Survivor Quitter Kelly Purple

So tonight, I watched Survivor with my wife (as we usually do, DVR’d, of course), and I witnessed something that ticked me off as well as shocked me:  Two contestants, no more than 11 days from the end of the game, after being on the game for 28 days, up and quit.

They quit!

Hey, I understand being hungry, being tired, whatever.  But you’re over two-thirds of the way through the game, you are close to winning a million dollars, you know the longer you stay on the show the more you are going to get paid, and yet you are willing to walk away.

What are you thinking?!

Enough with the frustration though (and I was glad to see that moron Naonka leave…childess, ghetto, annoying…good riddance).  But Kelly Purple?  No one viewed her as a threat.  She might not make it to the final three, but she’s got several more days (epsidoes) until she is dismissed.  In other words, you passed on easy money.

Now seriously…enough with the rant, and on to the point:

I’ve never quit anything as big as Survivor.  I have stopped things, such as right now, I’m not adhering to my nutritional regiment as closely as I should…but I never quit.  I stalled, yes, but not quit.  I’ve never said “I quit, I’m not doing this any more.”

Yet, to so many, quitting is so easy.

They quit completely on their diets, and never return.

They quit on their dreams.

They quit on their relationships.

Let’s face it, quitting is all to easy.  Anymore, with divorce, you don’t have to have a reason.  Just call it “irreconcilable differences” and move on.  It’s easy.

But why quit when things are so close?  I was within a few pounds/body fat % until I hit my ultimate goal, yet I stalled.  I have not quit (in fact, I’m educating myself more and working on how to hit it even harder in a few weeks…and I’m still exercising to try to maintain result).

But I have not quit…I have not given up.  Yes, I’m not as proactive and involved.

All that said, where did you leave off on your goals?  Where were you on your dreams when things were derailed?  The great thing is, you can choose not to consider yourself a quitter and just consider what you went through a moment where you stalled out.  You can pick back up and continue.

But don’t quit.  You could be passing up money, health, fitness, passion, intimacy, or whatever it is that you are striving for.

I’m probably one of the world’s worst at focus for someone who does not have ADD or ADHD.  I have goals and ambition, but sustaining that over a period of time has always been hard for me.  But what I am learning is what I was shifting my focus to is not what will get me to where I want to go.

Sure…I had fun.  I had a LOT of fun with some of the stuff I started focusing on.  But now I look at myself 8 years into my entrepreneurial career and learn that those things distracted me from becoming what I should have become.

And it’s simple things, such as hanging out with fiends instead of getting on a conference call or returning calls; playing games instead of marketing, or even just watching television instead of making progress.

My focus has been all out of whack.  Now that I have gone through some things in my personal life, I’ve learned that if I am to ever achieve what I know I can, I have to focus.

To get in focus, though, you have to set priorities.  Which is more important:  Going to hang out with the guys or putting in that bit of extra effort to get something business related done?

Or playing a game instead of doing what needs to be done, whether it is business or family?

Again, I’m writing this from my own experience.  I’m sure as you look at your life, you’ll notice similar trends (maybe in not all things, and maybe not in business, but in other things).

From observing others, I realize how easy it is to get your priorities all out of whack and the destruction it can have in your business and your personal life.  I’ve watched friends’ priorities get messed up in the last several months and the path it is taking their lives down.

The true can be said about my business, and has been true in the past.  Not doing the “right” things and doing the “wrong” things first has always kept me from making the progress I wanted.

So one of my big goals is to simply bring my priorities in line with what I want to accomplish and to focus on them until I reach what I desire.

Just some food for thought….

Here are a couple of videos I have of the snow fall, including a very tall snowman that a neighbor built.

But now it is time to do what I need to be doing, and you should be too:  Forgetting about “resolutions” and take action.

Resolutions is such a funny word in how we use it.  We “resolve” to do something, but there is no real action taken with just a resolution.  In fact, Congress passes “resolutions” all of the time.  They typically recognize people, places, etc, but there is no real action, just a nicely worded phrase.

And all to often, that is what “New Years Resolutions” just end up being:  Nicecly worded phrases.

We say things like “I want to lose weight” but never get started…

We say things like “I want to change my financial future” but never take that first step….

We say things like “This year will be better than last year” yet we never do anything differently…

Nicely worded phrases.  How do you avoid this problem?

Instead of setting resolutions, set goals.  This is what April and I are doing:

1.  We’re writing down our big picture objectives.  We know what we want.

2.  We’re taking each of those goals or objectives and breaking them into sections.  Bite sized chunks, so to speak…

3.  We’re taking each of those sections and writing the actions we are going to take to make it happen.

Goals are important.  An interpretation from Proverbs says “Where there is no vision the people perish.”  If you don’t know what you want out of life, how do you expect to achieve anything?  Do you think you will just wonder into a good situation?

Goals do not work like that.  Luck does, but goals do not.

So here is what I suggest:  Get your goals down on paper.  Do it as a family, with your wife and your children (if they are old enough to participate).  Get a clear picture of what you want.  Write down the steps to achieve that.  And once you have all of that down, get to work!

Here’s to an EXCITING 2010.  I pray that you prosper in all of your goals.

Brent

In building my business, I have (during many times) neglected one of the most crucial elements of success.  I have neglected personal development, making myself better, how to effectively put together goals that are attainable, and how to handle what life and business throws at me.

I never worked on developing mindset with any consistency.

I never worked on making myself more effective.

And I never applied anything I did “learn.”

But now I am spending a lot more time with personal development material.  Right now I am pulling off anything that I can find on the Internet.  There are a lot of good resources around, such as YouTube for videos of lectures from the great strategist and coaches of our times, including Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins.

In particular, I’m learning what it takes to succeed….and learning about what has held me back from success.

Take a quote from  Jim Rohn I heard today on a YouTube video:

“Success is something you attract by becoming an attractive person.”

We all want success.  And heck, some of us want to be attractive (physically, of course).  But I believe that Mr. Rohn is saying that if you want success, you have to posture or position yourself for success.

Simply putting up a product/website does not do this.  Its a start, but not there.

Simply talking to 2-3 people about your home based business does not do it, but it is better than nothing.

I believe that in order for us all to become attractive people for success, we must work through consistency, continually building ourselves as well as our businesses.

This is one part of the millionaire mindset to create.  Better yourself, work consistently, and you will achieve whatever you want.

Kris is an amazing talent, both vocally and musically.  He had some rough spots in the season, in particular judges berating him, but his imaginative arrangements of songs, smooth voice, and humbleness propelled him into a showdown with Adam Lambert, a contestant that may just have the best middle-range vocals of anyone I’ve heard.

In this week, Kris took a song that has been covered twice, once by The Fray and once by Kanye West and made it “better than the original” according to Randy Jackson.

And I love the song “Apologize.”  I remember it best from the Jermain Taylor/Kelly Pavlik rematch in February of 2008 (JT, another Arkansan, lost by decision).  Tough song choice but performed well.

I’ll post some YouTubes of other Kris Allen songs over the next week.  For now, enjoy the song that most likely put him in the finale, “Heartless.”

They make a commitment, but they do not commit to that commitment.

For some reason people have adopted the mentality that it is easy to give up on something instead of realizing that the reward is so much greater if they just commit.  Its lazy, its apathetic, and it ruins people’s dreams.

Think about this:  How many times have you made a new years resolution and gave up on it within the first month?  Don’t think about the one time you did it….think about all of the times you didn’t do it.

Why did you give up?

Why did you quit?

It is always easier doing life as normal.  We are creatures of habit.  Continuing our status quo is simple and does not disturb what we are used to.

However….

If we branch out, push ourselves a bit, commit to what we said we were going to do, and do it, then what we get is much greater than what we had before.  The reward is always worth it; the end always justifies the means.  You just have to commit and take action.

No, it is not always easy squeezing in that extra workout, that extra self-development time, or that extra time to build your business.  It is not always easy working through tough times with your spouse.  It is not always easy sacrificing time with friends because you are building a business.

But if you do…

If you commit to what you made a commitment to and do it, where you’ll be is always better than where you are now.  If that does not get your fire going, then your wood is wet!  Make a decision, commit to your commitments, and just do it.  You’ll be glad you did.

I’m learning that the only person who can change you is you.

Your wife cannot.  Your boss cannot.  Your family cannot.

If you want to change, you have to make a decision to change.  And when you make the decision, you have to simply commit to doing it.  Then you have to execute:  Whatever change you’ve decided on making, you have to do it.  Thinking about changing isn’t going to make the change occur.

So when I made my decision to do more Internet marketing, I did it.

What changed do you want to make?  Whatever it is, make the decision to change and do it.

But the entire point of this journey is to prove to myself that I can be consistent and that I can grow.

On March 16, I start a new 90 day journey that will overlap with my Internet marketing journey.  This journey, as I’ve documented on here before, is my journey through transforming myself diet, exercise, and consistency.

I’ve dedicated this year to buiding a better me.  My family deserves it, my God deserves it, and honestly, I deserve it.

My goals are to transform myself.

-  Be better in business
-  Be better physically
-  Be a better husband
-  Be a better father
-  Be a better worshiper
-  Be a better person

So I continue my journey.  I just add a new path to it starting tomorrow.   Feel free to follow my status on my P90X Blog.

Tatiana Del Toro - American Idol Season 8

With American Idol rounding out the top 12, we can all happily say “goodbye” to the biggest two drama queens the show probably has ever seen (and no, I’m not talking about Paula):

Tatiana and Nathaniel.

Tatiana has talent.  She has a good voice.  But I swear, if I had to watch the season to cheer for Kris Allen and Lil Rounds and hear more of her, I think I’d go nuts!  In my opinion, she had the vocals to make it but her personality made her an easy target for elimination.

Combine that with the fact that she did the same song as many times as she did and it only makes sense why the four judges would choose her not to come back (I could tell in Simon’s post-performance remarks that he had become bored and frustrated with her, and her choosing of “Saving All My Love For You” again was the straw that broker the camels back).

So no hearing that annoying laugh, the overly emotional thank yous, etc.  Yes, she wanted it, and we all got that….but so did everyone who auditioned for the show.

Nathaniel Marshall - American Idol Season 8

And who will ever forget Nathaniel, the “drama queen” in Hollywood week even moreso than the “Bikini Girl”, Tatiana, and every other female combined.

Flamboyant.

Over the top flamboyant.

The real world version of “Noman Gentle” (Nick Mitchel’s alter ego on this season of American Idol)…except I don’t believe Nathaniel was acting…he was just being Nathaniel.

Fortunately, he never had to worry about showing his same emotions during Hollywood week but probably sealed his fate from making the top twelve with a horrific song choice and even less-than-impressive singing of the song.

And with the final selections done, I believe we have an entertaining final 12 that will not thrive on emotional drama but rather pure suspense and anticipation.