Dr. Seuss Can Help You Succeed in Network Marketing

Here is a great quote from Theodor Seuss Geisel, popularly known as Dr. Seuss:  "You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself any direction you choose.  You're on your own, and you know what you know.  And you are the one who'll decide where you'll go." Take that quote and apply it to the 4 basics of achieving your goal in network marketing: Vision, Drive, Focus and Direction. 

If you have ever had a mentor, they have asked you first to set a goal.  But it needs to be a passionate goal; this is your Vision.  And there needs to be a strong "Why." This goal needs to be specific, written down in the present tense, with a target date, and measurable.  This is not some mere "It would be nice to be rich" kind of thing.  From here we will break down this big goal and make intermediate goals, and then short term goals.

After that we need to have Drive.  Drive is the motivation to pursue that vision through all kinds of diversions and difficulties.  We can only have that drive if we are truly passionate about where we want to go and why we want to go there.  A good example of this is wanting to help your ailing parent or be able to send your kids to the college of their dreams IF this is more important to you than your comfort at the time.  The Vision has to motivate you to do things that are outside your comfort zone, even when you are tired.

Third, we need to have Focus.  Focus is the ability to look at what we want and sort out a very specific portion of the general plan into which we will direct our efforts.  Let's take an example of using social networks to build a list of friends and contacts.  You can go out there and sign up on 10 or 20 different networks and build lists of thousands of contacts or "friends."  But the value in social networking is in actually developing relationships with people.  How can you possibly focus on that diverse a group?  Choose a couple places that look like a good fit and focus your efforts there.  The same concept could apply to how many companies you try to represent.  Your time will be a lot more productive if you focus your efforts in one area.

The last area is Direction.  Direction can be provided by your upline, your company training, and mentors outside your company as well.  We all need feedback about what we are doing. We need to make our plans, go for it, look at the results, and then adjust.   The adjustments we will make are based on our results and the feedback of mentors and upline.  This is a business where we can wander around lost for a long time if we don't take advice from folks who have been around a lot longer.

Dr. Seuss lets us know that we have everything we need to succeed in network marketing.  We have the brains, heart and determination to succeed.  Our success will depend on our own work ethic.  But, please be sure that you allow others with successful track records and experience to help you with the learning process.

Debby Riddick

http://DRiddick.bigmlmtruths.com

Fear of Poverty

I did a lesson review of chapter 15 of Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich for a mentorship group which I am part of and I wanted to share it with you because I think it has such widespread application today.

There is a ton of content in the last chapter of Napoleon Hill's book. He talks about the six ghosts of fear.  The first 3, fear of poverty, fear of criticism, and fear of ill health are really at the root of all other fears.  The other three are the fear of the loss of someone's love, the fear of old age, and the fear of death.  But from here what Hill spends most of the chapter talking about is the fear of poverty.  Nature has given us only one thing over which we have total control and that is our thoughts.  It has been proven time and time again that our thoughts are things.  They bring about in physical reality that which we think about with great feeling.  And fear and worry are Very strong feelings.

We can either be in control of our thoughts and, therefore, our future or we can let our mind be filled with what Hill calls "the tramp thought impulses which are being released by other brains."  There can be no compromise on this.  The road which leads to riches and the road which leads to poverty are in opposite directions.  Hill is careful to point out that he is talking about riches in the broadest sense: financial, spiritual, mental and material estates.  If we are willing to accept poverty in any of these areas we may as well make up our mind to be there. If we demand riches in any form we are to determine in what form and how much will be required to satisfy us. This is not a gentle "well I would like to be...”  No this is an absolute demand that says "I will accept nothing less than..."  The path to riches demands but one thing and that is a state of mind that has no room for poverty.    

Hill lists the symptoms of the fear of poverty: indifference, indecision, doubt, worry, over-caution and procrastination.  If I had to pick my greatest fault here it would be procrastination.  This is symptom of the fear of poverty.  If I truly believed with all my being in the success of my endeavor, whatever it is, would I hesitate about giving it everything I had?  No I would not.  And how we do one thing in life is how we do all things in life.  Therefore, I have to assume that my procrastination in many areas of my life means there is fear behind it.  This is where self talk and affirmations and turning off the TV come into play.  We need to remove ourselves from the constant negative bombardment and the selling of fear on TV.

Hill addresses his critics who ask why he is always talking about money.  I love this passage by Westbrook Pegler which Hill quotes: "money is only clam shells or metal discs or scraps of paper, and there are treasures of the heart and soul which money cannot buy, but most people, being broke, are unable to keep this in mind and sustain their spirits.  When a man is down and out and on the street, unable to get any job at all, something happens to his spirit which can be observed in the droop of his shoulders, the set of his hat, his walk and his gaze. He cannot escape a feeling of inferiority among people with regular employment, even though he knows they are definitely not is equals in character, intelligence or ability...."  There is so much warning for us in these times.  We need to believe in ourselves and our power to change our circumstances by hard work and thought control.

The fear of criticism comes in here.  We feel that if we cannot get a job, pay our bills right now, etc. that things will never get any better. Then we imagine that everyone is criticizing us.  Because we fear others' judgments we are robbed of our initiative, our power of imagination, our individuality, and our self-reliance.  We make decisions based out of fear, and decisions which are made out of fear will never yield the results we want.  Here Hill gives us another checklist to see if the fear of criticism is working against us.  The symptoms are self-consciousness, lack of poise, personality weakness, inferiority complex, extravagance, lack of initiative, and lack of ambition. 

Worry is a state of mind based upon fear.  It is slow but insidious.  Hill says "Worry is a form of sustained fear caused by indecision; therefore it is a state of mind which can be controlled... We do not worry over conditions, once we have reached a decision to follow a definite line of action... Kill the habit of worry, in all its forms, by reaching a general blanket decision that nothing which life has to offer is worth the price of worry."

Once we have made this decision we will have poise, peace of mind and calmness. I have found this to be very true. When you are able to let go of the worry it is as if a 1000 pound weight has been lifted off your shoulders.  So, let’s all focus on possibilities and make a firm decision to believe in our future.

Debby Riddick
http://Squidoo.com/DRiddick

 

Better Decision Making. Do I Deserve Better?

Well, we've looked at the head question and the first two parts of the heart question.  The thing that quite often holds us back is the last part of this heart question: Do I deserve better?  A lot of us seem to hold on to a hidden belief that we do not really deserve any better. Have you ever looked back and realized that you sabotaged something and you can't figure out why?

"Who do you think you are?"  How many of us heard that when we were growing up?  But that misses the point.  It is not that we deserve any better than anyone else - we all deserve better than what we are doing to ourselves - what we are getting right now, don't we?  We think we do.  But what do our actions show?  There is a continuum of thinking -- knowing -- believing.   It is very easy to say "I deserve better."  That is a head statement, a thinking statement.  Then we come to a point where we know on a deeper level that we really do deserve better, but we doubt we can have it.  Lastly comes a true belief that you really DO deserve better, and here we are willing to take actions toward that because we believe we can actually have it.

If you want to find out what you really believe, look at what you do.  Especially what you do over and over again.  I am sure we have all made decisions when we knew that we should get more information, but we didn't.  Why would we purposely do something that we knew would get less-than-desirable results?  Because deep down in our hearts we don't really believe we deserve that success.  We keep ourselves in our comfort zone.

So, if we realize we don't believe we really deserve better, what do we do?  Ask, "What would I do if I did deserve better?"  Then do it!   We don't need to wait until we believe it.  We just need to take action based on that better decision.  When our actions are better, things get better.  The belief will come.  

Now, a quick recap.  Ask the head question: "Am I meeting the real need, informing myself of options, and thinking it through?"  Then make the conditional decision.  Next, check in with your heart by asking: "Does my decision show I am honest with myself, trust my intuition, and deserve better?"  When we have asked the heart question, quite often we will realize that we have not been honest with ourselves or do not trust our intuition/heart.  Then we need to go back and re-make that head part of our decision.  This will lead us to a much better decision.

Our ability to make good decisions in all areas of our lives is critical to our success in business and in family life.  Make a small map of this decision making process and carry it with you or tack it on the wall by the computer/desk.  The results will amaze you!

Debby Riddick

http://DRiddick.bigmlmtruths.com

Decision Making - The Other Half

This is Part 3 of Decision Making, based upon Spencer Johnson’s book, "Yes" or "No." We have already looked at the “logical” side of decision-making. We have asked ourselves "Am I meeting the Real Need, Informing Myself of Options, and Thinking It Through?" We can review our past decisions to see how we went about making those decisions and what the results were, good and bad. The point is to learn from the past without beating ourselves up about how those decisions turned out. We did the best we could do at the time.

Now, let’s move on to the other side of the process of decision-making. We will make even better decisions when we learn to look into our heart for confirmation after we have asked the head questions. Most people make their decisions emotionally and then look for logical reasons to justify the decision they already made. It works better when we involve the feelings and the head simultaneously.  The second set of questions is: “Does My Decision Show I Am Honest with Myself, Trust My Intuition, and Deserve Better?”  

We need to make decisions in integrity, that is, telling ourselves the truth. The consequences, down the road,  of a decision which is based in illusion will generally be much harder to deal with than dealing with the illusion now. We need to ask ourselves what are our beliefs about (1) our integrity, (2) our intuition, and (3) our insight into our own worth.  The more aware we are of our own character, the more often we make better decisions. We will only use those portions of our character we think have real value for us in making our decisions, so our decisions depend on how we view our character and they also reveal our character.

One way of finding the truth is by identifying the illusion, or fiction, we would rather believe and then looking for it’s opposite. If we can’t see the illusion our friends and family can help us see it if we can get our ego out of the way. Our challenge is to discover the truth; once we see the truth the decision is obvious.  

How do we learn to trust our intuition? Our intuition is our unconscious knowledge based on our personal experience and our “gut” reactions to events in the moment. Again, look back at decisions we made in the past and see how we felt at the time we were making them. Did we force the issue? Did we feel anxious or enthusiastic? Did it feel clear or confused? Did we feel stressed or peaceful? How did those decisions work out?  

Most of the negative fear responses freeze us. We then force a decision that we are not happy with because we are afraid.  We need to ask “What would I do if I were not afraid?”  Feeling the fear is okay, but we need to learn to acknowledge it, see where it comes from and then move ahead with the decision that is not fear based.  Decisions made with enthusiasm tend to have a better outcome that those made in fear. If the decision doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Our intuition is working; we just need to pay better attention to it.

Next week we will cover the last part of this question: Does my decision show I deserve better? Now there’s a can of worms.

Debby Riddick

http://DRiddick.bigmlmtruths.com

How are your goals coming? Check in with your subconscious mind!

 This is something that gave me a lot of trouble for a long time.  I resisted the idea that “thoughts are things” and the implications that had for me.  I have always been a positive person.  I never dwelt on the negative.  I was not interested in watching TV or listening to radio, especially talk radio.  Perhaps that is why I was not a negative person.  But in order for me to accept responsibility for my own circumstances I had to learn about quantum mechanics.

Dr. Rhine of Duke University and his associates did extensive testing that showed the validity of telepathy and clairvoyance.  But what are these really?  Screens, walls and distances seem to have no effect on the ability of two people to communicate.  The more awake and alert the participants are the better the results.  The United States government and Stanford University were very active in studying remote viewing and mind influence during World War II and thereafter.  The amount of money put into pursuing this by the government seems to give a certain amount of credibility to it.

Lynne McTaggart has written two books in which she chronicles the history of research around the world studying how our minds connect to each other. There are studies showing the ability of our mind even to influence a machine.  Jesus told us that “where two or more are gathered in my name” praying in agreement, the prayer would be answered.   Napoleon Hill says this is the power of the mastermind group:  A few like minded folks sitting down together and focusing on a problem at hand will not only draw ideas out of each other, but also out of the mind of God.

But there is more to it than this.  Masaru Emoto relays the story of a monk and a group of 350 folks praying over Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. The lake was horribly polluted.  The newspaper reported the next month that the putrid algae, which appeared each year and caused an unbearable stench, had failed to show up.  The stories go on and on and on.

Our subconscious minds connect to the Infinite through our creative imagination.  We are able to gain access to sources of knowledge completely outside our own experience.  This makes me think of how often a couple of people around the world are working on something in the area of health or science and a breakthrough is achieved simultaneously, even though they have never heard of the work of the other person.  The knowledge of mankind is at the point for that breakthrough to occur and the scientists are tapping into it. 

But how does this apply to us achieving our goals?  First of all, we have the power and inspiration available to us achieve anything which we truly want.  We need to make the definite decision to go for it, get together a mastermind group, and purposefully connect  with each other in a mind alliance asking our subconscious minds to bring to our creative minds the ideas to reach our goals.  Then make a plan based on those ideas and get started !

Debby Riddick

http://DRiddick.bigmlmtruths.com