“You’ve got to give to get. And if you don’t plan on givin’, then you better not plan on gettin’.”
~Joe Clark~

Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday weekend! Now it’s time to get back to work in what will be the first full week of the 2nd half of the year.

Dreams don’t just come true. They are made true by the people who have them. They are made to come true when we are willing to forgo the things that matter least in life to ensure we have time and energy for the things that matter most. In other words we need to both give of ourselves as well as give things up if we are to expect to make the rest of this year and our lives at large what we most want them to be! Definite Plans followed by Right action and being surrounded by the Right Support System are part of what will make this happen for us!

So what now? Well the very next thing you do can be the difference between the momentum that leads to failure or the momentum that leads to achievement! Which would you rather it be? Achievement of course. So make sure it’s an achievement activity and not a failure one that you choose to do next. Give up the things that don’t serve you and you open up time and space in your life. Give achievement energy and activity and reap actual achievement as the reward.

Let’s make it an amazing week! What will you give of yourself to ensure it is so?

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“It’s not a question of can you succeed; a better question is will you succeed?”
~George Johnson~

Here we are ladies and gents! The 2nd Half of 2011! No matter what happened in the first half you now have the opportunity to more intelligently begin again! Ready, Set, Go!!!

There is no question in my mind that each and everyone of us can go on to live lives of massive success. We have all the tools, all the resources for a magical journey towards all we’d like to be, have an do. Just the process of working towards making your greatest desires your reality is success. So we know we can succeed. But will you? Will you take today, this weekend, this month, this year and beyond to let your biggest challenges create your greatest opportunities? Will you let whatever disappointment you have about what hasn’t got accomplished drive you to higher and higher levels of success? Will you let negative people hold you back and negate your passion for living your best life or will you find more like minded individuals to join you on your success journey? Will you keep on doing the same things and expecting a different result or are you ready to truly start to realize your inborn potential for success? In the famous words of one of our favorite old school rap songs “You can get with this or you can get with that.” I think we’d all agree there is only one right choice here and as they said “The Choice is Yours!”

We all started the year with goals and plans. I know for me I have done great in some areas and pretty bad in others. This doesn’t matter now. It’s time to revisit our goals and to make a habit of revisiting them often. Everyday is ideal. The more you look at, think about, plan them out, and take action on the goals the faster they will become stepping stones for bigger, bolder and more audacious ones. The more you work on what you want the more clear you will become about want you want and Clarity truly is Power! Use it and it will guide you to the type of life most only dream of! It will allow you to be an example for those people who you love of just what is possible when we are determined to succeed. Your journey will not only uplift you but it will uplift everyone! What an amazing life to live!

Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Weekend All!!!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“If you can’t excel with talent, triumph with effort.”
~Dave Weinbaum~

There is more than one way to skin a cat and there is more than one way to excel at any undertaking. There are countless examples in business, sports and life in general of ordinary people who weren’t born with the advantage of being very talented in a particular skill yet they do very well in there chosen discipline through perseverance and effort. There are also countless examples of the opposite where individuals are gifted with unbelievable talent yet they never fully realize it because they act as if they are allergic to hard work. What a waste! Don’t let this be you!

Today is the last day of the first half of 2011 and in addition to knowing what we want to do with the rest of our year its also important that we know how we will do it! Whether you are filled with talent or not it is going to take energy, elbow grease, exercise and effort if our endeavors are going to turn out the way we want them too. No one ever said it would be easy and if they did they were mistaken.

See you in the 2nd half! I know we’re all ready!!!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are seeds without soil.”
~Unknown~

One of the foremost focuses of Arise Ventures is to be a positive motivating force when it comes to goal attainment for its members and our community at large. I don’t know if there is a more simple yet profound foundation for reaching our goals than simply writing them down. Many people have in their minds fantastic ideas along with a desire to do big things. If you leave the most high quality flower seeds in a bag the world will never see them at their full potential. And if the only place those fantastic ideas reside is in the space between your ears they too will never reach their potential.

Writing down your goals in a clear and concise manner starts the process of taking the energy of an idea and bringing it into concrete form. It starts the blueprint which is always the foundation for anything that must get built. A great process to follow in writing your goals down is making them S.M.A.R.T. What does this mean?

Specific
Measurable
Action Oriented
Realistic
Time Bound

I will dive deeper into each of these in a future post. In the meantime try taking just one of the things you want more then anything else in the world and writing it down following this process. You will find the energy and excitement around your goal multiplied just by taking these steps. If you work to make this way of thinking and working with your goals a habit you will find yourself moving further and faster than you ever have before. The things you want most will be yours!!!!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“Our dreams must be stronger than our memories. We must be pulled by our dreams, rather than pushed by our memories.”
~Jesse Jackson~

The simple choice is to focus on what you want to create or focus on what has always been. Whichever you focus on will become your experience. If your thoughts continue to be trapped in the past they will act as a heavy weight holding your life in place. Constantly thinking about everything we’ve done wrong and everything we don’t have will leave us with a scarcity mentality. Abundance can never come from this frame of reference.

Conversely if you focus your attention on your dreams, the weight of the past will be lifted. Laser like focus on your dreams will bring about the conditions, opportunities, people and situations that you will need to make the things you covet most reality.

The choice is clear and the difference in results you can expect is stark. Choose wisely and live the life you have always desired!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.”
~James Allen~

In 1902 James Allen wrote a book called As a Man Thinkenth. It is considered a timeless classic in the field of personal development. His words ring even more true today then when he wrote them 108 years ago.

We live in a world where so many different things are competing for our attention. So much so that often we are controlled by desires that don’t serve us. Right now I ‘want’ to go get some Mickey D’s for breakfast (Bacon Egg and Cheese biscuit with a sweet tea). I also ‘want’ to go home, sit on the couch, turn on the TV and skip work. If I succumb to these desires I would not be moving towards a healthy, fit lifestyle or advancing my financial future and career. This would not be an acceptable trade-off so here I am with fruit for breakfast and I’m going to stay at work, make some sales and make some money!

We all go through these types of choices and struggles everyday. But every time we make the correct choice we grow and become closer to the greatness that I each of us is destined for.

What’s your dominant aspiration? What controlling desire sometimes keep you from moving towards that aspiration? What’s going to happen today that will help you step into your greatness?

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence

“It’s pretty hard for the Lord to guide you if you haven’t made up your mind which way you want to go.”
~Madame C. J. Walker~

Each and every journey in life begins with a decision on where to go. Can you imagine how crazy it would sound if someone said they where going away on vacation today but they had not chosen a destination; if this person just got in the car and started driving aimlessly in no particular direction but yet they still expected to have a great vacation. Sound silly right? Well this is exactly what so many people do with their lives. Many people wake up everyday and just sorta go with the flow. No concrete choices are made to ensure that they get the most out of their time or that they head in any particular direction. If this is the way life is lived it is just as silly to think you’d be able to live a great life as it is for the person that doesn’t even know where he is going to have a great vacation.

So what about you? Do you know where you want to go in life? What about where you want to take your life today, this weekend, for the rest of this month, year etc.? Just like having a great vacation these decisions must be made up front. These decisions proceed the plans and then the actions that will lead you to the destinations where your most amazing life awaits you. To make sure you are on the journey toward success you must decide and define what success is to you! Once you know this, guidance from all over the place will help you along the way.

Big shout to all the Fathers out there! Have an amazing weekend!

A.R.I.S.E
All Reach In Search of Excellence