SON: ‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’

DAD: ‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.

SON: ‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’

DAD: ‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.

SON: ‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’

DAD: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’

SON: ‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: ‘Daddy, may I please borrow $25?’

The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard every day for such childish frivolities.’

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

‘Are you asleep, son?’ He asked.

‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the boy.

‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’ he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled.

‘Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ the little boy replied.

‘Daddy, I have $50 now… Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.’

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.
It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that $50, $100 or thousands of dollars worth of your time with someone you love.

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” - Thomas Jefferson

“It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes.” - Thomas Jefferson

“A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.” - Thomas Jefferson

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” - Thomas Jefferson

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” - Thomas Jefferson

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” - Thomas Jefferson

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” - Thomas Jefferson

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” - Thomas Jefferson

“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” - Thomas Jefferson

Very Interesting Quote

In light of the present financial crisis, it’s interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’ - Thomas Jefferson

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you shall win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today will be often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give you best anyway.

It is between you and Your GOD.
It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Theresa

To survive the ups and downs of life you have to become a Roman. Some of the most talented people I know typically self-destruct every couple years. When things are not brand new or fun anymore many people seem to derail themselves. In some cases, like clockwork. Perhaps the closer some get to achieving goals, the less glamorous reality seems. Something happens! Some type of major setback. A setback that they never fully recover from. Then they are off doing something new.

Does this sound familiar? Do you see this pattern in business or your personal life? Are you having a hard time transitioning from a barbarian to a Roman?

Why do we self sabotage ourselves? Is it fear of failure or success?

I’d like to understand this human dynamic better.

Please let me know why you think so many people never make that transition from barbarian to Roman mentality.

I’ll leave you with quote from a great Roman that may help explain it.

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” - Marcus Aurelius

Make these words of wisdom a theme for 2009.

Happy New Year!

Outlined by the Roman Statesman Cicero

(1) The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others.
(2) The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
(3) Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
(4) Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
(5) Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.
(6) Neglecting the development of mind and soul. Not developing the habit of reading and study.

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition.

People saying “well it’s not that easy,” “it’s easier said then done.”

And that is true, managing a crisis and everyday stress is not easy, and that is precisely why it so important to learn techniques that can help.

So here is another very important thing you can do…

BUILD A STRONG SUPPORT NETWORK!

If you don’t realize the power of a strong support network then WAKE UP! Talk about critical…

Anything can happen in life; divorce, bankruptcy, death, getting fired, etc. Now the reality is that events like these can subtract healthy years from your life, IF YOU LET THEM. So having a strong social network to support you during difficult times can help you in a major way. I would even dare to say a tight group of friends and family can increase the quality and the years of your life exponentially.

If you look around the world at the cultures with the longest life expectancy you will find that they all put relationships first. So maintaining old ones and developing new relationships will make a substantial impact on the quality of your life.

Start scheduling time with everyone that is important to you and don’t be afraid to get out there and make new friends. Start with me if you’d like. I’m always good for a laugh and sound advice…

We are ALL always dealing with problems or a crisis. So guess what? You are either in a crisis or going into one. It called LIFE! So new problems and crisis’s should not be a surprise to you. I’m not trying to be negative here, but realistic. So now that we have established that we all have problems and the occasional crisis; what can we do about it? In my opinion the only thing to do is…

BECOME AN OPTIMIST! And why not be an optimist? It much better than the alternative.

So the next question is if you are not already, how do you become and optimist?

1. ALWAYS be thinking and talking about what you want, NOT what you don’t want.
2. ASK HOW! Continuously be asking yourself HOW you can attain your goals.
3. Look for the good in every situation and person.
4. Learn the valuable lessons from every crisis. Drill deep by asking over and over “what is the lesson?”
5. Feed your mind with positive information. That means skipping the news to read something inspiring.

You reap what you sow, so commit to being an optimist!

This client is paying mega bucks for this high-end marketing consultant. The marketer went on and on about tons of “tools.” He was telling my friend he can do seo, ppc, social media, etc. Which is all fine and well. However, he never addressed the “real issue” that he was having. It is actually the issue that most people have.

POSITIONING!

Positioning is critical. The tools out there are worthless if you don’t know what you are marketing or how to position yourself. The YELLING, squeeze pages, and “extreme marketing” has lost it’s potency.

Why?

Well people are not stupid. So don’t insult their intelligence.

Make sure you are positioned properly and DELIVERING REAL VALUE! If you do that people will respect and want to be associated with you.

The things that worked yesterday do not work today, and the things that work today will not work tomorrow. The constant is how you position yourself and your business.

I don’t agree with the “extreme marketing” school that says hammer the heck out of people till they buy or run away. Why do that? This is not anti-marketing, Simply a new paradigm.

Think long and hard on how you want to position yourself and your business. Stay true to the position. Then deliver as much value to people as possible and create an audience.

Once you have an audience things will move quickly… Ask Oprah!

“What is the first name of the woman who cleans the business school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. Absolutely, said the professor. “In your careers you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello”. I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

So to this day I always take the opportunity to greet and try to meet EVERYONE I come in contact with. Not just people that can “do something for me.” It truly is a tragedy to go through life with that attitude. Unfortunately, so many people do.

On my soapbox now, it drives me insane when people ignore or avoid eye contact with the people around them. Living in the NY Metro Area we get a lot of that.

What does it mean? Great question… I’ll have to ask Dr. Phil.

What I do know is that it feel good when I give people a warm smile and will continue to do…