My daughter has a little white Cockatiel named Birdie. He’s a cute little bird. Up until about a year ago he had free range and could go in and out of his cage as he pleased. But that all changed when we brought home a Siberian Husky who would really like to make a meal out of Birdie. And he wouldn’t care if that meal was breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Birdie spends most of the day inside his cage now, even though he’d prefer to be standing on the top peering out the window at all the free birds. But that’s just not safe for him to do that anymore with the dog in the house. Sometimes he climbs down to the bottom and paces hastily back and forth by the gate as if he’s begging for someone to let him out. Even if the dog is outside and we do open Birdie’s gate, he somtimes won’t let you pick him up or move beyond the entrance. Maybe it makes him feel safe to know all he has to do is jump backwards to safety.

It’s obvious that Birdie doesn’t mind his cage because he’s usually pretty content when he’s inside. When he’s had enough gazing out the window he graciously makes his way back inside to one of his perches to sleep, or eat.

But Why Do You Keep Returning To Your Cage?When you go through life ‘playing it safe,’ life gets boring and mundane pretty fast. There’s just not much excitement in doing the same thing over and over… again and again… the same way. Too many people go through life just settling for what they’re given, and not going after what they truly want for their lives. And it’s usually for one of two reasons.

1. Fear – of failing, the unknown and/or of what other people will think. Everyday you risk failing at something whether you know it or not. And there’s no job security in this world anymore. Corporations are letting people go by the droves today, so you had better have a back up plan. And let me tell you something about your critics, they’re probably not thinking about you much anyway and it really doesn’t matter what they think if they are. If they criticize you for having the guts to go after your dreams it’s because they’re too afraid to go after theirs. It’s their pathetic way of making themselves feel better, even though on the inside they wish they had the courage to do what you’re doing.

2. The other reason people don’t step outside their ‘comfort zones’ is because they don’t believe they can be one of the successful ones. But in reality the ‘comfort zone’ isn’t really that comfortable and success doesn’t choose who’s successful or not… it’s people that choose to be successful or not. Because let’s face it, the CEO of a million dollar company and a homeless man on the streets both put their pants on one leg at a time.

Spread Your Wings… and FlyThe thing that keeps Birdie close to his cage, even when it’s open, is that his wings are clipped. If he could fly, I’m sure he would take the first chance presented to fly out the door and take full advantage or his new found FREEDOM!

You don’t have wings…

…but you can fly because you do have dreams and goals. It doesn’t matter how big they are, there’s something out there you want that you’re not going after. No matter what it is, all the resources are available to you. It may take some searching and some work, but everything is possible. And there’s help out there too.

I’m going to challenge you to reignite the fire. Find something you’re passionate about and go after it. No one is keeping you inside a cage but yourself. You’re free to do whatever you want, now go do it.

Erik Weihenmayer reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 25, 2001. And on August 8, 2008 he stood atop the summit of Carstensz Pyramid, the tallest peak in Austral-Asia. This is where Weihenmayer completed his quest of conquering and reaching the summit of the Seven Summits – the highest peak on every continent.

Good for Erik is something you might be saying if adventure or mountaineering isn’t your thing. If adventure and mountaineering is your thing though you’re probably a little jealous. This is an incredible feat in and of itself.

But Erik’s Different

The one thing that makes this story truly amazing is that Erik is blind and has been since the age of 13. Most people that set out to summit Mount Everest never make it to the top, and if they do it usually takes more than one attempt. It’s a grueling challenge that will test every ounce of perseverance you have in your body. There will probably be more times you feel like giving up than not. And the odds of dying while attempting to reach the summit are extremely high, even with good vision.

It’s obvious that that Erik isn’t climbing these mountains alone. That would be suicide. So just like everyone else that’s successful, Erik surrounds himself with a team that has the same goals. And that’s getting to the top. His guide has a bell hanging from him that helps Erik keep going in the right direction. Staying on the path and making sure he’s going in the right direction are key to Erik’s success. If he strays, even just a little bit, the consequences could be severe and even deadly.

Find A Good Team

If you’re going to be successful, at anything, the best thing you can do is surround yourself with a good team. You want people that have accomplished what you’re trying to accomplish and are genuinely concerned about your success. You want a team that’s going to do whatever it takes as long as you’re willing to do the work too. A team that’s going to help you stay on course and keep you from “walking off the edge” into the abyss.

Think about it for a minute. Every championship team has a coach and sometimes a super-star player or two. Someone with above average skills and drive. But they can’t win without the rest of the team. They know you have what it takes to help them reach the top, to become a champion. They’re willing to help you and all you have to do is listen and then do the work.

That’s what the Renegade Team is here for. They’re here for you. If you’ve had your ‘eye on the prize’ for awhile but been unclear about how to reach it, this team is for you. They have all the tools you need to be successful and the coaches(mentors) to help get you where it is you want to go.

If you’re ready to make 2012 your year, the year you walk away from your job and stake your claim, then you need to take a look at this right now. Discovery the lies you’ve been told about success in marketing and get on the right path.

The bells ringing, are you going to follow it to the top?

Do you know what happened on October 30, 1974 in the Mai 20 Stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire?

The Heavyweight champion of the world, George Foreman, battled it out against former Heavyweight champion and challenger Muhammad Ali. Ali won by knocking out Foreman in the eighth round.

But that’s not when he really lost the fight.

You see, Ali was one of the few that could ‘walk-the-walk’ and ‘talk-the-talk’. That boy could back up just about everything that came out of his mouth. I say just about because he did lose a couple fights, but only a couple.

It was really over when the bell rang because Ali started calling Foreman out. Telling him to punch harder and tempting Foreman to hit him when he was on the ropes. These blows did very little other than start to wear Foreman down. Ali took great advantage of this and delivered several blows to Foreman’s face causing severe damage.

Then it happened.

In the fourth round Foreman was noticeably getting tired and worn out. But Ali was just getting started and landing a staggering combination. As the fight went on Ali kept saying to him, “they told me you could punch George.” And “they told me you could punch as hard as Joe Louis.” This was fueling the fire within Foreman and he finally landed a crushing body blow. But Ali had an answer, a strategy. When they were locked together right after that he whispered into Foreman’s ear, “is that all you got?” George told him it was and shortly after that Ali knocked him out.

See, at the time, Foreman was known to be the hardest hitting fighter in the ring, in the world for that matter. And after he delivered a bone crushing blow to Ali’s body and Ali asked him if that was all he had, he was demoralized. He didn’t have an answer. All he could think about was he just hit this guy with all he had and the response was taunting. That would be tough to overcome, but maybe it could’ve been done.

What if Foreman’s thinking would’ve gone to ‘I have an arsenal of those blows and they’re about to be unleashed all over you?’ Instead of thinking, ‘I just hit this guy as hard as I can and he’s taunting me… I might as well throw in the towel.’ Maybe it would’ve been a different outcome but we’ll never know.

How do you react to challenges, adversity?

Do you throw in the towel when it gets a little tough or do you dig down deeper and really give it ALL you’ve got. I honestly think we very rarely truly give ALL that we’ve got. But if you’re going to succeed you have to keep looking for answers. You need to truly make sure you’ve tried everything and are completely out of gas before you give in. And you have to learn to ignore the naysayers because once they get in your head it takes away from you focus, your goal.

I was about to give up on network marketing because I had tried everything, or so I thought. But I just couldn’t get it out of my mind. I KNEW if other people could be successful I could too. We both put our pants on one leg at a time. It’s just they were doing something different than I was once they got their pants on. They knew something I didn’t. They were doing something I wasn’t. So I kept looking and that’s when I discovered this.

Let me just tell you, it’s made a world of difference to me. This system will change how you do everything and really shed some light on how to build a business right. We’re working with credible, intelligent, people with character that want nothing more than to help you succeed. You could say they’re the people in your corner, like Ali and Foreman had. Maybe Ali had better people, who knows. I do know the right training makes all the difference.

So before you quit, before you ‘throw in the towel,’ take a look at this. It just might be the key ingredient you’re looking for to make the champion you really are.