Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life
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2002 - 2007 RickButts.com INC
The Big Butts Of Life

GET OFF YOUR EXCUSES
AND DO BIG THINGS
Copyright 2002-2008 Rick Butts
Published by RickButts.com INC
The Big Butts of Life is a copyrighted production of RickButts.com INC. All rights are reserved
and you are prohibited from stealing anything from it without written permission from me, the
author. So Back Off!
Cover design and inside layout: Ad Graphics, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 0-9660981-4-5
To order more copies of this book go to http://www.RickButts.com and order one for everyone
you like!
(You can also order a copy for every loser you know it might help!)

OTHER BIG THINGS

BY RICK BUTTS
Be sure to visit Ricks other Web Sites
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People Are Talking About

This Book!
I hate excusesthey make me sickand Rick Butts has attacked all the biggest ones with
fervor! He proves that anyone can, should, and will succeed when they are willing to get their
buts out of the way. Thanks Rick........a terrific book.
Larry Winget
The Worlds Only Irritational Speaker,
The Pitbull of Personal Development,
and author of over fifteen books.
http://www.larrywinget.com.
*****
This book is way better than my book. But in fairness, my book is awful. Rick says hes going to
distance himself from the people holding him back. I sure hope he misses me.
Joe Malarkey
The Worst Motivational Speaker in America http://www.joemalarkey.com
I read your book, eliminated those excuses that were roadblocks, and in the last 24 hours have
completely remodeled my house, written a novel, and body painted my neighbor. Amazing!
Mark Mayfield
The Corporate Comedian
Author of Moms Rules
http://www.markmayfield.com
*****
The genius of Rick Butts is not just in the humor, it is in the results that you are guaranteed
when you read this book! There is something to underline on every page!
Vilis Ozols, President,
National Speakers Association Colorado
Author of Motivational Leaders and Motivational Selling http://www.ozols.com
*****
Rick Butts has done it again! His written word hits you between the eyes and teaches you that
EXCUSES are not permitted on the journey to success.
Ron Gus Gustafson
Speaker and Author
http://www.fullyarmed.com
*****
If you do even 10% of what Rick suggests in this book, your life/career will be 100% bigger.
Tom Antion
Web Guru and Speaking Expert
www.GreatInternetMarketing.com

Table of Contents
OTHER BIG THINGS ................................................................................................................. 3
BY RICK BUTTS ......................................................................................................................... 3
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..............................................................................................................
EXCUSES ARE LIKE.............................................................................................................. 9
DIRTY DOZEN BIG BUTTS OF LIFE ................................................................................... 11
AGE.............................................................................................................................................. 12
TIME............................................................................................................................................ 13
MONEY ....................................................................................................................................... 14
OTHER PEOPLE PART I...................................................................................................... 16
A WORD ABOUT KIDS .............................................................................................................. 16
A WORD ABOUT ELDERLY RELATIVES ................................................................................... 18
A WORD ABOUT DRUNKS, ADDICTS, AND OTHER DEPENDENT PEOPLE ............................... 19
OTHER PEOPLE PART II .................................................................................................... 20
MISTAKES ................................................................................................................................. 26
PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS ..................................................................................................... 29
MY SIMPLE PLAN ..................................................................................................................... 30
A WORD ABOUT REAL PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS .................................................................... 30
EDUCATION, TRAINING, EXPERIENCE ........................................................................... 32
ONE FINAL WARNING ABOUT THE EDUCATION EXCUSE ....................................................... 36
COLLEGE GRADUATE CURRENT LIFE EXAM QUESTION ........................................................ 36
INDECISION .............................................................................................................................. 38
FEAR............................................................................................................................................ 41
COURAGESTRENGTHENERGY.............................................................................................. 45
THREE ANTIDOTES FOR FEAR ................................................................................................. 48
FORGETTING ........................................................................................................................... 49
THE WORST KIND OF FORGETTING........................................................................................ 53
LIES ............................................................................................................................................. 56
A FINAL WORD ABOUT THE DIRTY DOZEN................................................................... 58
THE THREE STEPS TO SUCCESS ........................................................................................ 60
STEP 1DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT ....................................................................................... 60
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STEP 2 - DETERMINE THE PLAN AND COUNT THE PRICE ....................... 67

STEP 3 - COMMIT TO PAY THE PRICE ................................................................ 69
HOW ALL THREE STEPS WORK TOGETHER................................................................. 71
THE LIMITING STEP PRINCIPLE ....................................................................................... 71
WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT WORKING ON THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE

FIRST ...................................................................................................................................... 75
ONE MAN WHO DARED......................................................................................................... 78
HIND SIGHT .............................................................................................................................. 86

INTRODUCTION
Most people know exactly what they want in life, BUTT they turn right
around and do the things that take them in the opposite direction.
Read that again and tell me its not true.
You know it is, because if youve got an ounce of honesty and any
reflective perspective on your own life, you know there are times when
youve done this very thing.
I have, too.
If weve been able to get to a place where we can recognize this happening
a few times, then how frequently do you think it happens without us
noticing?
Often.
So heres a hard but powerful truth right up front:
Experiencing our lives as successful will be in large measure due to
our ability to stop doing the things that take us away from what we
want!
Sound simple?
Thats because it is.
Dont let the profundity of this escape you by its simplicity.
The most powerful truths are like the most powerful tools ever invented.
The wheel, the lever, and the fulcrum changed the world when we
discovered how to apply them.
The simple truths of lifelike being honest with ourselves, designing a
purpose-driven life of direction, and staying the course no matter how
difficultwill change our world.
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So, take it back to the top, as we say when we play music. Hear this now
like youve never heard it before:
Stop doing the things that are taking you away from what you
want.
While this is only the SECOND PART of a simple yet powerful formula for
success, this statement is the chief focus of this book.
I promise to deliver clearly the FIRST PART of the formula, as well as the
other parts. BUTT that is not the hunt we are on in these woods.
My goal, in the brief amount of time we spend together, is to get you to
overcome the big BUTTS of life.
Surely youve figured out by now that Ive changed but to BUTT. Its
because Ive been teased my whole life for having such a colorful name.
Its time I got something back and had some fun with it. You dont mind, do
you?
The BIG BUTTS of life are the excuses, roadblocks, illusions, and
distractions that are keeping you from experiencing success, joy, peace,
prosperity, and achievement in your life.
I could care less about what commercial advertising says you ought to
possess. I am wildly crazy about helping you get the things you really want
and need.
I first pondered the power of this tiny conjunction when I heard a radio
therapist tell callers that, no matter how true their statements, when they
put but in mid-sentence, they effectively negate the meaning of all the
words that come before it.
The best way to stop wrecking the truth with this evil eraser is to anticipate
it coming up. When you have finished reading this compact book, my hope
is that your BIG BUTTS get a little smaller, and that the life you create is
filled with BIG GOOD THINGS! Grab a chair over there, and lets begin.

EXCUSES ARE LIKE

If youve never heard this phrase before, you can ask people who are
worldly wise what it means. They will tell you it references the universal
truth that we all make excusesand that habit is really unpleasant.
Heres the problem we are out to solve:
How does someone stop making excuses BIG BUTTSand get
important BIG THINGS done?
Listen carefully to people talking about something they want or something
they wish they had done in the past. When someone asks, Well, John,
why dont you do that? what usually comes next?
Yep. An excuse.
An excuse is a universally accepted lie about why we dont do
something we want or ought to do.
A lie? you shout indignantly. My excuses are real obstacles that prevent
me from success. They arent lies!
Maybe.
If something cannot be done because of something that cannot be
changed, then it is a reason, not an excuse.
Reasons do existserious ones, I recognize that. BUTT that is not what
we are talking about here.
Yes, there are legitimate reasons for failure, though fewer than we might
suspect.
The difference between an excuse and a reason is that, in the end, an
excuse is our CHOICE to give in to the challenges we would have to face,
and our attempt to COVER IT UP with a softball answer.
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The universal acceptance of each others excuses is what we do in polite

company. We do that rather than get on anothers case about laziness, lack
of resolve, and more complex reasons, which we will discuss in this book.
BUTT I am not regarded as polite company.
I am your coach.
I am not going to succumb to the socially acceptable norm of giving you a
pass on this one.
So dont BS me here.
Dont even try.
Because I will tell you right now, I am not going to buy into your excuses.
Ive already heard all of them.
Ive used most of them myself in the natural pursuit of the easiest way out
of every situation!
I am a recovering excuse-a-holic. Why do you think I wrote this book?
Just for the record, though, lets get the most common excuses out on the
table, shine a bright light on them, and go about the business of beating the
BIG BUTTS of Life!
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DIRTY DOZEN BIG BUTTS OF LIFE

Age
Time
Money
Other People I
Other People II
Mistakes
Physical Limitations
Education
Indecision
Fear
Forgetting
Lies
Well, there they are.
A pathetic group when you see them all together, huh?
Consider the combined destruction, loss, and frustration that these 12
excuses have cost the human race throughout the ages of time.
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If we could see the times weve given in to them or outright lied about them,
wed see a long winding road of choices.
If we think long enough about the road not taken, what might our lives look
like todayif we would have faced even a few of these important
challenges square up?
Perhaps we might imagine a room full of possibilities instead of one full of
regrets.
So lets break them down now, one by one. Lets look at each of these
excuses and apply the short-version answer to their white-flag surrender
from responsibility.
Ready, set, go!
AGE
I will not hold my opponents youthful inexperience against him.
Ronald Reagan about Jimmy Carter, when asked if he thought age
was a factor in the 1980 U.S. election
BUTT, Im too young or too old!
While there are certainly times when this can be a reason, for most things it
is not. If you want to play in the NFL and you are 92 years old, you can
train and lift weights all you want, but your bones are too brittle. The first
time a 275-pound linebacker running at 200 miles an hour slams into you,
you will be pulverized.
In that case, you are right. You are too old for THAT GOAL. But you can
modify that passion in dozens of ways. You can get involved with
professional sports in a range of levels from running a fantasy league on
the computer to volunteering to work in a sporting goods store to coaching
kids.
All around us, we see people starting sooner, and later, than ever before.
Teenagers hacking away at computers starting technology and service
companies. People from middle age to retirees are going back to college
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and getting that degree they always wanted, or pursuing completely

different careers.
I saw a woman featured on a television show who began going to medical
school at age 45 and became an MD. When she was interviewed, she was
in the midst of serving a grueling residency at a hospital. Sure, she was the
oldest kid in her class, BUTT she refused to give in to the excuse a lot of
people make about being too old to go back to school, especially to
become a medical professional.
And you know what? She said she was very, very, happy. I would probably
use the word fulfilled! She had always wished shed pursued this career
path. Despite a lot of work and long hours now, she was determined to be
the best darn pediatrician she could be. She was living an intentional life of
purpose and feeling the joy it brings.
The solution to this AGE excuse (and most of the other excuses are the
same) will show up later in this book. BUTT just for this one, heres a tip:
Begin. Yes. Just get started.
Whether you think you are older or younger than others who take the step
you are eyeing, get a brochure, make a call, have lunch with someone who
is doing it. And just get started. Amazing things happen when you do!
TIME
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Douglas Adams
BUTT, I dont have the time!
What?
Who are you kidding?
What you really ought to say is that you dont have the time NOW.
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Right now, you are using every moment of your life pursuing the things
youve chosen. There is no such thing as extra time for anything, is there? I
mean, none of us have a few hours just lying around that we can spare,
do we?
I guess you could say some people do lie around and watch television or
waste their time in other ways. They seem to have time to spare.
BUTT in reality, all people are CHOOSING how to spend every moment of
the time they havein exactly the way they are right now. So there really is
no spare time.
There is, however, time abundant. Twenty-four hours a day to use as you
choose. So heres the short version to solving the excuse of TIME:
If you want something new in your life, you have to throw something
else out to make room for it.
You are smart enough to run with this idea, so lets move on. Hey, I told
you this was the short version!
MONEY
Money changes everything.
Cyndi Lauper
BUTT, I cant afford it!
While there is a fixed amount of time, extra money is everywhere! You see
it on TV and in the stores; you see it changing hands all over the place.
People stuff it into banks, mutual funds, 401(k)s. They even throw it into
fountains and the tip jar at the coffee shop.
With my own eyes, Ive even seen money lying on the street! Thats right,
Ive picked up pennies, dimes, nickels, quarters, dollars, andon three
separate occasionsa 20-dollar bill. Unlike time, extra money is
everywhere.
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The streets may not be literally lined with gold in America, BUTT abounding
opportunities to earn it are lying the streets.
If you want to do something, have something, be something, or create
something that you dont have now and you need money, go get it.
In fact, the first thing Id do is read that TIME section again and use some
of your time to get the money. Wouldnt that be a great start?
Not to sound trite, BUTT to lift your thinking from the slavery of earning a
paycheck, I have to tell you a secret that might keep you awake at night:
I believe with all my heart that, within 10 years, just about anyone
could make One Million Dollars in America if he or she wanted to
badly enough.
Im not going to pretend that it wont be hard workit will. Im not going to
suggest that the idea will walk up and knock on your doorit wont. I will
guarantee that making money is easier than you think. And the process of
making money will contain lots of creativity, problem solving, and growth on
your part.
Become a millionaire, not for the money, but for what it will make of
you. I did it, then lost the money, but was able to do it again
because of what making it made of me.
Jim Rohn
I love that quote because its absolutely true.
America, what a country!
Yakov Smirnoff Russian Comedian
Money is easier than you might ever suspect once you decide to go get it.
Go on, get ya some!
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OTHER PEOPLE PART I

Marriage is like a phone call in the middle of the night. First, you get
the ring, then you wake up.
BUTT, I have to take care of someone else!
So youve got small children?
Maybe you have an elderly parent or relative with special needs who
requires your time.
Or worse, perhaps a dependent spouse or friend, someone who is an
alcoholic or drug addict. Honestly, its the same thing, isnt it?
Part of what you are telling me is that you cant pursue your goals because
you have so much time wrapped up in other people. BUTT part of the
challenge you are facing is the kind of people you are investing your time
in.
So lets break it down, get real, and see if were dealing with an excuse or a
reason. Once again, the short version.
A Word About Kids
You had better take good care of your children. If you are a parent, you
have no higher obligation than to invest a big chunk of yourself into their
lives while they are growing up and becoming people. Wisdom literature
calls parenting part of the seasons of life.
If building a business, making money, travel, climbing the corporate ladder,
or just about anything else takes precedence over being therereally
being therefor your kids, then your priorities are out of whack. Not only
will you pay for this absence in the years ahead, so will your kids.
Being a good mom or dad is a calling, and one that you have to answer
once you bring babies into this world. If you tell me that any of the other
business or career goals listed above have to take a front seat right now at
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the expense of your kids, then you are making a BIG EXCUSE for doing
your duty as a parent.
Surprised I said this?
Isnt this book all about achieving success?
You bet! REAL SUCCESS is not about being a millionaire.
There really are seasons in life and parenting is one of them. This job will
end one dayat least the mommy and daddy I cant reach it stage and
when that day comes, for a while, you will feel very sad to see it go.
Until that day, focus on these parental priorities, experience the joy and
exasperation of it, and realize this: Life is long and offers plenty of time to
accomplish all that you dream about. Kids come first. Trust me on this.
When your kids are young, you are probably younger, too. When they grow
up some, you will have grown up some, too. Youll be better prepared to
take onand overcomethe BIG THINGS ahead of you.
There are some careers exceptions that demand a big commitment early in
life. Only you can decide if your commitment is one of those exceptions.
For example, professional athletes have a brief window of opportunity in
their early 20s to make extraordinary sums of money.
They have to seize this time and maximize it. Even they dont have to focus
at the expense of their families. They find a way.
You dont have to wait, though, to pursue your dreams, even if you have
two howling toddlers still in diapers. In this season of life, you can read,
learn, grow, plan, begin things, start small, interact, network, study,
research, and sharpen your tools. You can get involved in many ways,
make tremendous strides, and accomplish big things.
Dont abandon your kids, BUTT dont use them as an excuse for doing
what you CAN.
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A Word About Elderly Relatives

Plenty of books have been written about caring for aging parents and
relatives. This is an area full of emotion and anxiety. Its easy to get blinded
by a big dose of guilt and confusion.
Just as your mom and dad might be entering their sunset years (and baby
boomers, many parents are), you are probably in the midst of the most
productive time of your life. This is no simple situation BUTT you can follow
a simple path.
Balance.
Dont make caring for aging parents an excuse for why you dont pursue
the important things in your life.
Make it your goal to seek balance.
Get some help.
Consider arranging for assisted living or rotating responsibilities among
relatives and concerned others. Most of the people I know who have
struggled in this area have suffered from having a limited perspective about
their options. Pull off the blinders that say it has to be done like this and
see if you can create more space to work on your BIG THINGS.
In the end, one of the best things we can do for the people we love is to
fulfill our own destiny and create the life we know we can.
To shrink back and fail to pursue this life usually doesnt create the loving,
connecting relationships we want to have with our parents and children.
Instead, it creates a restless bitterness and resentment.
So take the extra time and effort needed to find a workable solution for
everyone. Read on to discover the courage and strength to make these
tough choices!
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A Word About Drunks, Addicts, and Other Dependent People

Its a thin linebetween love and hate.
The Pretenders
Now you are really going to get the short version and you already know
what it is. You knew it before you picked up this book.
Get out.
Thats right, get out of co-dependent relationships and get out now.
If you havent figured it out by now, Ive got a news flash for you:
Drunks and addicts wont get help as long as there is someone to

prop them up, make their excuses, and rescue them one more
time.
Your patient, enduring love isnt helping them get back on their feet for one
more chance; its really a meal ticket to not stopever.
There are only three avenues for the future of the addict or alcoholic: jail,
death, or sobriety.
And you cannot do much about their getting sober as long as you persist in
trying to keep them from experiencing the consequences of their choices.
So go on, get out, and let them hit rock bottom. Most people, when faced
with the total awfulness of their choice to abuse drugs and alcohol, will pull
it together and attempt the work of rehabilitation. Until then, though, the
illusion of the addicted mind is denial and blaming circumstances beyond
their control. This sets them up to keep getting snockered.
Get on with the business of making your life happen on purpose instead of
in reaction to dependent people in your life. Go to Al-Anon meetings and/or
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counseling and get a handle on your attraction to these people as a

pathway to your own healing.
If your significant other gets better, he or she will be a lot better person to
have as an ally in your quest for success, love, and happiness.
And if theres no recovery, I promise you can do better!
Get that BIG BUTT out of your life and see what you can do.
OTHER PEOPLE PART II

The imaginary friend I had as a kid dropped me because his friends
thought I didn't exist.
Aaron Machado
BUTT, my friends say I shouldnt do that.
Someone came up to me after a seminar and asked me what was the
number-one reason people fail to achieve their potential.
Thats a great question, isnt it?
Think about it. If someone is capable of accomplishing something and they
want to do it, BUTT they dont, wouldnt it be valuable to understand why?
My answer came quickly that day. And the more I think about it, this answer
still rings true:
The number-one reason people fail to achieve their potential is the

people they choose to hang around.
Learning this lesson, then observing the implications of it all around me,
has been one of the landmark foundations in my own personal growth.
We tend to become the average of our five closest associates.
Dont think this is true?
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Well, think about how two people in a marriage often begin to resemble one
another.
Two completely different people start to spend a lot of time together.
They eat the same foods.
They share each others clothes.
They live in a house where they each get the same amount of sunlight.
Watch the same shows on TV.
Then, one day, they get a dog. People nearby street observe that all three
of them bear a striking resemblance to one another as they stroll through
the park.
The power of association is so great that its influence is almost impossible
to measure. This powerful force is hard to see while its happening because
its so gradual and subtle.
Think about the Five Closest Associates Theory.
Dont the people in your life influence your opinions? Do they recommend
the movies you see and the books you read (or dont read)? Do they push
their opinions and belief systems, on you?
Of course, we all influence each other in a thousand subtle ways.
Over time, we become the people we arelargely due to the influence of
others.
Why?
Why dont we just go out into the world, investigate the facts of life, observe
what works or doesnt work, and decide for ourselves?
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We dont do this because of our desire for acceptance. Since we were kids,
we wanted so desperately to fit in that we made a point of learning how.
We discovered that if we went along with the crowd, the crowd let us be
part of it.
Dont think for a moment that desire ended at high school graduation.
For many, this unconscious force to be accepted will trap them into lives of
toil and frustration as they pursue a safe path. They path needs to be
acceptable to the group with which they identify.
Thus, the power of the group rules the lives of its members.
And the members of the group influence the lives of each other in powerful
ways.
Now, heres the truly scary part.
The group doesnt like it when you break the chain and become successful.
Your success embarrasses people who are lazy and not as bright as you.
Yeah, I know that youd think it wouldnt be this way.
Youd think that the people in our group would encourage you to be all that
you can be.
They will even tell you they will play that role for you.
BUTT they wont.
There will be subtle clues in their behavior that your new venture wont be
embraced like the predictable old (group-like) behavior youve always
shown.
The average group is exactly thataverage. And its fragile bond is its
unspoken assent to not embarrass one another with an extraordinary
performance.
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This crazy operating system pervades most families, too. How do you think
we know to do it automatically in our adult groups?
Watch what happens to the son or daughter of a lazy or dependent parent
when the child really stands up and goes for it.
When this pack-think attitude invades a team in the workplace or an entire
small business, the results can be devastating.
Woe to the manager or business owner who tries to motivate this group!
They are in for a very tough haul because they will harden fast and resist
changeunless external forces prove them to be a safe alternative for the
entire team.
All groups are not like this.
Plenty of groups are not built around the mutually assured average
standard:
There are some groups, usually formed intentionally by its members,
who thrive on the success of one another.
In fact, the members of these groups encourage each other to make
progress. They demand achievement by their persistent pursuit of new
frontiers.
Heres how to tell what kind of group you are part of:
Start talking about doing a BIG THING.
See what kind of encouragement you get.
See how quickly the group will swallow you up and go back to its usual
topics of discussion.
See how uncomfortable the group is with any lengthy discussion of your
new plans.
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Listen to the subtle negativity.

Well, Rick, good luck on that. You are sure going to need it, they chuckle.
No one from our family ever did anything like that.
I heard about someone who tried thatonce. They didnt last long.
Is that feedback helpful?
No, that is brain poisoning.
Jesus told his followers, If you are for us, you are not against us. And he
said, If you are against us you are not for us.
Now, this is a pretty complex statement for someone who ordinarily limits
his advice to a few words.
He might not have made it in multi-level marketing with his short recruiting
speech: Follow me.
What does this cryptic statement mean?
I believe he was attempting to communicate to his followers the power of
association.
He was really illustrating the either/or nature of influence.
Its either for us or against us. There can be no middle ground.
So here is my application of this idea relative to the BIG BUTTS of Life:
Everyone you encounter is either helping you get where you want
to go or preventing you from getting there. There are no neutral
people in your life.
Its subtle.
Its ugly.
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Its true.
I do mean everyone.
The supportive teacher or coach is a part of your positive progress in life.
Negative people can be a part of the obstacles we face, slowing us down
and even blocking us from getting where we want to go.
Does this mean that the surly fellow at the dry cleaners who doesnt smile
when I come in, never knows my name, and acts like its a pain in the neck
to get take my money keeps me from living my vacation in Paris?
Yes!
Even the smallest encounter with negative people can be a hit on our
emotional energy.
The fragile fuel of our positive mental attitude gets spent fighting the
negativity, trying to cheer them up, justifying their snotty, eye-rolling looks,
and even gearing up for another encounter.
They are energy vampires who are sucking the positive-ness out of us.
Take that small influencethe guy at the dry cleanersthen look at the
really big ones
a disapproving parent or spouseand see how these contacts add up to
keeping us from the power we might experience if we were free of them.
Attempting to find happiness through the approval of others is like
trying to drink from a dry well.
So take a close look at your group.
This filter will quickly put your relationships in perspective as you round up
the usual suspects of people you hang around with.
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Think about what influential people you have in your life today.
Are they recommending good books?
Going to seminars to learn new things?
Do they encourage you in healthy habits or in destructive ones?
Take it deeper and ask this enormously powerful question: Is that okay?
If it is, good.
If its not, the simple answer is to get rid of those in the group. I call this the
seminar answer. In reality, its rarely that easy.
Usually, the people who get to be in your top five list didnt earn that spot
overnight. If you spend enough time with someone, he or she gets into your
top fivea co-worker, a relative, or someone else you have to be around.
So the answer for being with those no-choice people is restricted
involvement.
Little by little, you dont have time to have lunch with them today. You sit
somewhere else. You make subtle changes until you can gradually plug in
to new habits and people.
Next, seek out new people to fill the gap.
Choose these comrades more carefully than your accidental associates
and they will become your co-adventurers in your quest of dreams.
MISTAKES
Mistakes, Ive made a few, but then again, too few to mention
Frank Sinatra
BUTT, Ive already blown it too many times.
Fear.
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Thats what this is.

Thinking to oneself that because I blew it in the past, I am damaged goods
and will probably just blow it again, so why bother trying?
After all, I dont need the pain and embarrassment. So I will just stay here
and play the lousy hand that was dealt to me.
Fear. Blue cold fear:
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
Ive got some good news for you if you are making excuses about the
future because of the past
The future doesnt give a darn about the past.
Other people dont really care about our failures.
They are too busy pondering their own.
Only we seem so hell bent on beating ourselves up about our mistakes.
There is a healthy approach to this, and that is to put our actions (good and
bad) into perspective.
Let the past be a teacher to learn from, not a stick to beat yourself
up with.
Jim Rohn
Sometimes its a fascinating thing to look at our lives in the rear-view
mirror.
27
To see the choices weve made in the past.

To take a look down the road not taken and wonder what might have been?
Not as a way to feel badly about what we did choose, BUTT as a way to
learn about our own natural instincts in the way we make our choices.
What was driving us at the time?
What influences did we think were critical at the time? Look closer now and
see which choices were manufactured by guilt, fear, or ignorance.
Ive got a news flash for you here:
Everyone makes mistakes! Accept the fact that failure is an
essential component of success.
No one does BIG THINGS without a few BIG MISTAKES!
Really careful peoplethe ones who wont leave for town until all the lights
are green dont make a lot of big mistakes because they rarely attempt
anything important.
What kind of a life is that?
How much FUN could it be?
For my two centsnot much!
Anything worth attempting is likely to have some missteps, blunders, and
oops. The bigger the project and the number of screw-up-ortunities
increases proportionally to the size of the project.
To make good progress, to make good time in life, its best to go ahead and
fix your mistakes on the way than to massively overanalyze and fail to get
started for years.
The key is not to be perfect; that isnt likely to happen anyway.
28

Rather, its important to recognize when things are going wrong and fix
them as soon as possible, then get back out there and make it happen.
Ask yourself, knowing what I now know, would I have signed up for
this? If the answer is no, then do everything you can to fix it or get out
as rapidly as possible.
Brian Tracy
So lets say farewell to the excuse that youve had your ticket voided for
attempting new BIG THINGS because youve made mistakes in the past.
Or I will be forced to tell you the old story about how many times Edison
failed to create a working light bulb.
PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS
Plan? We aint got no plan!
Crazed prison escapee in Thunderdome to Mel Gibson as they
raced across the desert pursued by hundreds of angry armed
marauders
BUTT, Im in Indiana and all the really good gigs are in New York!
If you want to be somewhere else, you will need a plan to get there.
Need a tool, computer, degree, book, or a lump of Kryptonite? You are
going to need a plan to get it.
Ive included a box full of terrific and specific ideas about planning in the
middle of this book.
For now, you need to know that, no matter how insurmountable your
physical limitation may seem, the gap between what you want and what
you got is the canvas upon which you need to draw up your roadmap.
29
My Simple Plan
I AM HERE------------- I WANT TO BE HERE
How to get there
__________________________ ?
__________________________ ?
__________________________ ?
Solving the problem of how to get from point A to point B is the central
challenge of successful people.
The central challenge of unsuccessful people is how to survive at point A
while praying that the lottery numbers hit and point B falls into their lap.
Facing this challenge, instead of running away from it, has been the chief
source of all the truly important things Ive learned in life.
Figuring this outsometimes at the library, sometimes over lunch with a
colleague who was already doing it, sometimes early in the morning or late
at night sitting with a notebook drawing lines, circles, and dreaming of a
solution for my specific and unique situationhas been the most powerful
force for personal growth Ive ever known.
If you need to be in New York, get a plan for getting there.
If you need a truck, its like money. You can find lots of trucks in America.
Plenty. So get off your BIG BUTT and figure out how you can be driving
one.
Get creative instead of getting depressed.
A Word About Real Physical Limitations
30

So you are too short to be a center on a National Basketball Association

team.
So want to be a jockey and you are 6 feet tall and weigh 250 pounds.
Perhaps, you were born with a physical handicap and you use a
wheelchair.
Maybe an automobile accident has left you with a permanent debilitating
injury.
Youve got a tough physical limitation that puts you at a disadvantage in
pursuing BIG THINGS.
Hey, while this is intended to be an optimistic and inspirational how-to
guide, lets not pretend you are starting the race from the same point as
people who do not have these challenges.
That said, lets quickly apply the BIG BUTTS principles and get on with it
anyway.
Your challenge is just thata challenge.
You have to put your life and your abilities in perspective and make
choices. Whining about the situation will not help you or change anything.
In fact, the more you complain about reality, the less likely you are to attract
a positive and helpful group of allies.
Ive put an amazing story in the back of this book that addresses this
subject first hand (much better than me spouting platitudes about
something Ive never suffered).
BUTT what do you really know about me?
In the end, only what Ive shown you.
Many people struggle with invisible yet very real challenges. They are all
around us.
31
The devastating effects of childhood abusephysical, verbal,

psychological, and worsecan handicap a person in very real ways.
This type of challenge requires a unique type of plan, BUTT a plan all the
same.
In the end, the quest to do BIG THINGS in life is always proportionate to
our own personal starting point.
We all begin our journey from just exactly where we find ourselves on the
morning when we wake up. That is the real starting point.
The ending point is ours and ours alone.
It really doesnt matter what anyone at anytime has ever achieved. It
especially doesnt matter what our parents, brothers and sisters, or those
close to us have done. That seems to invade our thinking so easily
because of proximity of influence.
Whats real is that each of us has our own personal journey.
The time has come for us to stop measuring our success in any
other terms except our own potential.
EDUCATION, TRAINING, EXPERIENCE

Uncle Jedbankins not for me. Is a gonna be one a them there
brain surgeon fellas!
Jethro Bodine, The Beverly Hillbillies
BUTT, I dont have the right background.
This is the most frequent excuse people actually voice.
It is true that you cant walk into a dentist office and pick up a drill without
learning how to do dentistry.
32

What you can do is pick up a brochure or visit a website about dental

schools. You can talk to a dentist about how someone like you might find a
career in the field.
What I am saying here is the same message as in the last section about a
plan.
Get one.
Here is where the answers to the BIG BUTTS list start to come together
and get easier.
Add one part time and one part plan. Shake and bake and you are on
your way!
The short version is that the only thing that stands between your current
level of education and experience is time.
Suit up; youre starting!
In the same sense that money is abundant if you shift your perspective
about it, so is learning.
Public schools were initiated by the founding fathers so that every man,
woman, and child in America could read the Bible for themselves.
Creating an intelligent population was critical if we were to throw off the
yoke of an oppressive British King forever.
We all owe a great debt to entrepreneur Andrew Carnegie, one of the BIG
BUTTS Pioneers who did a huge BIG THING.
His stated goal was to spend the first part of his life amassing a fortune and
the second half giving it away.
A very large portion of the incredible wealth he earned went to establishing
public libraries that would reach people wherever they were.
33
Reading has been the foundation of the most effective learning for the
Ancients, through the preservationists of the Dark Ages, through Abraham
Lincoln, right up until today.
As for me, I joined a rock band after high school and didnt go to college.
When I finally woke up and began the journey to do BIG THINGS, the
library was my best source of mental nourishment.
I poured through the shelves reading everything I could get my hands on
about the subjects I sought to learn.
One book led to another, as author after author provided me with the
names of books they read that changed their livesor unlocked the
mystery of a problem that vexed them enough to write a book about it.
Looking back, its easy to see how an ignorant (not stupidjust ignorant)
farm boy who played ten years in a rock and roll band ended up where I
have today.
I simply tracked the essence of success like a hunter through the footprints
of the hunters before me.
Its no wonder I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The path was simple.
Not easy, mind you, but almost laughably simple.
So you want to be a brain surgeon?
So you want to be a guide on an Everest expedition?
Today, I begin with the Internet when I want to learn something new.
Ive never abandoned reading books, though. In most cases, I look as
quickly as possible for a book on the subject because of the magic that
happens in the juice of my brain when I read.
34

Something magical happens when our READING minds encounter words

that force us to imagine their reality in the gigantic universe of our psyches.
Something about the catalyst of imagination stimulates our thinking
in ways that build BIG THINGS like castles reaching to the sky. At the
same time, we gain the inspiration and courage to see the invisible
thing as it will look when it is finished.
Let this principle be your guiding compass as you get off the excuse that I
dont have a degree and all its cousins.
All the education, learning, wisdom, and experience you want are
completely available to you if you avail yourself of them.
There are free learning opportunities.
The government will pay people to go to school.
Mentors will teach you.
Apprenticeships are available.
Low-cost education is everywhere.
And let me RANT about something that totally gets me twisted: Corporate
employees who fail to take advantage of an educational reimbursement
fund that pays them to learn.
Watch and see how often these are the same people who freak out when
they get laid off and worry about having the skills they need to compete in
the new economy.
Shame, shame, shame on you.
Yet, manager after manager tells me that only a tiny fraction of their team
takes advantage of this gold mine of learning.
Know this:
35
The only thing that stands between you and the education and training you
desire is time and YOU.
Its been said before BUTT I will say it again for the record:
If you are putting off going back to school because it will take four
years, how old do you think you will be in four years whether you go
to school or not?
One Final Warning About the Education Excuse
Many people put off doing what they ought to because they piddle around
and dribble a few courses here and there toward a college degree.
They are actually hiding behind the illusion that they cannot get going until
after they get this degree and graduate and blah, blah, blah.
That is just as big an excuse as any we hear, masked behind the
convenient cover up of small progress. Hey, I AM going to school, after
all!
Listen carefully and see if this applies in your situation.
While a college degree is almost essential for most young people to be
successful, in some special cases (and in many more than 30 situations), it
is not.
College Graduate Current Life Exam Question
If you are 42 years old, how much are you using what you learned 20 years
ago in college today, and how much does it matter to do the things you
want to do now?
Come on, adults have lots of ways to get ahead today with special learning,
focused training, and credit for life experience.
Get the information you need before you blindly enroll in four more years of
putting off doing the things you need to do today.
36

If a degree or certification is what you need, I wholeheartedly encourage to

get off your BIG BUTT and get to it!
37
INDECISION
Did you ever have to make up your mind?
To pick up on one and let the other one ride?
Its not always easy and not often kind.
Did you ever have to finally decide?
The Loving Spoonful
BUTT, there are so many choices, I cant decide!
Perhaps it was simpler in the old days, whatever the old days were.
Maybe in a simpler time, we had fewer choices and it was less complicated
to pick a path.
If anything describes our world today, its the era of a million choices.
How many kinds of ice cream can we order?
500 TV channelsand nothings on!
In a world of too many choices, it is critical that we boil our lives down to
the things that matter most.
In my keynote speech Survival Tactics for the New Jungle, I tell people
the greatest opportunity in the world is that every morning life hands us a
blank sheet of paper and invites us to write the rest of our life story.
This beautiful freedom available to us all to begin againand do things that
arent working differentlycan also be a vexing, overwhelming challenge
all its own.
To decide.
To pick one out of many.
To finally focus and decide what to leave out.
38

To remove the 17 books on our nightstands and finish reading the most
important one is sometimes more than we can bear.
Americans have turned personal freedom into an excuse to avoid
commitment.
Doing BIG THINGS means deciding, though, because we will be hard
pressed to find success at a whole bunch of different things if we try to do
them all at the same time.
Diluting our energy, focus, and power can be fatal to what it takes to do
BIG THINGS. By their very nature, the big stuff requires our very best.
At the crossroads of my life, I faced a dozen directions I could go. Choosing
seemed impossible, so I tried an endless number of combinations to juggle
them all.
Finally, I stumbled on a method for getting the clarity I lacked. Ive placed
that method later in this book for you to use as a tool in your search for an
answer.
Indecision is the thief of opportunity
Jim Rohn
Though we all know the incredible power of written goals, recording them
seems to be the hardest thing for adults to do.
To simply write something down summons up all kinds of troubles about
commitment, fear, and confusion.
For now, its enough to know that, while it may seem tough and
intimidating, writing makes you choose.
You have to limit the areas you are willing to apply your very best into if you
are to do BIG THINGS.
The challenge of choosing seems so tied to the next BIG BUTT, lets just
go ahead to the next chapter and get right to it.
39
40

FEAR
Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources
of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell
BUTT, Im afraid ____________ will happenor maybe not!
The unspoken fear that lives around the edge of everyones thoughts is a
real and present factor in how we make decisions.
There are healthy fears, like falling from a high place or telling the boss
how incredibly stupid it looks to swoop 27 strands of hair into a nebula and
hair spray it down in an attempt to pretend hes not bald.
These fears are the boundaries of reason and keep us from danger.
The deep fear of failing or looking bad or being found out to be average
haunts our self-confidence and shapes the kinds of choices we make. It
tells us we are not the kinds of people who do BIG THINGS.
Although this fear can be closer to us than our spouses or parents, it is
never our friend. It is a lying coward that will consume and destroy us if we
let it.
Understanding this opponent will help us see its tricks before they happen.
We can then anticipate fears howling accusations in advance and cast
them into the light where they will shrivel up like the Wicked Witch of the
West when the pail of water splashed on her.
Im melting!
Now, lets melt some fears.
During the height of World War II, Hitler began running nighttime air raids
across the English Channel from bases it had captured in France and
Belgium.
41
They inflicted serious damage on the major cities of the U.K. The
psychological terror they produced was perhaps just as destructive.
Fatigue makes cowards of us all.
Winston Churchill
British Prime Minister Churchill made this statement about fatigue in
response to this situation. He somehow linked the power of tiredness with
fear.
In the fabric of our emotions, tiredness makes us more fearful. When we
are tired, when we are fatigued, its not a good time to set goals. Its a
terrible time to engage in difficult discussions both at work and in
relationships.
We dont want to volunteer when we are tired, and we grow increasingly
negative and stubborn to the degree in which our physical state
deteriorates.
The good news is that the solution is easy. It lies exactly in the opposite
force that triggers the fear.
Energy.
Not metaphysical universal vibrations, the good old-fashioned James
Brown I Feel Good energy. This is the type of force and power that comes
from being healthy, being in good physical condition, getting a good nights
sleep, and showing up rested.
When we feel good, we are more eager to try new things. We are more
likely to volunteer. We are simply less afraid.
We dont need more data to be successful. We need the courage strength
and physical energy to do the things we already know we ought to when we
least feel like it.
People are primarily motivated one of two ways: Our dominant motivation is
either to move toward good things or run away from bad things.
42

Now while these may seem like two sides of the same coin, the real power
of these forces is so much more significant.
Whichever of these two forces is your dominant motivator rules your
destiny!
My divorced mother, brother, and I lived for a time in a rundown house in
the poor part of the Indiana woods called Sandy Town outside of the city of
Clinton.
Our tiny house had no running water. It had an outhouse in the back, a big
pump on the porch, and a smaller sink-sized pump on the drainboard in the
kitchen.
On bath nights, we boiled water on the stove. We poured it into a
galvanized tub that looked like a horse tank. It sat on the linoleum floor in
the kitchen, next to the stove.
When I talk about this, someone always pipes up to say: Rick, we was
poor growing up, too. But, heck, even though we were poor, everyone
around us was poor, so we didnt even know we was poor!
Oh yeah? I think to myself.
Maybe if you were poor and stupid!
How can you not know you are poor?
I mean, it comes up, doesnt it? Like when everyone else is buying shoes
and we have no m-o-n-e-y!
Money is the dominant conversation in every household.
Do you know how to fill in the blanks on these phrases?
Money doesnt grow on _________________ .
Im not made out of ____________________ .
43
If you dont watch it, well all end up in the ________________________ ?

If you said poorhouse, welcome to the club!
My mom used to say that.
I remember looking around at our humble crib and thinkingtheres a
worse place?
May I suggest that if you knew how to fill in the blanks on this statement,
then perhaps somewhere, someone raising kids in a post-depression
society planted the seed of fear into you.
They sure drilled it into me.
I am sure that part of the motivation I discovered to start my own
businesses, to take risks, to work very, very, hard to make it grew out of
the insidious fear that haunted me from those early days.
Always afraid of being poor, of having something terrible happen to me, of
feeling the embarrassment of the clothes I had to wear and thinking what
others might be saying about me, I busted my back to be successful.
Motivated not TOWARD success; motivated AWAY from failure.
This little difference makes all the difference in the world in the way we live
and how our lives work out.
Motivation away from bad things is a cold dead motivator. Its powerful, to
be sure. If you dont get this doneyou are FIRED! Jerks like that crack
the whip because they know it gets results.
BUTT thats not motivationits intimidation.
The month before Christmas, all of the children take their good behavior up
a notch, dont they? They hope and pray that Santa will give them a pass
on the last 11 months if they can just be really, really good as the
decorations go up and the lights flicker on.
44

They clean their rooms.

They act more polite.
They feel excited.
They study their lessons and make special cards for their parents.
They display a renewed commitment to all kinds of things and demonstrate
real creativity in being nice around everyone.
Gosh, they are such shameless kiss ups and brownnosers!
Bet you were, too, werent you?
This is not a mystery.
Its the power of looking forward to something.
Its the motivation TOWARD success.
It is filled with that which we are looking for as the practical, fat-free
antidote to fear.
CourageStrengthEnergy
People who are looking forward to something experience a heightened
degree of physical energy and pep.
By understanding the opposite of Churchills words on fear, we know that
personal energy brings courage.
And courage kicks the Big Butts of Fear.
At the same time as Churchill was embroiled in the Battle of Britain, an
Austrian Jewish psychiatrist was in a Nazi concentration camp called
Auschwitz.
45
Viktor Frankel was experiencing on a daily basis the terror and destruction
of the nightmarish holocaust inflicted on his friends and family, simply
because of his race.
Viktor Frankel
Being a psychologist, Frankel observed what was happening around him

through a different filter.
He noticed that, while most of the prisoners were swept away out of control
in the face of the brutality and hopelessness of the camps, a smaller
number rode out the experience with a better attitude.
All around him, the effects of the camp debilitated the physical and
emotional conditions of the prisoners. Yet this special group remained more
optimistic and actually seemed to fare better physically, too.
Frankel sought these people out to talk with them about their lives. Why, he
wondered, were they holding up better? What was it that made them feel
more optimistic?
When the camp was finally liberated, many of the emaciated survivors
emerged from the special group Frankel studied.
46

In his landmark book Mans Search For Meaning, Frankel identified what
he felt was the determining difference:
The single common characteristic of the people who had a better
attitude and in turn increased survival ability was this: they each had
something left undone in their lives.
Perhaps it was a book they hadnt finished or one they desired to start.
Maybe there was some important research that was interrupted by the War.
Surely they would find a loved one after this was all over.
Each of them had something left unfinished. The thought of completing it
stayed in their thoughts and gave them a glimmer of a future beyond their
circumstances.
There is a powerful truth in this.
People with a reason experience life in a different way than people
without one. Trying to do somethingespecially something
significantis a much greater energizing force than merely trying to
pay your bills.
I am not going to tell you that I understand the science to healthy attitude.
And I wont suggest for a moment that many of the people who died in the
camps did so because of a bad attitude. I will assure you that if you follow
the prescription in the Simple Steps section of this book, you will tap into a
power that will make an amazing difference in your life. I believe that with
all my heart
You will discover the courage, energy, and power to do BIG THINGS.
That much I guarantee.
47
In the end, fear is just an excuse. Its just a BIG BUTT to be beaten.
If fear is holding you back, its nothing to be ashamed of. It is also nothing
to neglect and give up on.
Three Antidotes for Fear
Start with a reason.
Gather information.
And take action.
Once you have a good reason, begin to gather information.
Information and action are the two basic ingredients in destroying fear.
This can be an exhilarating energy builder.
Once you start picking up brochures, reading books and articles, and
talking with people who know more than you, the answers to the questions
that held you back start to come.
Once you see how completely solvable and simple most of the steps are,
its easy to get excited.
But fear can still be a factor and stop you in your tracks unless you take
action.
In fact, there is really no way to avoid being at least a bit fearful and
cautious in this endeavor.
One of the common characteristics of BIG THINGS is that they are BIG.
They require something more from us than the rest of the grit of life. A big
thing ought to challenge us and ask us to learn, to grow. It must call us to
reach up higher than we ever have into a new level of creativity and
problem solving, to reach deeper into our own soul for character and
courage.
48

Nothing whips fears fanny as fast as action!

Ive seen it many times in my own life.
From testing out a new product to picking up the phone and making that
first cold call, taking action accomplished a whole lot more than
contemplation and preparation every time.
Once you just get up and get going, solutions become obvious. And the
shadows of fear disappear under the bright light of honest, intelligent effort.
Arent you glad you bought this book?
FORGETTING
Whoops, I did it again.
Britney Spears
Did I do that?
Irkel
I am so sorry, BUTT I just plain forgot to do it!
Hey, the quotes are getting heavier, arent they?
Now we change gears for the last two excuses and get into the really
shameless things we tell each otherand try to tell ourselves.
This excuse made the list because I have a teenager.
Not just because teenagers are the only ones who say I forgot, but
because children, in that adorable way, put a big giant mirror up to our own
behavior.
49
Somewhere in her adolescence, she discovered this versatility and

immutability handy excuse.
After all, what can you really say to someone who says they forgot?
You are stupid?
Is your brain so small that you actually forgot?
How could you?
No way?
Yes, way!
In the spirit of keeping things at the short version, lets confront this excuse
for what it really is so we can get on with doing BIG THINGS.
First of all, we have to recognize that, more than all the others, this excuse
has two applications. One is internal and the otheryou guessed it.
Internally we might say we forgot because we did. If we forget something
important, the bottom line is we didnt make it important enough or we
didnt do anything about remembering.
The pencil never forgets.
John Wilson
In order to do big things, we are going to be signing up for longer TO-DO
lists and a wider range of more diverse tasks than ever before.
If you have trouble remembering why you went to the market in the first
place, or what in heavens name you are doing in the pantry, you are
probably going to have a hard time keeping the inventory of that new small
business in your head.
Better get a system.
50

While its not the chief focus of this book to detail the technical aspects of
success, they exist and getting organized may be number one.
Ive become a fanatic about writing things down.
In my black canvas Lands End briefcase at all times is a cheap spiral
notebook. Every time I get on a plane or leap into my car to run errands,
this briefcase goes with me.
I also use a couple of computer programs to collect and sort data and
information. One is Microsoft Outlook, which is a totally different program
than Outlook Express, and the other is a proprietary Internet-based system
for professional speakers and entertainers called www.espeakers.com.
Look for more information like this in the back of the book in the resources
section.
One of the most important lessons of success is learning to think on
paper.
Jim Rohn
I use simple file folders with colored labels for the top four types of
information in the office.
While I bootstrapped my business by myself, Ive gotten to the point where
it is cost-prohibitive for me to do certain types of tasks. For this, Ive hired
an amazing person who functions as a personal assistant for both my wife
(who is also a professional speaker) and me.
I call her the Information Officer for the company, for her many
responsibilities and talents calls for gathering, organizing, and distilling all
the data and information we encounter.
When we interviewed Tina, our Information Officer, on the first meeting, I
asked her what she had enjoyed doing recently. She told me she had really
gotten into helping her high school- aged daughter research a paper on a
past president.
51
She gets to do that for me, too, by using the Internet, the library, and other
resources to solve all kinds of problems. She is really good at things like
this. I am not. Its a clue!
We are currently putting together an operations manual by detailing stepby-step actions she takes on every repetitive task in the office.
Into Microsoft Word, we put a detailed list of what she does every time an
order comes in on the Internet for one of my books or CDs.
What comes first? Where is the file saved? What type of shipping material
is used for what types of orders? What promotional material goes out along
with a book? Where do we enter the client information in our database?
Every action taken goes in the manual right up to the final dotted i and
crossed t. We then print out the document and insert it into a three ring
binder so that anyone, including me if I am here alone, can do the task and
not disturb the force!
Ive not included this small scenario from Planet Rick just to fill up this fat
book. I hope, though, you recognized some principles you can use to
overcome your own challenges and not forget the big ingredients in your
quest for BIG THINGSas well as the little things that really matter to the
people we love.
Get a system.
Write things down.
Read, learn, and grow any way you can in this area. Read something in
this field. Though theres less of a buzz about Time Management and the
like now than there once was, these books contain some extremely
valuable lessons and life skills.
Get help. As soon as you can, find a way to get others to do what you are
lousy at.
Get tools and learn how to use them.
52

My final advice in this area may be a bit off subject, but its still really
powerful.
Stop hacking around trying to figure out how to use the software you have
to use a lot. GET TRAINING!
Ive been using Microsoft Word for years and would consider myself a
shirtsleeve expert on it. Stuck in Phoenix during the airport shut down after
September 11th, I took a full-day course in the software program from a
computer store and was amazed at how much I didnt know!
Ive forgotten the actual percentages, but a recent study pointed out an
astronomical increase in productivity for workers who took a one-day
training course in software they had never used versus people with years of
experience who had taught themselves. The training put them instantly
ahead of the self-taught experienced folks. Another clue, do you think?
The Worst Kind Of Forgetting
At the end of the line of excuses is the subtle shadow of forgetting to
dream.
Maybe youve had setbacks.
People have let you down.
Perhaps you are still paying off the last disappointment in some real or
emotional currency.
Welcome to the human race.
Saddest of all people are the ones who have traded a brighter future for
managing the sameness of life.
You know Ive always been a dreamer.
Don Henley, The Eagles
53
There may be many personal reasons why people stop dreaming. Maybe
its safer that way.
When we cease to dream, I believe a part of us dies.
For lack of vision, my people perish.
The Bible
When we settle for a life without a vision of something different, something
better, some growth or challenge, then something inside us dies, too.
I know you are busy.
I know your life is full now.
I know that old thing where the guy holds up a brimming full glass of water
and challenges the audience with the question how do we get more water
in this glass?
And I know that the answer is to take something out.
Sure, at first glance, there is no room in a busy life for anything else.
If you feel like that, you are suffering an illusion, probably based on the
expectations of yourself or others and not on a healthy balance of living.
So just for starters, pour a little out of your glass.
There must be something you could trim back.
Make room for a long quiet walk once in a while.
Make room for laughter, children, pets, art, a movie, ice cream, a guilty
pleasure that others may not quite understand, whatever it is.
Sit alone next to a body of water at sunset.
And dont forget to dream.
54

You are an amazing and wonderful factory of creativity. You can see much
farther than you know if you will only straighten up and look.
The hill just ahead in the distance is not the boundary of your world.
Its just the next hill on your journey on the adventure of your life!
55
LIES
Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an
unidentified source.
Ron Nesen
BUTT honestly
Fibs
Squeakers
Spin
Massaged the data
Fudged
Whopper
Little white one
Fish story
Left that part out
BS
Need-to-know basis
Lies
If the orgy of media coverage has done anything, its dulled our natural
abhorrence of lying.
You can turn on any news channel and see the Point/Counterpoint
approach of pitting any two opposing viewpoints against each other and
watching intelligent people stare right into the camera and manipulate
statistics into what can only be termed as a big fat lie.
Im completely fed up with lying.
No lie.
The advantages of being honest are so many and so obvious that I wont
labor them here.
Its enough to say that if your BIG BUTT is a lie, stop it right now and get
square.
56

People lieand we let themwhen they say they forgot.

What do you say to people who let you down when they say they forgot?
You can get heated up, but in the end, about the best, most honest thing
you can say is that the person who forgot something important is either
stupid or disorganized or really just doesnt care.
None of these are the kinds of descriptions we want on our rsums.
As I munched a bagel at the bagel shop this morning, I struck up a
conversation with a woman who had retired as a PR consultant to
companies.
Always curious about things that work, even if they are out of my discipline,
I asked her what was the big Ah-ha that she had learned about public
relations.
She quickly replied that the companies that messed up and admitted it right
awayversus attempting to cover it or gloss it over (lie)ended up winning
more customers than those that went to great efforts to ignore negative
actions.
I told her I was writing about lying as an excuse and its effect on our ability
to do BIG THINGS. We agreed that people are magnetically attracted to
people who admit their mistakes.
Anyone who can find the courage to be vulnerable instantly builds trust.
You are going to need the currency of trust to do BIG THINGS.
As sad as it is true, in our age of spin and tripe, good honest truth telling is
a rare and valuable quality.
Even at the expense of peeling back the illusion of personal
perfection, we must scrub our BIG BUTTS with the sandpaper of truth.
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A FINAL WORD ABOUT THE DIRTY DOZEN

While there are as many different excuses as there arewell, you know,
these 12 pretty much put an umbrella over the ugly huddled masses.
I want you to take a moment right nowbefore you rush headlong in the
antidotesto think about your own tendencies and honestly challenge
yourself to stop doing things that dont work.
Replacing poor choices with better ones is the central engine of successful
growth and change.
As you begin to absorb the ideas that follow, try this.
The next time you feel tempted to give an excuse for anything, no matter
how deliciously perfect it would work, just stop and shoot straight.
The next time you hear a pathetic excuse from others, dont rush to bust
them. They are just doing what comes naturallytaking the easy road.
Just go to my website at www.rickbutts.com and order this book. Then ship
it to those excuse-makers with this note:
Dear Friend,
I gave some thought to the conversation we had recently (mention the
topic here) and your reply got me thinking about this terrific book I recently
read. Heres a copy for you to enjoy.
Best Wishes,
(Your name here)
That should be enough, dont you think?

That would be like a BIG GIGANTIC CLUE.
And if this book arrived in the mail with a little note like that
58

***
The next section of this book is simple, yet industrial-strength concentrated
and strong.
Most of the people who read the next section will never do any of it.
You, my friend, are not most people.
You know this, dont you?
Youve known it for a very long time.
Heres your chance to slip out of the gridlock I call The Momentum of
Mediocrity, and into the fast lane.
See the small little exit off the LEFT HAND LANE? Most people miss it.
Check your mirror and slide over and into the steps to success in the
handful of chapters ahead.
If you will be a DOER of these words instead of only a HEARER, I promise
you that your life is about to get very, very, interesting!
59
THE THREE STEPS TO SUCCESS

Wont you gimme three steps, gimme three steps mister, and you
wont see me no more!
Lynerd Skynerd
Ive read hundreds of books about achievement and success. Let me save
you some time and boil the fundamentals down for you here.
If you want to do BIG THINGS, you have to take these three steps:
1. Decide what you want
2. Determine the plan and count the price
3. Commit to pay the price
Step 1Decide What You Want
Everything begins here.
Without taking this step seriously, the only chance you have at achieving
successat finding peace, contentment, and meaning in lifeis by
ACCIDENT.
Brothers and sisters, that dont happen often!
Even if it did, how would you recognize it?
Everything in your life will change when you choose a specific goal.
There are a lot of ways to start goal setting. Here is what worked for me.
Take a blank sheet of paper and write down everything you can think of
that youd like to own, do, have, experience, learn, and become.
No rules here, anything goes.
Just write as fast as you can for 15 minutes. You will hit a snag from time to
time, then a new thought will pop into your head and off you go again.
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Dont worry now about HOW to do it or how long it might take. Concentrate
on WHAT you want.
Its a Santa Claus list that no one else will see, so get creative, think about
BIG THINGS, and keep your pencil moving.
Avoid details and try to stick with one-word answers like PARIS, SUPER
BOWL, LEARN PORTUGEUSE, EARN $$$$$$ and so on.
When 15 minutes is up, congratulate yourself for doing something very few
people ever do, and move on to Step 2.
Go through the list and place the number 1, 3, 5, or 10 next to each item.
This is your wild guess (all things being equal and a few breaks go your
way) as to how long it would take to achieve this goal.
Some things are in the one-year range while others take ten. Dont get too
anal about being right on target on this part of the exercise. Just pop down
the first number that comes to mind when you read the item.
On a separate sheet of paper, write One Year at the top and list the four
most important one-year goals in slightly more detail.
How do you decide that?
Glad you asked!
Go back to the big list and ask yourself, If I could only achieve one of
these, which one would be the most valuable to me?
Then continue on and ask, If I could only achieve one more, which would it
be?
Leave yourself room to write a paragraph underneath each goal.
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After you have listed your top four one-year goals, on the next sheet of
paper write Three Year at the top and repeat the process for the three-year
goals.
Do the same for the five-year and ten-year goals.
By this time, you will have made a handful of enormously important
observations. Some people have big breakthroughs about themselves here
and gain real clarity about their lives, just from getting two-thirds of the way
through this simple goal-setting process.
Here are things you might have noticed.
First, count the number of 1s and 3s you have compared to the number of
5s and 10s.
If your number of 1s and 3s are high compared to the longer goals, then
while you may have some things you really want to do, you may lack some
clarity about your long-term plans.
You already get the idea that a whole bunch of long-term goals and a
scarcity of short ones may mean this: You are putting your goals and
dreams far out in the future because, that way, you arent responsible for
doing any of them.
This is a lot like having no goals at all. If we push things far enough out in
the future, we can talk a good game without the consequences to others or
ourselves for actually doing (or failing at) them.
You might also notice how some things you have idly daydreamed about
are now not quite so important.
Thats okay.
This is all about focus and clarity. When you get things like this out of your
head and on paper, you begin to see your real priorities.
You cant have everythingwhere would you put it all?
George Carlin
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You will probably also notice you are getting excited.

Good!
When you open yourself up to your real potential and think creatively like
this, you expand your thinking into the realm of possibilities in a new,
clearer way.
Yeah, its exciting. Hang on, because its about to get even more so.
Now get yourself a well-deserved cup of coffee and go back to your oneyear goals.
Flesh each one out in a bit more detail.
If you wrote Paris, then add details about who will go along, what you
want to see, how long you will be there.
Write anything that makes Paris more sensory and real.
Then leave a little space and do something very importantits
comingand dont skip this next step.
Its okay if you need to start over on another sheet of paper.
Unless you are like Abe Lincoln scratching on a wooden shovel with a
piece of ash by the fireplace somewhere, you have extra paper, dont you?
Below the description of each goal, write down WHAT it would feel like to
achieve it and WHO would benefit when this happens.
Here you add your reasons why.
As time goes by, the going gets tough, the wait seems long, or setbacks
threaten your persistence, referring to these reasons WHY will get you out
of the pit and back in the game.
63
If you have enough reasons why, they will overcome the why-nots.
Anonymous smart person
Congratulations.
Pat yourself on the back.
You have just done something that 95% of the population of the most
successful and opportunity-rich people on earth ever even consider doing.
You have set and written a starting point for your goals.
I predict that those of you who read this book and actually do this exercise
are about to experience the most amazing time in your life.
For the rest of youand you know who you areyou might consider giving
this book to someone else who might actually use it.
If you dont use this or some other SPECIFIC method of writing your goals
down, you will be a lot less stressed out if you go back to reciting the BIG
BUTTS of Life.
The rest of this book might be too irritating to read.
If you did the exercise, you are now in possession of a nuclear device.
Explosive results are probably already taking place and you aint seen
nothing yet!
15 POWER PRINCIPLES FOR GOALS
Choose goals in areas you have control over. Its a big waste of time to
set a goal for your spouse or children. They must set them for themselves.
Always use positive terms in goal setting.
Dont set goals to stop or avoid; set them to start or achieve. Using positive
language has immediately obvious benefits as you pursue goal fulfillment.
Dont set a goal to stop smoking or lose weight; state it as a specific goal to
act, choose, and be healthy.
64

Make it emotional
The more you can include words with emotions and read them out loud, the
more power this creates in your conscious and subconscious mind.
Be brief
You need to be able to articulate your goals in a clear and concise way.
Believe
Here is a good place to use visualization and imagination to see yourself
achieving your goals.
Take immediate action
Do not procrastinate. Press on to the next section and start gathering
information as soon as you can. The quicker you engage in the process,
the more likely your new goal wont languish on the to-do pile.
Give yourself permission to do BIG THINGS
No big pop psychology here. Go ahead and understand to the core of your
soul that it is not only okay for you to do BIG THINGS, it is your destiny and
obligation.
Create a goals workbook
Put these pages in a three-ring notebook, resisting the temptation to put
them in your computer. (Dearly beloved, we are here today to bury our
goals on our hard drive where they wont hassle us anymore.)
Decorate your workbook
Cut out pictures, artwork, and scraps of notes from people you love that
remind you of your goal and the reasons why. Where is that postcard of the
Eiffel Tower?
Keep a Maybe Sheet
When an idea pops into your head and you get excited about it (read Rick
Butts here because this is what happens to me all the time), tell yourself its
okay to put it on the Maybe Sheet you keep in your notebook. If, after a few
days or weeks, you are really more excited about it than when you wrote it,
65
then its likely a real goal for you. Most of the serious stuff will have come
out in the master list activity you began with.
If, after some time goes by, you think, Now why did I want to learn to play
the autoharp? well, maybe you ought to think about crossing that one off
the Maybe Sheetno regrets and no time wasted.
Read the top four 1-3-5-10 pages every day
The first time you do this after not looking at them for a couple of days, you
will realize how powerful this exercise is and why you ought to review it on
a daily basis.
Work the big list
Go back in few days and dont be afraid to cross out and add things to your
big general list.
Keep the old pages
You will be amazed at what a learning experience you will have reading the
things you wrote as time goes by. Nothing is more gratifying than
measuring your own progress in an instant when you read an old list and
remember how badly you wanted something you accomplished. Now you
take it for granted. It sure made me feel humble, grateful, and quietly proud.
Dont stop here
Make a commitment to do this exercise once a year or whenever you have
experienced a big change in your life. Revisiting your goals during turbulent
times gives you a stability and power to face the inevitable challenges.
Only a fool would stay the course toward a goal that has ceased to serve.
On an annual basis, instead of silly New Years Resolutions, get alone and
quiet in your favorite Christmas sweater by the fireplace, do the full drill
again and measure it against the current sheet, then make the necessary
adjustments.
Fasten your seat belt and get ready
I did this activity sitting in a mobile home in the middle of a pasture in
Texas, dead broke and out of a job. I set goals to do BIG THINGS. I
actually laughed at myself as I put some of them on paper. How in the
world, I thought, was I going to get from here to there?
66

Are you ready for this?

In two and a half years, I crossed off the final goal on the sheet. I had
accomplishedin an amazingly short period of timeall of my top four
goals in every category.
Things I thought would take ten years came quicker than Id ever imagined,
mostly because I was already pursuing the others.
The domino effect of success began to kick in almost overnight because I
was faithful to do the first baby step of the three steps of success.
My life will never be the same!
Step 2 - Determine the Plan and Count the Price

You may be surprised at how easy the second step comes when you take
the time to do the first step right!
You never saw a green Jeep before in your life until the salesperson at the
dealership got you to test drive one.
In the next few days youd think everyone was buying nothing but green
Jeeps because you see them everywhere!
Of course, you know they were there all along, just like the answers to the
questions you need to accomplish your new goal. You just never noticed
them because you didnt have them on your personal radar screen.
Once you choose a goal, you see ways to achieve it everywhere.
Ideas come leaping out at you from every page of a magazine,
conversations with friends, emails, and television programs. Even the lyrics
in the songs on the radio begin to click.
Why?
Because you are paying attention now.
67
Because your subconscious mind is working round the clock to solve the
challenges youve decided to take on. It is running a computer program of
matching and differentiating and putting wild combinations together to help
you make BIG THINGS happen.
This is the reason your dreams can kick into high gear.
This is why you wake up earlier now with a renewed vigor and anticipation
about the day.
Every part of you is alert now and focusing a part of its ability on THE
GOAL.
You have become a target-seeking missile in the SEARCH MODE and
your recorder is taking snapshots of everything it comes across, cataloging
it in case you might just need it later.
This is the time when you formulate a good plan by examining options and
investigating possibilities.
It can be exciting and exasperating at the same time.
You will be tempted to act, but will be well served to avoid the fools
approach
ReadyFIREaim?
Take just long enough to gather the information you need and get a
working plan together, then sit down with yourself, your family, and as
appropriate, everyone involved or effected by the plan.
Be careful not to manage your life by committee and let your group choose
your path.
Use the insight and perspective of others to help you get balance and think
things through. Other people, especially forward-oriented people, can be
invaluable in asking important questions you might gloss over in your
enthusiasm for what looks like a good choice.
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Make your primary use of this information-gathering and free consulting to

help you determine the price you will have to pay to achieve this goal.
Nothing is free is accurate, to be sure, but nowhere is it more true than in
the endeavor to do BIG THINGS.
It is going to cost you something more than money to do it and youd better
be prepared.
The ancients say, A wise man counts the cost before he builds a tower.
Step 3 - Commit to Pay the Price

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Japanese Proverb
The disease concept of alcoholism says that certain people have an
allergy to alcohol. While the average person gets a dizzy, tipsy, slightly outof-control feeling from a drink of alcohol, something very different happens
to alcoholics when they drink. They feel in control!
While others who drink non-alcoholically fall under the table and pass out,
the alcoholic keeps right on drinking them under the table, swearing all the
while that he cant be an alcoholic because he can hold his liquor.
Something happens in his chemistry that sets off a craving for more and
more once he gets started. The simple yet nightmarish reality for a real
alcoholic, then, is to never take the first drink.
I once asked a man who was an alcoholic how he got sober. He told me
that it was actually quite simple. He learned about this disease concept at
an AA meeting and got the recipe for sobriety at the first meeting.
A fella who had been in the program agreed to be my sponsor and assist
me in the process. I asked him what to do first. He said dont drink. No
matter what, even if your belly button falls off just do not drink any
alcohol.
69
And my friend didnt.

And it worked.
Sometimes success is as simple as making a commitment and sticking it
out.
Even if your belly button falls off.
Now, this is a book about overcoming excuses, so I wont labor this point
because it is really simple.
Take the time to make a careful choice about what you want to achieve.
Add up the cost and figure out, as best as you can from way over here at
the starting point, what that cost will be.
Think of the cost in money, time, emotions, pain, growth, and effects it will
have on the rest of your life and the people in it.
Then double that number.
And then sit down and have a meeting with yourself, write up a contract,
and sign it.
Then go do it.
No matter what.
Even if your belly button falls off.
70

HOW ALL THREE STEPS WORK TOGETHER

The reason this formula has three steps is that they all work together. You
need to know from the beginning the beauty, simplicity, and power of the
formula. Here it is.
When you take each step honestly and give it its proper attention, the next
step will be easy.
If you decide what you really wantnot what your parents and family want
for you, but what YOU wantand you write it down like Ive asked, you will
be compelled to do the research.
Once you do the research and see how truly simple and doable it is, you
will be compelled to action.
Once you take intelligent action and mix it with your passion and clarity,
BIG THINGS will happen.
That is my promise to you!
THE LIMITING STEP PRINCIPLE

Everyone has dreams, but theres always that big but. Lets talk
about your big but, Nicole?
Pee Wee Herman in Big Top Pee Wee
In 1995, I quit working with a group of financial consultants and walked

away from a lucrative business to pursue my dream of being a professional
speaker.
Beginning very near the bottom, I spoke for free to sales groups as a
preview for sales trainer Tom Hopkins. Tom would schedule a big public
seminar three months in advance. I would give a pump-em-up speech,
including demonstrating one of Toms cool closing techniques, then I would
71
sell them tickets to the big event. Once again I was living paycheck to
paycheck, straight commission.
It was tough but exciting work.
During this time, I ate, slept, and drank personal development and sales. I
planned for my own speaking career and absorbed everything I could, both
from my experiences in front of audiences and from Tom and the other
speakers we brought in.
I watched Denis Waitley, Les Brown, Lou Holtz, Og Mandino, and others do
their thing. I always volunteered to pick them up at the airport and hang out
with them before and after the show.
I knew I was a good presenter and I sure had the passion. BUTT what was
my credibility for speaking?
Waitley was a noted psychologist who worked with Dr. Jonas Salk and
prisoners of the Vietnam War, trained the U.S. Olympic Team, and wrote
several books.
Brown had overcome tremendous personal challenges, had a book and a
radio and television show.
Lou Holtz coached national championship college football teams, overcame
a speech impediment, and had a wonderful story also told in his book.
Og Mandino had written wonderful story-like books that taught people
principles for success. Copies of his book, The Greatest Salesman in the
World, were purchased by the box loads to give to salespeople all over the
world.
Who would hire me, Rick Butts, and why? I was just another loser who had
read a ton of books and gone to seminars and actually used the information
to become a better person.
I thought at the time that my real defining aspect was that I really wanted to
be a professional speaker. That wasnt enough.
72

So I turned to the speaker and thinker who had had the biggest impact on
me: personal development guru and information monster Brian Tracey.
Like me, Brian had once been a struggling construction worker who one
day began to read personal development books from Dale Carnegie to
Norman Vincent Peale. He leveraged each bit of knowledge, putting it to
use until now he sold more books and tapes about the refinement of these
ideas than any other person alive in history.
Here is how powerful one single idea can be to transform your life, and
your results, if you will just pay attention.
One day, I was listening to one of Brians tapes in my car and in his rapidfire machine-gun style; he was banging out these success ideas. He
mentioned the limiting step principle.
In any endeavor there is usually one big limiting step that must be
overcome. Work on this first instead of last.
Brian Tracy
He went on to show how we tend to put off the really BIG THING and do
smaller, more doable stuff until theyre done before taking on the limiting
step.
Like a boulder blocking the path of the stream, the removal of that biggest
obstacle is the fastest way to achieve success.
Shuffling your business cards and setting more goalswhatever keeps you
from attacking the big steponly delays your success.
What was the limiting step in my goal to become a professional speaker?
No question, it was the credibility issue.
I would never coach a college football team or do many of the major
achievements of the people Id sold tickets to see. That was their journey. I
had to discover the uniqueness of my own.
73
It didnt take long to see that the BIG THING the big time icon speakers had
in common was authorship. They wrote books. Eureka! I could do that!
I decided to write a cool book, self-publish it, and thereby make a serious
leap forward in the credibility category.
I was right, by the way.
Writing and marketing my book gave me a new form of credibility, boosted
my confidence, made me profits, and created a buzz, along with dozens of
benefits I never anticipated.
At the time, though, writing a book seemed less like a boulder in the stream
and more like climbing Mount Everestwearing flip-flops!
I didnt have any formal training in writing past high school English class. I
was the quarterback and captain of the football team and played in a rock
and roll band my senior year. Do you think I remembered a single minute of
high school English?
Id already started two businesses without any prior experience, and felt
fairly bulletproof about failure anyway, so I began to toss the idea about
starting a business around.
The next thing I did was tell a few friends what I planned to do.
They laughed at me.
Why do you think I wrote the whole section about the people you hang
around?
The short version: I got new friends.
I am serious.
In a very real sense, I shifted gears again in my life and began to seek out
writers and writing resources.
I read books.
74

I borrowed tapes from the library.

If you want to learn about writing, you have to go to the bookstores and to
the library, and just look around and absorb the momentum of thousands of
years of people who, like you, once said, I will write a book.
Their friends probably laughed at them, too.
Now their book sits on the shelves as the biggest last laugh.
While you are in the bookstore or library, get one of the many books on
writing.
Take pride in the magnitude of what you are attempting, and know that the
number of people who are thinking about one day writing a book. And
those who do are a zillion to one.
Trust me.
What I learned about working on the biggest obstacle first

I applied the lessons of the limiting step principle and heres what I learned:
It was not the easiest thing to work on at the time.
It took longer than I thought it would.
The results were not immediately obvious.
It terrified me at times.
I had to delay other important tasks to find the time to get it done.
Starting it was a lot easier than finishing it.
BUTT the good kind!
It motivated me personally like few things Ive ever done.
75
It challenged me and forced me to grow intellectually and creatively.

It gave me something important and exciting to talk about during the
writing and production, which built momentum.
I was able to borrow some of the credibility the book would bring as
soon as I got the working title and main idea in place.
It was fun!
It changed my life forever.
Author = authority.
People were impressed.
I got to brag about it, right up to the moment I put the story here in
this book.
The people I met on the journeywriters, printers, editors, and
reviewerswere terrific!
My book was instrumental in raising my speaking fee 1000% in two
years.
It was absolutely worth it.
So
It would have been a lot easier to design a new piece of sales literature or
create another speech or training seminar. I would have brought in more
short-term cash by making more sales calls.
BUTT
Identifying and jumping on the limiting step, as tough as it was,
made all the difference in the world in my solid success.
76

What are you trying to do?

What is your limiting step?
Stop making excuses. Focus on the biggest obstacle and tackle it with all
your energy.
Watch how the acceleration toward your goal increases much faster as all
the water being held back by this boulder breaks free and rushes forward.
Put your life jacket on and get your oars ready because it happens quicker
than you think!
77
ONE MAN WHO DARED

One minute, nine-year-old Gus was riding happily on the back of his dads
tractor under clear blue Nebraska skies.
Without warning the axel broke. Little Gus was thrown under the heavy
jagged metal that remained, severing his right arm and shoulder, and
crushing his leg.
Clutching his dying son in his arms, his father ran all the way back to the
farmhouse where his mother phoned for an ambulance. As they waited
what seemed like an eternity, the small boy looked up at his terrified
parents and told them not to worry, he was still going to fulfill his goal of
playing in the National Football League.
The volunteer paramedics spent the long ride from the country to the city
hospital attempting to stabilize the boy. They marveled at what they saw.
The wound that should have already caused him to bleed to death had
somehow cauterized at the moment the injury had occurred.
Gus was one of four brothers who were all standout athletes. Big and tall at
6 4 and 220 pounds, they all took after their dad who was so talented, he
once scored 65 points in a semi-pro basketball game.
While his parents prayed faithfully for Gus to live, the boy refused to
release his goal of being a professional athlete. He believes this driving
vision is what kept him alive.
Battling infection and an endless series of operations, the weeks of
recovery turned into months. The prognosis was continually revamped.
Predictions that he will probably die and hell never walk again were
proven again and again to be premature as the tough kid battled on.
With such massive injuries, the doctors kept him on heavy doses of
painkillers. Weaning him from the effects of these drugs proved to be
another terrible ordeal. Anyone who has ever faced drug addiction can only
guess how hard it was for a nine-year-old boy.
But, leave the hospital he did, in a special contraption his father had rigged
up in the family station wagon.
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Gus Gustafson was alive and going home.

The amazing story of his escape from certain death is not nearly as
incredible as the rest of his story.
The once-athletic boy became restless on the farm so he attempted an
accelerated rehabilitation schedule. There are no sidewalks on a farm, so
his dad rigged him up a golf cart with special equipment so he could
navigate the rough terrain. This made him an instant object of great
jealousy with his competitive brothers!
But Gus basketball and his baseball and glove sat idle in his room. These
once-treasured pals were now sneering reminders of a future that would be
forever out of his reach.
Gus sometimes picked up the basketball and attempted to spin it. Again
and again, he struggled to do the things he once did with two hands without
his natural right.
One night, his father entered his room to find the little boy crying into his
pillow. Grappling with a reality too big for his age, he felt overwhelmed at
the challenges he continued to take on for himself.
His father put his arm around him and said in the direct and simple
language of a farmer, Son, when the garbage truck backs up and dumps
on you, you got two choices. You can either sit there in the garbage, or you
can get up and do something about it.
Doing something about it was exactly what Gus did.
79
It would take a whole book to chronicle his amazing achievements and the
people who touched his life along the way. In fact, that book exists. Fully
Armed, Turning a Setback Into a Comeback is available through his web
site at http://www.fullyarmed.com/
Dont you just love the domain name?

Gus went on to become a standout athlete in elementary school.
Developing an amazing technique to field and throw back a baseball with
one hand (try it for yourself!), he faced every challenge to become an allstate standout his senior year in high school.
He excelled equally well in high school basketball.
Two knee injuries in college basketball forever ended his dream of being a
professional.
Where do you turn when youve spent your whole life pursuing a single
goal, and it is taken away from youagain?
This time, he felt like the fire went out. A big rowdy go-getter in college with
too much time on his hands, he turned to alcohol and partying.
The inevitable drop in grades and the accompanying realities spiraled all
around him. Failure loomed as Gus headed down the wrong road that has
claimed so many promising lives.
But a spark of the overcomer still burned in his downtrodden heart. When
Gus met a man who took him under his wing, he responded quickly to his
80

new mentor. In his weakness, he was ready to listen to God. Trusting a

power greater than himself, he found the strength to not just carry on, but
soar back to success.
He threw himself back into school with the same determination that had
been his hallmark. Setting new and higher goals for himself, he was back in
business professionally, but this time, with a spiritual humility, he sought to
share his strength with others.
Gus took his marketing degree into the business world and soon ran a
successful company, then another. He began to be invited to speak and tell
his inspiring story to students, then for corporations and other organizations
that were lining up to hear this gifted speaker.
I got so busy that I remember one night coming home at eleven at night,
facing getting up at three a.m. to go to work and then catch a flight to
Fresno to speak. My wife, Julie, was standing over the kitchen sink with
tears running down her cheeks. She told me that something has got to
change. That was a long, long weekend in Fresno.
Gus Gustafson rose to face another challenge to sell his business and go
full-time in the competitive world of professional speaking.
Of course, you know by now that he took this challenge with the same
attitudehe would be the best!
I first met Gus in 1998 when he walked up to me after a speech in Omaha
and told me he was going to be a professional speaker like me, and that
he, too, was working on a book.
He boldly asked me to trade books with him even though his didnt exist
yet! Of all the people who have come up to me after a speech and made
similar claims, hes one of only two I know of who ever actually did it.
If you think this is a fairy tale where everyone lived happily ever after, you
havent been paying attention. Guss lot in life is overcoming challenges.
81
A couple of years ago, Gus returned home from church with his wife and
three kids, went for a run, then came home to get the bikes ready for a
family ride.
Feeling dizzy, he fell to the floor of the garage. He forced himself to stand
up and went into the kitchen. He attempted to tell his wife what happened,
but all that would come out was noise.
They rushed Gus to the hospital where he was told that though it would be
a year before they could say for certain, he likely had a stroke!
In post-stroke recovery, everything changed for Gus. This once-vital athlete
had been delivered a near-death blow. It especially affected the part of his
brain that contains the emotions.
As he began to recover, his wife and children knew first that Gus was a
different guy.
His energy level fell to below 50%. He slept all the time, sometimes up to
17 hours a day. When he was awake, he was weak and unemotional. His
wife and kids had to adjust to this new stranger in her husbands and their
fathers body.
One day, I had been sleeping for a very long time. No one was home but
me. I woke up, crawled into the bathroom, and raised myself up on the
sink. There I saw the face of a man I didnt recognize.
Something inside of me tried to surface but I couldnt even recognize it. I
was watching my life slip away and I didnt even care.
I looked myself right in the eyes and said, Buddy, you are either a liar or
youd better start practicing what you preach.
He began the long hard journey back to professional speaking. The first
time he got up to give his speech again, his limited memory only allowed
him to recall 22 minutes of his talk.
It was so frustrating! I mean, my speech is essentially my own life story
and all I could remember of it was 22 minutes.
82

As always, he practiced the principles that had saved his life and gotten
him through every challenge. Now you can guess the rest.
I included Gus story here because I thought the way he overcame losing
his arm as a young boy and going on to play competitive sports was
enough. I certainly learned a lot more.
As I finish writing this book, I look back in amazement and notice that
EVERY THING IVE BEEN SAYING about getting off the BIG BUTTS OF
LIFE are the EXACT THINGS Gus did!
Despite his AGE, he worked in extraordinary ways toward a goal to do BIG
THINGS. Even though everyone around him could do things faster with two
arms, he found the TIME to practice and perfect his skills.
Gus wasnt a child of wealth and privilege. He grew up on a farm with a big
family. When he wanted to start a business while still in his 20s, he worked
hard to sell his products, acted with honor in all his business dealings, and
manufactured the MONEY to make it grow.
He was the beneficiary of a family that gave him both role models and
challenges. He sought out OTHER PEOPLE to be a part of his success.
Once he ran into me, he continued to follow up and avail himself of my
advice and insight like no one Ive ever met. Lately, he has been a great
ally and resource to me!
When Gus made MISTAKES, he admitted them, learned from them, and
then got on with life.
PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS? Gus did so many amazing things despite
losing his arm, his RIGHT arm, before the age of ten. Dont tell me you
cant take a class or start your own business!
A continuous learner, he sought EDUCATION everywhere and in any form
he could find it, and wouldnt stop until he got the answers.
INDECISION has always fallen in its tracks in the face of his relentless and
clear BIG GOALS.
83
If he has any FEARS, and everyone does, Gus faces them bravely. Ive
never seen or heard him express any. He also never criticizes but puts
every person and situation in enthusiastic positive language. He is an
energizer to be around.
FORGETTING? If you promise this guy something better do it or make
sure he doesnt have your phone number! He does what he says he will
and he is too busy with the honest truth for LIES or liars.
Today, he is an in-demand professional speaker and an admitted full-time
husband and father. I talked to Julie to get the inside scoop on Gus. I was
looking for an angle about him in business or something funny.
I asked her to tell me of a time Gus could have bowed to excuses but
chose to stand up and face things. Though I didnt see this coming, I was
not surprised to hear her describe the way this giant man with one arm
became a gentle daddy.
Right from the start, he embraced the role of participating father and took
his children in his single muscular arm, changing diapers and doing it all.
She said, Let me tell you about the time he fought to get a pair of tights on
our baby girl before church. He was sweating all down his face by the end,
but he did it!
By the way, she added, for a farm boy raised by a mans man father and
surrounded by three competitive brothers, hes a terrific caring husband,
too.
So
What makes Gus tick?
Is this guy some kind of freak?
What makes him so amazing?
When so many of us, including me, would be tempted to give up
somewhere along the way?
84

I asked him that very question. Heres his simple answer.

I always set lofty goals. I always wanted to be the very best at anything I
tried. The summer before my accident, I trained with my brother every day.
We ran two miles, did hundreds of sit-ups and push-ups, then ran wind
sprints up a hill by our house. He was going to be a college freshman and I
was only heading into the fourth grade! Though I couldnt do things as fast
as him, I did them all.
I believed that I was going to play in the NFL and every workout was
toward that BIG GOAL.
My conditioning is what kept my blood pressure strong after the
ambulance. The doctors think its what saved my life.
But in reality, Ive failed at every major goal Ive ever set. I set such high
goals that I never have reached them and it absolutely burns me up that I
havent!
Recently, his little boy Isaac asked him, Daddy, what part of your job do
you like best?
Gus thought for a moment, then said, When I am at the back of the room
signing books after Ive given my speech, there are sometimes two or three
people at the back of the line. They always go last and they rarely say even
a word, but their eyes are filled with tears and they smile at me.
That is when I know that what Ive gone through has been worth it all. At
the end of all the struggles and pain, Ive been able to make a difference in
their lives.
When Abraham Maslow was nearing the end of his life, he added a final
dimension to his acclaimed Hierarchy of Needs. Beyond selfactualization, he came to believe that serving others met our very highest
need.
I believe he was right.
85
This Nebraska farm boy, Gus Gustafson, never suited up for his biggest
dream to play in the NFL. God had something else in mind for him; a dream
bigger than Gus could handle at the time.
He became a starting player in a much bigger game. He has, and will
continue to touch a lot of lives.
HIND SIGHT
I wrote this book in the second two weeks of March 2002. I had for years
used a line in my speech, Im so tired of hearing peoples excuses, I think
my next book is going to be called, The Big Butts Of Life! I got such a
great laugh from the line, as Larry Winget once said, the title was so good I
figured I didnt need to write the book.
When I decided to put my name out front instead a title or theme, I got up
the courage to name a book The Big Butts of Life.
This book was, and is, about releasing the brakes and overcoming
excuses.
A couple of BIG THINGS were revealed to me in the writing process.
~I~
Read.
Nothing replaces the power of the magical chemical reaction that seems to
take place in our minds when we read.
One of my proudest moments occurred last December when I got booked
on the same program with my hero, Dr. Denis Waitley. He did me the honor
of coming in early and attending my presentation.
After playing music on stage for twelve years and speaking for five, I
NEVER get nervous before a speech, but I was particularly psyched up for
this one.
86

At dinner I hung on every word of this amazing legend of the personal

development movement, and asked him what sort of things he was working
on, and how he went about it.
My mouth popped open in wonder when he told me the answer.
Rick, I read every book on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Are you kidding me? I said, that must be
A lot of books. He finished for me. It is a discipline that keeps me in touch
with what is going on, and what people in my audiences are talking and
thinking about. It forces me into new areas and new ideas.
Lately, he smiled, Ive been reading a LOT of Harry Potter!
Read!
~ II ~
You have to continuously set goals.
In my journey from a poor boy on a pig farm to a rock and roll musician to
building my own business and doing what I love, goals were the catalyst for
everything all the way.
Look at Guss story and you will see the pursuit of a worthy goal around
every setback and comeback.
When I combed back through this book, I realized I could have made SET
GOALS the watermark on every page because, in some way, every answer
to every excuse relates back to knowing where you are going.
The clearest lesson remains Victor Frankels story about surviving in the
Nazi concentration camp. Faced with every horror man can visit on his
brother, Frankel told us it was something left undone that refused to leave
their minds.
87
I have no clever ending here for you, except the best advice I can give.
Dare to dream. Take these steps:
1. Decide what you want
2. Determine the plan and count the price
3. Commit to pay the price
Now that your BIG BUTT is slimmed down so nicely, get out there and do
BIG THINGS.
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The Big Butts of Life

Dont miss a single post find out whats going on now at

The Big Butts Of Life

The Big Butts of Life

OTHER BIG THINGS

People Are Talking About

The Big Butts of Life

STEP 2 - DETERMINE THE PLAN AND COUNT THE PRICE ....................... 67

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT WORKING ON THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

EXCUSES ARE LIKE

The universal acceptance of each others excuses is what we do in polite

The Big Butts of Life

DIRTY DOZEN BIG BUTTS OF LIFE

The Big Butts of Life

and getting that degree they always wanted, or pursuing completely

The Big Butts of Life

OTHER PEOPLE PART I

The Big Butts of Life

A Word About Elderly Relatives

The Big Butts of Life

A Word About Drunks, Addicts, and Other Dependent People

Drunks and addicts wont get help as long as there is someone to

counseling and get a handle on your attraction to these people as a

OTHER PEOPLE PART II

The number-one reason people fail to achieve their potential is the

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

Listen to the subtle negativity.

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

Thats what this is.

To see the choices weve made in the past.

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

So you are too short to be a center on a National Basketball Association

The devastating effects of childhood abusephysical, verbal,

EDUCATION, TRAINING, EXPERIENCE

The Big Butts of Life

What you can do is pick up a brochure or visit a website about dental

The Big Butts of Life

Something magical happens when our READING minds encounter words

The Big Butts of Life

If a degree or certification is what you need, I wholeheartedly encourage to

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

If you dont watch it, well all end up in the ________________________ ?

The Big Butts of Life

They clean their rooms.

Being a psychologist, Frankel observed what was happening around him

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

Nothing whips fears fanny as fast as action!

Somewhere in her adolescence, she discovered this versatility and

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

The Big Butts of Life

People lieand we let themwhen they say they forgot.

A FINAL WORD ABOUT THE DIRTY DOZEN

That should be enough, dont you think?

The Big Butts of Life