When I first started out in my blogging venture I often shared inspirational stories. I know, I haven’t told one in quite some time. But, there will be one coming today which was inspired by a comment that was left on my last post by one of my regular readers, Tim Singleton. (Thanks Tim for the inspiration for this blog post!)

Tim shared his disappointment about a prospect he spent money and a lot of time on, educating him about his product and then in the end, lost to his sponsor. The prospect’s reasoning, Tim’s sponsor was a “bigger deal.” Huh? Are you for real?

As suggested, I installed the WordPress Jetpack plugin a couple of weeks ago because that was the only way to update the WordPress Stats plugin I had used up until then. Little did I know what this little plugin would reveal just a short time later.

Well, on New Year’s Eve I received my first annual report titled “Your 2011 Year in Blogging.” What I found out in this report was very interesting to say the least.

For example it showed me…

What does success mean to you? If you don’t know and don’t have a clear vision of what success means to you it will be almost impossible to achieve it.

Since we are all different, success will mean different things to you and me. To some people success is just getting up in the morning. To others it means reaching the lifestyle of their dreams.

Success isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. It has peaks and valleys, twists and turns and yes, also the occasional road block.

Success needs planning. But before you can plan you need to know exactly what you want. That’s where the clear vision comes into play.

If you have known me for a while, you know that I love quotes. Not a single day goes by where I don’t use them or add a couple of new ones to my collection. Motivational quotes have become a part of my daily routine.

Why are quotes so popular?

Well, for starters they inspire, motivate, encourage and empower us. They give us hope, they teach and at times they even make us laugh.

“Bessie Braddock (to Winston Churchill): Winston, you’re drunk. Churchill: Bessie, you’re ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober.”

We all love heroes.

In fact, we all love heroes so much that we wanted to be heroes ourselves! Not a remote thing to really think about when you’re a little child, especially if you’ve become so enamored with the powers that one could possess – power to zap enemies and make them vanish right before your very eyes, power to fly (a favorite!), power to carry and lift heavy objects like buildings, power to stop objects from its tracks, the power of heightened senses (sight and hearing).

Not everyone joining the network marketing industry will make it to the top. Newcomers are often lured in with the promise …Oh, it’s easy. Anyone can do it. But to have success in network marketing it really takes a special kind of person. So, what traits do all “Successful Network Marketers” have in common?

Let’s take a look…

Successful network marketers lead by example. They are totally plugged in. You can find them on every conference or training call as well as company events. They are constantly improving themselves through reading books, listening to audio or watching video courses or attending seminars.

Take Immediate Action Using the Tools Already Available to You

Here’s an amazing story to illustrate my point for today on how to stop getting ready to get ready and instead take immediate action with the tools already available to you. You know without action your network marketing business is not going to grow.  Au contraire. There has to be constant and consistent action to keep it alive. Massive action taken will even put it on turbo charge.

But anyway, let’s move on.

I heard this story told by Roberto Monaco who is a great story teller and public speaker. Oh and by the way, he was the top producer in the Anthony Robbins Company for 5 years straight.

Without further ado, here is the story. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.

Self-discipline Key to Achieving Your Goals

Achieving your goals is a lot easier if you practice self-discipline on a daily basis.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

I got up this morning and looked at my “To Do List” for today. It’s not very long, but there are some items on it which I really dislike doing. However, they are important tasks that I need to do in order to move my business forward.

Now, would it really make such a big difference if I just skipped today and had some fun instead? At first thought, no, probably not.

Georgi - Learning about Limiting Beliefs

My last blog post was about the fact that dogs really don’t love bones. (Who would have thought?) They just settle for them. The moral of the story … why would anyone (dogs or humans) settle for less.

Well, there are actually reasons why we are settling for less than we could have and I will illustrate that in another story from the great personal development seminar I attended last weekend.

So here’s the “rest of the story”…The story of Gus, the lab, and the tennis balls

Gus, like all dogs, loves to play with tennis balls. (Our dog Georgi goes nuts over them as well.) So his owner, would bounce a brand new tennis ball a couple of times just to tease Gus and then he would throw it and Gus would go to retrieve it. But he wouldn’t drop it once he brought it back. Instead it would take some prying that ball out of his mouth.

Do Dogs Love Bones?

I attended an event for my company this weekend and I must admit that was one of the best events I have ever been to. While it did touch on product and company training, it was mostly about personal development and mindset etc., and if you have been following my blog for a while then you know that I absolutely love personal development stuff. The event was amazing and I came away from it a totally changed person.

As a matter of fact it made so much of an impression on me that I would like to share a few of my personal highlights with you in my next couple of blog posts.

If Elephants Could Change Their Mindsets ...

Urban legend has it that elephants are afraid of mice. Well, that’s not really true. Elephants are actually one of the more fearless animals in the world and they also have an excellent memory.  However, they are not the brightest creatures or they would realize that they could kick the stake they are tied or chained to (at the zoo or circus) into next week if they wanted to.

You see, elephants are tied to stakes as babies and no matter how hard they pull and tuck they can’t get loose. I already mentioned the incredible memory elephants have. So even when they are fully grown they remember that they couldn’t escape when they were tied down when they were little so they figure they still can’t and don’t even try.

Stepping Out Of Comfort Zone

You’ve probably heard MLM trainers before recommending that you should “step out of your comfort zone.” Well, I even mention it on a few of my blog posts here at The EnlightenedNetworker.

That’s great advice! But what if you are just not quite ready?

What if you don’t feel comfortable of stepping out of your comfort zone completely and do things you are just not ready for yet. That’s okay! We’ve all been there at one point or another. It’s all part of the growing process.

Don’t panic!

Instead of freezing and doing nothing at all try to just ‘stretch your comfort zone’ a little bit. It’s much better to grow a little than not growing at all.