April, 2020 -

I Have Lied To My Kids

Yes, I have lied to my kids. I am blessed to have a son and two daughters. I don’t know if they would feel the same about having me as a father since I’ve lied to them their whole life. I didn’t do it maliciously or even consciously, just like my father never consciously lied to me. I just told my kids the same information that my father told me and his father told him. Our thoughts about wealth, success and even happiness are ingrained in us as we are growing up. These thoughts are based on what we are told by other people, including our parents. I now work very hard to replace everything I told them with what I now know is the truth.

I have lied to my kids and here are 10 lies that I told my kids:

You have to work hard.
Life is hard.
We can’t afford that.
You can’t have that.
Only a small percentage of people succeed in that business.
Your scores are too low to get into that college.
You have to pay your dues.
It takes five years on average for a business to succeed.
It takes years to build wealth.
If you keep frowning your face will stay that way permanently. Yes, I have lied to my kids.

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Now here are the truths:

You have to have a good work ethic but you do not have to work hard. A lot of people make seven-figure incomes without working really hard. The definition of hard work is different for different people. When I was in the jungle, I saw people who work very hard. They have to work from sunup to sundown just to have something to eat for that day. I make a lot of money and only work 2 to 3 hours a day. Those 2 to 3 hours are spent sitting down, researching, and writing. This is not hard work.
Life is only hard if you think it’s hard and allow it to be hard. Life is great. It’s a pleasure and a blessing to live life every day. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. There’s nothing hard about that. In the military, we always had a saying, “It’s a great day to be alive.”
We can afford anything that our heart desires. If we change our mindset from someone who has limited income to someone who has unlimited income, then the price is no object. If you change your thinking to thoughts of creating wealth then the process of obtaining the money will come to you.
Everything can be obtained or achieved as long as you believe that you are worthy of it. Our limitations are placed on us by the programming we have gone through growing up. The words and the thoughts that we speak and think are the only things holding us back from achieving our goals and dreams.
If we look at statistics it will show us that a small percentage of people ever achieve fame or succeed in their chosen field. The entertainment industry, the sports industry, and business show that one percent or less of the people in that industry make it to the top. One percent of the population makes up 96 percent of the world’s wealth. The statistics look grim. Why would anybody want to attempt to make it in these industries? The reason is that the other 99 percent never made the decision to rise to the top. The competition is very small.
My children are very good students but when it came to taking comprehensive tests, their scores were average. We took them on college tours and my youngest daughter fell in love with the University of Alabama. During the tour, we were told that the average test scores needed to gain admission were a lot higher than my daughter’s scores. Several months later, she came to me and said she wanted to apply to the University of Alabama. I laughed and told her to go ahead and apply but there was no way she would get in due to her test scores. A month later, she came to me and said that she thought she got in because, in her account, her status had changed to admitted. Stupid me told her that she would know if she got in because she would receive an email saying, “Congratulations on your acceptance to the University of Alabama.” An hour later, guess what email she got? That’s right, her acceptance email. All it took was belief and not listening to her dad.
Back when I was growing up, you had to start at the lowest level and work your way up at any job or business. We called that, “Paying your dues.” That is not the case anymore. Today in this environment you can learn ways to make money in a short amount of time.
I think every person in business I ever talked to told me that it takes five years on average for a business to succeed. I don’t find that to be true anymore. There are countless examples of people who start a conventional or online business and turn it into a success in a few months.
It doesn’t take years to build wealth. All you have to do is go online and you can find individuals in their 20s who are making 6-7 figure incomes quickly. They just have the right mindset, desire, and work ethic. 30 years ago when you got on a plane, everyone in first class had gray hair. Nowadays there’s always a mixture of young and old. Young people are making a lot of money very quickly.
None of my children’s faces ever remained with a permanent frown. Today they smile a lot because of the lives they created for themselves. All it takes to turn a frown into a smile is laughter. Find a funny show, read a funny story, or listen to your favorite comedian, anything that makes you laugh. You should laugh every day. One of the great truths is, “Laughter is the best medicine.” If you’re not feeling well, laugh. It will remove the stress in your body and cure whatever ails you.

Yes, I have lied to my kids but I do appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

April 30, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief3 Comments

Garbage Day

As I was on my morning walk this beautiful, wonderful day, I was reminded by the garbage cans on the street that today is garbage day. In my neighborhood, they pick up the garbage on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. I never put my cans out on Wednesday simply because we don’t accumulate enough garbage. This got me thinking that garbage day is a metaphor for our lives. We have so much negative garbage in our minds that we need to put it in a can, take it to the streets, and let somebody take it away. Most of my neighbors have so much garbage that they have to put out two cans twice a week. If you are having negative thoughts, you need to be taking them out to the street every day. Just like real garbage, I have very little negativity which is why I don’t have to take it out to the street very often.

I have replaced all my garbage with positive thoughts. If I have negative thoughts, or the Doubt Demons creep in, then I immediately throw them in the garbage and take them to the street. If I run into a negative person while I’m out and about, I immediately toss what they’re saying in the garbage and replace it with positive thoughts. You can play a little game with this and every time you have something negative in your life walk to the garbage can, lift up the lid, and toss the negative into the garbage can. Begin thinking positive thoughts and on garbage day, roll your can to the street and your negative will be taken away with your actual garbage.

Replacing negative with positive begins with you. You can change everything about you by replacing the way you’re thinking and what you’re saying. In my post “A Flying Rat’s Ass,” I talked about looking inward. When you look in the mirror, who do you see? When I look in the mirror I don’t see the physical me. I see what I looked like physically when I was 30, and yes I was one pretty man. Spiritually, I see the man that I will become. The words I speak and the thoughts I have are of the man that I will become before I see that man in the physical world. These are the words and the thoughts of a prosperous man who has been given everything he deserves. What words are you saying about yourself? Are you describing yourself as of today or the you that you will become?

Who do you see?

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You deserve everything in life. You are one-of-a-kind and can and will be whatever you desire to become. The reason you don’t believe that you have it right now is because of the words you’re saying and the thoughts that are in your mind. In order to change, you have to look inside you. You have to look at the person who’s looking back at you in the mirror and say I deserve everything I’m asking for. This can all be explained by the Law of Attraction. You have something to give to the world and if you’re not happy, then you can’t give out that gift. A great exercise is to write down the things you do on a daily basis. These are your habits and habits can be changed. Write down what time you get up in the morning and what you do all throughout the day. Write down the good and the bad, all the way up until you go to bed. The next day read your list. These are all the things that got you to the point you are at today. If you’re not happy with that person or where you are in life, then you have to change some or maybe all of your habits. If you’re doing the same things over and over and over, you cannot expect different results. To be the person you deserve to be, change the person you are.

You deserve it!

The words you’re saying and the thoughts that you are having are the determining factor in the life that you’re living. They are also determining the life you can be living in the future. Speak of what you want as if it’s already happened. See the person that you want to be as if that person already exists. What kind of car do they drive? What kind of house to they live in? The only way to take out the garbage in your mind is to replace it with positive words and thoughts. The more positive that you can put into your mind the less room there is for the negative.

The universe will give you whatever you ask for through your thoughts and your feelings. Ask for what you want, believe you have already received it, and the universe will provide it for you. Always ask for what you want, not for what you don’t want. Ask to weigh your perfect weight, not to lose weight. All your thoughts must be on the positive, not the negative. A thought such as, “I want to get out of debt,” sounds like it would be positive but you’re just reinforcing the fact that you have debt. Instead, just focus on the positive and think, “I have an unlimited income.” By repeating your positive words and thoughts constantly throughout the day you will be programming your mind to think of what you want instead of what you have.

What are you attracting?

Last week I wrote a blog called “Draft Day” in which I spoke about having gratitude. Nothing works if you don’t have gratitude and love in your heart. You can speak the most positive words and have the most positive thoughts thousands of times a day, but you won’t see results unless you can do that with feeling. You have to be thankful for everything that you have, positive and negative. If you want a better car, be thankful for the one that you have. If you want a better job, be thankful every day for the good and bad things about your current job. Before you begin repeating these positive words, take a moment to be thankful for what you have and think of something that makes you very happy. When you’re grateful and you can think these positive thoughts and really feel that they’re coming from your heart, everything that you’re asking for and speaking of will be given to you.

Give thanks for everything.

If you’ve read the book or watched the movie, The Secret (It’s on Netflix), then you will understand what I’m saying. If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie then I am encouraging you to do so. Everything that you read or see in the movie, I experience on a daily basis. I have unlimited income, from multiple sources that arrive daily. I have perfect health and wonderful, happy relationships with my family and friends. I could write a different post every day about receiving things that I have asked for from the universe. All you have to do is three things; Ask, Believe, and Receive. Ask for what you want. Believe that it is on its way and Receive it. If you feel that you deserve a better life or want more out of life then I encourage you to research this book. For your convenience, I have added the book, The Secret, to My Motivational Books List and you can click on the book or the hyperlinks to purchase them from Amazon.

So many negative thoughts he had to drag them

Don’t forget that today is garbage day and dump all your negative thoughts and feelings into the can, roll it out to the street, and let the garbage company haul it away.

If you have read The Secret or watched the movie, post a comment below and tell me what you think. I enjoy reading your comments.

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I appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

April 29, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief2 Comments

It’s About You

It’s not about me, it’s about you. I was asked the other day why I started writing a blog and didn’t really have an answer to that question. I’m not in my 20s and I’m not just starting out in life. I’m very comfortable and don’t need any extra income that can be generated from writing a blog. Heck, I have never really enjoyed writing in my entire life. I loved my career and enjoyed the majority of it. I loved to be out on the street and participating in operations, but I hated writing reports. We had five days to get our reports in after an operation and my bosses were constantly hounding me to do my reports. Just the thought of all the hours it would take to compile my notes and write a passable report would fill me with dread. One of the reasons I loved being in the jungle was because we didn’t have to do reports.

I started to think about the question and realized that it will really wasn’t my decision. The thought was placed into me by a higher power. I really didn’t have a choice or did I? I could’ve ignored the thoughts but throughout my life, I’ve realized that when you’re led to do something by a higher power, do it. There are terrific benefits to doing it and it’s something you’re supposed to do. I could estimate that throughout my life I have listened to a higher power 90 percent of the time and made good decisions. At the same time, 10 percent of the time I ignored what I was being told and made bad decisions.

It all started after I heard a speech where someone said that you could make money online. This got my attention because I like money, money is good and you can never have enough of it. I don’t ever want to stop earning money. There are so many great things I can do with money and so many people I can help. So after hearing that you can make money online, I began researching it and was told I needed to write a blog. At first, I hesitated because I’m not a writer and who would read my stuff? There was one thought in my mind that would not go away, It’s not about me, it’s about you. It’s about you, the 7.8 billion people in the world. If somebody can take away just one thing from one of my blog posts and it changes their life, then everything I do is justified.

You have so much to give the world. Each and every one of you was born with your gifts to the world. Everybody has something inside of them that can help someone else. I believe it’s your obligation to pass your gift to others. My gift is motivation and people have told me that I say the right things at the right time and have helped people. If anyone has ever told you that you are good at something, that is your gift. We must continue spreading our gifts and never quit. When things get tough and you’re going through a difficult time, you have to find a way to reach down and fight through because someone, somewhere needs your gift. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

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I will continue to talk to as many people as I can until my last breath. When things aren’t going well, I’ll keep going. When I’m talking and it seems like no one’s listening, I’ll keep talking. I’ll never quit, it’s just not in me. It’s not in you either. You might think so, but it’s not. When you think it is, get out of bed and go do it one more day. Do it the next day and the next until you’ve accomplished the mission. Everyone’s counting on you, so it’s your duty, your obligation to them to get it done. If you quit then you are letting down 7 .8 billion people. That’s a huge burden to have to live with for the rest of your life. Fight with all your being and when you feel you have nothing left in you, get up and take another swing. Whatever you do, never stop and keep moving forward.

Life is hard and it will hit you. It will take you to your knees. Anyone who has gone through life without any kind of struggles hasn’t lived. So when it hits you, hit back, keep hitting back, keep moving forward. As long as you’re moving forward you’re winning, it doesn’t matter what the score is. There are too many people counting on you. It might hurt and it might be hard but you gotta keep moving forward. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

The warrior mentality and the ability to fight are in us all. It is there at birth. We are all fighters and a fighter is going to fight. They won’t quit until they’ve won or died. Nothing can stop them. Nothing can stop you. Once you know what you want, go out and get it. Don’t ever let anyone or anything stop you. You and only you are in control and determine whether you win or lose. You will have successes and you will have failures but you will never quit. You will fight and fight and fight until you win. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

The 80/20 rule says that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. I was one of the 20 percent. It was ingrained in me in the military to accomplish the mission, that was the most important thing. Whenever one of my bosses needed something difficult done, they called on me because I always accomplished the mission, no matter how hard. I wouldn’t quit. You have to accomplish your mission and failure is not an option. You have been given a mission, whatever it may be and it is your duty to do what it takes to accomplish that mission and never quit. I won’t ever quit on you. When you win, then I win. I can’t succeed until you do. Keep fighting! It’s not about you, it’s about them.

Have you ever had to overcome adversity? Leave a comment and share your tips/techniques for fighting through when life is beating you down.

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April 28, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief5 Comments

Opportunities Abound

Do you feel like right now is a great time to be alive and opportunities abound? Because I do. I feel so blessed every day to be able to experience everything that life offers on a daily basis. We are living through an unprecedented event, maybe not in history, but in my lifetime. I used to watch movies such as The Andromeda Strain and The Omega Man in which an unknown virus began killing humans. COVID-19 has created vast changes in how we work and live. It has devastated small businesses and left millions unemployed. As each day passes we get closer to “flattening the curve” and it will be interesting to see what the world will look like once everything starts opening up.

Photo by Heorhii Heorhiichuk on Pexels.com

It is said that adversity creates opportunity. Many people took advantage of the opportunities created during the Great Depression and became millionaires. Michael J. Cullen changed the retail landscape by creating the modern supermarket. He struck out on his own in 1930 and two years later his stores, King Kullen Grocery, were taking in more than $6 million in revenue. Charles Darrow, after the crash of 1929 was unemployed. He spent a few years perfecting a little parlor game that eventually became known as Monopoly. In 1932, Howard Hughes formed the Hughes Aircraft Company and built that into a major defense supplier. He was worth billions when he died in 1976.

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While many people suffered, others took advantage of being unemployed and turned ideas into businesses. They saw the opportunity created by the Great Depression. Can you see the opportunity created by the current pandemic? It’s out there, opportunity is always out there, you just have to be able to see it. When you see it, you then have to act on it. In my post titled, The Wonderful, Awesome Power of Music, I wrote that the best time to act on something is right now. You need to take advantage of this great opportunity to decide what you want to do, why do you want to do it, and begin doing it right now.

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My oldest daughter is studying kinesiology and exercise science in college and is becoming a personal trainer who will one day open up her own gym. She was researching the various certification courses, prices, and the length of time it takes to complete the course. After she explained what she found, she asked me which one I would take. I told her my choice and her reply was, one takes six months to complete, won’t that interfere with my college classes? I told her that it might but that’s why time management is so important. I said that if you’re going to do something then start it right now, not tomorrow, not next week, not 6 months from now. Start it today, and you will figure out how to successfully juggle schoolwork, work, and your certification.

For all the youth out there, I just want to say that we are living in the greatest time in our history. You can carry it around the world at your fingertips. Everything has sped up exponentially, from communication with other people to become wealthy. I used to have a little box I would wear on my belt called a pager. If someone needed to talk to me they would dial a certain number and the little box would vibrate. I would see the number of the person that wanted to talk to me. My little box would almost always only vibrate when I was nowhere near a telephone. Most of the time it was when I was in my car driving somewhere. There was no way to return the phone call through the little box therefore I would have to find the nearest thing we used to call a payphone. These were telephones that were spread throughout the city and you had to insert coins in order to make a phone call. Once I found a payphone, I would then have to scrounge around looking for coins to call the number on the little box. All this, finding a payphone, parking my vehicle near the payphone, getting out of my vehicle, looking for coins, walking to the payphone, and dialing the number, just to be told a bit of information that was probably the most unimportant information in the history of the planet. Now we can walk around with a computer in our pocket, we can search for any question that we have and communicate with anyone throughout the world without having to look for coins.

All it takes is a little creativity and you can make money without ever having to spend a day working a job you probably hate. I never would’ve thought that you could make money by videotaping yourself doing something that you do for one day, but people do. I had never heard of ASMR until I saw people making money carving soap or tapping their fingernails and whispering. My favorite though is GRWM videos, this is something we all do every day and people are making money just by videotaping themselves and getting ready. Is this a great time to be alive or what?

The ease at which we can obtain information today presents the greatest opportunity for all of us. You can literally find a step-by-step process to do anything. If you want to learn how to write a blog, there are bloggers who write blogs on how to write a blog. The Art of Blogging has very insightful and excellent tips on blogging. The world is literally at your fingertips, all you have to do is go out and discover it. I’ve always heard people say, “I can’t wait till my ship comes in,” and you might want to write this down, “Your ship has arrived. It is anchored just offshore and all you have to do is swim out to it and get on board.”

If you enjoyed reading this, go ahead and click on that little star and like it. Share it on social media and definitely leave a comment. I enjoy hearing from everyone. If there is any subject into which you would like to delve into, let me know.

What opportunities have you seen created? Are you taking advantage of them? Let me know in the comment section.

Works Cited:

Sabin, Greg. “10 People Who Made a Fortune During the Depression.” Mental Floss, 12 Aug. 2009, http://www.mentalfloss.com/.

April 27, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief2 Comments

The Wonderful Awesome Power of Music

Music is such a powerful instrument. It can invoke many different feelings inside us. It can make us feel happy, sad, or put us into deep thought. It can inspire us and even transport us back in time by bringing up a memory. It can get your heart beating fast and pumping adrenaline. It can put you in a very relaxed, calm state of mind. Tap into the wonderful awesome power of music.

I was working out this morning and I always listen to music while I exercise. I have a playlist in my phone of several upbeat songs that keep my adrenaline flowing throughout my workout. Today as I started my workout, the first song that came on was, It’s My Life by Bon Jovi. I got this overwhelming joyous feeling in my heart because the words of the song matched perfectly with my life. My life changed dramatically yesterday in a very good way and took all the success I’ve had in the past to a whole different level. I’ve heard the song probably a thousand times before but today I really listened to the words.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE

It’s my life

It is just that, my life. I am in total control of what happens in my life based on my reactions to circumstances that happen every day. You are in control of your life. Today many people allow other forces to control them. Many people are living in fear because of the pandemic and the information they are listening to. I choose faith and faith and fear cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Both faith and fear are a choice and you have to choose one or the other. Most of my neighbors can’t believe that my wife and I still go out to eat. They live in fear. Last night we drove to our favorite burger joint and had a great meal. We practiced social distancing, covered our faces, and went to the front door and ordered our meal. We went back to the car and a short time later; they brought our order out to us. We had a wonderful time sitting in the car enjoying our burgers and shakes. It reminded me of our first date almost 30 years ago. We went to a burger joint in Lima, Peru where they brought the food out to you and you ate it in the car. Tap into the wonderful awesome power of music.

It’s now or never
I ain’t gonna live forever

This is it; it is NOW! Now is the time to make that decision to change your life. I am rapidly approaching what is said to be the fourth quarter of life. I could just sit back and enjoy the next 20 or so years, but that isn’t me. I want to do so much. I have so many people that I want to help. I want to increase my giving. I want to pass along these lessons to millions and millions of people. And the time is now, today, because just as it says in the lyrics; I ain’t gonna live forever, we are not promised any certain period of time. We are not promised tomorrow, so the time to make that decision to change, to help people, to live your dreams is NOW!

I just want to live while I’m alive (It’s my life)

Life is a beautiful thing. Get out there every day and live it like it’s your last. Dance like no one’s watching and sing like you have the voice of an angel. Do everything that you want to do. Try things that make you uncomfortable. We only have a finite number of days on this wonderful planet, make the most out of each one. Tap into the wonderful awesome power of music.

My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said I did it my way
I just want to live while I’m alive

Open your heart and follow it where it’s leading you. Be in tune with your inner feelings and listen to those little voices encouraging you to do something good. You always know what’s good because it will make you happy when you think about it. Listen to the words of Frankie and do it your way. Your way might not be the only way but it is the best way for you. Go out and live life now while you’re alive because afterward, it’s too late.

The next random song that came on from my playlist was Right Now by Van Halen. I don’t think there are two songs in my playlist that would have had a better impact on me. It just confirmed that all these great things are happening to me right now. I need to make the most of every day. Whenever I hear this song it takes me back to my days in the jungle. I used to carry a Sony Walkman cassette player and earphones as part of my equipment. We had open doors on the helicopters and I would always sit next to the door gunner. I would start playing this song right before the helicopter lifted off. Many times we would fly what the pilots call the “nape of the earth” which is just a few feet above the ground. They would fly right over the river and follow the curves at a very fast speed. It was exhilarating. When I hear the song I’m transported back inside the helicopter to a very happy time for me. We never knew what would happen when we arrived at our objective. Would it be an easy day or would they be waiting for us and we would have to fight our way out? I never felt more alive. Right Now makes me feel alive when I hear it and reminds me that right now is the time to get it done.

Tap into the wonderful awesome power of music. Whatever you want to accomplish, start right now. Don’t wait for the perfect day or time. Don’t wait for the pandemic to be over and COVID-19 to be wiped out. Don’t wait for tomorrow or next week. Don’t wait until the end of the semester or when you get that big project finished at work. There is no better day than today, so go get it done. IT’S YOUR LIFE – go live it.

I appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

April 26, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief2 Comments

Real Neat Blog Award

I want to thank PoojaG for nominating me for the real neat blog award. She has incredible insights in her amazing blog. She posts about travel, beauty, food, life, and much more. Be sure to check it out by clicking here.

RULES

1. Display the blog award logo in your blog.
2. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you.
3. Do not forget to link to their blogging website.
4. Answer all the questions they have given you.
5. Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers of your choice.
6. Ask them 7 questions.

Real Neat Blog Award: My Questions

What do you find encouragement in during this time?

In my faith. Much of what we hear is based on fear. Faith and fear cannot exist in the same place. They are both a choice and I choose faith.

Where do you want to go after the COVID-19 crisis is over?

My wife and I were planning a wonderful trip this fall driving around Scotland and Ireland. It’s just postponed.

What do you enjoy blogging about?

Connecting with so many people throughout the world and passing on Lessons I have Learnt throughout my life.

If you could vacation on the moon, would you?

To steal a word from Rocky Balboa, Absolutely. Space travel is something I dreamed of doing as a kid.

If you saw me in an airport, would you walk away, only say hi, or buy me lunch?

I would love to buy you lunch. You would have to pick the place since you probably know the best airport eateries. I feel I could learn a lot talking to you.

If someone gives you a bag of your favorite snacks, do you have self-control and eat a little each day or devour it all in one day?

I don’t eat big meals anymore, so a little every day.

What is a book you recommend that you enjoyed during this time?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

My Nominees

If you’re reading this post and feel as though this may be something you want to participate in please consider yourself nominated. I enjoyed answering the questions. Feel free to use the same questions I did ( They are from PoojaG) or come up with new ones!

I appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

April 25, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief2 Comments

Don’t Water the Street: Creating the Right Mindset

Don’t water the street: creating the right mindset. Success is based on work. If you’re not willing to do the work you’re probably not going to have very good results. It all begins with your mind though; you have a thought about something that you would like to accomplish. You start off with a dream about being wealthy or losing weight and having a different body. How about living in a mansion instead of your studio apartment that’s worse than the apartment you lived in at college? Now that you have this dream; How are you going to go about turning it into a reality? If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you’ll know that how is not really important. WHY is the most important part of the equation.

don't-water-streets-white-mansion — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Don’t Water The Streets

This is where your thoughts come in. If your mindset is right and you’re thinking positive thoughts, then HOW to obtain your dreams will come to you. You will see an ad, or maybe bump into an old friend and they will give you inspiration. You might even overhear someone talking and it gets your mind thinking. Don’t worry, if you are thinking positive thoughts, you will know it when it happens.

This business started because I listened to a podcast that was recommended to me by a friend I hadn’t seen in 35 years. I didn’t know what a podcast was! Now is the time to take your seats because here comes Story-time. I wake every morning very early, way before the sun rises and after enjoying a talk with my Lord and Savior and spending some time in meditation, I exercise.

Sprinklers

At that time of the morning, several lawn sprinklers turn on in my neighborhood. I have one neighbor whose sprinklers are mostly facing the road. He even has one sprinkler that shoots from halfway in his yard all the way to the other side of the street. This sucker doesn’t even oscillate, it’s just a steady stream of water in one place. It caught my attention because I have to divert my path completely across the street to keep from getting soaked. The only grass that receives any nourishment is a thin strip, maybe six inches wide.

don't-water-streets-green-grass-blades — **What do your DREAMS look like?**

A Lush Lawn

Watching this guy’s sprinklers water the street got me thinking that this is just like bad thoughts. You will only be able to accomplish your dreams by thinking positive thoughts. Dreams, like grass, need to be nourished and watered. If your irrigation system is adjusted correctly then most of the water lands on your yard and nourishes your lawn. The grass grows healthy and full, chokes out all the weeds, and you have this lush green lawn that’s the envy of the neighborhood.

Feed Your Dreams

If you water your dreams with positive thoughts then they will grow, flourish, and choke out those pesky “Doubt Demons”. On the other hand, if you’re watering the street your lawn suffers and nothing grows. Grass does not grow on asphalt. If you’re constantly giving into negative thoughts you might as well be watering the street because nothing is going to grow.

Begin a daily habit of affirmations. Write them down on an index card and carry them with you always. Read them first thing in the morning, several times. Throughout the day pull out your index card and read them over and over. You need to program your positive thoughts into your subconscious.

Adjust Your Thoughts

Just like you adjust your sprinklers to only water the grass, adjust your positive thoughts to water your dreams. They say you have to do something 10,000 times before you get really good at it. I’m no scientist but maybe that’s how long it takes before your subconscious mind takes over and you start doing and saying the right things without thinking about it.

don't-water-streets-old-typewriter-goals

Good Times

Throughout my military and law enforcement career, we went through constant training. Whenever we would make an arrest or execute a search warrant, my actions were automatic. I don’t have a clear memory of what happened from the time after we arrived at the residence, up until the house was cleared or the person was in custody. In that time-space, I was operating with my subconscious mind and doing what I was trained to do without having to think about it with my conscious mind.

Operating In The Subconscious

One day my partner and I were taking a break at Starbucks and sitting outside when two people ran out of the store next to us. The owner ran out saying that he was robbed. My partner and I ran after them and after a little while, I realized I had my gun in my hand. I had no recollection of unholstering my weapon. The answer to your next question is, yes, we caught them. One of them became completely winded, gave up, and just laid down next to the street. The other one we found hiding under a house and wouldn’t come out, so we called out the K-9 unit. He crawled out and was completely cooperative once the dogs got there. Good times, good times.

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No More

Alright everybody, no more watering the street. Start your affirmations, repeat those things you want in your life until they come true. This is the point where a lot of people sabotage themselves because it doesn’t happen quickly enough for them. Keep in mind this isn’t McDonald’s and you can’t order a new lifestyle, drive up and pick it up at the little window.

Give Your Dreams Time To Grow

Dreams take time and we are not in control of when they come true. You can’t see the grass seedlings when they’re under the soil and it’s usually at the point where they’re about to break through the soil that you get frustrated. You begin thinking and saying they will never grow and point the sprinkler back at the street. A lot of people get frustrated when they don’t see results and turn to negative thoughts and words. If they’d only kept the positive thoughts for one more day, one more week, or one more year their life could be radically changed.

Success

Do you have a time limit on your dreams? How long are you willing to wait to achieve the life that you want and deserve? Some people seem to have boatloads of success when they are children while others don’t have success until they are in their 60s and 70s. Some people graduate from college in three years, some in five or six (You can put me in the latter timeframe). Both of them still have the same diploma.

Success is success. If you’ve ever graduated from college, you might have put your dreams on hold for those four years. A lot of people take 4 plus years to get a college diploma but will give up on their dreams after a few months. If you create the right mindset and don’t put a time limit on it, the universe is at your fingertips and you can live your dream lifestyle.

I appreciate every like, follow, comment and share. Keep’em coming.

“This train is moving on, you can get on, you can get off, but the train keeps moving on! We are going to the top of the mountain!”

April 24, 2020July 22, 2021

InspireChief1 Comment

Draft Day

Today is the first round of the NFL draft. It is a day that will see several young men’s lives change dramatically. I look forward to watching the NFL draft every year because you get to see their dreams come true as it happens. You see the emotions they go through as they get the phone call from the NFL team that is selecting them. You see the emotions of the families that are there with them. What you don’t see are the countless hours in the weight room, the infinite number of sprints they have run, or the endless hours they spent studying in the classroom. What you don’t see is the countless miles the families put on their cars driving their kids to practice, games, or camps. You don’t see the time the families might’ve had to put in working a second job to pay for equipment or fees. The families do all this to help their children achieve all their dreams. Draft Day is special for them.

When their name is called and the tears flow, you know this is the culmination of a dream that they have had for so many years and worked so hard at. For most of these young men, their dream started when they were children lying in bed. They held onto the dream probably through many ups and downs, successes and failures, until tonight. Tonight their dreams become reality. These are dreams that most of these young men have and they learned to write them down several years ago. Recently, former NFL running back C. J. Spiller was elected to the Clemson University Hall of Fame. Spiller said he wasn’t surprised by this selection because he wrote down his goals and dreams as a seven-year-old in Florida. His mom keeps that same note and has it locked up in a room. He looked at that piece of paper every night and one of his dreams was he wanted to go off to college and leave that program as one of the best ever. I’m sure that the young men selected tonight, on Draft Day, will have a similar piece of paper with their goals and dreams written on it and their moms will keep it forever.

This makes me think about my life and how I arrived at where I am today. I don’t remember if I ever wrote anything down but I do remember that I used to read a lot. As a kid, I was always reading books about adventure, space travel, and explorations. I was always fascinated with the military and read a lot of books about World War II. My favorite books though were mysteries by Alfred Hitchcock. I would spend hours reading these books and loved pouring into the investigation of solving these mysteries. My life up to this point has turned out just like the books that I used to read and the dreams I used to have. I was an officer in the U.S. Army, investigated and solved mysteries as a Special Agent with DEA, and had many adventures in the jungles of South America and on the streets of US cities. Not everything I dreamt about came true in my life though. I, like probably every other sports-minded child did dream of one day playing in the NFL. That dream didn’t materialize….., maybe I should’ve written it down.

A vast majority of the men selected today will feel humbled, honored, and gracious when they hear their name called by the Commissioner. It is a pleasure to see them when they speak give thanks to God, their family, their coaches, and everyone who ever help them achieve this dream. Unfortunately, there are usually one or two who expected to be drafted earlier than they were and are unhappy. When you see them on camera they have a scowl on their face and you can tell that they are angry. Now, I’m sure that they think that they are the best player and feel slighted that so many teams passed them up, I can understand that. What I cannot understand is how they cannot feel gracious enough to put the other feelings aside. I’ve heard it said that less than one percent of all boys playing high school football will make it to the NFL. Just having the talent to be in that small pool should make you one of the most thankful people alive.

When I see people who aren’t appreciative of what they have been given, I become more gracious for what I have. I have been given a wonderful, beautiful life, with a future full of unlimited possibilities. If you can’t be thankful for where you’re at right now in life, how do you expect God to reward you with a better life in the future? One major point that the ungrateful players forget is that no women will be selected tonight. There are women coaches and women referees in the NFL but no women players. I fully believe that soon there will be women players in the NFL; they will experience Draft Day. As the father of two daughters, I can see that women can do anything they set their minds to. They just have to change their mindset and flush out all the negative things they have been told in the past.

Draft Day is special and is going to be a great night for these young men; I can’t wait to watch it. It will be different because of the pandemic but will still be exciting. It will be the culmination of one dream and the beginning of another. They will be checking off one goal accomplished and writing down a list of new goals and dreams they can start working towards. How about you, have you written down your dreams and goals? Are you reading them every day, several times a day? If not, today is a great day to start!

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Works Cited

Hood, David. “Hall of Famer: CJ Spiller Takes Wrong Call, Learns He Is in Hall of Fame.” TigerNet.com, TigerNet.com, 22 Apr. 2020, http://www.tigernet.com/story/Hall-of-Famer-CJ-Spiller-takes-wrong-call-learns-he-is-in-Hall-of-Fame-18749.

https://www.tigernet.com/ezoimgfmt/farm8.static.flickr.com/7540/15482116420_13155049a3_q.jpg?ezimgfmt=ng:webp/ngcb6

April 23, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief4 Comments

A Flying Rat’s Ass!!

No apologies! This is a topic that I’m very passionate about. If I offend you, then you need to look inward at yourself. I’m not mentioning anyone by name. I don’t give a flying rat’s ass.

How do you value other people’s opinions? Are you caught up in the way someone else makes you feel? Can what someone says to you determine if you can have a good or bad day? If so, listen to these words carefully. I don’t give a flying rat’s ass what other people think of me. I know that I’m a good person and that I treat others in the same manner as I would want them to treat me. It has no effect on me what other people think of me or if other people don’t believe that I will accomplish what I set out to do. I learned this lesson a long time ago. When I was a child growing up I had lots of friends and thought that everyone liked me. Then I found out that some people didn’t like me and I never did anything for them to feel that way. I realized then that some people are just going to like you for who you are and some people are not going to like you for who you are. That doesn’t change who you are. You are you, no one else, embrace it.

“You create your own universe as you go along.”
– Winston Churchill

When I was in the military, every year we would get performance evaluations from our superior officers. I would read them and take note of my shortcomings because I respected the men who wrote them. After I left the military and began working for the government I was given the gift of having a bad supervisor. This man hated life and was negative and demeaning everywhere he went. Early on in my career with DEA, I volunteered for a special operation to go live in the jungles of South America and search for cocaine labs. This entailed almost a year that I was out of my office training with the U.S. Army Rangers, attending Spanish-language training, and working in the jungle. I got back to my office after my first tour in the jungle and my supervisor gave me a bad evaluation. He said I didn’t have enough arrests or seizures. I never figured out how I was supposed to arrest someone if I wasn’t there. Maybe this moron didn’t even know I was gone. Now I had received excellent evaluations from my supervisors during training and on my deployment to South America, but he didn’t take any of those into account. Therefore, I was evaluated on what I did in his office even though I was 3,000 miles away. I know he gave me a bad evaluation so I would quit the program and not go on another deployment. It didn’t work, I went on three more deployments within the next two years. Every evaluation he gave me after that I never read. When he would call me in to discuss it I would sign it and hand it back to him. The first time he asked me, “aren’t you going to read it?” My reply was no, I don’t value your opinion. I know what kind of job I do; I know if each day I’ve given it 100 percent or less than a hundred percent. Your opinion of me carries no weight with me. In other words, I didn’t give a flying rat’s ass what he thought of me.

I know when I look in the mirror each morning the kind of person that I am, what I’m going to accomplish, what I’ve already accomplished, and you need to be the same way. Who is looking back at you when you look in the mirror? What are you going to do to move forward towards accomplishing your goals? Nothing that anyone says to you should have any effect on whether you succeed or not. Only you can decide that. If some lunkhead in the gym makes a negative comment about your weight, just smile at him because you know exactly what you’re going to look like in a few months. Make sure you thank him for providing that extra motivation. If people laugh at you when you tell them you’re going to be an Oscar-winning actor even though you’ve never starred in a play, smile and remember to thank them in your acceptance speech.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

In a few posts back I wrote about “Doubt Demons” and how they show up in your mind to keep you from achieving your goals. The naysayers are the ones who instill in you these “Doubt Demons.” If you give in to the naysayers then that just means that you value their opinion more than you value yourself. You have to get the attitude that you do not give a flying rat’s ass about other people’s opinions. The only opinion that matters is what comes out of your voice; the thoughts in your head. Naysayers are losers and like to be in the company of other naysayers because that’s what they attract. Successful people are attracted to successful people. Speak your goals several times throughout the day, make your goals your predominant thoughts and you will attract successful people to you who will help you accomplish them. The naysayers will disappear.

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One of the biggest obstacles you will incur and have to overcome on your journey is when the naysayers, the negative Nelly’s, the doom and gloom people, happen to be your friends or family. These are the ones that just can’t say anything positive about what you’re trying to accomplish when you’re around them. They don’t do it in a malicious way but it can do the most harm. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to overcome this obstacle is to cut them out of your life until you can show them that no matter what they say, you will not be deterred. You just can’t give a flying rat’s ass about what they’re saying. I love my parents but I could tell by the tone of their “encouragement” that they didn’t believe me when I would tell them about my dreams. I had to go out and show them.

This is your journey and you and only you decide whether you reach the top of the hill or roll back down to the bottom. If you don’t succeed you cannot point fingers at anyone but yourself. You have full control over the outcome of your journey. No one else is steering your boat or piloting your plane. You are not just along for the ride you are the captain. One thing that most people don’t understand is that you are given all the tools necessary to accomplish whatever you want when you were born. Somewhere along the way you’ve let other people steal your tools from you. But all that was yesterday and yesterday doesn’t count, it’s history. What counts is today and what you do today. Tomorrow is already written and it depends on what you do today. Focus on today and continue moving forward.

April 22, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief5 Comments

Anxiety (COVID-19)

Anxiety (COVID-19. We are definitely in an anxious time in our lives with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a time of uncertainty and I don’t know about you but for me, it is difficult to find the facts about what’s really going on. One news agency reports one thing and three more reports something totally opposite. One day we’re “flattening the curve” and the next day this is something that’s going to last for years. I’m as confused as everyone but unlike a lot of people, it doesn’t cause me anxiety. Not a lot has changed for me since the pandemic started and we have been in lockdown. I work from home so that wasn’t a change. My children are away in college so I haven’t turned into a home school teacher. My gym is closed but I have plenty of exercise equipment in my garage so I continue to work out. My wife is home all day as well and I haven’t woken up with her standing over me holding a pillow in front of my face. I can have a tendency to get on her last nerve, as my mom used to say to me. The one thing that I really miss is our weekly date night where we walk to the local restaurants and enjoy a meal. We still have the date night but now we have to call in our order, pull up outside, have them bring our food out, and take it home, it’s just not the same.

I sympathize with everyone that had to begin working from home, learning from home, and not knowing when their office or school will open up again. I particularly sympathize with the people who had to close their businesses or could remain open but saw a significant drop in their business. It is a very uncertain time in that we don’t know what our society will look like when the pandemic ends. Will jobs be cut as employers try to recoup lost profits? Will sports resume and bring back jobs for the concession workers, security, and ticket scanners? My friend who watches sports 24/7 told me the other day that he just watched a cherry pit spitting contest. He has it bad. In case you were wondering, the winning spit was 47 feet!

anxiety-covid-19-man-mask-no-fear-painted-on-wall — Photo by Korhan Erdol on Pexels.com

I believe in faith over fear. I believe that the pandemic will end sooner rather than later; that businesses will open and the economy will flourish; that sporting events will begin and stadiums will be packed. The anxiety that has been created by this pandemic is based on uncertainty or fear. The anxiety is usually worse than the actual event. As I’ve said before, I have a fear of heights but I jumped out of perfectly good airplanes in the Army. The anxiety that I felt standing up in the airplane before the jump was much greater than when I jumped/fell/was pushed out the door. When I played football, the anxiety before the game in the locker room was much greater than when the game started. The first time you hit somebody all the nerves go away. I remember one time that I was at an amusement park and my friends wanted to ride the roller coaster. That was the last thing that I wanted to do but I went with them. The anxiety that I had standing in line was so great that I thought I would pass out. The worst part was the slow climb to the top of the coaster. After we started the descent it really wasn’t that bad. Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be in my mind. Now, I didn’t want to do it again but at least I could check that off the old bucket list.

anxiety-covid-19-roller-coaster-at-night — Photo by Albin Berlin on Pexels.com

How can we deal with this anxiety? How does this affect us or our journey to success? First, it’s all about control. As I said in my welcome post, I am the CEO of ME Enterprises. I control what happens to me, the thoughts that I think, and my actions. You are in total control of yourself, you control what you are thinking, the choices you make, and your actions every day. I can’t control the things that are going on outside of me. You can’t control the things that are going on outside of you, so don’t worry about them. You can’t control the news, you can’t control politicians, and you can’t control the weather. You have 100 percent control over yourself and that’s the only thing that you should be focusing on. I remember hearing someone say, “If you want to change the world, begin with changing you.” There is a great speech you can find on YouTube by Admiral William H. McRaven entitled “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” If making your bed makes you feel better, then go make it. That is a success and that will bring more success to you. It is something that you can control whether you do it or not. Something else that you can control is what you watch or listen to. If the news is making you more anxious, turn it off. Have faith that we will come out of this pandemic better than we went in.

anxiety-covid-19-cross-town-mountain — Photo by Saulo Zayas on Pexels.com

Adversity creates opportunity. The adversity of the pandemic has opened up numerous opportunities for people. People are exercising more. I see more families going on walks together, people are able and have the time to sit down together at the dinner table. For me, I began this year by saying I will get better every day. My life will be better than it was before when the world goes back to normal. The slowdown in my other business has afforded me the opportunity to research and open up this new online business and begin my blog. It has also opened up my mind to the endless possibilities that are out there for all of us. I am a Christian and believe in the power of God. I believe that I was led to create Lessons Learnt by God. God has provided me the opportunity to pass on my experiences in life through this blog. If you believe in a higher power, know that they are in control of what happens in the world and that everything is going to be better. That doesn’t mean that once the pandemic ends that everything will be perfect and bad things won’t happen again. It means that, just like this and everything that’s happened in the past, we will get through it and become better.

April 20, 2020April 3, 2022

InspireChief4 Comments