Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CONFIDENTIAL:
This document is meant exclusively for Lifebook’s VIP Community.
All content is copyright Jon and Missy Butcher.
MY MEAL PLAN
When it comes to extraordinary health and fitness, what I do OUTSIDE the gym is more
important than what I do INSIDE. Anyone can do a hard workout for an hour. It’s what I
do with the other 23 hours that counts. Discipline is the key to results in this area of my Life
Vision. I will be conscious of and enjoy the high level of discipline I am exercising over
myself – and I’ll make sure to enjoy and celebrate the results that discipline brings.
CALORIC INTAKE
My calories should range between 2500 and 3500 a day – based on intensity level of
workouts. Base daily calories are 2500 a day - with variation controlled by protein drinks
and carb rich pre-workout meals. Caloric Split of the 2500 base calories a day should be:
40% carbs: focus on complex carbs, limit breads, pastas, rice, potatoes, and
other starch (except before workout to create energy and after workout to aid
recovery). Focus heavily on green vegetables for alkalization.
30% protein: focus on lean meat and high quality protein drinks.
30% fat: focus on non-saturated fats from natural sources; olive oil, avocados,
coconuts, other nuts etc.
HYDRATION
Drink 3-5 liters of water a day during this training cycle to maintain a high level of
hydration.
ALKALIZING
Drink at least 3 green drinks a day – and limit sugar and alcohol intake. Be very
disciplined about this, as it will drastically affect energy levels and outcome.
TOXINS
I want to significantly reduce biochemical stress in my life. I want to honor my body, live
longer and better, and look and feel fantastic on a daily basis. Maximizing my enjoyment
in life will entail introducing some toxins into my body. The trick here is moderation.
METABOLIC TYPE
I have learned a tremendous amount about how my body oxidizes food and what I
need to eat (and stay away from) in order to maintain proper glucose levels and stable
brain chemistry. Nothing has a more profound effect on my emotions and
resourcefulness than my diet and sleep. I will stick as closely as possible to the metabolic
diet that I defined during my visit to the wellness center.
Crunches
S U N D A Y Off
Proper Sleep: There is no better indicator of how I will feel and function than proper sleep
– so it should be valued and studied. The 2 most important rules are; Live clean and go to
bed on time. Get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, and a minimum of 6.
Chiropractic Care: Continue to get adjustments every week to keep my nervous system
flowing and properly aligned.
Massage: Get at least one massage a month, especially when training for the marathon.
Skin Care Program: Use scrubs and lotions every day. Get chemical peels every quarter
and limit sun exposure.
Relaxation and Meditation: Chronic stress is more dangerous than smoking. I refuse to
allow stress and chaos into my life. I will take time to relax every day, get grounded and
connect with the joys of life. I will learn the discipline of clearing and relaxing my mind.
Spending time in nature also melts away stress. I’ll spend as much time in the garden as
possible in the summer and travel to warm climates in the winter.
Spa: Make a commitment to a full blown spa at least 4-5 days a week – Jacuzzi, steam
and sauna.
Mind Guard: I carefully guard what I put into my mind. I want to keep negative things out
of my life. I stay away from demented or negative movies, websites and people. I spend
my time exclusively with quality materials, information and people.
Flexibility: Muscles, even if they are strong, will age more quickly if they are not flexible.
Stretch every single day. I want to improve this area of my health and fitness.
I have no control over my chronological age, but I can exercise a tremendous amount
of control over my biological age. I can choose action that will improve my body and
cause it to look and feel younger. Major breakthroughs have been made in this area of
study in the last few years, and I am committed to studying this field and applying what I
learn so I can stay as young as possible from a biological perspective. Here are some
strategies for looking and feeling young:
Being thin is the #1 priority: Most Americans gain a pound a year throughout their adult
lives. There is no single factor that makes you look and feel old than carrying around
extra weight. Likewise, there is nothing that is more important to looking and feeling
young than being lean and trim.
A Young Self-Image: I will always see myself as a strong, fast, muscular athlete – even
when I am 75 years old!
A young attitude: Stay playful and irreverent – don’t get overly serious about anything (it
doesn’t help anyway). Be adventurous! Stay sexy, outrageous and fun.
Dress young and do young things: Go to concerts, clubs, lounges and stay on the cutting
edge of fashion. Stay hip – keep up to date on new music, clubs and restaurants.
Exercise, Diet and Supplementation: As described in the previous pages, what I put into
my body and what I do with my body have a tremendous impact on my biological age.
I must keep my meal plan and exercise program on track!
Skin Care Program: It is very important to take great care of my skin. I’ll use scrubs and
lotions every day, get chemical peels every quarter and limit sun exposure.
Alkalization: Keeping acidity low and alkaline high in my body can literally reverse the
aging process temporarily. This can be done by watching what I eat, and especially
what I drink. I will drink 2-4 green drinks a day, plus vegetable juice. I’ll limit acidic food
and drink as much as possible.
Stretching: Muscles that aren’t stretched age faster. I am committed to being disciplined
about stretching my muscles this year.
This category is about thinking. And to me the best, most practical thing I could ever
think about is my own life. Simply take some time to look at what's happening in my life.
Pay attention to what is working and what isn't working. Am I getting closer or farther
away from what I really want? Notice the results I’m getting in the most important areas
and letting outcome be my biggest teacher. I want to live a thinking life.
This can be very difficult, because life is so complicated. Most people wouldn't know
where to start "living a thinking life". There's too much to think about. It is confusing and
overwhelming – unless you have a Lifebook. If you have a Lifebook, you have an
organized structure to help you think about your life.
THINKING DELIBERATELY
By Jon Butcher
The search for the grand unified theory is the “holy grail” of physics. Ultimately, it is a
quest to define the law of attraction. The law of attraction says that energy attracts
energy. Energy seeks harmony, oneness and equilibrium. This is why all the clocks in a
Swiss Clock Shop click in unison, even though they are started at different times. It’s why
women who work together end up on the same menstrual cycle. It’s why we walk in time
with music. Energetic attraction is built into the fabric of the universe. It is why physics,
chemistry and biology work. It governs the planets, stars, galaxies and us.
A person, like everything else in the universe, is made up of energy, and energy vibrates.
We all vibrate at a certain frequency and our thoughts control our vibration. Whatever
we think about, whatever we expect, whatever we have “set up mentally” is what we
tend to attract into our lives. The vibration we are putting out there is what we will get
back. In essence, we become what we think about most of the time. Our thoughts
expand and become our life. This concept can be summed up in a single sentence:
But we can take control of this process. We can begin to think deliberately, guiding our
thoughts and actions toward a clearly defined, compelling image of our future. We can
be purposeful with our thinking and manage our thoughts to create the world we desire.
We can build the mental image of what we want and hold onto that image, stay in that
vibration, and we will attract it.
Once we do that, things that would have been background before become foreground
– they jump out at us when we would have never noticed them before. Our
conversations with others seem to be steered a different way and yield different results.
The people we meet become facilitators of our desires. Things fall into place naturally.
The first step in this process is to lay the foundation by clarifying and articulating exactly
what it is we want in our lives. We must take the time to think through our ideal vision and
see our life exactly as we want it to be. We need to get out in front of our life and treat
ourselves as if we already are who we want to be. Lifebook is the best tool ever invented
for this.
Thought, combined with strong emotion, is what activates the law of attraction. So we
shouldn’t just think “casually” about what we want. We should bring deep emotion to it.
Let it permeate us. Immerse ourselves in it. Really put ourselves in the experience. We
should do this daily with our life vision. But it should never be a chore. The secret is to feel
good while we are doing it. Think while walking around in nature. Put our intention out
there on a long run while experiencing the endorphin high. Think about what we want
while we’re in a blissful state. Get exhilarated! Go there! Really love it!
I can’t control all the events in the outer world, but I CAN control my inner world. I’ll
develop a vision for a compelling future that excites and inspires me and focus deeply
on it every day. I’ll focus on my major goals and my purpose in life every day.
What you think and say over and over absolutely programs into your nervous system.
What you consistently speak with conviction you will become, create and experience.
Therefore, I will create “incantations” for every one of my Lifebook Categories, major
goals and core values, and I will program these things DEEPLY into my mind, body and
spirit. I will begin each morning session by focusing on my purpose in life as it relates to my
most important goal.
MY EMOTIONAL STRATEGY
My strategy for my emotional life consists of defining the emotions I want to experience
on a daily basis, then defining the recipe for creating those emotions.
But before I can define the recipe, I have to become aware of what kind of situations,
events, people, and things EVOKE what emotions. I have to develop emotional insight in
my life. I have to PAY attention. I have to ask myself – how did that make me feel? Did
that situation make me happy? Was I pleased? Was I hurt? Without judging my emotions
as good or bad, I have to pay attention to what events trigger what emotions. What
bothers me? What makes me feel tranquil? I have to get to know myself. Developing
more emotional insight is imperative to defining emotional recipes.
My goals for this category come down to the emotional states I want to experience
everyday, and the emotional states I am unwilling to allow into my life. Achieving my
emotional goals entails managing my attitude, evaluations, mental focus and
expectations. This is called emotional control. I will focus only on what I want and why I
want it. I’ll create the emotions I need to achieve my goals.
Our lives are literally shaped by our character traits, whether we have consciously
chosen them or not. Our character will determine 'how' we handle our relationships, our
career, our emotions, our health and fitness, everything. Most people picked up their
values by watching their parents, their teachers, their peers, TV. By the time they're young
adults they've acquired most of their values and it pretty much stops there. They don't
change. They don't work on their character. They built themselves unconsciously.
But not me, because I have a Lifebook. This means I can consciously decide what
character traits I want – and what I need to do to build those traits into my life. I’ve
identified, clarified and written down my vision of who I see myself becoming. This is the
vision, the picture of who I will be in the future.
The best way to create a strategy for your character is to make a list of the character
traits that I am dedicated to cultivating in
my life. Think about every virtue and
personality trait that I want to add to my
character, to list the character traits that
would change everything if I built them into
my life. What character traits would
change my story and take my life to
another level? What virtues would create a
total paradigm shift in my life? Then really
describe each virtue.
I believe that life is about CHOICE – the quality of our life is the sum total and the result of
our choices. I have a strong belief that ANYONE can have a fantastic, fulfilling, happy life
if they make the kind of choices that we ALL have the ability to make.
Our ability to CHOOSE is our greatest freedom and our greatest strength. No matter
where we start in life, we will be presented with countless choices, and what we choose
will make all the difference in the quality (and even the quantity) of our lives. We can’t
always control the things that happen outside of us – most of the time we can, but not
always. But we can ALWAYS control our inner experience. Anything that goes on inside us
that is immobilizing, stops us, gets in our way, keeps us from reaching our goals –
ANYTHNG inside: WE CHOOSE. It’s ours and we own it all.
Each one of these choices happens INSIDE and is not controlled by ANYONE but us.
Everyone has the ability to control and choose these things. And think of the difference
the right choices in these areas can make.
If there is ANYTHING we don’t like about ourselves; if we are anxious, shy, fat, if we hate
our job, if we’re stressed out, unhappy, depressed etc. WE HAVE CHOSEN IT. Our choices
got us there. And we can change almost anything in our lives if we are aware of our
choices and our desire is strong enough.
Unfortunately, most people don’t understand their own power to choose and the
awesome control they could exercise over their own existence. It is hard to learn
because it is rarely taught. More often, we are taught helplessness and powerlessness; “I
can’t because I was born poor, a minority, a middle child” etc. If we adhere to that
belief system, we are giving up control of our life. We have rendered ourselves powerless.
I totally reject the concept that there are “a few chosen people” who are lucky, born
into the right circumstances, destined to have great lives. I believe it is there for all of us –
to be happy, healthy, together and alive – if we just make the right choices.
Taking responsibility means that I don’t allow the externals of my life to take control of
who you I am, how I feel or what I do. I don’t let anything outside me dictate my life in
any way. Taking responsibility means no blame EVER for ANYTHING. My life is the result of
MY choices – my problems are no one else’s fault. Taking responsibility means I NEVER sit
around and complain or worry about how the world is. Instead, I take responsibility and
get mobilized by the things I don’t like. I don’t flail about wasting time and energy. If I
don’t like it, I do something about it. I get involved and find a solution. I fix it. Or I shut up
about it. No blaming, complaining or worrying – EVER.
To live the best possible quality of life, we must take responsibility for our INTERNAL
experience, which we totally control. Immobilizing emotions; anger, annoyance,
jealousy, fear, depression etc. are hardly worth defending at all and we spend a lot of
time defending them (which is what fights are all about; “I feel this way because of YOU
and it’s justified and it’s a big deal”). But the fact is, anytime we feel an emotion like that
– it’s all ours. We own it. It’s not someone else’s. No one can “inject” us with those things.
If people behave toward us in ways that are annoying – that’s their stuff – not ours. Don’t
let them get it all over us (and most of the time that is what they want to do). Instead,
respond with ability. Look for solutions. They are behaving the only way they know how to
behave. Instead of getting upset, we should respond to them with who WE are: loving,
confident, solid, together, helpful etc. Don’t ever go to the place where someone else
has control over us. Don’t process it that way. Don’t blame someone else for our upset.
We can transcend that. No one outside us can control our emotions – WE are in charge
of our own internal experience.
In addition to taking responsibility for how we feel, we must take responsibility for how we
allow ourselves to be treated. We get treated in life the way we teach people to treat us.
If someone disrespects us, simply move away from them. Don’t allow that, don’t permit
that behavior, don’t teach people to treat us poorly. Take responsibility and let them
know that we will not tolerate that kind of conduct. We can react with kindness – and if
that doesn’t work, immediately remove ourselves from the situation. NEVER stand by and
be abused or disrespected by anyone EVER. If we see ourselves as valuable and
important, we would never abuse ourselves or allow anyone else to abuse us.
All this leads to a profoundly important moral idea. In taking responsibility for our own
existence, we implicitly recognize that other human beings are not our servants and do
not exist for the satisfaction of our needs. We are not morally entitled to treat others as
means to our ends, just as we are not means to theirs.
Attitude is a mental outlook – a frame of mind. It’s how we think – how we process
events. The difference between being neurotic, unhappy, depressed etc. and being
happy, fulfilled and actualized is NOT whether or not we have problems: We ALL have
problems. The actualized person has a different ATTITUDE toward the problem. A totally
different orientation toward life. They see opportunity in EVERYTHING. They look at their
problems and mistakes as learning experiences.
Our attitude is also the sense of expectation that we have toward life. People with
positive attitudes expect the best. Things always seem to work out well for people with
good attitudes. People with negative attitudes expect the worst. Nothing ever seems to
go right or work out for these people. In either case, one’s expectations become a self-
fulfilling prophecy. You get what you expect.
We can direct our attitudes to work FOR us or against us. Our attitude can be our best
friend or our worst enemy. It can attract people to us, give us a great life and pull us
toward success, or it can do just the opposite.
If we create and keep a happy, successful, empowered attitude, we’ll have a happy,
successful, empowered life. If we expect to be great and feel great on a consistent
basis, we will experience it. If we expect happiness joy, fulfillment and success, gratitude
and appreciation, we will find it.
MY PURPOSE IN LIFE
My purpose in life is “To create the best possible quality of life for myself and my
loved ones and to help others around me do the same.”
Since you can’t give away what you don’t have, the foundational premise of this
statement is “to create the best possible quality of life”. I believe that my Life is an end in
itself. I don’t need a “higher mission” to make my life significant or worthwhile. My life is
the mission. I want to be able to look back at any point – today, 10 years from now, or on
the last day of my life – and say that I lived my life to the fullest, experiencing the most
possible happiness, joy, passion, adventure and fulfillment. I want to live a life of
significance and accomplish important and worthy goals. And I want to make a major
contribution to the world by way of sharing the strategies that allowed me to accomplish
my purpose.
The best way I can live my purpose is to maximize the potential of the Lifebook Company
and reach as many people as I possibly can with this tool. This will enrich the lives of
many people and be a major contribution to the world.
My Primary Question in Life is: “How can I make things better?” Making things better is my
identity, it is what I was made for, it’s the way I show love to the people around me, it is
WHO I AM. To NOT make things better would be insane and a waste of life. I’ve
dedicated my life to making things better for me and my family. With Lifebook, I can now
make things better for others as well.
Contribution: The concept of Lifebook is the biggest contribution I can make to the world
– IT IS LITERALLY my spiritual path. My Lifebook is clearly one of the biggest reasons I have
the life I have. If I can help other people to live better by using some of the strategies I
have utilized I will be doing good in the world according to my values and beliefs.
All my spiritual goals (and every other goal, for that matter) should tie back into the pillars
of enjoyment and contribution.
The secret to fantastic love relationships is that both people in any fulfilling relationship
DO the things that are required to have fulfilling relationships. It's cause and effect. What
kinds of things can I DO, to create more love, passion, connection, admiration in my
relationship and take it to the next level? Setting goals for creating the love relationship
of my dreams is about defining the actions that you can take to manifest your vision.
SHOWING APPRECIATION
I will go out of my way to let my lover know how much I love, adore and appreciate
him/her. I will take some time every day to do this. I want to express my love through big
things and little things alike. I won’t let a day go by without telling my lover how much I
appreciate something about him/her. And as much as possible, I let him/her know WHY. I
know that doing this will not only have a positive effect on him/her, but it will have a
profound effect on me as well. Staying in touch with those things takes my love to a new
level. I will make it a point to DO things to show it – little things to make him/her feel loved
and appreciated. It doesn't take any time. It doesn't cost anything. But it makes all the
difference in the world.
Send love letters and emails.
Leave notes around the house telling her how much I love him/her.
Make him/her coffee every morning before he/she wakes up, which just shows I
was thinking about him/her.
Don’t ever let an opportunity to celebrate go by without taking advantage of it.
Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays etc.
My lover and I live unusual lives and have very high standards for our relationship. It is our
right to be unusual, to share a different lifestyle, and to live in what we consider a better
way. Here are some standard we share that are different than most people:
Most Americans gain a pound a year over their adult lives, but not us. We will always
weigh what we weighed in our early 20’s.
Many couples, especially couples that have been married as long as us, don’t spend
intimate time together. We do. We have a commitment to at least one date night a
week and one trip alone together every quarter. We’ve been doing this for years and it
works. We protect and cherish our time alone together.
Some parents are obsessed with and paranoid about their children and pour their lives
into their kids in an excessive, unhealthy way. We call this “fearful parenting syndrome”. It
is not good for the kids and takes a huge toll on a marriage. We parent around our lives
together – not the other way around. We want our kids to see our relationship as the
strong and stable “core” of our home. We let them know that they are not the only
people on the planet. This is one of the things that makes our home so unique, functional
and cool.
Many parents have lousy relationships with their teenage kids, but not us. We have
honest, open, loving relationships with our wonderful kids. We are their “go-to people” for
any challenge.
Most Americans are manic at Christmas –running around buying a bunch of trash no one
needs to cross names off a list. Not us. We dropped out of the negative, unhealthy
aspects of that holiday. We ENJOY December. We spend time with those we love and
experience the true spirit of the season, with none of the stress and debt.
Many couples argue and fight as a way to communicate. We don’t do this. We view
fights as neurotic emotional hijackings, where the ability to think, speak and hear with
clarity dissolves. When negative emotions begin to form, we move away from each
other, taking time to cool off, till we become sane again.
Most people do not have exciting lives, but we do. We prefer passion, adventure and
excitement to the stale calm of “normal life”. We WANT to live different, to live better, to
see how wonderful, exciting and great we can make our lives together in every
category.
Our goal as parents is simply to raise healthy, happy, independent children. In order to
do this, we must instill the following 3 values deeply in our children:
Freedom
You have the freedom in life to make your own choices and decisions. You are the
author of your life. You are free to experiment and to learn the laws of logic and cause
and effect.
Self-responsibility
You must take full responsibility for your choices and actions. You do not assign blame or
responsibility to anyone else for the choices you make or the actions you take.
Mutual Respect
You are free to operate any way you choose as long as you do not violate the rights of
the people around you. You must always treat others with respect, kindness and love. We
want to raise no-limit kids.
Here is an example:
Jasmine is such a wonderful daughter. She is highly intelligent, more so than most people
might think. And she is turning into such a dear, sweet, caring child. She is an amazing,
special little girl and I want to help her actualize ALL the best things that are inside of her.
Jasmine has a very strong personality and a mind of her own, which is a very GOOD
thing. As parents, we need to have the wisdom to differentiate between what we should
teach her and what we should leave alone and let her learn/work out on her own. We
also have to find the right balance in discipline, because we don’t want to train strong
headedness out of her.
Jasmine is highly creative. She loves to paint, and she’s good at it – maybe the best of all
our kids. I love pushing her already awesome imagination as far as possible.
Play with her for an hour every day. Paint, play school, play running games, ride bikes.
Take her on a daddy daughter date at least once a month, if not twice. This is truly
precious time.
Help her start her first business in the summer of 2013 selling produce and baked goods.
Put her to bed earlier so we can spend more time with her at bedtime.
MY FAMILY
Nothing is more important than family. When things get bad – my family is always there
through thick and thin. I highly value that. I will invest time and energy in my brothers,
sisters and dad, nieces and nephews.
I’ve discovered that I really have to focus on my friendships and consciously invest
energy in this area or it’s simply not going to happen. When it comes to the people I
really care about, if I don’t make a move and get assertive about spending time
together, years can go by without me seeing them. It is really important to me to
develop strong, positive friendships.
MY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS
Like attracts like. Being open and honest will get me openness and honesty. Being
adversarial will get me in trouble. I am in charge of giving what I want to get.
Pay compliments whenever possible. I like to make my associates feel important
and competent (assuming that they are), so they develop a positive association
with just talking to me.
Ask questions. People want to talk about themselves, not me. Let them. Forget
about what I want for the moment and use questions to figure out what they
want. This is the most important thing I can know about them.
Ask for advice. Recognize some kind of superiority in them and use it.
Use good body language. Have good posture. Your aura should be calm,
confident, responsible and in control.
Money has two primary purposes, to standardize value so that people can trade things
more easily, and to store value, so that people can save it to trade at a later date. And
these two things are the foundation of the civilized world.
In order to exchange goods and services, people used to have to barter. It was a clumsy
economic system. Money changed that. It allowed people to turn their goods and
services into coins. And since those coins were recognized as the "standard of value" by
everyone, people could trade them for eggs, beef, pots, jewelry – anything they wanted
in ONE STEP. It's a more efficient system. Money standardizes or equalizes value. It makes
EVERYTHING worth X amount of the same thing.
Money also allowed people to STORE value, which is huge. With money, people could
turn their goods and services into coins and not only trade them for WHAT they wanted,
but WHEN
they wanted as well. They could wait a month, a
year, or even pass the money onto my children.
Money allowed people to SAVE for the first time.
They could save their productive
accomplishments, their hard work. Money is
STORED ENERGY. Your work, your sweat, your
thinking, your talents are in those coins.
The goods and services that people produce. With money, people can easily exchange
their work, talents and skills – the very best that is inside of themselves for the best that is
inside of others. Money is quite literally a symbol of human productivity and
achievement. It represents all the things that we create for each other.
We trade our work for money, which we then use to trade for the work of other people.
Steven Spielberg's work is to make movies. And the rest of us go to work, trading our
various talents for money, then we trade a small part of what we have earned to Steven
Spielberg’s company, so we can enjoy an evenings entertainment. The value Bill Gates
has created is software that has changed the way people live. He is wealthy because he
has positively affected the lives of literally billions of people in a profound way. A doctor,
a teacher a lawyer, a janitor – they all provide valuable services to other people. They
exchange those valuable services for money, so they can acquire the valuable services
of others. We trade our work for money, and the better we are at what we do – the more
valuable we become to others – the more money you can trade your work for. Money is
a SYMBOL of the best that people have to offer each other.
Do I love money? If you mean do I love little green pieces of paper with pictures of dead
presidents on them, the answer is "no, not really". But if you mean do I love what money
represents, what it means and what it can do – the answer is "absolutely". Anyone who
has "collecting dollars" at the center of their life's aspirations is way missing the point.
If you want to enrich yourself, stop concentrating on those pieces of paper and start
concentrating on the value that you can contribute to the people around you.
Everything in the universe is governed by the law of cause and effect – everything
happens for a reason. Wealth is the effect of specific actions. If you DO the things that
create wealth – you'll create wealth. If you don't – you won't. People become wealthy
because they decide to become wealthy and they DO the things that wealthy people
do. Poor people are poor because they have not yet decided to create financial
abundance. They don't DO the things that make it happen. It's as simple as that.
Expand my time horizon as far as possible. The wealthiest people in our society are those
who have the longest time horizon. They make decisions today in terms of where they
want to be 5 years, 10, years, 15 years from now. They make investments and sacrifices
today that don't pay off for years. The poorest people in our society are those people
with the shortest time horizon – they think in terms of TODAY. Right now. Not even next
week. They behave in ways that are guaranteed to lead to financial problems, debt and
poverty.
Building wealth takes time and it requires self-discipline. Sacrifice in the short term is the
price you pay for financial security in the long term. I must be willing to pay the price of
success before you can get it, 5, 10, 20 years from now. People begin to move up
financially the DAY they begin to think long term. Their lives will start to become better
almost immediately. They will start building wealth immediately. The time horizon is the
key.
Just about everyone in America should retire a millionaire. But they don't, because they
are not willing to make the sacrifice that is required. And all it takes is putting away $100
a month, beginning at age 21, through age 65. That is a little more than 20 a week –
$3.50 a day. ANYONE can do that. That's allowance money. That's the change in the
I want to think long term, because it’s smart. I resolve to exercise the miniscule,
insignificant amount of discipline I need to make my life substantially better. I want to
develop the kind of character that insures success. I have the opportunity to create a
tremendous amount of wealth if I think long term – and I am committed to doing it.
Save more – spend less. It's not how much I make – it's how much I keep that creates my
financial future. Financial freedom comes to the person who saves 10% or more of what
they make throughout their lifetime. This strategy is simple – take a look at how much
you're making and PAY YOURSELF FIRST, before anyone else. I will do that with every
check that comes in from now on. Period. I’ll set up an account and save 10% of my
income off the top and never touch it. – never use it for any reason except to assure my
financial future. I’ll learn to live on 90% of what you earn. I am committed to making this
a habit.
Financial freedom lives in the spread between income and expenses. I am committed to
making that spread as big as possible in my life. I will work on my financial vision from 2
sides – increase income and cut expenses. In order to do this, I have to resist the
powerful, natural urge to spend more as we make more. Expenses almost always rise to
meet income, and this explains why most people retire poor. No matter how much they
make – they spend it – plus a little more. No matter how much they bring in, there never
seems to be enough. I am committed to driving a wedge in between our income and
our expenses. As our income increases, we will increase our expenses at a slower rate
and invest or save the difference. This is a huge part of the recipe for our financial
independence. We will manage our money well and keep your expenses low.
My Financial To Do List:
Get crystal clear on my financial status. NOW! And always!
Get my kids set up on savings plans NOW!!!
Hire an accountant and create a budget and a savings plan. Put together a
complete financial strategy.
Save 10% of every check from now on.
Set up an investment strategy with my financial advisor.
Financial independence is easier to achieve today than ever before. We live in the
richest country in the world at the richest time in all of human history. We are literally
surrounded by affluence and wealth. These opportunities, coupled with my unique
talents, determination and work ethic, mean that I am destined to be a BIG financial
success. I expect to be very rich and very successful for the rest of my life.
However, one thing I know first hand – money flows to people who treat it well and away
from people who treat it poorly. Money goes where it is loved and respected. A person
who thinks he can afford to lose a little will probably lose a lot. That is why I don’t have
the attitude that I can afford to lose a little. I NEVER lose money – on anything.
I love and respect money – and I don’t lose money EVER. The time it took to make the
money is irreplaceable. If I lose it, that is a precious part of my life that is gone forever. If
all I do is HOLD ON to the money I make, I will achieve financial security.
I always invest wisely. Time and money can be spent or invested. If you spend them, they
are gone forever. If you invest them, they’ll pay dividends forever.
I NEVER rush into parting with money. I’ve worked too long and hard to earn it. If I have
any doubts about the investment, I don’t do it. If there is a possibility that I could lose my
money, I don’t part with it in the first place. I invest mainly in areas where I have become
somewhat of an expert.
There are many professions that didn't even exist 100 years ago. We can CHOOSE just
about any career we want. We can pick a career that we like and we can get good at
it – and trade the fruits of our labor for the fruits of the labor of others. This is an amazing
opportunity, but there is a downside. Information overload. Many of us are just
overwhelmed. There are TOO many choices. It's bewildering and confusing. With all the
possibilities - how can we possibly choose?
Choosing the ideal career can be a very complicated matter, but there are a few
common sense things that we can consider. Our career is how we spend most of your
time. Most of our waking hours get invested here. Our career is what we "do". No one
wants to spend the hours of their life doing something they hate. So it makes good sense
to pick something we like. Something we enjoy. It's a smart, common sense thing to do.
It also makes sense to pick something we are good at – or that we could be good at. It
doesn't make a lot of sense to spend our lives doing something we don't have the
aptitude to do well. That would be frustrating. We don't want to work and work and not
get better. If we pick something we’re a "natural at" we’ll get better and better over
time. That is a good thing. We might have to experiment to find out what that is. We
might have to try a few different things. But when all is said and done, hopefully we will
find something we can do well.
The next consideration is financial abundance. The vast majority of us want careers that
make us the most money possible – a career that maximizes our potential to create
wealth. So the question is, "How do we do that"? The answer is, "contribute to others at
the highest level of which we are capable. The greater our contribution, the greater our
financial rewards".
Clarity and focus. Fuzzy targets won’t get hit. Clear targets keep productivity charging
forward. I always know exactly what I am doing, why I am doing it and how I am going
to get it done. I quantify goals and set hard numbers for expected performance. I do not
get sidetracked. I have a complete intolerance of fuzziness with regard to objectives,
products and services.
An intolerance of crisis and urgency. I always think before I act. I am a master planner –
and I execute against those plans. Urgency and crisis means I didn’t plan well. Crisis goes
against the reason my career exists in the first place – to make my life better – and I am
unwilling to tolerate a loss of quality of life.
A dedication to being debt free. I hate debt. It gives me stress. It is an exposure that takes
enjoyment away from life. Owe little or no money.
Know Yourself. I acknowledge and accept my weaknesses and attack them head on. I
never deny they are there, but always hunt for ways to erase them.
MY CAREER STRENGTHS
Big Picture Vision – I see things differently. I visualize things as they could and should be. I
am not afraid to go after big dreams and goals.
Organization – I am efficient and effective and have the ability to understand and
integrate vast amounts of information.
Leadership – I have the ability to inspire and motivate people – to enlist others in my
dreams and get people excited about working toward the accomplishment of my goals.
I lead by example, by what I DO – not what I say. People respect and follow me
because they want to, not because they have to.
Product development – I have the ability to create products that are valuable and
desirable to others. This is what has made me wealthy.
MY CAREER WEAKNESSES
Finance - I understand the big picture numbers, but I usually don’t have as clear a grasp
of the day-to-day financial details. In order to mitigate this weakness, I must always have
this area covered by competent accountants and CFOs.
Marketing. Creating products is my area of competence, figuring out the best way to sell
my products has never been an area of strength. I have had good companies and great
products fail because of this weakness, and that has made me realize that sales are the
lifeblood of any business. The good news is that this subject is not exactly rocket science.
In order to mitigate this area of weakness, I must surround myself with people who know
how to market and focus a tremendous amount of energy on marketing plans.
Spreading my focus too thin – I have the ability to take on a lot, but I must guard against
taking on too much (as I have a tendency to do). Spreading myself too thin goes directly
against my number one value – clarity and focus. My business philosophy is to define the
most important battles and focus all my energy on them one at a time, until I win them
decisively.
OUR ENVIRONMENTS
The environments we create and live in are an extension of us as people. They give
material form to the contents of our minds and spirits. They are the physical reflection of
our values, aesthetics and personality.
Our environments are incredibly important to us, because we understand the feedback
loop they create. The qualities they radiate totally permeate our lives. If we live in a
disorganized, hectic and stressful environment, our lives will be disorganized and stressful,
because that is what we are surrounded by. Likewise, if we are surrounded every day by
beauty, tranquility and sensuality – our lives will literally be more beautiful, tranquil and
sensual. Our environments should be in perfect harmony with the people we want to be.
Therefore, we will create environments that clearly project the values, moods and
feelings that we want in our on a continuous basis.
When Missy and I sat down to design our dream house, we made a conscious decision
to build a home that clearly projected the values, moods and feelings we wanted in our
lives on a continuous basis. Although there were a number of key values we focused on,
we defined the most important group as the “healing values” of tranquility, peacefulness
and serenity. Our lives are very busy, and can be stressful sometimes, so we wanted to
create an environment that would care for us, revive us, and allow us recover from the
demands of the day. Like most people in industrialized countries, we spend 90% of our
time indoors, so we saw a healthy building as part of our health plan – an investment in
our physical and mental wellbeing. Our goal was to completely banish stress and chaos
from our living environment and create a calm relaxing atmosphere for our children and
ourselves. We wanted our home to be a sanctuary – a retreat from the manic, stressful
pace of the outside world. When guests visited our home, we wanted them to feel as if
they had entered a world of tranquility, warmth and love.
We set about the task of defining the “recipe” to bring the healing values to life in our
home. We invited nature into our home almost as if it was another family member. We
focused on the sight and sound of water by building small waterfalls throughout the
house, so we could see and hear flowing water from just about every room. We built
planters around our waterfalls so we would be surrounded by growing, living things 365
days a year. Bringing trees, plants and flowers into our home was like bringing in a little
piece of Hawaii, which is especially important in a place like Chicago, where 5 months of
the year can be cold and grey. We flooded the house with natural light by utilizing
skylights, windows and sliding glass doors. We installed a whole house music system and
spent many hours compiling playlists of soft, relaxing music. There is no single factor that is
more important to setting a mood than music. We welcomed health and fitness into our
home with a major commitment to a gym and a small spa, and designed numerous
relaxation and meditation areas that melt away stress. Natural materials and a neutral
color palette for the entire home assured that nothing shouts for attention. Finally, we
built in 2 large fireplaces for warmth and comfort – and we focused on comfortable,
informal furniture throughout the home.
The effect is a sedate, peaceful, calm, and beautiful environment. Spending time in our
home is a wonderful experience. We are literally surrounded by tranquility, peacefulness
and beauty every day of our lives. It is as if the house is alive and wrapping its arms
around us –not just to shelter us – but to re-energize and care for us and our children. Our
home is a certifiable healing environment with 24-hour health benefits. It will allow us to
enjoy our years more – and to enjoy more years together. We absolutely love the home
that we created. And what we love most about our home is that it has the ability to love
us back.
SENSUALITY
We want our home to radiate passion, romance and sensuality, because that is who we
are as people. In order to achieve this, we have focused on all 5 senses and set up an
experience that takes each one into consideration.
SECURITY.
It is important that our home feel safe and secure. It should be strong and protective,
and in that sense very masculine. We work hard to keep the home very well maintained
so it is sturdy and strong. We keep all the systems working properly. We make sure the
roof and exterior are in good shape, so we are protected from the elements. We have a
great security system to keep the family safe. When I go on trips without the family, it is
important for me to know that they are safe inside our fortress.