The Pigeons

Today, the wind blew my tinfoil off of the air conditioner. I placed a big red bucket upside down on top of the air conditioner in hope that the pigeons will not return.

They are persistent.

I walked out on my patio to find that they are now perching in this tiny little corner behind the red bucket, and yes, still crapping on my patio. I'm going into a new phase of this bird crisis and drawing a scary face on a big paper grocery bag and putting it on the bucket. High five for pigeons being afraid of a scary face on a paper bag.

Have you ever heard that phrase? FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real. It's something one of the gurus of personal development coined. I think it was Zig Ziglar. Meaning that more often than not, the only things we really fear in life are stories and beliefs that we create, and then we invest a ton of emotion into them until they control our actions, moods, and outcomes. Like the birds...here's to me hoping the bag scares the >>>> out of them (well not really since that's what we want to avoid on the patio)...but scares them away anyway.

I think this concept of fear shows up the most not in things like spiders or snakes, or darkness or even that fear of being alone that people talk about, but I think that this concept of fear most often shows up in ourselves. I mean that I think we fear our own selves.

"This job may not be fulfilling or what I truly am capable of, but I might not find another in the tough economic times."
"We can't break up, we've been dating for so long already, and I might not meet anyone else."
"I'm not going to write this blog, people might not read it, or I might get bad feedback."
"I'm not going to tell my boss how I really feel because he/she might be smarter than me, more experienced than me..."

ANY OF THEM...or create your own! But there it is. We are afraid to take chances on ourselves. Why? Do we lack esteem for ourselves? Do we truly believe that the excuses we make up are legitimate reasons to stop ourselves from having what we want and what we deserve? Do we spend all the time in the world questioning our hearts and that 'gut', intuitive feeling, and because of that, we never capture that momentum and that energy into the action steps?

I was taught..."Get READY! FIRE! AIM." Because too often in life when we "get ready, aim, fire." We allow the 'aim' period to take over. To take control and make room for all of that false evidence...and by the time it comes to fire. We say..."but look at all this new stuff that came to the service...all the new evidence and new circumstances that I realized while I was aiming." And then someone says to you, "But that stuff wasn't there before."

And how do you respond, "Well, I just wasn't thinking clearly." And then more often then not, we don't act at all and soften the pain of not acting with more excuses of "I guess it just wasn't meant to be." or "No big deal, something else will come up." Or...in my eyes the worst one because it means justifying a current state..."Now that I think of it, I'm fine right where I am."

It hurts becuase most of that FEAR is rooted in ourselves afraid of the future. Not being able to see past our current state. We cling on to the security of a comfort zone versus really taking a chance on ourselves and our own personal greatness. And that to me, is the biggest tragedy, because not only do we end up missing out on how great we are, but so do all of the people that we had the opportunity to impact.

Test something out for me. Build a nest by the scary face bag! What i mean by this is create a situation that you can replicate and practice the "Ready Aim Fire" and then do the "Ready Fire Aim" model and see what happens.

Example...next time you're out and you see some person you want to introduce yourself to, but wouldn't ever. Get ready and start to think about it and you'll ceck yourself out of the game. Find someone else you want to introduce yourself to, don't think about it, and JUST DO IT. And regardless of the outcome, come to realize that it wasn't all thay painful, you're not dead, you survived, and the big paper bag monster blew over with the wind.

Enjoy the night!

An Introducation

Good Afternoon!

I think that when I think too much, this stuff becomes pretty forced, so I'm just going to write.

I was listening to some talk radio show on the drive home from my office which is in downtown Minneapolis. Some radio host was on the air with a colleague that was on the street. His colleague was to approach random strangers and ask them to take some time to talk to said radio host. I was fortunate enough to catch three of his interviews, all three of which were my generation. He then went on to ask them a series of questions built to confuse and pressure the participant with the end result of each of the three admitting they were a Marxist.

Well done.

I then came to realize that the job of many media avenues is to cultivate distrust, ill will and conflict among groups of individuals. Nothing you didn't know.

What does this have to do with anything? Not much. To be honest, I wasn't really listening to the guy that carried with him the sole intention of proving that a generation that voted Obama in to office carries with it an aura of Marxism and ignorance. I don't really care, I am kind of bored with these efforts of one political party or another.

When I finally got back to my apartment, I took a sheet of tinfoil from a kitchen drawer and wrapped it around the air conditioner that juts out of a wall on my porch. I'm hoping this piece of tinfoil will keep the pigeons from nesting there and crapping all over the patio. As of now, 2 hours later, the birds have not returned. And although I believe in providing opportunities for all, I believe someone else can take care of the opportunities for these birds. Likewise, as much as I'd love the world to take care of me in a seemingly Marxist manner, I understand that I'm going to have to either build my nest of the tinfoil or find a new place to nest.

I am a motivational speaker that also operates a nonprofit in Minneapolis, MN :) We are the absolute best leadership development org in the nation. I say that without bias. This year alone, our 4 staff members served 20 different colleges and hundreds of businesses throughout the nation. I teach leadership development to college students and business professionals all over. This year alone, I've served over 540 students through leadership development activities, workshops and speaking events that included topics from personal wealth and health, to personal purpose and relationships, and 250 business owners, teams, and young professionals.

I have a very active right brain. Lots of thoughts, lots of creativity, lots of solutions. Which I have found a lot of new graduates don't really realize is REQUIRED to be successful in the real world. It's tough in here. Nothing is easy. Today alone, I have had to follow up on meetings from yesterday, create new leads, reach out to 50 graduates, develop a brand look, create two proposals, fundraise, and prepare for a training. Things are hard in the world right now. I spoke with 12 different business professors at UMN-Duluth and Famous Dave Anderson just yesterday, and the end result of our conversation was the same again and again, it's getting harder and harder, and resumes are the last thing to think about when it comes to finding a job.

This blog is about that. Developing that side of who we all are, because honestly...moving forward, there will be more and more tin-foiled nesting places, and it's no body's job but yours to make opportunities, follow through and build the success you deserve.

Welcome!