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Three birds sit on a wire. Two decide to fly away. How many are left on the wire? Two. One decided to fly away, but never followed through on his decision. Making a decision and taking action on that decision are two different things. Why don’t we follow through on our decisions? Because of the base of the decision.

Imagine someone who decides to sign up for our DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor Training Program. Along the way, they get stuck and eventually don’t attend. Why? It’s called “Approach Avoidance”. They intellectually WANT to attend the training, they understand that it’s the right thing to do, they intend to do it, but the base of that decision will undermine it and sabotage the action that should rationally follow. The base in this case could be fear of success, low self-esteem, negative conditioning, guilt, or a bad philosophy. The base is always emotional - it’s about your “feelings” and it explains why people don’t follow through on decisions, don’t implement what they learn, drop the ball, show up late for important appointments, fail to be consistent and do what they promise to do, and fail.

Think about it: Someone who believes they don’t deserve to be successful because of past guilt, or fear being noticed by the authorities when they become successful, or believe they will be obliged to help family they don’t like when they make a lot of money, will not follow through on a decision that they know will make them lots of money. Someone who punishes himself by being overweight will not show up at the health club, even though he may buy membership. Many people attend seminars on wealth creation, yet many of them have a socialist philosophy - it’s no wonder they never follow through with what they learn, even though they decide to do so. If your favorite books are by Michael Moore, you’re probably not going to apply decisions to become financially successful. If you believe money is bad, or that you’re a bad person, you will self-sabotage, because that’s the base of your decisions; it has nothing to do with your ability to succeed or the system you wan to use.

The way to alter the course of your life for the better is to adjust the base of your decision making. I recently wrote a new book, m eleventh, titled “Break Free!”, which is a handbook on this subject - an owner’s manual, if you like. Only by systematically confronting and fixing our self-sabotaging decision base can we move on to greater success and fulfillment in life. It’s not my environment, the government, or the city I live in - it’s about what’s happening in my head. I talked with someone who told me that Joint Ventures don’t work. My response was, “JV’s work for millions of other people and create millions of dollars in wealth. They don’t work for YOU because of YOU, not for any other reason.” The same goes for Network Marketing and dozens of other systems - it’s your decision base that makes all the difference. Accepting this and taking personal responsibility for being unreliable, slothful, fearful, or unsuccessful, is the first step towards real success. Your decsion base is like the foundation of a tall building.

There’s an old saying, BE - DO - HAVE. “You have to BE in order to DO, and you have to DO in order to HAVE.” The DO part follows the decisions you make. Stop blaming things and take responsibility - “If it’s to be, it’s up to me. My success or failure is my fault and to my own credit. I am the captain of my ship - I am in absolute control.” You’re closer to success than you may think. Jim Rohn said, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”  He’s right.

Many years ago in South Africa, we imported the Anthony Robbins Personal Power Program from America. Because of the exchange rate and import duties, it was very expensive, and it took a long time to receive it. We were very excited and listened to it over and over again. It changed our lives dramatically and resulted in personal understanding and choices and a video program that made us tens of thousands of dollars. We still live by the principles we learned from that wonderful program.

On a beautiful spring day, we decided to go for a walk. Along the way, we see… A GARAGE SALE! Rika loves garage sales. Suddenly, as we meander along past the tables laden with other people’s trash, we both notice that something on one of the tables that once changed our lives.

And there it was, in all its glory!

The Anthony Robbins Personal Power program, in pristine condition, with the little workbook and everything, at a garage sale! That’s like putting your most precious, inherited, priceless, irreplaceable family jewels in a garage sale. I was stunned. Rika and I both reached forward simultaneously to grab the program. I looked at the character behind the table, early fifties, torn T shirt, and asked him. “Why are you selling this fantastic program?” His reply should have been expected, but I was still shocked. “I didn’t even finish listening to it - I don’t believe that stuff - that a 20-something could make all that money - it’s rubbish.” When I recovered I asked, “So how much do you want for it?” “I paid $139″, he scowled,”But you can have it for eight - say five dollars.”  On the way out of the garage sale, clutching my treasure, I noticed that the event was held at a Co-op housing place.

Naturally, I am re-listening to the entire program and loving every minute of it, and on the first tape Tony Robbins mentions that only 10% of the people who invest in the program will finish listening to it. There’s a reason why that loser lives in government subsidized co-op housing. He was handed the keys to a magnificent mansion in the form of the Tony Robbins program, and he discarded it, probably in favor of a joint and a hockey game on TV. It was “too good to be true”. Guess when he started scowling? When he saw my DollarMakers ball cap. Bitter and twisted, trapped in his cynicism, and poor.

Although I was disgusted at this specimen that devalued something as life-changing as that Tony Robbins program, I really do pity him, and deep down inside I know that it’s not too late for him to break free of his present situation, if, indeed, he wants to break free. Many people have missed the boat, and yet they could still escape their compromised lives if they had the tools, given that they want their freedom from serfdom, mediocrity, and lives of quiet desperation. As I type this, I have just finished writing my latest book, “Break Free!” and it will soon be available. Perhaps it should be very expensive, instead of the usual $20, since $139 didn’t get the attention of a young man who held his future in his hands all those years ago.

The truth will set you free, and the source is unimportant. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear - even in the form of an old audio tape program at a garage sale. It’s never too late to start living and to break free.

“The greatest wealth is health.” ~Virgil

Money and time, happy relationships, confidence, the achievement of our goals, and peace of mind are not quite as valuable when you have no health. While the former will certainly allow you to “suffer in comfort”,
bad health adversely affects every area of your life, and every area of your life affects your health.

However I believe that drug companies, many doctors, and the snake oil salesmen who are essentially the purveyors of lotions, potions, farcical diets, absurd juices, organic junk and magic spells to relive desperate,
vulnerable, suffering people and hypochondriacs of their hard-earned money, carefully complicate the concept of health in their own selfish interests.

“The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they’ll ease
Your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.”
~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

Here are the facts as I see them regarding health. Use more calories up through exercise than the calories you consume. Let’s apply the following to FAT:

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.”
~ Charles Dickens

To me, that means that if I eat more calories than I use up, I get fat. It’s not water retention – it’s disgusting fat. If you smoke, not only do you offend the people around you who wisely choose not to smoke with your
filthy, stinking addiction, not only do you blatantly demonstrate the fact that you do not care about those you offend and that you are incapable of the self-discipline to quit smoking, but you also make it clear that your real self-esteem is pretty low. Smoking will not make you healthy. Heavy drinking will not improve your health. Eating bad food will have a negative effect on you. Smoking weed will damage what brain cells you have left.

It’s that simple: disciple yourself to eat right, don’t smoke, get exercise, get some sunlight, and get over your weak excuses. AS you discipline yourself, your self-esteem will increase, and this will affect every other area of your life in a very positive manner.

“Joy and Temperance and Repose Slam the door on the doctor’s nose.”
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It’s basic, common sense. I don’t need to buy your overpriced vitamins on auto ship. I don’t need health club membership. I can drink more water, eat more fruit, and climb the stairs or walk around the lake.

“To feel keenly the poetry of a morning’s roses, one has to have just escaped from the claws of this vulture which we call sickness.”
~ Henri Frederic Amiel

Good relationships, peace of mind, sufficient money, and good friends will increase your health. Keep it simple and stop wasting your time and money on ridiculous schemes and dreams and quick fix silver bullets that will inevitable prove to b duds.

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.”
~Irish Proverb

Stop making excuses, start making changes, and get healthy. You deserve it!

“I see rejection in my skin, worry in my cancers, bitterness and hate in my aching joints. I failed to take care of my mind, and so my body now goes to hospital.”
~Astrid Alauda

Affirmations are essentially a personal self-improvement and self-motivation technique.

Having some Daily Affirmations that you recite to yourself at least twice a day will do wonders to change your life. Changing your life is not difficult, as it is simply a matter of reprogramming yourself. That’s basically what repeating powerful Affirmations do - they reprogram your beliefs and feelings to what you want them to be.

Repeating some really good affirmations will do wonders for you, such as:

• Your thinking and emotional state becomes more positive
• You have increased self-assurance and self-acceptance
• You begin taking more purposeful action
• Enhanced vitality and passion for life
• People treat you with more respect and interest
• You experience greater happiness and joy
• You have a renewed sense of personal power (Just like when you were a kid)

So I decided to release a poster that you can print out, that has my personal Affirmations that I have been using daily for over 10 years.  When I wake up and when I go to bed, these are the affirmations I am saying to myself, in my head.  I even say these on the plane, in the car and even when brushing my teeth.

The Daily Affirmations poster is available to anyone who subscribes to JVBlogger - either via an RSS Feed or via Email.  It’s simple - in the upper right of this blog is both ways to subscribe.  If you don’t know what ‘RSS’ or a ‘FEED’ is, then just subscribe by email - it’s easy!

It is a 2.9mb PDF file - very high quality.  I had my graphic designer put it together for me and it looks quite stunning printed out and on the wall by my desk!

Please let me know what your personal affirmations are in the comments section below, I’d love to hear them.

Entrepreneurs often spend too much time worrying. Statistically, 85% of the things we worry about will never happen. Those things include worries over our past that can never be changed, worries over which we have no control, irrational concerns or fears, and worries about the future. Worrying about something never solved the problem or affects the final outcome in any way.

Worrying Makes Your Face Ugly

Excessive worries cause negative emotions that release chemicals into our bodies which wreak physical havoc - high blood pressure, headaches, heart conditions, and more. I loved Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”. Worry can ruin relationships, make your face drawn and ugly, and affect every aspect of your life negatively. Leo Buscaglia said, “Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”  The more attention you pay to worries, like plants, they grow bigger and stronger, until they control you. Someone once said, “People gather bundles of sticks to build bridge they will never cross.”

How do we deal effectively with worry? Action. Pat Schroeder said, “You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.” Face you fears. Shine the light of intelligent, rational, and balanced evaluation on them, and the shadows of fear and emotionalism will retreat. Here’s my personal recipe for handling worry. I have a very vivid imagination, so you should know that I have to carefully manage my tendency to make mountains out of molehills and elaborate expansively on the smallest concerns.

Take Control Of Yourself - Worrying is NOT You

I was walking from a business meeting to my car in a parking lot when I realized that I was in a constant state of worry. I knew I had to take control of things right away, so I took advantage of the fact that there were no people anywhere close and I could have a good, long talk with myself. I have found this to be very therapeutic, talking out loud to myself. I would literally ask myself, “OK, Robin, what is your biggest worry?” I would answer myself. Then I would ask, “Why do you worry about that? What’s the worst that can happen? What if it does happen? What would you, or could you do? What do you fear losing?” and answer all these questions. I would then mentally put each of these worries in a tin can on a big shelf. I would name my five biggest worries (or more, if necessary), put them all in cans on the shelf, then one by one, in my mind, as I walked around that parking lot, I would take the can off the shelf, open it up, examine it in detail, and create an action plan.

For example, if I needed to write a letter, make a call, set up a meeting, or whatever action was necessary, I would resolve to do that, put it on a mental “Action List”, and take the can off the shelf. If there was absolutely nothing I could do to alleviate that worry, remove it, or prevent that which I feared, I would realize that there was nothing I could do, and I would take it off the shelf, too. I waddle around that parking lot for about an hour, until I had mentally and emotionally dealt with all my worries in this way. I talked myself through everything. I had an action plan, I was relieved, I had perspective, I was calm, and I was ready to attack again. I thanked myself, got in my car, drove home, and diligently went to work on my Action Plan. When you confront yur fears and take action to diminish your worries, remove them, or set up contingency plans, you take control of your mind, and therefore your emotions and your life.

Nelson DeMille said, “Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.” You are bigger than your worries. You have a lot more strength that you think you have. You can choose how to deal with your worries - fight, or flight. You can let your worries dominate you, or you can decide to b the boss. Change your self talk, change your attitude, take action, and win.

“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” ~ Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

One thing that stops most people from achieving their goals is the fear of failure, embarrassment, loss, or anything that they currently have and don’t want to lose. This fear will prevent them from moving forward - the perceived threat and pain - until the pain of their present condition or their approaching condition exceeds the potential danger that they fear.

Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.

By examining the things you fear, you might get perspective and change your mind about whether or not that fear has the power you currently bestow upon it. What do you fear? How can you diminish that fear? For example, if you fear failure, think about this: If there was nobody else in the world but you, no other people - would you fear failure? No, you wouldn’t. Because you don’t fear failure per se - you fear the opinions and ridicule of other people. And anybody who likes you and cares about you would not ridicule you if you failed - they would help an support you, so why worry about the opinions of people who don’t like you or care about you?

If you fear loss, what do you have to lose? What is the risk factor? Specifically, what would happen if you incurred that loss? Could you cope with that loss? Is the reward of facing your fear worth the risk? Think objectively, not emotionally. Write down the pros and cons. Be rational. How can you reduce or prevent the risk? How can you change the situation, protect your assets, or shift the risk? Fear is usually illogical and based on our conditioning and self-esteem, instead of hard facts. We assume a whole lot of things that are generally not true.

Analyze You Fear - Find Out How Bad It Really Isn’t

Imagine an engineer, and architect, or a scientist evaluating a risk. Would they cry, wring their hands, get angry, shout, hide, or rant? Probably not - they would get out their calculators and have meetings with other analytical people, draw diagrams, make plans, discuss the situation, and find a solution. The architect doesn’t start whining, “But what if the bridge falls down? What if the floor collapses? I’ll be so embarrassed!” Analyze your fear, get the input of experts, talk with people who have been that route before and succeeded, and then make a logical, adult decision.

Play the “What if?” game. It works well if you write things down. “What if that person dies? What if this project fails? Exactly what would I do? What steps would I take? What would happen? Whose advice I need? What would I do? What could I do? Why would I make that choice? What would my alternatives be? Exactly what would this cost? How do I arrive at that number?”

When you view life like a monopoly game or a chess game, you can override your conditioning, bias, self-talk, beliefs, and fears. When you align yourself with successful, mature people who have experience in the field, it gets even better, hence the Mastermind effect of the DollarMakers Joint Venture Club and the DollarMakers Women’s Club - create a support system that will help you avoid the pitfalls of emotionalism, mysticism, and negative conditioning. Together, we can do amazing things.

All You Have To Fear Is…

The things you fear are not always all they’re cracked up to be. Several recent studies indicate that over 85% of all that we worry about never happens. Our minds tend to make mountains out of molehills. Fear is not bad - it’s a warning light that we should consider, and when the warning light goes on in your car you don’t start crying, get paralyzed with fear, or sell your car; you take it to the shop and get an expert mechanic to check it out, or you take the time to read the manual. Sometimes,  an inexpensive item or a small adjustment is all that i required. Sometimes, it’s more expensive, but less expensive than a seized engine. Consider the situation calmly and you will find that all you have to fear, as a smart man once said, is fear itself.

I recently had a jumped up seminar junkie once again disgorging his unsolicited advice about how to run my business. One flower of success in the midst of a murky myriad of failures has convinced him that he is the business oracle before which mortals such as I should gratefully prostrate ourselves. One swallow does not a summer make, my young friend. Buying overpriced business courses does not make you a Donald Trump - it merely makes you a customer of the Donald. The smartest people I know only offer their advice when asked, and even then they humbly qualify their contribution.

Taking advice from people, as Mr. John Addison says, “who are more screwed up than you are”, is not one of my many failings. I am acutely aware of the limits of my knowledge and experience, but I have never benefited from the advice of someone who is clearly inexperienced, arrogant, and stupid into the bargain.

When I discovered the Average IQ was 100, I was Appalled (and then relieved!)

When I discovered that, on a bell curve, the average person has an IQ of 100, I was at first appalled, then relieved, when I found forgiveness in my icy heart for the average plebe who disguises himself as an entrepreneur and doles out his noxious counsel to other equally inept pretenders - the blind blissfully leading the blind, and laughing all the way to the bankruptcy court.

When Jim Stovall said that we should only take advice from people who already have what we want, he should have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Wisdom. Imagine an entrepreneur taking advice from an academic, a bank manager, or a socialist. Ridiculous, I know. Yet the sheeple continue to be sheeple, and we don’t have to follow them over the edge of the cliff.

Seek out TRULY SUCCESSFUL Mentors and Follow their Advice Carefully

Let us carefully select a good pair of effective earplugs and install them as soon as we are approached by one of these tormentors. Let us not confuse the symbol for the real thing. If I was a detective looking for a psychopathic conman, the first suspects on my list would be religious leaders, seminar presenters, consultants, and coaches, suffering from delusions of grandeur and fed by brainless sycophants who pay too much to join their cults.

I seek out truly successful mentors and follow their advice carefully, all the while retaining my reason and a good dose of skepticism, and cautiously weighing their recommendations before grabbing my wife’s checkbook. Empty barrels do, in fact, make the most noise. And still waters run very deep.

The Buddha said,

“Don’t hurry to believe in anything, even if it has been written in the holy scriptures. Don’t hurry to believe in anything just because a very famous teacher has said it. Don’t believe in anything just because the majority has agreed that it is the truth. You should test anything people say with your own experience before you accept or reject it.”

Let me add this final piece: When you find yourself in any meeting, seminar, or presentation where group dynamics and mass hysteria, group-think and emotional manipulation are at work, do not spend more than $500 or commit yourself to any amount over $500. This will prevent you from waking up with a terrible, haunting question the next morning: “WHAT HAVE I DONE?” The offer will still be there the next day, believe you me, and it might look very different.

Remember when you were five years old and you felt like you owned the world? You liked yourself, you were proud of your accomplishments, you were strong and courageous, and you loved people. You believed everyone loved you, too. You could dress up like a cowboy and you believed you were one.

When people asked you what you were going to be when you grew up, you answered without any doubt that you would be an astronaut or a beauty queen or a doctor. The world was at your fingertips. You believed in miracles and dreams and you had no limitations.

When You Grow Older, You Let The World Show You Limitations

As you grew older, the world got in the way and disappointments, failures, and painful experiences started to corrode your optimism, discount your self-esteem, and wear down your expectations. You started to become cynical, skepticism crept into your heart and you began compromising.

You found that being politically correct and turning the other cheek made your life easier, and you could avoid confrontation by backing down.

Previously exciting dreams and goals got shelved in favor of mediocrity and concession. Your attempts at improvement became lackluster and half-hearted. You liked yourself less. You put yourself down and lowered your standards. You stated focusing on survival instead of great success.

The Real You is still there, deep down inside. You are a winner who has behaved like a loser. You are an eagle that is living in a chicken run. You are a king or queen, clothed as a beggar, a champion with a loser’s name. You are still that five-year-old hero, and it’s not too late to return to your real self.

You can regain your belief and excitement. You can make all your dreams come true. You are the shiny sports car that simply needs the grime washed off, gas in the tank and a tune up – a “Check-up from the neck up.” The future is not equal to the past. A hundred dollar note may be crumpled, dirty and torn, but it’s still worth a hundred dollars.

You have unlimited potential. You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. You are ready. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. You are powerful, smart, and wonderfully made. You have the opportunity to start over, today, by choice, regardless of your circumstances, IF you believe that. You’re not a has-been; you’re a Gonna-be! All you need is to make the decision that you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. Nothing can stop you from recreating yourself and your life, starting right now, and repeating it every single day.

You might be down, but you’re not out. You can get back up off the canvas, my friend, and become the champion you were always meant to be. It all starts with the realization of who you really are. The real you wants out – do yourself a favor and be free. Throw the shackles of self-limitation off. Walk out of the prison of doubt and fear. Fearlessly create the life you want and deserve.