I am posting this at great personal vulnerability because I think there are a lot of you out there who can relate. I am immensely thankful that I found a group of mentors who helped me understand a lot of things about network marketing and how it works.
This is my third trip through Think and Grow Rich with MFF. I keep thinking that I have Desire all figured out. But one of the first things I noticed about this chapter as we start again is this part: "One of the chief characteristics of Barnes' Desire was that it was definite. He wanted to work with Edison, not for him." I know that I have not honed my Desire down to that level and kept it there. I still need to get my Why down to a concise statement of intent.
I have never made the commitment Hill is talking about when he tells us that "when a man really DESIRES a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win." I have never sold out completely. Barnes took a menial job with Edison and used that time to let his Desire focus itself until it was an all consuming obsession. He kept his options open to see what would turn up. Again Hill says "When the opportunity came, it appeared in a different form, and from a different direction than Barnes had expected. That is one of the tricks of opportunity. It has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat. Perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity."
I gave 5 years of what I thought was all out effort, 7 days a week and most nights, to my last company; but I have to honestly say that I was not totally sold out in my belief. I knew that some people were making a lot of money and had lots of freedom, but I always held back from giving it Everything emotionally because I was afraid of what it would ask of me. I didn't believe that I could do the same thing they were without compromising my ethics and my family. I gave up a lot of time with my family over the 5 years and as time went on I stayed with it because I didn't want their sacrifice of my time to be for nothing. Hill also teaches us about the value of persistence in the story about Mr. Darby and the gold mine. I didn't want to stop "three feet from my goal" so I kept on even after I had lost all hope in the enterprise. (By the way it was/is NOT a 5 pillar company.) Mr. Darby's uncle taught us to never accept no from life - that little girl would not accept no from Darby's uncle. We need to be just as intent on getting our goals.
One thing I have read is that I need to keep asking "Why?" after each of the things I have on my list to get at the feeling that I am after. When I do that I get two things: freedom and significance. I want a life of freedom and significance. I don't know what to do with that because it seems so nebulous; yet in a way it is very freeing. I don't have to tie my Why to a specific act or level in business. Instead I am free to use my actions and my business to achieve my goal. My burning desire is for a feeling, an emotion; and there is more than one way to get at that feeling. I can allow the Universe/God the freedom to use me and my life in ways I might never be able to imagine. The feelings will come when I demand from life what is most important to me -freedom and significance- while allowing the Universe creative license in how to achieve that, coupled with unshakable faith and persistence.
Thank you Michael, Marcello and Jerry for your belief and mentorship,
Debby Riddick
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