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I’ve spent the last few days up in the part of the country I like to call the “Frozen North” (that’s Joliet, Illinois - and no, smartypants, not as a guest of the State!), so I’m afraid the opportunity to write something brilliant today… just ain’t gonna happen!

Ah, well, what the heck; at least I can pass on this little word of wisdom to all job seekers everywhere…

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

How do you accomplish really big audacious goals? Hey, that’s easy – break it into lots of little ones, of course!

Hmmm… it seems to me I’ve mentioned before about the network marketing business I’ve recently gotten into, right? (Sound of groans from the audience.) Well, one key concept to success in our NM business can be nicely summed up by this phrase: it’s not what you do; it’s what you… start.

It simply means that eventual success is built upon your initial actions.

OK class, what that translates to for our particular NM business is two-fold, and can be summed up as follows: first, each Associate finds 10 customers, then signs up 3 Associates and teaches them to do the same. We call this the Power Unit (has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?), and completing it is the gateway to earning residual income from all customers that subsequently sign up in the Associate’s downline (which is all Associates below them in the organization).

As with all NM businesses, it works by duplication, and over time it can add up to quite a large number of Associates and customers in your downline. (Just as a for instance, the group leader we’re under has over 3,100 Associates and well over 10,000 customers in his downline after working the business about 28 months.) So, as each Associate does exactly the same thing, then incredible things can happen!

Anyway, the other day I called a friend of mine in order to invite him to become one of my Associates, only to discover he’d been in the business for about two years already (Ignite has been in business since March of 2005). But here’s the thing – he was no longer actively doing anything at all with it. In fact, the sum total of what he’d done was to sign up one single Associate – and then he stopped. No customers, no more Associates. Done. Finis. End of Story.

About a year and a half passed.

By the time I got around to calling him, he hadn’t even thought about it in quite a while. He had no idea what had developed in his downline, so after we talked, he began to do some checking.

Remember that one Associate he signed up? Well, he made the astonishing discovery that  his downline now consisted of an organization of 214 Associates! Whoa Nellie! Can you believe it? Here my friend was, down in the dumps because he felt he wasn’t accomplishing anything – only to find out a large dynamic organization was being built below him – not because of what he was doing, but because of what he… started!

You want to know the sad part? Because he never completed his Power Unit (10 customers and 3 Associates) he hasn’t qualified to earn the residual income from all the customers those 214 Associates in his downline have signed up! No core team - no income. He’s missing out on hundreds, and eventually thousands of dollars of passive, residual income every single month – just because he got discouraged and quit!

OK, here’s the thing.

You got some goals, perhaps even big, audacious goals you want to achieve? Sometimes, after the thrill of coming up with them starts to wane, you find yourself looking at them and thinking, “Now how am I going to accomplish this thing, anyway?”

Of course the answer is to break it down into smaller, more achievable steps, then focus on accomplishing those instead. That way the big, final goal becomes the inspiration for all the little ones along the way.

Plus, each little goal, when successfully attained, gives you progressively more confidence, making it that much easier to make it to the next step. Consistent, along-the-way encouragement plus a big picture vision will propel you forward far more than just the vision alone, no matter how wonderful it is.

When you get right down to it, success in any endeavor is pretty much built in the same way. Remember that phrase I mentioned at the beginning of this article?

It’s not what you do; it’s what you… start!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Perhaps you recall I recently broke out of my rubber room, and actually managed to get quite a ways off before they caught me. In fact, I ended up in Australia, posting over at Pete Aldin’s place, Great Circle.

Well, the guys in the white coats slipped up again; I managed to pick the lock on my cell and escape once more! This time I went the other direction, writing from Edinburgh, Scotland at another of my favorite sites (and for one of my favorite people), Joanna Young’s Confident Writing.

Joanna recently asked me for a few thoughts regarding her September theme, Authentic Writing, and what that particular term might mean to me. Well this came as quite a surprise since at the Middle Zone, actual, you know, thoughts may sometimes be few and far between. Not to mention that I rarely have that many to spare. (Hey, musings we got – but thoughts? Humph; now that’s a cow of a different color!)

But what the heck; I’m always willing to share what I have with friends. So after considerable deliberation (sound of engine trying to start), I managed to snag a few ideas from the ol’ little grey cells (sound of teeny tiny engine coming to life).

Here’s a brief excerpt to whet your appetite:

Y’know, most people tend to use their jobs to pretty much define themselves. (If you don’t believe me, try defining yourself in terms other than what you do for a living. It’s not as easy as it sounds!)

But the fact is, what we do isn’t the same thing as who we are.

Yep, definitely brilliant prose, if I do say so myself (I just hope I don’t break an arm patting myself on the back!) Should you become temporarily, you know, insane, and desire to read the entire post just click on this link:

Two Simple Steps to Authentic Writing

Hey, this is getting to be kinda fun! I wonder where I’ll end up next?

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Here’s a little food for thought over the weekend…

A woman decided to visit a single’s club located on the top floor of a downtown building. Upon entering, she noticed a large, well-built man sitting alone at the bar, so she decided to go over and see what developed.

“Well, hello,” she said. “What are you having?”

The man looked at her for a moment, and then replied, “I’m drinking magic beer.”

Intrigued, she sat next to him and asked, “Magic beer? What on earth is magic beer?”

“Well, when I drink magic beer, I can fly,” he said with a smile.

The woman was understandably skeptical. “Nonsense! There’s no such thing as magic beer.”

The man snorted and said, “Well then watch this!” He got up, walked outside to the patio and stepped up on the ledge. Then he jumped off and flew around the building a few times. Landing lightly on the patio, he came back inside and sat down next to the astonished woman.

“That’s incredible; I’ve never seen anything like it!” She turned to the bartender and said excitedly, “I’ll have what he’s having!”

The bartender obliged, setting a cold frothy mug on the bar in front of her. She picked it up, drank it down, and announced, “Now it’s my turn!”

She walked out onto the patio, stood up on the ledge and jumped off, immediately plunging to her death.

The bartender turned, looked at the man, shook his head sadly and said, “I’m tellin’ ya, Superman, you sure make a really mean drunk!”

—————

Y’all have a great weekend!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Just a little something to help you remember to count your blessings today, it being the 13th and all…

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

I was just a teenage wolf man (sorry, wrong story) sales clerk, working part-time after school at a jewelry store chain in one of our local malls. I must admit, it wasn’t that big a deal to me. After all, the manager only gave me the job because one of the company’s VPs lived across the street from us and asked him to take me on as a favor. (My first experience getting a job due to influence and not ability – a real confidence builder!)

Heck, I wasn’t even allowed to sell the “good” stuff (oooh – lookit all those pretty diamonds!); nope, I was assigned to the watch counter instead. Wow. How. Exciting. Oh, well, no matter – I wasn’t that good a salesman, anyway. (There could be a lot said here about my attitude, but let’s not go there, shall we?)

In any case, it was a way to earn a little spending money that didn’t involve working in the fast food industry (something I’d sworn off of by this time). It was just one of many inconsequential jobs I had when I was young. In fact, this job was so thoroughly forgettable that, except for one particular incident, I probably wouldn’t even remember it at all.

Yep, that was the day I felt like… a million bucks.

I hadn’t been working there long when one day the manager (sorry, ‘way too long ago – can’t remember his name anymore) called me over and asked me to figure out a way to fix one of the store’s window displays. For some reason, it had always been a problem, falling down at odd times or always looking crooked. It just wouldn’t work right, no matter what they tried.

Well, I put a little thought into it, then came up with a solution that solved the problem beautifully, if I do say so myself! (Come to think of it, I just did, didn’t I?)

Anyway, a few days later, I overheard the manager talking to what I assumed to be a customer, when after a few minutes, he called me over. As I approached, the manager introduced me to the man as one of the jewelry store’s owners! (You would know the name if I told you – so I won’t tell you!)

“I’d like you to meet Bob, our engineer,” he said with a smile. “He’s the fellow that fixed our display problem.” I shook the man’s hand and mumbled something unintelligible, I’m sure. “Aw shucks, ‘twern’t nothin’”, or something equally memorable.

Apparently, this particular display had been a sore spot with the owner for quite a while. Then I came along and solved it (and consequently make the manager look good, too – always a sound business principle). And, as it turned out literally everybody was pretty pleased.

I’ll tell you – at that moment, I felt like a million bucks!

Insert pause for thought here. (Sound of crickets.)

OK, two points.

First of all, never, never, NEVER (is that strong enough for you?) underestimate the power of a compliment! If you ever have the opportunity to give someone a positive word, a compliment, an encouragement; don’t think about it – just do it!

Not only will you have made their day, but you will probably just have made your own as well. (Gee, now I gotta wonder: Did this have anything to do with me eventually becoming a, you know, actual engineer? Hmmm…)

Second, you never know just how much of an impact you’re really making. Remember that.

Related post:

Change the World: A Word of Encouragement

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!

Can you change the world by jiggling eggs? (And please note: that’s jiggling, not juggling – because juggling eggs is just… messy. Yuk.)

When Mrs. MZM and I first started grocery shopping together (I realize this admission will probably earn me a sharp reprimand from the MMA - the Manly Men’s Association - but hey, I can take it), well, it was quite the learning experience for poor little ol’ unsophisticated me. I mean, prior to our engagement, my favorite home-cooked foods tended to range from fried spam sandwiches (I’m tellin’ ya – they’re the BEST!) to anything that included the words “Hamburger Helper” on the box.

Ah, well, luckily I proved to be somewhat teachable. Over the years I’ve managed to learn a few things about the fine art of grocery shopping, particularly about certain foods. (Although I still miss my spam sandwiches. *sigh*)

Case in point: eggs. The very first time I observed Mrs. MZM buying eggs, I noticed she carefully examined the ends of each carton, looking for the one with the latest date. It’s pretty obvious, really, but I realized that was something I’d literally never given a passing thought to. I usually assumed that any eggs on the shelf were OK.

(A side note – of course, now that I know about expiration dates, I would never even consider eating an egg past its date; even the thought turns my stomach. But back then, I could have done it unknowingly, and who cared? Funny how perceptions influence reactions, isn’t it? But I digress.)

Anyway, after selecting a particular carton of eggs, she opened it up and used her finger to, er, jiggle each egg, one by one. Interesting; I’d never seen that done before. In fact, after 25 years of marriage, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone else doing it either.

The reason is once again obvious (once she explained it, of course – back then, I was dumber than a post regarding this stuff): it’s to check if any of them are broken. Broken eggs will stick to the carton and can’t be moved, even slightly (not to mention stink to high heaven). Don’t you hate it when you get a carton of eggs home and then discover one or more are already broken? Well, this never happens to her!

Nowadays, Mrs. MZM can even send me to the store, alone, resting easy in the knowledge that any eggs I buy will be: a) good for a while, and b) unbroken in the carton. (‘Course, I still tend to go for the ice cream aisle. Sadly, I’m weak that way.)

The other day while at the grocery store, Mrs. MZM told me a young woman watched her do her egg-checking ritual, and then came up and asked her about it. The woman was amazed, and resolved to do the same thing from then on.

So…

I think the real question here is, Are you teachable? If you encounter an opportunity to learn something new, does it turn into a traumatic experience? And when you find yourself getting dragged (drug?) out of your comfort zone, do you go out kicking and screaming all the way?

Or, does it come easy? I assure you, it’s not a trivial question!

I submit (and believe me, I’m including myself in this one too!) that cultivating an attitude of learning is the absolute best way to make it through the lessons life has to give us. I mean, c’mon – does anyone honestly expect their lives to be without bumps or setbacks (if you do, you’re living in a dream world, my friend!)

So how do we get through those times? Why, we learn something new, that’s how!

Now, along about here is where I’m supposed to come up with some great philosophical grandiose pronouncement that sums everything up. Well, after due consideration, all I can think of is this question (and note I didn’t say profound!):

Can one change the world by jiggling eggs? You tell me! (Told you it wasn’t very profound..)

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!