Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning. It’s not just a mantra for athletes. In the Millionaire Mind, we go marathon – the distance of life – not a race to a million. It’s not something to train for occasionally. It’s something we live consistently, yes?

Even if we’re not always at peak level – and there will be times when we’re just not – there’s something that’s motivating us, something that’s fueling us. What we’re fueling up with will determine whether or not we go the distance.

The juice that fuels us is our motivations – why we’re doing what we do. And there’s really only two ways to go here. You’re either doing what you do based on a positive energy juice or negative energy. Both can be extremely effective. Both can get you far, but the difference in the end: are you going to arrive where you intended to go, and what kind of condition are you going to be in when you get there?

People who run on negative energy juice do things like make pretty decent amount money but get rid of it because it was angry energy that got them there; they were rebelling against something, or someone (usually a parent). Except when they get rid of it now they’re BROKE and angry! They got rid of the wrong one.

Others are so fearful that there will never be enough money – or they will never be enough – that the insecurity shifts their focus away from the other areas of life. Their insecurity erodes their physical, mental, and emotional condition.

Fear can be useful when it comes to getting our butts in gear when we know we have to get it done. But when we’re acting on imaginary pain – pain based on negative conditioning that fuels negative motivations – that kind of fear acts more like an obstacle to our happiness rather than an efficient fuel source.

How about these for motivations: joy and purpose! Loving what you do! Contributing to something beyond yourself and the money is the result. Good or good?

If you’re not juiced by joy and purpose, it ain’t gonna work, not for the distance anyway. You can get short burst of success based on anger or fear, but these create stress. You might win the game financially for a short period of time, but you won’t be rich on a spiritual, emotional and mental level.

You cannot have enough money to not be angry anymore. No amount of money will lessen fear because fear is the habitual fuel and money is the prop. You can never alleviate the fear with more money or more of anything. What you have to alleviate is the fear itself. Change your fuel! We want money and happiness. The only way that can happen is if you’re running on supportive juice, not fuel that’s going to lead to a crash and burn.

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If you’re going to make money, come up with a couple of motivations that are supportive. There’s always family, obligation, more toys or material things—but what are some motivations that really touch the core of our greatest joys in life? What are some different types of juice that relate to happiness beyond “I have to do this” or material comforts? We want to hear from you!

 
To Your Success,

Last month we explored how sometimes we just need to be able to identify what we’re frustrated at in order to begin addressing it. When there are consistent frustrations in a business, we can usually address them by putting systems in place that minimize inconsistencies and produce more of the results we’re really looking for.

It’s another one of those no-duh, no brainers that may not appear like much until those frustrations build to the point of blinding us from the most direct solutions.

But we now want to articulate the impact of that frustration on our business condition. How does this thing impact you? What results aren’t you getting? What’s happening? What’s not happening that you want to happen, or don’t want to happen?

We don’t want to be working on anything that doesn’t really matter. If you’re frustrated because your partner starts their day later than you do, does it really matter as long as the work is getting done? But if that lateness means missing calls from earlier time zones, that could have an impact, yes?

So it’s one thing to name a frustration, and it’s another to know exactly what that frustration translates into toward your bottom line. You’ve got to probe, measure, and quantify that frustration. You might find at the end of the day, you’re really getting bothered over something trivial—or you could find that your frustrations are indeed warranted.

If you have a complex system you’re looking at, this process can take months. So how about a more simple formula?

“The real problem in my business is the absence …” It could be a system that will cost effectively generate leads rather than be a costly guessing game every time. Or a system that staff can follow consistently rather than doing it their own way each time, producing mediocre or inconsistent results. Or it could be the absence of a system for strategic planning rather than primarily responding to a competitor’s moves.

It’s just a generic way of focusing. You’re not actually formulating a system yet. What you’ll find is some of these things that you describe can actually be purchased as software programs, or you can easily hire consultants who do them much better than you would. But once you’ve figured out what the problem actually is, reformulating starts to become easier.

“The real problem in my business is the absence of a system that will …” Fill in the blank with that generic system solution and then write down your original frustrating condition.

You should start to feel a shift in your energy in terms of some of these things that are frustrating you. The question that you simply have to ask now is: Is this frustration worth fixing? Is this frustration that you named—if it’s not stemming from within you—something you have to address quickly or is it lower on the priority scale?

Do you really want to remedy this frustrating condition or would you rather just live with it? That’s the question that you have to answer.

What do you think? What are some frustrating aspects of running a business that you’ve encountered, and how did you remedy them? Did you find value in naming and understanding the impact of those frustrations? Were some of them really nothing? Make sure to leave me a comment and let me know your experiences with frustrations in business (and how you handled them) – or even how you handled frustration and overcame it in other parts of your life!

For Your Freedom,

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When we get frustrated by our conditions, we inevitably end up becoming frustrated with ourselves. It can take us over and we tend to run with it. It can creep into every aspect of our lives, from how we relate to the people around us, to how it will impact our business.

If the frustration builds for too long, pretty soon we might forget altogether what the hell we were frustrated at in the first place, yes?

This happens in business all the time, especially when in the early stages of the business, cash flow can fluctuate maddeningly, which then leads to all other kinds of frustrations from payroll to profits.

There’s an energy attached to frustration that sucks the life out of your business, and if you’re not dealing with this as a business owner, it’s only going to go downhill from there.

Moving back away from whatever the problem is, step one toward a solution is simply being able to classify your frustrations. Is it with your team? Your results? A process that doesn’t seem to flow efficiently?

Some typical early-stage business frustrations include time (there never seems to be enough of it), feeling like you’re too bogged down with menial detail-work instead of bigger-picture tasks, or relying on people to get things done that don’t follow through. Just to name a few.

This is where the importance of systemizing your business processes plays a huge role. First you name your frustration, and then you develop the system to address it.

So if you’re having problems with freeing up your time yet ensuring that essential tasks still get done, then the real problem is the absence of a system that will hire the right people rather than you doing it all yourself. That way, not only is your time freed up, but the right people will also help micromanage the way processes continue to develop and flow.

The good news is that frustrations within your business are fairly easy to identify and deal with, though they may take time. Inner frustrations, on the other hand, not only take more time and energy to deal with, but may also be harder to identify in the first place. You could be mad at yourself because you’ve done something poorly for so long, and you get frustrated about not seeming able to turn the corner. Or worse, you externalize that frustration toward everybody else—the customers, the suppliers, the vendors, the client; everybody but yourself.

We know the power of blueprints, so we won’t address that here.

When it comes to outer frustrations that we can identify, though, the questions are much simpler. What’s my frustration? What’s the gap in the system? What system is missing altogether?

If your frustrations begin with ‘I’, it’s about you. It’s inner directed. If it’s about ‘them’ or ‘those people’ or ‘those lousy clients’ or ‘those suppliers’ or ‘that lousy machinery’ or ‘that way' of doing something, it can then be addressed systematically and objectively.

What do you think? Have you experienced similar or even different kinds of frustrations, and how did you address them? Did systemizing play a role? Leave me a comment and let me know your experiences and how you overcome those frustrations (or are still working on identifying/overcoming them).

For Your Freedom,

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As 2014 has swiftly arrived, we are brought to that time of the season when most of us take to planning and plotting the next 12 months of our lives. If you’re already considering your to-do lists and new years resolutions, then you’re on the right track, but you’ll need to be careful in making your plans in order to be sure that you’re able to use them to your advantage!

Set Goals

The first rule of making progress in anything you do is setting goals, allowing yourself to always have a finish line in sight. This provides a boost in motivation during those moments when slogging forward seems impossible, giving you something tangible to work towards at every moment.

Whether you’re planning positive changes to your work or personal life, take note of the things that you want to achieve by the end of the year, and what you’ll need to do in order to get there. With these goals firmly in heart and mind, you’ll have just what you need to propel you in the right direction.

But wait…

Set Reasonable Goals

Goals are great, but what if those goals are only barely achievable? Like a high-risk gambler, you stand to gain the most when you meet sky-high expectations, but your chances of any success at all are well below par.

In order to limit your risk of perceived failure, be sure not to aim too high when setting your goals. Take the time to consider your history and your present circumstances, planning to hit milestones that are within reach instead of shooting for the stars and coming up short.

That’s not to say that you’ll never reach the stars, mind you – only that you’ll need to get to them in incremental steps.

Set Reasonable, Incremental Goals

Alright, you’ve got goals set that are useful, reachable, and will serve to take your endeavors to the next level throughout 2014. With the whole year plotted out ahead of you, it may seem that you’re ready to close the books on another successful year planned and get started with the heavy lifting.

 Not so fast.

You may feel particularly pumped up about achieving your goals now, but what about that inevitable day when inspiration is lacking and your goals seem further away than they did the day before? Whether it’s a day, a week, or a month away, that time will come, and you’ve got to narrow your plans even further if you want to get yourself on the right track without fear of hitting a serious bump.

Overarching goals are a necessary thing when you’re taking in the big picture, but life isn’t a big picture; on the contrary, life happens minute by minute, and that means that you’ll also need a more focused view. In order to achieve maximum momentum and build the kind of habits that lead to long-term success, be sure to set incremental goals that take you from point to point towards the place you visualize yourself being at the end of 2014.

No matter what your goals are and what aspect of your life they apply to, good planning and hard work will get you there – good luck!

What are your plans to make 2014 the most successful year of your life? Let us know in the comments below the specific routes you’ll be taking towards improved finances, better health, stronger relationships, and increased happiness, helping others to follow in your footsteps!

 

Happy New Year!

For Your Freedom,

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Think back to a time in your past—five, 10, 15, or even 20 years ago. Maybe you envisioned a happy future making more money, having more fun, a family of your own, or living in a bigger place than you did previously.

Few things turn out perfectly, but chances are that at least one area of your life saw some growth and improvement. The standards of a 30 or 40-something-year-old adult are going to be necessarily different than those of a late teenager. In that sense, most of us have undergone economic, personal, and career upgrades, even if you might be disappointed with the outcome thus far.

All life on this planet goes through seasons. We’ll experience spring-like blooms, the reaping of summer, the preparations of fall, and the chill and severity that winter brings. These cycles affect us individually and globally. Overall, the world is experiencing something akin to a severe economic winter.

However, if we can remember that we’ve all experienced times of growth and improvement in our individual lives after a period of lack and want, we can re-adjust back to a mindset that focuses on a future we can look forward to again. That starts with accepting and embracing the now.

By far, the toughest cycle we’ll experience are our “winter times,” whether it’s cold outside or not. Even  the grasshopper needs to be told by the Ant to prepare for winter, so the old story goes. The other seasons are easier if not more enjoyable.

As tough as things can seem during harsh times, winter provides opportunity to recover and start planning for the next spring ahead—the same kind of spring that gave us relief before and will bring us relief again.

You can do this by defining what you want to create. Be specific. Sometimes luck helps, but there’s no way to get what you want until you’ve defined what that is, and, just as important, why you want it. Your motivations will steer you through any winter storm.

Also, taking inventory. List those attributes that enhance the quality of your life right here and now—family, friends, the network of colleagues who might help you take that next step; resources that are helping you economically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. You might be surprised at just how many resources are at your disposal.

Lastly, be grateful. For every “negative” thing that may be happening to you, someone else is undergoing more pressing challenges. Gratitude has a way of dispelling fear, anxiety, and a self-defeating attitude. You can’t focus on what you don’t have when you’re grateful for what you do have. How we progress through the seasons isn’t based on what we don’t have, or what we might’ve done or not done in the past. It’s about how we use what we do have now, sowing seeds of growth that we can reap later.

Winters can seem to go on forever, but they don’t. Somewhere, right now, someone is enjoying summer. That’s as true for the world as it is in our individual lives. When in winter, use this time to re-focus, heal, enjoy your blessings, and start planning your next spring now.

Give us your thoughts on life’s “seasons,” whether they apply to your personal or professional lives. Where are you in your life’s cycle? How do you navigate your seasons? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Each and every one of your comments is meaningful and valuable.

Happy Holidays!

For Your Freedom,

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Think back to those times in your life that proved to be pivotal moments in your growth as a person. Maybe it had to do with your finances, or your spirituality, or something you were trying to accomplish or overcome.

How did you learn how to get to where you wanted to be? Where did you learn what you needed to know? Who did you learn from, or was it all trial and error?

Lots of people start down their path toward whatever success means to them, not having any clue as to how tough that road can be. If they did have a clue in the beginning, a good number would say, “No thanks, I’ll stay ‘comfortable’ over here.” It’s almost like telling the universe you don’t want any good luck—those unexpected things that you hear about happening to other people that changes their lives in ways they couldn’t have imagined. Chance favors the prepared and courageous mind—those who are unafraid to take risks.

The outcomes of those risks partly reflect the knowledge that went into those decisions and actions, and that too reflects where that knowledge came from. When it comes down to it, few who have reached extraordinary levels of success in a given area did so because they learned everything they needed to learn on their own. Even the Buddha followed several mentors before moving beyond them to reach Nirvana.

I believe that life is always giving us turning points big and small—opportunities to change how we see things, change how we go about reaching our goals—especially when the way we’ve been going about it isn’t getting us any closer to the objective. It can be something as simple as the friend who casually mentions the name of an author who they think would be of value to you at that time in your life—or it could be the direct advice of a trusted someone when you have an important decision to make.

So take note when a good friend drops an observation about a question or issue you’re considering. There’s that little voice sometimes in the back of our head that might discredit what others see about ourselves or our situations that we’re not seeing.

You might think you don’t need to hear it, but we all know about our own thoughts sometimes, yes? They’re not always supportive. Just because you think, “I have this under control—I don’t need to hear anybody else’s perspective” does not make it true. It’s quite often the opposite.

So it’s up to you to choose a perspective of where you are today, not where you were yesterday. You don’t know where you are today until you show up. Come from the present moment, be in the present moment, and then choose to see how you can utilize the guidance that I believe life is giving us all the time. Ask the universe for guidance, and you will receive it. You never know which “today” could provide your life’s next turning point.

What do you think? How have seemingly inconsequential encounters changed your life, or your perspective? For better or worse? Was the presence of a mentor involved? What did you learn from this? Share your thoughts and opinions with our community, you never know whose life you may be changing!

For Your Freedom,

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There are internal principles we use to create whatever we want to create. You’ve got to be congruent with who you are; an honest statement to yourself and to the world. You can’t get wealthy if you’re not congruent with that.

We have this desire to be financially free, but there’s this other part that says, ‘It’ll make my life more complicated,’ or ‘I don’t deserve to be.’

‘God doesn’t want me to.’

‘Mommy doesn’t want me to.’

‘The government doesn’t want me to.’

That never ends until you change the tune. You need to decide on something you’re going to do. Get congruent about it and go get it done. Take action on it.

There’s a saying I think is one of the most profound sayings I’ve ever heard by Émile Coué: “When the will comes into conflict with the imagination, the imagination always wins.”

It means you may want to do something, you may will it, you may write it down as a goal, you may say to yourself ‘That’s what I want to do’, but if your imagination is not congruent with that desire, you will conform to your imagination about it—even if you’re imagining the worst.

The deepest parts of you know what is right for you. That’s what intuition is. The problem is following your intuition can sometimes be a very fearful thing because you’re usually going against everything that everybody else is telling you. They’re usually saying, “Don’t do it.” You have to know and affirm that it’s right for you. It’s your thing. You’ve got to do this.

You would worry a lot less about what people think of you if you realized how little they do. But we have this façade we put up around ourselves, yes or yes? We try to play a role. And this façade takes half of our energy.

Fear is the most expensive habit we have. How much does your fear cost you? Go back five years and change your life, take all the fear away. No more fear of rejection. Live five years forward up to today without that fear. Where would you be today?

If you move and act in a different way, in a more congruent way, in a less fearful way, what happens? If we could take all of that and put it into money and relationships, time and physical health?

The question isn’t meant to draw thoughts of the past into the realm of regret. We learn what we learn when we learn it, and we get it into our bodies when it happens. Sometimes the Universe makes those turning points obvious, sometimes it takes us awhile to get there. Better late than never.

The point is to get it into our systems now; our desires deserve an imagination that will allow intuition, integrity, knowledge, and humility to go after what we want guilt free—free from the echoes of past that are no longer suited for your real ambitions.

What do you think? Has fear literally cost you money, or time, or something else important? Even for those who have found some level of financial success, do you ever still hear negative whispers from that old money blueprint? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

For Your Freedom,

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Be grateful!

We hear it all the time, at least in a community of fellow seekers who want to grow their financial success building as much as their spiritual peace. Life has its highs and lows, but the one thing that’s the same no matter where we are on the wheel is that there are always many things to be grateful for.

It’s easy to be grateful when it doesn’t really require a ton of effort, like saying “please” or “thank you.” It’s easy to be grateful when things are going great. But what about when things aren’t going quite as planned?

Everyone’s been there. The mind starts going into “what’s wrong,” or what’s not enough, what’s too much to deal with, too much to do in order to overcome an obstacle and reach a goal. In some ways it’s natural, but when it becomes a habit then the pity party is simply a safer choice.

The truth is it takes much more courage to appreciate what we’ve got—no matter how little it may seem—than it is to surrender to the scarcity model and let ourselves off the hook for taking action because something isn’t enough.

Our egos will tell us that if we spend too much time being grateful for what we have, we won’t try to get more, and we’ll become stuck with being “content” instead of happy.

Wanting what we currently have has nothing to do with somehow tricking ourselves into “settling.” Just because you’re buying an economy car now that’s practical but not so hot-looking doesn’t mean you won’t want a Ferrari three years from now when you’re rich. It’s not hard to be grateful for that fact that you have four wheels to drive that gets you where you need to go. There are plenty of people in this world that don’t have that, with consequences we couldn’t imagine.

It’s the lack-based protective mind that continuously hungers for more, like a squirrel hoarding nuts for winter. The scarcity model, constantly looking around, overlooks and discounts what’s right in front of us. We have to consistently remind ourselves to look for “what's right” in our lives instead of “what's wrong.”

Then we’ll be less likely not to forget to show our appreciation to the people who are closest to us; our family, friends, loved ones, co-workers, employees. Then there are teachers, postal workers—all the people that make our daily lives more convenient and enrich our larger communities. And let’s not forget to say “thank you” to the Universe for our many blessings.

Gratitude particularly holds true when it comes to finances. To have abundance, be grateful for and properly manage whatever wealth you have now, even if you don’t think it’s much. Why? If you’re not appreciating what you already have, that means you’re not maximizing what’s available right now. If you can’t do that, why should the Universe believe you can handle more?

Now it’s your turn! Who and what have you not fully appreciated?  What are some of the things that you think we tend to take for granted? Below list the people and things in your life for which you are grateful. Show your appreciation to the people who mean the most to you for all that you have.

For your freedom,

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Many of you know I embrace Buddhist wisdom as part of spiritual knowledge and growth. These kinds of things are choices we make for ourselves hopefully because we find this knowledge relevant and helpful to our lives. Many spiritual philosophies share similar teachings that could be just as true for people from completely different cultures.

That’s the beauty of the Oneness that most of them point toward, whatever different words one wants to use to describe it. We’re all together, all energy; all one thing.  We just think we’re separate.

If we’re going to strive for spiritual growth, we have to be willing to put concepts into practice in our everyday lives, in all relationships with all people. You can’t separate your “spiritual life” from your “work life.” They’re both your life!

In the same vein, you can’t separate money and happiness. You can try, but you won’t live a very happy life.

How you’re going to make your money has to reflect your spiritual truth as if you were attending a spiritual ceremony. The physical, material world is simply a printout of what’s going on inside us. To think any different is to fall into the illusion of separation.

So before you find the right job, business, or relationship, you have to find the right you! It’s about matching what you do with who you are. Then you get the right knowledge and the right way for you to become more prosperous and happier.

I realize there are some people who disagree with spiritual concepts, or maybe are just uncomfortable with the topic. That’s okay. We don’t have to go deep or New Agey with this. Finding the Right You is as simple as this: JOY. What are those things you do that give you absolute joy?

Joy is a clue from the heart, not to be confused with pleasure. When you evoke the feeling of joy, you are tapping into your higher nature, your truest self, and the source of your full power, your full creativity, your full wisdom. Then you’re generating passion.

Passion creates energy, and energy creates enthusiasm. It’s very contagious. When you are passionate about what you do, it comes through!  Will people want what you’ve got?  Yes and yes! Mostly because of the energy transfer, that’s it!

The most important thing about your business, whatever vehicle is appropriate for you, is you have to frickin’ believe in it to where you would shout it from the top of the roof to everybody, every minute of every day!  If you can’t do that, you don’t believe in what you do enough—and ultimately, you don’t believe in yourself. You’re not being your “Right You”.

When you find something that you really believe in and get it into your subconscious, the obstacles that block you seem more like minor interruptions compared to the passion of operating from your true Self.

Unless you are passionate about what you do, it is very difficult for you to be successful or happy. Right livelihood comes down to finding work that matches who you are.

Tell us your experiences with finding your “Right You.” Have you truly found your “Right You” yet in your life? What was the turning point that made you realize you weren’t being the real you? What was the transformation like? Share your thoughts and comments with our community, your feedback is very valuable!

For Your Freedom,

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What kind of receiver are you? If you’re reading this, chances are you consider yourself a giver of sorts. You might even beat yourself up a little bit for thinking you don’t give enough. Then again, there are those who think they’re givers but really aren’t.

The point is we tend to focus on giving as “goodness”; of feeling good or intending good. But what kind of receiver are you? Do you take compliments bashfully? Do you say, “Aw, it was really nothing”? Do you tell them to stop teasing you, or that you weren’t fishing for a compliment?

One of the big reasons most people don’t reach their full potential, financially or otherwise, is that they are very, very poor receivers. ‘You’re not worthy’ because of the way you look, or what you do, or how much money you have, or don’t have.

You’re worthy because the Great Spirit, or Universe, or God, or whatever you want to call a higher power, has put you on the earth at this time. There’s nothing else to think about! Since you’re as worthy as the next person, you’re as deserving to receive as anyone else. Anything else that your mind says around that is made up, non-supportive crappola!

And then there’s that phrase that a lot of people heard when they were young, and we still hear it: “It’s better to give than to receive.” Of course it is, isn’t it?

I’m sorry, but let’s just call that what it is: bad math! If both have to be there for the other to exist, how on earth could one be better than the other? How is that possible? Somebody enlighten me please!

By the way, the original intention of that ‘better to give’ statement actually translates more correctly into ‘It’s better to be in a position to give than in a position where you need to receive’.

In other words it’s better to be rich! Some people will read that and get that little twinge of guilt—How can I so selfishly justify wanting to be rich? Fine, I understand, I was there too, so let’s try this from another angle.

How does it feel to give, especially when that person didn’t ask you for anything yet you knew they were in need? Most people say it feels great, yes? It’s especially the grateful receivers that make us feel even better about our giving, yes?

But if you’re not willing to receive, you’re ripping off those people from the other side of the equation who want to give. And we’re proving that both giving and receiving are great. Two birds with one stone. If you’re in a position to give, that’s wealth—whether it’s money, time or kindness.

So here’s your practice. No more returning compliments for a specific time! If someone gives you a compliment, you’re not allowed to give them a compliment at that time because it dishonors them (of course use your better judgment, but you get the point!).  Returning a compliment because you think you have to robs them of the full joy of giving you the compliment. And it robs you of receiving.

The key is to recognize that whether you’re “worthy” or not is a feeling, not a fact. It’s a story that you made up and now you own. Disown that! Receive with the same joy that you give.

Now it’s your turn – we want to hear your thoughts and feelings. Do you think you’re a better giver or receiver? Do you have a hard time receiving compliments? How about giving them? Your feedback is very valuable so make sure to leave a comment and start a conversation with others in our community!

For your freedom,
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