Why you can be enough to get there

It’s not just about the money, other experiences make a difference...

You would be amazed how many people with lots of money live a very nominal and non-existent unhappy life.

Real life and success is about not only finding that balance, it's also continuously improving who you are as a person, your lifestyle and what you do everyday to make a difference. To evolve you really have to find those things that are most important to you and focus on those things that keep the balance for you. That means stepping up when you feel you have to step up to really get above average results. You have to surround yourself around people that you can not only learn from but also that you can evolve into. The quality choices are the choices that will make you or break you. Its about deciding about the high end activities that make a difference in the hour. Then make a difference for the whole day.

For instance, I like it when my day is done. I like the idea of just coming home and plunking myself into my chair and read. That relaxes me. I follow my routine and basically relax. Now I have a new project that I have decided to take on and have realized that when I sit down Sunday night to lay out my week, I am going to have to make some more time for this project. It just dawned on me that I need one or two hours every night of pure focus to work on this. If its not in my planner it won’t get done. I consider it a high priority. I can do it sometime after dinner and it wont interfere with my sleep. I will still get my 8 hours. But it still is part of the sacrifice. It will cut into some of my time in the short term but the rewards will be there for the long term.

The ultimate goal for a successful life is to take short intervals every 3 or 4 weeks and examine every area of your life and keep it balanced. And it has to be balanced. If you mess up and are totally off balance in one area of your life it affects the rest. You leave one door open and pretty soon there is a draft everywhere. Your life is all intertwined.

So how you majestically use one system for one area of your life is how you run other areas. I know that sounds so stiff and regimented but all Top Producers and High Level thinkers understand this and apply it. When it's time to work, it's time to really work. When it's time to play and have fun, it's time to really have fun.

Jim Rohn one of my first mentors used to say ‘Don’t go to the beach and think about work and don’t go to work and think about the beach. Wherever you are...be there!’

So wherever you are, focus. Focus and focus some more.

Live and breathe life deeply with activities and values that are important to you.

I know when I’m productive or not. I can tell when the day is over. If you focus on the dominant activities that shift your life, that move you, that make a difference, then it impacts and influences all those around you.

Once you do that and keep pushing eventually you find a personal best. You find an area of excellence that maybe you didn’t even realize you had. But the evidence is out there of your amazing work. It eventually shows up in the marketplace and people will come for miles to do business with you. When you’re on fire, people will come from miles and miles away to watch you burn. Because you are on your game and in the zone!

It's more than that though. You find your area of excellence and your sweet spot in your career and feel really good about yourself and ask yourself what else you can do to have an impact on society. On people.

What can I do for ABC Company? What can I do for Mary, she is so helpful all the time in finishing our deadlines for our projects on time? If you go a little deeper than that and instead ask ‘How can I make a difference?’ What activity could you perform that would make a difference in people's lives. What contribution could you make that could create some momentum to help a multitude of people? Sometimes, we don’t even know where help is needed because it is not talked about. If you are bold enough to ask, It is usually only a few questions deep. You don’t have to look too far. Everyone has stuff going on in their life. How can I make a difference is a powerful question in itself. It could even be a difference whereby you do something that causes an individual to stumble upon a solution to their challenge. You didn’t have to help them directly but you made a difference by helping them indirectly which in turn allowed them to discover their solution and  made a difference. It doesn’t have to be broadcasted. You don’t have to be front page news. There is just somewhere you can silently make a difference whenever you might come across an opportunity to help out. Everyone is always searching for an answer. When you write, you never know who might read it. When you speak, you never know if one little thing you say is going to change someone's life. 

I got into a deep conversation one time and was being really specific and picky about this talk I was going to do and got into a real serious editing session with my material.The person I was working with said that to me. She said “Jim, you should really just leave that in and let people decide what they want to do with it. Because you never know when you might save someone.’ It really busted me up when she said it and almost made me cry because I knew she was right. You never know what is going on in that person's life. She made a difference for me.

I felt it.

Today, I had an experience that shifted me while concluding some business with an elderly gentleman. He was such an interesting person and I felt that he had something to say so I asked him about how things have been for him. He was telling me about how he used to drive the bus for 10 years and then after that he was a drywall installer for 25 years. What a gruelling job that must have been. Every day for 25 years lifting those 4 x 8 sheets up to the ceiling so they can be screwed to the rafters. Imagine the shape he must have been in.

Then he went on to tell me how he lost his partner to cancer in a period of just a few months. I could tell he was still sad about it and just sat there and listened. In fact, I made a conscious decision to sit and listen as long as he wanted to talk. I haven't had a conversation like that for a long time. Perhaps he didn’t either, now that I think about it.

He told me that when he was 68 he made a decision to retire from the drywalling and hang up his spurs. This led me to telling him about my father when he retired at 68.

My Father was a hard independent working businessman. A very proud man I explained to him. Then I went on to tell him that one day he and I were driving down the highway and he said that he wished he hadn’t retired at 68. It’s quite revealing where these conversations can go.

When everything was concluded as he was walking out the door Ron said ‘Well I hope I made your day there Jim, it was sure nice talking to you’ and I said ‘You did Ron, you really made my day. Thank you for sharing some of your life story, that was very inspiring to hear that from you and I’m glad you are pleased with our transaction today.’

‘Make the best of it Jim’ he said. ‘I’m 90 years old now and every day is a brand new day for me’. 

I was just shocked.

I had no idea what his age was but I would have easily guessed 70 or 75 years old.

 I’m still thinking about the conversation and it still resonates with me as the late evening approaches.

Ron really inspired me.

I hope I made a difference for Ron today.

Ron made a difference for me.