The one concept you must always remember when setting a true long term goal is…would you literally chop off your arm to achieve it? Would you “Burn your boats!” Is it something that means that much to you that you would sacrifice things that you currently have in your life to be able to obtain it? You must become emotionally attached to the outcome.

I think that the reason most people never ever actually get to live their dreams is the fact that they just don’t know how to see that far. Some common goals you might hear in others is the desire to get out of debt, replace their income, have a little extra money, become filthy stinking rich or just find a home business that works. In this business, most people set income goals. “I want to make $100,000 in the next 6 months. When I do that I will be rolling in success.” Great! That’s a good mark to hit, but what about the how, what and who of your goal. Meaning, HOW will you feel when you reach that goal, what will be different in your life when you do and who is going to be there to share this moment with you. When setting goals or visualizing your future self, people don’t really attach themselves emotionally to the outcome because they leave out the details. The big, fat,  juicy details are the ingredients that make these things real. The details are the things which inspire emotion and emotion inspires a solid connection.

It is a pretty simple concept. Think about the last time you caught whiff of a smell that reminded you of something you had experienced in the past. Whether it was a perfume, a fresh baked turkey, a nasty smell or a baked apple pie, that smell brought up a powerful emotion that triggered something in your brain that wanted to have whatever it was that you once had in the past.

As people, very little of the things we do are done in the absence of emotion. When shopping for the new home, the car, the LCD TV or the new girlfriend, they all involve a degree of emotion. The less emotion involved, the less desire there is to achieve the goal.

Most of the time, the ones who fail in business, relationships, hobbies or anything of this nature, it’s because they weren’t really emotionally attached to the outcome, they were only emotionally attached to the short term results. For example, in my business, I place advertisements throughout the internet and interview people who are looking to earn income from home. At times, everyone I interview fits the profile of who I am looking to mentor and at other times, nobody seems to fit the mold and I get nowhere that day. I could dwell on that, get depressed and possibly become stagnant in my business. That’s being attached to the short term results. But if I am emotionally attached to the outcome, the thing way up there that is an accumulation of all my short term results, then I have the willpower to carry on and move upward and onward.

So how do we emotionally attach ourselves to the outcome? It’s simple….it’s the BE-DO-HAVE concept. Become the person you want to be, you will then do the things that person does and have the things that person has. It’s all in the emotional connection…..the BIG FAT JUICY DETAILS. If you want that $100,000 income, what will that income provide for you, IN DETAIL. Okay, so you want a new Ferrari, what does it look like? Have you driven one yet? NO?! Why not? How does it feel, in my case, when the wind rushes across your bald head in that new convertible? Can you see the look on everyone’s face as you drive down the street? How does your wife look in the passenger seat? These are the things that connect you to your future self. The BEING.

Emotionally attached to the outcome

So here are some easy action steps to assist you in becoming emotionally connected to your outcome:

• First, set aside time every single day to visualize the outcome, not the short term results, but the outcome. Example: You don’t just want to get out of debt, you want to live in a 5 bedroom 4 bath cabin in Durango Colorado, have a Denali in your 4 car garage, a pair of snowmobiles and 5 acres of land to ride them on. Getting out of debt is a short term result of this vision for your future self.
• Get a taste of your future, a smell or something to connect you to it…something physical that inspires emotion. Example: Remember the smell example? Take a trip to Durango, rent some snow skis, tour a 5 bedroom home, take a deep breath while out amongst the pines. Make it real! These smells, the memories, they will all come back to you when you visualize and it will become real.
• Now just work in reverse. What must you do to make this happen? What are the short term results that will stack up on top of each other and ultimately land you right where you want to be?

The process of attaching yourself emotionally to your goals is simple and natural….but just like everything else, it requires immediate action!

Last week while Amy and I were in Puerto Rico we attended an inspirational conference. This was a three day event centered around the Positive Media and Personal Development industries. This conference, just like many others we host around the world, is a setting to learn from some of the most amazing speakers, individuals, authors, entrepreneurs and guru’s in existence today. This is what I do! I show people with ambition, such as yourself, how to grow personally and financially through these events. It’s a huge industry and for the next three blog posts I am going to give you a sneak peek of the three top notch speakers I was able to meet and listen to while at one of these conferences in Puerto Rico.

All three of these individuals inspired me with their stories and for me, life is all about your story. As you near the end of your life, what story are you going to be able to tell to your grandchildren and great grandchildren? Is it going to be a story of passion? Excitement? Adventure? Accomplishment? Or is it going to be a story of wishing? Failure? Mediocrity? Misery? The choice really is yours and the start of your story isn’t what really matters…we all have to start from somewhere. It’s the middle and end that should be the climax!

What do you think will inspire a child more: Telling that child of all the hardship you had in your life’s story and all the things that child should learn from your mistakes, or telling that child of all the amazing things you were able to accomplish and experience? As I ask that question I can literally picture that child’s face. As I picture the child, the first story has his eyebrows looking stern and wrinkled. With the second, you can nearly see the dreams stirring through the child’s eyes. That’s more powerful than anything. Inspiring a child to dream by sharing your own dreams will allow him to soar far beyond a child who is simply taught how to avoid your mistakes. A dream speaks volumes in comparison to anything else.

Whether you can picture that day or not, it will come. You will one day tell your story. Is it going to be a story that inspires or restricts? Making a difference today creates a great story right now….but that story will continue to inspire and make a difference many years after it was created. That’s the beauty of it!

So what actions will you take today to make sure your story is exactly the way your heart wants it to be….not the way your brain tells you it should be?

Does passion have anything to do with success? Now I’m not referring to the Lovey-Dovey kind of passion…I’m talking about the stuff that drives you. The ingredient that separates the people who just do average from the people that excel. Do you think it would benefit you to have passion for what you do, or at least for the end result you are doing it for?

The more prepared and passionate about the task at hand, the more perfect the outcome. In hindsight we can always recall the times we had the least passion and see the degraded results. We can also compare those to the times where we had the most passion and see the accelerated results.

So it’s obvious that the more passionate we are about something, the higher our chances are at succeeding or performing at a higher level. It will consume you until you accomplish your task. If you are passionate enough, you will be compelled to know everything there is to know about whatever it is you are passionate about. You will take the actions necessary, without thought of necessity, because it’s just the next step in moving you closer to your goal. Passion is like a fire lit within your soul that is not easily distinguished.

“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire” ~Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch

“When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.” ~John Wesley

Or in other words, the more passion you have, the more people you will attract. In network marketing, that is exactly what you want.

“Life without passion would be a dull wasteland of neutrality, cut off and isolated from the richness of life itself.” ~Daniel Goleman

Life without passion is just mediocre. Live your life rich with passion. Let it flow into your life’s goals and when all is said and done, you will be able to say that you have done all you have set out to do. You will truly be able to experience the joy of a life well lived.

This weekend I went on a road trip to see some family. I had a little extra time while there so I decided to shoot some hoops across the street at a school playground. It was the perfect setting. There was a slight breeze, the sun was setting and the weather was great. Not only was it a great time for basketball, it was also a great time for reflection. Sunsets seem to do that. They get me all deep in thought.

Change Hindsight to Foresight

As I was there I started to reflect a bit on my actions in the past. I started to think about how passionate I have been in pursuing all that I have up until this point. I started to wonder if I truly am following my heart and what I really want for myself and my family.

While thinking of all that I have been able to accomplish, I started to realize and acknowledge that my passion for being the best in everything I have done has been mediocre in several areas. I realized that I could stick my neck out a little more, put in a little more effort and utilize my time a little better. The reflection of the past turned into a reflection of the present and my immediate future. “I am 32 years old. I have accomplished a lot…but am I doing it at the rate I want to and am I making a big enough difference in people’s lives?” These were my thoughts. By looking into my past I became more passionate about my future.

As long as we don’t constantly dwell on the past, I think a good self check is in order, a quick glimpse into the past to keep ourselves accountable for our actions. We must review our performance from time to time to make sure we are acting as though we think we are acting. But isn’t that so true? While in the present we always think we are doing all that we can and once we look back, we realize that we could have done more.

This is a classic example of hindsight…to perform the action and then realize later how it could have been done better. Of course, as our knowledge of what’s possible increases so does our hindsight. But, the same is true for our foresight. As our knowledge of what’s possible increases, we are better able to foresee a bit of the futures outcome.

Our past and future are connected by the present…and at the same time, separated by the present. Our past will NEVER dictate our future unless we allow it to, through our present. Meaning, the actions we take right now, and right now and right now, will determine the future and if those actions are the same actions we have always taken, then our past is dictating our future. Now, if the actions we have taken in the past are good actions, leading to a brighter future, then all is good. However, if those action are not good and lead us to a life of misery, unfulfillment and struggle, we must separate our past from our future by our present actions.

It sounds simple right? All someone has to do to get better results is change the present. This is where your hindsight becomes important. The entire purpose of studying history in school is to learn from the past so that we might avoid making the same mistakes as humanity. The entire purpose of self reflection is to learn so that YOU might avoid making the same personal mistakes, over and over again. If you haven’t learned anything from your past, what the heck are you living for. Grab a pen and piece of paper next time you reflect on your past results and become a student. Learn how to avoid repeating the mistakes of your past. Surprisingly, you’ll learn a lot more than you think, if you do it right.

But it’s also important to know, if you spend too much time studying the past, you will lose sight of the future. So learn from your past as you gaze on your future. Learn for your future. That’s the goal.

To sum things up: To change your actions in the present, become a better student of your history so that you can become a better YOU in the future.

The other day I decided to hike a mountain I have been wanting to climb for a very long time. From where I was looking, there rested a small stone on the very top that I could see myself sitting on. Well, later on I found out it was more like the size of a small house! It was the highest point in the nearby area and I was set out accomplish my goal. It was around 9:30 am when I started the hike and I finished at around noon. Just me, my bottle of water and my thirst for adventure.

I reached the top of the mountain, looked around at the beauty that surrounded me and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Whoohoo!” The echo was amazing! If you think I’m strange, you may be right! I then sat down to empty my shoes of all the pebbles and dirt and just sat there soaking up my success! There was a slight breeze coming from the north east and no one but me and my thoughts. Talk about the ultimate place to visualize!

The longer I sat there, I started to notice a fan club of buzzards starting to build up overhead. At first there were only a few, then more started coming and by the time I decided to head back down the mountain, there were twelve. I could feel their desire for me to fall and die so that they could fulfill their purpose in life, scavenge!

Isn’t this just like our hike to success? The hike itself is where all the victory comes from. The harder the hike the stronger I become. There are obstacles to face, delays, hardship, smooth sailing, jumps, falls and many other things along the way that are all just part of the hike. Unless I had my goal of reaching that little house-like rock on the top, I might have given up after the first few “close calls” or rough spots. And the real treat is that once you have done it, it’s easier to do it again and again. Duplication and consistency are the keys to success in any industry. Sure, anybody can make  a sale…but can you do it over and over again, consistently.

Once you are at the top, there are always an abundance of those who are just waiting for you to slip up and fail so that they can feed off your scraps. It is their calling in life. The ratio is actually less than that of the buzzards. It is more like three to 5 out of one hundred! But the scavengers are always around….the ones who wish for your failure that tell you to quit. We as humans are still part of the animal kingdom. Why would things be any different for us? The buzzards are always there.

Regardless of opposition, the passionate and determined will always win. At times while on that hike, I lost site of the goal because I was too focused on the obstacles at hand. I simply had to step back, look up, and as I did, I realized I was a lot closer than I thought I was.

Guys, you are a lot closer to your goal than you really think you are. Trust me on this one. Five years ago, it was inconceivable to think that I could work three hours a day from home and make more income in a month than I had ever made in a year…….but I was a lot closer than I thought. Enjoy the hike, keep your eye off the obstacles and fixed on the goal.

We have all heard of the people that say their biggest desire in life is to live “The Simple Life.” Not much responsibility, worry or care, just simply them and what they love the most. Out of all they have experienced in life, their truest desire is to live simple, to get away from the hustle and bustle of the world.  That’s the simple life!

Living the Simple Life

I think that living “the simple life” has different meanings for different people. I have personally had conversations with people that say their idea of a simple life is living like a hermit in the mountains without clocks, a schedule or even a wife. Just them, nature, maybe a dog and no where to be. The more common idea of living the simple life is to own a home in a suburb somewhere, have a few kids, a mortgage, a dog and a white picket fence.

I just asked my wife what her idea of a simple life would be and she said, “My idea of a simple life would be to live on the beach, in a hut with clothes made out of hemp, bathe in the ocean and just lay out all day!” I think her idea of the simple life wins the golden nugget for today! I wouldn’t think that hemp clothes would be that comfortable but obviously she is a beach bum at heart!

The word simple means, easy or not complicated. So the simple life is plainly a life that is easy, or not complicated. It is a life without much worry or stress, a life of simplicity. Although life can be complicated by nature, it is our choices that make it that way. We create our lifestyle. We either are the cause of our simple life or the cause of our miserable and complicated life.

My idea of the simple life involves a few key words. It involves financial freedom, so that the worries of bills, mortgages, rent, basic necessities of life, gas for my car or anything else that requires money will not be in my simple life. It involves complete time freedom. I mean the ability to choose for myself the schedule of the day, which is never set in stone and always subject to change. It involves service, the ability to give, teach and inspire those in need. It involves pursuing my hobbies and passions. It involves my family right along side me every step of the way.

That’s the simple life and in order to ensure that I have all those key elements in place, I have got to make key decisions right now that lead me closer to the simple life and the more I think about it, I am mostly there!

Know this, 9 out of 10 people who read this post will statistically NEVER reach their ideal lifestyle. They will never live their version of the simple life. Believe it or not but it’s true! Most people grow old wishing they had done things differently. They wish that had purchased that land or they wish they would have started that business. Your life can and will be just as you plan it to be if you choose to do so starting today. So tell me, are you hanging out with the nine……or are you the one?