Why Should You Write your Life Story?

      

Just like John Maxwell’s book Attitude 101, he provides in his book that: “Life is like a deck of cards, we get no choice what cards are dealt to us, and it is how we play them that affect the outcome!”

Why tell your life story? The truth is, it can be a tough decision to re-live things that are not so easy to return to. Life is not always fair. People are always worried about being judged. You may not be proud of your failures early in life but may need to come to realize that God placed those failures in front of you to make me who you are. 

Writing a book does not mean you have to dwell in the past, it just means you are willing to re-live it in words and it is actually therapeutic.  We all feel anchored at times to the past but it is gone and will not return. It does not mean you or I did not learn from it. The words “I wish I wouldn’t have” can ring true in so many ways. The best part is you can engineer your new future using a few quick and easy steps. Secondly, if you have had strong adversity, this might sound strange but you should feel blessed. It has the ability to create a deep desire for change and builds a character that cannot be shaken easily once it happens.

Your life story may even be more exciting and with more twists and turns than mine!  If it is, maybe you should write a book!

I have experienced that life is not always fair and life’s trials can come from any direction.  We all deal with adversity. The good news is it can be overcome and it does make you stronger but only after you make the right choice about what to do after we experience it. It does not mean the pain of it goes away.  There are stages we all go through any healing process or any drastic change in our lives. So what helped me to make changes in my life up to now? It was reading books from the likes of Harvey McKay, Tony Robbins, John Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, Napoleon Hill, David Joseph Schwartz, Ph.D., Melvin Powers, Jim Collins,  Stephen Covey and Stephen Covey Jr.. I have read many of their books over the years. I bought them at book stores, picked them up at garage sales, bid on them at auction and bought them on the internet.  I am a firm believer in the things that I learned from each of these great authors that has allowed me so far in life to achieve superior personal and professional results so far and there is always more work to be done. 

Get started writing. Do not worry about how to structure it, just sit down and do your best. Oh and if you want to learn from one of the best ever success principles mentors ever, I am sharing this free gift of a 10-Day transformation that changed how I live and will do the same for you too. Your FREE Transformation Instant Access

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Keys to Continuous Improvement

The key to continuous improvement is many little steps over time. "Kaizen" is a Japanese term meaning continuous improvement. Kai’ means “continuous” and Zen means “improvement”. It also means the pursuit of perfection in all one does. I use the meanings of these words in investing and when I am working on a big goal.

If you understand that even though the approach was built and intended to improve groups, management, you can still use the incremental approach to reach goals because it is still about continuous improvement.

 It is taking many small steps in improvement over time. It is also a great way to improve ourselves if you apply it to your personal life just like it was applied to business and productivity in the workplace. 

The other key to continuous improvement is staying at it over time. It is not just the steps, it is persistence. Staying after something for a long time gets you there. There are stops and starts, stalls and success over time. You have to be willing to stick with it until results show up. 

Never Quit, 

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My Why?

My Silver Boots (Company) was created to affect social change through social media, web based social strategies, and books to help veterans and others deal with transformation and change. 

 My story of growing up as a Missouri country boy will be used to infuse hope into this nations veteran population by sharing life stories to show others how to overcome and transition in life and give them alternatives to overcome being stuck. “If  I can re-habilitate myself, so can you”.

My why is: “sharing inspiration to stay in the fight and become resilient”. Never give up, never quit.  From sharing the stories of extreme adversity I faced growing up as well as in my adult life as a warrior and as a fighter. I am focused on teaching proper mindset, and inspiring and helping others to learn how to overcome adversity and expand to new horizons.

I will do this by finding the contacts that can help take my content and extract the story the way it happened based on a true story.  My book will be published in late 2016, early 2017, Step Out Step Up The path from lost to found is that story.

Examining my life, I identified the methods and mindset that enabled me to come out of a single mom family with six kids devastated by domestic abuse who lived out of a 5K mobile home devastated by domestic abuse and a laundry list of other tragedies and go on to obtain my Juris Doctor in law and a Masters Degree in Organizational Management,  and go on to own a beautiful home on the Big Island of Hawaii. My ability to overcome obstacles was enhanced by mentors who came into my life.  I learned the great value of having thoughtful mentors and coaches in your life.

As you know from what we see and read in the current media, veterans face tremendous challenges on the home front. I am committed and passionate about creating resources that will allow them to find their path to a transition that propels them and their families toward their best possible future. I have a radical alternative to what has been out there that obviously by the numbers has no worked so far. My vision is to find a way to create media that will help them again have hope. I am committed and passionate about creating resources that will allow them to find their path to a transition that propels them toward their best possible future.

Mindset

Adversity. "A rocket or a Rock!So let’s get to the important stuff. So yeah there’s adversity, we know it. We all live it. Okay, so how did I overcome the things that happened to me? Well what I did is I said, “No more.” As I talked about earlier, but then I said, “What can I do?” So one time I remember going to the top of a mountain when I was skiing and I was looking out over Mexico from Ruidoso and I was like, “Okay, now this is a point in my life where I’m making a change, and I want to set new goals, and I want to achieve them, and I’m going to achieve them.” And I just kind of reset. 

You need to head in a direction  towards a purpose, and that’s what I like to do. I like to rally people together and get them working in the same directions because you get more done that way. So with goal setting sometimes we have to overcome some things with our self-esteem, who we believe we are, what other people have told us we are. We have to overcome those things because you have to take charge of your own destiny, you have to decide what’s going to happen, and if you don’t do that then it’s a lot more harder because you’re going to be listening to what they’re telling you and not what your own conviction is telling you to grow, and to get better at what you’re doing, or whatever it is the goal is. So what I did is at some point in my life I decided that I had read somewhere that it’s really important, really, really important, to write things down so I wrote down my goals, like ten goals or just ten goals, and it kind of started by just taking little affirmation statements that I liked and I would copy them onto my journal I call it, and that little journal started growing. It started taking on a life of its own because it said if I do these things or if I believe these things then the outcome can be this or that, and the power of suggestion is bigger than us.

You look at any really successful person and they will tell you that belief in themselves is how they overcome a lot of obstacles in life, and same way for me. I’m nowhere near there yet. I’m always growing, I’m always learning, I’m always goal setting, I’m always adjusting my goals, I’m always reevaluating to get to that next. I always say when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I get to that next level of what I want to accomplish, and then when I get that far I know I can go that much farther and I can see farther once I get to that point, but sometimes you can’t see it yet because you’re not there and that’s where those mentors come in, that’s where those people that have connections, have an understanding that you don’t have yet, you latch on to them and they’ll pull you up, they’ll bring you with them, but you can’t do that with a negative attitude, you can’t do that with an excuses attitude that there’s always an excuse why you can’t do things, you can’t do that if you’re a garbage dump thinker. Letting people just dump a bunch of garbage in your mind, there’s plenty of it out there, we see it every day, holding you down because there’s no way you can get out of your situation, there’s no way to overcome things. 

I think there’s business models built around betting on the fact that you’re not going to be able to do that and that’s unfortunate, but true. So that mindset is critical to get over some of those things that you’re stuck on and start believing in yourself.


The other thing is in goal setting you can’t avoid, and I think this is something that differentiates me from others, when it comes to you can’t avoid the obstacles or the problems that your facing right now because if you avoided them a lot of the dreams, or the goals, or the visions, or the things that you want to accomplish won’t come true because they’re going to get in the way. Those problems are going to get in the way of you achieving because you know what they got in the way for me a lot, too. So here’s how I, and maybe because I learned a lot of this from leadership schools and actually dealing with people’s problems, how do you fix those problems and how do you fix those obstacles because that’s where the value is. I want to get out of this situation I’m in, I don’t want to have those problems anymore, I don’t want to be like that anymore. 

How do you get yourself out of that by using goals? Well just like the other ones, write it down, okay. Write it down. If the problem is something that needs to be fixed you got to identify the problem first. What is the problem? That’s what you got to know. Is the problem someone else, is the problem you, is the problem money, is the problem time, is the problem something you created, what is it? You got to identify what the problem is and the only way to identify the problem is to write it down first.

So you write down you’re problem and there it stands in front of you on a piece of paper. I told you that I was going to keep it simple. So here it is in front of you, you got this problem, but you got no solution. Yeah, it’s a problem, I’ll raise my hand, it’s a problem. So I have written down my problems before and then tried to come up with solutions by just saying, “Well I’m going to do this or do that.” But it wasn’t enough, okay. 

How I fixed my problems is I wrote it down and then I said, “Okay. What are the possible solutions to the problem? Not that I need to fix the problem, what are the solutions first.” Let’s just look at the solutions. Solutions to a problem are let’s say that the problem is you don’t know how to tie your shoe. That’s a problem because you might trip and fall and get stitches. Solution is read it in a book, have somebody else help you, practice, those are all solutions to the problem, okay. 

So what you do is you write out your problem, then you write out as many possible solutions as you can think of. Don’t worry about if it’s the right solution, just write them down because those solutions, they become something else soon after because then you look at those solutions again and say, “Is that the best way that I believe I can overcome that problem.” If it’s better to practice than it is to read a book, or watch it on a video on how to do it, if it’s better just to practice then that is your solution, but pick the solutions that you believe will help you overcome the problem, and it can be more than one. It can be three, it can be five, it can be one, it doesn’t matter, just pick the solutions, okay. Then once you have the solutions that you want to use, pick the best one. The one that’s going to make you for sure solve the problem, pick it first. Then you’re going to want to follow through. Just because we’ve wrote it down, just because we have a plan, life works better with a plan, just because we have that plan doesn’t make it happen, okay. There’s a piece that’s called execution in life. You got to execute, you got to do it, you got to get involved, and you got to take that solution to the problem, you got to do what the solution is, and that’s going to fix your problem. How cool is that, that’s cool. So it’s a problem solving process, okay.

Now guess what, life gets in the way again. Oh well you know it’s too big of an obstacle, it’s too hard to do, so you give up. Don’t give up. Don’t give up the first sign of solving the problem especially if it’s a problem that you definitely want out of your life, don’t give up, okay. I went over, around, under, I have figured out, and you should too, figure out a way around that problem. I’m not saying avoid it, I’m saying a way to accomplish it, a way to get over it, get it done, and the key to the puzzle is you. You are the only one that can put that in your mind to get it done. You can get help, yes. There are people that will help you with your goals. There are people that will be your cheerleaders, like mentors like me. There are people that are going to be there for you to cheer you on and make sure that you don’t quit and you don’t give up. We see it in gyms, trainers, we see it in other mentors, physical mentors, spiritual mentors, all those other mentors out there that help people overcome their obstacles in life. Pick good mentors, just like I did. Find people that you can rely on to help you get through things, but they’re not going to do it for you. If they did it for you there’s no reward. I’m not saying we don’t get by with a little help from our friends sometimes, yes we do. We need that, we need that social interaction, we need that help, but solve the problem because the reward from that will overwhelm you because you will now have reached your goal because you overcome adversity and overcome a problem to get there because it’s like a gate. You can’t open the gate until you’ve solved the issue. So that’s the mindset that it requires. So that’s a lot of how I do it.

I’ve still suffered a lot of adversity to get there and I’m still not there, I’m learning from people every day on how to be better and God has chosen that path for me and it is a powerful path because it’s what I love to do. It is who I am and for a really, really long time I knew that, but I was always afraid to take the steps, the last few steps of reaching outside of myself and exposing the ugly past to catapult myself into showing others that it’s possible if you just believe.  I was worried about how I was going to make an income, I’m not concerned. God took me and has made those things happen in my life so that I can share with others to inspire them, to inspire you, to help you see that you as well can do anything, and okay, maybe the word anything is not the best word, to help you do what it is that you want to do and then you can build on that. See how it kind of ties together? You write it down, you work on them, you execute them, you think about them, come up with ways and the best ways of overcoming them. See it’s all simple stuff, but at the beginning it takes that period of time where you got to take that knee, you got to rally round the coach, you got to rally around yourself, you got to stop, okay. 

It’s a pause, you got to pause for a second. So listen to a pause, ready, go. You see nothing’s being said because you’re stopping for a second, you’re waiting, you’re going to evaluate, okay. You know a lot of my failures were because I made decisions too quickly. A lot of my failures was because I got bored with the thing I was doing and wanted to move on to something else so I didn’t stick with the stick-to-itiveness that it takes to achieve something great, sometimes takes time. There’s the words persistence beats resistance. You got to be persistent to beat resistance to things to get over them. You can do it. I know you can, and I know that regardless of what life has handed you so far, if you feel like I felt so many times that you know it’s not going to end well. You feel that over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and you’re like why? Why can’t it just stop, right, why can’t it be better? It will be, but that requires you. I believe in you, too.

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Stress?

Stress defined is “A non-specific response of the body to any demand made on it”. The world we live in is much different today than it was when black and white TV was the only option for us growing up. When I was little, pong was the only video game available to play as a kid.

 The thing with stress is it comes from many different areas in our lives. Some stress is ok to keep us focused. It comes from family, financial means, lack of time management, social interaction, chemicals like caffeine, fat sugar and overeating and environmental surroundings like pollution. So what do we do about it since we know it’s all around us? Handle it!

Try and get a little more sleep, exercise daily even if you have not in the past. You can start slow and not overdo it. All of us have different limitations but most can still exercise and don’t. There are great trainers all over the world for stress control.

If you don’t have an exercise program start slow and build it up progressively and realistically. Other ways to manage stress is to set realistic expectations of yourself. Consider avoiding zero defect environments if you can. Look to friends and social support to have someone to talk to.

RELAX! Listen to music, sit on the beach or take a walk. Get outside and enjoy Mother Nature. Reduce your stress and feel better. 

Having Our Moment

Having Our Moment

As I research great books and add to my own professional growth, I love to write it down what I read. Capturing it make me remember it. If your going to consult with others, you have to live your words. It does not however mean you will never have a bad day again in your life. We have to learn to have our moment and bounce back.[/color] Move on from it and learn from our mistakes. It is ok to get upset about a situation. Go ahead and get it out but then move on. Just dont stay there! Here are some food for thought about growth.

Excerpts and quotes taken from the Book by William Thayer, Onward to Fame and Fortune or Climbing Life's Ladder.

SUCCESS: Longfellow said “The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, without a thought of fame. Find one thing you love to do and do it well." If you want to start being successful, never waste time.

FAILURE: "So how do we not fail? Failure is as instructive as success. I am a student of failure and know it well. Wise men learn from their mistakes. If we are sensible people, we better learn to manage our tact, our control and our judgment. Mind the little things because great things are the aggregate of little things; great results proceed from little causes. Human life is a succession of unimportant events. A crushing sorrow, the loss of fortune, physical or mental suffering, are the exceptions not the rule of life. Success is won by attention to the little things. Mainly how we think. "

SELF RELIANCE: "The easy thing to do is to have a bad attitude about things, complain that it is every one else’s fault and live in disregard for the truth. The secrets lie within us! We may rely upon ourselves or another person. The one is self-reliance; the other is dependence. The truth of the matter is that we can only really rely on one. That is ourselves. We must have confidence in ourselves and that is built one day, one second, one moment at a time."

THE ART OF WAITING: "To know how to wait is a great secret of success. You see people being impatient with everything because we have been conditioned to do so. It raises our blood pressure and we get angry for the simple seconds it takes for something to happen. Most people have never been taught how to wait. Their impatience ruins their day, their mood and their attitude sours.  Patience is the art of waiting; really a fine are, it is so rare. Think about it. How many times do you see people impatient around you?  Many will look for a faster way or shorter route but there never is one. If you have to wait, fill your waiting with something constructive. Music, reading or talking with someone you love. Impatience is evidence of mental weakness and perhaps, of moral weakness too."

MENTAL AND MORAL GROWTH: "The secret of growth is to do to-day what we could not have done yesterday. It requires no striving, or extra effort, to do to-morrow. The effort of doing something greater is necessary; for this keeps the faculties at their highest tension, in where this is growth. You have to think on a higher plane. Your mind will be sharper when it has been taxed. Just reading this letter has taken your consciousness to a new level of thinking even if you don’t realize it."

SHORTEST WAY TO SUCCESS: "The shortest and quickest route to one’s destination is a factor int eh problem of life. Busy people desire and seek it, for it saves time and energy. The “longest way around” it not popular."

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When You are Told You Can't

When You are Told You Can't

Never underestimate passion!

 Every person should know better than to listen to someone who does not have your best interest at heart. If you listen to them, they will become your worst critic and it validates them. I had that experience and then proved that person wrong on many levels. What do you do when your told that you can't do something. When you are inspired to achieve and people shoot it down. When they taunt you and tease you because they think they know you better than you know yourself. Do you believe them? I want to show you why you should not.

It is important because if we continue to believe others we will stay where we are. No goals achieved, no growth and we will never live the life we want to live. I was told I would never have a college degree or make it in a career of my choice. I was told I was no good by my own family members and spouse. For a long time, I listened and that was my first mistake. I am sorry if I offend anyone by saying this but they are dead wrong! They have no idea what you are capable of. You can achieve much more than they can imagine. I want to share that it is when we discover our energy that things happen. When the heart takes over and leaves the head wondering what just happened. I know many people who have had extreme adversity in their lives and are hitting it out of the park.

Sometimes the truth hurts. We are not motivated and we do not apply what we know to improve. We exaggerate and picture ourselves with big muscles and strong bodies while we sit on the sofa eating potatoe chips and when we look in the mirror, we suck it in and try and be the person we think we are in our minds but on the surface, it is evident we have work to do. Suprise! Reality gets a vote.

Why not start setting achievable goals that make a difference. Use resources to get there. There is plenty of information online to get started and it is all FREE. You dont have to buy thousands of dollars of programs, tapes and other things to start making big goals. You have to eliminate what I call "stinking thinking". I am attaching the picture of my law degree to prove to you that I know what I am talking about. I believe it with my whole heart and I live it every day now. So get after it!

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