Plan Properly

All great achievements have been characterized by extreme care, infinite painstaking, even to the minutest detail

-Elbert Hubbard

Failing to plan is the single reason why many people and businesses fail in this life. Benjamin Franklin succinctly put it, ‘failing to plan is planning to fail.’ The truth about planning is that, it is the most difficult part of succeeding in any endeavour which is why only great achievers dare to go the extra mile to plan.

The importance of planning can never be over- emphasized in any dealing. Planning helps you to put in proper perspective your major definite purpose. Once you have identified what your purpose in this life is, planning takes it up from there and gives it a beginning, a middle and an end position with clear and specific deadlines. It does not mean that at every point in time things must workout exactly according to the plan but suffice to say that it would not have happened at all after all without the plan.

How very easily you see people set out to execute a project without any form of planning. They simply think about the project, fantasize about their success without taking into consideration the tiny little bits of information that could be fatal to ignore. The fact is, more time and attention should be given to planning than to execution because planning naturally takes execution into serious consideration. This is what great achievers do. They go the extra mile; take the pain of going over and over every detail in the blue print to ensure they are in order before setting out.

Planning for the great achievers may take almost forever only for the execution to be undertaken in a few minutes, hours or days. Ask the ace athlete. They put in hours, days, months and even years of training only to run a 100m race in under 9 seconds. I have come to realize that the amount of time you spend to plan for an event saves you twice as much time during execution. It frees up time for you to be able to engage other activities.

Planning is a skill that you can learn as with every other skill. Planning if learned will make you an effective and influential person in your society; due to your exemplary orderliness. It normally raises self- confidence, boost morale and gives courage. Haven’t you noticed that you go into any activity you plan or prepare for with the conviction that you are going to succeed? On the other hand, lack of preparation, which comes as a result of lack of planning, puts pressure on you and makes you feel uncomfortable. It creates doubt about your ability to succeed at the task you set out to accomplish, and as such because your thought has a direct bearing on your result; you fail at that which you set out to accomplish.

It is not that people do not plan at all but rather many people unfortunately spend more time planning for activities that will be of the least or no benefit at all to them. You may very easily see people planning with all seriousness and zest for a party or other social activities but will give very little or no attention to planning for how they want their lives’ path to be charted. Such social activities are most of the time given many months of planning and preparation with every tiny little detail taken into consideration. Nothing is normally left out. Many times such people even spend outrageous amounts of money on unnecessary acquisitions to aid their planning for such occasions. Ask such people to sit and tell you what they want their lives to be like or the plans they have for their lives for just ten minutes and you’ll be surprised. They won’t be able to say anything reasonable. They normally cannot put their money into especially information materials like books and tapes that can go along way in shaping their lives.

Success, it has been repeatedly said by most successful people, does not come by accident but through a life spent executing a well prepared plan. It is so very true that you can achieve anything you want in life if you will just commit it to careful planning. Every great success by all of the world’s great achievers was actually as a result of committing their dreams and visions to proper planning.

You can not however start your planning until you know where you are heading to, and of course, before then, where you are coming from. This is the first major step that most people miss out on. When this happens, you will find out that every other step in between will be wrong. You will often hear people say they had to stop and re- trace their steps. What they are trying to say here is that had to go back to the very beginning and start the planning they never did or got wrong from the start. Even the Holy Bible in the book of Jeremiah talks about a return to the beginning when in Jeremiah 6: 16 it said, “… stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths …’ These ancient paths were that which pleased God and so most definitely the right paths to step on.

Often you will find people try to match other people in the area of acquisition of property. They buy certain things just because they see their neighbour has acquired it without the knowledge of the planning that person had put in place first before buying that property. Successful people plan their every expenditure whereas under- achiever fall prey to what Brian Tracy refer to as Parkinson’s Law which says that expenses rise to meet income. Financially successful people violate Parkinson’s Law by always planning their expenditure most time by delayed purchasing. This is financial planning of the highest quality.

No success story was ever written without a planning embedded in it. Nothing in fact was ever achieved without a plan. Even failure is borne out of a plan – a plan not to succeed. Planning brings about stability. That is, no undue one- sided pressure. It enhances focus, brings about preparedness, makes coordination very easy and above all gives self- confidence. People that plan have a good sense of direction and are highly goal oriented.

Planning can be adapted in many instances and circumstances and the lack of it will almost always bring a result that is undesirable. Great achievers always have their own plan. People with a plan always attract those who don’t have plans of their own. Many people do not live according to any plan of theirs and so at every point in time in their live, they are working with someone else’s plan.

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and you future was presented to you? Would you be happy with what you will see if you are told that it was as a result of your plans presently? Most people still do not know the importance of planning. Let me make it very clear here: whenever you plan, you take your own future, bring it into your present, shape it and send it back to the future to wait for you. When you do not plan, you care less about you very own future. Now based on all that you are doing today, would you enjoy the future you are preparing? The core of the message here is: to achieve great things, do not embark on any project from now on without a plan.

Excerpt from my book, Go The Extra Mile: That's where great achievers are found!

Accessing Your Inner Guidance

We know that the body has a natural bias toward health and energy. It’s designed to last for 100 years with proper care and maintenance. When something goes wrong with any part of our body, we experience it in the form of pain or discomfort of some kind.

We know that when our body is not functioning smoothly and painlessly, something is wrong, and we take action to correct it. We go to a doctor; we take pills; we undergo physical therapy, massage or chiropractic. We know that if we ignore pain or discomfort for any period of time, it could lead to something more serious.

Every disease or ailment, whether it be cancer, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure or something else, has a series of warning signs. In every case, when we experience an abnormality, we tend to move quickly to do something to get back to normal. Our physical feelings tell us when we’re well, and they also tell us when we’re unwell, and we tend to obey them if we want to live a long, healthy life.

In the same sense, nature also gives us a way to tell what’s right for us and what’s wrong for us in life. Just as nature gives us physical pain to guide us to doing or not doing things in the physical realm, nature gives us emotional pain to guide us toward doing or not doing things in the emotional or mental realm. The wonderful thing is that you’re constructed so that if you simply listen carefully to yourself-to your mind, your body and your emotions-and follow the guidance you’re given, you can dramatically enhance the quality of your life.

Just as the natural physical state is health and vitality, the natural emotional state is peace and happiness. Whenever you experience a deviation from peace and happiness, it’s an indication that something is amiss. Something is wrong with what you’re thinking, doing or saying. You’re an incredibly complex organism, and your feelings of ease and unease, happiness and unhappiness, can be triggered by a myriad of factors. But the bottom line is that your feeling of inner happiness is the best indicator you could ever have to tell you what you should be doing more of and what you should be doing less of.

Unhappiness is to your life as pain is to your body. It’s sent as a messenger to tell you that what you’re doing is wrong for you.

There are many reasons why people don’t listen more closely to their feelings and, especially, why many people are reluctant to use their own happiness as the standard by which to judge the events in their lives. I’ve studied this subject for many years, and I think that there are three major myths about happiness that each of us believes to some degree.

Myth #1

The first myth about happiness is that it is not legitimate or correct for you to put your happiness ahead of everyone else’s. Throughout my life, I’ve met people who have said that it is more important to make other people happy than it is to make yourself happy. Of course, that is nonsense.

Human beings are happiness-driven organisms. Everything we do in life is oriented toward maintaining and increasing our level of happiness. We are psychologically constructed so that it’s impossible for us to be any other way without making ourselves mentally and emotionally ill. The fact is that you can’t give away to anyone else what you don’t have for yourself. Just as you can’t give money to the poor if you don’t have any, you can’t make someone else happy if you yourself are miserable.

The very best way to assure the happiness of others is to be happy yourself and then to share your happiness with them. Suffering and self-sacrifice merely depress and discourage other people. If you want to make others happy, start by living the kind of life and doing the kind of things that make you happy.

Myth #2

The second myth, which is closely tied to the first myth, is the admonition that we’re here to serve others rather than ourselves. Many poems and essays repeat that theme. They say that we’ve justified our life on this earth if we’ve made some other person happy on the way through. But as I’ve said before, making others happy goes hand in hand with making ourselves happy. It’s through service to others that we achieve a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Only when we lose ourselves in doing something that we feel benefits someone other than ourselves do we experience transcendence, do we feel ourselves rising above the tedium of day-to-day activity. To paraphrase Robert Louis Stevenson, everybody makes his living by serving someone. And the key is to serve with joy and happiness.

Myth #3

The third myth about happiness is that someone else’s definition of happiness is valid for you. Often, we feel a little uneasy if we’re not happy doing something that someone else thinks should make us happy. Many people allow their parents to influence their choices of career and find themselves miserable as a result. They want to please their parents, they want to make them happy, but they’re unable to experience any joy doing what they’re doing.

Happiness in life is like a smorgasbord. If 100 people went to a smorgasbord and each put food on his plate in the quantity and mix that each felt would be most pleasing to him, every plate would be different. Even a husband and wife would go up to the smorgasbord and come back with plates that looked completely different. Happiness is the same way. It’s composed of a great variety of ingredients, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Each person requires a particular combination of those ingredients to feel the very best about himself or herself.

And your mix is changing continually. If you went to the same smorgasbord every day for a year, you probably would come back with a different plateful of food each time. Each day-sometimes each hour-only you can tell what it takes to make you happy. Therefore, the only way to judge whether a job, a relationship, an investment, or any decision, is right for you is to get in touch with your feelings and listen to your heart.

The Path of Least Resistance

In the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, there’s a scene where someone asks Cyrano why he, as an incredible individualist, should refuse to compromise his ideals or principles for anyone. He replies with these classic words: “I long ago made the decision that in every area of life, I will choose the path of least resistance in this, that I will please at least myself in all things.” That is one of the great lines in literature. To have the courage to please at least yourself in all things. Do what feels right for you, at the very minimum, and if it makes others happy as well, that’s terrific. If it doesn’t, you’ll know that you have done the very best you could under the circumstances.

You’re true to yourself only when you follow your inner light, when you listen to what Ralph Waldo Emerson called the “still, small voice within.” You’re being the very best person you can be only when you have the courage and the fortitude to allow your definition of happiness, whatever it may be, to be the guiding light of every part of your life. Whenever you feel stressed, anxious, worried or uneasy about any part of your life, it’s nature’s way of telling you that something is wrong. It’s a message that there’s something that you need to address or deal with. There’s something that you need to do more or less of. There’s something that you need to get into or out of. Very often, you’ll suffer from what has been called “divine discontent.” You’ll feel fidgety and uneasy for a reason or reasons that are unclear to you. You’ll be dissatisfied with the status quo. Sometimes, you’ll be unable to sleep. Sometimes, you’ll be angry or irritable. Very often, you’ll get upset with things that have nothing to do with the real issue. You’ll have a deep inner sense that something isn’t as it should be, and you’ll often feel like a fish on a hook, wriggling and squirming emotionally to get free.

And that is a good thing. Divine discontent always comes before a positive life change. If you were perfectly satisfied, you would never take any action to improve or change your circumstances. Only when you’re dissatisfied for some reason do you have the inner motivation to engage in the outer behaviors that lead you onward and upward.

Stay Tuned! My next blog post “Accessing Your Inner Guidance–Part Two” will be posted next week.

By My Mentor

Brian Tracy

WHEN YOU DARE TO DREAM…

Many people talk about and use the word dream without really knowing what it is. It is important to know what a dream is before we delve into the action of dreaming. A dream is a wish or fantasy to have something or be something or somebody. Normally when we talk about a dream we refer to something that is not so easy to achieve or attain.

Now, having seen what a dream is, my question to you is, do you dream? Maybe I should ask, do you have a dream? How often do you dream and how clear are your dreams? Since I still have the privilege of answering these questions here, I will just go ahead and deal with them. I believe every man dreams and that is translated to mean that every man has a dream or many dreams. I also believe strongly that some people dream more than others and also that some see and understand their dreams more than others.

Dreaming is the stock in trade of the highly successful people and great achievers. They practice dreaming as if it were an event in the Olympic Games. Unsuccessful people dream too. The difference is they dream only when they are opportune to and so hardly ever practice it. They do not attach any importance to dreams and dreaming.

The major difference however between the successful and unsuccessful dreamers is this: the successful ones wake up and make their dreams come through or become real while their opposite number do not but at best continue dreaming, hoping to just wake up and have the dream become real. That’s the point; they only hope or wish for it to become real. That is the very unfortunate part because as the saying goes, ‘If wishes were horses, then beggars could ride’, shows that wishes only become real in fairy tales.

Successful people make their dreams become real. How do they make their dreams come true? They keep it in view and under focus by attaching to it an accompanying fruition date. This automatically transforms the dream into a goal. What is a goal then and how important is it to have one? A goal is a dream with a deadline or completion date attached to it. Dreams give birth to goals and from there, they are inseparable. What are you dreams like? What do they consist of? Do you have the talents, abilities and aspirations to achieve your dreams? Are you dreams realistic or unachievable?

The reason for this line of questions is this: your dreams, as earlier stated will give birth to your goals and your goals will bring forth the results in your life. It is therefore pertinent to note that small and insignificant dreams will birth small and insignificant goals which will in turn produce small and insignificant results in your life. There are no short cuts to this truth.
Small dreams = Small goals + Small effort = Small achievement in life

So when you dare to dream, dream big dreams. Dream dreams that are out of this world but do well to remain in reality because only then can you measure and appreciate your progress in life. Dream big dreams and set great goals. When you dare to dream, let your imagination run wild, like a Tornado, destroying every thought of impossibility about the project or your life’s endeavour.

Too many people are dream- shy. They fear to dream as if they will have to pay for it. What an irony because the only thing they will have to pay for is, not being able to dream. It cost nothing but your mind and you imagination to be able to dream but it will cost you even your life’s happiness if you do not dream at all. This is because without dreams there will be no goals and without goals, there will be nothing to achieve. You will go through this life like a passer- by and will be remembered to have done or achieve nothing in particular. In fact, you will not be remembered at all. What a wasted life!

The greater percentage of people on earth have a one- way traffic dream: grow up, go to higher school, graduate, pick up a monthly- salary- paying job, get married and have children, retire and die receiving pension. Nothing more, nothing less! This type of dream is devoid of adventure. There is no fun, no spark, and no challenge and so this way they never impact lives meaningfully. They violate the essence or purpose of life which is to live a life of purpose because of the lack of a worthy dream. One Horace Mann said, ‘Be ashamed to die until you have won a victory for humanity.’ What dreams do you have about affecting lives and making a lasting impact? If you do not have one, then you should not die just yet because there are still plenty of things for you to do.

Having said all these, when you dare to dream consider this:
If your dream does not cause you to stay awake at night
If your dream does not cause you to sleep in the day time even while crossing the road
If your dream does not choke you to the point of suffocation even in a well ventilated room
If your dream does not try to drown you on dry land
If your dream does not make you lost in your effort to find a way
If your dream does not make you rich even without a dime to your name
If your dream does not make you poor in knowledge despite your academic qualifications
If your dream does not make you sick trying to fulfill it despite your great physical health
If your dream does not make you a wanderer despite your present physical address
If your dream does not take you into solitude despite being surrounded by a great multitude
If your dream does not make you reach out to people who can make it come true despite being but your dream
Then think again …
It may not be a dream after all but mere wishes and fantasies!

How to Stay Motivated and Achieve Your Goals

Getting the fact together when achieving personal goals is relatively easy. To stay motivated is not that easy to do. Motivation is the key for success. When you are playing sport, there is something drives you about your sport. Like exercise, competition, team work. There is always going to be something.

In goal achievement it is the same. How do you stay motivated? Do you have that drive which makes you feel unstoppable?

Before you take a index card and pen to write down your goals, you need to think about your goal and answer one question. Why is this goal so important for you? You need to answer this question for yourself.

On the index card write your goal in very detail, it has to be very detailed. Remember, the more you write and more reasons you will have for making your goal become reality, more motivation you will have for completing your goal.

When you have your goal ready written down, reread it over and over. Make sure, twice a day to read your goal, read everything you had put down. The way I do it is I read my goals in the morning and before I go to bed.

The process of rereading is helping me to concentrate on my goal. I am focused all the time, I am thinking about my goal. And I think as if I already achieved my goal. The motivation is great. When you loose your focus on your goal, and you don't want to do anything about completing your goal, start writing again.

Writing will help you bring the feeling of success back. Remember that you have to stay motivated all the time. The motivation is the motor for you that will help you achieve your goal.

Set reminders around you. If you took an index card set it in front of your computer, or in front of your working space. Let the reminder be around at all times. One more thing you can do is to have your goal typed in your cell phone. Each time you open you cell phone, you will see your goal. This will also help you stay motivated.

Personal Growth and Improvement Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonn_Smith

How to Fearlessly Face a Transition

Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish.
- - Jean De La Fontaine

We're in the season of some of the greatest transitions of our time. Some good: a new year, a new and historic government (in the US), low interest rates. Some not so good feeling...layoffs, resource actions, mortgage and money challenges. Then there are the goal setters, the resolution makers and those who are fed up and had enough with where they are in their jobs, career and lives. It's the "ripe" time to look at the power of transitions to re-create joy, passion and excitement in your life and career.

More and more people are becoming open to the idea of change. They ask, "How could I make it work for me?" Well, certainly gaining a new perspective, experiencing more personal growth and the chance to have something different, is a good start. In a place of stagnation, just the mere thought of what could be can command worlds of energy and forces to line up to give you more of what you want. Why not take even one step toward what you're thinking about and just see what happens? Imagine...

John has toyed with the idea of writing a book for a long time. He questions whether he has the energy; commitment and concentration he needs to create what he most wants. Working with John, we explored how he could get a "taste" of what this could mean. John was willing to begin with blogging on his topic to get his creative juices flowing and test his commitment to sustaining his writing project. Using a free blogging service to contain his costs and feel more comfortable about the investment, he started slowly. Blogging proved to be challenging at first because of the time investment and need for fresh ideas to talk about. He realized that this was a good test of his commitment and also helped to sharpen his writing. As John continued and found his rhythm, he realized this was truly his calling and now had the evidence that this transition to his dream was now a reality. He is now actively building his plan and outline for his soon-to-be bestseller!

Are you willing to take one step, no matter how small, toward you greatest desire? Can you see and feel the action that will increase your energy, renew your passion and pump up your excitement?

In this season of transitions, take that one step and test the waters. You will find your path brighten and light up right before your eyes - I guarantee it!

What is that dream, that deepest held desire that you want to move to? Is it a new career, a new life, a new talent you want to develop, a hobby you want to make money with, a new way of being with friends, family, co-workers? Whatever it may be, identify just one step that can help you move towards it. See how it feels and what next steps "show up" as a result. Then lay out your path, create your roadmap and to transition successfully to all that you desire. (and deserve!)

Chris Makell is The Career Transitions Strategist if you've been laid off, recently promoted or ready to leave corporate. To learn what your next steps must be in this new economy, claim your free special report available at => http://www.HighCaliberLeadership.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Makell

Develop A Prosperity Consciousness

The starting point of all riches is the development of a prosperity consciousness. You must become a financial success in your thinking long before you achieve it in your reality. Both poverty and riches are the result of a state of mind, and the most important single step you ever take on the road to wealth and financial independence is the decision to change your thinking, to impress into your mind an unshakable belief that you can and will achieve your financial goals. This must happen before anything else happens.

Think And Grow Rich
When I was growing up, I was fascinated by stories of successful men and women and how they made and lost their fortunes, and then made them over again. I read about the importance of a prosperity consciousness in the book, Think And Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, several times. But I never fully understood what it meant until about five years ago. Then it hit me and I've never been quite the same since. Every aspect of my life has improved dramatically, especially in the area of accumulating wealth, since I finally understood what is meant by a prosperity consciousness.

Two Great Discoveries
Here are two of the most exciting principles ever discovered in the long search by mankind for the secrets of health, happiness and great personal wealth.

All Causation is Mental
The first principle is this. All causation is mental. That means that everything that you are or ever will be will be a result of how you use your mind. You are merely a mind with a body to carry it around with. The entire man made world that you see is simply an expression of thought. Your entire life is an expression of your own thinking. And since the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your life, if you improve the quality of your thinking, you must, you will, inevitably improve the quality of your life.

The Law of Expectations
The second principle is what we call the law of expectations. This law says that whatever you expect with confidence, positive or negative, becomes your reality. If you confidently expect to succeed, if you confidently expect to learn something from every experience, if you confidently expect to become wealthy as a result of applying your talents and abilities to your opportunities and you maintain that attitude of confident expectations long enough, it will become your reality. It will give you a positive optimistic cheerful attitude that will cause people to want to help you, and will cause things to happen the way you want them to happen.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to practice these principles in your day to day life:

First, start thinking today in a positive, optimistic, confident way about personal and financial success. Continually imagine what differences it would make in your life if you were financially independent. This is the starting point of developing a prosperity consciousness.

Second, develop your own attitude of positive expectations. Look for the good in every situation. Look for the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. Be positive and cheerful about everything that happens and you will be amazed at the difference it makes in your life.

My Mentor,

Brian Tracy

What Constitutes a Good Life?

The ultimate expression of life is not a paycheck. The ultimate expression of life is not a Mercedes. The ultimate expression of life is not a million dollars or a bank account or a home. Here's the ultimate expression of life in my opinion, and that is living the good life. Here's what we must ask constantly, "What for me would be a good life?" And you have to keep going over and over the list. A list including areas such as spirituality, economics, health, relationships and recreation. What would constitute a good life? I've got a short list.

1) Number one, productivity. You won't be happy if you don't produce. The game of life is not rest. We must rest, but only long enough to gather strength to get back to productivity. What's the reason for the seasons and the seeds, the soil and the sunshine, the rain and the miracle of life? It's to see what you can do with it. To try your hand, other people have tried their hand; here's what they did. You try your hand to see what you can do. So part of life is productivity.

2) Next are good friends. Friendship is probably the greatest support system in the world. Don't deny yourself the time to develop this support system. Nothing can match it. It's extraordinary in its benefit. Friends are those wonderful people who know all about you and still like you. A few years ago I lost one of my dearest friends. He died at age 53 - heart attack. David is gone, but he was one of my very special friends. I used to say of David that if I was stuck in a foreign jail somewhere accused unduly and if they would allow me one phone call, I would call David. Why? He would come and get me. That's a friend. Somebody who would come and get you. Now we've all got casual friends. And if you called them they would say, "Hey, if you get back, call me we'll have a party." So you've got to have both, real friends and casual friends.

3) Next on the list of a good life is your culture. Your language, your music, the ceremonies, the traditions, the dress. All of that is so vitally important that you must keep it alive. In fact it is the uniqueness of all of us that when blended together brings vitality, energy, power, influence, uniqueness and rightness to the world.

4) Next is your spirituality. It helps to form the foundation of the family that builds the nation. And make sure you study, practice and teach. Don't be careless about the spiritual part of your nature, it's what makes us who we are, different from animal, dogs, cats, birds and mice. Spirituality.

5) Next - here's what my parents taught me. Don't miss anything. Don't miss the game. Don't miss the performance, don't miss the movie, don't miss the show, don't miss the dance. Go to everything you possibly can. Buy a ticket to everything you possibly can. Go see everything and experience all you possibly can. This has served me so well to this day. Just before my father died at age 93 if you were to call him at 10:30 or 11:00 at night, he wouldn't be home. He was at the rodeo, he was watching the kids play softball, he was listening to the concert, he was at church, he was somewhere every night.

Live a vital life. Here's one of the reasons why. If you live well, you will earn well. If you live well it will show in your face, it will show in the texture of your voice. There will be something unique and magical about you if you live well. It will infuse not only your personal life but also your business life. And it will give you a vitality nothing else can give.

6) Next are your family and the inner circle. Invest in them and they'll invest in you. Inspire them and they'll inspire you. With your inner circle take care of the details. When my father was still alive, I used to call him when I traveled. He'd have breakfast most every morning with the farmers. Little place called The Decoy Inn out in the country where we lived in Southwest Idaho.

So Papa would go there and have breakfast and I'd call him just to give him a special day. Now if I was in Israel, I'd have to get up in the middle of the night, but it only took five minutes, ten minutes. So I'd call Papa and they'd bring him the phone. I'd say, "Papa I'm in Israel." He'd say, "Israel! Son, how are things in Israel?" He'd talk real loud so everybody could hear - my son's calling me from Israel. I'd say, "Papa last night they gave me a reception on the rooftop underneath the stars overlooking the Mediterranean." He'd say, "Son, a reception on the rooftop underneath the stars overlooking the Mediterranean." Now everybody knows the story. It only took 5 - 10 minutes, but what a special day for my father, age 93.

If a father walks out of the house and he can still feel his daughter's kiss on his face all day, he's a powerful man. If a husband walks out of the house and he can still feel the imprint of his wife's arms around his body he's invincible all day. It's the special stuff with the inner circle that makes you strong and powerful and influential. So don't miss that opportunity. Here's the greatest value. The prophet said, "There are many virtues and values, but here's the greatest, one person caring for another." There is no greater value than love. Better to live in a tent on the beach with someone you love than to live in a mansion by yourself. One person caring for another, that's one of life's greatest expressions.

So make sure in your busy day to remember the true purpose and the reasons you do what you do. May you truly live the kind of life that will bring the fruit and rewards that you desire.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn