Keep Your Word, Change Your Life

Your Word is Law

The consequences of keeping your word. Your WORD is LAW!!!!!!!!!

Summer of 2004. Florida was hit by 3 hurricanes in a row. As we watched the events unfold and herd about all the help needed; I said to Marilyn that if I wasn't employed I would go down to Florida and help with the clean up and support those who needed help. A not so bold thing to say since I knew in reality I really couldn't go because of my job.

Six months later, January 2005, I went independent. I continued to do the same job, sell Retractable awnings for Sunair, but as an independent contractor not an employee. There are great tax and freedom benefits to the decision. The 2005 awning season arrived; I had a fabulous year.

August 29, 2005. Katrina crushes the Gulf coast. In the following days I remember sitting and watching the aftermath from the same nice warm couch I sat just a year before; the same vantage point as a year earlier watching Florida. I also remember yelling at the TV, the people in New Orleans to get off their ___ and walk out of the crap and stop waiting for "The Government" to do something. I also recall not hearing much wining and crying from the people in Mississippi which took the total brunt of Katrina storm full force.

My words from a year ago echoed in my head. "If I wasn't employed I would..................help". In reality I wasn't excited by the prospects of going into a complete unknown situation in the midst of storm destruction. But "I said I would help", would I follow through? No one except my wife knew what I had promised. Bottom line is I would have to live with whatever decision I made.

Consequences of keeping your word to "Yourself".

I prepared for about two months for the trip. I raised $6000 (friends and family) to bless those who had a need when I got to Biloxi. Raising money is a pain in the butt, I really don't know how politicians and missionaries do it year after year.

For two weeks over the Thanksgiving holidays I worked in and around the Biloxi area with many volunteers. As we traveled from place to place I was awe struck at the amount of people who had come to help. Church vans and buses, hundreds of trucks with independent contractor signs from all over the country were apparent everywhere. I had come to Biloxi to help people, and I did; and they were extremely thankful.

Consequences.

The people of Biloxi, Mississippi changed my life forever. I went to Biloxi to be a hero and I was humbled by what I witnessed. I went to help and I was helped. In 13 days I heard not one complaint. I listened to many horrific stories and witnessed people living in cars, pick-up trucks or wherever. This is two and a half months after the storm. I remember saying to parents that their children will be stronger than most; when coming on hard times in the future their memory of what they had survived in the Katrina episode would make future adversity seem minor in comparison.

Driving home I remember thinking about 9/11 and Katrina; the similarities, in a matter of hours peoples lives were changed forever by circumstances outside their control. I thought about how
Marilyn and I had been helping people financially for years, but we have always wanted to do more. While coming home I thought why not change our lives "On Purpose", by just making a Decision to do so; not waiting for some outside circumstance like 9/11 or Katrina.

(Continued Tomorrow)

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

Hey;

Sometimes others can tell a story that says it all without need of comment. This is one of those stories.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the was jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "Yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things--- God, your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions--- and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter-- your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else--- the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. "Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children.

Take time to get medical checkups.

Take your spouse out to dinner.

Play another 18.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Call someone you've been meaning to call.

Go to dinner with that person or couple you keep saying, "We'll get together for dinner, call me."

Just friggin' do it NOW.

As Always;

CW

Five Days To Motivation

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT
Day 5

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

Five days of ideas and tips to get you up and get you going towards your dreams. Do yourself a favor and read them over and over again and you will be a positive force to those around you.

CW

Five Days To Motivation

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT
Day 4

P– Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

CW

Five days To Motivation

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT
day 3

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement.

L – Learn to love your self. Now isn’t that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

CW

Five days To Motivation

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT

day 2

F – Family and Friends – are life’s greatest ‘F’ treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

CW

Five Days To Motivation

MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT

Day 1

Change is a constant refrain from this page. What does it take for change to grow from idea to action? Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the ‘push’ to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.

Reading and watching the news recently we need to digest as much positive information as possible. With the countless negativities the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? These tips I prepared from A to Z could be digested in one reading. I'm spliting them up into five days; in this way we get to meditate a little longer on each idea.

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don’t give up and don’t give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

CW

What Exactly Is Fabulous?

Fabulous?

Fabulous At 30, 40, 50 And Beyond, OK "CW" just what do you mean by Fabulous? The bottom line, the reality is what is Fabulous for me may seem mediocre or mundane to someone else. My objective is to get a person to find and design their life to be Fabulous based on their own definition. To find each day exciting and adventurous, to CW, is the true definition of a Fabulous life. Don't get me wrong, spending a week on Richard Branson's private Necker island with two icon's, Marshall Sylver and Robert Allen, and creating a mastermind group with fifteen other professionals in a tropical paradise also qualifies as Fabulous. But if you only live for those type of experiences, life will be very gloomy and unfulfilled.

Count your blessings, look at the bright side of life are two ways of looking for the Fabulous in your life. Here's some example's of what I count as Fabulous in my life; do yourself a favor ad make your own Fabulous list and I will make you a promise; when finished you will have a smile on your face and you will glide through the rest of your day.

Fabulous Is;

Watching TV with my best friend and wife of twenty four years.

Knowing that The God who created the universe calls me friend.

Hearing, "I love you Pop Pop."

A huge wave crashing on the rocks and the resulting spray.

Giving a panhandler a $20 bill and looking in their eyes.

In the midst of tough times knowing it always makes me stronger.

The Journey.

Discovering what's on the other side of the hill.

An hour and a half hot bath my first hours home from Vietnam and never forgetting the feeling.

Looking down the tube of a turquoise wave about to break.

Monday mornings.

The smell of fresh cut grass.

Being in a stand still traffic jam and enjoying the moment.

Watching my wife with our grand daughters.

Growing up in the 50's.

The miracle of flying.

A helicopter ride over active Kilowaha Volcano.

Praising and worshiping my God.

Paying a strangers check in a restaurant anonymously.

Coming home.

Crying with my Mom when the National Anthem plays before a ball game.

Laying next to Dad as he left us to be with Mom.

Being a soldier in the US Army.

Looking at thousands of family and vacation photo's and knowing I was there when each one was taken.
Conquering a fear.

Kayaking off the coast of ST Croix.

The view from the top of Pikes Peak on a crystal clear day.

A crisply hit five iron with the ball landing on the green and rolling two feet from the pin .

Holding my Grand Daughter

Have a Fabulous week!!!!!!

CW

Stand Up and Say Something

“Please, Stand Up and Say Something”

As it is with most of us over fifty years of age, we are attending more and more funerals. I’ve had a pet peeve with the final service at the funeral home the morning of the funeral. I should say I have a pet peeve with those close to the one who has passed.

The service and the prayers are always done very well with grace and dignity. The families are usually nicer to each other than they have been for years; all very proper and in good taste.

The real tragedy, other than the death itself, is when the presiding God person asks for people to say something, anything about the individual, its rare anyone does. I’ve observed only about half the time will a family member even offer a eulogy.

My wife and I had the sad occasion of attending our sister-in-laws mothers’ funeral two days ago. Deb’s mom and I had passing conversations a few times at family gatherings over the years, but I had little memory or knowledge of the type of person she was throughout her life.

On this occasion her son gave a better than average eulogy. And because of his words we learned she was a young go getter as a young lady, she was a great cook and enjoyed serving others. There were two daughters who offered not one word. This is the last and more than likely the only time in their lives to publicly praise this lovely lady and their mother. I don’t fault them, it’s incredibly hard to do under the emotional circumstances; thus the motivation to write this. I’m planting seeds to empower my readers to “Say Something” when the occasion presents itself.

I have to hand it to the Priest; he asked for others to speak and just waited. He waited, and waited as a long uncomfortable silence fell over the room. He waited; finally a woman stood and spoke. She offered her insight as to what it was like to be befriended by the deceased and her family when visiting their home. She expressed how much she felt a part of the family anytime she visited and just how much she would miss those occasions. It was so obvious the comfort and pleasure this brought to family and friends. Every other person in the room was grateful to the self appointed spokesperson for taking them off the hook. How beautiful it would have been if others would have joined the celebration of her life.

She was nervous I’m sure; but the hundred or so people who were there now knew much more about this fine woman and, I for one, had more empathy and felt closer to her than if the woman had stayed silent. What an honor bestowed on a woman who gave to her family and community over seventy years of life.

Her boldness gave one daughter the confidence to stand and pour out her heart. She told just what it would be like not to have the ability to talk with her mom. She explained how her mom was there at the birth of all her children and how it motivated her to do the same for her children. It was wonderful, she had joined the celebration of her mother’s life; a round of Kleenex please.

Do we all sit in silence because we’re afraid of showing emotion? Do we really believe we need to be some great orator in order to express what we feel about our family or friend? We must get over it; it’s not about you or me, it’s about taking the last public opportunity to express to those in attendance what this individual meant to us and our lives. It truly is about celebrating life, an individuals life; one who walked this planet that had impact in ours.

We need to gather our emotions and stand up and say something the next time we have the opportunity.

CW

"To Those who would Teach"

Hey;

Summer is about over and we all will concentrate a bit more
on that which we believe we are put on earth to accomplish.

As many of you know I have a desire (as you do) to awake the
masses or at least one person to come to the knowledge that
they have been put on this earth to serve others. What that
vehicle is and how I will accomplish this has changed in my mind
over the past three years a number of times. I've written a book,
created web sites, invested in real estate and continue to seek
guidance; there's still THE missing piece.

When leaving an event and in the months post event many feel
as though they are not getting to their true place as quick as
they believe others have, mainly because we were gently pushed
to make goals or promises to others and ourselves to arrive at
fulfillment in a short specific time period. I'm not downplaying
the necessity of Written Goals, although in the heat of a
positive gathering of like minded individuals we many times are
more attentive to the immediate surroundings the we are attentive
to the small voice inside us which knows better. We also tend to
compete with others (if only in our minds)who seemingly have
gotten it together in the time they professed they would.

Many receiving this have attained Masters and Doctorate degrees.
As an example after finishing High School CW decides he wanted
to have an MBA in business. CW attends an undergraduate college for
the first four years. In CW's third year he notices that a few of his
classmates from his freshman class are graduating with a BA in only
30 mos into his four years. Does the fact that others are moving
towards his goal at a quicker pace than CW mean that CW will not
attain his goal; of course not. Is there any doubt in CW's mind,
30 mos in, he will attain the MBA because others have gotten theirs
in a shorter time period, no. CW knows if he continues towards his
goal at his pace the MBA will be his in time. Our desires and dreams
we have today are no different. The vast majority of the mentors
and teachers we listen too were years and years in the process
before "over-night" success came.

At some point in our lives we have come to the conclusion there is
more to our lives than a nice home, great car, turquoise waters
vacations. We were put here for "THEM". If you can get to your
place in 6 mos., 1 year, 2 years or 15 years it's only important
to you and your maker. Be thoughtful and determined to be what
you were born to be, not what someone else expects you to be
only because you put both feet in your mouth at a seminar or
similar event. Today is a new day, reset the time line.

Your time will be here when least expected when you continue to
move in the direction towards your goals and dreams. Course
correction constantly, Do Not Park.

"My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that
we shall receive a stricter judgment." James 3:1

I love you guys and miss the physical surrounding of Like Minded
men and women. There are no coincidences and it's no coincidence
your in my life. As Les says; "Coincidence is God's way of staying
anonymous."

One of our, my, weaknesses is the inability to ask our peers for help.
Most of us have gone to great lengths to network and collect
business cards. Somewhere in your home or office is a treasure
of individuals you have already met who could catapult you to your
goals if we would only ask.

A good friend of mine once said;

"You have not because you ask not".


With great love;

CW