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Superstars…

As I sit here watching the final sunrise of 2011, I’m “speed thinking” about every single thing that has been a facet of this year for which I am grateful. I won’t bore you with the list of things that come to mind, but suffice it to say that it’s a very, very long list. Some things big, some things small and many things that we so often take for granted are on my list. In fact, the longer I play this game, the smaller the items on my gratitude list become…and the better I feel.

The renowned life and business coach, Dr. Fred, has a scoring system for accomplishment and for appreciating things that would suggest that the quantity of small, daily things that we seek to enjoy and appreciate will be in direct proportion to the large, momentous things we will experience. This is one of my favorite exercises, and NOW (New Year’s) is the BEST time to do it!

Dr. Fred’s scoring system requires that you make a list of things with assigned values, as follows:

• 10: Anything that you deem a part of a great DAILY experience for you gets a value of 10 points. Maybe a hot shower, a walk or a run, a great cup of coffee, reading a book, calling a friend, laughing, hugging a loved one, appreciating a sunrise and/or a sunset, time in personal prayer or reading with your child? Everything that you say could be a part of a GREAT DAY for you gets 10 points.
• 25: Anything that you deem part of a great WEEKLY experience for you gets a value of 25 points. Maybe a round of golf, a tennis match, a yoga class, lunch with a mentor or wealth determiner, reading a whole book, listing or selling a home? Everything that you say could be a part of a GREAT WEEK for you gets 25 points.
• 50: Anything that you deem part of a great MONTHLY or QUARTERLY experience for you gets a value of 50 points. Maybe a massage, taking a long weekend, attending a seminar or class that helps you grow or contacting everyone in your database by phone? Everything that you say could be a part of a GREAT MONTH OR QUARTER for you gets 50 points.
• 75: Anything that you deem part of a great SEMI-ANNUAL or ANNUAL experience for you gets a value of 75 points. Maybe it’s a motorcycle trip with your friends, a memorable family vacation, a sizeable charitable contribution to an organization that you are passionate about or the number of closings you want to have? Everything that you say could be a part of a GREAT YEAR for you gets 75 points.
• 100: Anything that you deem part of a great LIFE EXPERIENCE for you gets a value of 100 points. These are “bucket list” things. Maybe it’s seeing Victoria Falls or the Taj Mahal, playing golf on a famous golf course or writing a book? Any important thing that you say could be a part of your GREAT LIFE’S EXPERIENCE gets a value of 100 points.
And here’s the beauty of Dr. Fred’s system as I understand it. The secret of having a GREAT life is in accumulating as many “10’s” on a daily basis that you can think of. Focusing on gathering as many 10’s as you can every day helps form habits that prepare your mind to accumulate more 25’s, then 50’s, then 75’s and eventually 100’s. To consistently experience the bigger things in life that we say are important to us, we must take notice of as many wonderful and tiny things that we can think of to squeeze into our days. I love it! How many things will be on your list to experience and appreciate? How many things come to mind to appreciate that you’ve been taking for granted all this time, and how much better and resilient would your mindset be if you’d been appreciating all of the little things in your life on a daily basis?

In addition to Dr. Fred’s scoring system, now is also a great time to take inventory of the people and tasks in your life and group them into one of four categories. The four categories are: (1) People and Tasks that ADD to the quality of your life, (2) People and Tasks that SUBTRACT from the quality of your life, (3) People and Tasks that don’t just add to the quality of your life, but actually MULTIPLY the quality of your life and (4) People and Tasks that suck the life out of you. While this can be a scary exercise because of who and what falls into categories (2) and (4), it’s important to see who and what you need to limit your time with and devise a plan to insure that you do it. If you can minimize your time with people and tasks that drain your energy, you can maximize the time that you spend with those people and tasks that give you energy and give you the greatest chance of improving your results.

Regardless of how you ring in the New Year, this is one of the most ideal times for us to reflect on the past, prepare for the future and count the many blessings that we have enjoyed for the past 12 months. January 1st always signals the start of a new chapter in our lives and businesses – a chance to learn from our mistakes and do better in the year ahead. The resolutions we make come from the reality that we want to do better than we’ve done and we want to be better than we’ve been.

If resolutions are a part of your New Year’s routine, be warned! More often than not, New Year’s resolutions are more like New Year’s “wishes,” rather than New Year’s “game plans.” And just like any successful plan, all we need is a true desire for the results we seek and simple, clear actions steps that will lead us to those results. Action steps and desire. Desire and action steps. Both must be present for any plan, let alone a resolution, to be successful. I’m certain that any failed attempt to reach a goal comes from a lack of desire and/or a plan that’s too complicated to implement consistently over time. So, as you formulate your resolutions for the New Year, make sure you have a burning desire to achieve them and a simple action plan to achieve them before you call them “resolutions.”

I’m off to ring in the New Year with my family. And as I count my many blessings, I count you among them. If you read my “little” messages, I appreciate you for that. If you ever respond to them because you like them (or not), I appreciate you for that, too. While I have the great fortune of enjoying what I do for a living, that pales in comparison to whom I get to work with every day. The people of this great company challenge me and inspire me to be my very best. It is my distinct privilege to work for you and with you, and I pray that 2012 will be a year of blessings for you, your business and your family. Together, we shall reach new heights of achievement in the year to come. I say, “Bring it on.”

Your #1 Fan…

SHAUN

Superstars…
 
Recently, my wife and I were on our way out of town for the weekend. It was late in the evening and we had a few hours of driving to do before we would arrive at our destination. In her effort to be a team player and a great driving partner, Jean decided that she would stay awake for this drive and help me do the same.
 
Before long, Dr. Laura was dialed up on our XM radio. For miles we listened to callers who braved the airwaves to share their “opportunities” with the trusted voice of reason on the other end of the phone, while the rest of America listened in on the call. During the show a young lady began telling Dr. Laura about one frustration in her life after another. But before she could get to the reason for her call, Dr. Laura interrupted her and said, “Fat, Dumb or Ugly?”
 
“What?” the lady asked.
“Fat, Dumb or Ugly. Which do you think you are?”
“I don’t understand,” said the caller.
“People who make these kinds of choices in their life only make them because they see themselves as fat, dumb or ugly. So which one do you think you are?”
 
I couldn’t believe what I was listening to. I was offended and shocked and amazed at the in-your-face accountability session I was witnessing. It was like watching a wreck in slow motion. I couldn’t turn away, and at the same time I couldn’t wait to see how this was going to turn out.
 
After what seemed like a huge pause of silence, Dr. Laura repeated her question, only slower.
 
“So…which…one…do…you…THINK…you…are?”
 
And after a moment, in a weak and defeated tone, the lady said, “fat.”
 
My heart sank for the caller and at the same time I was awestruck by the clarity that this intelligent interruption provided to the situation. As she continued to explain the importance of what she had just gotten the caller to self discover, Dr. Laura said that people’s poor personal decisions usually stem from a lack of confidence created by the thought that they are fat, dumb or ugly. Wow.
 
As a real estate broker, trainer and consultant, I have continuously thought about that call since I heard it, wondering if the same is true in business…in OUR business. I see every person in our company as a potential superstar and I believe that we have the systems and tools and leadership that will support everyone in reaching that potential. One of the toughest lessons I’ve had to learn is that sometimes I have more confidence in others more than they have in themselves. At times I’ve faced this as a broker; at times I’ve faced this as a parent; at times I’ve faced this as a friend.
 
In Dr. Laura terms, your good decisions come from having confidence in yourself and who you are; poor decisions come from having a lack of confidence in yourself and who you are. When we succeed at success or succeed at failure, it’s our confidence – or lack of it – that determines which destination we reach. Results don’t create confidence. Confidence creates results. The question isn’t, “Are we fat, dumb or ugly?” It’s, “do we THINK we are?”
 
The great life and business coach, Dr. Fred, says that identifying our “mooring lines” can be more important to our success than identifying our goals. He says that all of us have mooring lines, or something that has always been a part sabotaging our success, and if we don’t acknowledge them as reality and work to eliminate them from our lives, then we will never know the results we are capable of.
 
In this company alone, we have been presented with people who have succeeded in spite of enormous physical and economical challenges. They have proven time and time again that anything is possible for anyone who believes that anything is possible. Ironically, the real handicap in life is the one that we allow to exist between our ears. We have all been put on this earth to achieve greatness and to achieve beyond our circumstances of the day. All of us have days when we lack confidence or a sense of direction. When we do, it’s critical that we see ourselves as the person we want to become and/or the person we want to be known as, and make decisions that “that person” would make, rather than merely making decisions based on how we “feel” today.
 
“Be the change you want to see.”
 
Your #1 Fan…
 
Shaun

“D Day”
By Shaun Rawls
 
A good Southern upbringing requires the deep belief in three basic things: your mama, Jesus Christ, and football. All little boys and girls should love their mama, and they usually do, except for those crazies that you hear about on the six o’clock news. And Jesus gets drummed into their heads at an early age as kids get sent to vacation Bible school during the summers. But when it comes to football, most southerners are more loyal to football than they are to their mamas, and sometimes even God.
 
Maybe it’s the same for people up north. But due to the fact that the south’s illiteracy rate is so much higher than that of the north’s, I doubt it. Honestly, if you can’t read, but you can throw a football, you’re an A+ of a human being. After all, you can always learn to read.
 
All parents are like minor league scouts and coaches, separating children at an early age. They determine whether you will be “on the field” or “off the field,” and whether you will be playing or cheering. From an early age you are guided to your destiny by a strong, silent hand, much like the way the ocean’s undertow slowly sucks you away from the shore. Then, one day, you find that you are the star of the Sugar Bowl, or the Sugar Bowl’s star critic.
 
I began my illustrious football career in the seventh grade. I was given the coveted position of third string quarterback. Had it not been for the fact that I was fat and an incredibly slow runner, I might have had a shot at second or even first string.
 
Playing neighborhood football, my weight never imposed on my abilities to throw the ball for touchdowns. I threw a lot of them. I was undoubtedly, the most valuable player of my subdivision growing up.
 
As you can imagine, going from most valuable player to third string was not something that I was very excited about. Never mind that I had never played organized football before. I was good, and I deserved to play.
 
However, the more I practiced, the more I seemed not to play. In fact, I soon realized that I was not really even practicing. I was watching. I watched the first string play the second string, and the second string play the first string. I was a freaking cheerleader in pads sacrificing my ego for the good of the team. Yet I had to run wind sprints and suicides until I threw up my lunch every day, just like the rest of the team.
 
As a result of this revelationary wake up call, I began to lose interest. My attention during practice waned. I began to cut up with the other third string dolts rather than pay attention to what the coaches were telling the guys who would actually get to play. I gave up.
 
The only problem with my giving up was that I didn’t tell anyone that I was giving up. I continued to put on my helmet and shoulder pads and show up for practice. And worse, I continued to goof off during practice with my loser, third string peers. Soon, the fact that I was physically at practice, but mentally absent came to bite me…in the rear.
 
It had been raining for days. The practice field was soaking wet and muddy. I, being clean and untarnished, stood on the sideline giggling with my third string buddies, while the first and second string players dutifully executed their plays in preparation for the upcoming contest on Saturday.
 
All of a sudden that flirtatious little, half teacher – half coach, Mr. Davis ordered me and my fellow third stringers onto the field.
 
“It’s time for some fun!” he yelled deviously.
It was too early for practice to be over, I thought.
Curious, I asked, “What’s up, Coach?”
“I want you and your little fun lovin’ friends to scrimmage the first team defense for a while.”
 
He must’ve been kidding. He might as well have said, “Here, take this gun, point it at your head and pull the trigger.” Either statement would insinuate that my life was about to come to an end, and worse, I would forever be humiliated in front of my friends.
 
After a frog-swallowing GULP, I squeaked out a meek “okay.” Then I huddled up with my scrawny, little buddies.
 
“Run a flip, flap, Q-2-Z over easy,” the coach yelled.
 
My team of comedians looked around at each other, secretly wishing that an alien space ship would land and abduct each and every one of us, and save the upcoming sports massacre.
 
“What’s that?” One of us asked.
No one had an answer.
“Hey, hurry up girls!” The coach yelled. “What’s the matter? Don’t ya know your plays? The defense is getting hungry!”
 
A little kid named “Peanut” quickly drew a play on the palm of his hand designed to get him the ball on the sidelines. Someone seconded the motion. We broke the huddle, and headed for the line of scrimmage, completely unsure of our existence.
 
As I stood behind my center, PeeWee Danny, I couldn’t help but notice how very large and mean the first team defense actually was.
 
I prayed, and said “Hut. Hut. Hut!”
 
Stepping back into the pocket, I turned to look for Peanut, my trusty receiver. And had it not been for the fact that all eleven defensive players were simultaneously burying me three feet beneath the field’s muddy surface, I might have noticed that Peanut was most likely wide open.
 
With the help of several of my teammates, I stood up, looking like the swamp creature. My white practice pants were now soiled. My helmet looked like an example of good, military camouflaging, with clumps of mud and grass stuck to it everywhere. And my cup was now floating somewhere around my left thigh pad.
 
My quick change of condition startled my offensive teammates as I hobbled towards the huddle. I don’t recall them looking as bad as I felt. The coach screamed another play in a foreign language. Peanut, the choreographer of death, sketched another impromptu play.
 
I labored to the line once again.
 
“Hut!” I screamed. And for the second and surprising time, the entire defense converged upon me the way they did in my prior suicidal attempt at quarterbacking. Only this time, my leg was bent and twisted in a manner that I had never before known it to twist.
 
My friends say that a third play was poorly executed, although I have no memory of such a play. It was at that time that I began to focus on the other two major beliefs, my mama and Jesus. They were the only ones who could possibly save me now.
 
Coach Davis approached me as I limped and lagged behind the others heading for the showers in victorious excitement. “There’s a time and a place for fun and laughing, Boy. And during practice on my field is not the time or the place. Understand? Now get your dirty little butt outta here.”
 
Surprisingly, I was the first string’s new favorite player. All the guys who witnessed my quarterback execution fondly referred to that day as “D Day.” Tom Ringling would forever more cackle in remembrance of that day, always reminding me of my star performance on the football field.
 
What’s important here is that in spite of the fact that I was physically crushed, mentally crippled, and socially ruined, I did not quit. I wanted to. I wanted to move to Mars, but I didn’t. I showed up for practice the next day and the next, until the season ended.
 
Coach Davis, not wanting to ruin the perfect image of me that I created for him, never played me again. Not in practice, and most certainly not in any real game situation.
 
And as for me, I never played organized football again. I went back to being the most valuable player of my neighborhood, hoping that time would eventually erase all evidence of “D Day.”
 
Even though it seems like they last forever, I’ve come to realize that our worst times in life don’t last very long and we can even laugh at them in the rear view mirror. Besides, the person we become would be a lesser person without such difficult and trying times in our lives.