Courage of Convictions

Sometimes it seems difficult to pursuit dreams when the shadows of the past darken your vision.  Sometimes the vision of success is interrupted by the immediate blur from the smoke of the fires we attempt to put out hourly.  Sometimes our vision, our energy, our enthusiasm becomes dark by the many adjustments you make to again remain on your path to successful endeavors.

The past can only affect your vision of the future if you are continuing to look behind you.  The smoke clears as we gain clarity on our commitment to our successful objectives by focusing on the most important activity to accomplish at the moment for the ultimate accomplishment of our vision.  Our vision, our energy, our enthusiasm increases like the strength of a marathon runner who is constantly adjusting to the conditions of his path, when we continue to find the opportunity in the challenge, the celebration of the next step, and the fuel to be excited about our new level of achievement.

Our challenge is to consistently fuel the hope, the commitment, and the next step with the clarity of our purpose.  As God blesses us with the next step, let’s be grateful for the stress that we are challenged with for we will grow stronger in faith, in patience, and in abundance.

Failure would only be in having no enthusiasm to take the next step.

Crawl with no fear.  Walk upright with confidence and clarity.  Run with all the enthusiasm that God has bestowed in you with full expectation of winning your race.

Author —-         Trent Fortner

Seriously, how is your neck?

Many people I have met lately have a crick in their neck, a sore neck or shoulder accompanied by an empty wallet.   Did you know that your neck bone is connected to your wallet bone?

Trent, what in the world are you talking about?

I think the disease is called “distractitous”.

Ok, I just made that up.

It is true that I have seen a lot of people lately who cannot stay focused on their productivity because of all the distractions they allow into their day. The emotions and pressures they bring into a day by chasing that exciting new deal or “next big thang” is extremely harmful to your income.

Yep, I have done it too. We all do it.

So what is the cure of “distractitous”?  According to my Wellness Coach,        Dr. Ed Thomas of Total Body Healthcare, you need to be focused on the types of stress you allow to enter your body.  He just made a great presentation in a workshop titled “What Would Jesus Eat” that he recorded.  Go to his site and ask Dr. Thomas how to get a copy of his presentation.

My cure for this disease:  Take complete control of your day.  Know exactly what you want to accomplish in a day before you begin and do not let anything but the exceptions of emergency or family crisis re-arrange your day.  Be proactive, not reactive.  Design the life you want to live and live it with intent and purpose.

Remember, if you chase two rabbits at the same time, they both will escape and you will have lost a lot of time, energy and income.

When looking for answers you have to ask good questions?  When making your journey to success you have to continually draw your map to make sure the vision that you have is current and accurate.

It is imperative that we have an open mind to new realities and not have a world view that we stubbornly waste precious time fighting to excuse.

M. Scott Peck says it better than I.  Enjoy.

Dedication to Reality

Excerpt from ‘The Road Less Traveled’ – M. Scott Peck

….The third tool of discipline or technique of dealing with the pain of problem solving, which must be continually be employed if our lives are to be healthy and our spirits are to grow, is dedication to the truth. Superficially, this should be obvious, For truth is reality. That which is false is unreal. The more clearly we see the reality of the world, the better equipped we are to deal with the world. The less clearly we see the reality of the world – the more our minds are befuddled by falsehood, misperceptions and illusions – the less able we will be to determine correct courses of action and make wise decisions. Our view of reality is like a map with which to navigate the terrain of life. If the map is true and accurate, we will generally know where we are, and if we have decided where we want to go, we will generally know how to get there. If the map is false and inaccurate, we generally will be lost.

While this is obvious, it is something that most people to a greater or lesser degree choose to ignore. They ignore it because our route to reality is not easy. First of all, we are not born with maps; we have to make them, and the making requires effort. The more effort we make to appreciate and perceive reality, the larger and more accurate our maps will be. But many do not want to make this effort. Some stop making it by the end of adolescence. Their maps are small and sketchy, their views of the world narrow and misleading. By the end of middle age most people have given up the effort. They feel certain that their maps are complete and their Weltanschauung (worldview) is correct (indeed even sacrosanct), and they are no longer interested in new information. It is as if they are tired. Only a relative and fortunate few continue until the moment of death exploring the mystery of reality, ever enlarging and refining and redefining their understanding of the world and what is true.

But the biggest problem of map-making is not that we have to start from scratch, but that if our maps are to be accurate we have to continually revise them. The world itself is constantly changing. Glaciers come, glaciers go. Cultures come, cultures go. There is too little technology, there is too much technology. Even more dramatically, the vantage point from which we view the world is constantly and quite rapidly changing. When we are children we are dependent, powerless. As adults we may be powerful. Yet in illness or an infirm old age we may become powerless and dependent again. When we have children to care for, the world looks different from when we have none; when we are raising infants, the world seems different from when we are raising adolescents. When we are poor, the world looks different from when we are rich. We are daily bombarded with new information as to the nature of reality. If we are to incorporate this information, we must continually revise our maps, and sometimes when enough new information has accumulated, we must make very major revisions. The process of making revisions, particularly major revisions, is painful, sometimes excruciatingly painful. And herein lies the major source of many of the ills of mankind.

What happens when one has striven long and hard to develop a working view of the world, a seemingly useful, workable map, and then is confronted with new information suggesting that that view is wrong and the map needs to be largely redrawn? The painful effort required seems frightening, almost overwhelming. What we do more often than not, and usually unconsciously, is to ignore the new information. Often this act of ignoring is much more than passive. We may denounce the new information as false, dangerous, heretical, the work of the devil. We may actually crusade against it, and even attempt to manipulate the world so as to make it conform to our view of reality. Rather than try to change the map, an individual may try to destroy the new reality. Sadly, such a person may expend much more energy ultimately in defending an outmoded view of the world, than would have been required to revise and correct it in the first place.

- M. Scott Peck

Recently I was challenged by a “friend” on Facebook to prove that I could help others improve their business or their life in 90 days or less. The challenge got me to really thinking about what this would mean to those who participate, and what it would mean to me and my family as well.  Hey, I want to improve my family’s life as well.

Let’s pretend for a moment, that YOU are the person who accepts this challenge with me. What would that look like for you?  Really, why would you want to improve your life or business?

* We would have to get really serious about where you are in life right now, today. We would have to record the areas in your life that you want to improve. We would have to really get transparent about the pains that you are dealing with and how to eliminate or greatly reduce those pressures. We would have to discover WHY you want to improve those specific areas of your life or business, and what it truly costs you not to achieve your desired results.

* After identifying the problem areas, and the reasons to leave that in the dust forever, we then have to identify what SPECIFIC OUTCOMES you MUST ACHIEVE. This is the area that says what your are committed to. This is the time that it requires you to BE COURAGEOUS! This is when you decide to “burn your ships” because there is no going back to the problems, pains, and excuses of the past.

* Next on our agenda: We would have to write out an ACTION PLAN and IMPLEMENT the steps that we identify that causes you to ENJOY the outcomes from your results. This will require further accountability each week, maybe each day. What good is a plan that is not written out, and what good is a plan that is written that is not followed. This is where the rubber meets the road. You either will be, do and have, or you will not. As YODA says, “Do or do not… there is no try.”

The hardest thing about this whole process is honesty.  You have to become very honest with yourself.  You have to really be honest with me as your coach that you are being accountable to your action plan.

So ask yourself this very important question:  IS IT WORTH IT?  ARE YOU WORTH IT?   We both know the answer is YES!

I was reminded of this when looking at my own life for this challenge:

WHEN YOU COMMIT AND THEN IMPLEMENT TO THE DAILY ACTIONS OF IMPROVING YOUR LIFE BY IMPROVING THE VALUE YOU CREATE FOR AND WITH OTHERS, THEN YOU CANNOT FAIL.

Please accept this challenge with me ONLY WHEN YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE YOUR BEST YEAR YET!  YOU ARE WORTH IT!

BE COURAGEOUS!

Wow!

In twenty years of being in the financial services business, I do not remember a time where so many advisors had lost their vision, or confidence. Many have lost confidence in their economy, their company, or even in their own value. The scarcity mentality has taken over many of our lives.
Listen, I definitely understand the adverse conditions. I understand being broke and accumulating massive amounts of debt that you cannot keep up with. I understand having legal pressures, or horrible press. I even understand the self-doubt and low confidence levels that many of you are experiencing. Foreclosures and bankruptcies are at an all time high. Many of us are having to overcome bad decisions and years of baggage. I truly understand, because I lived there too.
So now what? Do you bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away? Do you pretend that this is not a reality? Do you allow what you think others are saying about you hold you down and paralyze your future? Yeah, I tried all of those approaches. Take it from me, they don’t work! I also learned that “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” does not work either. To make a real contribution that is permanent, you have to make a radical decision to have faith for the next step and to be courageous enough to let someone who has been there move you to a new path.
I am here to tell you that I have found an answer to pulling out of this desperate condition of victim and move into an instantly productive life that will energize you, your family, and your clients. In the last two weeks, I have delivered several coaching sessions of only thirty minutes each that have created instant energy and goal achieving actions that are improving lives now! I have learned principles and fundamental actions that do improve your financial life, your spiritual life, your family life, and your health from some of the best productivity coaches and business masters in the world. Now, I am going to share them with you.
Now is the perfect time to make a radical decision to live the life you want and achieve your dreams! I want to partner with you to see this through, because if you are like me, you are going to need a push, a really critical observation of reality, and an accountability system to move you to new levels of productivity.
This has become so important to me that I am concentrating all of my business efforts to becoming the best productivity coach I can possibly be. The past is whatever it is. Past performance does not guarantee your future results, unless…unless you do not make a change now!
I have room for 10 new participants this week in the one on one training program that is designed to be an instant turnaround. Your commitment to me is 30 minutes on the phone each week to evaluate your current condition, focus on an action plan to get your desired results for the next week, and implement the strategies we discuss for your improvement. There is also a commitment of $500 per month payable upon registration. You can cancel when you want to. I only expect you to stick around for about six months on this program, because you will either be really productive, or I have fired you for not following through. I dare say you are worth a lot more than $500 per month. I also believe that your results in the first month will be worth at least ten times the fee.

When you go to a coach, you better go to someone who has experienced the ups and the downs to really understand what its like to be in your shoes. You better find a coach that has demonstrated the ability to be real, to understand their own shortcomings and to be able to move you from your current situation to the life you really want. I certainly have that type of experience, and I am certain that you will benefit from the road I have travelled.

It is extremely important to me that we create successful stories from real progress. Make the investment in yourself today. The value in you needs to be shared with others and the community you serve cannot afford to wait.

Be Courageous!

Coach Trent Fortner

In my twenty plus years as an entrepreneur working on my own schedule, I have found the most difficulty for any entrepreneur to be the issue of “time management”. Today, I am absolutely sure that managing time is an impossible task!

Let me explain. There are exactly 24 hours in each day that we are blessed to live. You can break this down in any measurement tool you want, but there is only 24 hours. I have yet to find one person on this earth who can “make time stand still”, or actually stop the day’s clock.

There are two critical points to acknowledge on this topic:

1) you can do nothing to change how much time you have today

2) you are not guaranteed another day

If these two points are the focus of your calendaring for a successful balance and profits, or success, then it becomes clear that you must focus on managing the activities not the time, and prioritizing those activities for the results that are most important.

What are the most important things to you? I do not know what is important to you, but I have learned through much trial and error that you always schedule what is really most important to you no matter what you verbalize. For any schedule to reflect balance and priorities, I have found it most beneficial to break it down to only four areas of life: faith, family, fitness, finance.

Faith: for you to grow and mature in your faith, you must spend time in the activities of study, prayer, meditation, and praise. Scheduling this activity first allows you to have your day full of positive, affirming, confident concentration that allows you to release the rest of the day to your god for his guidance and protection. Most of us work this in when time allows finding only that you are falling asleep in the middle of that prayer at bed time.

Family: for you to enjoy time with family and not be distracted by work (finance) items during this special time, it is important to put your family time as a priority. What classes, ballgames, recitals, practices, meals, date nights, hobby times do you need to include? If you are in charge of your activities then this should be scheduled first and work time next. Many of you at this point are struggling with a faith issue and wonder what is left to produce an income. Your family will greatly enjoy time that you spend with them when they know you have no guilt about the time you share. Prioritization of your activities is crucial in managing your emotional state as well.

Finance: the area of finance is what describes your activities to create an income for your family. As an entrepreneur it is vital that you have a routine that is predictable, accountable, and productive. When you break down the hours you will work and what activities are to fill those hours consistently then you will notice a dramatic improvement in your accountability to family, self, and clients. A sample of activities on my calendar that has worked best for me is attached. You will want to adapt the activities to your own business regimen, but it is very important to stay accountable to this schedule with everyone so that you are not ever in a reactionary state. Once you move from a proactive state to a reactionary state you have lost all control of your business.

Fitness: if you are not scheduling your fitness routine for exercise, eating, and sleeping, then you are in another reactionary state and have little to no control over your other activities. You cannot take care of anyone else, or anything else if you are not in good physical and mental shape. Again, this area, like the priority of faith, gets put on the back burner for most people. It is another vital area of your life. The great news is that if you participate in at least thirty minutes a day of physical fitness activity, other than running to the refrigerator for that last bowl of ice cream before bed, that you will improve the quality of your life tremendously.

A few other tips to help the success of managing your activities for balance and profits:

1) If you have a tendency to hit the snooze button on your alarm clock, then move your clock to a place you have to physically get out of bed to turn it off. Also, change the name of your “alarm” clock to “opportunity, or blessings” clock. This will help you jump out to enjoy the day.

2) Whatever you can do the night before to prepare for the next day do it. Set your coffee maker the night before to be ready when you get up. Have your faith based material opened and ready for you when you jump out of bed. Have your clothes laid-out, meals planned and packed, and all briefcases/ backpacks ready then night before.

3) When you get home for family time, make it family time. Do not take any calls from work. Turn your cell phones, blackberries, etc. Off until the next scheduled event. Be proactive. What good does it do to go on a date with your wife and be on your blackberry throughout the date? She may not enjoy interrupting the date with your phone. Be careful you may end up sleeping on the couch with your phone…Relax – no guilt of not working during this time.

4) The best idea is to be proactive so that you are not always rushing to your next event and remain behind on all schedules. Have complete integrity on your schedule. Keep appointment times to a specific time limit. Know what you are going to accomplish in advance. Make sure that you are accountable to your family for that time, they have hobbies too!

Remember, you have no guarantee for tomorrow, so make every moment count!

Today the news is full of the many reports of our economy falling and falling faster than ever before. Every magazine, newspaper, and newscast is focused intently on the stock market, the employment factors, and President Obama’s plan to rescue this plane that is destined to crash.

Most of these stories seem to be telling us that the government is at fault for this demise and that it is up to government to solve this issue quickly. Wow! I had to check my address on that last one. I am certain that I still live in America where we believe in the free enterprise system and the invisible hand that controls the markets. We voted in November, and apparently we voted in a new administration that is definitely going to bring about change. However, no matter who is in the political administration, I want less government involved in our economy and more citizens taking action to be creative and applying proven time tested principles that will strengthen the individual parts so that the sum of those parts is stronger as well.

Some people are willing to get on a plane that has a 70% or 80% chance of successfully landing! Not me!

We can either stay on the plane and crash with it, or we can find our parachutes and create a new economy that will be stronger for today and tomorrow. My parachute will consist of returning to financial principles of safety and redundancy where a dollar will do the job of more than one dollar by its flow through my personal economy. This parachute will provide for the increase of benefits and money supply while being protected from the volatile changing markets, the new taxes that are apparently on the way, the loss of wealth due to disability (or loss of sanity), possible creditor or lawsuit protection, or death. In the case that I may live a long life as our medical technology improves, I want to have a parachute that will create multiple resources for incomes when they are needed most, and that these assets last as long as I do. This parachute will cover my potential today, and enhance my tomorrows by reducing the impact of negative taxation on both moving and stagnant assets.

Your personal economy can be determined by the speed and direction(velocity) that you choose to operate in with precision, intention, and flexibility. This will not be a product focused decision but a process that is scientifically proven to work and demonstrated to be safe, verifiable and has stood the test of time.