The Best Years of Your Life… Now!

In my almost thirty years of consulting, mentoring and coaching, there is one excuse which is unsurpassed when it comes to “the” excuse for not moving forward:

“I don’t feel like I know enough!”

Which leads to: “I don’t want to do or say the wrong thing”, “I haven’t got everything ready yet” and a number of other excuses which all spring forth from one ultimate fear:

“What if somebody asks me a question I can’t answer?”

Bingo! If that happens the game’s over, you’re screwed. Everyone will know you’ve just been pretending! Who do you think you are to assume you know enough to even have an opinion? Look at all the people who know so much more than you do… More education, more experience, more recognition… Now you come along and try to compete with people who really know what they’re talking about? Just who do you think you Are?

Well I’ve got news for you. There are people with 10% of the knowledge you have who are succeeding. They don’t waste their time looking over their shoulder comparing themselves to other “authorities”. They’re too busy taking action everyday and building upon their knowledge, by getting practical experience. How are they accomplishing this?

By taking action. By making mistakes. By saying the wrong thing once in a while!

Name one individual who has done anything perfectly from the git-go? Everybody I know who has built a real, successful career or business has been able to do one thing, consistently: Take action…they use what they know and continue to expand their understanding, as they take their journey. In fact, their journey becomes the very school which teaches them what they really need to know, as they need to know it…and they get paid for learning!

I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve approached potential clients who wanted me to do something I had never done before. Of course, I would say “I can do that!”. I could say it and mean it, even though I had never done it before. The reason? I understood that whenever I surrendered to the “knowingness” (that I could do it) it was all going to work out… and it always did. The Client was happy and I would end up learning something new, which made my services even more valuable!

So, if you feel stuck because you don’t think you “know enough”…take some action. Put yourself into a situation which is going to make you learn something new. Act confident and you will quickly fill in the blanks that will let you feel confident.

Stop being the “student” who always rehearses but never gets out on stage in front of an audience…

Trust me, you know more than you think. Now do something with it!

-Bob Baran

The basic fear of “trusting yourself” is once again playing itself out on the national and global economic scene.

What happened to “buy low, sell high”?

The losses, now just beginning to be reported, by the mortgage industry and soon to be followed by a ripple effect throughout the economy, are so massive you are only getting bits of the information. While those in the know have already moved their wealth out of the market.

Most people have abdicated their responsibility for the protection of their wealth to others. When people stopped investing in companies and gave their wealth over to faceless “managers” who in turn placed it into massive mutual funds, they disconnected from the first rule of money:

Money without a purpose rapidly dissipates in value. It takes more wealth just to preserve the value. (Source: The Intentional Prosperity™ System)

The day you stop investing your wealth in things and experiences that bring good into your life, you subject your wealth to rapid depletion.

The reason is, you are no longer “investing” directly into a company, an opportunity or more importantly, yourself. You have become a speculator, just like a commodity trader, who bets on the price… You are gambling with your money so don’t be surpised if you end up on the losing end.

The house always wins!

Here’s the problem, the stock market is poised to tumble…in a big way. High average personal debt, shrinking credit markets, rapidly droping home values and the mortgage crisis (which nobody has yet to fully report) plus the shrinking value of the dollar (which is now “coming home” as inflationary pressure) means only one thing:

People are going to think twice before buying!

Anything which is a non-essential purchase is going to be put-off. When people get scared they don’t spend money…they hang onto it…and in a service economy that spells recession!

People are now going to shift their attention to making money and paying off debt…not spending it.

A word to the wise: Lemmings always fall off the cliff because they were too busy watching the guys in front of them.

This blog is only my opinion and is not intended as finanacial advice… Use your common sense. The big hit will only hurt those who have their heads in the sand.

-Bob Baran

Many of us work at home

Home based business has been the fastest growing segment of the economy for a long time. I’ve been “home based” for many years. One of the challenges that comes with this wonderful freedom is being able to separate business life from home life.

It’s doubly hard when what you do is your passion. If you make a living doing what you love, you don’t really feel like you’re working. Yet, there still has to be a point of demarcation between business and home life. It actually makes you much more effective, so I thought I’d give you a few quick tips:

1. Have business hours. This is the time each day that is for business purposes only. This simple habit will boost your productivity faster than any other tip I can think of.

2. Don’t answer the “business” phone before or after your business hours. Let your “mailbox” get the message.

3. Have a disctinct cut off time when you will not discuss any business related issues. Whether you operate your business by yourself or with your spouse, not talking about the business before a certain time and after a certain time keeps you in control of your business.

4. Take a least two days off each week. This is essential down time which allows you to “go back to the well”. Trust me, you’ll get more accomplished.

5. Play hookey once and a while. Take off a day spontaneiously and take a ride or something…Just get out of the house! Getting out of the house on a regular basis is really important!

Working from your home can give you a feeling of immense freedom…

Here in Montana, when the wind is blowing and the snow is falling it sure is nice to know I don’t have to make a commute… With our parabolic dish pointed at the repeater tower a few miles away I can be anywhere in the world instantaneously via the net… and I don’t even have to get out of bed!

6. Don’t lay in bed with your laptop conducting business just because you can… Have some respect for those who have to dress up, drive into town and sit in a cubicle all day.

-Bob Baran

There is an old rule of marketing: If you try to be everything to everybody you will reach nobody…

The “truth” of yourself will always turn some people off.

Those funny “Apple Vrs. PC” commercials make a lot of “PC people” angry…But it has tripled Apple’s market share in the last three or four years.

Have you noticed that the people who “get ahead” in life usually have strong opinions and are confident about the reasons for what they believe? They are not afraid of the reaction “their truth” is going to bring. What they find instead is that other like-minded individuals seek them out because of what they believe.

Imagine what you could accomplish with a network of like-minded individuals who are sympathetic and supportive? How do you expect to find those people if you keep your truth hidden away?

Your truth is a foundation upon which you take a “stand”.

Your “stand” determines the direction of your life. If you fail to take a stand, your life has no direction. Living becomes a process of putting in time, not making waves, showing no initiative and getting by. You never find out who else may be “on the same wavelength” as you, because your true self is never revealed.

In time you forget who you really are.

If you are not reaching and connecting with anybody, stop trying to please everybody. In fact, stop being so concerned about what other people think about you…and become concerned about what you think about yourself and your “truth”.

There was a time when we as a society took pride in our individual freedom to make an informed judgement and voice an opinion. Have we become so afraid we are gong to “turn someone off” that we have turned ourselves off… to who we really are and what we believe?

Another rule of marketing:

Either you control the perception of the marketplace or it will create it’s own perception of you.

How many people that could be a source of new opportunities, really know who you are? How much of what people think about you is the result of coming to conclusions, without the benefit of knowing your truth?

Taking a stand on the foundation of what you believe, (saying what you mean and meaning what you say) is the first step you must take in your journey into a lifestyle of prosperity and abundance.

You have to start from “where” you are…you have to stand before you can walk!

-Bob Baran

When you look at the lives of people who are living life on their own terms, you’ll find a common thread:

They tend to be people who have reinvented themselves several times throughout the course of their lives. I’m not just talking about the way they look, I’m talking about everything from their core values and beliefs all the way through a radical change in careers, jobs, business, etc.

What you will find is they have lived several lifetimes within a single lifetime!

Most people measure their lives in roughly four chapters: Childhood, teenage years, adult years and senior years. On the other hand, those who see and live life as a continuing adventure are people who leverage their experience and wisdom to create yet another chapter in their “book of life”… a book containing many chapters beyond the basic four.

Is this the secret of reincarnation?

From a literalist secular point of view, reinventing yourself and changing the course of your life is powerful proof that you can live many “lifetimes” within the span of an average human life. From a spiritual perspective, I am a firm believer in the old adage: As above, so below.

Whatever is possible in the human state on consciousness is merely a reflection of what is really possible… I guess that’s a roundabout way of saying I do believe “reincarnation” is possible. If it wasn’t you would be limited to living a “single” life determined solely by the circumstances of your birth. Look around and you will find many who have already lived several lives.

No one is doomed to a single fatalistic life. Anyone can change, evolve and transform themselves.

This transformation always results in a shifting of one’s life path. It has to. Once transformed you are no longer the same person…What has changed is a certain degree of your attitudes, opinions and beliefs… which is sufficient to transform your day-to-day reality.

Since day-to-day reality is determined by your attitudes, opinions and beliefs, so too is the limits of your imagination. The “fence line” of what you believe is possible, is movable.

The question is: Is it only an arbitrary fence line that is now keeping you from “reincarnating” into the next chapter of your life?

“You” are a book that is never finished… don’t stop “writing” now!

-Bob Baran