—”Umbrella” – This is a lifestyle that is above the want list—
•  Ensure that Jesus Christ is the center of mine and my family’s life and that we keep our lives endeavors, both big and small, in perspective with that which is truly important.

—”A” List—
1.  Ensure that Jesus Christ is the center of mine and my family’s life and that we keep our lives endeavors in perspective. (Moved to Umbrella)
1.  Prove to myself and to others that financial independence and control of my life is not a dream!
2.  Become as dedicated to my spiritual growth as I am to growth in other areas of my life.
3.  Use my God given talents in business, technology, and innovation to radically change the lives and realities of my friends, family, and those in need.
4.  See my wife find and do what she is truly passionate about.
5.  Be the best dad and best husband possible.
6.  <private>  (can’t post this one…sorry!)
7.  Have complete control over every hour of my day.  Life is too short to have it otherwise.
8.  See and help my kids dreams come true.
9.  Make $1,000,000 a month in true passive income.

Well, #6 has been achieved!!!  I (because of absolutely amazing and indescribable love and support from my wife) have taken a giant leap of faith and resigned from what by all accounts was a fantastic job and career in order to take a chance on pursuing my dreams – many of which I have described throughout this blog.  I have 1 year to ‘make things happen’ or else I risk having no choice but to become an employee again, but I’m not looking back! 

I also set a goal back in late February, 2009 of achieving $1,500 a month in passive income (in my picture you can see that I used PayPal as a means of obtaining these funds in my example).  Well, GOAL ACHIEVED EXCEEDED!!!  And coincidentally (or maybe NOT coincidentally – I will let you decide) this is almost the definition of passive income – and the funds just happened to be received by me via PayPal.  I will let the below picture speak for itself . 

The goal (well, being self-employed now I guess it’s more of a requirement) now is to significantly improve on this each month.  The next “mini-goal” is to bump it to $5,000 by the end of February, 2010.  It feels so great to be past the dreaming stage and to have all of 1 foot and part of the second in the ‘do or die’ stage.  Stay tuned!!

I did NOT make it all the way to my goal :-(…BUT there was alot of good progress made!  Additionally, I feel like I’ve laid alot more groundwork to make success more easily attainable in the coming month’s.  Interestingly enough, on May 25th I received a check for $1,500 from a business venture that I’m part of.  It’s not recurring income, but I just found it interesting that it happened to be for $1,500 and came so close to may “goal” date of May 31st.  I have been able to create $650 of passive monthly income though and feel very good about that!  In reality, I’m almost half way to reaching my goal of $1,500.  I hope, and believe, that it will be reached in the coming 3 – 6 month’s.  Stay tuned…

It’s still too early to determine whether or not all of the concepts will play out as described, but I’m going to commit to staying on course and relistening to the material relatively frequently.  “The Goal Achiever” has been extremely motivational, has allowed me to think about my life in ways that I hadn’t before, and has helped to put order and priority to the many wants and desires of life.  I’d strongly recommend this course to anybody that is given the opportunity to take it.  If you enroll, do yourself a favor and DO THE WORK!  It’s worth it!!!

I’ll be continuing to post (less frequently of course) on my journey towards reaching the picture goal that I defined by May 31st.  Stay tuned…!

The Goal Achiever Gets Things Done!

• It isn’t how much you know, but what you get done that the world rewards and remembers
• The biggest handicap to success is not a lack of brains, nor a lack or character, or willingness.  It is weakness in getting things done.
• Millions of people are held back from success because they simply don’t know how to get things done.
• These millions of people who fail to do something great with their lives know what to do – and almost do it on time.  They almost win promotions.  They almost become leaders.  The miss by a minute or an inch, but they do miss because the never invest the time and energy to chase a goal and give direction for their life.
• The “Almosts” are not lazy.  Often they are busier than the very effective few.  They putter around all day long and half the night, though they fail to accomplish anything of any real importance. 
• They are held back by indecision, by a lack of organization in their work, and by an over attention to minor details.
• You don’t have to work harder, you must work more effectively.  You must learn to make your work count.The Goal Achiever makes their work count.
  The Goal Achiever raises the world’s standard of living.
  The Goal Achiever wins the big share of the world’s rewards.
  The Goal Achiever is the person who has a clearly defined goal, has made a list of goal achieving activities for each day and will not permit the “Almost’s” to distract them”.

How many times in your life have you fallen into the “Almost” category?  The feeling is horrible because you have likely put in alot of effort only to fall just short.  Commit today to NOT falling into the “Almost” category.  If you are truly committed to your goal, you will not be an “Almoster”.  You may have to adjust your timetable (which is OK), but will certainly not be an “Almoster”.

$1,500 of recurring, monthly passive income by 5/31/09. Something to shoot for!

I believe that this very likely will happen (there is no reason why it can’t if I put my mind to it) and this picture will serve as a good reminder and motivational tool for what I need to get in place by May 31st.  Stay tuned!

• Get others involved.  You can’t do it alone, nor should you want to.  Do not become a jack of all trades, but a master of none.  Focus on what you are truly good at!
• Do not reinvent the wheel.  If  there are things in existence today that can help you reach your goal, use them.  Don’t spend time working on the trivial things that somebody else has already done well.
• Remember the 80/20 rule.  Spend your time on the things that 80% of people care about.  Don’t dwell on the 20% and the “what-if” scenarios.  In other words, figure out what really matters and focus solely on that.  You will become much more efficient.
• Think outside the box.  There is almost always some creative approach that can be implemented that serves to be extremely beneficial in speeding up the process.  If you are not creative in your approach, what differentiates you from all the others trying to get the same results?
• Ask experts who have once been in your position what they would do…and then LISTEN.

It is a fact of life that many goals just take time to be achieved.  However, if you are slightly impatient like me and want to help move the process along, try thinking smarter rather than working harder.  I guarantee you that it will not only pay off, but you will have much more fun along the way!

Reminder!  My “A-1″ Goal:  “I will prove to myself and to others that financial independence and control of my life is not a dream!”

Written Goal:  Draft #3 (…the best yet, recorded to MP3)
My mind is free and I’m free to do as I please.  Everything that I am considering doing excites me because I’m passionate about all I do and know that I’m changing peoples lives a little bit at a time.  It is that precise feeling that drives me to be the absolute best at whatever I do and to never settle.  Ever since I reached the point of financial independence I have been given so much opportunity to do that which I love.  Being able to get up each day and not feel rushed to get out of the house is an opportunity that I’m so grateful for.  Starting my day off at my pace is so refreshing.  I’m eagerly anticipating spending a small amount of time at each of my businesses and getting an opportunity to interact with and motivate my management team and their staff.  They are fantastic people that help me achieve my dreams on a daily basis and I truly love having the opportunity to help them do the same.  These people’s lives are changing dramatically right before my eyes.  I have developed and am overseeing multiple successful businesses and people wouldn’t believe the amount of passive income they bring if I was to tell them - but nobody will ever hear that from me.  I know I could very easily live an extravagant lifestyle, but what brings much greater joy is giving the abundance that I have been blessed with to others who need it.   Being able to spend time with my family wherever and whenever is a reward second to none.  I’m so excited that we can spend time together doing fun and amazing things that most people only dream of.  My family is my best friend.  My spiritual life is maturing significantly and I have mastered the art of “perspective”, which has propelled me to great success.  Over time, everything works out positively for me.  I realize that this great life is just preparation for eternity – and that frees my mind to achieve even the most unimaginable dreams!

Well, I’ve made the recording!  It felt about as weird as I figured it would .  Here’s a few things that I noticed:

• The goal sounds MUCH better when I’m just thinking about it as compared to actually listening to myself read my written description.  This tells me I need to write it better and get more descriptive so when I hear it on MP3, I feel the excitement!
• The affirmations are actually pretty cool.  They put me in a good frame of mind and reinforce thoughts that I already know.  I foresee myself adding a few more.
• I listened to the recording twice today and need to shoot for a few more times than that (I used the voice recorder on my phone so it should be easy and convenient to find time to listen to it).  Once I take care of bullet #1 above so I can really FEEL the goal, then I will ratchet up the number of times a day that I listen to it.

Even though this was a strange exercise for me, I feel really good about just getting it done.  In the past I never would have taken this step, but now I just feel good for not cheating myself and skipping the more difficult parts.  If you are on the fence about whether or not to do this, just do it.  I guarantee you it can’t hurt.  The second and third times listening to it really do get much easier and feel more ‘normal’.  I’m going to focus on bullet #1 tonight and tomorrow and will share my revised goal with you.  You will be able to see how I’m going to bring more life, energy, and excitement to it on the next post!

1. Take the written description of the goal (from 2 posts ago) and record it to MP3  (makes me uncomfortable).
2. Make a written commitment to use this MP3 daily to visualize your goal.  Record it to MP3 (makes me more uncomfortable).
3. Write a list of positive affirmations and record them to MP3 (makes me second guess doing this). 

Maybe I’m alone on this, but making these written commitments and affirmations and then recording them to MP3 and listening to them daily is WAY out there for me.  It’s not something that I’d normally consider doing – it just feels to ‘self-helppy’ in nature.  But here we are in week 6 and I’ve gone this far with a few other ideas that I’ve thought to be crazy, so I’m going to do this whole-heartedly and see what happens. 

I’ve already shared my written description with you, so that part is done and waiting to be recorded.  Here is my written commitment to use this recording daily:

“I  commit to use this recording daily to visualize my goal becoming a reality.  By thinking about it everyday I will expedite the time required for this goal to become a reality.”

Now for the affirmations which are really strange to me.  I honestly don’t feel like I need to hear myself encourage myself because I don’t struggle with self-belief issues.  Evidently I don’t completely understand what these affirmations will do for me because they must have significant value if Proctor says they are so critical in this goal achieving process.  Below are the affirmations that I will start with.

1. I believe that I am following Gods plan for my life and moving in the right direction.
2. I am successful in all that I do.
3. I attract good health, good friends, and good business relations.
4. I strive each day building the dreams I have into my own reality.
5. I continually bring about a positive attitude to everything I do.
6. All of my efforts bring rich rewards.
7. I am a warm, friendly person and people are naturally drawn to me.
8. People seek me out to do business with me.
9. I believe in myself completely.
10. My income level is rising higher and higher.
11. I set high goals for myself which I am able to attain.
12. I am closer than ever to achieving my goal of financial independence.

I’m quite certain that this list, as well as the written goal description, will be updated and added to over the coming days.  I can see that after more time is spent consciously thinking these things through that the need for additions will occur. 

Well, there’s only one thing left do do…and that is record all of this to MP3.  So awkward for me, but I’m off to do it!!…

The idea that not everybody is going to share our same excitement had never even crossed our mind.  How could anybody not love it?  We were going to be doing something we always had wanted to and hopefully making good money while doing it.  What we forgot to consider though was that not everybody, and in fact I’d venture to guess most people, do not share our same philosophies on risk and reward and are not yet willing to step out of their comfort zones to achieve their big dreams.  How do we handle situations like this where our loved ones are not yet excited to see us pursue these goals that we have become so passionate about?  I think that it takes time, patience, compromise, and love.  His wife was not wrong today to feel apprehensive and confused about throwing away comfort in favor of a high risk/high reward idea – she was just moved out of her comfort zone by the thought of it. 

Achieving these “A” level goals WILL absolutely take sacrifice.  For those of us with families, it can get even more complicated when we try to balance our already hectic lives while in pursuit of these goals that we pursue so diligently.  We need to be ready when reality checks like this happen and not let them discourage us.  Remember, many of us are now thinking on a different level than the mainstream population and we need to remain acutely aware of this.  Our ideas, goals, dreams, and aspirations will likely seem very foreign and likely crazy to many that we express them to – even our loved ones.  An additional challenge we will have is to explain WHY we are doing what we are doing, NOT just WHAT we are doing.  I believe that when the WHY is clearly understood and communicated, the level of support that we need will be there as well.  I’m not suggesting that you always have to gain the support of everybody around you, but if you can work on it as you progress the process will become infinitely more enjoyable for both you and your loved ones.