I am not a network marketer, I'm a ViSalian!

My wife & I have gotten a lot of messages lately, a lot of folks talking about different companies, new "opportunities" out there, and while we appreciate our friends reaching out to us, we would both like to go on record to say that "We are NOT Network Marketers!" I know that a lot of people would point out that we are involved in a network marketing company with ViSalus, and while that's true and we do believe in the industry as a whole, we will not be involved with another company. We are not in ViSalus because of "positioning" or the comp plan, although being positioned as the #2 Weight-loss company in the World after Weight Watchers & getting paid 11 different ways isn't a bad thing! We aren't involved because someone promised us a downline, or because there's some new super rare fruit in our product that's going to change the world and allow us to cover our driveway in gold. I say all that to say, take your new rare only harvested by the light of the leap year moon, using the left hand of a man that has never done another wrong, processed in the waters of the Egyptian sunlight underneath the largest of pyramids, going to grow my hair, paint my nails, lose my weight, and buy me a plane product, and share it with someone else. 

Rhonda & I are bottom line involved with ViSalus because we believe in our leaders, from the couple that introduced us to the business right on up to our companies founders. We believe in the vision of our company, to take weight off the world 10 pounds at a time until we end Obesity. We believe in our products because they have transformed our lives, & we believe in sharing the Challenge with others because we are passionate about affecting that same change in the lives of our friends and community. My wife & I are standing behind something that we believe in, and our beliefs will not be shaken as they are built on a strong foundation of love, respect, and personal results. I don't "sell milkshakes", I couldn't sell a hot chocolate to an Eskimo, I simply tell my story and allow others to decide if it's time for them to make the same change that I decided to make 1 year ago. I will not be leaving ViSalus, I will not be quitting, and I will not chase the newest shiny on the block.   

#rantOVER

#VItillthedayIdie

#resultstrumpallelse

#Iamstickingaround

#GetONthetrainORgetoutoftheway

Tales of my Social Media Fast

About a week ago I returned from a 5 day long Social Media fast. I decided to turn off the computer, delete the apps from my phone, and totally unplug from Facebook, InstaGram, Vine, Twitter, and all the rest. It was not an easy thing to do, over the past several years I've built the habit of checking all of those outlets almost obsessively, to the point that I would frequently get comments like, "wow you're always on Facebook", or my wife and I would oft times sit on the couch both too engrossed in "being social" to actually socialize with each other. Then sitting in the living room of my mentor as he read a slam poem about Social Media and its effect on our modern lives, I realized that I was guilty of showing my son my face lit by that tiny screen more than lit with a smile at his youth and exuberance.

I knew that it was time to make a change, that I needed to step back, so upon the suggestion of that same mentor I embarked on this 5 day journey.

At first, I felt lonely, cut-off from the world and lost, like I didn't know what was happening in life. I struggled with not typing "www.facebook.com" in the address bar of my browser at work. I would pick up my phone, intending to check out all the newest tweets, and realize that I wasn't doing that this week. It slowly dawned on me that in my effort to be "social" I was only substituting digital socialization for real interaction.

Day 2 & 3 it got progressively easier to not check my social media outlets, and the feeling of being alone in the darkness began to recede, and instead of focusing on what I was not able to do, I found myself with more time. More time to talk to others, to build new relationships, and even establish some new ones. I found that by focusing on not being socially connected at all times, I was able to connect more deeply with those that I socialize with.

Day 4 & 5 with my eyes open, I started to notice those around me and their addictions to the virtual world. I noticed that like babies they couldn't go very long without a suckle on the virtual teat. I noticed the couples sitting at lunch, not talking to each other but both feverishly punching away on tiny buttons on a device to connect with others, all the while missing the connection right in front of them. I noticed the parents tripping over there children as they pounded out a text. The co-workers out to dinner that barely said three words to each other, but seemed to be having a delightful time with their iPads.

They say that America is where dreams are made, this used to mean that you could come here, work hard, grow an amazing family, have some great friends and live a good life. Today it seems to mean owning the newest device from Apple and having the most friends on Facebook. For me stepping back for a few days and really examining what part of my life Social Media occupies, and being able to lift my eyes from my phone screen to actually look at the world around me was an incredible experience. While I am now back on Social media, you will find my posts more infrequent, my responses not as quick, and when I'm with my family at home, that special time I have to spend with my lovely wife and incredible son, you'll probably find my phone turned off, in another room.

I want my son to be able to describe my face, not the back of my phone. I want my wife to remember the sweetness that I whisper to her, not that I post on her wall. I want my friends to remember my vibrant laugh and loyal nature, not how many mayorships I have on 4Square.

I encourage all of you, take the time out of your life, take a fast from Social Media, take some time out t out to build your relationships with your non-virtual "friends", take a moment to enjoy the things that you really "like", and "share" time with loved ones.

That voice inside your head is a LIAR!

We all have that voice inside our head, it tells us what we can and can't do, what we are capable of, and what we cannot achieve. It's the voice that tells you, go ahead you can make this traffic light, and the voice that keeps you from doing something foolish. This voice has likely been with you your whole life, and most likely has served you well for the most part.

The problem with this voice is while sometimes it helps you, more often than not it's actually holding you back. You see that voice is a liar when it comes to what you are capable of.

Here's a short example, my two year old son hasn't been exposed to the limiting beliefs and negativity of our society and hasn't yet had the chance to permeate in his psyche. You can't tell that little man that he can't do something. A couple of days ago when he went to bed and I was packing up his toys from the day, I accidentally set his "favorite" toy (a blue lion) on the bar counter in our kitchen, now this counter is probably about waist high to me, but definitely much higher than my son can reach. This counter is where we put the things that he isn't supposed to play with, like Daddy's iPad. Well he came out and saw his lion up on that counter and at first he stood on his tip-toes to reach it, then he tried jumping, then he tried asking Daddy, but as we're teaching him that he doesn't ALWAYS get what he wants I told him that he wasn't going to play with his lion right now, but he could have it after breakfast. Well being as he was my son, he decided that he didn't like that answer, and I confident in my knowledge that there was no way he could get it let him try. After about 5 minutes of trying he got a funny look on his face, the same look he gets when he sees a cookie across the room, and ran out of the kitchen laughing. He went into the living room and got a small end table that we have, climbed up on that, and triumphantly retrieved his favorite blue lion.

I told that story to ask you this, what is the "blue lion" in your life, what do you see as just out of your reach? I know that I've been challenged in life before, and tried then given up because that little voice in my head was telling me that I couldn't get there. My son didn't have that little voice all he knew was that he had a goal and he was going to achieve it, and he didn't stop until he reached it. Move with that sort of faith, that sort of purpose and you can achieve whatever you desire, that little voice inside your head is a LIAR!

Have you "Decided" to jump off your log?

A wise friend recently told me a fantastic story that I just had to share. Three frogs are sitting on a log, one frog decides to jump off the log, how many frogs are left? Simple math right, this is kindergarden type stuff, I bet you didn't even have to use your toes to answer this one! You answered two, right? Well if you did, you'd be wrong, you see there's still 3 frogs sitting on this faithful log. The key word here is that I said that one frog decided to jump off of the log, the problem is he never actually did.

How many of us in our personal or professional lives have been that one frog, the one that "decides to jump" but finds himself still sitting on the log? The real lesson to be learned here is that you will never get anywhere by simply making a decision. While making the choice to do something is an important step, as there are few truly successful people that ended up there purely on accident without first deciding that they would be great, but the common thread in all great successes is that there is an action that follows the decision.

You see Thomas Edison decided he was going to invent the lightbulb, but it wasn't until after over 1,000 times "failing" to create that lightbulb that he actually came up with a working bulb. The decision to create the lightbulb was integral here, but without the action of creating it, Sir Edison would simply be another one of histories great dreamers, and it is likely that you may never had heard his name.

For every Michael Jordan out there that has put in the hard work, time and effort to become the best in their field, sport, or vocation, how many others "decided" that they were going to be the best, but never jumped off their respective logs?

So the biggest question after realizing this is how do you make the leap, how do you take the action, what is the magic formula to actually getting off that darn log? Well the answer is simple really, so simple that most of us miss it because we, as humans, must endever to complicate things to the point that our productivity simply becomes activity and we never actually get off the log. We love to plan how to get off the log, talk about the different technologies and philosophies surrounding log jumping, even read books from people who have jumped off the log before us, but it is the rare person that actually makes that fateful leap and pursues their dreams.

The answer to how we jump off the log is this; just JUMP!

Not to complicated is it? Here's my question for you to ask yourself, if it's this simple why haven't you jumped?

Learning to Unplug in the Modern Era.

You've probably already realized this as you read this electronic Blog post, but we are in the "information era", and technology is everywhere. The human race is capable of accomplishing more today than we ever have been in our history. The cell phones that we carry in our pockets today have more computing power than NASA did when they sent astronauts to the moon. While this allows us to accomplish more in our daily lives we are also so inundated with technology that sometimes it's hard to unplug. If technology has taken over your life, make sure that you are taking a few moments each day to unplug, and find moments that allow you to have "quiet time", time without having to worry about the next e-mail, or status update. There are a few simple ways to work in some "mental health moments" into your daily life.

Take Time to Collect Your Thoughts:

If you’re serious about becoming a wealthy, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured and unique individual, keep a journal.” -Jim Rohn

Taking the time to keep a journal, which I learned the art of from my mentor Jim Rohn, can be a integral part of maintaining a healthy mindset. One of the best ways to organize the sometimes fractured and chaotic thoughts in your head can be putting them on paper to allow you the time to sort them out. Writing your journal can become a healthy and relaxing habit to add into your daily life.

Reexamine Your Technology Habits:



 One of the most important aspects of introducing a little bit of mental clarity into your daily life is stepping away from your technology. When you step away, take some time to make a genuine and honest evaluation of your use of that technology. Honesty with yourself is key here, fudging something is going to hurt no one but yourself. Evaluate your habits with technology and determine whether or not you NEED to spend the amount of time with technology that you are, or if it simply has become a habit. Brainstorm on ways to increase your productivity  could you be getting more done in less time? Do you NEED to check your Facebook, or can you shut it down at the end of the day? Are emails that come in after business hours important, or could they be handled in the morning? These are questions that only you can answer.

Get in Touch With Your REAL Interests:

As you are taking your time away from your technology, in addition to examining your patterns, decide what is most important in your life and commit more time to those activities. Consider taking a vacation, this doesn't have to even be a physical vacation where you leave town, but simply a vacation from your technology. Turning off all of your devices for the weekend can be an amazingly freeing experience. Most of all though concentrate on revitalizing and rejuvenating yourself in what ever manner is most productive for you.

"Men cannot see their reflection in running water, but only in still water. Only that which is itself still can still the seekers of stillness. . . . If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind? The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe."Chuang Tzu


"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." Lao Tzu


Technology isn't going anywhere, so to avoid burning out it is vital that you put into motion a plan to balance your technology usage with mental health and sanity time. While productivity is the most frequent argument against spending time away from technology the plain and simple truth is that if you do not take care of yourself, you won't be able to take care of your responsibilities.

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Are you Setting SMART Goals?

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” 
― C.S. Lewis

One of the best suggestions ever made to me in both my personal and professional life was to set SMART Goals, if you're hearing this for the first time I'm sure your reaction was much like mine "of course I set smart goals, why would I set stupid goals?"Well SMART goals don't exactly refer to the overall intelligence behind the goal although if you follow SMART guidelines you'll almost certainly find yourself with smart goals!

SMART Goal-setting is all about following some simple guidelines set out by the acronym SMART.

S- Specific: Truly great goal setting is characterized by the fact that it is specific in nature. By this I mean that setting a goal of "being more successful this year" is not nearly as powerful as "I'm going to obtain 1 million in new business, and expand into 2 new markets this year". Paulo Cuelho (author of The Devil and Miss Prym) put it well when he said “Whenever you want to achieve something, keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure you know exactly what it is you want. No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.” 

M- Measurable: Make sure that you can keep track of your goal so that you can, at whatever measure of time is appropriate, see if you are on course and adjust your course accordingly. That means that whenever is necessary be it daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly  sit down and examine your progress towards your chosen goal. Take the time to really go through it and see exactly where you are, and what you can do to improve your progress towards this goal. Consider posting something to help you keep track of your goal, much as a charity would keep track of their progress towards a fundraising goal. This can serve as a helpful daily reminder of your goal and your progress towards it. 

A- Attainable: While this particular portion of the acronym is sandwiched in the middle, it is one that is missed more often than not, especially by small business owners, or inexperienced goal-setters of any kind. While I may start a new company tomorrow, the potential of me building a billion dollar business could definitely be there, but the potential of me having a billion dollar business by the end of the week is probably not there. If this is something that you are struggling with for your business contacting your industry's relevant trade organization in order to find a mean growth rate for like businesses would be a good idea.

R- Relevant: Set Relevant goals, this ties in with Attainable goals, be aware of how the current environment around you is going to affect your decision. For example, if you'd like to run outside everyday this year, but you live in Northern Michigan and will have 4+ feet of snow on ground for months of the winter, perhaps you should rethink your goal to simply "running everyday" that way you could run inside during the winter months and go back outside when the weather is more amenable to running. For business goals, be aware of the economic environment, how many others are you going to be competing with, what is the prevailing economic weather, all of these will factor into setting a relevant goal. 

T- Time-Based: Goals simply are not going to get accomplished if you do not set a time frame in which they need to be completed. Setting this time frame allows you to measure your goal as we discussed earlier, and track your progress towards it. 

Using this basic acronym in creating your goals will help you in both your personal and professional life. So next time you set a goal make sure to ask yourself "Am I setting a SMART goal?" 



“If you're bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you don't have enough goals.” 
― Lou Holtz

“If you're trying to be miserable, it's important you don't have any goals. No school goals, personal goals, family goals. Your only objective each day should be to inhale and exhale for sixteen hours before you go to bed again. Don't read anything informative, don't listen to anything useful, don't do anything productive. If you start achieving goals, you might start to feel a sense of excitement, then you might want to set another goal, and then your miserable mornings are through. To maintain your misery, the idea of crossing off your goals should never cross your mind.” 
― John Bytheway



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Possibility

Recently I was asked in a facebook group to come up with "power words" or phrases that were affecting my life, and while I think I was able to adequately answer the question, one word has been tugging at my psyche ever since this was mentioned. 

That word is "Possibility". While it seems such a simple term, I think too many of us today dismiss "possibility" as something that doesn't wholly impact us and our day to day lives. We too easily allow ourselves to be placed into a box of conformity and normalcy that restricts and limits what we are attempting to accomplish. I say that carefully because little outside of our own selves can control what we are capable of, or what is indeed "possible" for us. 

What I have begun to ask myself each and every day when I wake up is what am I going to allow to be a possibility this day, what I am going to make happen, and spending a few moments reassuring myself that nothing can stop me. 

I would encourage each of you that reads this to do the same, or something similar, stop listening to negativity outside of yourself, stop placing yourself inside a box of what's "possible" for you, for truly there is no limit to what you are capable of doing.