Living in the "YES!"

You know, it didn't dawn on me until I was recording the podcast for today (I recorded today's podcast on Monday evening) that I didn't write a blog entry for Monday! YIKES!

My apologies on that - sometimes the day just gets busy and things don't happen while other things DO happen!

So, here is the blog entry that goes along with Monday's podcast on, "Living in the 'YES!' ".


I've shared with you before how I get behind on my reading of SUCCESS magazine. By the way, if you are looking for an EXCELLENT magazine this is one of the best - if not THE best - in my opinion. But, remember, you can also go online to www.Success.com and have access for FREE to a lot of the articles that can be found in the magazine.

Well, anyway (I NEVER get sidetracked, right?) I have gotten behind on my reading again and, given the fact that they send them out a bit early, even though I am currently reading the February issue I still have the March and April issues sitting on my reading table!

But here is what I have found and what I have shared with you before... I don't think this happens by accident!

I'm not sure that ANYTHING happens by accident and I have seen this same thing happen again and again whenever I have gotten behind on my reading.

What is it I'm talking about? Although I'm behind, what I'm reading right now is what I NEED to be reading right now! Do you understand what I mean?

There have been times before that I was in the middle of a series of discussions in my podcast that I decided to try to catch up on some reading and I would read something that was RIGHT IN LINE to the current discussion that I was having on the podcast.

This has happened not only once, but three or four times now and this week has been no exception!

As we are preparing for my FREE 8-week course on "Setting and Reaching Your Goals" there has been a wide range of thoughts, ideas and excited emotions that has been going on in my life. For one, just preparing for the class and the information that I plan to share has me refreshed and excitedly thinking about the great potential that lies within each of us in not only planning or setting our goals but actually moving on to REACHING them!

Then, on top of that, my wife and I have been spending a bit of time talking about some of the goals we have set for ourselves and how exciting it is to realize that we are moving forward with those goals!

ANOTHER SIDE NOTE HERE: Friend, let me encourage you to understand that this is how CONTAGIOUS positive thoughts and people are and how it works! Right now I am more refreshed and excited than I have been in a long time. Now, that doesn't mean I was about to give up or anything like that - but we ALL need a boost and a charge from time to time and I'm getting one from preparing for this class and also sharing thoughts with my wife on these things. GET AROUND POSITIVE AND LIKE MINDED PEOPLE and see what happens in YOUR life!



O.k. back on track now!

But, as I was reading the February issue of SUCCESS magazine I began reading an article about Phil Keoghan, the seven-time Emmy-winning host and producer of "The Amazing Race". Now, I LOVE that show so I was immediately drawn to it and then I was inspired by what I read! (By the way, I have placed this article - which is available on Success.com - on the Future You University fan page on Facebook for your convenience - you can click on that link/banner over toward the bottom of the right column of this blog to become a fan).

He arrived in New York City from New Zealand in the late 80's, he had little money, no job and no friends. As the article asks, "Risky, right?"

But I LOVE what he has to say about such things by saying it's the only way to be - "The successful people I know have taken a lot of risks - risk of failure, financial loss, being judged. Successful people tend to think less about what might go wrong and focus on what might go right." (emphasis mine)

Wow, does that hit YOU between the eyes the way it does me? So many times we focus on what MIGHT go wrong that we forget to even THINK about what MIGHT happen if things go RIGHT!

I heard Tony Robbins say something along the line of, "We are so afraid to make a move - to take a risk that, even if we are miserable where we are, we'd rather stay in THAT situation than take the chance to find out what 'might be'."

I really don't want to live that way, do you?

Another thing I found interesting in this article (well, actually I found the WHOLE article interesting, but you'll have to read it yourself) was when Phil began to discuss how we get so used to saying, "no" in our lives.

"People become very good at what they practice. If you practice building a 'wall of no' up in front of everything you're trying to do, you'll be very good at building that wall. The more you practice, the thicker the wall becomes; the more resilient it becomes, the harder it will be to push that wall down."


Sound familiar?

As we go through this week's discussion, I want to encourage you to start thinking about the possibility of living in the "YES!" and get EXCITED about those possibilities!

Just notice even today, as you go through your day, how often you are tempted - out of habit (that wall) - to say "no" to something that really doesn't have to require a "no" - especially when it comes to what you might be able to accomplish or achieve in your own life!

Remember, you're good at what you practice so why not begin to practice living in the "YES!"?

Try it, see what happens. And, as you do...



"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike