This is a long one, so be forewarned- MKMMA Week 14

So, is this the week where we finally admit self-deceit and face up to the Gal/Guy in the Mirror, eyeball to eyeball and take the real necessary steps in Transforming our Habituals?

I find these past 10 or so days kinda funny, sad, crazy, wonderful, maddening, stupid, insane, illogical, emotional, silly, unsettling, exhilarating, demoralizing, ticking me off, poignant and yet, simultaneously spiritually uplifting. Wow! We human beings are a pretty strange bunch are we not? On the other hand, those feelings are much like those I experience within every other 10 day period as an adult…hmmm. And, from the tone of many of my fellow MKMMA’r Blogs, it appears you have as well.

Why is it even with all the information and experiential reinforcement we’ve engaged in over the past 13 1/2 weeks, many of us still jump back into our so-called ‘cushy’, yet uncomforting-zones? Have we not had enough actual lack of results to be certain what we had been doing wasn’t working the way we wanted it to? Why have we worked so diligently to move beyond our cocoons and morph ourselves into becoming something far more substantial than we were?

I suspect more than a few of us have taken what some might refer to as a bit of a ‘wait and see’ approach. In other words, we have only committed to a certain degree…we complete our readings, service cards, accomplishment cards, dream boards, color and shape shifters (as I like to call them), tweet and re-tweet quotes like there’s no tomorrow.

Further, most of us dutifully write a somewhat interesting blog once a week. I mean we’ve all worked very hard on STUFF; have we not? Yet, I see only few have managed to really ‘get it’ and made a CONSCIOUS decision to forge ahead and do those things most of us dread…and PICK UP the PHONE….and thereby not only overcome whatever fear they may have, but more importantly…they have begun to really experience success beyond what they might have believed at first. Why have we not all had such success?

So, being the kind of person I am…a definite Type A thru Z’r, I wondered out loud, is there a KEY (hmmm?) difference? We have learned from Mark and other leaders in our great industry the skills to say what we need to say, including the how to’s and the when’s.  Plus, we believe in our company and our product(s). We know our industry offers the ‘best solution’ for independence. So, what holds us back? What picayune, asinine, fear-smoldering thing keeps us from breaking through our self-imposed barrier to absolute confidence and success?

For what it’s worth, I have an opinion. You’re probably saying, “Oh, really?” You are probably guffawing at the moment, since I almost always have an opinion….and as you’ve gotten this far, you may as well stick around to read it, okay? Are you sure? Perhaps you should be concerned I may be totally wrong-headed about this and reading further might plant a seed in your mind which may root…then, only God knows what might be the outcome of such growth.

Well, you asked for it….so let’s see if I can tempt you down the path of no return. As I see things…and I do tend to visualize a lot; two central ideas seem to jump out in front. Usually, the first one has to do with fear of NO confidence…by this I mean we have a great tendency to believe we can do a thing, but then mean old Mr. Demon Doubt taps on our emotional shoulder reminding us our skill set is weak…mostly because we’ve barely absorbed the lesson(s), and one must be absolutely certain and sure. Meaning we need further mastery…one would not want to get tongue-tied by something we don’t know or did not anticipate. While we now have the Habit Assassin’s tools, as apprentices for the most part, we seem to be unaccepting of the fact we only gain the practical experience of the journeyman, much less a true craftsman or craftswoman, by doing.

Or is it that we fail to persist (or as I prefer to say, persevere)? Are our PNPs and DMP’s really just wants and not the burning needs we believed they were a short while ago? Or, is it the fact change brings with it the weeds of doubt and obstacles, as well as the seeds of promise? Perhaps it is simply that “All Things Are Difficult Until They Become Easy”….and when we see little progress from our own efforts over the half marathon, do we forget the advice of Og Mandino? “Henceforth, I will consider each day’s effort as but one blow of my blade against a mighty oak…. Each blow, may be trifling, and seem of no consequence. Yet from childish swipes the oak will eventually tumble.”

Think on those phrases for a moment if you will. We know with absolute certainty we are our own worst enemies. No one, but no one, holds us as accountable for our action and inaction as we ourselves. We lie to ourselves all the time. I mean how many times have you said to yourself…”I’ll do a particular thing upon the occurrence of another particular thing”, so on and so forth… Yet, unless compelled to take action by external or internal force, we most often fail to act. I’ve often maintained a non-decision is exactly the same as a decision…convoluted? Perhaps. Yet very true, I believe. The results will differ because the path chosen cannot be exactly the same as the path chosen.

So, where do we go from here? I believe we’ve each planted at least one seed (hopefully, many more to improve the odds of a decently harvest-able crop), and now the major question is are we now being proper gardeners? Do we take precautions to prevent and eliminate the weeds of doubt and procrastination? Do we continue to dip our toes into the dark, often chilly waters of the as yet questionable response at the other end of the phone-line? Or, do we still stall, afraid of the unknown without reason we can put into words?

I know these things for certain: Inaction breeds more inaction. And, as Emerson, Haneel, Mandino and our now dear mentors and friends Mark & Davene point out time and again, action done the right way with passion and intention breeds more action and leads to success. An object at rest tends to stay that way until moved by a force greater than it’s own inertia…we are the same….once we really get moving, we tend to keep on moving…
So, let’s get moving and not only make our own reality, and since we are so intertwined, let us also help insure Mark’s & Davene’s dream board’s are realized!

Are you ready?…. I SAID ARE YOU READY??!!!

May each of you enjoy the best life possible in this world.

W/G/R,

Chuck

Hey goofball, you do realize it’s Christmas and the Week before New Year’s, don’t you? I mean give it a break, man! Week 13 – MKMMA

So, I say, “Yes it certainly is, and wow do I have a present for you?! First, though, is it okay if I wish you and your incredible family a very Merry Christmas and most healthy and prosperous New Year!?” Most folks usually respond with a non-committal “thanks”. Then I will ask, “so, how are you guys doing?” Sometimes, they do say…”things are great”…and we move on from there. More often than not, however, the response is something along the lines of “well, it could be better.”

Bethca can’t guess what I say next… Oh, of course you can….or at least some version of it…”In my typical, yet not so nonchalant manner, I try to to always say, “In what way?”…Now, you have to admit that’s incredibly original…so much so, I have had to work very hard to commit it to memory. Then, I generally listen carefully to understand as much as possible why they feel the way they do and whether or not they believe there is anything to be done to change the situation or their perceptions of it.

I then attempt to maneuver through the minefield of their mindset (like that play on words?). Do I always meet with success?..nope, nada, uh, uh. But, every once in a while, it’s hallelujah time! And, I really do! On those occasions, I am so pumped, Lisa frequently threatens to cut my Protandim in half (btw, it’s not Blue)!

At the time, I see things so clearly and am so focused there is absolutely no doubt, I can help this person. First, because they have a burning desire and desperately want to believe. Second, they have just enough faith to take the next step…and as we all know each small step, one-at-a-time can build a castle, remember? I have to work hard to manage my enthusiasm (note, I did not say contain). We have to manage ourselves since we’re the only thing we have a modicum of control over, right?

Ours is the most incredible industry in the world, yet we have to be unbelievably grateful for the many more who do not get it…since without those beautiful and wonderful folks, we’d have no industry.

Our Master Key Master Mind Alliance is what we create through our vision and focus!

I wish you the most joyous time with your family and a most magnificent New Year!

Keep on, keepin’ the main thing, the main thing, my friends,

Chuck

Getting in touch – MKMMA Week 12

Master Key—The Law of Attraction…uh, huh, sure, so what? Sounds like more gobbledy-gook, right? Well, I will certainly appreciate your input on this, if you can, without using the words coincidence or fate…or it just is/was, please.

Lisa and I enjoyed the last week and a half in MD and VA visiting family and working with our team members in the area. We spent last Saturday (12/11/2010) with my Aunt Pat (my mother’s side of our family), cousins Sherri and Jonni and Jonni’s daughter Megan (who also did a fine job trimming my massive amount of hair…tic!).

After dinner, we older folks got into a discussion of how other members of our family might be faring…I advised I have not had a conversation with my sister in over two years, haven’t seen her in over five, and the last time I accidentally connected with my brother was over a year ago. We also chatted regarding other family members on my father’s side of our family, and determined we didn’t have a clue as to the whereabouts or health of any of them.

Late Sunday afternoon, as Lisa and I were en route home, we chatted about not being able to reconnect with certain family members….then….Voila! Fast forward 48 hours….I get a call from my brother’s wife, who brings me up to date and asks me to call my brother…after she gave me new numbers, I did just that, learning he’d been laid off, been involved in significant automobile accident within the week, but was doing okay. Then, last night following dinner with friends, I receive an email from my daughter in Scottsdale, AZ in which she tells me she’s been contacted by a woman who says she’s the daughter of one of my cousins (now deceased) and she’s been trying to track me down to help her in putting together a genealogy tree for my father’s side of our family. We’ve now connected and I am looking forward to talking with a few more ‘long-lost’ relatives!

This is all very cool, and since I don’t believe in coincidences, it certainly gives me pause…

What do you think?

PS- That’s me, my brother and sister Christmas 1958…unreal!

Persistence – MKMMA – Week 11

Lisa and I are about to wrap up a little over a week in Maryland…business, family and friends. I decided to ask a number of family members how they would define or describe ‘persistence’ mostly to see if my description might jive with their own. Interestingly, they seemed to be in two camps. One described persistence almost as if they had just read Scroll III. The other seemed to ascribe an irritating element to persistence…as in a persistent itch, headache, etc. Upon hearing that analogy, the first group responded with “that’s not persistence, that’s annoyance!”. Listening and observing impartially (even though I asked the initial question), I noted it appeared the differences were just due to perspectives. The second group concurred with my statement; yet the first disagreed completely…for them, it was simply a black & white issue.

I then said I personally like the meaning I attribute to ‘persevere or perseverance’ more than ‘persist or persistence’ because I often associate the latter with ‘bull-headedness’ or an irritant. To me, to persevere means to keep trying to find a way to achieve a purpose while my definition of persistence is linked to doing something over and over again in the same way and expecting a different result. To me that’s unacceptable….to many others, insanity.

Sorry to be so long-winded here. I’m just offering a personal perspective. Wherever I feel another word or action expresses my understanding and conveys my interpretation better than those printed or espoused by others, I interpose.

Woe is Me; Syndrome or Symptomatic? — MKMMA Week 10

I learned something interesting about my progress in MKMMA in the past 24 hours. Although I am a member of a couple of specialty groups and discussions on Linkedin, I generally do not give a lot of attention to updated or new discussions. However, yesterday my email account went crazy relative to a discussion titled: ‘Do Laid Off Baby Boomer’s need to reconsider their career direction?’.

Now, this particular discussion was started quite some time ago, and I happened to stumble across it when I was updating my Linkedin profile to include my MKMMA Blog information some 10 weeks ago. At the time, I looked at a few of the discussion posts and generally just shook my head and gave an internal shrug….there were many laments about not being able to find a job; age discrimination, over-qualification, attempted career changes; you name it, and you can probably find it.

Okay, now fast forward ten weeks with me. Yesterday evening as Lisa and I were heading to one of our weekly team meetings, my so-called SmartPhone, starting dinging like crazy from email updates via Linkedin. Lisa looked at a couple of them and said “my gosh, some of these are really disheartening!” When we returned home, I decided to ‘expend’ a little time reviewing a few of these discussion posts…not knowing many more posts were en route throughout the night.

I found very intriguing some of the positive and encouraging comments by folks really offering great insight and desiring to help seemed to be getting dismissed out of hand…almost as if the saying ‘misery loves company’ was in full force and effect… I couldn’t say for sure whether this a Syndrome or Symptomatic, which is really what leads me to this Post.

At this mid-point of our 10th week in our Master Key Master Mind Alliance course, my perspective upon reviewing many of the Linkedin posts last evening and today is very different than it was 10 weeks ago. Then, my usual, a.k.a.-habitual, reaction was to think, “get over it, take control and move on!”. This time, I experienced some pretty strong emotional connections relative the the feelings of frustrations, anger and hurt a lot of these folks were attempting to describe…and I wanted to reach out and offer some insight as to how they might, just might, begin to work their way out of the emotional morass they had allowed to take over their world. Most seem be totally ignorant of their own role in manifesting the very conditions they are facing and therefore experience great difficulty in escaping the deadly trap of their own limiting beliefs and self-fulling prophecies.

I was actually taken aback by my own feelings which were definitely not part of my former response pattern. I then stepped back mentally and found I could focus on pretty much anything I chose just by replanting a seed. For me, this represents a true milestone in two ways…first many of my habitual patterns have been replaced in dramatic fashion and due to constant practice I am much better able to change my focus to where I Will it to be.

MKMMA, very cool indeed.

Week 9 ~ To Dream or Not to Dream (via Masterkeynetworker’s Blog)

Choices…we all have them and often they can truly be incredibly difficult and conflicting….our MKMMA journey continues… Most of us never take the time for such honesty even to ourselves….Bravo Lisa!

Week 9 in the Master Key System says to "hold in mind the condition desired; affirm it as an already existing fact."  How are we to bring about the desire to change conditions?  "By the law of growth."  But what if the surrounding conditions are only in our hands if we're selfish and self centered?  What if the desired conditions are really dreams and not realistically possible, not because we can't visualize them (trust me, I can and I DO!), but … Read More

via Masterkeynetworker's Blog

Zero to Infinity~at the Speed of Thought – MKMMA Week 9

This morning as I was fulfilling a couple of my MKMMA services and then sitting for a while meditating/contemplating/visualizing the planting of a seed for a miniature rose plant and visualizing its wonderful growth to maturity, it dawned on me I’ve been doing much of this my whole life. It is the very reason for both the successes I’ve enjoyed as well as the challenges I’ve experienced and everything in-between.

From what I’ve gleaned from a number of my fellow MKMMA’rs, their experiences have been truly transformational. In my case, it has been more of a reconnection with self or as Haanel puts it, “I”. I have to say both of I am pleased (oh, such a travesty my “I’s” have have committed in abuse of language!).

Anyway, I should get to the point intimated by my title ‘Zero to Infinity at the Speed of Thought’. Have you ever wondered how your thoughts move from one thing to another even before you grasp the fact of the movement? I mean, think about it for a second if you can, how do we go from visualizing a seed being planted, sprouting, rooting, growing and flowering in about as much time as it takes to inhale and exhale, to something totally unrelated yet as complex in even less time. Most of the time we do this subconsciously and unaware until a few seconds later, we say to ourselves…where the heck did that thought come from? Then, we then consciously refocus our attention to the task or vision at hand in a nano-second or less. Even more amazing, we can move our thoughts and focus anywhere in this immense universe just by applying conscious effort…and we cover vast distances in space and time with little effort virtually instantaneously….zero to infinity by thought alone.

Other than the essence of life granted to us by our creator, this is truly the greatest gift we have been given and we have an absolute duty to share it with everyone who is seeking to find their way and purpose. Our Master Key Master Mind Alliance course and community, will help us to do just that!

May you be as blessed as we are at this time of thanksgiving…of course we should all give thanks every day…

Master Key Week 9 ~ Combinations, Law of Growth & Fink’s Sweet Spot (via Master Key Master Mind Alliance Mark J)

Ain’t it the truth as well?

AIN'T IT COOL? The truth will set us free.  Ain't it cool to know that being pegged as left-brain or right-brain learner was all a load of crap? All those CD peddling guru's trying to make us feel inferior…telling us we could learn to liberate our 'submissive right side' if we'd buy their bullshit? The $2000 to $10,000 weekends, the books, the lectures…..the webcasts……all designed to make us feel ….less than…..stunted…..like we'd ne … Read More

via Master Key Master Mind Alliance Mark J