A great friend of mine once said “The two most important days of your life are the day you that were born and the day that you Find Your WHY”. Right now you need to look inside and ask yourself a real serious question, “Have I found my WHY?” You were already born, and you really had no real say over what happened that day. You did not decide to be born. You are here because you are an individual miracle of God, but “Finding Your Why” is up to you and only you.

Take a look around. You know when someone has found their WHY in life, because they know exactly where they are going and what their ultimate mission is. They are the people who striving forward even when it is cloudy or cold outside, because the outside factors do not determine their inside WHY!

As soon as you “Find Your WHY”, you will become a completely empowered person going in a constant direction each day — UPWARD! Will it be easy? No. People and things will stand in the way of you achieving your WHY. That’s why I am a true believer in “Brainwashing”. We all participate in “Body Washing” everyday, but so few people spend the same amount of time cleaning their brain from all the negative “Non-Why” people and things in the world. The sad part is that the spiritual dirt that builds up in your brain is 1000 times worse for you than physical dirt. You must wash your brain with positive, motivational material on a daily basis in order to stay on track to achieving your Why.

I challenge you to place your birth certificate and your “Why” card in a place so that you can see them everyday. This will serve as a reminder of the two most important days in your life.

As you go through life, you will meet people that have done what you want to do in life. They’ve made it! You know deep in your heart that if they can do it then you can too. So, how do you get to that level of success? Get a coach! That’s right invest in someone who has done what you want to do in life. If you want to become successful in business, then find a coach that has made millions of dollars by building a business. DO NOT hire a coach that has never achieved success in their field! Let me give you some examples of what you should look for in a coach.

Confident — A coach must be confident that he can teach you to become successful in your field because he has already done it. Confidence comes through struggles and failures that ultimately lead to success.

Open — A coach must be willing to tell you the truth even when the truth hurts. Sometimes it’s very difficult to see that you are standing in your own way of success. A true coach will bring this to your attention.

Admirable – If you don’t respect the coach for what he has done in his career or personal life, then you most likely don’t want to hire him. A coach should be full of integrity and well respected among his peers. It’s hard to be coached by someone that you don’t look up to or even consider to be a professional in the field.

Consistent — A coach must be consistent with the strategies that he is teaching. You will see many coaches that jump from idea to idea because what they are doing hasn’t worked for their clients. Ask your coach for references so that you can see if he has helped others implement strategies that have led to success.

Healthy — Yes, that’s right. A coach should lead a healthy, happy life. You shouldn’t have to hear about how bad his day was or how much he doesn’t get along with his wife. You want a coach that has a balanced lifestyle that enables him to help you with your obstacles and not concentrate on his own issues.

These are just a few things to consider when looking for that right coach that will assist you in achieving your “Why” in life. I challenge you to set a goal of hiring a personal coach, but be sure to find the right one for you!

As I was thinking about my article to write this week, I decided to speak about the entrepreneurial spirit of Thanksgiving. I would like to pay a special thanks to all of the entrepreneurs of our era who have paved the way for us to live in such a wonderful world. While celebrating this type of Thanksgiving, we need to give Thanks to all the special people who had the dreams to invent, discover and explore all the wonders we experience everyday. Let us never take for granted and fully appreciate all of the work those people have done over the years and all the future visionaries who will shape the way of the future.

As part of this Thanksgiving, we all should put into practice the “Attitude of Gratitude” in our daily plan. As we act in the attitude of gratitude, our results in life will change for the better. As you are building your business and designing your life, practice the Attitude of Gratitude and people will listen with more of open-mind because they feel from you a sense of respect – which is very powerful! The Attitude of Gratitude is the little bit of extra that will move you from excellent to the outstanding level in your field of endeavor. I would highly suggest beginning right now to take on the enhanced attitude of gratitude and your results will increase dramatically. Begin to truly internalize the meaning of the words “Thank You” and watch the results of your new passion for The Attitude of Gratitude begin to prosper. As I always say, a small improvement over a long period of time will produce outstanding results!

Today, I challenge you to integrate the Attitude of Gratitude in your daily life and begin to reap the rewards of your Thanksgiving!

Most of you have those tedious “To Do” list that you create in an effort to get more things done in your day. But let’s take time to really look at your “To Do” list. The actual words “To Do” have a negative connotation, and when you look at that list on a daily basis you think to yourself, “I MUST get this stuff done!”. It’s like meeting a deadline on a daily basis. You absolutely dread it! You should just call it your “To Don’t” list, because it’s not something that you even look forward to doing.

So, what kinds of things are on these “To Do” list?
1. Go to the gym
2. Take the kids to baseball practice
3. Make (3) new contacts for my business
4. Pick-up the laundry
5. Coaching session w/John Di Lemme
6. Tele-Class at 8:30pm
7. Book flights for upcoming seminar

That’s right, this is an example of the infamous “To Do” list that you write out every day, and you drive yourself crazy trying to get everything done. Then at the end of the day, you wad up your list and throw it away. No matter if you finished everything or not. Does this make sense? No. Why should you torture yourself by making a list of things that will ultimately hang over your head all day long. Plus, most of the time the things on your “To Do” list are important to you and you should feel a sense of accomplishment after you complete them.

I know that you are saying to yourself, “John, I have to write things down or I won’t do them, and these things are important.” I agree with you 100%, but there is another way…something you won’t hate and resent doing on a daily basis. You must make this list important to you and feel good about yourself when you complete it or even most of it.

Develop a Champion Checklist! Doesn’t that sound better and more powerful? How would you feel at the end of your day if you accomplished the majority of things on your “Champion Checklist”? Here’s another tip. Don’t throw it away day after day after day. Keep your Champion Checklist in a journal or simply a notebook. This will allow you to look back at your lists at the end of the week and see all of the things that you achieved. On the other hand, it will also act as your guide to things that you can do better such as time management.

My challenge for you today is to commit to tearing up your “To Do” list and replace it with a “Champion Checklist”. Will you do it or will you continue to begin everyday staring at a list that haunts you all day long? It’s up to you! This simple change will produce drastic results for you.

The theme for this week is PERSISTENCE. I feel that persistence is one of the main keys behind all successful people. Every successful person will tell you that their ongoing persistence is what separated them from those who gave up. Persistence is the power to hold on in spite of everything else — to endure. This is a winner’s quality. Persistence is also the ability to face defeat again and again without giving up — to push on in the face of great difficulty. It also means taking pains to overcome every obstacle, to do all that’s necessary to reach our goals.

I am a true believer that you must pay the price for success in life. There is no such thing as a free lunch or a “get-rich-quick” scheme that is going to fulfill you on a long-term basis. “P” is the first letter in the word Persistence and the first letter in Price, which is the key to understanding that you must be truly persistent and willing to pay the price in your endeavor in order to achieve your goals!

Most people do not really internalize what being persistent really means. Persistence means when everyone looks at you and says “What do you think you’re doing?” or “Who do you think you are? You continue on your quest for success! The successful person who truly understands the meaning of Persistence will know that this is part of the price you pay — not succumbing to the limitations put on you by others. Anyone who has hit the wall in their success journey has had to turn to their “persistence gene” to see how strong and internalized it really is! I can tell you all the pieces work together for you because if you know your “WHY” you will be able to look inside and pull through. This is persistence!

As you are growing in life, you will always remember the times when you needed to be persistent in your efforts to pull through! A major tip to pulling through is to have a mastermind group of people who believe in what you are working toward!

Are YOU persistent?

Time and time again, we hear that there is a price that must be paid for any achievement in life of great value. I know that everyone reading this will eventually have to deal with a major hurdle in your journey to success, and you will need to know there is a price to pay. Therefore, my compilation of articles over the next five weeks could be life changing for you. This week I am going to focus on the first letter in the word price, “P”, which stands for persistence. Persistence is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of difficulties”. The #1 word here to internalize in your spirit is the word “go”! Go means to keep on keeping on when everyone else and even you may say to yourself – What am I doing? When you say something like that to yourself remember this quote “And let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”. The key word to internalize from this citation is “reap”.

Most people have big dreams and goals, but when it is time to be persistent and go on towards reaping their harvest ninety-five percent of these big dreamers fail to pay the price. There are thousands of people who say they want to win in life and be the best they can be for God, their family and themselves! But and this is the big BUT, when the road to success gets a little tough most of these same people give up, quit or make an excuse like “it just wasn’t for me”. I would rather not go on and just focus on what I wish to reap from my work than fall victim to the mindset of “well, it just was not meant for me”!

The first letter “P” in price means to expect that you will be in a situation where it would much easier to quit than to go on and be persistent to win. Today, you need to commit to your goal and say — I know there is a price I am going to pay – I expect it -I accept the challenge – I will win -I will pay the price and put myself into that 5% ratio of people who pay the price to fulfill their ultimate Dream! Remember, you must be persistent as you pay the PRICE to achieve your Why!

The only currency that we all have the same amount of is time. Time is the ultimate currency and how you invest your time will determine your success. In order for you to attain your WHY in life, you need to realize that every minute wasted is currency/money you just lost. Every successful person that you see in life is simply someone who understands the power of waiting through the seasons of harvest time.

“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

“And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.”

These two citations express the importance of waiting and being persistent. When you are investing your currency/time correctly, you will reap the rewards.

The following is a very inspirational message that I know you will need on your journey to achieving your WHY in life!

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must — but never quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won if he’d stuck it out;
Stick to your task, though the pace seem slow –
You may succeed with one more blow.
Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt –
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst that
YOU MUSN’T QUIT.
– Author Unknown

If you quit today, you’ll never know what lies just around the bend.

The definition of the word incentive is something that incites or is likely to incite to determination or action. As you are paying the price to live your dream in life, you need to have something to incite you to take action. Basically, you need to have a strong enough “WHY” in order to make it through all you will experience as you build your dream.

As we know 95% of people die with their music still playing in them, because they never had a dream strong enough or large enough to move them through the hurdles, which were thrown their way by every dream stealer that they met as they were paying the price. As you focus on your incentive, you will forge through all of the dream stealing negativity that you will encounter. I still remember when everyone told me –”John, you are crazy, just get a job” and “who do you think you are thinking you can build the largest motivational business ever”. These are just a few negative remarks that I received as I focused on my incentive. I never gave up! I just remained focus on the ultimate outcome as I forged forward.

You need to internalize your incentive and see it everyday. Close your eyes, see it and say to yourself, “I am a successful entrepreneur, I have no debt, I spend quality time with my family.” See it – feel it – feed your spirit every minute knowing you will and can do it! If you can’t SEE your incentive, which is also your “Why”, then who will? No one! You are the only one that has the ability to make your dreams come true and change your life forever!

I have to admit the title of my section this week is OUTSTANDING! We all know as we are progressing towards our personal goals, dreams and aspirations that we will fail repeatedly, and then all of a sudden we achieve our ultimate outcome and attain our WHY in LIFE! As I state on my story page, “Each failure is a stepping stone to Success, which in turn will become a very long and lovely stone walkway into the castle of your DREAMS!” You must truly internalize the need to fail in life.

Most people fail more between the ages of 16-25 and then they don’t fail ever again in life, which means they never SUCCEED! You see, at the age 25 the majority of people lose their steam and decide to live a life instead of designing a lifestyle for themselves and their families. I am very proud to say that I have failed numerous times in my life. Just ask my parents, they will tell you …”but John you went to college just get a JOB!” As entrepreneurs, we all know that we never have jobs because whatever we do has our life-print on it, which represents our potential. The following is a list of people that we all know who failed before they succeeded. I cannot emphasize enough that you need to continue to try over and over until you succeed and realize that, as I’ve said before, “Each failure is a stepping stone to Success, which in turn will become a very long and lovely stone walkway into the castle of your DREAMS!”

FAILURES…BUT NOT QUITE
–After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said, “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.

–A relatively unsuccessful marketer of restaurant equipment, he didn’t sell his first hamburger until age 52. At a time when many people prepare for retirement, Ray Kroc built McDonald’s from a handful of hamburger stands into the world’s largest food chain.

–When his older brother was killed during WWII, he first withdrew into a shell. Then he began to listen to the radio to ease his pain. Soon he was dreaming about hosting his own radio show. That led Dick Clark to start American Bandstand.

–Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

The question that I have for you now is, “Do you realize how you must be proud of your failures because they really are successes?” Many of my workshop attendees have heard me say “…experience is what you receive when you do not achieve what you desire.” I suggest to print this out and put it on your desk where you can read this article every day and remind yourself about Fred Astaire, Ray Kroc, Dick Clark, and Walt Disney and say to yourself, “What is MY story going to be?” You need to fail in order to ultimately succeed in LIFE! After all, in success language, failure means you are almost there!

Are you tired of making all of those New Year’s resolutions, and then breaking them on January 2nd? Are you ready to learn how to finally turn your New Year’s resolutions into New Year’s results? The key word here is “new”, because you want to create “new” results. You must analyze your old year that has passed and your future, which means do not think “re-run/replay” instead think about forging forward into the New Year. In order to create “New Year” results, you must decide to analyze, develop and implement.

Spend about 60 minutes of uninterrupted time analyzing the last 12 months of your life. Examine exactly what you did over the last 365 days to create the results that you have now. Don’t worry about these results and don’t complain about them either. Simply analyze them and understand that you are exactly where you are today because of your actions over the past year. That’s right, your actions created your results in 2004. Your actions turned into your decisions that produced the results that your are experiencing.

Now, are you satisfied with your results in from last year? If not, then how do you turn your New Year’s resolutions into results? You must implement NEW action steps. New actions steps will create new decisions that will produce your new results. Analyze what you did every day to develop these new action steps. Look at your business. How large is your business? Have you prospected enough? Have you attended enough seminars? Have you invested enough money into personal self development? Are you a member of the motivational club? Have you taken advantage of all that’s available for you to produce the results that you want?

If you are not happy with your results from last year, then just imagine where you will be at the end of this year if you continue to take the same actions and make the same decisions. It doesn’t matter what kind of resolutions you make if you don’t develop NEW daily action steps.

I challenge you to forget about those New Year’s Resolutions; instead, analyze last year’s results then develop and implement New Daily Actions that will lead to New Decisions and produce New Results for your New Year!