March 9, 2010
Hello all!
I am back from my sabbatical and full of life’s energy. Recently I was giving a presentation to an organization and I was asked, ” How is 2010 treating you so far?”
For those of you that realize you are your greatest asset, I believe the proper question should be, “How are YOU treating 2010? Hmm….
It’s great to be back and I will talk to all of you soon………
Ray
October 18, 2009
Last weekend I did a three day book signing for my book, “It’s Great to Be YOU”at Rural Route #1 Popcorn in Montfort Wisconsin. It was a great three days as it was their “fall harvest” weekend and the place was packed all three days. I met and sold books to people from South Carolina, Iowa, Illinois, and as far away as Alaska!
I love to listen to people and hear their stories. No matter what state you are from, many of the stories are universal in theme. We all have ups and downs, highs and lows, and middle of the road days.
I believe that the key to reacting to any given day is to find at least one good thing in it before the day is done. It really is about what you want to focus on.
I went into the three day weekend with the goal of selling each day, at least one more book than the day before. I reached, and exceeded my goal each day, but not without a little extra effort. On day two, I had to stay an extra hour to reach my goal.
Many times, it is a matter of attitude and willingness to do what it takes to reach your goals. With a down economy, jobless rates rising, as well as everyday issues that need to be dealt with, you must stay focused on the result you want and you will end up where you want to be more often than not.
Talk soon…….
September 9, 2009
Well, school has started and we are entering a new season. Each year, I express to my martial arts students that the beginning of school represents a fresh start. The same is true for those of us in the working world. As you enter the final quarter of the year, are you setting short term goals for the next three months, or at least evaluating your existing goals as to where you are compared to where you want to be?
Excellence, success, and happiness never takes a vacation. Where is it that you are working to be on purpose? Just a little food for thought, I hope your hungry!
Create a great day for yourself….
Ray
September 1, 2009
It has been a month and 2 days since my last blog. I have been busy in many areas over the past month. I have been doing speaking engagements, promoting my new book, running my martial arts school, and getting my son off to college. He is pursuing his masters degree in music performance. While I am truly happy for him, the fact that he is pursuing this degree at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, will be a bit harder than going to UW-Whitewater (2 hours away) to go and watch his performances. He just drove 4,500 miles on his motorcycle (1997 BMW R1100RT) to get there. He says it was beautiful even though he rode much of the trip in the rain. He was in awe of the natural beauty of this country as well as Canada and Alaska.
When you are 23 years old and going to college, you have a couple very precious gifts at the same time that will rarely happen at the same time as you get older. These gifts are, time and individual freedom. After college (and during school) you will possibly have a job, relationship, and other situations where others have their hands on your time.
It is important to consider taking advantage of opportunities in your life as they come your way, even if it is outside your comfort zone- healthy risks if you will. All decisions you make and don’t make, have a value to you so enjoy the process…..
No matter your lot in life, you are your greatest asset so always remember, it is great to be you!
Talk again soon………
July 30, 2009
Amidst all the chaos in the world with the economy, war, local governments going broke and so on, it seems like a real dark picture for the present and future. Unless you look at it in a way that is much more practical, efficient, and effective. What I mean is, you should not be looking at the world from the outside, which you have no control over. You should be looking at the world from the inside and asking yourself what it is that you can do that makes “your” world a better place to be. When you do this, you will not only make “your” world better but the ripple effect will grow out from you to the rest of the world.
What is your world? It is the environment in which you function such as work, family and friends, or anyone you come in contact with. “Your” world is one that you have control over and you can create what actions and results occur in it.
I challenge you to step back and take a look at what you are doing to create the best possible “your” world that you can each and everyday, so you can live the life you deserve and not except what the rest of the world decides to throw at you because of the actions of others.
After all, you are your greatest asset, and hopefully you believe that it is great to be you! Take control…………….
July 9, 2009
Hello all,
I just returned from the 9th Annual Martial Arts Industry Associations “Super Show” in Las Vegas. This show is the largest show in the United States that brings martial artists from all over the world together in one convention to share business practices, training methods, and the opportunity for suppliers to showcase their products. This years event was the largest turnout ever with over 2,500 attendees! I was there with a booth selling my book, “It’s Great to Be YOU!”
Although my book is not a martial arts book per say, it parallels the philosophy of martial arts which is to build strong individuals no matter their vocation in life. We had a very successful show with many school owners from as far away as Australia purchasing the book as a possible required reading for their students who test for black belt and above. I also made some very good contacts with the largest supplier in the world for martial arts supplies, Century Martial Arts Supply. I also met with the largest professional organization (MAIA) in the country that helps schools through educational programming and consulting to bring their school to the next level. They publish the martial arts Success magazine which goes to all their members monthly. It is my hope that we can work together to get the book into more people’s hands throughout the martial arts community, and spread the news that “It’s Great to Be You!
July 2, 2009
Tomorrow is the 4th of July and what does that mean to you? Does it mean you get to participate in or watch a parade? Does it mean you get to hang out in a beer tent and have grilled burgers to raise money for the local civic organization? Does it mean you get to watch a band play music for the gathering in the park? Does it mean you have a reason to get the family together for the annual reunion? Does it mean the children get to go on carnival rides and eat cotton candy?
With all this excitement, let’s not forget that we are celebrating the 4th of July which is the day we celebrate our independence as a country. The United States of America is a free country, and of course, we all know that freedom is not FREE. Many americans have died to preserve the freedoms we all enjoy today so the 4th of July is always a special day that I remind myself to be thankful for my freedom and remember those that have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Let’s talk about freedom on a personal level. Many people do not feel free for different reasons. They are financially strapped and feel their life is on loan to the bank, or working in a job that they do not like and feel trapped. Most people in these situations have put themselves there through their own actions. The good news is that they can get themselves out of these situations through their own actions!
If you are not where you want to be in your life, and living the life you deserve, then now is the best time to exercise your freedom and take control of your life. You need to develop a plan to reach your new goals and stay committed to them. Each and everyday you must remind yourself of the personal freedom you want to achieve. Will it be easy? probably not. Can it be done? Of course it can.
June 8, 2009
A lot of professional speakers will talk about change as though it is a new phoenomenon. Change has been, and always will be, every part of your waking days. Some changes are just more noticeable and immediate. Based on personality type, some people get really nervous and even panic at the thought of change, while others are excited about the new stimulation of change.
Much change, is uncontrollable by you. Understanding this, will help you not waste your time stressing and worrying about something that you cannot control. Rather, you will use your time adapting and growing with whatever changes are occurring in your life. In the military and even martial arts world, it has been said that “a warrior adapts to the battlefield.” So it is with us, we must adapt to the battlefield (life) every day so we can remain in control of not only the situations in our lives, but the outcomes as well!
It is not so much managing change as it is managing ourselves around and within change. Win the day….
May 19, 2009
This weeks blog is dedicated to service, both good and bad. Last week, I was traveling to Ohio to pick my new book (It’s great to be YOU) from the printer. A few interesting things happened along the way that I found to be very interesting and worth sharing with you. I have always said that service will always sell, whether it is good or bad. By treating the customer well, your service will sell by having them come back as a result of a good experience. By negating the customer and not treating them like the most important person in your world while they are in front of you, your bad service will sell and they may never return. Here are my experiences from last week.
First, I stopped at a favorite fast food pizza joint to grab a quick bite while under a tight travel schedule. The man (probably in his upper 20’s) asked “can I take your order?” As I started to tell him what I wanted, he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket as it beeped with a text message coming in. I continued to give him my order while he proceeded to text the person back on his phone!! I had to repeat my order to him as he did not hear what I said the first time. When he was done texting (talking) to the person on the phone, he put his phone away and thought he would “make time” to focus on me, the customer that apparently was not as important as the person who was texting him at that moment. I did get my order, without a smile or thank you, and left. One could argue that in today’s society, it could have been me, the customer talking on my cell phone while giving my order, much to the employee’s frustration. Good argument, however, I was the customer not him. No matter how you slice it (pardon the pun), it was bad customer service and it was wrong. Training or re-training in customer service needs to be done here before customers are lost forever….
Good service. A couple days later, while 10 hours from home, my truck experienced a problem with the steering. Upon bringing it to a dealer, it was found that the pressure hose for the power steering had blown off and all my power steering fluid had leaked out. As I entered the service department at the Ford dealership, the service manager (Chuck) greeted me with the smile of a long time friend. In short, they checked 5 parts stores before finding the part, they got my truck in right away and within 1 hour I was on my way. The next day after arriving home, I received a phone call from them, following up on the service to see if everything went well on the way home. I remember as I was leaving, Chuck said that if I was ever back in the area that I should stop in and say hi! No matter how you slice it (pun intended) that was excellent customer service.
Service will always sell, good or bad. When you provide either of them, it is never just the immediate customer that is affected. It becomes your calling card or culture and that dictates your future successes or failures. Be successful on purpose!
May 7, 2009
Yesterday was a special day for me. The local newspaper in the town where I live, ran a feature story on the release of my new book, “It’s Great to Be YOU” on the front page in full color. When you live in a town of 3,500 people any news out of the ordinary (especially positive news) is a pretty special event. My book is a positive book about being successful on purpose and it provides tools for you to use based on where you are in your life right now as far as reaching your personal or professional goals. You would think that it would be hard to find negativness in a book that is totally positive and written with the sole intent to help others.
Enter the 95%-ers. It has been said that 5% of the people are leaders and 95% of the people conform. Now, that doesn’t mean that the 95%-ers are not contributing. Actually, the world needs the 95%-ers, however, in that category exists a sub group of individuals that complain about everything.
It wasn’t but 10 minutes after the paper came out (in rural communities, people line up and wait for the paper, in this case, on Wednesday afternoons) that negative comments were flowing. Why would this be? Well, as you may have noticed in your life, a lot of people around you are not happy and they don’t want to see you happy either. It is much easier for them to criticize others than to make changes in their own life to better themselves and become happy on purpose. Criticism requires no ownership, but bettering yourself requires ownership and action. The coffee shops and lunchrooms will be buzzin’ with negativity for the next few days with people complaining about this positive news and why they would never buy that “stupid book.” The paradox is that these are the people who could really benefit from it.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many people that enjoyed the story and look forward to getting this book and the benefits that it may present to them.
How do you react to this negative behavior? While you want to try to convince people to have a different attitude, that usually will not work. As the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.” These people know everything already and it is best to leave them to their group where misery loves company! The way to attack these behaviors is to stay positive, move forward and lead by example. Hopefully, they will recognize how your behaviors create a more positive life for you and they will decide to move in that direction.
One common thread between leaders and the 95%-ers is this: “What you give your energy/time to will grow flourish and prosper in your life, and what you deny your energy/time to will wither and die out of your life.” It all comes down to what you choose to do with your energy and time. How are you investing it? It is where you invest your energies , positive or negative, that determines where you end up. You are in control.
Positive thoughts and actions will yield positive results. Negative thoughts and actions will yield negative results. It is that simple.
The question for you is, where are you investing your time and energy?
Create a great day for yourself and remember, It’s Great to Be YOU!
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