Finishing up our series on what you do when you take one to the kisser, knocking you on your rump… (Read part 1,  2, 3, 4)

Here is Point No. 3: Turn obstacles into opportunities. Ask any great achiever who has achieved despite great obstacles, if they could go back and avoid the obstacle, would they, and the answer invariably is “no.” Even our friend Roger (born handicapped with only three fingers, one foot and three toes), if given the opportunity to have perfectly formed arms, legs, hands and feet, would chose to be born the same way he was.

This is true for Lance Armstrong and his battle with cancer. It wasn’t until after he fought and beat cancer that he developed the strength to beat everyone in the world, seven times, in one of the most grueling and punishing sport contests there is—The Tour de France.

Ask the woman heralded as the “fastest women on earth” in the 1960 Olympics, Wilma Rudolph, if she would go back and wish not to have suffered measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough and be born with polio, twisting her left leg so bad that it required a brace. It was BECAUSE of those obstacles that she had to dig up her deeper and greater potential and drive. It required her to work harder, longer and with more determination than any would-be competitor. That character, forged through difficulty, is what created the extraordinary achievements and opportunities she realized. As Albert Mensah said so eloquently to me in a recent interview, “Opportunities are cloaked in obstacles.”

In fact, to take this one step further, I have learned to see obstacles, failure and pain as positive and necessary for growth. I learned this early on from my dad, whose mantra in life was read more »

(Read part 1,  2, 3, 4)

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know I like to point your attention and creative imagination toward what’s positive and what’s possible in the world—to look for and see the abundance, potential and opportunities of life.

And that is a good thing… and a very necessary thing if we want to move our lives in a positive direction and toward that greater abundance.

BUT, what do you do when you get knocked down? And you will. This is LIFE we are talking about. It is not always blue skies, singing birds and pretty rainbows outside. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it even storms and sometimes it even comes with the added drama (and potential pain) of lightening and thunder. What do you do then, Mr. Sunshine?

That is what we are going to address in this four-part series: When you get knocked on your tush in life, how do you get back up so you are not knocked OUT?

The interesting thing is, during the times of strife, struggle and challenge that the true achievers are born. Never mind the analogy of the true birth experience, having to overcome the incredible obstacles involved in literally being born. But after that first trying experience—and the slap of the doctor and your first cry—it is during the other challenges and obstacles of life when achievers are born.

Martin Luther King Jr. put it this way: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge.” It is only when we are presented with those challenges that we get to separate ourselves from other men and women.

Imagine this: You are at the very top of your game. Let’s say that game is in one of the most competitive and rivaled fields in the entire world. After decades of painful discipline, sacrifice and relentless commitment, you finally rise to the top, the very top in fact, and then tragedy strikes….

read more »

I promised you in the last video I would explain the process of how goal setting, and far more important, goal ACHIEVING actually works. This is the mystery of the ‘secret’ REVEALED.

This is how the Law of Attraction really works. It is not some mysterious, esoteric voodoo, as it sometimes sounds like, as it is being described. It’s far simpler and more practical than that.

By the end you will say… “Ah, I get it.” And, “Now… I know how to make it work.”

More good stuff to discover in this video:

• What 3 boys out hiking can teach you about kicking butt in a competition.
• 5 BIG reasons why most goal setting attempts fail, miserably. Don’t make these mistakes. Ouch! And costly.
• Oh, and what Reggie Hammond (as played by Eddie Murphy) can teach you about proclaiming your goals.

In the next (and final… don’t be sad) video I will show you how to I can help navigate you through all the potential pitfalls to insure you have the precise formula for achieving the boldest goals and wildest ambitions you can dream up.

***Order Living Your Best Year Ever–
A Proven System for Achieving BIG Goals***

Inspire us! Tell us your goal setting and goal achieving testimonial. When did you achieve something you never before thought was possible until you set a proper goal and plan to achieve it?

We all get knocked down from time to time—it’s part of what makes life interesting… always keeping us alert and on our toes.

I recently shared a perspective in a keynote presentation I did that helped reshape my view of obstacles and life’s difficulties; this might help you too…

My wife’s best friend has a friend whose husband, I am embarrassed to say, I envied. He had the life I wanted. We are close in age and both came from the Bay Area of San Francisco.

After several failed businesses, he started an electronics store called “Jacks.” The stores were relatively successful and were bought out for a good sum. He then invested that money into commercial real estate in the San Diego Valley, before the boom. He ended up owning several buildings that made him tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions.

We would go to his parties at the home he custom built in Rancho Santa Fe (one of the richest ZIP codes in the county). The home, estate really, was more than 10,000 square feet on an amazing piece of sprawling land and it was designed in just the style I love.

His cars were amazing and he also had a yacht in the harbor and a private plane. He was also a good-looking guy and had a beautiful family he adored and who adored him. He was warm, friendly and always the life of the party. I wanted his life. In my head (privately, of course) I would wish read more »

Over the next several posts, I’d like to help clear up some of the very dangerous illusions I think our current culture has created about what it takes to be successful.

Hollywood, commercialism and our own decadence has falsified our reality and is leading us into a form of self-destruction.

What Ever Happened to HARD WORK?

I interviewed the “Hit Man” David Foster this past week (He will be on the cover and interviewed on the CD of our September issue of SUCCESS).

Not familiar with the name David Foster? There is no question you are familiar with his work. David is deemed the No. 1 music producer in the world. He’s the guy who discovered Celine Dion while singing under a tent in the rain in Quebec, Canada, and introduced her to American audiences. He also discovered and produced Josh Grobin, Michael Bublé, Andrea Bocelli and tons more. He has produced numerous records under his own label and has won 15 Grammys in his four-decade career… bottom line, this is a guy who knows how to create success—over and over again. You will love the feature story on him, incredible!

During my interview I probed David repeatedly on what his secrets to success were. He had some incredibly insightful tips and philosophies which I won’t spoil here, but the recurring theme was—the guy just outworks everyone else.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the obvious. It’s true, there is a common reality to the superachievers I have interviewed and we have featured on the cover of SUCCESS, be it Donald Trump, Dr. Oz, Colin Powell, Donny Deutsch, Suze Orman, Richard Branson, etc—they all are hardworking.

Now there are a few caveats I need to add here:   read more »