How do you manage your assets?

You, and every one of us, have assets. Those who dream of being in the top 5% understand that how they manage their MONEY and how they manage their TIME will have a huge bearing on how successful they are, and how long it will take.

Each of us has different financial situations. But all of us have exactly the same amount of time. We all have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year.

Time is fleeting. You can’t store it away for later. Once the moment is gone, it’s gone forever. You either spend it on something that accomplished little or nothing, or invest it towards moving you closer to your dreams and goals.

If you want to live the life of your dreams, time must take on a whole new meaning.

You will realize very soon if you haven’t already, that for you to live the success that is awaiting you, you must invest the time in your life wisely.

You must understand how valuable your time is, and plan the use of it carefully.

Have you ever heard the expression “Some people work hard, some people work smart”?

The principles and the ideas I express on my blog have worked for me and thousands and thousands people, and I know that if you have an open mind and try these things out in your life that they’ll work for you too.

You want to work smart and hard. You want to make the very best use of your time always.

Are you aware of how you spend your time? Awareness is critical to change. You need to become conscious of what you do with your time.

And equally important, you need to be aware of how much you’re putting yourself into your time. How often are you operating at 100% efficiency, where you are so into what you are doing that you lose all track of time and completely focus on the task at hand.

A great beginning is to keep a time log for a week or two. Every hour, note what you did, and note what level of commitment you gave of yourself. If you were slacking for an hour when you know you should have been working, you might only give yourself a 10%. If you set aside an hour for a workout, and you really worked hard for the hour, then you might give yourself a score of 95% or even 100%.

Be honest with what you did, and how you did it. At the end of the week, you can begin to see where you have opportunities to improve the use of your time.

So as you begin to appreciate the value of time, you realize that by not planning it wisely, you spend and waste enormous amounts of time every day.

Once you become focused on what’s important in your life, you can make incredible strides forward with the proper planning and use of time. You can get more done in a year than many do in 10 years if you’ve got your goal and your plan and you know what to do.

2006 is right around the corner. I am pumped up about the upcoming year . I see 365 stepping-stones that will take me higher up the mountain of my journey. Every day is a golden jewel to be harvested and invested in.

Think about how you use your time. Think about how much more efficiently you could be using your time. Make a commitment to yourself that you are going to make a much greater investment in your time in the New Year.

If you do, 365 days from now, you will be amazed just how much you accomplished in a year.

Namaste.

Jeff

Happy Holidays

It's hard to believe that the year is almost over.

Where the heck did it go?

I hope for all of you, 2005 was a terrific year.

Here's wishing you a happy holiday season and a great New Year.

Namaste.

Jeff

Do You Want to Improve Your Chances For Success by 1000%?

You read in my last post that less than 5% of all the people who participate in self help seminars similar to the Millionaire Mind Intensive offered by Harv Eker and Peak Potentials Training actually end up achieving the results that the program is designed to deliver.

Virtually everyone who attends the event has a terrific time. They’ll go home and tell all of their friends and family what a life changing experience it was. They’ll talk about all the things they learned. They’ll contact the new friends they developed during the program. On a scale of 1 to 10, the vast majority of the participants leave the event at a psychological 9 or 10.

But within a very short period of time, they return to their previous lives, never to see the benefits of the knowledge they learned at the program. This is true regardless what program we are talking about, or who the trainer/speaker was.

Yet, a handful, take this knowledge and never look back. They make monumental strides and make improvements in their lives that transform them forever.

While I was the Director of Operations and CFO for Peak Potentials, I was curious to know what was unique about the small 5% that take their lives to the next level and use the knowledge they learned to propel their lives onward and upward.

I noticed that most people, once back in their own environment, immediately fall back into their old habits and patterns. If they were lazy before the seminar, they go right back to being lazy afterwards. If they were disorganized beforehand, that’s what they revert back to. Those who had no goals or ambitions prior to the event lose their ambition soon after they return to their normal life.

For the vast majority of these people, when I ask them what happened to all of their enthusiasm and intentions, they’ll inevitably answer, “I don’t have the time”, or “I don’t have the money”, or “It’s too difficult”, or "I'll get around to it", or any one of hundreds of excuses. And that’s exactly what they are, EXCUSES!

When I hear these people, I just shake my head, because there is nothing anyone can say that is going to help them. They are stuck in their rut, and aren’t willing to make the effort to make the changes necessary to reach their dreams. Sure, if someone hands it to them on a silver platter they’ll gladly accept it, but if it means getting out of their comfort zone, making the extra effort, sacrificing free time now for success later, that’s not for them.

Then there are the few who never return to their previous life. They have been able to take the knowledge and momentum that was generated at the program, and build on it once they get home. The big difference with the vast majority of these successful people is that THEY GET HELP.

When I heard of MMI graduates making huge strides in their lives and achieving their goals, the overwhelming majority of them had CHOSEN TO WORK WITH A COACH.

To become successful in any area of life, you need to develop SUCCESS HABITS. No matter what your goals and desires are, there is the successful way to do things that lead to successful results, and then, there are all the other ways that for one reason or another just don’t work.

Most people, with the rare exception, fall back into old habits quickly and easily. It’s not that their intentions aren’t sincere, that’s just human nature.

Finding the right coach, and working with that coach, seems to be the biggest difference between those who move on to success and happiness and those who don’t.

The right coach makes all the difference. Why? Just as a personal trainer helps you focus on your physical fitness, a personal coach helps you focus on all the critical areas of your life. And while having a personal trainer doesn’t guarantee you success in getting physically fit, those who work with one generally do much better than they would have on their own.

The right coach keeps you on track, reminding you of the things you need to be doing to achieve your goals and dreams. The coach is there to advise you, to remind you, to encourage you, to motivate you, to hold you to your commitments, to help you plan your time, to push you, to stimulate your thinking, to cheer you on. The coach will point out bad habits that need to be replaced, and good habits that need to be applied. And while the coach cannot do the things you must do to be successful for you, just as a personal trainer, the right coach can help you become more successful much faster than if you try and do it alone.

In every walk of life, I meet people who are excelling in their fields, and I am always amazed at how many of them have a coach or mentor. To these successful people, each of them will tell you that they credit the majority of their success to having a great coach who has guided them through their journey.

Surprisingly, working with a coach doesn’t have to be either very time consuming or expensive. The typical coaching session lasts between 30 minutes to 60 minutes. In most instances, it’s done over the phone. Coaching sessions are generally once a week. The average cost for a good coach starts at about $250 per month and goes up from there.

During the “Winning the Money Game” portion of the Millionaire Mind Intensive, a very specific money management system is taught. Included in that system is having an education fund where you invest a certain portion of your monthly income. Investing in your continued education is critical to anyone who sincerely wants to be successful. Investing in a coach is a gift you give to yourself because you are committed to your own success, and you want to maximize the likelihood of achieving it.

I have been using coaches and mentors my entire adult life. They have been a constant source of help and inspiration, and I know what impact they’ve had on me. If there is only one thing that you take away from reading this post, it’s that YOU IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF ACHIEVING THE SUCCESS YOU WANT IN YOUR LIFE DRAMATICALLY IF YOU COMMIT TO WORKING WITH A COACH.

I am passionate about my own personal and financial growth and development. It’s something I enjoy working at constantly, and I never get tired of learning more and sharing it with my friends and associates. Having spent the past 35 years of my life learning and studying the greatest teachers and trainers in the area of personal and financial growth, I believe I have a knowledge base few can match.

While at Peak Potentials Training, one of the business units that I got to know very well was SUCCESSTRACS, the coaching side of the business. With hundreds of coaches and thousands of students throughout the U.S., Canada and around the world, I saw first hand how the coaching business worked. I got to see how the coaching sessions were structured, and spoke with many SUCCESSTRACS students to get their feedback.

Based on that information, plus the knowledge I’ve gained talking with other successful coaches, I am now developing my own coaching program designed exclusively for those who are totally committed to joining the top 5%. I’m excited about introducing it early in 2006, and will begin coaching on a part time basis with a small group of clients.

Regardless whether you would be interested in working with me or any other coach, I sincerely hope you will consider finding and working with a coach in 2006. If you want to increase the odds of breaking away from the 95% who just don’t get it, and rising to the top 5% who are living their dreams, this one decision will have more of an impact on your life than any other decision you can make in the new year.

Namaste.

Jeff

Understanding Your Odds.......

Recently while I was rereading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, I noticed his reference to the fact that perhaps only 2 or 3 out of every 100 people are really living their dreams and working towards their goals.

Millions of people have purchased and read Think and Grow Rich, and it is considered perhaps the greatest book ever written on the subject of creating wealth. The Napoleon Hill Foundation still exists today, and his teachings are offered to many. Yet of all the people who have read Think and Grow Rich, only a small %, probably less than 5% acquired wealth as a result.

That doesn’t make Napoleon Hill any less of a master in this area, that’s just human nature. It wasn’t Napoleon Hill’s fault that 95% failed to take action on his teachings.

When I was working with Harv Eker at Peak Potentials Training, we often had 1,500 to 2,000 people attend the 3 day Millionaire Mind Intensive. This program is designed to educate people how to “win the money game” and to develop a millionaire mindset by understanding how rich people think compared to middle class and poor people.

By the time the event was winding up, generally 99% of the participants were sky high emotionally. They had undergone an amazing 3 days, thought about things they might have never or rarely thought about, felt emotions that they had probably forgotten, experienced many major breakthroughs, developed new friends, and had an exciting, fresh outlook on life.

But I can tell you that of these 2,000 people, within a month, 1,900 of them were back to being their old selves and had forgotten everything they had learned at the MMI. The remaining 100 were still moving forward and attempting to incorporate what they learned into their lives. Three months later, maybe 50 of them are still working at it.

Why?

That’s human nature. Those are the odds. It doesn’t make Harv any less of a master in this area. It wasn’t Harv’s fault that 95% failed to take action on his teachings.

The fact of the matter is that most people say they want to become wealthy. Most people say they want to learn to be wealthy. And once people are taught what to do, most people will immediately think to themselves that it’s way too much effort, and that’s the end of that.

You can choose virtually any well known speaker/trainer, such as Harv Eker, Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Earl Nightingale, Dale Carnegie, Brian Tracy, and on and on and on, and if you actually do what they tell you to, you will be successful. Just pick one and actually do what they tell you to, and you will be successful.

In fact, you will notice that most of them are all saying pretty much the same things. The principles and ideas have been around forever. You’ll find most of them in the Bible.

Each speaker has a unique style for getting their message across, and sometimes you have to hear things expressed different ways before the ideas actually sink in.

Now the critical question here is this, do you want to be a part of the 5% or the 95%? Do you want to become the kind of person capable of being in the top 5%?

Would you like to know the way to improve your odds of making it into the top 5%? I can tell you first hand from my days at Peak Potentials Training, the ones who were really going gangbusters and transforming their lives all had one thing in common.

This one thing has made more of a difference than anything else the most successful are doing. And you will be reading more about this one thing in my next post.

Namaste.

Jeff

Jack of All Trades.....

Have you ever heard the expression, “The jack of all trades and the master of none?”

One of the key components to success is to have specialized knowledge. The experts in any field are the ones who experience the most success, the most notoriety, and the most income.

Specialized knowledge is the result of focus. When someone chooses to become an expert in their area of interest, they focus their time and effort in acquiring the knowledge and experience necessary to master it.

The average individual does 100 things once. The master does one thing 100 times. Think about that for a moment. Repetition is the key to learning anything, and the more focus you place in repeating anything, the more you master it.

This is true in any field, for any person.

If you want to achieve success on a grand scale, you must become a master in your area of interest. Even more importantly, you must learn to become a master at sales and marketing.

In my career, I have seen tremendously talented people who never achieve the level of success that they should. They have tremendous potential, but can never seem to break through and create the income and success that could be theirs. And the primary reason is because they failed to learn how to sell and market.

The Law of Compensation states that your income will be in direct proportion to the quantity and quality of the products and services you deliver to the marketplace. Notice I didn't say produce. I said deliver. It doesn't matter how much you produce. It matters how much you sell of what you produced.

If you are a salaried employee, your income is capped. There is a ceiling to how much you can earn in a year. Sure there may be a bonus at year-end, but for the most part, you know almost to the penny what you will earn. Your primary incentive is to work hard enough to maintain your job.

If you really want to achieve financial success in a relatively short time, you have to eliminate all limits to your income. That means that you have to begin to think in terms of a businessman or businesswoman.

Suppose you are an accountant, a CPA. I have known many over my career. The ones who have achieved the greatest financial success are not generally the best technical accountants. They’re the ones who know how to BRING IN THE BUSINESS. They know how to attract clients. They are referred to as the RAINMAKERS. Once the clients are on board, they can hand over the technical aspects to their staff, and simply review the work afterwards. In fact, their staff may have more technical abilities than they do, and in many instances, they do. But while the staff earns a salary, the owner gets wealthy.

The highest paid people in the world are business people. And the best business people are the ones who know how to sell and market. It doesn’t really matter how skilled you are in your profession if you have no clients to serve.

During my time at Peak Potentials Training, I had the opportunity to work with one of the greatest marketers and salesmen I have ever known in Harv Eker. Harv has the ability to generate sales in abundance. He is a master. He has taken the time to learn how to create a desire in his prospects to take action, open up their checkbooks, whip out their credit cards, and make a buying decision. I used to watch in awe as he would make an offer from the stage during one of his programs, and have people literally running to the back of the room to spend thousands of dollars.

Harv Eker has countless speaking engagements. Not only does he appear at his own events, he makes himself available to speak at other people’s engagements. He has performed his presentations so many times that he could do them in his sleep. And everywhere he speaks, he sells.

Make no mistake about it; Harv is a brilliant speaker and trainer. His unique style strikes a chord with almost everyone who sees him. He under promises and over delivers. He emits a tremendous amount of energy that people gravitate to. He has a great sense of humor. He is a genuinely nice guy. In my opinion, Harv is a creative genius.

More than anything else, Harv is a phenomenal businessman, and more specifically, he is a master marketer and salesman. He understood long ago the key to financial success is in the ability to influence people, to create a desire in his prospects so great that they gladly take action to buy what he is offering.

Do you have the ability to move people to take action? Can you create a desire in people so strong that they willingly buy what you have to offer?

I have some exciting news for you! You can make up your mind in this instance that you are going to acquire this skill. You can decide right now that you are going to be a master at sales and marketing. You can create a plan to FOCUS your time and effort to become an expert in this area.

How? Look to the most successful and model them. That’s what Harv did. He found out who the best of the best were. He read their books. He bought their tapes. He went to their workshops and seminars. He practiced and refined his skills. And most important, HE TOOK ACTION. He continually improved his skills and his presentation. He focused on becoming a master of sales and marketing. You can do the exact same thing.

If you make one New Years resolution for 2006, resolve that you are going to spend time everyday becoming an expert in sales and marketing. I promise you that if you do, next year at this time, your life will be transformed.

Namaste.

Jeff

One Habit You Must Develop....

There are Universal Laws that govern everything that happens to us in our lives. By understanding these Laws and living in accordance with them, you remove yourself from the masses of people swimming upstream against the tide, and allow these laws to move you directly towards your dreams and goals.

The most powerful of all the universal laws is the law of cause and effect. If you’ve been reading this blog, you have seen reference to it on a number of occasions.

Why is the law of cause and effect so critical to your success and happiness in life? Since it is so important to your life, making certain that you understand and apply this law in your life may well determine whether you live the life of your dreams, or whether you live a life of struggle and unhappiness.

You might as well understand right now, no matter how many good ideas you have, no matter how brilliant they are, no matter how much money and success they could bring you, until you begin to take action, you will not see any results. Good ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s implementing those ideas that make all the difference.

You are responsible for not only coming up with sound ideas. You are also responsible for putting those ideas into action. You are responsible for creating the “cause”. The “effects”, or the results of your efforts are what the Universe will return to you.

If you put out a very small amount of effort, you should expect a very small result. If you want a massive amount of results, then you need to be prepared to put out a massive amount of effort. The law is very strict. If you want a lot, you must first put in a lot.

That’s why it is critical for you to develop the habit of taking action. Action should become one of the most important words in your vocabulary. Nothing of any value comes to you without you first taking action.

If you know what you want out of life, you can create plans to get it. The most successful people in recorded history have all followed this approach. When you study these high performance individuals, they all have this one particular habit above all else.

THEY MAKE DECISIONS. They don’t procrastinate. Once they know where they want to go, they begin to look for the best ways to reach their objective. They gather the necessary facts to make an informed decision. Once they have enough facts, they make a decision and ACT. They don’t ‘think about it” for months or weeks, they make a decision and take immediate action.

What kind of a decision maker are you? Do you put off making decisions waiting to see if something better is going to come along? Are you afraid to make a decision fearing you’ll make the wrong one? Do you feel as though you can’t make a decision because you don’t know every answer to every question on the subject?

Successful people aren’t afraid to take action realizing they might not have all the answers. They realize that if they wait until they have all the answers they will never move forward. They have faith and belief in themselves that if they need to make adjustments along the way, they have the ability to make the necessary changes to keep them on track.

Reflect on the last time you needed to make a decision. Were you decisive? Did you gather up enough facts to form an opinion and then act on it, or did you wait to “think about it some more?”

At Peak Potentials, Harv Eker has a favorite quote, “Ready, fire, aim.” It’s time you adopted this philosophy.

Your goal is to be happier and wealthier. You want to join the elite 5% of all people who achieve amazing success. Your ability to make a decision and to act on it will determine to a great extent the level of success you will achieve. Practice the habit of making decisions and acting on them. Only then will you begin to see the results you want in your life.

Namaste.

Jeff

Have you ever heard Zig Ziglar?

One of the most outstanding motivational speakers of all time is Zig Ziglar. The man is truly an icon in this industry, and has been on the scene for decades.

I first heard Zig back in the 1970's, and his ability as a storyteller is second to none.

Over 30 years ago Zig wrote a fantastic book called "See you at the Top", and in it he told the story of Priming the Pump. I've since heard him tell this story in person at one of his appearances, and to this day, the lessons from this story remain with me.

It takes just a few minutes to read, and your investment in time will be well rewarded.

So without further introduction, I bring you Zig Ziglar and "Priming the Pump". I hope you enjoy...


Priming the Pump

One of the props I use in my talks around the country is an old-fashioned chrome-plated water pump. I personally love the story of the pump because to me it represents the story of America, the story of the free enterprise system, and the story of life. For your benefit, I hope you’ve had the opportunity of using one of these old-fashioned water pumps on at least one occasion. That experience will help you to appreciate the significance of this series of thoughts.

Several years ago two friends of mine, Bernard Haygood and Jimmy Glenn, were driving in the South Alabama foothills on a hot August day. They were thirsty, so Bernard pulled behind an old abandoned farmhouse with a water pump in the yard. He hopped out of the car, ran over to the pump, grabbed the handle and started pumping. After a moment or two of pumping, Bernard pointed to an old bucket and suggested to Jimmy that he get the bucket and dip some water out of a nearby stream in order to “prime” the pump. As all pumpers know, you must put a little water in the top of the pump to “prime” the pump and get the flow of water started.

In the game of life, before you can get anything out you must put something in. Unfortunately, there are many people who stand in front of the stove of life and say, “Stove, give me some heat and then I’ll put some wood in you.”

Many times the secretary comes to the boss and says, “Give me a raise and then I’ll start doing better work and being more conscientious.” Often the salesman goes to the boss and says, “Make me the sales manager and I’ll really show you what I can do. It’s true I haven’t done much until now, but I need to be in charge in order to do my best work. So just make me the boss and then watch me go.” Many times the student says to the teacher, “If I take a bad grade home for this semester my folks will really lay it on me. So Teacher, if you will just give me a good grade this quarter, I promise I’ll study real hard next quarter.” My experience has been that it doesn’t work that way. If it did, I could easily imagine a farmer praying, “Lord, if you will just give me a crop this year, I promise to plant the seed and work hard next year.” What they are really saying is, “Reward me and then I’ll produce.” But life doesn’t work that way. You must first put something into life before you can expect to get anything out of it. Now, if you’ll just transfer this knowledge to the rest of your life, you can solve many of your problems.

The farmer must plant his seed in the spring or summer before he reaps the harvest in the fall. He also “puts in” lots of work before the crop reaches the harvest stage. The student puts in hundreds of hours of work before he acquires the knowledge and the graduation certificate. The secretary of today who is the office manager of tomorrow puts a considerable amount of extra into her job. The athlete of today who becomes a champion of tomorrow “puts in” a great deal of himself in the form of sweat and effort before he reaps the champion’s reward. The junior executive of today who becomes the corporate president of tomorrow is that individual who put himself into the job. The salesman of today who becomes the sales manager of tomorrow is the person who understands the principle of priming the pump. When you put something “in,” the law of compensation says you’ll get something “out.”

Don't Stop Now

Well, let’s get back to my friends in South Alabama. South Alabama is hot in August and after a few minutes of pumping, Bernard worked up a considerable sweat. At that point he started asking himself just how much work he was willing to do for that water. He was concerned about the amount of reward he would receive for the amount of effort expended. After a time he said, “Jimmy, I don’t believe there’s any water in this well.” Jimmy replied, “Yes, there is, Bernard; in South Alabama the wells are deep and that’s good, because the deep well produces the good, clean, sweet, pure, best-tasting water of all.” Jimmy is also talking about life, isn’t he? The things we have to work for are the things we appreciate most.

That which is easily obtained is generally not worth a great deal. If you could become an MD in a six-week summer course, just how much would it be worth? If you could become a super salesman by listening to a four-hour sales lecture, competition would be so intense your commission would be considerably smaller. Go down the list and you’ll discover that those skills and objectives that require your blood, sweat and tears are the ones that bring the real satisfaction and rewards. Back to the pump.

By now Bernard was getting hot and tired, so he threw up his hands and said, “Jimmy, there just isn’t any water in this well.” Jimmy quickly grabbed the pump handle and kept pumping as he said, “Don’t stop now, Bernard; if you do, the water will go all the way back down and then you’ll have to start all over again.” That, too, is the story of life. There isn’t a human being in existence, regardless of age, sex, or occupation, who doesn’t occasionally feel he might as well “stop pumping” because there isn’t any water down there. So if you occasionally feel that way, it should be comforting to know that you’ve got lots of company.

Just One More Time

Now let’s look at something intriguing and obvious. There’s no way you can look at the outside of a pump and determine whether it will take two more strokes or two hundred more to bring forth the water. There’s often no way you can look into the game of life and determine whether or not you’ll get the big break tomorrow or whether it will take another week, month, year or even longer.

This I do know beyond any reasonable doubt. Regardless of what you are doing, if you will pump long enough, hard enough and enthusiastically enough, sooner or later the effort will bring forth the reward. I also know that just as you add nothing to the score if you stop on third base, you can’t quench your thirst with the water that almost comes out of the pump. Fortunately, once the water starts to flow, all you have to do is keep some steady pressure on the pump and you’ll get more water than you can use. This is the story of success and happiness in life.

The message is clear. Whatever you’re doing, work at it with the right attitude and the right habits, but above all, keep at it with bulldog tenacity and persistence. Just as the flow of water is often one stroke away, the sweet taste of success and victory is often just over the hill or around the corner. Whether you’re a doctor, lawyer, student, housewife, laborer or salesperson, once you get the water flowing, it’s easy to keep it flowing with a little steady effort.

We will never know how many youngsters missed winning a college scholarship because they didn’t study just 10 minutes more every day. Or how many employees missed out on a promotion because they didn’t stay at their task just a few more minutes each day for a few more weeks. Or how many sales were missed because the prospect wasn’t given just one more reason to make a yes decision today.

I believe the story of the pump is the story of life and the free enterprise system. I say this because it has nothing to do with age or education, whether you are black or white, male or female, overweight or underweight, extrovert or introvert, or whether you are Catholic, Jew or Protestant. It has everything to do with your God-given rights as a free person to work as long as you wish, as hard as you wish, and as enthusiastically as you wish to get everything in life you really want.

As you move to the top, remember the story of the pump. If you start pumping casually or half-heartedly, you will pump forever before anything happens. Pump hard to begin with and keep it up until you get that water flowing. Then a great deal will happen. Once the flow of water starts, just maintain that steady pressure and the time will come when the rewards will be so enormous that you’ll be getting what you want instead of having to want what you have.

Namaste.

Jeff

Don't ever give up.....

This isn't the post I was expecting to write tonight. But life sometimes works out that way.

I was working out at my hotel's health club, and the TV in the room was set on ESPN, and it was showing a college basketball game. The game was a part of the Jimmy V classic, a tournament designed to raise money for the Jimmy V foundation, which was started by Jimmy to help in cancer research.

If you don't know who Jimmy V was, we're talking about the late Jimmy Valvano, the head coach of the North Carolina State mens basketball team who passed away from cancer in 1993.

Before the game, ESPN played his acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe award for courage presented to him at the 1993 ESPY awards. He was just weeks away from his death, but the inspiration of his words moved me tremendously.

I wish everyone could see and hear his speech. It moved me to tears. Truly unbelievable.

After my workout I had to find a copy of his speech and post it here.

Jimmy Valvano will live on forever. His soul is a very special one.

From the Jimmy V web site, here's the biggest part of his speech.....

Thank you, Thank you very much. Thank you. That's the lowest I've ever seen Dick Vitale since the owner of the Detroit Pistons called him in and told him he should go into broadcasting.

I can't tell you what an honor it is, to even be mentioned in the same breath with Arthur Ashe. This is something I certainly will treasure forever. But, as it was said on the tape, and I also don't have one of those things going with the cue cards, so I'm going to speak longer than anybody else has spoken tonight. That's the way it goes. Time is very precious to me. I don't know how much I have left and I have some things that I would like to say. Hopefully, at the end, I will have said something that will be important to other people too.

But, I can't help it. Now I'm fighting cancer, everybody knows that. People ask me all the time about how you go through your life and how's your day, and nothing is changed for me. As Dick said, I'm a very emotional and passionate man. I can't help it. That's being the son of Rocco and Angelina Valvano. It comes with the territory. We hug, we kiss, we love. When people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

It's so important to know where you are. I know where I am right now. How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. You have to be willing to work for it.

I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm," to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.

Now I look at where I am now and I know what I want to do. What I would like to be able to do is spend whatever time I have left and to give some hope to others. Arthur Ashe Foundation is a wonderful thing, and AIDS, the amount of money pouring in for AIDS is not enough, but is significant. But if I told you it's ten times the amount that goes in for cancer research. I also told you that five hundred thousand people will die this year of cancer. I also tell you that one in every four will be afflicted with this disease, and yet somehow, we seem to have put it in a little bit of the background. I want to bring it back on the front table. We need your help. I need your help. We need money for research. It may not save my life. It may save my children's lives. It may save someone you love. And ESPN has been so kind to support me in this endeavor and allow me to announce tonight, that with ESPN's support, which means what? Their money and their dollars and they're helping me-we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And it's motto is "Don't give up, don't ever give up." That's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. If you see me, smile and give me a hug. That's important to me too. But try if you can to support, whether it's AIDS or the cancer foundation, so that someone else might survive, might prosper and might actually be cured of this dreaded disease. I can't thank ESPN enough for allowing this to happen. I'm going to work as hard as I can for cancer research and hopefully, maybe, we'll have some cures and some breakthroughs. I'd like to think, I'm going to fight my brains out to be back here again next year for the Arthur Ashe recipient. I want to give it next year!

I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I want to say it again. Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.

I thank you and God bless you all.

God bless you too Jimmy.

Namaste.

Jeff

Begin to get the picture....

If you’ve been following along with this blog, you’ve read numerous times that successful people have goals. Part of determining your goals is the time period in which you intend to accomplish them.

You will have daily goals.

You will have weekly goals.

You will have monthly goals.

You will have quarterly goals.

You will have annual goals.

You will have 3-year goals.

You will have lifetime goals.

It is important to take the time to decide what these goals will be, because they will become the blueprint for your future.

Let’s talk about lifetime goals. Do you want a fun and exciting life? How about a long and healthy life? How about developing great long-term relationships with those close to you? How about making a contribution to society? How about retiring in style? How about seeing the world? What are the things you want to see or do in your life? What kind of a person do you want to become?

Make a list of those things you know you want to accomplish in your lifetime. It’s important to give this area some thought, because your shorter-term goals should be consistent with your lifetime goals.

For example, if you want to live a long and healthy life, more than likely, it isn’t going to happen by accident, nor is it going to happen overnight. You are going to have to be proactive, and do things over the course of your life to promote good health. You are going to have to begin to do things now that will promote a long and healthy life. You’ll have to look at your weight and make sure you keep it under control. You’ll have to consider your diet, making sure you eat healthy and nutritious food. You’ll be considering your level of fitness and the amount of exercise you are currently doing (or not doing). You’ll have to consider your vices (tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc.) and what the long-term health impacts are if you continue them. You’ll have to have regular medical checkups. There are a number of areas you’ll be thinking about if you really want to live a long and healthy life.

Suppose you want to be able to retire in style. Unless you have a large inheritance coming, you will have to begin to think about that now. It isn’t something you can begin thinking about just before you intend to retire. You’ll have to think about the monthly income you’ll want in order to live the retirement lifestyle you want. You’ll have to develop a plan for saving and investing for that time. You’ll be thinking about where you want to live your retirement years. What kind of a home do you want to live in. There are a number of areas you’ll be thinking about if you really want to retire in style.

Knowing where you want to end up helps you in determining the steps you’ll need to take in order to get there. It won’t be a matter of luck that you reach your long-term goals. You’ll be progressively working towards them in the short and medium term all along the way.

Once you have an idea of what your long-term goals are, you can begin looking at a shorter time horizon. I like looking at a 3-year plan. In 3 years there is sufficient time to have flexibility.

Today is December 1, 2005. Where do you want to be December 1, 2008? Think back just 3 years ago. December 1, 2002. It wasn’t that long ago. 36 months fly by. And unless you begin to make changes in your life now, where will you be in 3 years? For most people, they’ll be in the same place, or maybe even worse! There’s a saying that I’ve seen many times over the years….”If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.” Take a look at your life right now. Are you happy with where you are, or do you want to take your life to the next level?

That’s why, if you want to improve your life, you are going to have to make the changes necessary to set you on a new path of growth and success. So take the time to decide exactly where you want to be in 3 years from now. What new habits do you want to develop? What kind of income do you want to have? What do you want your net worth to be? What kind of a marriage do you want to have? What kind of a person do you want to be? What kind of a car do you want to be driving? What kind of house do you want to live in? What kind of physical shape do you want to be in? Where in the world do you want to go?

Next, break down your 3-year goals into 1-year increments. You cannot accomplish a 3-year goal in 1 year, but you can have annual milestones that will keep you on track to reach your 3-year goal right on time.

From there you can create your quarterly, monthly, weekly, and finally your daily goals.

As you work your way closer to the present, you need to begin to rank your goals, so that you are spending your time, energy and money on those things that mean the most to you.

Of course, all of this MUST BE WRITTEN DOWN. If you don’t take the time to write them down, I can pretty much promise you that you will not achieve your goals.

97% of all people have no written goals. Only 3% do. And these 3% accomplish more than the remaining 97% combined.

If you have the discipline to do this on your own, great. If you think you need help, I would strongly urge you to consider finding a coach. The most successful people in virtually every walk of life have a coach or a mentor or an advisor. It all depends on whether you want to be a part of the 97% who live in mediocrity, or the 3% who take their life to the max.

So begin today to think about your goals. Remember that your goals are RESULTS. They are beyond your control. Your EFFORTS will produce the results, and you have control over your efforts. Remember the Universal law of CAUSE and EFFECT. YOU are charged with taking ACTION. The effects, or the results of your actions will take care of themselves. And results are PREDICTABLE. If someone else is achieving the goals you want, all you have to do is do what they’re doing, and there’s a very good chance you’ll get the same results too.

Set your sights high. Don’t settle for average. Create an exciting image in your mind of the life you want to have. Get down to specifics. Think about what you want constantly. Develop a burning desire to become that person. Believe that you have the ability to achieve that image. As Napoleon Hill wrote in “Think and Grow Rich”…”What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve”.

Namaste.

Jeff