We read this story and we so moved that we wanted to share it and encourage all of you to pass it on. We are PROUD AND UNASHAMED to support our Military!

————–

As a Company, Southwest Airlines is going to support ‘Red Fridays.’ Last week I was in Atlanta , Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed One of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and Cheered for, it hit me. I’m not alone. I’m not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families.

Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal. Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our Service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old ran up to one of the male soldiers. He knelled down and said ‘hi…’

The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her…

The young soldier, who didn’t look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her daddy. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek.

The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter’s name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up. When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second… Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it..

After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, ‘I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.’ He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying ‘your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.’

The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event.

As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek.

We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it’s good to be an American.

RED FRIDAYS —– Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the ’silent majority’. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.

Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday – and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red. By word of mouth, press, TV — let’s make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.

If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED. The first thing a soldier says when asked ‘What can we do to make things better for you?’ is…..We need your support and your prayers. Let’s get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example.

All gave some, Some gave all…..Support our Troops! Wear Red On Friday!

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Popularity: 7% [?]

(Be patient, it starts at about 14 seconds,..it’s WORTH the wait!)

Popularity: 5% [?]

“The biggest tragedy in America is not the great waste of natural resources – though this is tragic; the biggest tragedy is the waste of human resources because the average person goes to his grave with his music still in him.” -
Oliver Wendell Holmes

There’s nothing like hitting the open road. Trading in stop signs, traffic lights and pedestrians for sunshine, deep blue skies, and an endless stretch of highway. Cruising with the windows down, the wind blowing through your hair and the radio turned up to a song that seems to resonates with every fiber of your being. For that moment, you feel like a bird soaring freely through space and time. But the exhilaration turns unexpectedly into an inconvenient reality check as you sing along with U2 and the words echoing the sentiment of your soul are “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”.

If you were in your teens, or twenty-something, you’d just blow it off. After all, you’d have all the time in the world to find what you’re looking for. But that’s not your scenario. You’re 40,50 maybe 60 years or more down the road of life. To be sitting there feeling like you might have missed something significant along the way, something important to making this whole life experience come together, is disturbing.
So you mentally retrace your steps over the years.
You followed the 20th century blueprint for a successful life. One-by-one, over the years, you’ve acquired almost everything on the things to-do checklist that came with it. At this point, the only thing noticeably missing is the feeling you thought you’d have once you did that. A feeling of being complete, being fulfilled.
So why aren’t we fulfilled and complete?
How is it possible that at this stage of our lives we’re still looking for the answers to the most fundamental questions of life? Who am I? Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life? How can I make my life count for something?

We usually assume issues like “purpose” and “meaning” are matters of one’s individual journey in life, so we’ve never bothered to explore the possibility that our inability to make peace with ourselves might not be as much an ‘individual’ dilemma as it is a ‘collective’ one.

We could just chalk it up to personal decisions, a lack of concise goals, or any one of a hundred other reasons that affect the course of each of our unique lives. But…when the better part of an entire generation are all asking the same question, it’s safe to say there’s more to the story than just personal choice.

And just like there’s more to the story than personal decisions, there’s more behind the need to discover the answer then simply for our benefit. While we focus on identifying the answer and how it’s affected our generation, how we overcome it, make peace with it, and come back stronger than ever in the 21st century. Pinpointing the answer is purposeful on a much larger scale.

Our children and grandchildren are growing up in a brand new technologically advanced world that by all appearances looks to be as different as day and night from the one we grew up in. They have unbelievable gadgets and unlimited access to things we could never have imagined at their age. So how is it…that underneath the strikingly different shiny new 21st century surface…at the root of things that make up the foundation of who they are, we find the same old same old 20th century unproductive and uncreative educational system and antiquated assumptions about life that we were raised with?

In the next post we are going to reveal the answer to how we ended up at this point in life,…with the majority of our generation saying “we still haven’t found what we’re looking for”.

To Your Growth, Fulfillment, and Success,

Popularity: 14% [?]

At the top of the list, above the kids, the household, relationships, and every day duties and responsibilities…when it comes to the toughest thing in life to get a handle on, it has to be TIME.. It seems no matter how many New Year’s come around, or how many well intended resolutions accompany them,…time just seems to get away! Then, I read this story. I’m going to go out and buying some marbles! If you don’t understand that (and why would you at this point?) you will.
Read on….

” I’m a Ham radio operator and spend some time working with radios and electronics. So when I heard this story it really made me think! I hope that you will find some application in your own life as well…

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know, the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles”.

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say. “Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.”

He continued, “Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of “a thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.”

“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part.”

“It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail,” he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.”

“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.”

“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.”

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.”

“It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again.”

You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss.

“C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”

“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.

“Oh, nothing special, it’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.” – By Jeffrey Davis

Will you be buying some marbles?

To Your Growth and Profit,

Popularity: 8% [?]

I was reading a magazine and came across an article that asked the question: “Do you think you’re an Entrepreneur?” Take the test! What do you think? Are YOU an Entrepreneur?

Rate yourself in each of these characteristics on a scale from 1 to 5:
1 = not at all
2 = somewhat
3 = reasonably
4 = pretty much
5 = totally

By Joan Marques
Published December 20, 2010
WomenEntrepreneur.com

Excellence: You only compare to benchmark: You look, learn and engage in self-evaluation. You make your own SWOT analysis in order to determine your personal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You determine your next steps from there.
Nimbleness: You keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Wherever you go, you try to find sources of inspiration. You are inquisitive, and you love to see new things and meet different people because you can learn from them.
Tenacity: You are a go-getter. Your days are often long, and others might consider you a workaholic. Your passion is renowned among your friends, and rejection only fuels your determination to succeed.
Resourcefulness: You are the creative kind. You try to find a way to make the best of every situation, and you turn crises into valuable learning experiences. You nurture your creativity because you are aware that this is the best way to stay sharp.
Endurance: You realize that success doesn’t come overnight and that greatness is a product of long and repeated practice. You have learned that today’s rejection often leads to tomorrow’s victory, so you don’t let it distract you from your goal.
Planning: Whenever you face a task, you start developing a strategy to accomplish it as effectively and efficiently as possible. Depending on the complexity of the task, you will have your plan on paper or in your head, but it’s always there.
Resilience: You know that plans don’t always work out as intended, so you develop backup strategies (plans B and C) to ensure continuation of your progress. “Quitting” is not a word in your vocabulary.
Effort: You are a hard worker. The days you don’t have anything to do are few and far apart. You love being productive and are passionate about your work. You are an overachiever.
Nobleness: The projects you engage in contribute to the well-being of others. If they don’t, you make sure that at least they don’t harm anyone. You want your work to pay off, but you also appreciate a clean conscience.
Enticement: Selling your point is crucial, so you have learned to convince others that your goals are worthwhile. You take pride in what you do, but you are open to constructive criticism.
Uniqueness: Whether it is the nature of your product or service, the quality of your work, the way you carry yourself, the way you approach others or anything else, something about you sets you apart, and that something is very obvious to those who encounter you.
Reliability: This is a transparent world. Everything you do can be quickly communicated on a global scale. Aware of that, you keep your reputation solid. You meet deadlines, deliver quality work and remain reasonable in your dealings.

Okay,…so check out how you scored!

50 to 60: You have a strong entrepreneurial spirit. You are well aware of your qualities; you don’t like to be micromanaged, and you find inspiration in many things to keep going and growing.
40 to 49: You are well on your way. You need more encouragement and might consider looking for a mentor who has strong entrepreneurial skills to help you develop your entrepreneurial mind-set further.
30 to 39: You are rather laid-back and easily satisfied with your circumstances. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t get upset when others pass you by on the career ladder.
20 to 29: You have a tendency to think negatively about others who progress faster and do better than you. You blame things on others, and you feel the world owes you more than it has given so far.
Below 20: You will seriously have to try stepping out of the sleepwalker mode. You see the world as an unfair place and have stopped trying. The fact that others’ efforts lead them to progress beyond you makes you negative.

Have a great day!

Popularity: 9% [?]

The majority of us have spent our lives evolving into the person we least want to be. We live lives that don’t even remotely reflect the potential, the passion, the hope or the dreams we once had for ourselves. And we accept it as the normal course of life. As ‘maturity’. After all, a part of growing up is voluntarily trading the free-flowing, unrealistic world our youth imagines, for the more realistic and sensible adult version that’s weighed down with responsibilities, obligations, and routines. Purging yourself of the harebrained notion life should be spent in passionate pursuit of your dreams….earns you the title of “Adult”.

Separating our dreams from our livelihood was one of the trademarks of the 20th century. When we came to that pivotal moment of contemplating a career path, guidance counselors weren’t encouraging us to evaluate our futures based on the deeper fundamental questions of life – Who am I? Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life? How can I make my life count? We were advised to be ‘practical’, to look for a job, career, or profession that would offer us security, a decent wage or salary, promotional opportunities and long-term employment with a retirement package. We lived in an era where what we did in life was more important than who we were….because who we were, was defined by what we did. And passion? Passion was reserved for hobbies, things you could dabble in during your spare time after the work of being a responsible adult was taken care of.

As baby boomers who were raised and built their lives around the norms, boundaries and rules of the 20th century, the thing that excites us the most about this new era is that 21st century success will require each and everyone of us to identify the answers to the fundamental questions of our lives….in order to succeed.

In the 21st century – the tables have been turned. Who we are is critical to what we do…because what we do will be defined by who we are.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Remember when:
A “Blackberry” was something you ate?
A “cougar” was just an animal?
“Green” was just a color?
Your car couldn’t talk to you?
“Going to see a movie” meant actually leaving the house?
“R u still rding this?” was an indication of illiteracy.
The bulkiest thing in the living-room was the T.V.?

Well those are just a few of the changes that have popped up over the last 10 years. Then of course we have the economic changes, the crash of the housing market, and skyrocketing unemployment….things that don’t bring a smile to our face.

Click on “Leave your comment” at the top right and answer this question: “The toughest challenge(s) I face in this new 21st century environment are ______________ “ (creating an income for yourself? Adapting to technology? Keeping up with all the changes? etc.)

Popularity: 6% [?]

Over the course of my life I’ve had a couple extraordinary successes and countless colossal failures and I learned something very interesting that can be summed up in this quote:

“It’s easier to succeed by vigorously pursuing failure,
than it is to cautiously pursue success”~Kath

The majority of people are so intimidated by ‘failure’ in life that without even realizing it, while they talk about pursuing success, they are really more consumed with not failing. The objective becomes finding a fail-safe blueprint, a step-by-step process, a cookie-cutter method, or a tried and proven program that promises to eliminate risk from the equation of success, guaranteeing them a spot in the winners circle. Success really becomes nothing more than a consolation prize for the greater goal of not failing.

Thomas Edison’s journey to invent the light bulb, the story of the 10,000 experiments he performed that ‘didn’t work’ before performing the one that did, is infamous. But sadly, it’s told as more of a glib object lesson to remind us why we should never give up, than for the more valuable lesson it holds of ‘why failure itself is a critical component in creating a successful outcome’.

No one reveals the answer to why that is important, better than Thomas Edison himself. He never labeled even one of the experiments he did, as a failure. According to his notes, he couldn’t conceive of any attempt that didn’t work…as a flop. Each and every experiment was intricately pertinent to the process as the findings channeled his thinking into a more fruitful and productive direction. They not only taught him what didn’t work, they taught him the much more valuable lesson of what did. Every experiment was systematically eliminating failure from the process.

AS we move into the 21st century, those searching for pat-answers, guarantees and promises of not failing are going to be at a huge disadvantage. “WE” are the creators of this new future, individually and collectively. We’re beginning the journey of 10,000 experiments. We will discover what doesn’t work, but more importantly, we will discover what does….and build on it.

Like a butterfly, you must work your way out of a 20th century cocoon. Don’t try to avoid the struggle and intense effort it takes to break free. Don’t let the fear of the unknown stop your progress…..or you’ll never fly.

Popularity: 7% [?]

The global paradigm shift that ushered in this new technologically advanced era displaced millions of people creating a new culture of  ‘paradigm refugees’. A mass of people forced out of their jobs, many out of their homes and all out of the lives they were accustomed to living. Now their scrambling to survive and struggling to adapt to an environment not only completely unfamiliar to them, but one that’s in a state of continual change making the task of figuring out how to navigate through it even more difficult.

However – sometimes “DISRUPTION” in life is not only necessary but purposeful for exacting changes that can’t take place without it.

As we moved closer towards the end of the 20th century it became more and more apparent we had outgrown the confines of the rules, boundaries and norms created to support and maintain a century old Industrial Age culture that no longer existed. Although most people tend to think this Global Paradigm Shift descended upon us out of nowhere, we’ve been moving steadily towards it for the last 25 years. The groundwork for this technologically advanced era was being laid right before our very eyes, anyone could have seen it if they cared to notice. Most of us were to wrapped up in our own lives to pay attention and remained blissfully ignorant to what, if anything, all the subtle changes going on around us meant.

But hindsight is always 20/20. More important now is -  “Where do we go from here?” I can’t help but think of the ‘Best Buy’ commercials that were running during the holiday season! (loved them!!) Santa announces that people are going to need help with their new gifts so he brings in a new elf, Kenneth, to help devise a plan to meet the demand. Kenneth starts giving his speech on how they aren’t going to just drop the hottest new tech toy down the chimney and prance away…they’re going to offer exceptional customer support….on the phone! Online! On Christmas Day!  Then he asks – “Who’s with me!?” Suddenly there’s dead silence and a deer in the headlights look on all the faces of the other elves in the room. (Click here if you want to see the commercial for yourself) That’s the reaction you get nowadays when you talk to people and ask them “Where do we go from here?” The reason for that reaction isn’t because their ignorant boobs, it’s because the answers haven’t been created yet.

At this moment, we find ourselves not only at the beginning of a New Year but at the beginning of a new era. We’d like to make a couple suggestions as you head into 2011. –

1) Let Go – In order to take full advantage of all the possibilities that await you in this new year and new era, let go of what you think you know – of the way things used to be and ….of the rules, norms, and boundaries that were designed for and worked in an Industrial Age era, but will not work in this new Technologically advanced era. (Remember, the majority of the information, techniques, programs, and opportunities out there on the Internet evolved from 20th century thinking! Be cautious! Plug into forward thinking 21st century information)

2) Be Open to ‘different’ -  Understand upfront that the answers for surviving and thriving in the 21st century are going to be new, innovative, and unfamiliar. They are going to require a new perspective, a new approach and will need to be met with a new attitude of openness.

3) Embrace Change - The Achilles heels of humanity is “change”. Mankind is nothing if not predictable when it comes to the lengths we’ll go to avoid, duck, weasel-out-of, bypass, or circumvent the process of “change”. But the changes taking place now around you are not going to disappear because you stomp your feet, cross your arms and refuse to budge. That’s like standing in the street defying a car coming at you at 65 mph….you don’t have to wonder who will win.

As we move forward in 2011 we will be sharing a lot  of exciting new information with you, the kind of forward thinking 21st century information that will assist you in not only adjusting to this brave new world…but conquering it!

Popularity: 16% [?]

Hey everybody! Hope you had a nice 3 day week end,…for those that actually still get them!

Good News for those of you waiting for the book. We talked to the publisher last week, and I am on a deadline,..which guarantees no one will have to wait too much longer. *smile*

One thing we know for sure, if you want to jump start your success for the 21st century, you need to begin by knowing WHAT YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT in life. That’s the first step in your pursuit to make your dreams a reality.

Never before in the history of the world – have we been at a place where it’s so easy to create a life literally by following your heart. When you can seamlessly merge your mission in life, with your purpose on earth. (BIG HINT as to what the book focuses on!)

So here is something to get you on the right track to knowing more about YOU. What strengths you possess that will serve you well. I took this Personality Strengths Profile evaluation put out by Tony Robbins, and I HIGHLY recommend everyone takes it and absorbs the results.

The information you glean from it, will come in handy when you read the book. Go HERE

And just for the record, if you go to the Profile you do have to fill in your first & last name, your email address and your phone number. Personally, I don’t like putting my phone number on those things because I am very stingy with my time and dont want to get calls from people trying to sell me something. So I TRIED to put 000-000-0000 in the phone section part. It came up as an “error” and wouldn’t let me continue. So I ended up putting in a number. So remember that if you are tempted to do the same thing I did, not fill in the phone. If you need a number, let me know, I will give you Davids! *lol*

To Your Growth and Profit!

Popularity: 11% [?]