The Secret to Getting Something Better

 

"What you see is what you get!"

There's a reason why quotes become common place. It's because they have been shown to be true. Otherwise, once said, they would quickly be dismissed and forgotten.

"What you see is what you get" goes deeper than just taking things at face value. It means more than getting exactly what you see in front of you and nothing more.

What you see and how you see it actually define your reality. Notice I say YOUR REALITY and not just reality. We all live in the same world, but we don't perceive it that way. 

If I wake up one day, and it's snowing and cold outside, I might think this is terrible weather for driving the kids to school. If you're an avid skier you might wake up and think the weather is excellent today. We both wake up in the same exact world, but our reality is different.

We "SEE" things differently - just as if we were wearing colored glasses.

Colored glasses on our brain that is. Everything we think is "colored" by our past experience, good or bad. Everything we think is colored by our emotions that day. If I'm grumpy, the world takes on a sort of gray color that day. If I'm happy, the world seems a bright sunny yellow.

Fortunately, the color of our glasses is completely under our control. No external forces can make you feel anything you don't want to feel. No external forces can make you SEE things a certain way. Our creator, in his infinite wisdom, gave us complete control over only one thing...what we think. In effect, the ability to change the color of our glasses.

Having been given complete control over only one thing, it makes you wonder and appreciate just how important that one thing is. Seems it's all important. You can change, at any time, what you think. That's powerful!

Changing your thoughts can change your life...in the instant you decide to do so.

There is no "reality". The world, and every smallest part of it, is just what and how you choose to see it.

You are the creator of YOUR WORLD!

If you're looking for the fastest, easiest way to change anything in your life, I have included the proven secret on page 15 of "Building Blocks of Prosperity".

Robert Schwarztrauber

One Power Turns Dreams into Reality

Today, January 18, 2010, we celebrate a national holiday in honor of a great man who had a dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. We celebrate a man who let no obstacle prevent him from pursuing his dream. We celebrate a man who had what all men of accomplishment have to have, and if you'll read to the end I'll tell you where you can find that incredible power too.

Dr. King's dream was that one day all men and women in this country would be treated as equal citizens.His dream was that his four little children would one day be judged by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin. Dr. King fought every day for that dream - until the very day his life was taken from him by an assassin's bullet.

Dr. King had a powerful dream that gave incredible purpose to his life. Luckily, his dream did not die with him. His dream was picked up by his wife and his children and millions of others who shared his passion. Although Dr. King would never come to witness his dream become reality, by the very pursuit of his dream he helped to advance an important cause for millions of men and women across this nation. He shared a dream with millions of oppressed people. Saddly, that dream still needs to be carried forward. But it is being carried forward.

And so when I woke today, I lay there in my bed for a few moments thinking thoughts for the day. I do this almost every day. Today the first thoughts in my head were for Dr. King and his famous "I have a dream" speech. (which is so inspiring I listen to it every year). As a father, it is always an emotional experience when he speaks of the dream he has for his children.

But today I began to wonder about dreams. We all have dreams. But are we all pursuing our dreams?

My sense is that a great majority of folks are not.

Many spend their time in pursuit of someone else's dream. Many have a dream of their own, but lack the discipline to advance it. Many have a dream but are stuck or overwhelmed by obstacles, sometimes real, but mostly imagined and they fail to move forward. Many folks are blessed with a life far longer than Dr. King's, but fail to accomplish much of anything at all.

And it really come's down to just one thing.

Dr. King had it. All great men and women of accomplishment had it. But it is not some special endowment given to some, but not to others. That something is available to every man, woman, or child who will use their mind and free will to choose it.

On page 37 of "Building Blocks of Prosperity" I show you exactly what that something is, how you can get it, and you instantly understand it's importance. I guarantee you've had it before, but didn't understand it's importance so you just let it drift in and out of your life as you rode the roller coaster of success and failure.

Today, think of your dreams. Think of the dreams you have for your families.Think of how pursuing your dreams will create a better tomorrow for you and those you love. And if you haven't had much success so far in reaching your dreams, grab a copy of my book online at http://helpbobhelpkids.com. It's affordable for everyone.

I guarantee you can make progress when you discover the simple secret and put it to use. And your progress, no matter how seemingly small, will create a ripple effect on the world that will benefit more folks than you could ever imagine.

Just as the dream of Dr. King has lived on to see his four little children, and millions of other parent's children, grow up to live in a world so much more like the dream he had envisioned. Dreams do come true - but not just by dreaming. You have to get to work on them first.

Get to work on your dreams today...free yourself from the self-imposed chains of hopelessness and the shackles of despair created in your mind.

Begin today to let your own personal freedom ring!

by Robert Schwarztrauber

Your Bridge to Success

Discipline:
A system of essential rules and duties.

Remember yesterday we talked about
Ivy Lee and his great tip for Charles Schwab
that produced millions in profits?




There are actually two important parts to that plan.

First, the plan or the system actually worked.

It worked because it required the essential step of writing down what you want to accomplish - that being the first step in turning wishes or dreams into achievable goals. And it required you to prioritize your goals so that you could begin work on the most important one first.

Second, it required you to have discipline.
And that is where most of us fail.

We can do something once, or for a little while, but then we revert back to our more familiar ways. When things get hard, or obstacles appear we abandon ship and move on to the next project - consoled by the fact that we're not "wasting time" butting our heads on the last thing.

But Ivy Lee's plan won't let you do that. You MUST complete the most important thing on your list before moving on to the next. No sweeping it under the rug, no putting it off until tomorrow. No procrastination allowed.

So make your list, and begin. Successful people differ most from others in that they FINISH the tasks that are important. They don't quit when the going gets tough and they don't put off until tomorrow what they can do today. If you thought it was the most important thing on your list, don't suddenly change your mind.

It's a little thing called discipline.

A system (means its automatic, it just happens - you just DO IT WHETHER YOU WANT TO OR NOT!) of essential (means without it, it won't work) rules (agreed upon ways of doing things) and duties (the things you must do).

Discipline is simply defined yet oh so hard for most folks to follow. And therein lies the root cause of most failures. Failures in school, in business, in personal lives, in self-improvement. We can find hundreds of examples of WHAT to do, we just can't seem to follow through daily with the actions that are required to achieve the success that has been laid out for us.

On page 37 of my book "Building Blocks of Prosperity" I tell you the one question successful folks ask that can give you all the discipline you need to succeed. And it never fails!

Robert Schwarztrauber

Concentrated Focus Beats Multi-Tasking

In our effort to get more done in less time, the quality of our efforts is often compromised.

One notably bad result comes in the form of death on the highways - the result of people trying to drive while composing text messages on their cell phones. The ultimate case of Multi-Tasking gone wrong.

While that rare and most serious result gets the headline, there are millions of other small compromises going on everyday that go unnoticed.  But the combined and compound effect of all these small quality lapses adds up.

The individual, business, and society lose out in the long run.

Yes, we are incredible human beings, capable of doing many tasks at once. But we are not capable of doing each task to the best of our ability when we squander our attention upon many things at once.

On the surface it appears we get more done. But how many times do we (or someone else) have to go back to re-check or re-do our work because our multi-tasking failed to pay adequate attention to detail?

Ultimately, time and money are lost. Perhaps worse, you develop a reputation for being careless or sloppy in your work.

Way back in the early 1900's a well respected executive and consultant by the name of Ivy Lee suggested to Charles Schwab, then a top executive in Andrew Carnegie's steel empire, that Charles implement a system to get more done. And Ivy Lee said, "Don't pay me now for this system, but try it out and then pay me what you think it's worth."

After using the system for one year, Charles returned to pay Ivy Lee $25,000. That was a whole lot of money back then - for one simple idea! But that idea made Charles Schwab, and later May Kay Ash and hundreds of other entrepreneurs, millions and millions of dollars.

Doing one thing at a time was a vital component of his system. Focused attention was key to the success of these prosperous individuals. The key wasn't how to get more things done - the key was to get the most important things done first.

Don't discount the difficulty in this. With all the distractions going on around us, continually, it takes great effort to concentrate your focus on one task until completion. It requires discipline, but the rewards of focused attention over multi-tasking have been proven time and time again.

"One thing at a time, and that done well, is a good rule as I can tell"  Theron Q. Dumont

Tomorrow, we'll take a closer look at discipline - and how it just might be the bridge you need to succeed.

 -LEGO photo above from page 34 of "Building Blocks of Prosperity"

Turning Weakness Into Strength

Snowflakes and sticks might seem an odd choice for beginning an article about turning weakness into strength, but before I am finished here you will come to understand why I chose them.

On the surface, and in our perception, what is looked upon as weak is not always as it appears. Often we perceive ourselves weak in some area - sometimes we are right, sometimes we are wrong. Most times it doesn't really matter in the final outcome.

Our qualities of weakness or strength do not determine the success or failure of our mission, they only direct us towards which strategy we should use.

Most folks who perceive themselves weak will shy away from ever attempting anything beyond what they feel capable of. But they would often succeed quite nicely if they would only use the proper strategy - a strategy to overcome their weakness.

And that is a lesson that can be understood by observing the snowflake and the stick - two of natures most fragile things. Certainly on their own neither one can withstand the tiny force of even a child.

But behold their awesome power when they stick together!

Blizzards can bring the largest city to a standstill and cost millions of dollars to clean up. An avalanche can bury and kill a skier without ever slowing down. When those fragile snowflakes stick together and combine with the forces of wind or gravity, men fear their awesome power. The light and delicate snowflake, perhaps the most fragile thing in nature, overcomes it's weakness by forming an alliance that sticks together.

An what of the stick? Is there any child who hasn't picked up a stick from the ground and listened to it snap as their tiny hands overpowered it? But is there any adult who could break them when 100 are bundled together? I think not.

Perhaps if nature's most fragile creation, the snowflake,  can find strength by sticking together maybe we would be wise to follow that strategy as well.

Instead of trying to go it alone in areas where we are weak, we should form an alliance. We should surround ourselves and link together with folks who can add to our strength or prop up our weakness. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two people are alike either. But when we head off, arm and arm with another, we have a much greater strength than either of us had alone.

So often we try to go it alone when that is a poor strategy. When we fail the obvious choice is to blame our weakness. But it is more often our strategy which failed us. There is almost no weakness that cannot be overcome, no strength that cannot be obtained, when we will set our ego aside and ask enough people to join us in working toward our task.

Behold the lesson of the snowflake and stick. Even though each one is weak, their strength is enormous when they bond together.

Who can you bond with to gain the strength you need?
________________________________________________

This article inspired by these two quotes from my children's book  "Building Blocks of Prosperity"

"Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable." Kenyan Proverb

"A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together."
Author Unknown

Tribute to a Mentor

Although not in the spirit one usually expects to find at the launch of a book, I feel it appropriate at this time to pay tribute to a man who has influenced my life, this book, and my work greatly. That man is Jim Rohn, appropriately known as America's Foremost Business Philosopher.

Saddly, on December 5th of this year, Jim was called home, to a better place in heaven.

Though the photograph above did not make it into Book 1, I am happy to present it here in tribute to a man who worked so hard at helping people take down the walls that keep them from prosperity. Jim always had a way of stating things simply. He said things that were simple, yet profound when you really thought about it. You found yourself saying, "Yeah, that's right. Why didn't I think of that." He presented ideas that were common sense, but not common practice.

Fortunately for me, my walls were open to Jim Rohn. Having his words come into my life have made a difference that can't possibly be measured. Luckily, because we live in these modern times where recorded materials are available, anyone can still enjoy and learn from his words through the materials he's recorded and written. And I encourage everyone to do so.
There is a link in the credit below for those interested.

Thank you Jim, for making this world a better place for me and millions of others!

NOTE: Although the quote in the photo above did not make it into Book 1, several other quotes by Jim Rohn did. Click on the image below to view more by Jim Rohn.

This quote is by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher. To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine, go to www.jimrohn.com Excerpted from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn. Copyright © 1994-2008 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide.

Coming Soon!

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Inside the book you'll find illustrated instruction from the greatest minds of all time on how to prosper, in good times and in bad.

105 brilliant quotes in all to inspire and motivate young minds...ages 3 to 103!

Toys on every page keep the young ones coming back for more!

Each time children open the book they are reminded of the master's lessons - as they look with joy upon the brilliant colored photographs that depict the major lessons. Visual reinforcement means their retention rate skyrockets. Multi-media graphics (words and pictures) combine to create an exponential learning experience that quickly anchors itself in the subconscious mind.
(kids won't even know their learning!)

1000's of years of collected wisdom...including timeless advice from the world's richest man ever, King Solomon, up to and including modern day business leaders like Zig Ziglar, Napoloeon Hill, and Dan Kennedy, religious legends like Dr. Robert Schuller, and powerful women like Oprah Winfrey. And many, many more. Over 100 quotes in all over nearly 60 pages of brilliant, full-color photographs.

While the advice is made simple to understand for kids, it's also powerful enough for adults!

You'll have hours of fun reading this book with your children. (and often by yourself!) Imagine their smiles as they turn each new page to find a wonderful new toy adventure!

There are games and word puzzles you will do together - helping you communicate the lessons in your own personal way.

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Sneak-Preview of the back cover...