Looking at the pages of my life. Listen to the stories of war and strife.<br />
Read about the pains of a broken heart. Hear the love songs sung as art.<br />
Learning all the lessons of the past, incredible how long the pain can last.<br />
<br />
I'm looking at the pages of my life. I hope the ending turns out all right. <br />
Looking at the pages of my life. <br />
Listen to the lyrics of my song. Listen to the tremble in your voice and hear all the things that I did wrong. <br />
Listen to a story of dispair. Hear of a hero that would not ere. <br />
Given hope born of faith and chance, pray that victory will come at last.<br />
<br />
Listen to a tale of immortal foes. Listen to the hero weep of his woes. <br />
Watch as the hero falls to his knees, see him wrestle with his God to please.<br />
See the hero broken down. Weep as he falls helpless to the ground.<br />
Feel the pain of failure here. Feel the sorrow of loved ones dear.<br />
<br />
Looking at the pages of my life, rejoice at the victories born through strife and feel the pain of extinguished life.<br />
Look at the hero brave and strong. I guess the hero was me all along.<br />
Read of the battles I've lost and won. Hear the tales of woes undone.<br />
Find joy in victory in the face of strife, as you look through the pages of my life
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Sacrifice something good for something better
In life sometimes we get something good but we end up having to trade it in. often we don't know what we are trading for. Sometimes all we know is that we lost something good. We traded it for an unknown variable. Now that can be scary. We end up running around, not knowing what's in store. When, in fact we should be having faith that God really does have our best interest at heart. That is what life is about right? Becoming like God. How can we do that if we don't even fully trust Him? In my life, I have recently been tested in my faith in God. It hasn't been easy. Not at all. I have been more than a little freaked out about what may come. But God shows his tender mercies every day. Some days are easier than others sure. But we get through.
The primary test has been my wife's decision to quit her job. She was unhappy and felt prompted to take a leap of faith and quit. She was making the most money and I alone don't make near enough money to support us. Hence the worry. However God has proven to me that my wife made the right choice. In her time being unemployed she got a job being a PA for a tv show for three days. She got paid about 800 for the job. IN THREE DAYS!! How awesome is that!? She has also applied for a position at a hospital in a city about two hours away. Her aunt is head nurse so we have high hopes. The difficult part will be the separation. I wish it was closer but she will likely have a 4-5 dollar raise from her last job and the best part is.....SHE WILL BE HAPPY!!! Life is coming together
The primary test has been my wife's decision to quit her job. She was unhappy and felt prompted to take a leap of faith and quit. She was making the most money and I alone don't make near enough money to support us. Hence the worry. However God has proven to me that my wife made the right choice. In her time being unemployed she got a job being a PA for a tv show for three days. She got paid about 800 for the job. IN THREE DAYS!! How awesome is that!? She has also applied for a position at a hospital in a city about two hours away. Her aunt is head nurse so we have high hopes. The difficult part will be the separation. I wish it was closer but she will likely have a 4-5 dollar raise from her last job and the best part is.....SHE WILL BE HAPPY!!! Life is coming together
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Forgiveness=Gratitude
It's been a while since I have posted but, I would like to take the short amount of time I have right now to shoot you guys a little something I learned over the past couple weeks. I want to share what I have learned about forgiveness and how it applies to how we can have better lives.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been avidly reading a book by Joe Vitale called The Attractor Factor. In this book he explains how in 5 easy steps we can attract anything we want into our lives. The way we do this is from the inside out. Lets say that you want to improve a relationship or something. I wanted to attract a better relationship with my wife. I wanted us to be more in sync, I wanted us to have a deeper level of trust and love for one another and I wanted to be a better husband. In reading this book I discovered that all of that was on me. I simply had to change what I believed about myself.
Let me explain how this works. Whatever you think of yourself comes across to other people. If you feel like people don't trust you, it is because you don't trust yourself. If you feel like people don't like you, it's because you don't like yourself. Once you become more comfortable in your own skin miracles can take place. In the past two weeks remarkable changes have taken place in my life.
1. We got a puppy
2. My wife cut her hair short.
3. We had a really hard trial.
4. Because of the trial we were able to become much closer and more confident.
5. We turned to God in our hour of need and enjoy having the spirit dwell in abundance with us.
6. We have become very much in sync.
Those are but a few things that have happened and miracles are happening for us every day. Once we believed that we deserved all the blessings that God has to offer we began to see them made manifest in our lives. I am more confident in my ability to be the loving and supportive husband she deserves. I am more confident in my physical appearance. I now look forward to trials because the blessings aren't far behind.
I have done something that I deemed to be impossible. I have forgiven myself for all of my faults and I am grateful for them. They make me strive to be better. I now recognize them for the blessings that they are. If you start your day grateful for everything you have and let the feeling of love dwell in your heart I promise you, you will be given more things to be grateful for. To forgive yourself, something that popped into my head was to write a letter of apology. I sat down and said how sorry I am to MYSELF for sabotaging things in my life. For not being happy with who I am and for what I have. Being grateful for everything in my life has granted me more opportunities to be grateful.
Take some time out of each day and before you ask for one blessing, let God know how grateful you are for the gift of life, for your loved ones, for your job, for your home, for your friends and anything else. If you take some time to be grateful, God will take some time to bless you. I love you all. Your support and your love means so much to me. I love each and every one of you. Take some time to yourself and wrap yourself up in the feeling of love. You ARE loved. Until next time, Sterling out.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been avidly reading a book by Joe Vitale called The Attractor Factor. In this book he explains how in 5 easy steps we can attract anything we want into our lives. The way we do this is from the inside out. Lets say that you want to improve a relationship or something. I wanted to attract a better relationship with my wife. I wanted us to be more in sync, I wanted us to have a deeper level of trust and love for one another and I wanted to be a better husband. In reading this book I discovered that all of that was on me. I simply had to change what I believed about myself.
Let me explain how this works. Whatever you think of yourself comes across to other people. If you feel like people don't trust you, it is because you don't trust yourself. If you feel like people don't like you, it's because you don't like yourself. Once you become more comfortable in your own skin miracles can take place. In the past two weeks remarkable changes have taken place in my life.
1. We got a puppy
2. My wife cut her hair short.
3. We had a really hard trial.
4. Because of the trial we were able to become much closer and more confident.
5. We turned to God in our hour of need and enjoy having the spirit dwell in abundance with us.
6. We have become very much in sync.
Those are but a few things that have happened and miracles are happening for us every day. Once we believed that we deserved all the blessings that God has to offer we began to see them made manifest in our lives. I am more confident in my ability to be the loving and supportive husband she deserves. I am more confident in my physical appearance. I now look forward to trials because the blessings aren't far behind.
I have done something that I deemed to be impossible. I have forgiven myself for all of my faults and I am grateful for them. They make me strive to be better. I now recognize them for the blessings that they are. If you start your day grateful for everything you have and let the feeling of love dwell in your heart I promise you, you will be given more things to be grateful for. To forgive yourself, something that popped into my head was to write a letter of apology. I sat down and said how sorry I am to MYSELF for sabotaging things in my life. For not being happy with who I am and for what I have. Being grateful for everything in my life has granted me more opportunities to be grateful.
Take some time out of each day and before you ask for one blessing, let God know how grateful you are for the gift of life, for your loved ones, for your job, for your home, for your friends and anything else. If you take some time to be grateful, God will take some time to bless you. I love you all. Your support and your love means so much to me. I love each and every one of you. Take some time to yourself and wrap yourself up in the feeling of love. You ARE loved. Until next time, Sterling out.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
The cure
The cure for happiness and success doesn't lie in riches or worldly possessions. Are those things nice to have? You betcha! What does make people happy? I want you to ponder that question as I tell you about an experience I had today.
Today was a rough day on my wife. She has had severe allergies and they are killing her. I had an interview today and it fell on her lunch break. I was supposed to have prepared lunch for her but I was at the interview. She had to go hungry. I was also supposed to clean out our other apartment before she was done with work but I fell asleep. When she got off she was understandably upset. With her allergies and no food and Me not cleaning things got compounded and she got upset. I hadn't been considerate of her feelings.
Now, think to a time when someone did something really nice for you. No special occasion. Someone just did it to be nice. Think about when you were nice to someone else for no reason. What feeling did it give you? In my experience service and the receiving of service are things that bring joy unlike any other. Now before I finish enrolling for school and head over to clean the apartment I want to share with you that being selfless brings joy in such an incredible way because when you are truly selfless you don't even notice your own feelings except for the joy that comes in being kind and giving to others. I love you all and hope you have a lovely day. Until next time, Sterling out.
Today was a rough day on my wife. She has had severe allergies and they are killing her. I had an interview today and it fell on her lunch break. I was supposed to have prepared lunch for her but I was at the interview. She had to go hungry. I was also supposed to clean out our other apartment before she was done with work but I fell asleep. When she got off she was understandably upset. With her allergies and no food and Me not cleaning things got compounded and she got upset. I hadn't been considerate of her feelings.
Now, think to a time when someone did something really nice for you. No special occasion. Someone just did it to be nice. Think about when you were nice to someone else for no reason. What feeling did it give you? In my experience service and the receiving of service are things that bring joy unlike any other. Now before I finish enrolling for school and head over to clean the apartment I want to share with you that being selfless brings joy in such an incredible way because when you are truly selfless you don't even notice your own feelings except for the joy that comes in being kind and giving to others. I love you all and hope you have a lovely day. Until next time, Sterling out.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
The best advice
The best advice I can give anyone is live each day like it will be your last. If you succeed in doing this it will not only help you live a more wholesome and fulfilling life but it will also help much of your stress, anger and fear go away. If today was your last day, what would you do? Would you let traffic upset you? Or would you kindly let others who may need to be somewhere important go? Would you let a squabble with a co worker throw your day off? Or would you smile and thank them for their opinion and go about your day?
I believe that even Hitler would have been a much more pleasing person had he lived every day as if it were his last. There is a song by a great band that also begs this question. If today was your last day by Nickleback. My best friend gave me the best advice
I believe that even Hitler would have been a much more pleasing person had he lived every day as if it were his last. There is a song by a great band that also begs this question. If today was your last day by Nickleback. My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day's a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride
If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had, if today was your last day?
What if, what if, if today was your last day?
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had, if today was your last day?
What if, what if, if today was your last day?
Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the price is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you're never living twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life
What's worth the price is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you're never living twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life
If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had?
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had?
And would you call those friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories?
Would you forgive your enemies?
And would you find that one you're dreaming of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love if today was your last day?
Reminisce old memories?
Would you forgive your enemies?
And would you find that one you're dreaming of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love if today was your last day?
If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothing stand in your way
'Cause the hands of time are never on your side
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothing stand in your way
'Cause the hands of time are never on your side
If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had?
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had?
And would you call those friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories?
Would you forgive your enemies?
And would you find that one you're dreaming of
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love if today was your last day?
Reminisce old memories?
Would you forgive your enemies?
And would you find that one you're dreaming of
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love if today was your last day?
Today I challenge you do do this and live like it is your last day. If you can do this I promise you peace and love. I love you all. Until next time, Sterling out.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
My Story part 2
I saw how much you guys enjoyed my last post and so I thought maybe you guys would enjoy hearing a little more about my life. I hope that it speaks to many of you and helps you in your own lives.
Since I was eight, I have been diagnosed with Bipolar. For those of you who do not know what Bipolar is, it is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that causes electrical misfires that cause rapid and at times dangerous mood swings. When I was born I had a traumatic birth. I had issues that caused me to almost suffocate and they had to clean my feces out of my lungs. I sympathize with those doctors. I was several weeks late and was still really small. As you can imagine these events caused some problems with my physical and emotional health.
I have never really been in the popular crowd due to my being socially awkward. I have had sever mood swings in public which has been embarrassing for myself as well as my family. I now believe that those outbursts may be a large part of why I was never popular with my brothers or my dad. My mom, bless her soul, has been a rock. As anyone may be able to understand, sometimes she wasn't emotionally capable of dealing with me and that caused feelings of resentment. I felt abandoned and neglected at every turn. I would do something stupid to get attention because I believed that any attention would be better than no attention. I didn't realize that would cause an even bigger rift between the world and I.
I was my biggest enemy. Manipulating, lying, scheming, ranting, raving, throwing childish tantrums and causing havoc frequently. Trying to get the attention a craved. I had no idea that I was capable of being so much more and being the golden child if I so chose. I thought, "I'm just a screw up. If I do what I am best at, maybe they will feel sorry for me and comfort me and I will get the love and care that I desire so much." However, my parents felt that they weren't equal to the task and though they tried disciplining me the best they could, they didn't know what it was that I really wanted and it became a viscous cycle. They didn't know what I wanted so they couldn't provide it for me, and I didn't communicate so it never got resolved.
I was at my low point when I let myself get immersed in pornography and the thought of physical intimacy. My self esteem was shot. I was the self proclaimed embarrassment of the family and I didn't have many friends. The friends I did have, I had a hard time keeping except for my best man/ best friend. David was the best friend I could ever ask for and I needed him. He brought me to activities, he set me up on dates, he took me out to shovel off the elder members of our wards driveways in the winter. He was a great example and a stellar friend. He is currently serving our country in the national guard.
While I was at my low point, I was seeing a therapist that helped me immensely and gave me a love of helping people. I was able to stay clear of pornography for 15 weeks while under his tutelage. I truly believe his program to be inspired and I would recommend it to anyone that is suffering from self abuse and pornography. The one thing that was able to change me completely was getting confidence. Confidence that I could be a better person, and that I deserved to be a better person. If any of you suffer from low self esteem, you will agree that nothing helps you like having a relationship with someone who trusts you and believes in you. My wife gave that to me. If you need someone to tell you that you matter, I will tell you right now that you do. You matter to me. You matter to your family. You matter to your friends. You matter to God.
Once you realize this for yourself and truly believe it, you are capable of doing amazing things. People who suffer from addiction will tell you that they don't believe they can ever stop. They believe that it helps them cope with life and that they need it. Once you put someone in their life that tells them that they can reach out and grab the stars, they don't need the addiction anymore. They are able to replace that addiction with something else, something truly amazing; faith. Faith that they can be the best person out there. Most people try to quit an addiction by chopping the tree down. That is why they are able to stop for weeks, months and even years. Once you hack at the roots, that is when you see true miracles emerge.
I wish you all the best and will try to post more soon. I hope this blesses you and inspires you. Until next time, Sterling out
Since I was eight, I have been diagnosed with Bipolar. For those of you who do not know what Bipolar is, it is an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that causes electrical misfires that cause rapid and at times dangerous mood swings. When I was born I had a traumatic birth. I had issues that caused me to almost suffocate and they had to clean my feces out of my lungs. I sympathize with those doctors. I was several weeks late and was still really small. As you can imagine these events caused some problems with my physical and emotional health.
I have never really been in the popular crowd due to my being socially awkward. I have had sever mood swings in public which has been embarrassing for myself as well as my family. I now believe that those outbursts may be a large part of why I was never popular with my brothers or my dad. My mom, bless her soul, has been a rock. As anyone may be able to understand, sometimes she wasn't emotionally capable of dealing with me and that caused feelings of resentment. I felt abandoned and neglected at every turn. I would do something stupid to get attention because I believed that any attention would be better than no attention. I didn't realize that would cause an even bigger rift between the world and I.
I was my biggest enemy. Manipulating, lying, scheming, ranting, raving, throwing childish tantrums and causing havoc frequently. Trying to get the attention a craved. I had no idea that I was capable of being so much more and being the golden child if I so chose. I thought, "I'm just a screw up. If I do what I am best at, maybe they will feel sorry for me and comfort me and I will get the love and care that I desire so much." However, my parents felt that they weren't equal to the task and though they tried disciplining me the best they could, they didn't know what it was that I really wanted and it became a viscous cycle. They didn't know what I wanted so they couldn't provide it for me, and I didn't communicate so it never got resolved.
I was at my low point when I let myself get immersed in pornography and the thought of physical intimacy. My self esteem was shot. I was the self proclaimed embarrassment of the family and I didn't have many friends. The friends I did have, I had a hard time keeping except for my best man/ best friend. David was the best friend I could ever ask for and I needed him. He brought me to activities, he set me up on dates, he took me out to shovel off the elder members of our wards driveways in the winter. He was a great example and a stellar friend. He is currently serving our country in the national guard.
While I was at my low point, I was seeing a therapist that helped me immensely and gave me a love of helping people. I was able to stay clear of pornography for 15 weeks while under his tutelage. I truly believe his program to be inspired and I would recommend it to anyone that is suffering from self abuse and pornography. The one thing that was able to change me completely was getting confidence. Confidence that I could be a better person, and that I deserved to be a better person. If any of you suffer from low self esteem, you will agree that nothing helps you like having a relationship with someone who trusts you and believes in you. My wife gave that to me. If you need someone to tell you that you matter, I will tell you right now that you do. You matter to me. You matter to your family. You matter to your friends. You matter to God.
Once you realize this for yourself and truly believe it, you are capable of doing amazing things. People who suffer from addiction will tell you that they don't believe they can ever stop. They believe that it helps them cope with life and that they need it. Once you put someone in their life that tells them that they can reach out and grab the stars, they don't need the addiction anymore. They are able to replace that addiction with something else, something truly amazing; faith. Faith that they can be the best person out there. Most people try to quit an addiction by chopping the tree down. That is why they are able to stop for weeks, months and even years. Once you hack at the roots, that is when you see true miracles emerge.
I wish you all the best and will try to post more soon. I hope this blesses you and inspires you. Until next time, Sterling out
Saturday, August 17, 2013
My story
My life has been changed so much over the past year or two. I went from being a lazy gamer with no ambitions to a loving husband to the most amazing woman to ever grace the earth with her presence. I was trapped in addiction. A slave to pornography and lies. However i am thankfully no longer that man. What changed? How did I escape that dark abyss? Finding something to be grateful for. Finding something or someone to motivate me to not only do, but to be better. I found that in my wife. When I had all but given up looking for a companion she found me. How did she find me? I wanted to change. I wanted to be free of sin and pain. My family life was difficult to say the least. Everyone was trying to just survive on their own, and the people who needed extra help fell through the cracks. School was just a social relief for me. A place for me to just mess around with friends and flirt with girls. How grateful I am that that chapter of my life is over and I'm on a brand new chapter. A chapter that is so different from the rest of the story of my life that I often wonder if I am living a chapter from a different story.
To any and all of you that may find yourself where i was, I have a suggestion for you. Run. Run from everything that is holding you down and find something new. The best way to run from your past is to let go of it. I am willing to bet that every single one of you has something in your life that is your fall to excuse or your crutch. The only thing that is stopping you from running away is that you have this crutch that you keep dragging around. You tie baggage to it and you end up limping through life instead of sprinting through with the winds of change and love pushing you to new horizons. You may be happy to hear that I have not only quit lying and viewing pornography but I have also forgiven all those who I felt had wronged me.
The biggest difference in my life isn't that people actually enjoy being around me and I have confidence. It's not that I am married and now don't feel so devoid of love. It is that I am the master of my fate. I am able to do whatever I put my mind to. I am becoming more and more confident in whatever I set my mind to. I am the master of my destiny. I am better with money, I am better at controlling my mind and body. I can be honest with everyone knowing that I have nothing to fear. Why do I have nothing to fear? Because I am filled with faith and love. Fear can not exist while faith and love fill your heart. I have been selfconscious about my body all my life but now I find strength to work towards the body and health I desire. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. Have faith and stay strong and achieve greatness in your life. I love you and hope to hear of your progress soon. Until next time, Sterling out.
To any and all of you that may find yourself where i was, I have a suggestion for you. Run. Run from everything that is holding you down and find something new. The best way to run from your past is to let go of it. I am willing to bet that every single one of you has something in your life that is your fall to excuse or your crutch. The only thing that is stopping you from running away is that you have this crutch that you keep dragging around. You tie baggage to it and you end up limping through life instead of sprinting through with the winds of change and love pushing you to new horizons. You may be happy to hear that I have not only quit lying and viewing pornography but I have also forgiven all those who I felt had wronged me.
The biggest difference in my life isn't that people actually enjoy being around me and I have confidence. It's not that I am married and now don't feel so devoid of love. It is that I am the master of my fate. I am able to do whatever I put my mind to. I am becoming more and more confident in whatever I set my mind to. I am the master of my destiny. I am better with money, I am better at controlling my mind and body. I can be honest with everyone knowing that I have nothing to fear. Why do I have nothing to fear? Because I am filled with faith and love. Fear can not exist while faith and love fill your heart. I have been selfconscious about my body all my life but now I find strength to work towards the body and health I desire. Believe in yourself and anything is possible. Have faith and stay strong and achieve greatness in your life. I love you and hope to hear of your progress soon. Until next time, Sterling out.
Be happy now
Today, I want to share a concept with you. This concept while possibly percieved as radical or crazy is be happy now. I know many of you are probably shaking your head and asking how does he expect me to do that when so many things in my life make me unhappy. The answer is simple, choose to be happy. If I were to walk up to any one of you and ask what is keeping you from being happy, many of you would parrot off one of these reasons. Too much stress in my life. Not enough money. Bad job. Too many bills and so on.
Something to keep in mind is that you have chosen this life for you. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you choose to be happy, you are instantly happy. Now I want you to travel through time with me for a second or two. Go back to the last time you felt blissfully happy. Chances are it was a day like your birthday or a day when someone took the time to make you feel special. Now read the last part of that sentence again. Make you feel special. Now I want you to ask yourself why you should have to wait for someone else to do something for you to be happy. Do you feel a little irritated that your happiness lies in someone's hands? Well stop. Your life and your happiness depends only on you. You believe that you can't be happy unless certain things happen like having a better job, making more money, having a bigger house, or having the perfect family. Let me share a secret with you.... You can be happy right now.
Visualize what your life would be like if it was perfect and instead of coming back to reality being sad that you aren't living that life right now, I want you to go about your day acting as though you already have all of the things you want. Work like you make millions. Drive like you have the nicest car on the block. Clean your house like you own a mansion that just needs to be picked up a little bit. Treat your family like they can do no wrong and eventually you will be right.
You will find that you have total control of your life. Now I want you to think over everything in your life that you have to be thankful for. Once you acknowledge that you have things in your life that make you happy and you start being thankful for them, God will start giving you more to be grateful for. Be happy now and you will attract more things to make you happy. Until next time, Sterling out.
Something to keep in mind is that you have chosen this life for you. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you choose to be happy, you are instantly happy. Now I want you to travel through time with me for a second or two. Go back to the last time you felt blissfully happy. Chances are it was a day like your birthday or a day when someone took the time to make you feel special. Now read the last part of that sentence again. Make you feel special. Now I want you to ask yourself why you should have to wait for someone else to do something for you to be happy. Do you feel a little irritated that your happiness lies in someone's hands? Well stop. Your life and your happiness depends only on you. You believe that you can't be happy unless certain things happen like having a better job, making more money, having a bigger house, or having the perfect family. Let me share a secret with you.... You can be happy right now.
Visualize what your life would be like if it was perfect and instead of coming back to reality being sad that you aren't living that life right now, I want you to go about your day acting as though you already have all of the things you want. Work like you make millions. Drive like you have the nicest car on the block. Clean your house like you own a mansion that just needs to be picked up a little bit. Treat your family like they can do no wrong and eventually you will be right.
You will find that you have total control of your life. Now I want you to think over everything in your life that you have to be thankful for. Once you acknowledge that you have things in your life that make you happy and you start being thankful for them, God will start giving you more to be grateful for. Be happy now and you will attract more things to make you happy. Until next time, Sterling out.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Living with a broken heart
Now, I realize that all of my talk of success may just be rainbows and butterflies to a lot of you. A lot of you may be suffering from unemployment or recent break up or divorce or some other calamity that has befallen you. If you fall in this category I am here to tell you to be happy about it. You may know the phrase, when one door closes another door opens. If you want to have success you can't fall to the ground and weep while the door next to you is wide open with possibilities that may be even better than the last door.
I lost my job today. It's true that I loved that job but why grieve over it when there are jobs out there that are ten times better. I have already found 3 jobs that pay almost double what my last job paid. No use crying over spilled milk. Especially when you can go to the refrigerator and get a brand new glass. Now, all of you with no employment. Be happy because if you let it, the universe will send you a better job with more opportunities. Be confident and most of all believe in yourself.
Those of you who are suffering from a broken heart, envision what you want and look for it. Don't settle with the thought that this is the best that you can get. You can get whatever you want! Just shoot for it! If you miss, pick up the ball and shoot again. Fishermen don't give up after the first few casts. They will cast all day and then go back the next day. Be the ultimate fisherman/woman go on dates. As many as you can. Be confident in who you are and make them tell you why you should date them. When you believe that you can attract anyone you want, you can.
I hope this gives you all hope for the future. The law of attraction always works. Sometime you have to lose something that you thought was good in order to get something great. Take advantage of those opportunities. You can be the best so go out there and do it. I am going to challenge all of you who are unhappy with how things are to go out and change something today. I am going to find a new job today and I am going to work out so that I am happier with who I am. I challenge you all to do something to change your life for the better. Post in the comments if you take on this challenge. We need to inspire one another.
Until next time. Sterling out.
I lost my job today. It's true that I loved that job but why grieve over it when there are jobs out there that are ten times better. I have already found 3 jobs that pay almost double what my last job paid. No use crying over spilled milk. Especially when you can go to the refrigerator and get a brand new glass. Now, all of you with no employment. Be happy because if you let it, the universe will send you a better job with more opportunities. Be confident and most of all believe in yourself.
Those of you who are suffering from a broken heart, envision what you want and look for it. Don't settle with the thought that this is the best that you can get. You can get whatever you want! Just shoot for it! If you miss, pick up the ball and shoot again. Fishermen don't give up after the first few casts. They will cast all day and then go back the next day. Be the ultimate fisherman/woman go on dates. As many as you can. Be confident in who you are and make them tell you why you should date them. When you believe that you can attract anyone you want, you can.
I hope this gives you all hope for the future. The law of attraction always works. Sometime you have to lose something that you thought was good in order to get something great. Take advantage of those opportunities. You can be the best so go out there and do it. I am going to challenge all of you who are unhappy with how things are to go out and change something today. I am going to find a new job today and I am going to work out so that I am happier with who I am. I challenge you all to do something to change your life for the better. Post in the comments if you take on this challenge. We need to inspire one another.
Until next time. Sterling out.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Believe that the Devine wants the best for you.
Today I thought I would post a little something just to keep my readers happy. As I asked myself what I would write on, a flash of inspiration hit me. Write on happiness. Then I thought further, what would I write about happiness? Happiness is such a broad and vast subject and it changes from person to person. Another flash of inspiration hit me. Write on how the Devine wants us to be happy. Now I assume that the reason for my inspiration is that so many of you people that follow my blog are unhappy and that is why you want to pick my brain on how to become happy. My answer to you is, on your own, you can't be happy.
I know many of you most likely disagree with that statement, but if you are honest with yourselves I'll bet that many of you are unhappy because you feel unloved and you want a companion in life and surrounding yourself with dogs and or cats isn't doing the trick. The reason why is because people need people. Today I will let you in on a few little known secrets. 1. You are to blame for your relationship issues. Either you are in a relationship and you find yourself unhappy or you can't seem to develop a relationship. The reason why? You don't feel worthy. By thinking that you then project onto your potentials or your partner as unhappy and you attract them being unhappy to you.
The Devine doesn't want people to be unhappy. He wants them to be very happy. In fact He tells us that our purpose is to have joy. How do we do that you ask? Finding peace with yourself. Dropping these ideas of how you are supposed to be. You were made different for a reason. Be happy with that. You stand out and while some people may call you weird or something, you can know that you are perfect in your own way. Once you accept that and forgive yourself for trying to be something you are not, you can be happy. When you are happy, you will attract happiness to you. That is the purpose of life. To grow, to learn to to be happy. You can be as rich as Bill Gates but as long as you are unhappy you are not living your life right.
Until next time, Sterling out.
One last thought before I leave you guys for the day. If you don't feel loved, stop. Right now and know that you have at LEAST two people that love you. Your God and me. I love you all. Take that feeling of love and wrap it up in happy thoughts and watch as you attract love to your life. Until next time, Sterling out.
I know many of you most likely disagree with that statement, but if you are honest with yourselves I'll bet that many of you are unhappy because you feel unloved and you want a companion in life and surrounding yourself with dogs and or cats isn't doing the trick. The reason why is because people need people. Today I will let you in on a few little known secrets. 1. You are to blame for your relationship issues. Either you are in a relationship and you find yourself unhappy or you can't seem to develop a relationship. The reason why? You don't feel worthy. By thinking that you then project onto your potentials or your partner as unhappy and you attract them being unhappy to you.
The Devine doesn't want people to be unhappy. He wants them to be very happy. In fact He tells us that our purpose is to have joy. How do we do that you ask? Finding peace with yourself. Dropping these ideas of how you are supposed to be. You were made different for a reason. Be happy with that. You stand out and while some people may call you weird or something, you can know that you are perfect in your own way. Once you accept that and forgive yourself for trying to be something you are not, you can be happy. When you are happy, you will attract happiness to you. That is the purpose of life. To grow, to learn to to be happy. You can be as rich as Bill Gates but as long as you are unhappy you are not living your life right.
Until next time, Sterling out.
One last thought before I leave you guys for the day. If you don't feel loved, stop. Right now and know that you have at LEAST two people that love you. Your God and me. I love you all. Take that feeling of love and wrap it up in happy thoughts and watch as you attract love to your life. Until next time, Sterling out.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Here is a good uplifting thought for the day. Love you all. Good luck!
The TRUTH About Luck and Success
By Craig Ballantyne
Luck has been in my corner since day one back in 1975.
I was extraordinarily lucky to be born in Canada into a lower-middle class family. Lucky enough to have been educated in the years of the first home computer, to have come of age as the first Internet generation, and to have stumbled across the convergence of direct marketing and online e-commerce before everyone and their uncle knew about it.
When I was a child I was lucky enough to have an alcoholic, underachieving, embarrassing father who gave me the first chip on my shoulder, one that compelled me to work harder, achieve more, and go further so that I could escape his shadow.
I was also lucky that my mother had dropped out of high school and spent the rest of her life working for barely more than the minimum wage, never earning more than $28,000 in a year. I was lucky, because of her mistakes, that she would never let me make the same ones.
And boy was I lucky to have went to grade school with patches on my knees, for this caused me great embarrassment and instilled in me the drive to do better, to excel in school, to get into the best program in college, to make the Dean’s Honor List three years in a row, to get accepted into a Master’s program, to study until 10pm on weekends so I could earn a scholarship to help me pay for 6 years of post-secondary education - and so that I’d never feel embarrassed like that again.
It’s as though I’ve had a horseshoe made out of rabbit’s feet around my neck for these past thirty years.
I’ve also been lucky to make friends with entrepreneurs like Bedros Keuilian, a real-life American Dream. Bedros was lucky to have been born in Armenia (then part of the Soviet Union) and to have a father that gambled his family’s safety by bribing their way out of the USSR so they could arrive virtually penniless in America (legally).
Bedros was also lucky enough to arrive in America in 1980 without being able to speak a lick of English. He was fortunate that his family was so poor that he had to "dumpster-dive" behind grocery stores for food. Without this luck, Bedros wouldn’t have the burning desire that has allowed him to succeed and create a better life, so that as he often tells me, “My kids will never have to spend an hour of their lives in daycare.”
And I’m lucky enough to be friends with Matt Smith, another lucky young man from my generation who, like me, grew up with little more than an embarrassment of a father and a mother that spent the little money she had to take care of her children.
Among Matt’s lucky childhood experiences was the night when his mother scraped together a few dollars for a special Friday dinner of take-out pizza. That night, the Smiths were lucky to have mistakenly left the pizza on top of the car as they drove away). Eventually, the pizza fell off the car’s roof into the middle of a busy intersection – where car after car drove over it – and this was a lucky break for Matt.
Why?
Because the Smiths’ had no money to go and buy a replacement pizza. And so Matt will forever remember that night – and that feeling – as something he will never want to experience again. It’s just another lucky motivator in his drive to do better and succeed so that his children won’t have to experience that great fortune.
That kind of luck leaves a burning desire that NOTHING – not even a life of iPhones, TV’s in every room of the house, unending after-school activities, or 24/7 Internet and cable TV access – could ever top.
My luck continues. I’m fortunate to know Isabel De Los Rios and fellow BioTrust Advisor, one of the world’s most successful nutrition experts, who herself was lucky enough to spend almost a decade as a sick, unhealthy, overweight, and unhappy young woman, so that she could truly understand the troubles that her hundreds of thousands of female clients go through.
Isabel was also lucky enough to be downright broke when she applied to my Mastermind Group in 2008, having to borrow the money from her fiancé. It was due to her great fortune to be in these situations that she committed to working harder than almost any other person I’ve ever coached. This has allowed her to pull herself up from financial stress and into a business where today she has over 200,000 customers that have been lucky enough to get Isabel’s help as they change their lives.
Finally, there's Michael Masterson, one of my business mentors that was lucky enough to grow up in a poor household of ten children. He was lucky enough to have so little that it drove him to become the entrepreneur and mentor to hundreds of thousands of good folks all around the world.
This is the luckiest group of individuals you might ever meet. We were lucky to have had the experiences we did because they taught us so much and drove us to great action. Without our setbacks, what would we have achieved? We have been part of the luckiest generations to have ever lived.
What about your luck? Have you lucked out and been fortunate to have gone through similar struggles? Have you been given the inspiration to work harder than ever, to explore new opportunities to take control of your future, and that drive you towards financial independence? Are you one of the fortunate ones that were not born with a silver spoon so that you could learn the importance of adding value to the world in exchange for a fair return? Have you been lucky enough to fail again and again?
Never forget that failure isn’t bad. Failure isn’t final. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from achieving the success you deserve. If you’re struggling, keep hustling. Keep taking at least one big action step each day.
Failure is good luck. Just listen to these experts.
“Problems are in your life so that you can discover potentials that you didn’t even know you had.” - Barry Michels
“Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.” - Zig Ziglar
”Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.” - Napolean Hill
”Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill
“Everybody in your situation has the same choice: you can rue your situation or you can dedicate yourself to changing it. Accept responsibility for your future. Refuse to complain, criticize, or condemn. If you want us to help you achieve your goals, then trust in and follow our advice. Stop doubting it. Stop denying it. Have faith.” - Mark Ford
I can only hope you’ve been as lucky as I have over the years. And the old saying is true, you know, “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. So take that luck that you get and press it. Keep on pushing. It only gets easier from here.
By Craig Ballantyne
Luck has been in my corner since day one back in 1975.
I was extraordinarily lucky to be born in Canada into a lower-middle class family. Lucky enough to have been educated in the years of the first home computer, to have come of age as the first Internet generation, and to have stumbled across the convergence of direct marketing and online e-commerce before everyone and their uncle knew about it.
When I was a child I was lucky enough to have an alcoholic, underachieving, embarrassing father who gave me the first chip on my shoulder, one that compelled me to work harder, achieve more, and go further so that I could escape his shadow.
I was also lucky that my mother had dropped out of high school and spent the rest of her life working for barely more than the minimum wage, never earning more than $28,000 in a year. I was lucky, because of her mistakes, that she would never let me make the same ones.
And boy was I lucky to have went to grade school with patches on my knees, for this caused me great embarrassment and instilled in me the drive to do better, to excel in school, to get into the best program in college, to make the Dean’s Honor List three years in a row, to get accepted into a Master’s program, to study until 10pm on weekends so I could earn a scholarship to help me pay for 6 years of post-secondary education - and so that I’d never feel embarrassed like that again.
It’s as though I’ve had a horseshoe made out of rabbit’s feet around my neck for these past thirty years.
I’ve also been lucky to make friends with entrepreneurs like Bedros Keuilian, a real-life American Dream. Bedros was lucky to have been born in Armenia (then part of the Soviet Union) and to have a father that gambled his family’s safety by bribing their way out of the USSR so they could arrive virtually penniless in America (legally).
Bedros was also lucky enough to arrive in America in 1980 without being able to speak a lick of English. He was fortunate that his family was so poor that he had to "dumpster-dive" behind grocery stores for food. Without this luck, Bedros wouldn’t have the burning desire that has allowed him to succeed and create a better life, so that as he often tells me, “My kids will never have to spend an hour of their lives in daycare.”
And I’m lucky enough to be friends with Matt Smith, another lucky young man from my generation who, like me, grew up with little more than an embarrassment of a father and a mother that spent the little money she had to take care of her children.
Among Matt’s lucky childhood experiences was the night when his mother scraped together a few dollars for a special Friday dinner of take-out pizza. That night, the Smiths were lucky to have mistakenly left the pizza on top of the car as they drove away). Eventually, the pizza fell off the car’s roof into the middle of a busy intersection – where car after car drove over it – and this was a lucky break for Matt.
Why?
Because the Smiths’ had no money to go and buy a replacement pizza. And so Matt will forever remember that night – and that feeling – as something he will never want to experience again. It’s just another lucky motivator in his drive to do better and succeed so that his children won’t have to experience that great fortune.
That kind of luck leaves a burning desire that NOTHING – not even a life of iPhones, TV’s in every room of the house, unending after-school activities, or 24/7 Internet and cable TV access – could ever top.
My luck continues. I’m fortunate to know Isabel De Los Rios and fellow BioTrust Advisor, one of the world’s most successful nutrition experts, who herself was lucky enough to spend almost a decade as a sick, unhealthy, overweight, and unhappy young woman, so that she could truly understand the troubles that her hundreds of thousands of female clients go through.
Isabel was also lucky enough to be downright broke when she applied to my Mastermind Group in 2008, having to borrow the money from her fiancé. It was due to her great fortune to be in these situations that she committed to working harder than almost any other person I’ve ever coached. This has allowed her to pull herself up from financial stress and into a business where today she has over 200,000 customers that have been lucky enough to get Isabel’s help as they change their lives.
Finally, there's Michael Masterson, one of my business mentors that was lucky enough to grow up in a poor household of ten children. He was lucky enough to have so little that it drove him to become the entrepreneur and mentor to hundreds of thousands of good folks all around the world.
This is the luckiest group of individuals you might ever meet. We were lucky to have had the experiences we did because they taught us so much and drove us to great action. Without our setbacks, what would we have achieved? We have been part of the luckiest generations to have ever lived.
What about your luck? Have you lucked out and been fortunate to have gone through similar struggles? Have you been given the inspiration to work harder than ever, to explore new opportunities to take control of your future, and that drive you towards financial independence? Are you one of the fortunate ones that were not born with a silver spoon so that you could learn the importance of adding value to the world in exchange for a fair return? Have you been lucky enough to fail again and again?
Never forget that failure isn’t bad. Failure isn’t final. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from achieving the success you deserve. If you’re struggling, keep hustling. Keep taking at least one big action step each day.
Failure is good luck. Just listen to these experts.
“Problems are in your life so that you can discover potentials that you didn’t even know you had.” - Barry Michels
“Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.” - Zig Ziglar
”Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.” - Napolean Hill
”Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill
“Everybody in your situation has the same choice: you can rue your situation or you can dedicate yourself to changing it. Accept responsibility for your future. Refuse to complain, criticize, or condemn. If you want us to help you achieve your goals, then trust in and follow our advice. Stop doubting it. Stop denying it. Have faith.” - Mark Ford
I can only hope you’ve been as lucky as I have over the years. And the old saying is true, you know, “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. So take that luck that you get and press it. Keep on pushing. It only gets easier from here.
Rule number 5: Do what you inspired are to do.
One thing we tend to do in life is trust what our “sense of
reality” tells us is possible when, you have one tool in your arsenal that is
better than any self help book or how to book. Your “gut.” When you feel an
urge to do something, usually that is your gut telling you; “Hey, you want to
be successful? Give this a try.” Our normal reaction to this feeling of
inspiration is “Now that just doesn’t make sense. How can someone become
successful doing that?” We doubt ourselves. We doubt the divinity within us.
When we do that, we tend to push it away. We become less and less aware of
these promptings on how to be great.
As children we have unlimited access to the divinity
within us. We have full confidence in ourselves. We tend to seek approval from
sources that will not benefit us in the long run though. We seek approval from
adults. Now, to be fair to them they were raised the same way and they don’t
know any different. But their perspective and their ideas as to how the world
works say, “Awe sweetie that’s so cute. But you couldn’t do that. You can’t
make this. How would you get started?” See, they have been raised with their
limiting beliefs that say only a select few can be successful. They do have
your best interests at heart; however they just don’t know that you can
actually do whatever you want.
The secret to getting rid of your
limiting beliefs is to find out what they are and replace them with beliefs
that now support your own goal. A lot of you are probably saying to yourselves
as you sit in front of your computer screen “Well, this is nice but I already
know that. The question is how I go about breaking through my limiting beliefs.
I have the answer. If you do these things every day I promise that you will not
only find peace, but you will experience success that you have only dreamed of.
Wake up every morning with a prayer
of gratitude in your heart. Name the things that you are grateful for. As you
go about your day, stay positive and don’t let life get you down. Once you take
power over your day, you will feel more confident and start believing in
yourself. Every evening I want you to take some downtime away from distractions
and just clean yourself of self doubt, fear and pain. The way you do that is by
saying over and over again to yourself these few simple words. I love you, I’m
sorry, and I forgive you. As you say these simple but powerful words you will
feel such an overwhelming sense of love peace and clarity that your mind will
truly open up to the divine.
Jesus Christ said that we need to
be as little children. He also said that we should not hide our talents from
the world. How many of our talents have been suppressed because we have deemed
them to childish or too silly or just not practical? I encourage you to take
some time tonight to relive your childhood and take control of your future.
Tell yourself just how much you love yourself and you will receive the worldly
aspect of love as well. Money, wealth and good relationships. All of that, you
will attract once you believe in yourself.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Rule number 4: BE SPECIFIC!
Anything
good comes with little details. If you miss those details you likely miss all
of the good. For example, a good house isn’t just a bunch of brick organized in
an appealing fashion. If it were, it wouldn’t have any support that it needs
and it would crumble before your very eyes. Effectively making you miss all of
the good. Pay attention to the little details. The little details will make
your dream more substantial. It will cement it in your mind. The more firm it
is in your mind the harder your subconscious mind will work to make it a
reality.
Making
a goal firm in your mind is all about soul searching. You have to dig deep and
find out what you believe about your goal and why. This may be a difficult
journey for you as you will likely have suppressed many of these memories as
negative memories. Meditation will calm your mind so that you can see.
Meditation is like a tranquil pond. Clear, and undisturbed. Once you are in
that frame of mind you will be able to use your mind to your benefit. You can bring up those memories, confront
those limiting beliefs and flush them away.
Do
that, and it will be as though you open the flood gates and wipe away the
rubble of the house with no structure and you are able to build anew. When you
work on the building process remember to build a good foundation AND a firm
structure. A firm structure and a good foundation are going to give you all the
support you need. The rest will follow almost effortlessly.
However,
like a good house you may have to tear parts down and remodel. You may wonder
why the law of attraction isn’t working anymore. I assure you that it is.
Sometimes you have to tear parts down to build something greater. The money and
success is in the details. Sweat the small stuff because you will build on
those things. Until next time, Sterling out.
Rule number 3. Be the miracle you want to see!
If you think success can be achieved through wishful thinking, I'm sorry. You have been misinformed. Success is for passionate hard working people that are full of life. I won't lie to you, I was a big time video gamer. I enjoyed playing video games. I wanted to get married have kids and a family and make lots of money. Who doesn't? Until I took action, I didn't see anything but the next quest in my video games. What changed that? My wife. I met her and kicked my butt into gear. (With her help of course.) I immediately saw a future with her and I realized it and worked for it. Could I have gotten where I am today if I had continued with my video games? NO! I am working for a company I love now. I'm making more than enough money to pay the bills and my wife's money is all extra. Could I have done this if I hadn't become the person I wanted to be? No.
Now, the big ticket question; How do I become the miracle I want to see? A great example of this is Steve Jobs. His commencement speech is a perfect example of how to become the miracle you want to see.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of
the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college.
Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college
graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's
it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
Becoming the miracle is much more than praying for a miracle in your life. It is being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of opportunities. When you go about your day today, I want you to look for opportunities and look hard. I promise you that if you do, you will start having little victories and successes and those will ultimately lead to your success. Until next time, Sterling out
Now, the big ticket question; How do I become the miracle I want to see? A great example of this is Steve Jobs. His commencement speech is a perfect example of how to become the miracle you want to see.
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.
Video of the Commencement address.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Becoming the miracle is much more than praying for a miracle in your life. It is being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of opportunities. When you go about your day today, I want you to look for opportunities and look hard. I promise you that if you do, you will start having little victories and successes and those will ultimately lead to your success. Until next time, Sterling out
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Rule number 2 If you can dream it YOU CAN ACHIEVE IT!
There are many things we wish we had. Money, Happiness, Adventure, Health, Fame, Love, Relationships; to name a few. We all want more. We want better. What is stopping us? The answer is sadly simple. It is us. We let our dreams be crushed by what we perceive to be reality. Yes I said what we PERCEIVE to be reality. We are raised with beliefs about how the world works. Those beliefs determine what reality we live in. If we are constantly saying I can get what I want. I can do the impossible I can be the best, what will happen? I'll let you in on a little secret.....you eventually will make those sayings a reality. The more you believe it the more it starts to come true.
Have you ever had a day when everything went wrong? Let me ask you something, how did that day start? Did you wake up to an alarm blaring in your face too early in the morning? Did you stub your toe walking to the bathroom? Was all the hot water in your shower gone? Events like these are triggers. If you pull them, the bullet will exit the chamber on the course you set it. If you pause before you pull that emotional trigger refocus and aim and what you want, you will see a different outcome entirely. The emotions that you put out attract like kind to them. If you are in a good mood, good things tend to happen. However, the same goes for a bad mood. If you let one irritating event cause you to pull the trigger on it, you will attract more irritating events.
The secret to living day to day having the best days of your life is not sweating the small stuff. Refocus, set your sights on what you want and fire.
Now, what I want all of you do to right now is sit back in your chair, couch, bed or whatever and dream with me. Imagine what you want. I am envisioning a big house on the side of the mountain over looking the valley. Having parties every month. Having my family and closest friends living by me. I wake up in the morning energized and happy. Looking forward to a day of changing peoples lives at work and bringing home 4000+ weekly. Coming home with my little girl and boy running to me with open arms. Walking in the front door and sweeping my wife off of her feet and kissing her. Having a great meal and playing in the yard with my kids and dogs till the day is done.
If you envision your dream every day and act the way that someone that is living that would act I promise you, you will attract that into your life. Until next time. Sterling out
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Rule Number 1 Life IS fair.
Life gives you exactly what YOU believe you deserve. The fact is, most of us feel undeserving of success and wealth and love and the dream relationship. Society and the media plague us with images and ideologies as to what is and what isn't acceptable as a socially acceptable human being. We have these beliefs pounded into us at an early age. We are bombarded in the home and any time we go outside. Our parents actually raise us with beliefs such as failure is bad and with ideas as to what success looks like. It isn't our parent's fault. They were likely raised the same way and are raising us the best they know how.
Failure is a wonderful thing. It teaches us much better than success ever does. It inspires creativity and passion; IF WE LET IT. Let failure be an opportunity to learn and to grow. Don't let it beat you down. That is not it's purpose. People that use The Secret know the power of failure and embrace it. In one of my favorite movies Meet the Robinsons. They cheer Cornelious Robinsons failure to fix an invention of his. Let us embrace failure the same way.
To sum up, we attract EVERYTHING into our life. The good, the bad and the ugly as they say. What we attract is directly correlated with our beliefs. Failure is a blessing. Take it, embrace it and run with it. Love yourself. You have the power to do anything you want. Start believing it. Until next time
Failure is a wonderful thing. It teaches us much better than success ever does. It inspires creativity and passion; IF WE LET IT. Let failure be an opportunity to learn and to grow. Don't let it beat you down. That is not it's purpose. People that use The Secret know the power of failure and embrace it. In one of my favorite movies Meet the Robinsons. They cheer Cornelious Robinsons failure to fix an invention of his. Let us embrace failure the same way.
To sum up, we attract EVERYTHING into our life. The good, the bad and the ugly as they say. What we attract is directly correlated with our beliefs. Failure is a blessing. Take it, embrace it and run with it. Love yourself. You have the power to do anything you want. Start believing it. Until next time
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