GO FOR IT!!!

Many people meet their death bed with many regrets, a lot of “I should have, wish I would of and if I could do it all over again.” How can you and I avoid this tragic occurrence from happening to us? It’s simple, “GO FOR IT.” Now your “IT” may be different than mine, yours may be to get a degree, travel the world, start a business, become a public speaker or start a foundation to help at risk children. Whatever your “IT” is I want to encourage you to “GO FOR IT.”

I speak with plenty of people who are bored, disinterested or just fed up with their current job, life or overall direction they are headed. I simply tell them this feeling is a result of not pursuing that inner desire on the inside of them.

This is not always a career change it may be your deep rooted passion for singing. Not to be a big time super star, but maybe to perform weekly at the local Jazz Club in your neighborhood.

Until you fulfill this desire, it will haunt you until the day you die. I have to run a full marathon before I die. I have run a half marathon, but it did not kill the desire on the inside of me to complete a full one. Now I know what many of you are saying, why would anyone want to run or walk 26.2 miles? I say the same thing about people who desire to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. When I was offered this opportunity in the military, I gladly rejected this opportunity, while others literally jumped at the opportunity.

In 1994 Michael “Air” Jordan arguably the greatest player to play basketball walked away from the game at his prime, some thought. Fresh off his third championship, many wondered why he would do this. I know. There was something burning on the inside of him. From a quote in a Steve Aschburner article for Inside The NBA, here is what many had to say:

"Everybody else around the league thought that this guy is just heading into his prime, and to chase something that maybe's not going to happen -- he's so great -- why would he take the time, or waste the time, to do that?''

Many people called Jordan’s attempt at baseball a failure, I see it very differently. Whether he made the roster or not, what he did was fulfill a desire that would have haunted him for the rest of his life. When Jordan was asked why he did it, he replied,

“I want to play baseball. It was my father's dream that I become a baseball player.”

If you don’t know how the rest of the story goes, Jordan ended his attempt a year later and returned to basketball and won another three championships. And by the way, he happens to own his own professional basketball team now. So pursuing his desire didn’t knock him off track not one bit. What it did was allow him to go to his grave not wondering what would have happen if I had just went “FOR IT.”

What desire do you have that will not escape you, you think about it, dream about it, and wonder what if. It’s time to stop wondering and “GO FOR IT.”

THINK BETTER, LIVE BETTER

DR. WILL SPEAKS RADIO SHOW

Hey Fam,

I have a brand new radio show I want you to check out. Log onto www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-will-speaks every Wednesday at 10:00am PST. Each show will bring you informative information to help you grow in life and become the best you possible. I will interview special guest who are maximizing thier gifts to produce an awesome life. I look forward to sharing with you in this new form. Tell all your friends it's going down on the Dr.Will Speaks Show!!!

Think Better, Live Better!!!

BECOME A STUDENT

Most people want to be successful, rich, well off, or wealthy. But few take the time to study how to become what they desire.

Imagine a basketball player never practicing or a musician never practicing. I have read numerous books, magazines and articles, listened to so many audio recordings and the resounding thing I hear is that you have to practice and study what you want to become.

A better term is you must become a student of what you want to be. I am a very amateur golfer; I rarely play and never practice. So it doesn’t amaze me that I don’t perform that well when I go out. I will have a good swing maybe every fifth swing. However my colleagues that I play with do far better than me, but they play more, and more importantly they practice.

Contrast to my golf game is my public speaking career, I practice and study the great speakers and influencers of the past and present. By the responses I receive after my presentations, the practice was well worth it. Even though I am nervous every time I get up to speak, it is not because I am not prepared.

How does this apply to our personal lives, finances and life in general? Well it starts with your personal goals in each of these areas. What type of entrepreneur, employee or parent do you desire to be? What type of finances do you desire to possess?

You can not just hope that the wisdom will fall into your lap; you must be diligent to pursue what you want. You can no longer be passive about your desires.

Three action steps you need to take today.

            1. Find a coach or mentor

            2. Get the books or info on what you desire

            3. Take the first steps toward your goal

Becoming a student of what you desire will prove to be invaluable in your pursuit of your desires. The better student you become, the better you position yourself for what you want out of life.

The better student you become, the better quality teachers you will attract. One of my favorite quotes “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”


THINK BETTER, LIVE BETTER!!!

SEEING THE GOOD IN EVERY SITUATION

Why is this happening to me? Is a common question that many people ask themselves when they are faced with challenging situations in life. Many choose to focus on the displeasure or the pain of the circumstance rather than choose to find the good in the situation. Now I know you think this is an impossible task, what’s good about someone dying, losing their home, or their job. Well when you look on the surface of these types of situations I admit it may be tough not to react from your feelings.


When my grandmother died, the pain was awful; I didn’t think I wanted to live. But my grandmother had terminal cancer and didn’t want to go through the process of chemo. When I walked into her hospital room, she looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes and said “baby, grandma is tired, I’m ready to go.” When I left that room, the pain of grandma dying was still as strong as ever, but I had a peace within me. I knew grandma was on her way to heaven, and given the choice of returning to earth, I think she would have stayed in heaven.

From that conversation with my grandma, it allowed me to focus not on grandma dying, but on what I loved about her. Yes I would miss her, yes I hated she was dying, but I DECIDED to focus on all the wonderful and great moments we shared.

Moments like sitting with her and watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Or waiting by the kitchen door for her to tell me I could lick the spoon from the cake she just made. I remembered how she always called me “grandma’s little man.” I had so many great things to think about, rather than the thoughts that would cause me to cry or feel the pain of grandma dying.

King Solomon, said to be the wisest man to ever live coined this beautiful passage;

1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

King Solomon here tells us all that we are going to experience different seasons in our lives, no one is exempt. But we each have the power to think about the good in every situation, and believe me, if you decide to find the good, it is there waiting to be discovered.

Everyone can complain that’s the easy thing to do, be the person that say’s I will find the “GOOD IN EVERY SITUATION.”

THINK BETTER, LIVE BETTER!!!

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

The other day I was organizing my office and I came across an article I had picked up in a newspaper from India. In the article it talked about a 93 year old Indian woman who wanted to learn English. The article went on to say this was a dream of this woman’s for some time.

Many people tried to persuade her not to spend her last few years on something that wouldn’t benefit her. But this zealous grandmother refused to listen to the nay-sayers. So at the ripe mature age of 90 years old, this resilient lady enrolled herself in the local elementary school. She preferred this class room setting over adult school because she said “I go to bed around 7 pm, so night school is out for me.” As I looked at the picture attached to this article, this 93 year old grandmother sitting on the floor next to other small children, it made me smile.

It was a three year process for this grandmother to realize her dream, as the other students moved on; she remained in the same class until she reached her goal. The elementary school teacher that taught this grandmother said “It was a joy to have her in the class each day, and the children absolutely loved her.”

If any one knows that it’s never too late, certainly Jessie Ratliff does. This seventy-five year old great-grandmother from South Carolina does. After dropping out of high school in the 10th grade, 56 years later, Jessie crossed the staged and received her GED.

Hit with a tough economy, and a small unemployment check, Jessie knew personal development was her only chance. Armed with determination and perseverance, she hit the books.

"She came in; she worked; she went right to work and had no problems with the work," said teacher Margie Smith.

But Jessie didn’t stop there she has enrolled in Trident Tech to further her education.

If you have every eating at the well known eatery Kentucky Fried Chicken, then you have

Harland David Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders to thank. At the age of 65-years old, he took the plunge to franchise his small chicken eatery all across the United States.

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad he didn’t think 65 was too old or too late.

Today make the choice to go after what you other wise thought was too late, IT’S NEVER TOO LATE!!!

THINK BETTER, LIVE BETTER!!!

BEFORE YOU QUIT, “PUSH RESET”

Each year if you are like me you set goals for yourself to achieve on your way to your destiny. And if you are like me you experience certain obstacles, distractions and so forth. Sometimes they are self imposed, other times they are life imposed, either way, and they can knock us off course. This causes many of us to want to quit and give up. We experience frustration and de-motivation, and may be willing to forfeit our goals.

Well several weeks ago, I walked into my church on a Thursday evening and picked up a nugget that may help you out. I know it helped me out.

We are mid way through this year and hopefully you have reflected on the first six months of the year to see if you are on course. What did you discover? Are you on track or off track? Well if you find yourself off track, don’t beat yourself up. Stop calling yourself a failure. Today I’m going to share with you what my Pastor and mentor thought me.

PUSH THE RESET BUTTON!!! Yep that’s it. Don’t cry about it; don’t waddle in it, simply press reset. There are a few things that “PUSHING RESET” allows you to do. What I like about “PUSHING RESET” is this; you are not giving up, but starting over.

The other week I was playing Ms. Pac Man and it wasn’t going like I planned. I was trying to get to stage three without losing a man. Even though it wasn’t going like I planned, I wasn’t ready to stop playing. So what did I do, I looked down at that red button that said RESET, and I pushed it.

What does RESET allow you to do? Here are a few things “PUSHING RESET” will allow you to do.


1. Refocus on your goal

2. Refresh yourself for the journey

3. Reestablish priorities in your life

4. Redefine your course

5. Reexamine your tools for the job

So at this mid way point, ask yourself do you need to “PUSH RESET.” You still have time to accomplish some great things this year.

THINK BETTER, LIVE BETTER!!!

RAISE YOUR VALUE

For every one of you reading this blog, you have a great opportunity before you. But I’m sad to say, that many of you will not take advantage of this great opportunity. What is this great opportunity I speak of, it’s the ability to add value to your life. Hopefully today’s blog will inspire you, upset you, push you or make you take responsibility for you.

Many people live life without ever learning the laws that govern life, life runs on a cycle, a system. Learning the system is the key to living a worth while life. Let me ask you a question, where ever you live in this world, do you know the laws that govern success in that region?

Let me explain it this way, all over the world, the profession of farming exists, but the climates for farming are different around the world. If you lived in Ghana, Ghana only has two seasons, raining and dry season. India has four seasons, winter, summer, monsoon and post-monsoon. America has four, but they are winter, spring, summer, and fall. Travel to Germany and be met with autumn, winter, summer and pro-longed summer.

As a farmer, you would have to know the environment you live in to properly plant and harvest successfully.

What I have learned in all my travel is that there is a principle that works in all environments. It is the principle of “RAISING YOUR VALUE.”

I have personally experienced this principle and seen it work all around the world. And the exciting thing about a principle is that it works for everybody.

Many people I talk with want to raise the amount of money they earn, but are not sure how do to it. This causes a great deal of stress for many people. One of the most common ways I have seen a person try to earn more money is by working two or three jobs. But there is a better way to approach this issue.

Here is the key to earning more money, simply learn more. If you want to earn more, learn more. I know it sounds simple, but think about this. Where ever you work, it is what we call the “Market Place.” If you bring more knowledge to that market, the market will pay you more. Why does one person at McDonald’s earn $7 and another earn $22 per hour. They are working the same hour, so you are not paid for your time, but for the VALUE you provide in that hour.

Why does a manager earn more, because they have learned and acquired knowledge about a particular area of the market they work in. As it relates to this market, they add VALUE. Take this same person and place them in another market and their VALUE to this new market may go down.

How does this $7 employee move to the $22 level? By adding VALUE to them selves, if this person, LEARNED all the ins and outs about their job, what makes it work, what will it take to make it grow? They begin to acquire knowledge, in no time they will be recognized for the VALUE they are bringing to the company.

Remember, the way you EARN more, is to LEARN more!!!

Think Better, Live Better