Years ago, I was a Hotel School trainee hotel manager in a high end resort hotel in South Africa. I was working as a chef in the kitchen when the owners imported a chef from Germany. Klaus became a good friend, and we worked at many hotels together. Later, when I was a Food and Beverage Manager with Holiday Inns, I hired him as an Executive Chef. Klaus immigrated to Australia years ago.

He was all about quality.

One day Klaus found out that I played squash, so he asked me to teach him. We popped down to the local sports store in the town fifteen miles away, and I will always remember the way Klaus purchased his equipment. “What equipment do I need?” he asked the store clerk.

“Give me the best and most expensive of every item, the best shoes, socks, racket, balls… only the best. If you don’t have it order it, Get it. Get is soon.”

I was surprised, and asked him how he justified this large purchase, given that he was a new player and might not even enjoy the game, or be any good at it. I’ll never forget his response.

Words of a Winner

“Robin, I am the best chef, and I will be the best squash player. I use only the best equipment in the kitchen, I use the best ingredients, as you very well know, I produce the finest quality, and I got the best training. I am the best. In everything I do, I go for the gold – the best. Why would I buy anything less than the best? I go all the way. I go big. I don’t compromise. Ich bin nicht ein Affe (I’m not a monkey.) Let’s be the best squash players!” Klaus always went all the way, he never compromised, and he insisted on the best. He reminded me of the hero in The Fountainhead. I learned a lot from Klaus, and I will visit him in Australia. If you’re reading this, Klaus, “Yeah, Mazamba!”

Don’t tentatively test the water with your toe – throw yourself into the deep end. Believe in yourself. Go for the gold. Push the envelope. Be the best. Go big. Set and maintain your own high standards, fly in the face of convention, and you will have little competition.

How much money have you lost because you held back?

I decided there were many more opportunities to attend a specific networking meeting, so I took a break. My competition attended that meeting, in the rain, and got a deal worth tens of thousands that I would have got. Today that business is worth a small fortune. I missed it, because it was more convenient to stay home.

Does this sound familiar?

• I’m going to think about it.
• I’ll do it next time.
• There will be many other opportunities.
• I’ll attend the next program.
• I’m going to take a rain check.
• I’ll miss this meeting and do it next month.

Procrastination is the assassination of motivation. You snooze, you lose. Hugh Allen said,

“Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.”

Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. “Nothing is so often irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity” says Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. Time is money, honey. If you’re not there, someone else will win the prize, and over time that prize grows. Mark Twain said,

“I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.”

The inconvenient, pricey, difficult, and uncomfortable usually hides the most lucrative opportunity.

“I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour.  I dropped it carelessly, Ah!  I didn’t know, I held opportunity.”  ~Hazel Lee.

If that opportunity only made you a thousand dollars a month, you would have $24K in the bank within two years. Or nothing. Don’t justify laziness – it’s simply too expensive.

Successful people:

• Go beyond their comfort zones
• Pay the price
• Capture every minute
• Delay gratification
• Step up

Only three percent of people succeed magnificently, and it’s all about choice. Easy to do, easy not to do, as we learn from Jeff Olson. Small, consistent, good choices practiced daily, become a habit of success. Self discipline creates great self-esteem, and we earn money in direct proportion to our self esteem. Do the hard thing and get rich. Thomas Edison said,

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Winners INSIST on success.

They push the envelope. They create their future and seize every opportunity. They don’t think of reasons why it won’t work, or focus on the cost. They consider the prize if it DOES work, and get excited about the potential. H. Jackson Brown Jr. said,

“Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.”

I agree. Today is the day. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and it will never return. The price of discipline weighs ounces, but the pain of regret weighs tons. Just do it. The block of granite which is an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong. Choose to be strong; you’ll always be glad you did.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that you can own the Key to Success without paying for it? Best of all, most people prefer not to own it, so you have very little competition.

Read this valuable poem:

Until one is committed,
There is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
Always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
There is one elementary truth,
The ignorance of which kills countless ideas
And splendid plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
Then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
That would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
Raising in one’s favor all manner
Of unforeseen incidents and meetings
And material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamt
Would have come his way.

It’s Biological.  Not Magical.

It seems as if some magical power is released, however there is no element of mysticism here – it is simply the way the old brain works; your levels of enthusiasm, emotion, focus, concentration, creativity, and energy rise significantly when you fully commit to an endeavor, and that allows your Reticular Activating System and subconscious mind to do what it does naturally, hence the amazing results.

Actions Speak Louder…

In today’s world, 97% of people are lack-lustre, mediocre, compromising, excuse-driven, lukewarm, politically correct, weak, gutless, comfort-addicted clones, and so true warriors can sprint forward and ahead more easily in a society that is on the edge, driven, ambitious, and committed. The magical key to success is total, uncompromising, value-driven COMMITMENT.

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor”, said Vince Lombardi.

The only way to know if someone is committed to their words or simply lying losers, is to watch their behavior. Truly committed people:

• Make no excuses and allow no slack.
• Demand performance of themselves and others in their lives.
• Fearlessly make their dreams come true, regardless of their circumstances or what other people may say, think, or do, no matter how long it takes or how hard the journey is.
• Do not even consider the possibility of defeat.
• Will not let you down, because by doing so, they let themselves down, and their self-esteem and integrity is too high for that.

“An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises”, said Mae West.

Courageous people are committed people. Someone once said, “Compromise is never anything but an ignoble truce between the duty of a man and the terror of a coward.”

What kind of Joint Venture Partners do you want?

Those on whom you can utterly rely to deliver on time, or those whom you know you will have to motivate, remind, threaten, and urge, while getting increasingly frustrated? Commitment is the key to Joint Venture success and indeed success in every area of your life. It is the ONE THING that is hardest to find among most people, yet common amongst winners. And that’s only 3% of people. We’re waiting for you to join us.

Your Self Talk is your secret weapon for success in whatever you do, no doubt about it. What you tell yourself about your circumstances, options, challenges, opportunities, strength, and abilities, determines, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, what you will become, and what you will achieve in life. Your self talk is a prophecy of your future. I can predict what you will do by what you say. And what you do determines what you achieve in life.

Talk Like a Winner

Winners never say, “IF I win”, or “I’ll TRY”, or “I’ll do my best”, or “I hope”. They believe in themselves, they are self disciplined, the have high self-esteem, and they they expect to succeed. They say, “I WILL”, “WHEN I win”, and “I CAN”. And they mean it.

Think Like a Winner

Victors tell themselves, “I can handle anything. I am unstoppable. I and strong and focused. I’m a lean, mean, money machine. I never quit. Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better. “I believe it and I will achieve it.” They consistently act in spite of the opinions of others. They don’t allow losers to get in their way. They have high self respect, they set their own standards, and they make no excuses. They never fear the opinions of other people. They are honest and outspoken. Read the words of Winston Churchill and General George S. Patton.

Act Like a Winner

Listen to what a boxer says before his fight, and you can accurately predict if he will win or not. Think of Mohammad Ali. Achievers take responsibility for thier lives and choices, and they don’t make excuses. Control your self talk, and you control your destiny. A congruent lifestyle empowers winners, and they never compromise their values. Winners are eagles, warriors, and visionaries.  Read “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand.

Live “Unconquered”

“Invictus” is a favorite short poem of mine, by the British poet William Ernest Henley. The title is Latin for “Unconquered”. It was first published in 1875. At the age of 12, Henley became a victim of tuberculosis of the bone. In spite of this, in 1867 he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. His diseased foot had to be amputated directly below the knee; physicians announced the only way to save his life was to amputate the other. Henley persevered and survived with one foot intact. He was discharged in 1875, and was able to lead an active life for nearly 30 years despite his disability. With an artificial foot, he lived until the age of 54. “Invictus” was written from a hospital bed.

INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

Jim Stovall is blind. He has been a national champion Olympic weightlifter, the President of the Emmy Award-winning Narrative Television Network, and a highly sought after author and platform speaker.  He is the author of the best selling book, The Ultimate Gift, which is now a major motion picture starring James Garner and Abigail Breslin. Steve Forbes, president and CEO of Forbes magazine, says, “Jim Stovall is one of the most extraordinary men of our era.” For his work in making television accessible to our nation’s 13 million blind and visually impaired people, The President’s Committee on Equal Opportunity selected Jim Stovall as the Entrepreneur of the Year.  He was also chosen as the International Humanitarian of the Year, joining Jimmy Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Mother Teresa as recipients of this honor.

Mr. Stovall says, “VISION is more important than sight.” He should know. We say, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” whereas the truth is that you will only see it if you believe it to start with. “Without a vision, the people perish”, goes an old saying. I once spoke to a group of psychologists at a hospital in South Africa that specialized in helping people deal with stress – most of their patients were police officers – and they agreed with me that the best antidote for depression is hope. Without a vision, there is no hope – only the bland and tiring expectation of more of the same frustrating mediocrity, the same struggle for mere survival.

If you feel you’ve lost your mojo, your edge, your enthusiasm for life, that excitement when you wake up in the morning, your sense of eager anticipation, you don’t need doctors and drugs. You don’t need drink and dope. And you won’t solve your problem by attending multiple motivational talks or sermons. What you need is a magnificent obsession, a vision, a goal that will not be denied, which your can commit yourself to. You will be amazed what will happen to your levels of creativity, happiness, energy, self-esteem, income, drive, clarity, and joy when you get a real vision for your future.Perhaps you’re battling to find or define a vision, a purpose, a raison d’etere for your life? No problem – hitch your wagon to a star! I’m not talking about joining the local religious cult or working for nothing for the local snake oil salesman who poses as a motivational speaker, or working your tail off for a charity – I’m talking about participating and enjoying the fruits of your labor in hard cash. I’m talking about a mission with a commission, where you share in the spoils and you don’t simply become a lackey or a foot soldier to pad someone else’s bank account – that’s like getting a second job. No – I mean getting a real vision, creating something of value, building and producing and pioneering a wonderful project.

DollarMakers has an unlimited vision to help millions of people around the world to achieve financial independence and the resulting freedom, dignity, personal growth, choice, and the ability to live and love according to their core values. We agree with Zig Ziglar who said, “You can get anything out of life, if you’re prepared to help enough other people to get what they want.” With the dynamic, committed DollarMakers Team and our DollarMakers Certified Business Mentor program, as well as over a hundred websites, our products and technology, hundreds of Members in fourteen countries, and our DollarMakers Joint Venture Broker Bootcamps, Joint Venture Broker Home Study Course, Member activities, meetings, conference calls and Conventions, our eight ezines and our solid business and Joint Venture Partners, DollarMakers UK, DollarMakers South Africa, and very soon DollarMakers USA, we are finally about to reach our tipping point, and we are looking for the right people to work with. The field is ripe unto harvest, and millions of people need what we have to offer more than ever before. We’re not short on vision, but we need more visionaries to join us on our exciting mission.

To whom much has been given, much will be demanded. Faithful in little, faithful in much. My personal motto is that of Paul J. Meyer, who taught me, “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass.” Together, we are doing amazing things, and we’ve only just scratched the scratch! We’re locked and loaded and we’re on the move. Join us.

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