Starting an extended fast 7 days

I want to talk about a book that I read/listened to The Obesity Code.  There are a lot of great points in the book but the last couple of chapters are the ones that I think will be life changing.  Throughout the book the author, Dr. Fung, talks about the problems caused by insulin.  He explains how terrible insulin is and all the bad things that it does to our bodies when we constantly bathe our system in it.  We do that by eating sugars and carbohydrates.  This is not a new concept and we all understand it.  If we want to lose weight, then we must avoid sugars and refined and processed carbohydrates.  One of the problems that happens when we do not take these precautions our system becomes insulin resistant.  This is the beginning of the end.  Insulin resistance means that our pancreas must make more insulin just to deal with the sugars and refined carbohydrates that we keep putting in our bodies and that is a slippery slope to Type II Diabetes.  Heart attacks, nerve damage, amputations and death.  Type II Diabetes is a chronic progressive disease.  Which means it sticks around and gets worse.  I know what you are thinking.  How do I prevent it? Well, Dr. Fung has thoughts on this.  Stop bathing your innards in insulin!  Best way to do that is to stop eating. 

So. . . . 

I have decided to do a 7 day fast.  

I had a home made burger for dinner.  It is commonly understood that a fast starts after finishing a meal.  So, I have begun my fast at 8:30 pm on Sunday night.  2/25/18

:My goal is that this will jump start my weight loss, improve my health and make me a little happier about the guy in the mirror.  Plus, it sounds difficult so I want to try it.  Starting weight 241.5

I can be a Spartan too

Usually at the beginning of the year on social media it is easy to find people declaring their new intentions.  Weight loss, debt reduction, travel.  But this year I noticed several people making anti resolution posts.  "You can choose to be better every day, not just on New Year's Day".  Yes, that is obviously true but those people making that assertion probably were not at the gym this morning.  Whether it is on Monday's or on New Year's Day or at the beginning of the month, I think it is necessary to make resolutions to be better.  I also think that it is necessary to verbalize your commitments publicly or at least to people that will support you.  These small actions demonstrate a belief in self.  You believe enough in yourself that you are willing to risk public failure.  That is courageous.  So many people are so convinced that they will fail that they won't even say that they plan on losing a few pounds.  Don't be that guy!  I believe in myself.  I am going to finish the Utah Super Spartan Race in Eden on July 28, 2018.  Join me! 

What are your commitments?

The best way to know what you are committed to is to look at the results in your life.  If you are successful, have a good savings, have strong and profitable investments, good health then your commitments are being demonstrated by your results.  If the opposites are true, if you have little or no savings, if your body hurts and you are looking for a good diet or you are always looking for shortcuts to the other side of the tracks then it is obvious to everyone that wants to see that you are committed to comfort and immediate gratification.  We feel that we are obscuring our true selves from others but the reality is that we are transparent.  The results in our lives show the world what our commitments are.

2014 Book Recommendations

End of year book roundup

I love to read.  I am convinced that there is so much knowledge out there and I want to know what others are thinking and how they are implementing.  I have many interests and I love to learn.  So far this year I have read 55 books and I have 5 books that I am currently reading along with probably another 10 in my Kindle and Audible libraries that I have not started.  I am always looking for the next great book and I am consistently getting both good and bad recommendations for books from friends and others.  It is important to mention at this time that I do a lot of research to read great books.  I have read many great books this year so it is a little difficult coming up with a top three list in fiction and non fiction.  With that in mind, I thought that I might be able to help you by giving my recommendations after a year of reading.  I recognize that many people do not read as much as I do so I have included my highest recommendations.  I will also give you my absolute must avoid book from my reading list of 2014.  Let's get started. 

Fiction

Three non fiction books really impressed me this year.  The Casual Vacancy is the third best fiction book that I read.  This book was written by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter's real mother.  Barry Fairbrother, a well loved high school teacher and town council member, drops dead from a heart attack and we are exposed to all the effects that his sudden loss has on the people in his town.   The author introduced such varied characters and helped me become so familiar with them that even through all their flaws, I liked every one of them.  I judge good writing by its ability to make me feel emotion and Ms. Rowling can certainly do that.  I recommend The Casual Vacancy but it is not my favorite fiction book of the year.  

The Girl with all the Gifts came in second place.  This is a very different type of horror book.  This concept of the zombie apocalypse has been tried before but this story was so well done that I recommend it for everyone.  There are a lot of great surprise turns in the story that if I say too much you may not want to read it.  Tension mounts as humans try to survive as the dominant species with help from the enemy until the final reveal that kept me up for hours.  Scary.  

The best fiction book of the year that I read was The Martian.  The research required to write this book must have been immense.  It is so believable that I felt like I was reading a true story.  The setting for the story could be the next couple of years.  Mark Watney is accidentally left on Mars by himself and no one knows that he is still alive.  Now what?  Mark has to figure out how to survive on Mars for a whole year until the next scheduled visit from Earth.  Great story!!  Read it!
 

Non Fiction

There is a tie for third place in the non fiction category.  I recommend both books.  I think the reason for the tie is because I had heard so much about both books before I read them that I felt like I knew what to expect.  Both books are life changing but in very different ways as you will be able to tell when I tell you the titles.  Open your mind, and if you are interested in leveling up your life take what you can from both books and incorporate their lessons into your life.  Tied for third place this year are Man's Search for Meaning and Wheat Belly.  Man's Search for Meaning is an historical account of Viktor Frankl's experiences in World War II Germany as a Jew. Wheat Belly is a research-based book on the effects of wheat and the many products created using wheat and how it affects our bodies.

In second place this year is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.  This is a well researched book by historians and educators that have access to the existing historical artifacts and literature.  I was greatly impressed by the incredible accomplishments of Genghis Khan and his sons.  Just by truly understanding who Genghis Khan was and his influence in modern society make this book worth reading.  However, that is not what has me referencing this book on an almost daily basis.  When I pay attention to world events I am repeatedly reminded of the fall of the Mongol empire.  Whether we learn from history or not, I am convinced after reading this book that we are doomed to repeat it.  

The absolute best non fiction book of the year was Zero to One by Peter Thiel.  This book was head and shoulders above all the other non fiction books I read.  Mr. Thiel is one of the most successful entrepeneurs of the internet age.  He is one of the founders of PayPal and a member of the group known as the PayPal Mafia.  Several very successful young leaders that are responsible for multiple billion dollar companies.  In his book he purports to give advice to young aspiring business builders but his words will have impact on everyone.  Peter Thiel takes on competition, capitalism and monopolies and sheds new light while exposing us to new perspectives that can only be gleaned from years of daily work in the business world.  You will definitely think differently after reading this book.  

Favorite Book of the Year

There is one book that I read four times this year.  A Short Stay in Hell is my all time favorite book of the year.  It is a short fictional account of what happens to a young man that dies of cancer.  Even though he was a pious and dedicated family man with no obvious character flaws he finds himself in an unexpected afterlife..  I am getting older and contemplating my mortality and this book gave me a new way of thinking about eternity.  I am frightened and more convinced that I must never die.  I doubt you will take what I did from this book but I like it and recommend it. 

Worst Book of the Year

The absolute worst book of the year is The Maze Runner.  When I heard that Maze Runner was being made into a movie, I started crying.  This book is terrible!  An exhaustive exercise in frustration and stupidity.  I weep for the future when I think that Americans will consider this entertainment.  In the movie "Idiocracy" we see how far entertainment devolves when we are shown an audience watching a bare butt on screen for two hours.  That is what I think of when I think of The Maze Runner in theaters.  

As I said at the beginning of this post, I read many many good books this year.  I almost feel bad having to pick just a few from the very impressive list of books.  You can see them all on my Goodreads account and read my reviews.  If you do like them, please connect with me on Goodreads.  I would love to hear your recommendations.  

Haters gonna hate

But the real problem with haters is that they confirm your paranoid delusion that everyone out there secretly hates you.

Thankfully, that's not actually true. So the first noble truth is that most people don't even care that you're alive. Embrace this, my friends, for it is true freedom. The world is vast and you are small, and therefore you may do as you wish and cast your thoughts of those who dislike it to the side.

…

You may be in a tough place right now where you feel lonely or like a loser. No worries, we've all been there. But it's time for you to realize how common these things are, and that they're experienced by even the most successful and happiest people in the world. Those people get past them, and you will too.

Great thoughts from Julien Smith

I don't always have a short attention span but when I do . .

There is so much information available to us these days.  Last year I set goals to learn to play the piano, learn Japanese, learn a martial art, flip houses, read a bunch of books and so many other things.  I was able and willing to set these goals all the while working and committing to be better and better at my job because there is so much free information.  The internet has made so many subjects available and transparent.  Just today I read an article that Harvard had made their online software coding classes free.  My first thought was, "I want to learn to code from Harvard!"

However, there is a cost.  Free information is not free.  The cost is our attention.  I am an avid reader, I read about 40 blogs, I read 45 books last year and I read the news, Wikipedia, links from my Facebook and Twitter feeds, book reviews, product reviews and just about anything else I can get my hands on.  The effect that this distraction has on me is that I have a very short attention span.  I am constantly looking for something else to read and learn.  That resulted in goals that were not accomplished.  I learned a little bit of this and a little bit of that but not a whole lot of any one thing.  I essentially poked all of my goals with a stick.  Not a productive way to go through the day.
Today I am making a new commitment.  I will only have 3 major goals this year.  One business goal, one personal goal and one health goal.  I will be more committed to process and systems and use my attention and focus to make sure that I take the daily steps that are required to accomplish each of my goals.  This is the way that I will increase my attention span and strengthen my ability to focus.

How has the internet and unlimited free information affected you?  

How many people? Dunbar's number

Robin Dunbar is an evolutionary anthropologist.  He has famously suggested that there is a limited amount of people with whom we can maintain meaningful relationships.  Dunbar's number is right around 150.  He arrived at this conclusion after over 15 years of surveying successful group sizes throughout history, from primates to Roman platoons to successful Fortune 500 companies.   Recently I have heard it suggested that some of those spots can be held by celebrities or politicians.  For example, if you watch Oprah on a daily basis then Oprah may be taking up one of the valuable and limited spots in your top 150.  This creates many questions in my mind that I want to share.

Who is in my 150?
Are they there by my choice or are they there by default?
Who do I add in order to improve my group?
Who do I drop in order to improve my 150?

Being conscious of who is in our 150 is is vital.  Environment is stronger than will.  Studies have shown that people with obese friends quickly gain weight and will eventually become obese.  

Be careful who you allow to take up the few spots you have available.  

I lied

Moral dilemma of the day.  I received a call from an agent that I know works with investors, early this morning.  He invited me to breakfast. This was out of the blue and very unexpected. First thought I had was that he was recruiting for the next best multilevel marketing program to hit the World.  Guaranteed to make me a millionaire faster than all the others.  So,  I asked "is this Amway?" He said no way this was a meeting about learning how to work with investments.  Well since we are out of bacon at home I decided that I would accept his invitation.  I arrived late to the breakfast meeting and asked about the real estate meeting.  The hostess hiccuped and pointed me to a meeting room that had large banners with the words Dream Vacations in 12 inch letters.  I l looked through the window in the wall and spotted the agent that invited me.   I knew right away that I had been misled. 

Here is where my moral dilemma comes in.  I told the agent that I had just learned of a real estate emergency and I had to leave immediately.   Since then I have tried to rationalize that it is OK for me to lie to him since he lied to me.  It's not working.

This is where your I ask for your input.  Do I call him and tell him I lied? I don't anticipate an ongoing relationship with this guy.  I don't feel good about not addressing this.  But how do you tell someone that you lied because they lied? 

So much Drama

The ancient definition of “passion” was “anguish” or “suffering” – which comes from passive reaction to external events.  *Stoics endeavored to transcend passion through apatheia, or peace of mind (literally, “without passion”) to attain eupatheia, which are feelings that result from evolving our reactions.

Are there situations that spark negative emotions in you?  Most of my Facebook friends post often about how situations make them feel (insert negative emotion here).  If you look again at the first sentence - their anguish and suffering come from a passive reaction (victim) to external events. When I read this I recognize that there are many times that I let my mind take me to negative places.  Today, in simple situations I have worked on seeing difficult situations and choosing a neutral mindset.

Another Stoic tenet is that nothing is good or bad and the only thing we control is our perception.  The Stoic idea is that every situation is an opportunity.  I am sure that it will take work but I can see how controlling my perceptions, seeing everything as an opportunity and not good or bad and not allowing myself to being victimized will make me a better man.

*Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.

Why is Raylan Givens so cool?

Sometimes I wonder why characters in successful movies and television shows are so attractive and well written.  I think I figured it out.  It is easy to write for a character that is well defined.  I find that my personality and purpose are not so cut and dried.  Anthony Robbins talks about the easiest change being Identity level change.  In a TV character the identity is clear and therefore his decisions are clear whenever presented with ambiguous circumstances.  Our lives are much different.  Most of us have not taken the time to so clearly define who we are, and if we have, often that person changes from situation to situation and depends on our energy, whether we worked out that morning or not or how low our blood sugar is. I suppose that life becomes much easier the more clearly we define what we will and will not accept in our lives.  Inevitably the questions arise but, who am I? What am I supposed to do? What is my passion?  Tucker Max says "you don't find passion, you make passion!"  Choose who you are!  So, how do you do it?   It is actually a lot easier than you think.  Decide the type of person you want to be then prove it to yourself with small wins.  James Clear has many great easily understood and easy to do examples in his blog.  Take a few minutes and read it.  This is the best way I have found to gain some clarity and write a great script for my favorite character, me.  

Being Responsible

I am responsible.  The alternative is to agree that others, that external influences control me.  I am rebellious by nature.  I have figured out a way to avoid wearing my seatbelt.  In my little ways I have taken stances to demonstrate to myself that I am in charge of my life.  I know I know, that is cute and all but what about when you have a car accident?  What about it?   This is not a conversation about the seatbelt this is about choosing.  I choose to be responsible for everything.  I repeat that to myself constantly.  I look at my bank account and I remind myself that I choose to be responsible for everything.  There was a time that I made a lot of money and I was living from hand to mouth.  Now I choose to be responsible and I have a solvent bank account and two savings accounts.  I am responsible for everything that happens to me.  I did some squats and pushups and I pulled a stomach muscle.  I believe it is because I chose to gain back 8 lbs that I had lost.  I am responsible.  I recently had two good deals fall apart.  Deals that would have made these last 3 months much more palatable.  I am responsible.  I could have done better.  This is where the solution is for me. After declaring responsibility only then can I ask my favorite question.  What can I learn from this experience to improve myself?  If I abdicate responsibility and accept that I am a victim to poor prequalification or a meddlesome daughter then I can not ask the golden question that gives me permission to take action.  I am responsible.

Attachment

Being attached means that something outside of our control must occur.   It is a belief that our happiness is subject to external events.  Attachment is ultimate victim hood.   We will only be happy if. . .  In order to reduce my need to control everything I have learned that I must slice my perspective of every one of my desired outcomes into at least two realms.  Things that I can control and things I can't control.   I am certainly less impacted when things don't happen the way I want them to happen if what went wrong was outside of my influence. However, I have found that there is very little outside of my influence and I must be even more responsible and more proactive.   I can be less attached if I have done everything I can and left very little possibility of failure to chance.   This is a daily challenge because taking responsibility for everything is not something I have totally embraced.   I am working on it. I will tell you how in my next entry.  

I don't have anything to talk about

I was thinking through a story that I was going to tell my girlfriend and I realized it was a lament.  I was complaining about some perceived insult or injury or unfairness and my inner champion drew my attention to my self talk.  After much inner debate I decided that I did not want to relate to people based on pointing out how I had been victimized by the universe.  One of the beliefs and credos that I am also working on adopting is that I am 100 per cent responsible for everything that happens to me. If I am complaining constantly about minor inconveniences I am ceding control of my life to forces outside myself.  As I thought through this process I realized that complaining is the manifestation of a contradiction that I don't want to live with anymore.  Today I am choosing not to complain.  This has caused a different problem.  I don't have anything to say.  I didn't call my girlfriend at work today because all I could think of to do was to recite a list of everything that had gone wrong to that point.   She didn't know about my new commitment and when I told her she quickly understood the reason that I was being so quiet.  I am working through it because I believe that there is something good on the other side so I am willing to be quiet until I figure out a way to relate to others in a positive uplifting and personally responsible manner.

Real Estate and the man in the mirror

I am convinced that real estate sales is the greatest arena for self improvement.  If you want to be great you have to decide to be great.  Then you must find an arena to test your ideas, confront your fears and improve your disciplines.  I didn't always feel this way.  In the beginning I took advantage of the fact that I could sell a few houses and make enough money to clothe my children.  However, I hit my ceiling.  Gary Keller has an excellent example in his book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent.  He talks about the Natural Achievement Ceiling.   Natural ability can take us only so far.  No matter how gifted we are we will all eventually hit the ceiling of our natural ability.  I have always been grateful for my natural ability.  Complex systems and tasks are generally pretty easy for me but I hit my ceiling so I adjusted and then hit my ceiling again so I adjusted and hit my ceiling again.  Fortunately for me, even though sometimes I can be a slow learner I eventually learned that I had to figure out how to break through. I had to discipline myself and take on systems and models that were duplicatable.  For a while there I hated real estate as I denied the fact that I would have to change and be a disciplined achiever.  I rejected the idea that my natural ability was not up to the task.  Gratefully I have overcome my ego and I have chosen to apply my natural ability to improving my discipline and systems.  The challenge is invigorating.  I am the foundation to my success in the world therefore I must improve myself first.  That is why I am a member of the 5 am club, I choose to eat by the guidelines of The Primal Blueprint and I constantly look for weakness, lack of discipline and doubt and I attack it.  I am loving my growth and evolution.

I am always reading.  Feel free to contact me for some good book recommendations.

Options are bad

I read an article recently that suggested that in order to accomplish my goals I had to get more disciplined instead of more motivated.  Motivation infers that I need a motive for action.  Discipline is a decision to follow a set of rules and install habits that if done consistently and at a high level will cause me to inevitably arrive at my destination, my goal.  I have discovered however, that if I have an option then I will not be consistent.  An example is that I love getting up early during the week.  So, I am up at 4:50 am on Monday Wednesday and Friday if I am playing racquetball but I sometimes sleep in until 7 or later on Tuesday and Thursday.  Funny thing is that I am usually up by 6 on Saturday and Sunday.  A couple of years ago I learned the concept of the black and white rule.  Another name for it is the All or Nothing rule.  So, in the case of wakeup time, the new rule is I always wake up at 4:50 am.  There is never a reason or excuse that will allow me to sleep later.   The option is what makes me ineffective.  I always exercise, never an option not to exercise.  I always eat primally, never an option to eat junk.  Giving myself the option, I have learned after my short experience on this planet only gives me an out.  It gives me just enough rope to hang myself.  I remember having a rule that I exercised three days a week.  Then I would let my self off the hook if I missed one day, then I remember missing weeks and telling myself that I would start again next week.  I am sure that I am the only one that has done that.  Well now the black and white rule is that I exercise everyday.  My body requires it, I feel better after I do it and I don't always sprint five blocks but I am active and I am feel better.  Black and white rules eliminate options.  Options are bad for self growth, weight loss, health, sales and relationships.

Abandon your Identity for Growth

Who we think we are holds us in place.  This process is so subtle that it is hard to see even when you understand the concept.  Consider for a second that you want to be a better athlete.  You practice and play and compete until you believe that you are good and you begin to beat the people around you.  Well you are still limited by your self image.  The way that you see yourself is your limitation. If you think that you are a good athlete when you can win a certain number of matches then even while understanding that your self image holds you in place, you do nothing to get to the next level.  Why don't you get a coach?  Well, nobody around me has a coach.  Exactly.  Much of our identity is set by the people we surround ourselves with.  I have learned that as a salesman I must make a herculean effort to outperform my peers.  I must be willing to break rapport and not be liked or approved of in order to be a great performer.  I read somewhere that most people will live their entire lives broke because they have to be liked. 

Identity - How do we define identity?  Well this seems like an easy question.  We are who we are because we choose to be that way.  Let's look at this. We define our identity by how we dress.  We define our identity by how we talk.  We define ourselves by how we set goals and how we work to achieve those goals. We define ourselves by our heritage.  Now look back over the last few sentences.  It isn't a  complete and comprehensive way of how we define our identity but I do want you to notice that everyone of those things is determined by outside influence.  We dress a certain way because that is the way our peers dress, and in order to fit in and be approved of and accepted we must maintain a certain level or method of dress.  Tattooed bikers tend to hang out together as do blonde princess types and nerds and vegetarians.   Obviously, I could demonstrate that every way that we act and interact is determined by the way that we are influenced by our environment and more specifically those people we interact with on a daily basis.  

Abandon your Identity - Becoming a super performer requires us to be able to choose our path and breaking with our current influencers.  We must be willing to abandon our current environment and identity if we are ever going to be able to move ourselves and our lives to the next level.  Have you ever gotten into a rut?  Why is it so difficult to get out of that rut?  Because we are surrounded by people that we believe depend on us to remain in that rut.  Destructive habits go away once we abandon our environment.  I once read that there was a high percentage of US forces in Viet Nam that were addicted to heroin because it was such an easy drug to access while in country.  During the Viet Nam era there was a fear that the US would have to deal with a large number of veterans returning to the US addicted to this very destructive drug.  It turned out that the fears were unfounded.  Upon returning the service members returned to lives where that behavior was unacceptable.   They came back to homes where they were loved and they had responsibilities and goals and dreams.  Most returning veterans were able to drop the drug altogether and never return to it.  How is this possible?  Well the soldiers and sailors were in an environment where heroin use was accepted.  When that environment was abandoned, so were all the habits and tendencies associated with it.  Consider for a second that your ruts, self destructive habits and laziness are products of your environment.  We must be willing to abandon that which gives us identity to take our life to the next level.   Are you unsatisfied with your life?  Could you be better? Do you feel like you are nothing but potential?  Do you ever want to live up to your potential?  You must be willing to abandon your identity to grow. 

Most of my posts are just notes to myself.  I want to be able to remember what I have learned and be able to communicate it well.  If this helps you please let me know by commenting.  Thank you for reading my blog.  Rolando

Who should I listen to?

I know the title is not grammatically correct but I hear myself saying this from time to time.  There are so many people that easily and freely give advice.  For the most part I believe that they have good intentions. However, I also believe that there are those that reflexively impart their "wisdom" in self defense.  Not because they are threatened but because their sense of self or self esteem is threatened.  There are occasions when I have  caught myself solving other people's issues and my desired result was that their behavior would have less impact on me.  I have counseled my children so that their lives would look more like I wanted. With love of course but it is easy now for me to see that their growth, decisions and learning are their own.  My meddling can only hurt.  I remember listening to speakers live and recorded telling me not to take advice from anyone.  More specifically, not to take advice from someone that would not benefit from my growth. 

Who should I listen to?  Another problem I run into is that I actually give more weight to advice that sounds like something I would say.  I don't have to tell you, that's not going to help. 

My conclusion is that my objective must be as clear and well defined as possible.  I must listen to the highest version of myself and avoid the whisperings of those that are unwilling to rise to the highest levels.  I am committed to becoming the best version of myself. 

Am I really accountable?

I love real estate.  Not because I love driving buyers around to see houses.  Not because I love knowing exactly what home buyers are going to buy and having to show 20 homes before they self discover what I knew from the beginning.  Not because I love telling sellers that their home is not worth what they think it is.  Not because I love helping sellers self discover that the only offer they have received in four months is a good reflection of what the market will pay.  I love real estate because it is the ultimate self development course.  I love knowing that if I am going to be successful in sales I must overcome all kinds of mental drunk monkey dooka and embrace discipline and accountability.  I love knowing that all of my success depends on me.  Here is the problem.  I have made what I consider to be great and difficult changes in my life to become better.  Most of you who know me will at least agree that I am willing to change.  However, this last week I met with a friend that has 4, yes FOUR layers of accountability to make sure she accomplishes her goals.  I thought I was committed.  I see now where I need to grow.  I am grateful for good examples and I am grateful for Real Estate. 

The right side of the menu

In 2012 I am committed to deciding what I want by looking at the left side of the menu. I know that I am probably the only one that looks at the right side of the menu and after I find a price that I am willing to pay, I check to see what I will be having for lunch. This does not just apply to eating at restaurants. This also applies to larger decisions about weed eaters and floor tile and shelving units and cars and fixer upper houses and everything.

Looking at the right side of the menu means I lack of confidence. It suggests that I want something but I don't believe that I can stretch and grow enough to earn what I want and therefore I am limited by what I have. Looking at the right side of the menu means I believe there is not enough. I only have this much and I can't get more so I need to get the biggest bang for my buck. Looking at the right side of the menu is the ultimate in instant gratification mindset. I have this much in my pocket so I will buy now rather than save and buy what I want later.

Looking at the left side of the menu means I feel good about myself. I deserve the best not the most affordable. Looking at the left side of the menu means I believe in myself. I can get what I want when I want it because I know I can get it when I want it. Looking at the left side of the menu means that I create my life the way I want it and I am not subject to my self imposed limitations. I am eager to enjoy 2012.

Leadership 101

Stephen R. Covey says “leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.”  I love this definition.  I love the idea of having the communication skills to be able to help someone see their potential.  While thinking about this it occurred to me that I must learn these skills because I could truly help my children.  Further contemplation brought me to the conclusion to which you have already arrived.  It is imperative that I see and believe my own worth and potential. With that knowledge and confidence I will take massive action to achieve my goals. I am a Leader.