This is the new Thread for my Network Marketing Day Motivational Messages For October 2011.

The Eagle

Private Reply to The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World

Turn Up the Volume on Your Visionary

By: Marcia Wieder

Do you ever feel like there are parts of you saying yes, while other parts are holding you back? There is a cast of characters that live inside of us all and at different times we may be run by one voice over another.

The key question here is this. If you are committed to being successful, how can you put your dreamer and visionary at the helm, on a day-to-day basis? If you can turn the volume up on the voice of the dreamer, and the volume down on the voice of the doubter, you will create more opportunities for greater success with greater ease.

What are the voices saying inside of your head? Who are the people in your life and on your team who might be playing these roles? Imagine that your dream is to take risk, a big risk that could really grow your business. Perhaps you would change jobs, an assistant or move to a bigger space.

Here's how these voices might typically respond.

Doubter - This voice is often heard saying such things as, "I don't think that's a good idea." "I have my doubts." Even "bad idea." If you were to really crank the volume up on this voice it could turn into a real annihilator saying things like, "Are you out of your mind?"

Realist - "Be realistic..." If we turn the doubter down a bit, it becomes the voice of a realist. Realists aren't bad, as a matter of fact, they are important for they require evidence and solid plans.

The way to deal with this voice is to give it what it needs. If you ignore it, or worse reject it, it can cleverly sabotage you. Being realistic often offers prudence and makes us do our homework. However, if you are overly realistic you may kill the passion around your dream.

Dreamer - Once the realist is fed (with facts and strategies) there is room for the dreamer. The dreamer says, "What if..." (the doubter often says, "But what if...") The dreamer imagines what is possible, is an opportunist, believes in the dream and finds creative outlets.

Dreamers talk about their dreams in a powerful way, with clarity and intention. Serious dreamers build Dream Teams as they get others excited about their vision. And most importantly, dreamers take action to make their dreams a reality.

Visionary - This voice says, "Anything is possible, let's dream big!" You know these people. These are the folks we look up to and admire. Setbacks or failures do not stop them. They have learned the process of realizing their dreams and now they embody what it means to be a big dreamer.

Simply put, a visionary has a vision and they invite others to join them. Often people are so inspired by this visionary that they ask to participate. People enroll themselves when they are in the presence of a true visionary.

A visionary is not defined by the size of the dream, for dreams come in all sizes and areas of life. If you were truly living your dream, even your "dream come true life," how would it be? What do you see yourself doing, where are you doing it, and who is doing it with you? How many lives would you touch and how many people would you help?

Courtesy of:

Marcia Wieder is a motivational speaker, specializing in helping people make their dreams real! Visit her at http://www.marciawieder.com

The Eagle

Private Reply to The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World

Balance in All Things

By: Robert Prentice

Balance: mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior and judgment. Moderation: restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperance; exercise of self-control.

I aspire to achieve balance in all things, and yet I find that life is often filled with such extremes that at times it feels like one great big balancing act. Finding the proper balance is an art and a skill, which we often learn by trial and error. Since hindsight is 20/20, age and maturity are invaluable to the process of achieving the proper balance in life. It is probably safe to assume that we will always have room to grow in this area as long as we live.

Balance and moderation go hand in hand. Striving to find balance and moderation helps us to manage our selves. This exercise of restraint over our impulses, emotions and desires, is known as self-control.

You have probably heard this before: You are the Chief Executive Officer of your life; or this one: You are the Captain of your ship. This simply means that each of us is responsible for making right decisions in our lives. We must choose whether, or not, we will exercise self-control and restraint to achieve balance and moderation in all things.

I have found that making right choices and decisions is a vital key to determining how and where to find the proper balance in life. Allow me to explain.

First, of all, you must consciously choose to filter everything through your relationship with God. Since God alone sees the big picture, this is one of the smartest things we can do to assist us in our living balanced, moderate and self-controlled lives. Talk with God about all that concerns you. God is never going to force us, one way or another, to do something, because He gives us a free will. But when we choose to lay it all at His feet, He will help us to find the answers we seek.

Secondly, choosing an accountability partner, will help insure success in living a more balanced, self-controlled life. Find someone who will encourage you, challenge you, and yes, even remind you, because, you see, self control is really a bit of a misnomer. We can really never do anything ourselves. We were not designed to go it alone. We need others to bring out our best in life.

Remember this: Self control, moderation and balance is really the result of making wise choices. Though achieving balance and moderation in all things is never easy, it is well worth the effort, and will lead to greater success in our daily living.

The Eagle

Private Reply to The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World

The ABC's Of Creating the Life Of Your Dreams

By: Jim Donovan

You deserve to live the kind of life you've always dreamed about. You can have everything you want in life, if, you are willing to do what it takes.

I have broken the process into three simple steps I call the ABC's of creating the life of your dreams.

Yes, having the life of your dreams can be as simple as A,B,C, if you follow the steps.

Accept...

Accept the fact that your thoughts and actions have contributed to the circumstances in your life. If you are 25 pounds overweight, you did it by choice. Nobody forced the food into you, did they? If you are in a job you do not love, you're the one who stays in it.

Take responsibility for your life.

This will empower you to make changes. A good exercise to get you started is to take a personal inventory. This exercise is similar to grocers taking an inventory of their stock.

Take a sheet of paper and list all of the things you like about yourself along with those areas you want to change. It is important you list the good along with the "not so good." When you have finished, you will have a clearer picture of what you want to change in your life.

Believe...

Believe in yourself. Dare to dream!

And when you dream, dream big!

The late, Norman Vincent Peale said, "If you want a big life, you have to have big dreams."

However, before you can have what you want, you must know what that is. You need clearly defined, written goals.

Start with a clean sheet of paper. Across the top write "Dream Sheet." Now list all of the things you want to have, do be, and share.

Don't worry right now, how you will accomplish this. Simply write. Do this for at least a half an hour. You will be amazed how easy it will be for about 10 minutes, then you will have to really think about what you want.

Now that you have clearly defined goals, you are ready for the next, and most important, step.

Commit to your success...

Commit to your goals, right now.

On another sheet of paper, write each goal. Next to it, write a short sentence or two about why you will accomplish this. It has been said many times that you can reach any goal if you have a big enough why.

You are now ready to develop an action plan. Write each goal on a separate sheet of paper. Next to each one, list one or two immediate steps you can take to move toward this goal.

Don't worry about knowing everything you'll need to know. As you start moving, the path will reveal itself. It's much like the headlights on your car. They only light a certain distance in front of you but, as you progress, the road ahead is lighted for you.

What will you need to learn? Whose help will you need?

For example, if you goal is to shed 25 pounds, you may want to consult a health professional. Perhaps you want to join a health club, buy a book on exercise, take a class, etc.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. There are always people, probably right around you, who already know what you need to know or do and would be happy to help, if only they were asked.

You deserve to live a full, healthy, happy, prosperous life. It is up to you.

Courtesy of:

Jim Donovan is the author of the International bestsellers, Handbook To A Happier Life and This Is Your Life, Not A Dress Rehearsal. You can visit his website at http://jimdonovan.com

The Eagle

Private Reply to The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World

Action Trumps Planning Every Time

By: Josh Hinds

Friend, don't let the title of this article lead you to think I'm completely discounting the role that planning plays in the overall success equation. Therefore, I want to make it clear that I'm not against planning (far from it in fact). Rather, in most cases it's the order in which most people set out on the path towards achieving their given endeavors which I believe deserves reconsidering.

Have I totally confused you?

Stick with me and I believe things will be clearer in just a moment.

Most people follow a path similar to the one listed below when setting out in the direction of whatever worthwhile endeavor happens to be occupying their mind at the moment.

1. The initial idea comes to mind. They decide they want to pursue whatever it is.

2. They set out about planning and thinking about ways to accomplish whatever it is that they've deemed worthy of pursuing (starting to sound familiar?).

3. During the regular planning process generally one of two things begins to happen...

A. They begin to believe that by following the plan they've formulated they have a good chance of reaching success. From there they move forward working their plan.

OR...

B. Self-doubt begins to kick in and before they know it, they're literally swimming in all the reasons why whatever it was that what once held promise in their mind is now suddenly something that they couldn't possibly achieve.

At this point most folks can just about hang it up, unless they've got someone, or they've developed the mindset necessary to overcome this "stinking thinking" and get their line of thought more along the lines of option A.

Fortunately, there's another option to consider. Which is actually something I feel pretty strong about -- that no matter what conventional wisdom may tell us -- there's always another way, even if it's not always obvious.

So if that's true, what's the other way I can hear you asking...

Rather than taking the approach most folks choose to take...

Which is basically a Ready, Aim, Fire approach towards getting things done (i.e. achieving ones intended goals and dreams). Instead I suggest adopting the Ready, Fire, Aim approach.

The difference you ask? Look at it like this...

In the first example: Ready = your initial decision or commitment that you want to pursue something worthwhile in the first place. Aim = the planning phase of things. I won't rehash it as we covered it in depth above. And Fire = the action which you take which ultimately becomes the difference between whether or not you get started in the first place. On it's surface this first option is fine. In fact It has been proven to work just fine for many people.

Yet, I'm convinced the second option of... Ready, Fire, Aim would work even better.

Why? Let's look at it like this.

You make the commitment to pursue whatever it is you're committed to accomplishing. But rather than running the chance of letting loose that part of each of us which wants to convince us why we can't do something, we bypass it almost completely. Instead, we lead with some real action. That is to say, we get real, honest to goodness buy-in on whatever it is we happen to be pursuing. We're in the game so to speak.

Of course, the last step is important too, because after we've gotten started by taking action, we take Aim -- that is we do plan. To some this might sound silly, but think of it like this. Our planning is in alignment with the importance of making corrections. Have you ever heard someone say, "what's the definition of insanity? It's doing the same thing over and over again."

On a more serious note, that's why the system I'm suggesting is Ready, Fire, Aim -- and not just Ready, Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire -- you get the idea don't you? Because it is possible that in taking action first, even though taking action early on is a good thing, it is possible that the action we have chosen is well -- wrong. That being the case I will say that the same end result can happen to our friends who made the choice to go the ready, aim, fire route.

You see, just because they made the choice to plan every thing out to the best of their ability prior to kicking into gear, certainly doesn't guaranty that they're not going to end up taking wrong actions anyway.

The big difference of course is that you and I, by making a point to lead with action, and at the same time giving ourselves the wiggle room to learn from any wrong turns we make -- inevitably end up achieving in our given endeavors far quicker than those who chose to take the more common ready, aim, fire approach.

While there are any number of reasons which could lend proof to what I'm saying, about the best I can come up with is that when we set out with a sincere willingness to follow a worthwhile goal, and are truly willing to learn whatever is required of us in order to reach the pinnacle of success in our particular undertaking, those people, events, and yes skills which are necessary show up.

There's a saying I bet you've heard before -- it says, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." To the best of my thinking that is very much why "Ready, Fire, Aim" -- gets results.

In virtually every one of life's adventures the person who makes a choice to lead first with action, even if initially it's little more than a sincere willingness to take action and move forward (provided they commit to learn what's necessary along the way) will be better off than their counterparts who choose to run the risk of getting stuck in the planning phase of things.

In summary, I want to make it very, very clear that I'm not saying that planning in and of itself is the problem, rather it is the fact that most people either plan to the point that they never get started in the first place, or they allow the fear of actually doing what is necessary to get in the way -- knowing they would be that much better off had they simply made the choice to step out into the unknown and gotten started sooner rather than later.

As you give thought to what you've just read, consider the following quote, "the doing of a thing makes it so" -- throughout your day look for times when you can repeat that simple phrase and gain strength from it.

The Eagle

Private Reply to The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World