Success... What is success? How to you accomplish success? Who defines what success is? What will you become successful at? Do you really need to be successful?  I hope to help you find the answers to these questions as I offer an opinion on success...

What is success? The Oxford English Dictionary defines success as:
noun[mass noun]

• 1 the accomplishment of an aim or purpose:the president had some success in restoring confidence
• the attainment of fame, wealth, or social status:the success of his play
• [count noun] a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains fame, wealth, etc.:to judge from league tables, the school is a successI must make a success of my business
• 2 archaic the good or bad outcome of an undertaking:the good or ill success of their maritime enterprises

What does that mean to you? My inference out of the above definition is one that you or someone else determines a successful situation based off of their opinion of your accomplishment in a certain relative area. In-other-words you can be successful or unsuccessful at anything and everything based on someones opinion, it doesn't even need to be a rational opinion.

Someone could look at a as a local business owner and see you as a mega-success! Even though they are struggling in their marriage (or have gone through a few divorces), bankrupt in their finances and involved in many conflicts with relatives. They may be a success to someone and a failure to another. With this logic it seems very unfair for someone to pass a judgment on someone else for being a success or a failure. There is only one Man whom has ever lived that has the ability to judge, and the game is not over until you are in the ground.

Going a step further let's look at success for you personally... What have you always wanted to do but haven't taken that first step for fear of failure? Has it been wanting to entertain a crowd of cheering fans? Has it been to compete in a tri-athalon? Has it been to not miss church at all for a month? Or was it to organize that huge DVD collection you have so you can find the one you are looking for when you are looking for it? No matter what it is, you are the judge, jury and executioner of your success at these individual goals or dreams. You control the direction of your life, no one else does. Stop being so hard on yourself and start living a significant life.  Stephen R. Covey in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People runs through some great steps to get you on your way to being a success in your own life on your terms. Wait, wait, wait, JB you mean I have to do something? I have to read something and actually think about something other than wake up, brush my teeth, shower, shave and go to work? Nope, you don't have to do anything... but do you want success? Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady have helped many people that are willing to change some behaviors move forward in their LIFE. They have a quote that says, "Winners hate losing enough to change, and loser hate change enough to lose." When you choose to lose, you lose. This is liberating, because then if you choose to WIN, You WIN! This means you define success in your life! You need to turn down the negative voices of others and focus on what you love and what adds value to your fellow man and determine your own success.

My father, Leon Thompson, who has been a great mentor in my life always had a saying, "I would rather shoot for the stars and miss than shoot for a pile of manure and hit." These words ring true no matter what you do.

Success? Do you really need to be successful? The answer is No! You can choose to do whatever you would like to do. Your father could have been a very successful banker and may want you to go into banking to honor him. It just so happens that your hot button in life is to act! Your father doesn't see a future in acting, there is no money in it and he wants to protect you from making a foolish decision and living in poverty. So you go into banking and hate everyday of it, but you make a lot of money and are able to afford the "finer" things in life. Bah Humbug! That is no way to live, you have been given a gift, an existence on this planet to answer to more than that, so if acting is your calling then pursue some sort of acting in your life to see if you come alive while doing it.

This last paragraph reminds me of a certain character on a show called "Arrested Development" named Tobias. He was a true dream chaser, trying to get into acting, become a member of the Blue Man Group and many other funny things that he would occupy his time with other than his responsibilities as a man and a father.  I am not encouraging you to tell your wife that you are leaving your job and joining the circus, but instead encouraging you to begin looking inside yourself to find your passion. Bruce Wilkinson in his book The Dream Giver has some practical tools to help you explore and a great story too!

Go out and create your own idea of success, the media doesn't have your best interests at heart. In my opinion, it seems they just want you to fight more, work more, consume more and procreate more. I think you are worth more than that.

God Bless!

JB 

Fear and Faith...

I look to a lot of sources for inspiration and information. Many of the sources I choose come from notable and memorable figures from the world's history. Today I was reading through Selections From the Writings and Speeches of William Randolph Hearst. People throughout history have had mixed feelings in regards to Hearst and the manner in which he conducted business. Many have seen Citizen Kane a great movie loosely based on the life of Hearst.  I encourage you to look into Hearst and his life. He may not be the prime example of an individual, which there was only one ever in existence, you can see a driven man who made and left a mark in our world that will last forever. He left a legacy.

He had many speeches and articles that he wrote. Some of the best that I have read he had written to the paper boys that delivered his papers. He gave them a practical guide to life and success that was similar to him mentoring the boys himself. As I read through this book today and checked out some articles I came across an article that was published on October 22, 1941 entitled "Fear and Faith" I do not have any publishing rights to republish this, but I wanted to share it with you. I couldn't find it anywhere online. So here it is as printed in the book published in 1948, just two years after my father was born.

Fear and Faith
"In the News" -- October 22, 1941.

Fear is a dreadful thing.
It incapacitates the mind, numbs the nerves, disables the muscles, perverts thought and paralyzes action.
Take a plank and lay it on the ground.
You can walk the plank without the slightest difficulty.
You can run across it--Skip across it.
To do so is no task, no strain because you have no fear.
But suspend that plank 200 feet in the air and contemplate walking across it.
You falter, you tremble.
Your knees grow weak, your heart grows faint, your head becomes dizzy.
And if in that condition you try to cross the plank you will fail and fall.
There is nothing the matter with you, however, but fear.
You are thinking about what might happen to you if you missed a step.
Your mind is concentrated upon the consequences of failure.
When you can think only of the certainty of success you will succeed...
We know what evil fear will wreak.
We know what strength the spirit gives, what healing and upholding it exerts.
Why should we not be free from fear?
Why should we not all have a deeper confidence in the goodness of man and a surer faith in the love of God.

end.

Wow, what a great passage. I feel that sometimes in life fear is so common that it invades our subconscious mind and becomes ingrained as part of our daily life. My wife Carrie and I were discussing negativity and negative thoughts and how they can command a controlling interest in your life.  I am working hard everyday to develop a personal system that can combat those negative thoughts and eliminate them the best I can from my life.  The best analogy that I could come up with is that negative thoughts are like heat seeking missiles.

The best way to start this out is like the conversation that my wife and I had. I found out that not everyone shared my love for aviation at a young age which involved lots of reading, movies and video games about fighter jets and the pilots that flew them. When I was young there was no one cooler than a fighter jet pilot. These guys were tough, in-shape and had cool sunglasses, not to mention they flew some very powerful machines that had a lot of explosives on them. WOW!

I was excited, Carrie not so much.

During the Vietnam war there was development beginning for "heat-seeking missiles". These heat seeking missiles were designed for destroying bombers by finding a heat signature and zeroing in on the signature and blowing it up.  They would be able to follow the heat generated by the engine and then destroy the target. So naturally the people in the targeted aircraft didn't really want to be blown up, so they developed a flare that would trick the heat-seekers into thinking that the flare was the target and not the actual aircraft. (It seems like ti would be so easy to explain until you start explaining it.) Since they then had flares that would distract and disable the missiles more pilots could live and fight another day.

Similarly we can use this example with our own minds. Now this may be a stretch for you where you are currently at, and that is OK. Take it one step at a time. After you realize that there are positive and negative thoughts in your mind, this will make a lot more sense. Read chapter One in the Magic of Thinking Big  by David J Schwartz, PH. D. entitled "Believe you can succeed and you will." Mr Triumph and Mr Defeat are Positive and negative thoughts.

Mr Defeat in my example would represent the "heat-seeking Missile" and Mr Triumph would equal the flare that destroys the missile. Every time Mr Defeat is starting in your mind, launch out a flare of Mr Triumph and stop the negative thought. For example you would like to start reading the new book that your mentor recommended. You take it out and look at it, and say to yourself 'This may be above my level, I'm not ready for this yet,' In the middle of that sentence you need to deploy the flare of 'I may not understand everything, but I am fully capable of learning and understanding.' This is a more positive viewpoint and will encourage you along the journey.

I have just begun this journey myself, but the visual image of shooting a flare in my brain makes sense and it is fun for me to stop those negative thoughts. I encourage you to check with your mentor and seek out something that can help you. Don't have a mentor? Read the Magic of Thinking big! Dr. Schwartz has a great way to set the tone.

Thank you and God Bless.

The Law of attraction... the process...

I myself think I had a major breakthrough in my life today while I was studying some material on the law of attraction. I am not speaking of "The Secret", although this is a great resource for people beginning to understand the law of attraction. If you look at all the material out in the written world with all of the "Law of attraction gurus" and you will see many similarities amongst them and not so much along the lines of originality. The two works said to have spawned it all are The Master Key System and Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret.  These two works are a great way to look at the sub-concsious mind and see how the material world interacts based off of your thoughts and habits. Although they do not hold a candle to the bible and Jesus Christ who was the original "Guru of the law of attraction".

The bible speaks many truths that are still true today in regards to the law of attraction. John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." It speaks of thoughts becoming things.  We speak and think ourselves into the life that we have. We have created this life in our minds first, then God helps us all create it outside of ourselves.

So onto my big breakthrough! It all happened when I was watching a recording of a live seminar. The name of the speaker is not important and he was rather rude and obnoxious to boot. The point of the seminar was even vague and poorly reproduced for the Internet. Anyhow when he was talking about people getting caught up in the process and not focusing on the outcome or result I was hit between the eyes in a major way. I had heard the statement "don't get stuck in the process" so many times and it had not registered with me. DON'T GET CAUGHT UP IN THE PROCESS! I have spent many years working for someone else, listening to teachers, listening to professors and following directions. The process is directions! I felt as long as I was in the process I was doing great, this focuses less on results and more on activity. Activity is a necessary part of the process, but it is not the result. I need to start learning to focus on what results I want from the process, not the process itself.

There are numerous examples of this all around us everyday. Why are we so busy? We feel the need to accomplish things, we are commissioned by God to accomplish things... but what are we accomplishing and how is this moving us forward to our purpose? If we decide in our minds that we want to lose weight, we know the logical steps. As Tim Marks would say, "Eat less, move more." This seems so simple, but it is so hard! What do you mean I can eat cheeseburgers, pizza and doughnuts everyday? I eat less of them. That is not enough. If I want the true result I need to do the activity. If I do not do the activity, even if I sit around all day and visualize the victory it is not going to advance me any closer to the goal I wish to achieve.  I need to get into action! I need to set a goal and go out and take that first step.

What is your goal? What do you think should be your first step? What knowledge or resources do you have that may help you in your quest? Why are you going on this quest? Where could you get help from someone that has gone through the quest you are beginning now? What are you going to do right now to help you advance closer to your goal right now? Stop reading and take that first step. Move forward in faith and the Lord will be there to help you.

Have a great day!

Value Exchange and the "average" bully...

I have had a heavy issue upon my heart today and it has to do with many things that change in a person's life, and how they deal with those changes. Some would say that other people are "Wrong" or "Stupid" or they can not believe that a person could feel that way. Negative, Positive, Elitist or otherwise.

 We all have a limited stay on this planet which is a blessing that has been given to us to do with what we wish. I want to start out talking about value.  In Wisconsin lately there have been attitudes flaring, and many angry people talking about our Governor and saying he is a bully, and calling him other names. Many people are saying that he is "ruining everything" and that he is "not being fair".  Be that as it may, the reaction to anything is always in the approach.  Zig Ziglar once said, it isn't the direction of the wind, but the set of the sail. How we respond to things shows what type of person we are. Now don't go off on me saying I support what he is doing because I am asking everyone to take a look at themselves and how they are reacting.  Look into the facts, not the media hype. I am not aware of all the facts, nor to I claim to be even reasonably informed. I have loved ones who will be affected by these governor decisions, but it is not within my sphere of influence to affect the outcome of this new legislation. The winds are always changing, it is how you react to the changing of the wind that determines your future.

It seems that most people are attacking teachers for their salaries and saying that they are not worth what they are paid. It seems like the argument about teachers making a salary of according to someone I know $66,000/year. Now I don't think personally that "average" teachers make that. I was also told that most teachers drive Escalades and live in huge houses.  I'm not sure if I agree with that either. I have seen people that receive government support that drive Cadillacs, Chrysler 300's and other high end vehicles that can't afford them.  The only point I am trying to make here is that we should all look at the facts and not start targeting specific jobs and name calling them.  We all make choices, they choose to teach. I know personally my parents spent thousands of dollars on school supplies that they needed that the district couldn't provide for them. Maybe if they wouldn't have contributed to that they would both be driving Escalades instead of Toyotas. (Toyotas are great cars by the way)

OK, so then the next part of my thoughts, I believe that people choose to pay for what they pay for via a fair exchange for value. Basic marketing principle is that the price of anything purchased is what the average person is willing to give up in exchange for that product or service. Some people are willing to give up around $250.00 a month for cable TV/Internet/Phone service. Some people choose to give up $500/Month to drive a nice car. Others choose to give up $200/month for leadership materials that benefit them in their life. What is the price you are willing to pay for your future?

A $500/Month lease on a vehicle for 60 months equates to $30,000. At the end of that 60 months you own nothing. Watching television has an opportunity cost as well as a hefty price tag some people spend $250/Month for television. Let's say you move out at age 18 and subscribe to this service until you are 65 that is 47 years so if you do the math $141,000 spent on entertainment and communication from home. WOW! $3000.00 a year on entertainment (Just at home) that takes time away from friends, family, hobbies and generally doesn't do good things for your health.

I am not saying that it is wrong to have television, I am just asking you to consider the value you are exchanging for television. What are you giving up? $3000.00 a year will get you a nice little vacation with your significant other. 

Most people will react negatively to an attitude like this. Why are you taking away my television? How am i supposed to find out what happens on Gray's Anatomy? Who is winning American Idol? Do these outcomes weigh heavily on your heart? Is this something that in the grand scheme of things, when you are at the end of your life. When the final moment comes will you look back and say, "I am glad I never missed an episode of Survivor, I am a better human being because of it."

The "average" bully is someone who makes you reconsider a decision you have made. Let's say you wanted to go on a diet.  You lay out a game plan for yourself that you are going to eat more of certain things and less of others and that you are going to exercise. You are excited about this, you are going to get back down to your fighting weight!  Then on Monday with a smile on your face and determination in your heart you step into work. You confess you your best work buddy (Who is not at his fighting weight) that you are going to make a lifestyle change. He scoffs and says that it is too hard to do that, so why bother. Then to further his encouragement of you the next few days are filled with "How's your salad fitness boy, you don't look like you are losing any weight yet!" "Told you that wouldn't work, gosh your stupid." The "average" bully can always be counted on to stay average.

I hope this has offered some insight for you, and added some value to your day.

Passion... WOW WHAT A FEELING!

Wow, today was a day. I had the pleasure of sitting down with someone else who made me think of how I must have been in the beginning of my journey in leadership. God was reminding me to listen and respect other people, their beliefs and to learn about them before talking to them.

That is the context for this blog. I admit, I sometimes get complacent and do not stay focused on my dream. I would say that is because I am human, but that is just an excuse for not being focused. I had my dream challenged today, for the first time in a long time, someone was trying to take it from me and tempt me with the almighty dollar away from my purpose.  I attempt to seal off my compartment with positive messages and positive people, but it is not airtight yet.

News flash: "I RULE MONEY, MONEY DOESN'T RULE ME!" If money was all that I wanted and I was willing to give up my time with my awesome wife, great friends and family for a few bucks, what kind of person would that make me? A GREEDY PERSON! I understand earning a living, paying bills and helping out Uncle Sam, I am not contending that, but is it a life?

'We were meant to live for so much more, but we lost ourselves...' - Switchfoot.

What were you created to do?  I believe I was created to make things happen, to do things that aren't supposed to be done because someone doesn't think they are "Good" or they don't match up with what the herd wants. It seems to me people only resent the wealthy because they aren't.  A lot of people will go out of their way to put down someone who "has more" than they do. 'They should share their money with me, they are a doctor so they should give me some money.' Would you know what to do with it anyway? I am not speaking from an elevated platform, but merely take a harsh tone to drive a point. Victims of the world, wait for it.... GET OVER IT! YUCK! Get out there and follow your passion!  You might not be what you want tomorrow, but you can achieve part of what you want.

If you want to be a writer, do me a favor, do one thing today that makes you feel like a writer. Do one thing that you know a writer does on a daily basis. ENVISION in your mind what life would be like to be a bestselling author. What does your average day look like? Are you on a promotional tour signing books for people dressed up as your characters? Are you passed out in the sun on a beach somewhere with your laptop in the sand next to you? Get some passion, get some drive and take one small step.

Read "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson. APPLY WHAT YOU READ!

My passion in life is to have fun and do the things that I would like to do, have the time to explore the planet I have been allowed to grace with my presence. I cherish this gift every day. I am working on being more grateful every day. I am saying "Thank You" to God, my wife, my family, my community, everything I have, am and will be. I am the most blessed person that I spend all of my time with. My journey has been rough at times and amazing at times.  Everywhere I go; there I am, so I better love myself.

Love thy neighbor as thy self. You have to love you first.

Passion, it is what drives me!

"Until you give yourself to some great cause, you haven't begun to fully live." - John Mason

Thank you for honoring me with your time.

Spiritual fufillment...

It has been quite an interesting time for me lately. I can not think of another way to open this blog post up. I have been doing quite a lot of reading in the last couple of months on certain authors from the past. Neville Goddard, Dale Carnegie and many others and it seems there is a recurring theme. You attract what you are.

I began this journey with a completely different mindset, that I needed to look to others to find what I needed and to provide them with what they needed. What did they need? All different types of people, all different needs right? That is what I thought too, until I discovered that they are 'people' and I'm a 'people' too.

Listening to a Spencer Johnson recording the universe sent to me during a swing by the thrift store last week he talked about a $alesperson. We sell to people and since we are people, in-order-to figure out what they want we need to think, what do we want? Satisfaction with our purchases, a brighter future, happiness and excitement.  The purpose of sales is not to reach into the other person's wallet and get money, or to create a need to fill, that is a common peddler. The purpose was not to benefit me directly, but rather a win-win scenario where we both walk away from the transaction feeling fufilled, happy and excited. We all love to buy stuff, but we hate to be sold into buying stuff.

When asked why then it was sales PERSON instead of salesMAN, it is because it is good to remember that there is a person on the other side of every transaction. Then why start it with a dollar sign? We all have to have money to survive, in this modern time unless you are a mountain man (Who lives off the fat of the land in a far remote place where you wouldn't send your worst enemy) you need money.

This is the basic jist of the recording I listened to, but it certainly got my mind thinking about a lot of other things. In the leadership development business we are looking for partners. People that would like different results in their life and we can direct them to information through books/CD's and association with a group of like-minded people that are interested in similar things. A group of aspiring leaders that will go out of their way to help you succeed.

Sometimes we get too excited we have someone and as one of my mentors Steve Morgan says, we try to hit the ball and then drag Bernie around the bases.

This is a very difficult thing to do, and this will burn a person out quickly. If you start managing all of your neighbor's flocks of sheep, soon you will be overwhelmed. I believe I am an instrument of God that is placed here to help light people's torches and guide them to truth and fufillment in their lives. NOTICE, I didn't say TEACH them TRUTH and GIVE them fufillment. That is their journey, but I will be there to love and support them along the way.

Thank you and may you have an awe-inspiring day!