Time Out!

Sometimes I feel I write this blog just as much for myself as for you, my visitors. I have been extremely busy lately. Learning new things, figuring out new WordPress plugins, and gadgets and widgets. I’m almost at the point of burnout.

You can only burn the candle at two ends for so long.

Last night, while laying in bed, unable to sleep because my mind was still going a thousand miles an hour, I remembered this story below. I love motivational and inspirational stories. Lately I’ve been putting them into custom greeting cards and sending them to my customers, team mates, friends and family.

So here’s the story …

The Mayonnaise Jar and Coffee

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

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

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

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

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ” I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.  The golf balls are the important things – your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.  The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.  The sand is everything else – the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.  The same goes for life.  If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.  Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  Play with your children.  Take time to get medical checkups.  Take your partner out to dinner.  Play another 18.  There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.  Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.  The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.  “I’m glad you asked.  It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

That really puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? I’d really love to hear your thoughts.

I was cleaning out some files to make more room on my hard drive and came across this poem by Jim Rohn. I thought it would make an excellent tribute to one of the greatest mentors of this century. So here it is…

“I wish for you a life of wealth,
health, and happiness; a life in which you give to
yourself the gift of patience, the virtue of reason,
the value of knowledge, and the influence of faith in
your own ability to dream about and to achieve worthy rewards.” _Jim Rohn

I have listened to a lot of leaders in my 10+ years in network marketing. Only a handful have really inspired me. Jordan Adler, my upline in SendOutCards is one of them. I listen to him every Monday when he makes his team call and then I listen again to his recordings. Jordan has the ability to paint pictures in my mind. Very vivid pictures. He makes me think. He gets my imagination flowing. He truly inspires me.

Here’s what he shared on one of his first calls of the year and I would like to share it with you.

2010 can be your best year ever. Begin to imagine what life is like living each day without regard to what things cost. Imagine what life is like knowing that when you spend your money it comes back again next month whether you go to work or not. Your bank account is overflowing. Each month, you give excessively to your favorite charities. You see money as a life giving tool that can help people. You feed your source of inspiration by donating your time to worthwhile causes because you have the time and you don’t have to work quite so hard to make your money.

You are in your perfect home with your family.
You are taking the dream trips you have always imagined.

You practice saying ‘yes’ instead of ‘we can’t afford it’. That nagging underlying fear doesn’t exist any longer. You are free. You feel empowered and alive. You have money set aside to secure your future. You have money to invest and to play with. You have more than enough money to live your life exactly the way you want it.

Money isn’t everything but it certainly makes life easier.

Let those pictures run through your mind. Imagine it to be reality. Imagine it in the present. You’re sitting at the beach feeling the warm sun on your skin and the sand between your toes. You hear the sound of the waves and the wind in the palm trees. It’s real. At this moment it is very real.

Have you ever imagined something and then it became reality? Your imagination is a very powerful tool. Keep using it to make your dreams realitiy. Imagine the life Jordan painted for you…because you deserve it!

“If you can DREAM it, you can DO it.” ~Walt Disney

Who inspires you? What does your dream life look like? Leave me your comments in the box below.

If you want something bad enough … go get it!

When I was in grade school in Germany I wanted to take an English language class that was offered as an extra curriculum class. (Back then English and French weren’t part of the curriculum like they are now.) The Beatles just started to get real popular and I wanted to understand what they were singing. Since I had to have the permission of my teacher to take that class I went to ask her if she would allow me to go. Here’s what she told me, “Ilka,” she said, “I’m sorry but I can’t give you permission to take that class. Your grades in German are so bad you will never make it. You’ll never learn English. You can’t even speak German properly.” (Well, who at the age of 10 really does?)

I was crushed. Twice a week my friends would take “Walter & Connie” classes and I couldn’t go with them. So I saved up the money for the audio lessons – they came in the old 45 records back then – and taught myself. After I had the basics down I started translating Beatles songs with the help of a dictionary. And after that, I bought every English language book I could find in the bookstores of my hometown. I looked up the words I didn’t know in my dictionary and just kept going.  With each and every book I got better. That teacher couldn’t stop me. I was bound and determined to learn English … and I did! What’s funny is, that years later when I met my husband (he was stationed in my hometown), he had me spell-check his letters to his mom before he mailed them home.

Here’s a video of a few people you might know that didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer either. They tackled that thing that couldn’t be done and they did it!

“If you never failed you never lived”

P.S. Also see my post below … “It couldn’t be done”

A couple of months ago I posted this on my old “The Enlightened Networker” blog. This morning I needed a little reminder of the difference between good and great. So I watched this movie again to encourage myself to give it that extra little push that makes all the difference in the world. I thought I’d share it again with you all. Maybe you need a little reminder too.

Did you know that…

• At 211 degrees, water is hot.
• At 212 degrees, it boils.
• And with boiling water comes steam.
• And steam can power a locomotive.
• The one extra degree makes all the difference.

Are you reaching your goals, your dreams, whatever you set out to accomplish in life? Maybe you need to push just a little harder. Remember in last year’s Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps won another Gold Medal by one hundredth of a second.

So many times in business as well as in life (or sports) it is that one extra degree that makes all the difference in the world.

“To get what we’ve never had we must do what we’ve never done.”

See you at the top!

An excerpt from
The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale

Watch the DVD or read the story below…or both

George Bernard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them.”

Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn’t know where he’s going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry – his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing… he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I’ll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision.

We’re comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn’t care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn’t care what you plant.

Now, let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand- one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds-one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land…and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

1. “Well done is better than well said.”
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790)

2. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its’ pants on.”
Winston Churchill
(1874-1965)

3. “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
Mother Teresa
(1910-1997)

4. “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
George Washington
(1732-1799)

5. “The time is always right to do what is right.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929-1968)

6. “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, has strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
Walt Disney
(1901-1966)

7. “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.”
Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865)

8. “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
Vince Lombardi
(1913-1970)

9. “It is better to light the candle than to curse the darkness.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
(1884-1962)

10. “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
Dwight Eisenhower
(1890-1969)

11. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Nelson Mandela
(1918 – )

12. “We must become the change we wish to see in the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948)

13. “The best and most beautiful things in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart.”
Helen Keller
(1880-1968)

14. “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”
Henry Ford
(1863-1947)

15. “Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.”
Ronald Reagan
(1911-2004)

Watch the Movie to see More Great Quotes fromGreat Leaders:

By Jack Canfield

1. An affirmation is a positive statement affirming your being in the state of having already accomplished the goal.
2. So many affirmations out there. Why not create your own? Start with the words “I am” and remember to use present tense.
3. Remember, affirmations CHANGE things. They Release the Brakes (and the breaks) and change your limiting beliefs.
4. Remember to state affirmations in the positive. Affirm what you WANT, not what you don’t want.
5. Affirmations program your subconscious mind.
6. Keep your affirmations brief and repeat it often! Carry it in your pocket. Post-it to your steering wheel. Send it to your own voice mail.
7. The Law of Attraction is INTENSIFIED by affirmations.
8. Include an action word for your affirmations (ending in ing).
9. Include at least one DYNAMIC emotion or feeling word in your affirmations.
10. Use affirmations to greatly accelerate your success.
11. Make affirmations for YOURSELF (not others).
12. Use affirmations to create the life you DREAM of.