January 31, 2016 - PEACE

“If you don't have peace, it isn't because someone took it from you; you gave it away. You cannot always control what happens to you, but you can control what happens in you.” - John C. Maxwell

Good morning all,

I love this quote from John Maxwell. I got into network  marketing and discovered the path to personal development. I think I also realized – subconsciously – that I would not be successful until I became the man I wanted to be. Some people might think that sounds very weird but it is absolutely true. If you want to be a millionaire, act like a millionaire. Not spend like one – act like one.

I was driving to Ottawa once when I was listening to an interview Darren Hardy was conducting with John Maxwell. John said, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.” Once I heard that and discovered John Maxwell my life started to change a little more dramatically.

I was a very angry person. It wasn’t until I started this journey that I realized that everything was my doing. It wasn’t anyone else in my life that was MAKING me angry, I was allowing them the control to allow myself to become angry.

So what happens now? Honestly, if I am over tired or if I have had a couple of pints of beer, the control over my self direction wanes. I tend to react poorly in those times. I have to go through a very conscious effort not to CONTROL myself but to reason with myself. There is no reason to get angry.

Its funny this all came about this morning. Yesterday, my business partner – Todd – and I were working on a townhouse we are renovating. Todd kept dropping screws as we were trying to hang a door. He and I were chatting about how he can handle the big things but the screws dropping were driving him nuts. I understood.

What I have learned is I cannot control the things that happen to me. I can’t control gravity. I can’t control other people. I can’t control the weather. But what I do have 100% control over is myself. I can control my mind, how I HEAR and FEEL what is happening to me. I can control HOW I react to those things. Each and every day I try to do that. It works.

I guess what my real message is this morning has to do with a very positive word and one of my favourite words. PEACE. I am becoming, more and more each day at peace with myself. I am accepting myself with the understanding that I am working each day to IMPROVE myself. A leader in the company I am an IBO in – ACN – Larry Raskin says something along the lines that we are not human beings, we are human BECOMINGS!

So each day I am working very hard to BECOME a better man. I was doing great for a while. I didn’t go backward but I coasted. And when you coast you lose momentum, you lose speed, you lose motivation.  I started back up about a week ago. I already feel like a million bucks!

One last thought along these lines before I finish up. Try to treat each and every person you come in contact with as if they are the most important person in the universe. Why should you do that? Well, to them, as Earl Nightingale says, they ARE the most important person in the universe. When you make other people feel good the Universe conspires in your favour and all of a “sudden”, you will feel the same way you are trying to make others feel.

Happy trails!