It finally happened. The day he had been waiting for finally came.

For the last couple of years my son Jonathan has been wanting me to take him hunting but he just wasn’t old enough. And with hunting comes a few responsiblities. Safety being at the top of the list of course. Because when something goes wrong with a firearm, it usually goes really wrong.

So after going over the safety rules one last time and gathering all of our gear, we headed out to the country to find ourselves a pheasant. I could see the excitement beaming from him and I was praying inside that we’d get something. I hadn’t been pheasant hunting for quite a few years but I still remember where a couple of good spots were. At least they used to be good spots. Because after walking a few draws that almost always produced a bird or two we saw exactly zero pheasants. We saw exactly zero everything but we weren’t about ready to give up, especially Jonny. My only concern was the temperature was starting to drop and the sun was beginning to disappear.

There was still time to try one more spot so we made our way over to it and started the walk. I was on one side and he was on the other. I was carrying a shotgun too, but just for backup because I really wanted to see him get his first bird. I was probably more excited about it than he was. It’s always fun and rewarding to watch someone else succeed at something. As we were making our way up the draw I was getting nervous because there was nothing flying and it was cold. So the pheasants were going to run before they flew unless we practically stepped on them. Then all of a sudden about 10 feet from the end two of them flew up. I didn’t even take aim but I had a keen eye on Jonathan.

Bam! Bam!

And off into the sunset they went. Both shots were a miss but I looked over at him and his faced was filled with a smile. I could see the excitement from the adrenaline rush spilling out of him. “I almost got them dad”, is the first thing he said. “I know you did, I saw the wad drop right below the one on the left.”

It was too late and dark to keep hunting, but as we made our way back to the car we also made plans for our next hunting excursion. It’s only a matter of time before he gets his first bird and I know he’s not going to give up until he does. And when he gets his first one it’s only going to fill him with more passion to get the second one.

Never Give Up

It would’ve been easy for him to complain. He could’ve complained about all the walking we did, the cold weather outside, the time we wasted – and for nothing. But it wasn’t for nothing. The only thing he talked about was how close he came to getting at least one of those two pheasants we saw. And how excited he was to go hunting again.

Our adventure reminded me of a couple of pursuits I had quit in the past and wish I would’ve stuck with a little longer. But you can’t change the past, you can only learn from it. That’s one of the things I learned when I started studying success and one of the things I’m teaching others.

I was about ready to quit network marketing when I discovered Magnetic Sponsoring. And I’ll never forget exactly where I was when I earned my first affiliate commission from Building On A Budget. I was riding a tour bus through the Black Hills in South Dakota when I opened an e-mail that said, “you just earned a commission.” I was on vacation AND I was earning money online.

What’s not to like?

The only problem was I wasn’t sure how I attracted that prospect to MY sales page and it was quite awhile before I made another sale. But I knew I was on the right track. Then I discovered Ann Sieg. Ann opened up a whole new world to me. An entire new AND effective way to make online and network marketing work. The fire was relit. It was never really out, but it was burning dim because I was struggling trying to figure out this online marketing thing. Now I’m on my way to living my dreams.

When you find something you’re passionate about, finding a way to make it work is a lot easier. The passion turns up the determination dial. You’ll find a way. You’ll try again. If you’re on the hunt for network marketing success, but you’re just not finding prospects, then grab a copy of this, Blogging For Prospects.  Building your business online without it is kind of like hunting for pheasants without a gun.

Have you ever made yourself sick fretting about something? Did the anticipation almost make you blow chunks?

Is The Reward Worth The Risk?

A few weeks ago I found myself suspended 180 feet above the ground. I was just hanging there from two, what appeared to be very small cables, with my daughter on one side of me and her friend on the other. The crazy thing is I put myself in this position on purpose and I paid good, hard earned, cold cash to do so.

Why?

Because I wanted the adrenaline rush that comes from free falling 180 feet. I knew it would be an adrenalin pumping ride, but initially when my daughter asked me if I would do the rip-cord with her and her friend, I didn’t know if I had the guts to do it. In my younger days I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. If I could do something that involved speed or that would get my adrenaline pumping, I was ‘all in.’ One thing that settled my nerves a little was that the safety record for the rip-cord was 100%… no accidents had ever happened.

Focus On The Prize

Before I knew it our time had arrived. We were standing in the prep area getting fitted for our harnesses they attach the cable to. My nerves had calmed down and I was feeling pretty excited. But ever since we set our time to ‘fly,’ approximately 2 hours previous to this, my stomach was in (small)knots. Simply stated, I was just unsure about this whole adventure.

But I wanted to fly.

After we were fitted they took us out to the lift, hooked us up, and it was up… up… and away. In a matter of about 30 seconds we were hanging 180 feet above the ground waiting for the command to ‘pull the cord.’ And that’s when the fun started.
As soon as we pulled it we were diving towards the earth at more than 65 mph and the adrenaline was pumping. It’s a feeling you just can’t explain to the people that are standing there watching you fly by them smiling from ear to ear and letting out screams of fear and excitement.

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

As you can imagine, there are more people watching than flying. I know not everyone is a thrill seeker, but the sad thing is that’s true with about everything in life.

I bet that most people you know aren’t living the life of their dreams. What’s even more sad is most of those people have forgotten what their dreams were. And if you challenge them to do something outside their ‘comfort zone’ they want nothing to do with it.

Life’s An Adventure

If you really want to experience life you’re going to have to push yourself. You’re going to have to ‘go for it.’ Being an observer and standing on the sidelines is never as fun or rewarding as ‘getting in the game.’

Never.

To live a fulfilling life you’re going to have to do the uncomfortable sometimes. You’re going to have to take some risks. But that’s where the thrill, the reward comes from. It happens even if you don’t succeed because you can look back and say “at least I tried.”

When I was thinking about flying on the rip cord I thought it was crazy. Other people thought I was crazy. Some people still think it was crazy. But guess what, I’m going down to Florida, and when I’m there I’m going to fly from a 300 foot rip cord.

So think about something you’ve been wanting to do, or try, or achieve… and forget about all the fear. Focus on the reward and ‘pull the cord.’ Either way, it’ll be a helluva ride.

Dana

I was paging through the Sunday paper about a month ago and I came across an article promoting a FREE seminar by Richard St. John. He’s a successful businessman, photographer, marathoner, mountain climber and the author of the book, ‘The 8 Traits Successful People Have In Common; 8 To Be Great‘. This is what he was going to be talking about.

I decided to write it down in my calendar and commit to going and hearing what he had to say. I’ve read a lot of books on success, listened to hours of audio by Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins and many others. And I’ve also watched a number of videos by them and many more. But I still haven’t achieved the success I’m after so I figured their’s probably still something I could learn.

Richard opened the talk with a little humor and a condensed version of his life story. Then he went onto tell us about how this book came about from a simple question a young girl asked him on a flight he was sharing with her, “are you successful, a millionaire?” He answered “yes”, but when she asked how he became so he didn’t have a good answer for her.

The hunt was on

That’s when Richard decided to interview as many successful people as he could that would sit down with him. He interviewed musicians, artists, actors, businessmen, investors and nearly every walk of life you can imagine. After gathering all the information there was 8 traits they all had in common. And I’m going to tell you what the NUMBER ONE thing is that they ALL had in common.

PASSION

They had a passion for what they were doing. If you want to know what the other 7 are you’re going to have to buy the book. Trust me, it’s a great book.

But passion’s what gets you through when the struggles mount. Passion gets you through when the hours start adding up. Passion makes you almost blind to obstacles. Passion makes you try one more time. Of course this is only one of the traits, but without this one you won’t get very far. And with it the other 7 will all come together… eventually.

Success Is Easy

It is when you have passion. I believe passion is the easy button if there is one. Because none, not one of the people Richard interviewed said becoming successful was easy.

But they did say the work was easy because they were so passionate about what they were doing. Or it was easy to bounce back from bankruptcy because they were passionate about building their business. Even athletes that sustained bone crushing injuries were foaming at the mouth to get back in the game because they loved it so much.

But they had struggles just like the rest of us do. Even Richard came close to losing everything because he lost focus of his passion and started chasing the almighty dollar. When you chase your passion, the money comes automatically.

The thing I love about this book and his talk is that it made me realize even more so that successful people have all the struggles we do. They just kept going and didn’t let the struggles and obstacles stop them. They kept pushing their ‘easy button’ and stayed focused on their passion.

Success takes time. Probably more than you planned on it taking. And it takes work. No matter how many e-mails you read or infomercials you watch that promise ‘push-button’ riches, they just don’t exist. You have to find your hot button(your passion) and push it. And you may even have to work that job you hate for awhile while you’re getting your project off the ground. But you’ll find life a lot more fulfilling chasing after something you’re passionate about than you will going to a job you dread day after day… week after week… year after year… knowing it’ll never fulfill your dreams.

It’s up to you.

Find your passion and you’ll have found your button.

There’s not too many things I look forward to more than a vacation to the ski slopes in Colorado. As I’m sitting here writing this, that pre-trip feeling of excitement is coming over me. My imagination already has me smelling that fresh, crisp mountain air. I can hear the sounds of my boots snapping into my bindings. And I can see the line I’m going to take from top to bottom as fast as I can. Then I’ll cap off the night with a soak in the hot tub while listening to the crackling of the fire. But there’s one trip we barely made.

It was getting late at night and we were burning up the asphalt in eastern Colorado.

Winter Park or bust.

I decided to give my gauges a glance and I noticed the needle on my fuel gauge was leaning towards the “E.” This wasn’t good. And as soon as I saw a gas station I pulled off the interstate to fill it up.

But they were closed and they didn’t have 24 hour pumps. Most gas stations didn’t.

So I got back on the interstate and pointed the car west again in search of an open gas station. I had a new goal, a short-term goal. But it was long before my car started spitting and sputtering with the fuel gauge buried on “E” now.

I pulled over on the shoulder of the road thinking this was the end of my journey, at least temporarily. But after a few spits here, and a few sputters there, I was back in the fast lane heading west again. This happened at least two more times where I pulled over on the shoulder thinking I was done. I was sure I was out of gas. And I don’t have any other explanation other than ‘The Man’ upstairs was watching out for me that night. Because when I did eventually end up running out of gas it was on the off-ramp and I coasted into a gas station.

After filling the tank up with gas and emptying my tank, I was on the road again. And in a few hours I was tucked in my condo resting up for a few days of downhill adrenaline and fun.

As I thought about this story, I realized it relates to life in many ways. Often times we struggle and spend a lot of time and money searching for what it is we’re looking for. We hunt for that specific thing that’s going to fuel our passion and fill that desire.

I knew what I needed… gas. And if I had been paying closer attention to the time and amount of fuel in my tank, I wouldn’t have found myself in that (close to)dire situation.

And this is how a lot of people go through life. They don’t pay attention to the fuel gauges or any gauges for that matter. You have to keep track and gauge your finances, health and relationships. Otherwise you’ll find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere, alone, with empty pockets and deteriorating health.

And when you’re not sure what it is you’re looking for, you go in all different directions. You take ‘off-ramps’ that you have no idea where they go or if they have what you’re looking for. Often times people aren’t clear about what it is they’re looking for so they just take any ‘off-ramp’ to see where it does go. And if they follow it too far it can be tough to find your way back. It’s like a detour that never ends.

The good thing about my trip is I did have a couple friends with me and another car following me. I had my ‘team’, so if I did run out of gas it would’ve been more of an inconvenience than anything. But believe me, I’ve paid better attention since then and it hasn’t happened since. Well, maybe once. But that’s because I didn’t want to stop and wake up my family.

As you’re going through life doing anything, big or small, you have to pay attention to the details, to the gauges. You have to stop and refuel from time to time. Maybe even get a tune up.

I know I struggled to find my passion and a I’ve tried numerous ways to find a way to live my dreams. But then I found this and I knew it was all going to work out. If you’re still struggling or just looking for that extra little spark, this could be what you’re looking for. And if it’s not, don’t stop looking, just keep spittin and sputterin down the highway till do find what you’re looking for. Because you know what happens if you stop and give up.