If you do not like the Story you’re living…It’s time to sit down with the Author and have a “Heart to Heart” Chat. Who’s the Author of Your Story…YOU! That should be Great news for all of us to hear, because if we’re the Authors of our own story, Then we can change it to read any way we want it to.

One of my favorite Peanut’s Cartoon Clips is when Charlie Brown is complaining to Linus about how his lunch is the same everyday, and he hates it. Then Linus asks him…“Who makes your lunch?’ Charlie Brown answers…“I Do” . It seems so ridiculously obvious to us that Charlie Brown is in complete control of what he puts in his lunch, he could enjoy something different everyday if he really wanted to change.

But, What about each one of us? Aren’t we the ones in control of our own Story? We’ve all heard the definition of Insanity, which is: “Continuing to do the same thing over and over, and expecting different results”  I don’t know about you, but I want different results… I Want To Change My Story!

How Do We Change Our Story?

The first step is to begin with the end in mind. In Steven Covey’s Ground Breaking best selling book, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Habit #2 is:  Begin With The End In Mind. Essentially, Dr. Covey says that we will never create the reality of the life we want to live, until we first create it in our mind.

We must be able to visualize the life we want to live. Think about where you want to live, what will your income level be, how will you impact your community, how will your influence impact your children, what will you do vocationally, what kind of marriage do you want, and what will your legacy be? Changing your Story will probably  not begin with Chapter 1. When you Change Your Story, it doesn’t mean that you erase everything from your past and start over, it’s more of a pivoting point in your life when you decide it’s time to live the life you were born to live.

Every Good Story…

Every good Story reaches a point when everything changes. Once we can see the life we want to live, we need to understand what needs to happen for our vision to become a reality. We need to ask ourselves some more questions: What kind of husband do I need to be in order to have the kind of marriage I want? What activities can I do with my kids to make sure I am having a positive impact on their lives? How will I get into the career field that fits my personality, skills, and my passion? and what needs to change in my finances to be free to live the life I truly desire?

Asking these questions will put us on a path towards Changing Our Story.

The Action Scene!

Stories never change without Action! I have spent more than enough time envisioning the life I want to live, I have even devoted countless hours asking and answering the questions we just talked about, but I often find myself paralyzed when it’s time to take Action. Dreaming, Thinking, and Planning are all very necessary components to Changing Your Story, but they don’t mean much until you do something.

The approach that has finally been working for me is: Small Action Steps Are Better Than No Action Steps. In other words, start small. Pick one small thing that you can do in each of the major roles in your life…and Take Action!!! If you start today with a few simple action items you will begin to pickup momentum and feel more inspired to Change Your Story.

Today is the Best day to start to Change Your Story, and begin being more Intentional about Your Legacy.

Blessings,

Randell

Why do birds keep coming back to  an empty feeder? I have four birdfeeders at my house that I keep full of birdseed all winter long, but come late spring I stop refilling them until the following fall. I’ve noticed something a bit interesting to me – the birds keep coming all summer long, even though the feeder is completely empty.

I will watch the same bird land on the feeder, examine it intently, and fly back to a tree branch 30 or 40 feet away. He will sit on the tree branch for a moment and then fly back to the same feeder and examine it again. This same bird will do this over and over again until I just stop watching…it’s probably doing it right now.

Why would a bird continue to waste it’s energy returning to something that is unfulfilling, and completely unsatisfying. It seems that he would realize that this opportunity has dried up, and he could better feed his family searching among the berries and seeds of the field…it’s got to be better than the store bought food anyway.

This bird has allowed something that was once a promising opportunity, trap him in a life of mediocrity that will eventually lead to his destruction if he doesn’t make a change soon.

Opportunity Or Trap?

This blog post was inspired by a piece I read in Andy Andrews book, Mastering The Seven Decisions. Andy says: “Way too many people trade out their freedom for security, and they don’t even realize it. There’s a difference between an opportunity you seize and a trap you walk into.”

Not every door that is opened for us is the right door for us to walk through, it could even be a trap. I am currently working with a gentleman who is considering a new position with a huge international company. It’s a GREAT opportunity…or is it? Here’s the deal – this move would require that he relocate and leave an area that he loves. This occupation is also 180 degrees from his true passion, which is medical research. But, But, But…It’s a GREAT opportunity, with GREAT benefits,  with a GREAT income, with a chance to advance with the company, and probably move around some more.

This Is How We Get Trapped!

The problem with chasing the wrong opportunities is that they can trap us in a mediocre life, we’ve all heard the saying that Good is the Enemy of Great…and it’s true. We tend to settle for goodness to the point that we miss real opportunities for Greatness! When we pursue the wrong opportunities it’s kind of like boarding the Titanic…it looks so promising, but in the end it is so destructive. We long to be free and live the life we were born to live, and until we are, we are not really living fully alive.

Avoid The Trap!

Here are 3 quick tips to avoid the trap:

1. Know Yourself…Understand what you’re Passionate about, and what it is that you Value most. Uncover your Personality traits, Do you like to be around people? Do you enjoy a fast paced life or prefer a little more relaxed pace? Are you a big picture thinker, or would you rather focus on the details? Determine your Skills and Abilities.
2. Evaluate Every Opportunity…Run every opportunity through the filter of the answers to item #1. Is it an opportunity you’re passionate about, and does it align with your Values? Does it lend well to your Personality? Do you have the Skills and Abilities to carry out the functions of this opportunity with Excellence?
3. Will it meet the needs of your Family…Financially, Socially, Spiritually, Enviromentally, and Relationally?

If you Evaluate every opportunity against these criteria, you are well on your way to Avoiding the Trap, and being more Intentional About Your Legacy.

Blessings,

~Randell

I’m sure we are all familiar with the term IQ, it is commonly accepted as the term to identify one’s intelligence, thus,” Intelligence Quotient“, or IQ. However, is there perhaps an even more important value we could measure and designate in a similar way? Maybe we could examine our Real IQ and refer to it as  RIQ… “Real Impact Quotient”. I do not want to get into the discussion of the value of IQ versus the value of  RIQ other than to say this… If I had to choose, I would choose Real Impact over intelligence any day, fortunately I believe we can share both.

What’s this all about?

I was considering the value of time,  time spent, time invested, time wasted, time lived, and most important, time still yet to live. So I did what any logical human being would do, I went to Google. As it turns out, according to the U.S. Census Bureau the projected life expectancy in 2010 was 78.3 years.

That statistic got my attention Big Time because I realized that I had most likely already lived more than 60% of my life. Quite honestly it scared me, I started wondering… what difference have I made, what impact have I had, and how have I changed this world. I began to question the amount of time I still had left, and would the  amount of Time I had left  be the deciding factor in the ultimate impact I would have on my family, my community, my clients, and this world?

I Loved The Answer

The great news is that our RIQ is not limited by time. I have spent a very limited amount of time with some people that have had a major impact on my life, and to the contrary, I have also spent a great deal of time with some people who had practically no positive impact on my life at all. Sometimes just a word or phrase can change a persons life. Zig Ziglar said that his whole life changed when someone simply told him that “he could do it”, and believed in him…hard telling what kind of RIQ Zig Ziglar has had on this world, and it all started with someone caring enough to instill confidence in a struggling salesman.

How Can We Increase Our RIQ?

• Discover your Purpose, your Calling…The best way to have the most Impact is to know what you were born to do. Pay attention to your desires…they were not put in you to taunt you, they are in you to guide you.

• Develop your natural strengths, skills, and abilities…The best way to enhance your Impact, is to leverage the things you are already naturally good at and have interests in.

• Put together a Plan…Allow your Passions, Dreams, and Values to guide your Goals and begin to layout a Plan of Action.

• Take Action…Make deposits of service in peoples lives. Ultimate Impact is a result of unselfish service.

Real Impact Quotient…RIQ Goes On Forever

Your RIQ becomes your Legacy. There is no doubt that we could make a pretty impressive list of famous people who have profoundly impacted this world, but my hunch is that the ones with the most Amazing RIQs, are the ones quietly serving and sharing there gifts among us everyday…Maybe It’s You!

Begin today growing your Impact, enhance your Real IQ and be more Intentional about your Legacy!

Blessings,

Randell

In Wednesdays Blog Post I referenced Kent Julian’s Success formula E+R=O…What I didn’t know at the time was that on the very same day, Kent had posted a powerful video on YouTube of a portion of his keynote presentation where he illustrates this life changing discipline.

I asked Kent if I could share that video with you here…Thanks Kent, What an Incredible message for us all.

If you enjoyed Kent’s presentation, be sure to “Like” it in the upper right hand corner once you hit play.

Following this logic, is wealth measured in time then or measured in dollars… I would suggest neither is an appropriate measurement of wealth. Wealth can be best measured by the value your time creates for you or someone else. For example:   If I am hired to give a speech for $1100, and I invest 10 hours researching and writing my speech, and one hour actually delivering my speech, you could say I just earned $100 per hour. However the wealth does not stop there, assuming the content of my speech added value to those listening, the potential wealth continues on with each person in attendance. To take this one step further, if I take that same speech and put it on a CD and offer it for sale, the potential income for me and the potential added value for anyone who purchased the CD for all practical purposes is infinite.

At the beginning of each year, at the beginning of each month, at the beginning of each week, and at the beginning of each day, we all start with the same amount of time. Each of us has a choice whether to spend our time purchasing dollars, or invest our time creating value for ourselves and others.

By investing our time in Personal Development and People Development we can change our world and be more Intentional about our Legacy.

~Randell Mark Olson

I first heard that phrase from a cassette tape in 1982 from leadership expert and keynote speaker Bob Goshen. Although I have not consistently lived by that principle it continues to roll through my mind still 30 years later.

Who really wants to be moderate anyway? Nobody is” turned on” by somebody or something that is just moderate.  Living only a few miles from Lake Michigan, my wife and I often enjoy sitting on the pier watching the boats come in and out of the channel heading out to the big lake.While the boats are in the channel they are in a “no wake zone“, this means they float at an idle speed leaving no wake behind the boat. The real fun begins when they get past the end of the pier, without exception every boat goes full throttle. It’s as though the real ride doesn’t even begin until they are at full throttle.

Our lives are no different than the boats in the channel, if we are living moderate lives it’s as though we are in the “no wake zone“. I don’t know about you, but I want my life to be leaving a wake, a positive wake. I want to make a positive difference in this world and it will never happen being moderate. Being moderate is boring, being moderate is in effective, being moderate is dangerous, and being moderate leaves no wake…FULL EFFORT IS FUN, and FULL EFFORT changes everything.

I was listening to an Andy Andrews Podcast recently where Andy was interviewing Christian comedian Ken Davis. Ken made an awesome statement about how he wants to finish his life here on earth. He said “I want to cross the finish line with my chest pushed out as far as possible“…out of breath…FULL EFFORT!!! I agree with Ken Davis, I don’t want to stroll across the finish line, I want to cross it wide open, completely “Spent”…as Zig Ziglar says, “physically exhausted, but emotionally exhilarated“

It’s time we get out of the channel, leave a WAKE, and have some FUN… Let’s go FULL THROTTLE  being Intentional about our Legacy!!!

Blessings,

~Randell

I was talking to a friend of mine just the other day and I was telling him about some of the new strategies I was planning on using to market my business. Now this friend also owns his own business as well so what he said next really struck me, he said this. “So you are growing your business to do more of what you hate”

I was blown away, I said to him immediately, no I am growing my business to do more of what I love. I told him, that I can’t wait to be able to share the message I have with more and more people, and help others realize that work doesn’t have to be a chore, work doesn’t need to be something we hate, but rather our work should be a reflection of who we truly are and what we were born to do.

The Sad Reality

The sad truth is, that whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur,  if you hate your work it is impossible to live a full life.   How can a person spend 50 or 60% of their waking hours doing something that they hate and truly be alive. I don’t think it is possible, but the real question is this.  If you are not living fully alive, who then is missing out on the real you? Who is being robbed of your real personality, your passions, your dreams, your values. Who is missing out on your talents, your skills, and your abilities. I think it’s really quite simply everybody. The world is missing out on the real you, and you are missing the joy of living a full and abundant life, the life that you were born to live.

If YOU Hate Your Work

If you’re an employee who hates his job, or if you’re a worn out, beat up, overwhelmed, and overworked entrepreneur, it’s time to Get Your Life Back. It’s time to discover who you are, and why you’re here.  It’s time to once again experience Joy, Confidence, Freedom, and a Great Smile to share with the world.

What Now?

If you want to talk about it, I’d love to chat with you at no charge Click Here and drop me a note…We’ll jump on the phone and chat for a while.

I’ve got the bounce back in my step, and you can too!

Blessings,

Randell

Lesson Learned from Picking Blueberries

One of my favorite summertime activities is an annual trip to a local blueberry farm each July, to pick many pounds of berries for eating and freezing for winter baking. This has been an activity I’ve engaged in since I was a young girl visiting my Grandma each summer in the coal region of PA. In my youth, picking was more of a chore than pleasure. Back then I never appreciated the peaceful feeling experienced in the midst of that activity, or the opportunity to commune with God. I never saw the sun streaming down in the early morning hours with the dew fresh on the fruit and leaves. At the time I never realized the valuable lesson I would learn much later in life.

Yesterday marked the day for picking and I was excited. This farm has rows and rows of berries and I knew exactly where I wanted to go. Arriving at my spot, I looked at the one bush and quickly assessed that it had been picked over. Moving to  the next one, only a couple of feet away, an amazing discovery was made. A new angle, and small shift allowed me to see all the fruit that was actually on the bush I had just walked away from. Lifting a branch, and moving a leaf allowed me to see what wasn’t obvious earlier.

How often do we, in attempting to discover our calling, miss seeing opportunities because we only have one way of viewing a situation? We spend precious time looking straight ahead when all we have to do is shift a bit, or move something to gain a whole new perspective. The lamp provides the necessary light to take the next step.

What are you missing on the road to discovering your calling  because you are looking for the neon light instead of the lamp that is already at your feet softly lighting the way?

Have you ever watched a cartoon chase? You know the ones I’m talking about, where one character is chasing the other, and the first one goes around a corner and quickly slips, unnoticed  into a doorway while the chaser dashes past and keeps running down the hall.  You can almost sense the first ones relief while he sits there trying to catch his breath, and planning his next move.

As a small business owner, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to just run away from my business, or at least hide from it long enough to plan my next move.  I would think to myself…if I could just get far enough ahead to Think, to Breath, to Rest, and figure out what to do next.

The business I thought was my Dream, was now more like a Prison. It wasn’t like being between a rock and a hard place, at least there you know where you’re at.  This was worse, because it was like being nowhere at all.  Sounds kind of strange, but the fact is that I didn’t know where I was going, and really didn’t know how I even ended up where I was.

If You’re Still Reading This, You’ve Been There Too

The problem is,  if we don’t address it, we’ll sabotage our business, and likely ourselves as well. I fought this battle on and off for years, only to realize that the business itself wasn’t really the problem, it had more to do with me.  I had to face the fact that I needed to take a good hard look inside of myself, and it was the best thing I’ve ever done.

The Path To Getting Your Life Back

The first step towards living completely alive is getting to know yourself.  You have to ask yourself why you went into this business in the first place.  Was it just to make an income, or did you have a dream that was bigger than just money.

If you had a dream that was bigger than money, chances are you can recapture that vision,  re-ignite that passion, and begin to experience real joy in your business again.

However, if money was the driving force for  your business start up, it is also probably what is driving your frustration.  You see to stay the course through thick and thin it takes a stronger passion than money. You may discover that you have no passion for your business at all, and it’s time to make a change, remember it starts by looking inward to clarify your strongest passions, and deepest desires.

If you can start your business from there, you will change your world and leave a Legacy of Greatness!

Moments Of Greatness Captured On Video

Brand New today.  Today I am introducing a brand new video series entitled: “Moments Of Greatness”. My purpose is to encourage anyone who is struggling in their current situation, to choose a Great response in every given moment.

Most of us cannot really imagine ourselves as Great, but all of us can choose a Great response for a single moment.  I sincerely believe that a Great life consists of Great responses, Moment By Moment.

So please watch this first intro video, and give me your feedback…I promise the quality will get better.

I will be releasing new “Moments Of Greatness Videos” on Tuesdays and Fridays, if you capture a Moment Of Greatness on Video, contact me, and we’ll try to use it here to encourage someones else.

This is just one more way we can be “Intentional about our Legacy”

“Randell Mark” Olson