Ruben Gonzalez, Three Time Olympian
The whole secret to a successful life is to find out what
it is your destiny to do, and then do it. - Henry Ford
But how do you find out what your destiny or purpose in
life is? Read on...
I’m going to share a sad fact with you. When I speak at an
Elementary School and ask my audience, Do you have
dreams? almost every hand goes up. When I ask the same
question at a Middle School, only half of the hand’s go up.
When I ask High School and College students if they have
dreams, only a few hands go up. And when I speak to adult
audiences, I’m surprised if anybody raises their hand.
Benjamin Franklin said, Most men die at age 25 but are not
buried until they are 70. What he meant was, most people
give up on their dreams before they are 30 years old, and
spend the rest of their lives in “survival mode”, living
day to day, just trying to get through the day rather than
living a life filled with passion, in the pursuit of their
dreams.
Life is tough. There’s no doubt about it. And unless you
are crystal-clear about where you want to go, crystal-clear
about your life purpose, mission, calling, or destiny, and
unless you believe it is possible for you to make your
dream a reality, you will not act on it and you will revert
to “survival mode”. Believe me, “survival mode” is not a
good place to be.
I know. I’ve been there. Ever since the third grade, I
dreamed of being an Olympic athlete. But I didn’t believe
in myself so I never committed to acting on my dream.
Eventually I put my Olympic dream up on the shelf. For
years, I felt lost. I felt like a nobody. I felt I was not
making a difference. I did not like myself. Many years
later, while in College, something happened that inspired
me to go for it. When I saw tiny Scott Hamilton win the
Gold Medal at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, I said to myself,
“If that little guy can do it, I can do it too! I WILL be
in the next Olympics!” And I made a commitment to do
whatever it took to make my dream a reality. All of a
sudden, my life had purpose, meaning, and passion! Four
years later I was marching in the Opening Ceremonies of the
1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.
I believe God puts a dream in our heart, he gives us all
the gifts, talents, and resources we need to make our
dreams a reality. But it’s up to us to believe in ourselves
and it is up to us to do the work. Many times, you will not
discover your true gifts until you put yourself through the
struggle of chasing your dream. The person you become
through the struggle is your gift back to God.
You were created to make your dream come true. It is your
life purpose. It is you calling. Your mission. Your dream
will draw on your talents, it will appeal to your highest
ideals, and will give you unlimited energy. Having a vision
of where you want to be satisfies several universal drives
within each of us. Having a dream connects with the spirit
that dwells in our heart; it gives us an outlet for our
unique gifts and talents, and makes us feel that our lives
matter. It makes us feel that we are making a difference.
A dream does several things. It gives you a future focus.
Instead of being worried about the frustrations of the
present, a dream gets you thinking about the possibilities
of the future. A dream gives you energy. Have you ever been
so engrossed in a book or in a project that hours seemed
like minutes? That’s what it feels like when you are
passionately chasing your dream. Finally, a dream keeps you
from wasting your life. Dreams keep you from wasting your
talents, your abilities, and your creativity. They keep you
from living a life filled with regret. That terrible “What
might have been?” feeling.
You will experience success in life to the extent that you
are clear about and commit to achieving your life purpose
How do you find your purpose? It all comes down to spending
some quality time getting to know yourself through some
very specific questions. I would suggest going out by
yourself for a couple of days to a quiet place, maybe a
cabin in the woods, out by a lake, a place where you will
not be interrupted and really thinking about it. It might
be a good idea to take a notebook to write your thoughts.
Before I give you the questions, I’d like you to think
about some people you deeply admire. What is it about them
that you admire? Specifically what qualities do you admire
in them? I’d be willing to bet that anyone you admire, is
someone who is dedicating thir life to their unique calling.
If you are having trouble thinking of people, just think
about people like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Mother
Theresa, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Norman
Schwarzkopf, and the NASA Astronauts.
What do they have in common? They love what they do. They
would do it for free. They are good at what they do. Doing
what they do is extremely important to them. They have a
sense of destiny, a sense that they are doing what they
were born to do.
Well you know what? The experiences you have had up to this
point in your life have prepared you for your life purpose.
You have unique talents, abilities, interests, and values
that only you can bring to greatness. There is a destiny
that only you can fulfill. But first you need to find out
what you would love to do. What you would be willing to do
for free. What you are good at doing. What is extremely
important to you. What you were born to do.
So here are the questions. Don’t just glance at them.
Invest some time in them. Remember, what you learn from
them could change your life – and the world! You might want
to write each of these questions on a separate index card
and spend at least 15 minutes on each one. Fifteen minutes
writing your unique answer in your life mission notebook.
Note: Some of these questions are very similar. They are
just worded differently. This is done intentionally. I want
to stimulate different parts of your brain in order to get
closer to your true answer.
What are my greatest talents?
What do others say I am good at? (You want to weigh this
heavily because many times our gifts come so naturally to
us, that we underestimate them. Your true gifts will be
more apparent to others.)
What have my unique life experiences prepared me to do?
What do I love to do so much that I would do it for free?
Why? (The why is very important. It will give you clues to
your driving force.)
What activities give me satisfaction? Why?
What excites me about life? Why?
What is my secret ambition? Why?
What are my hobbies?
What is my greatest character strength?
What is my greatest passion?
What would I be willing to die for? Why?
What will I feel like when I make it happen?
What will the regret feel like if I don’t make it happen?
What am I good at?
What do I get complimented on?
Where have I excelled in the past?
Where have I been successful?
What is important to me?
What do you naturally do well?
What things do you view as your greatest successes? Why?
Is there a cause about which you feel passionate?
What is it about that cause that attracts you to it?
What are the most important lessons you have learned
through your experiences about life?
What do you daydream about doing? Why?
What things do you want to be remembered for at the end of
your life? Why?
What things will your life be incomplete without? Why?
If you had a year left to live, what would you do
differently? Why?
What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Why?
What would you do with your time if you were wealthy? Why?
What do you stand for?
What were you born to do?
What is your unique mission in life?
What does God want you to do?
What are your unique opportunities?
Where can you make a difference?
How do you want to be remembered? Why?
What will outlast you?
What will continue after you are gone?
What legacy do you want to leave behind? Why?
You might want to go through this exercise on an ongoing
basis (maybe a couple of questions every day) until you
become crystal-clear about your purpose in life.
Remember, you can’t make your dream come true if you don’t
even know what it is. If you can’t see it, you can’t get it.
Once you see it, dedicate your life to making it a reality.
Give yourself to your vision. You are worthy of it. It’s
why you’re here. It’s how you will make a difference in the
world. It’s how you’ll be remembered. It’s your legacy.
********************************
Ruben Gonzalez, a Three-Time Olympian and Peak Performance
expert, speaks in Conferences, Conventions, Corporations,
Churches, and Schools on what it takes to Succeed in life..
http://www.thelugeman.com
Subscribers' Corner
The Old Secret of Turning Buyers into Customers
by Valerian Dinca
If you want to increase your sales revenue from your site,
you must start by increasing your number of visitors. There
is no secret here, every businessman knows that. The big
problem comes when you want to turn visitors into buyers.
This is the real performance, this is the way you make
money.
If you are looking around for a hint, I am ready to bet
that you often will receive something like : 'begin to
apply new sales techniques in your presentations' or
something like 'your site need a facelift according to new
web technologies'. And they are right because you need to
go hand in hand with development.
But the biggest hint is the answer to the following
question : What is the reason for your visitors decide to
buy your product ?
From my point of view the truth is only one : they trust
in you and in your product. Gaining the trust of your
visitors is the big secret to turn them into customers.
It is hard enough to gain the visitors trust when they can
physically walk into your establishment or pick up the
phone and talk to you directly. The difficulty starts when
all you have is an electronic storefront and business is
done over the Internet. As a result of this lack of direct
touch your product qualities are not carried out correctly,
people can become frustrated, confused and they step back.
Then let's forget the newest sales techniques and web
technologies. The big secret of turning your visitors into
buyers is as old as the world itself : Communication
Your Site Must Communicate With Your Visitors. You can
increase the odds that others will understand you by
following these simple steps:
1. Take responsibility for the communication.
First of all
this is a problem of approach and attitude. When you take
the decision to choose communication as the mean website
technique, you assume the responsibility to achieve your
goals using this way.
2. Be concise and flexible.
You have only a few seconds to
attract visitor's attention. Once he is your prisoner, you
must be able to explain very clear why your product is the
best. Use pictures to be sure they understand you.
3. Set up non-verbal feedback.
Use an interactive technique,
like FAQ, and choose the right questions and answers that
eliminate confusion and better describe your product.
4. Don't make people wrong.
The biggest mistake is to think
that people's communication style is different from yours.
If you do, you will not only have to deal with
communication problems but also conflict and negative
feelings.
Do these above steps, one at a time, until you achieve a
level of comfort, then add additional steps. Each small
change will lead you to your ultimate goal. Continue
communicating until you see signs that your message has
gotten through.
****************************
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