professional success

                Well my friends, that whole mathematic equation is completely wrong.  Each year an average of 17 million people graduate from college.  As awesome as that number is, 54 percent of new college graduates are either unemployed or working for a job outside of their degree, making an average of $23,000 or less annually.  The logic of our parents has succeeded in creating drones for the workforce who are also deep in debt with the US Government for student loans.  Those who know will tell you that interest rates on student loans tend to stack up like no other. 

                Education is important and many career paths require it.  You will never be able to become a doctor or lawyer without school.  Staying at a Holiday Inn Express doesn’t actually qualify you for that.  Personal development and personal education is much more important to today’s job market though.  A person with 4 years of experience working a particular trade will trump the new college grad applying for the same position every time. 

                The world is now based on networking.  Throughout my entire conversation with the DOL Representative, he stressed over and over about the importance of having a network of people.  If you break down his words, he is saying that it isn’t what you know, but who you know and who they know!  If you want to get ahead and be successful, the pursuit of a positive network carries so much power.  How many times have you heard about someone getting a job because his cousin is friends with the owner’s son (or something to that effect)? 

                The network makes everything possible.  So what is networking to you?  Typically, a network is the people around us that we know and work with.  A majority of the population will develop a network while in high school and that will remain the only network in their lives.   The problem with that is everyone wants to make more money and no one understands that a strong network actually makes that possible!  The real issue is the fear that everyone has about stepping outside of the box and doing something new. 

                With such influential people like Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) and even investors such as Warren Buffet operating in network marketing, why aren’t you considering it?  When the idea of network marketing is thrown out in a room, the words “pyramid scheme”  and “get rich quick scheme” shortly follows.  The truth is, people are scared of the unknown and the idea that making money easier than working 40 hours a week is way outside the box and it scares them.  Fear is the one true obstacle.  If network marketing were a pyramid scheme, then it is a billion dollar a year industry and the government would have shut it down a long time ago.  To add to this, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Robert Kiyosaki, Jim Rohn, and many other influential people would be in jail right now. 

                To address the idea of getting rich in a hurry I can only say that sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.  It is not typical and most people involved in the industry will tell you that it isn’t as easy as we all tend to think.  There is serious time and effort that goes into being successful and only those with the determination and drive for the business will truly succeed.  It all starts with a “why”. 

So the question is, what is holding you back from passive income?  If you want to know more about passive income or network marketing, feel free to email me at Dykes.Robert09@gmail.com or check out my websites:

www.YPRevolution.net and www.prostrength.vemma.com   

The Driving Force of Life

It is amazing to me that our energy levels can be influenced so much by the outside world and our perceptions of it. For many people the world is looked at on a daily basis with no real concept of how little time we truly have on this earth. These types of people will live their life in a monotonous circle, doing the same routines until they are forced to change. At that point they adjust to a new routine and carry on as if this is the only way to live.  Tbey never truly discover meaning in their life nor do they even care. Life seems to be a simple list of daily actions to complete.
     The second group of people are those that live in the same routine as the first group but wish to be more. They know that there is more to this world than a routine exercise and they have a small desire to change and see things differently but they lack the courage to step out of the comfort zone and risk something to achieve that dream. They will continue to live this life always wishing but never doing.
      The third group are the successful types. These are the people that are perceived to be lucky in life because they have everything they want and more. The truth to their success is all about risk though and the knowledge that was acquired during the failures that were overcome along the way. These people set the standards for those in the second group and continuously raise that bar.
      We can all be grouped into o e of these categories and many times in our lives we will find ourselves between these three groups but ultimately it comes down to a choice. How will you see the world and what will drive you to achieve higher standards for yourself?  When you find that drive to be better, you will also find that your energy levels are through the roof and nothing in life will ever slow you down.

Positivity Will Change The World

      We never realize how much our words actually mean until we lay them on a person that takes those few syllables to heart.  Positive words can do so much good when someone is willing to listen, while negative words seem to cut through all positivity and strike at a person's very soul.  It takes ten times as many positive words to overcome the negative aspect and this is all because of how we are trained from childhood. 
      Gossip.  The one aspect of life that we could all do without but it is and will continue to be the start of conversations all over the world.  Assumptions only add to that spinning snowball creating something larger than and more negative.  It is amazing how something so small as an assumption can lead to the destruction of someone's self esteem.  Whether or not this gossip is true is of no concern and the words will continue to be passed from one person to the next without giving a single thought as to how it might affect the subject of discussion.  Why do we do this to each other? 
      Positive actions, words, and thoughts are becoming the new currency of this world.  With each passing day, these things become less relevant to the modern day person and they are slowly beginning to disappear.  The reason I call this a new currency is simple.  The words of a positive person WILL change lives for the better.  A positive person becomes a light to those that only see darkness and those that live in the negative will unknowingly begin to change because of the simple, small, but enormously positive words of one person. 
      The world that we have created tends to focus on the negative and for the most part, those people caught up in negativity don't even realize that they are swimming in this black hole that drains their will and hope.  If they would only stop saying "I can't do that" once and reconsider, the world around them would change.  All of a sudden, they would be able focus more on the one simple reason why "I can" instead of the fifty million reasons that they can't.  The light of hope would become unsheathed and for once, dreams would be possible.  Not because an opportunity opened up, but because they found a way to get up off of ground and continue to push, no matter how many times they are bombarded with negative words and actions of others. 

      Take the time to consider all the choices that you made today.  How many times did you decide "I can't" over "I can"?  How many times did you make a choice solely on the idea that others might not choose the same as you?  We live in a world of conformity but what we don't know is that those that conform never reach true success.  Only those that step outside of their own comfort zone, those that stand up and push back when someone says "it will never work" or "you just can't do that", will ever reach true success.  Make a change in your own life.  Preach positivity to yourself as well as those around you.  You will find friction and resistance, but eventually all those that oppose you will fall to the wayside or fall in behind you.  The idea is to live for yourself, not for everyone else.  Build your own dream and don't fall into the trap of working to build someone else's.  If you don't have a dream and a plan, then you unconsciously allow others to make your plan for you and trust me when I say that it isn't that great. 

The New Face Of The Economy

     As most have noticed, I have been lacking in my posts.  Thankfully, it isn't because of complacency and I will soon be able to resume my frequent updates.  For this post, I would like to talk about the world economy and where it is headed.  Much of this was inspired by the works of great entrepreneurs like Robert Kiyosaki. 

     News from around the world reports daily on the status of the world economy and what is current, but they don't cover where the world economy is going.  For those that do not already see it, I will make it clear.  The tides have changed and the finances of the world are headed downward.  The speed at which this is happening accelerates every day.  Not only are people in America headed towards a depression like never before, but the world is following right along with us.  The markets of each country may be completely different but they are all tethered together and where one goes, the rest will surely follow.  Unless........
      Everyone has heard the phrase that the rich continue to get richer while the poor get poorer.  The sad truth is that it is 100% correct.  As the economy spirals downwards, the rich only seem to make more money and the reason is so simple but we fail to recognize it.  For that reason there is 3% of the world population that controls 97% of the world's wealth.  A staggering statistic if there ever was one.  The average American is a middle or lower class citizen that works as an employee until they retire and only if they are able to afford retirement.  They work a job from the time they are able until the time they can no longer complete the task.  On top of their hard work, the government taxes these employees at about 40%.  For the average American though, it is normal to live in this manner.  It was how their parents did it, and how their parents before them lived as well.  WHY!! 
     From the very beginning we are taught that you go to school to learn.  Why?  So that you can one day get a good job.  Why do you want a good job?  So that you can make money.  What happens when you fail at school?  You get punished.  Our school teaches us from day one that we are an employee.  That is how the world works and failure is not an option, even though failure is our best teacher!  What they don't teach us is the one piece of knowledge that we need the most to succeed.  MONEY.  One more staggering fact for you.  Each year, about 17 million people graduate from college and enter the job market only to find themselves averaging $28,000 a year or less.  Do I have your attention?  Welcome to the rat race, now get on the hamster wheel. 
      What people don't realize is that there has been a major shift in the world economy and how business is conducted.  The rich have realized this and they have used this rat race to make themselves even richer and they will continue to do so because we have engrained this idea of how the world works in ourselves and in our children.  It's time for a major change!  The entrepreneur now leads the way.

      Are you ready to step out of your comfort zone and see what is really going on in the world?  If you really are tired of living in the status quo and you are willing to put down all the reasons that say you can't so that you can pick up the one reason that says you can, let me know.  I have a whole new world of freedom to show you.

Essential_Elements@Rocketmail.com

The Bottomless Money Pit

      Rock bottom strikes each and every person no matter what.  It always starts off slow and easy with something simple.  Maybe an unexpected bill.  It seems simple enough but before you realize it, the snowball has grown out of control and you are now over your head and trying to tread debt in order to stay afloat.  Solutions are everywhere and nowhere at the same time.  "Call us for your free loan consultation." Maybe you've heard this one, "bankruptcy can actually improve your credit!"  Which options do you go with?  Is there any way to actually make it through this and get ahead of the game? 
      Every person has their own feelings about the options that are presented.  I have considered them all and I continue to reconsider them daily.  Each one has its own appeal but it also has cons that accompany them.  Each month I struggle to cover all of my bills and I always find myself with more month left at the end of my pay.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Each paycheck comes and goes without even touching my hands or passing before my eyes.  It has become a sick joke that someone plays by depositing my pay in one door and sending out the back door.  It's time to step off the hamster wheel and get into a nice new BMW.  I'm done wasting my time and working for the benefit of the big boss.
      The proverbial belt is getting tighter each month as I cut out the pointless expenditures.  Think about this; when was the last time you profited from watching tv?  What about the fitness benefits of cable television?  I would say that the answer for almost everyone would be never.  When was the last time a soda, Monster, or alcohol helped you to reach your fitness goals?  Again, the answer is never.  While the dollar amount may seem small in nature, it adds up quickly.  Think about drinking one soda a day for a month.  I will even round down on the price for easier math.  $1 a day times 30 days is $30.  Simple and small as far as value is concerned, but $30 is just about perfect for the cost of a gym membership.  The price of gas is another needless expenditure on many occasions.  I've known people to get in their cars and drive 3 blocks to a friend's house.  While the amount of gas used is small, it also adds up.  Try walking or riding a bicycle.  I know I am.
      All of the cutbacks add up and help in their own way, but it will never be enough.  With the choice to better myself, I have found a group of people that wish to do the same.  Now we work together to bring others into our circle and do the same.  Our numbers brings strength, positivity, knowledge, and also profit.  Vemma is the company, Verrve is the product, and YOU are the business.  That's how we work, that's who we are.  With a team and a positive energy that outweighs ANYTHING negative in our lives, we are overcoming barriers and reaching success.  I will make my life better and Vemma is the vessel that I am going to use to get me there.       

Do You Dream?

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            Success.  It is a word of power and prestige.  It is a word that will never cease to conjure images of money, life-long vacations, and fame.  With everyone knowing what this word means and wanting to reach that point in life, why is it that only 3% of the world population controls 97% of the wealth?  Have you ever thought about that?  Maybe you should.

            The answer is very simple.  People are not empowered from within.  The drive to accomplish feats necessary for the attainment of success is just not contained in the spirit of the populous.  Part of it comes from our formal education and the other comes from a long line of personal traits that are passed from parent to child.  A family that lives in the 9-5 routine, running the rat race, will always be in that race until a true change is made.  

            We all dream of reaching the big time.  The day when we can sit back on a beach and do nothing while our cash stacks up in the bank is a wish that every person on this planet makes but it will never come true for 99% of them.  If they do not possess the drive and they allow negativity to push them backwards then they can expect to live out their lives in the rat race.  Think about it on more simplistic terms.  Have you ever told someone “you can’t do that.”?  Have you ever had an idea but decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble?  Have you ever decided to do something, a workout program for instance, but quit because you didn’t have time?  This is all negativity, plain and simple.  It comes about because you don’t have a real reason that holds deep within yourself.  You don’t want success like you think that you do. 

            I lived that life for the longest time.  Up until the last 6 months, I didn’t know that another way even existed.  It was the way that I grew up.  With one simple push from an outside force, I now have a completely new direction in life.  I have a reason.  My goals expanded exponentially. At first I wanted to live a simple and happy life, with a consistent paycheck.  Now, I want to live life as I choose, instead of working through life as my boss tells me that I should.  Who are they to choose my life for me?  The question should have been “who am I to have let someone else choose my life for me?”  

            I have found my driving force and I have found my vehicle that will take me into the future of my choice.  I will achieve every goal that I have ever set for myself and I will do it with ease because I want success just as much as I want to breathe.  Where do you stand?  What is your goal and what is your driving force?  Is it strong?  Show me your goals and I will get you there, if you truly want it bad enough.  Here’s to SUCCESS.

Check out my vehicle at Vemma

Your Goals Are Useless

     I've written about it before but people don't seem to fully understand the power of why.  No matter how often I say it or how much I expand on it, the people I speak to don't completely comprehend what I mean when I say that YOU NEED A POWERFUL WHY!  Take a quick second to remember the goals that you have in your life.  Do you want to become a doctor?  Do you want to become a stay at home father, who has the money to live and raise his family in whatever way he chooses?  Do you simply want vacation money?  Now ask yourself why.  Why do you want that?
     I obviously threw that last goal in the mix for a reason.  It is my goal.  I wish to be able to live my life as I want, without having to work the rest of my life to accomplish it.  Sounds good, right?  Yes, it sounds like I'm only wanting to get rich but that isn't the case.  My reason goes much deeper than that and is rooted in the amount of time that I have lost with my child because of my job.  I have literally missed years of my child's life because of the amount of time that my job requires and I refuse to continue down that path.  Never again will I fall into the "you do what you must" frame of mind because that line is complete garbage.  There is no reason that you have to do anything unless you choose to allow it. 
     It was once said that "if you don't have a plan, then you will fall into someone else's plan and their plan for you isn't much".  Think about that for a second.  I know I did.  It makes perfect sense and it is the root of the everyday rat race that most of the world is categorized as.  Why is it that you find yourself sitting at a desk or on a job that you don't enjoy for a paycheck that barely covers your expenses?  It's because we are trained from the beginning to think that way.  You grow up, get a job, and work for money.  That's not how the world works though!!  There is a reason that 3% of the world controls 97% of the wealth and one of those is because they discovered that the rat race mentality will bring in the labor to make the money for them!  It doesn't have to be that way anymore.  I refuse to live that life.
     Why.  The word took on a whole new meaning for me recently and now I understand what it is to have a driving force in your life.  I choose to make my own path and my own future.  I choose to get off the hamster wheel and live a life that makes me happy instead of a life that makes my boss happy.  I will be my own success story.  My why is powerful and my goals have never been more clear or meant more to me.  Without a why, goals are useless.

Powerful Words Lead To Success

     What is your "why"?  Have you ever asked yourself that question?  If the answer is no, then you should take a few minutes to ponder it.  Figure out what it is that drives you towards accomplishment.  We all have different reasons that can lead us towards the same goals as others, but the important part is WHY.  A goal without a will, is nothing more than a wish.  When there is no drive to push us forward then our dreams are only hopes that will never come to pass.   
     If you have asked that question, then take a few minutes for yourself and decide if your reason is still the same.  Over time our WHY can become modified or possibly even completely different.  It is crucial that we have a solid understanding of WHY we do what we do and where we wish to be.  Close your eyes and breath.  Form a solid picture in your mind of where you are right now.  See yourself exactly as any other person would see you if they happen to walk into your room.  Now progress forward in your mind and move one step at a time until you are standing within the success that you desire. 
     One key note about success.  When you picture success, it shouldn't be an end point.  It isn't an image of you standing in your own personal bank vault with money piled to the ceiling, unless your ultimate goal is to own a bank.  As an example, my idea of personal success would be waking in the morning with an idea such as taking the yacht down to the Bahamas for the week because I choose to do that.  My idea of success is the ability to live my own life as I see fit, with my family close by.  It is not an ending, but more of a beginning of my actual life and I will achieve it. 
     Take about 20 minutes to meditate on this information and see where it leads you, unless you are too busy.  There is an old Zen saying that goes like this. "You should meditate for at least 20 minutes a day, unless you are too busy.  Then you should meditate for an hour."  The future is impatient so don't keep it waiting. 

The Desire To Succeed

      With success, comes desire to be successful.  That doesn't exactly make sense until you understand the context.  Think about this;  you are walking out of the local Starbucks and you happen to see a brand new BMW parked next to your very own mediocre car.  It is an awesome vehicle and its reputation follows right along with that of a successful business person.  The ideas are tied together and it is hard to imagine one without the other.  As you look over this car, you feel the need burning inside you.  This is the car that you want to drive when you make it big.  "When" u make it big.  That statement rings in your mind for the next 20 minutes and then fades into the abyss.  The goal of success fades as well and life resumes its normal routine once again. 
     Each day people find themselves in this situation.  There isn't a single one of us that has wished for success in one form or another.  Whether it is financial freedom, job freedom, or the ability to live as you choose instead of how your boss says, the idea of success carries many dreams and wishes.  Those dreams and wishes are often left in the darkness because of the lack of belief in ourselves and our abilities.  We have been told that if we work hard for whatever company we end up in, we can advance within that business.  It's the only way to reach the top.  That's the mindset that destroys the dreams that we hold most dear.
     Traditional jobs are done.  The economy is failing and the job market has dried up.  The chance to advance within your chosen field has flown out the window, leaving only the hope that one day it will return. Fear follows in that chain of events as well.  We begin to fear the loss of our livelihood and it keeps up working harder for less pay.  We choose to sit and suffer in silence instead of speaking up and striking out on our own.  The unknown world seems so big and unforgiving and there is no way that we could survive out there on our own with no job.  Or is there?  What options are you left with?
     Fear and hope hold us in an unforgiving grip until we decide to break fingers and get loose.  We are filled with thoughts of "I can't" and "I wish" instead of "I can" and "I'm going to".  You will never be truly free until you cut through the chains of fear and hope with a hot torch so that you may pursue your own interests.  There are literally hundreds of ways to do that, but for myself, I have chosen to pursue Vemma.  There is nothing like the products, and there is nothing like the team that is built from positivity and dedication to each other.  It is my jump off point for my future.  What will be yours?  Choose wisely.

Destroy Your FEAR

     THE WORLD IS CHANGING.  There is no statement more true than that.  Each and every day more people are finding out that they are required to do more for less pay.  The economy is still in shambles, regardless of what the experts say.  The job market is so tied up because of unemployment that people with college degrees and experience in their fields are having to take jobs far below the normal standard and the salary that accompanies that career isn't even enough to cover the student loans that are stacked up on their credit. 
     People that have worked their life to get to a great position within the company of their dreams are now finding themselves buried under the amount of work that is now required of them because of company cutbacks and layoffs.  The proportional balance of life is now leaning heavy to one side, taking way time from family, friends, home, and the other dreams that have been chosen to pursue.  What's even worse is that when the breaking point is reached and the time to quit comes, it's no longer an option because of the detrimental state of the economy.  Fear rules over our lives and we convince ourselves that if we stick it out just a little longer, things will get better.  That's not the truth of it, and the CEO's of these conventional businesses knows it. 
     Does this sound familiar?  It has been my life for so long.  I have lived in this state for over 6  years now.  That's when I found my breaking point, and instead of quitting, I decided that if I keep pushing, soon I would be transferred and things would be different.  I would find new life and new motivation within my career.  All that time, I was wrong.  I lost those years of my life to FEAR.  It wasn't until now that I find myself looking for an answer to my life's conundrum.  I chose to strike out, regardless of how tight FEAR squeezed me.  I want to life my life and not work through it and in order to do that, I have to follow the words of Thomas Jefferson.  "If you want something you have never had, you must do something you have never done." 
     I spent the last 8 months searching for my opportunity.  It took considerable time to sort through all the bogus get rich quick schemes and in a way, these tricksters effected my feelings towards the opportunities that I did take into consideration.  I began to feel that all of these opportunities were fake or pyramid schemes.  I found myself to be completely wrong.  I found Vemma and my life is now changing in unbelievable ways.
     As with any opportunity that presents itself, Vemma is nothing but a chance to make something for yourself.  The difference is with the structure and the support.  Unlike anything else on this planet, Vemma is a modern day miracle business in that it creates a team that is dedicated to your success just as much as you are.  As a bonus, it features several amazing products like Verve! energy drink.  This is an energy drink that is actually healthy for you.  Just ask  Dr. Oz on Verve! Energy.  At this point in my exploration, I still wasn't convinced.  It wasn't until I saw Extreme Weight Loss on ABC, that I truly made my choice.  I found out that the Vemma Bod-e program was designed by none other than Chris and Heidi Powell! 
     I had to push hard to overcome my FEAR of stepping out on my own but now that I have done it, there will be no going back.  With the support of my fellow Brand Partners and nothing but success in our path, I will be taking Vemma to a whole new level.

Want to know more?  Check it out
    

True Power Is In The Team

     No matter what you do or where you work, there has been a time when it was required to work as a team.  Sometimes the experience was bad, such as a college class where no one was necessarily excited about working as a team.  Other times, the experience is very positive.  Within those particular instances you form ideas about the people that were on the team.  The idea of who would be great to work with again will remain in your mind for as long as you know that person.  It is inevitable.  It is from these life experiences that business networks are formed.  Partners that do their best to support the team rather than only thinking of themselves become well known and sought after while those that tend to do their own thing are looked at as a burden.  This same logic applies to the world of business today. 
     It is too easy to work a lifetime and never achieve greatness.  The world revolves around those that do just that.  Wake up early in the morning, perform your normal routine, go to work for a decent pay, and then go home just to repeat the process.  The question remains, "Is this life?"  Follow that question up with this one;  If you could do anything you want for the rest of your life, what would it be?  Perhaps you are doing the job that you love and the elusive dream has been achieved all along, but maybe you aren't.  Maybe you are working a job that you hate because you have to pay bills on a home or a car that you also despise. 
     This is where the team comes in.  Why work your whole life alone when you can join a team that works for you, just as you work for them?  There are so many opportunities out there for a team that stays positive and works together to achieve anything determined to be a worthy cause.  Sure it would be work and the results would be limited and unimpressive if it wasn't hard.  The team is the backbone of support that gives you the assistance required to achieve your goals, just as you return the favor for the team.  Together the world is one giant opportunity. 
      This is why I have joined up with Vemma.  I have spent almost a year researching "at home" opportunities.  Each one promised to make large sums of income for little time and effort, but as the proverbial saying goes, if it's too good to be true, then it is.  The truth is that there is no success without work but why must you do the work alone?  I chose Vemma because, from the start, they were honest, truthful, and open about every aspect of their business.  At first I was skeptical just as every person should be.  Businesses like these are not always the right fit.  The largest selling point for me personally though, was the team effort.
     Throughout my search I have seen too many people get suckered into a business with large promises only to find that they were left alone to operate this beast that had no leaders or partners.  Before I joined Vemma, I observed.  I watched from a distance for almost 3 months just to see how everything and everyone operated.  Not all teams are the same, but the team that I did watch became a true positive force and during that time, I watched them create success from the world of negativity that surrounded them.  I am excited to finally be a part of a true team of Brand Partners that is dedicated to the success of those within the business instead of people trying to use the hard earned money of others to fill their own pockets. 

     If this sounds like something you would like to take a look at, check out http://prostrength.vemma.com/ for information on the products, as well as myself.  Feel free to contact me if you're interest goes beyond that.  We are looking for those that want to make positive moves and help others with both health and success. 

Achieving a Dream

            Why is it that we so often know what we want and where we want to be but we never pursue it?  We tend to forget that life is short and the belief that “there will be time for that later” takes hold.  This phrase is repeated to us so often that it gets included in our self-conscious thoughts.  We let time slide by and allow the flow of everyday life to take over.  After a few years of living in the world that everyone else has made, we let our own goals fall to the side and begin to follow the directions of someone else in hopes that their idea of success for us will be the right one.  We begin to indirectly think that the path that someone else has chosen for us is the right one because they know best.  The goals that we had when we began this journey take a backseat and eventually fade into the black if we allow them.   

Each and every day, I speak with people about their goals and their future.  I might be prying a little into peoples lives, but sometimes it is the push that they need to re-ignite that fire for the life that they so desperately wanted in the beginning.  Some have changed their goals and are happily chasing a new dream while others are just sort of following a beaten path.  Instead of writing the story of their own achievements, they are copying from the pages of someone else who is no more successful than themselves.  It is a sad truth but a common one and it happens because of a lack of self-realization. 

In order to be successful in this life, we must sit down and have an honest conversation within ourselves.  Ask the questions that excite you and write down the answers on something that you can read everyday.  The answer will be simple to start but develop it before you post it on the mirror.  The question will be “what is my goal?” and the answer may be something like “to be a lawyer”.  Short, simple, and to the point but now it is time to develop it.  Once it’s done, it should look like this: 

            “I am going to be the best family attorney in Los Angeles

by enrolling in the UCLA Law program, achieving my BA and then

transfer to Harvard law where I will maintain a 3.8 GPA and

earn my internship at Swartski and Johnson Law Firm.  I will

then earn my way to a partner position within 3 years and use the

experience to start my own law firm by the age of 37.”

Once it’s created and perfected, then post it in several places.  The bathroom mirror is a good spot.  The refrigerator door is another good spot.  A third idea would be on the steering wheel of your car.  You know yourself best so post it in at least 3 places that you will see each morning and each night.  Each and every time you see it, read it out loud to yourself.  It doesn’t matter if you have it memorized or not, but read it out loud, word for word, and feel it.  Imagine it being true.  See yourself standing at the front door of your own personal law firm with your name over the door.  Imagine the customers waiting in the lobby to see you for their court case.  Use this tool and it will open a whole new world.  

The Power Of Positivity

    I was recently inspired by a conversation with a friend of mine.  He is a man that lives and breathes the struggle of a true entrepreneur and I have personally seen the obstacles that he manages to overcome with ease.  He seemed to hold a secret that I just didn't understand until now.  It really wasn't a secret at all.  Everything seemed to be working for him because of his positive attitude.  No matter what was going on or how hard things were for him at the moment, it was always the "right time", as he put it, to get something going.  No matter what had happened to him, it was the reason that he had reached this point in his life and without the struggle, there was no triumph.  The place that he was standing was exactly where he needed to be and it was exactly the right time to be there.  With this attitude and positive way of thinking, the walls in front of him are deconstructed and rebuilt in whatever manner he desires.  What he doesn't realize is the effect that it has on the people that he encounters.

     Everyone has a person in their memory that seems to hold the world in their hands without so much as lifting a finger.  They could be homeless, sleeping on the street, and asking for spare change, but the positive attitude still remains and it carries them through.  In fact, it even supports them.  When they come into contact with another person, an unknown transaction occurs.  A light-hearted feeling of relief is secretly infused into the negativity and uncertainty and the day automatically becomes better.  It is life changing.  After several encounters and experiencing the same sort of change in their life, a realization is made.  The realization that positivity is powerful and when it is put into play, it can change the world for everyone. 

     Those that follow me on Facebook and Twitter know that I hold positive motivation close in a major way.  It is the lifestyle that I have chosen and I am working harder each day to be better.  Without a doubt in my mind, this young man even has an effect on me.  Each time I meet with him is a blessing and I look forward to our next conversation.  Soon, I will be working with him and together we are going to build the dream that we both have been wishing for.  There is no way to stop the power of positivity.      

Shout out to Patrick Hays.  When the team works, the dream works brother.

Consumers vs. Producers

            In our society, children are taught the power of money at a very young age.  We all learn that money can get us the material items that we need as well as the items that we want and when we get what we want, we are happy.  Without realizing it, each generation has indirectly learned that money can buy happiness.  The problem with this lesson is that it has already set us up for failure.  Life becomes a struggle to make more money because the connection between money and happiness has been made solid and is reinforced each time we make a personal purchase.  We learn to save our hard earned money to make large purchases and lessons on the power and importance of credit are few and far in between.  In this manner, we become life-long consumers.

            Have you ever heard the phrase “got to have money to make money”?  If you are a regular middle class American, then this phrase is probably spoken without regard on a regular basis.  It usually appears when someone is talking about a big idea that would put them on top, if only they had the money to pay for the start up costs.  As with many other things, this idea fades into the past and is never brought up again.  It may have been a true money maker but the lack of knowledge pertaining to currency and how money really works results in misunderstanding.  The knowledge is out there and if we take the time to re-educate ourselves in finances then success would come at a much easier rate.  You know need the motivation to seek out the information.  The time has come to change our beliefs on money and to reinvent our way of using it.  To succeed in life we have to become producers.

            In the eyes of a producer, there is never a lack of funding.  Money can be brought about from thin air if you have the right knowledge of how it works.  This makes business start-up possible.  The idea of failure always exists in a producers’ mind, but it never occupies his or her thoughts.  Failure is a way of life, but it is also a way of learning and a means of doing it better on the next round.  A producer may experience hundreds of failures on his way to success but that one successful endeavor could make him a millionaire.  Why waste energy on stressful thoughts like failure when positive thoughts of succeeding yield much better results. 

            Each and every day, you come in contact with many different people.  You have hundreds of people that you know and talk to on a semi-regular basis.  Think back on those people for a few minutes.  Did any of them ever seem like they always found money when they needed it?  Maybe they turned a home project into a small side business to cover some sort of cost that they incurred or maybe they managed to turn their garage full of junk into a nice chunk of change to purchase a new car with.  This is the undiscovered producer.  They don’t quite understand how they do it and it is quite possible that they don’t realize they are doing it.  They just have a natural ability to make money when the need presents itself.  They focus on what they need and the set goals to achieve it.  Each step they take may be small or it may be large, but it is all part of a master plan to succeed and they always manage to do just that.  I bring up the natural producers to make a separate point.  Everyone has weakness in life.  Some aren’t good at math and others can’t be social.  We have our strengths and a producer focuses on those strengths.  For weaker areas, we need support from like-minded producers.  If you surround yourself with the proper people, you can achieve anything. 

Keys to Success

     Throughout the journey to the top, there are always failures and disappointments.  There are always bumps in the road and at times, you will find yourself stranded in a lake of motivation-draining muck that seems to have no end.  It can be more than discouraging and if you allow it, the downward spiral of events can lead to turning away from the goals that you were attempting to achieve.  When this moment arrives, there is only one key to success that will be your saving grace.
     When your back is against the wall and you are ready to quit, then it's time to turn to consistency.  You may not make it to the finish line, but you when consistency is put into play, at least you will be choosing to continue the race.  Instead of calling it a day and moving on to something else, stick with routine and push forward with the march.  Don't let the hiccups of life take your dream from you.  Thomas Edison says it best. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success."  When you hit the wall and you have no motivation to continue forward, then lean against the wall with consistency.  You won't break the wall down, but you will weaken it with the applications of consistent force.

What Is Your Motivation?

     Motivation is nothing more than a state of mind that bends and changes according to our will.  It starts with one small seed of an idea and with proper nurturing, it grows, matures, and produces beautiful blossoms of success.  Motivation will fill your life with a natural high that proves to be stronger than any drug.  On the flip side of that coin, it can also whither away and die if you don't feed and water it consistently by adding nutrition to the soil.  This is the period where true champions of success will emerge and those that lose their drive will fall in line behind those that can push up and over the wall of discouragement.
     That fire burning within us all remains in the form of small embers until we discover our driving force.  For me, the driving force is my ultimate goal of happiness and contentment.  For others, it can be individual goals and accomplishments or possibly even the challenge itself.  Your fuel depends on what sort of person you are but whatever it is, you must build on it.  Without growth you are standing still and allowing the world to turn while you watch and wonder "what happened?" 
     Farrah Gray once said "Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.”  It is more true now than ever.  Technology has increased the speed of our world ten fold and information is easier to find and cheaper than ever.  All you need is the consistent motivation to search it out.  Build on your personal driving force, keep consistently motivating yourself, and continue to make moves towards your future, or build someone else's dream for them. 

Tearing Down The Wall

     The last few days have been a little bit of a struggle.  Motivation has escaped me on several occasions and I have had to fight hard to recapture it once again.  Discouragement seems to find me more often now and obstacles are beginning to form in front of me.  I am seeing the infamous wall grow out of thin air and it is working its way skyward to obstruct my view of the happiness to come. 
     It happens every time a person begins to make strives towards a better future.  There is no avoiding it and there are two options available.  I can break through it or I can let it break me and I refuse to steer down the latter path.  I've been working so hard on this and, even though the work is hard, I get so much joy from what I'm doing.  I am struggling throughout the day as I try to manage my Navy life, my personal life, and my future life, but I take comfort in knowing that soon enough the pressure and stress that I am enduring will all be worth it.  I gain momentum from knowing that I will never stop making positive changes in my life and with each step forward, I am moving faster.  The sun shines on my face and my faith shares the burden that I carry.  They say that if you work at something that you enjoy, then you will never truly work a day in your life.  That is my future.
     In a matter of weeks I have managed to changed so many aspects of my life that were making me unhappy.  I still have a long way to go on this journey and I have proven to myself that the will power was easier to come by than expected.  Faith is by far the strongest force on earth and I have learned to use it as motivation and wield it as if it were a tool in my hands.  With it, I will conquer my fear of stepping out into the open.  I will put myself out there and continue on my way no matter what obstacles develop in my path.  I will finish what I have started.

The Power Of thought

     An author by the name of Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich) stated that "an intangible impulse of thought can be transmuted into its physical counterpart".  It sounds like a lot of big words that someone wrote for a college text book but that one statement holds more power than anyone can imagine.  If you break it down, it says that if you imagine it and believe in it, then it will be so.  I know it sounds like more made up fairytale sayings but follow me on this.
     Each and every day we make decisions that effect our lives without even realizing how much of an effect that choice really carries.  You may wake up early in the morning feeling tired and truly hating the single fact that the only reason you're out of bed is because you are required to perform a job as some business that you may not even enjoy anymore.  Maybe you're on the opposite side of that coin and you sleep in every day because you have been unable to find a job even though you feel like you have struggled each day to get hired.  In both of these scenarios, you are already behind the curve and you have just set yourself up for failure. 
    Our thoughts are one of the most powerful forces that exists.  It closely follows behind faith and belief.  It took me a long time to realize just how wrong I have been all this time in almost all of my choices because I lacked the understanding of my choices and I did not know how much the faith in my decisions mattered.  One of the smallest changes that has made the largest impact on my life what in my morning and evening routine.  I have a small list of ultimate goals that is broken down into a larger list of achievements that I need to accomplish on my road to success.  Each morning, I read over this list 3 times before I leave my home for work.  Once upon waking, once after my shower, and then again before I leave.  It keeps the ideas fresh and reminds me that each day, no matter what the circumstances, I have achievements that I must accomplish.  I also read this list 3 times before I go to bed for the simple fact that it fills me with an unstoppable energy when I open my eyes in the morning. 
     The keys to success are always dangling just in front of our eyes but most of the time, we fail to see them because we don't possess full faith in our decision to unlock the doors.  Take the time to sit down and make your own list.  It will be the best investment of time that you have ever made once you start reading it at least once in the morning and once before bed. 

The Value Of Time

      When I speak of value, most people instantly imagine the dollar.  Money has become the number one driving force in this world and people have gotten to the point where they will kill for it.  While that might be extreme, the idea of money as a value is only part of the equation.  Money is only used to put a tangible trade value on your time, which is the real valued item.  We trade our time for an amount of money that will in turn be used to purchase goods.  As the world spins on its axis, we endure long hours of labor, doing jobs that we do not enjoy for money that will need to be replenished so that we may nourish our bodies and once again return to work.  A never ending circle that I am taking steps to break.  More on that later though, as I have digressed.
         One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to always sacrifice time at work for family, no matter how busy you are or how many other things you have going on in your life.  Family is the support system behind us, it is the reason we work towards our goals, and family can make or break you while you travel the road to reach your dreams. 
     This weekend, I am taking time away from dreaming and planning to spend some much needed time away with my daughter.  I'm not going to go into details but she is the reason that I have made such a major choice in my life and she deserves all the time I can give.  She is worth far more than my time is valued at and I believe that I am getting the better end of the bargain.
     Each week I go to work early and come home late because it is what the Navy requires of me.  I don't enjoy it and it causes way more stress than necessary.  My daughter endures so much because of my work and she deserves so much more in return.  I hope to one day honor my trade agreement and give her the time that she truly needs from a father.  With that being said, take my advice and get as much time as possible in with family.  You might not get another chance.

Small Changes Lead to Bigger Ones

     To begin my list of changes that I am making in my life, I am starting off with my diet and I'm jumping in with both feet.  Will power has always eluded me when it came to food and frankly I've always had a sort of denial about it.  I've always been into lifting weights and exercising and while I may not have been consistent, I have continued my enjoyment each and every time I began a new workout routine.  My real issue has always been on the diet side of the coin and I did not want to acknowledge that fact.  I felt like I always needed to eat at every meal and that was just the way that the body worked.  I knew better.  I've learned even more since I first began experimenting with exercise and now that I am completing my personal trainer certification, a whole new world has opened up.  The time has come.
      I began this week with major changes in the way I eat as well as what I take in.  There is no starting slow with this and I refuse to give in.  I have put down the daily dose of soda that I used to drink as well as sweets.  Trust me when I say that I am paying for it right now.  The pounding in my head began to creep up on me this morning and has continued to aggravate and irritate me ever since.  I don't know how much longer it will last but I have made the commitment and I will follow through, simply because I have never followed through on anything like this attempt.  It is a small change, but it is building the confidence that I will need for my future endeavors. 
     The way in which I eat has also been modified.  I had to break the chain of eating three meals a day just because that was the normal routine.  Now I make it a point to skip at least one and possibly two meals each day, rotating which meal it is that I skip.  Before you judge, let me say that this is not a permanent thing and I will be switching to a 5 meal a day plan to go along with a new workout routine.  I am skipping meals here and there to prove to myself that I don't always need to have food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

     So there it is.  The beginning of my new beginning and the base that I am building on.  I am going to master my will power and put my determination to the test.  If you want something that you have never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done.- Thomas Jefferson

Energy Flows

     Over the last decade of my life, I have always felt like something was missing.  It has become even more prevalent in the last year or so and I can no longer keep walking forward and ignore this inner voice that screams out for attention.  I'm not where I want to be at all.  My family life has suffered, my physique is lacking, and my days seem to be depressed.  I'm in a routine that drives me crazy and I can't find my way out, until now.
    
     I have spent almost 12 years in the Navy now.  Most of them have been great and I can never forget all the great times.  Well, some of them I have never been able to remember because of some extracurricular sailor activities.  My Navy career has shown me the world in ways that very few can imagine and I have knowledge of people and places that few will ever understand.  It comes with the territory.  Through all of that, I have always felt this gravitational pull that led me back to the Internet where I would sit and look at the Google page.  My mind would be filled with amazing ideas for business start-ups along with thousands of questions about nothing more than where to start.  I sat and pondered for an hour about what I should search for but nothing ever came to mind.  I was lost so I would close my laptop and continue on with my day, as if the Navy was exactly where I belonged in this world.  I continued this until it became a daily routine and my dreams began to disappear, since I didn't have the drive to achieve them. 

     That all changed in one quick moment.  As I perused through my Facebook page one day, I came across a quote by Thomas Jefferson.  "If you want something you've never had, then you must be willing to do something you've never done."  It was that moment that I decided to make the changes in my life that would make me happy.  Instead of allowing my daily routine to drag me down, I changed it so that I can use it as a jump-off point for what I really want and where I really want to be. 

     Change starts small.  I began my transformation with a simple switch of my morning route to work.  At first I was unsure if the route I had chosen would even get me to the ship because I did not map it out or navigate.  I took a chance to see where it would lead me.  If I was late to work, then oh well.  Turns out that my choice was a good one and I arrived right about my normal time.  The next change was with my food choices.  Instead of ordering the foods that I was comfortable with, I chose something different and almost random.  Good or bad, it was a complete change and the results were more than just something different.  I began to feel a confidence that I didn't have before and it has led me to continue with changes in my life.  Now here I am, making an even bigger change!

     I can't explain the excitement that I feel or the energy that is flowing through me but I am determined to walk the path that I am building and I will finish my work in success.  Happiness is not only a state of mind, but a state of living!  If you aren't in that state yet, then pay attention.  Follow my lead if you want or make your own but start making changes.  I know I don't regret it.