Today's Thought

In one of the great meetings today I was asked: "What is the best part of what you do for a living?"

My answer: "Getting to help others in making their dreams come true." Seriously, how cool is my company and my line of daily work. I work with people every single day and help them realize dreams and then set up plans to make them come true!

And now you know how its possible to LOVE LIFE and HAVE FUN in a start up company that drains all your cash and sucks up every ounce of our savings.

I wouldn't trade what I do or where I live for anything!

And now what about you? Can you say you love what you do and where you live? Most people make money (start ups don't; they actually cost you fortunes every single month) and hate their job....and also most hate where they live...

I don't get it! Life is too short to not love what you do and where you live....but as I have said a thousand times: It takes COURAGE To Live the Life you want to Live!

Get in the sweet spot of life and LOVE WHAT YOU DO and LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE! Do it now...risk and stop playing safe....Try it!...Don't worry about money....Find passion, be good at what you do & the money will always come! Stop worry about what other's think...Stop thinking about all your bills...Don't live in regret one more second...Get out of your comfort zones...Do something that scares you....Why not??

Questions?

Deep learning right now! I know (because I purposefully meditate on it) I am learning intense spiritual life changing lessons right now...in this present time. Why? Because I am dealing with a ton of adversity! It's during these times of rough sledding in life that we really learn. Currently I have two nuclear bombs going on in my life. No need to go into specifics but you can get the picture. (nothing life threating...but still major)

That being said, it doesn't make it easy or fun to have mountains of adversity in your life...even thought I intentionally know I am learning, growing, and in the end, will be thankful for the experience. Even with all that positive spin, I still don't like it. Tough times just don't feel good.

But when you really break hard times down in the most simple elements, I really have only 2 choices:

1. I can retreat. This is an option. I can throw in the towel, raise the white flag and give up. In the marketplace, there are times when the first loss is the best loss. And this also applies in life where there are certain times when you need to take a loss and fold your cards. But Kenny Rodgers so accurately told us the key is to: Know when to hold em, Know when to fold em, Know when to walk away, and Know when to run.



2. I can power forward. This is the other option. Keep plowing ahead and moving the ball forward; one step at a time. This is the never give up mentality.
   

I keep reminding myself of this, which I have learned to be so very true in these confusing times (the confusing times that you cannot make any sense out of... you know...the; why is this happening type questions where no logical answer appears to exist)

• WHEN THERE IS NO ANSWER, YOU NEED TO FIND ONE ON YOUR OWN!

I am off to find my own answers!
Chris

Juice!

Don't run out of juice!

Brands and images that run out of juice die a quick death. No juice = No survival. There are so many examples of this but none bigger or more prominent than the auto industry. Ask your parents or grandparents what kind of car they wanted when they grew up. And all of them would tell you the exact car, what color, what engine...on and on. Example a 57 Chevy, red, with a small block V-8...

Is there a better example of a brand completely blowing it than Chevy? In my speeches, I ask people to tell me the names of the 2008 Chevy models and they can't do it. Then I ask 2008 BMW models and the entire audience can name all of them. Why? Chevy ran out of juice and is dying a very quick death right in front of all our eyes! People want COOL cars and Chevy doesn't make cool cars or market any sort of COOLNESS factor at all. BMW on the other hand is perceived as COOL and they make COOL cars. Hence everyone wants BMW and nobody wants a new Chevy. Think about it; do you dream about owing a new Chevy Cobalt?

An entire brand down the drain in one generation! Amazing. The take away from this is to look at your brand. Does your company have juice? Are you marketing yourself as COOL? By the way, this also applies to employees because you are a brand as well...it's called Brand You! Employers want to hire cool employees that can make a difference and have juice.

Look at you brand today. Do you have juice? If not, get some quick or you won't like the results. If you do, the major challenge is the keep it...keep the juice going. How?

• Innovate...Try new things


• Re-launch your company and yourself


• Design (remodel your store, new updates, re-model yourself..new look and feel)


• Risk


• Courage


• New and better employees!

Have Juice...Lot's of it....Keep it....Never lose the juice....and Always. Be Cool!

1 Answer with 2 Questions

Q: Who are you?

A: You are the sum total of all your thoughts.

Q: What are you thinking today?

#7

I have a book called CJT Master Book: It's a book of the notes for my life. One of the sections is "Things I want to accomplish in my life."

#7 on my list: Own a nice boat! (days spent on the water floating around making each day better than before...I have always loved boats and always will)

My purposes: A boat for:

• Family Time...Teddy and Tate love it!
• Rest and recharge
• Place to share with others
• Retreats for others
• Place to improve self and others

Do you have a list of things for your life? If not, why not? What is more important than having things you want to accomplish in your life? Do this today! Best exercise on the planet!

Cardboard Testimony

An WOW Experience!
This world is so amazing with so many incredible people! I am so thankful for today and the opportunity to be part of this creative genius world! I can't wait to make it happen today!
Can you tell somebody is a little fired up today? Hope you feel the same!

Pace..Quick but Don't Hurry for me...

Pace!
A
C
E
!

Pace is critically important in life and in the marketplace. I see so many people literally killing themselves (mostly trying to get ahead) without taking time to appreciate and enjoy the surroundings. We live in an instant world. We have become a society of NOW. We want:

• Our hamburger thrown to us while driving a car in a drive-thru within 30 seconds or else we start laying on the horn...(How much sense does this really make? Think about it...this is nourishment for the one gift of body we get; only to expect to perfectly nourish and take care of that gift in 30 seconds?)
• Instant emails and texts. (How many people still have dial-up? NONE. Everyone is high speed and we want instant communication. The old lessons of think before talking is obsolete in 2008)
• Instant Results....Informericals saying lose 30 lbs in 30 days...sexual increases in 1 minutes lasting 40 days...

Pace is critical in today's world. We need to learn to get into a good life rhythm and acceptable pace. I see so many people turning and burning in the marketplace trying to make a name for themselves. They work to death in bad jobs only to not have enough energy to enjoy the good jobs that often come later.

Find your pace in the world. Find your pace in the marketplace. Then check and make sure the pace is one that will produce good long term results. In my business and life; the pace I use is Quick but Don't Hurry (and become sloppy) as my standard. My clients deserve me to be there producing better than expected results over the long haul...A WOW Experience! Some things that I purposely think about when I plan my pace:

1. Rest... Vacation...Re-charge my batteries so I can give 100% to every client...every time!
2. Hours at office
3. Hours planning and thinking (at least 50%! yes 50% of my time is planning and thinking...why so much? So I can work on my business and not in my business.)
4. Type of work (I avoid the grinds as much as I can)
5. Being a good steward of my gifts!

A deep subject that requires so much more than I can write about for this purpose. But the point to come away with is deliberate thinking about your Pace in life and business.

Frogs!

Picture at my cousin Tim Cody's house...Teddy loved this frog!

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

This story teaches two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.

Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words... it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.

Author Unknown

T.M.

Teachable Moments!

There are things that happen in all of our lives that we can use to learn and teach from. I call those Teachable Moments. Do you pay attention for those teachable moments that happen in your life? Most people miss them. And that is such a shame because these moments can be excellent tools to from which to teach others and share in real life at real time.

Some tips to take moments and teach from them:

• Pay attention to your surroundings
• Look for visual and audio lessons
• Ask questions
• Listen

A recent teachable moment: I told my son Teddy at restaurant to watch the staff pick up the dirty dishes from our table. And then told him the importance of him picking up his toys so we don't have a dirty house...just like the restaurant doesn't have dirty dishes all over. (Jury is out on if he got it...as I just picked up the toys again!)

Look for teachable moments in your life and use them!

Look for teachable moments to help you in business marketplace.

Patience...please

Be Patient...(hard to do and easy to say...trust me)

How many of you want things and want them now? How many of you want your plans to go perfectly and immediately? How many of you want things to go your way, every time? How many of you want control and instantly?

Well, the above is me; most of the time. I am seriously guilty of having no patience. This is a huge mistake. And every single time, I get pie in my face that there was a better plan and a better timeline when I show patience.

Patience is very hard for many of us. We just don't have it and just don't get it. But learning patience can be done and is very valuable to practice it. We say the word patience and understand how it can helpful. We teach our kids on patience. But in real life, it just stops at words and never gets into implementation of our life. If I had a dollar for every time I told Teddy to be patient; only to not practice patience myself...Note to self: Do what you say and say what you do!

Think about patience and practice it. I believe you will find, like me, there is a better plan and better timeline when we practice patience...

Bittersweet or sweetbitter??

Life is too sweet to be bitter!

Life is amazing. Life is unbelievable. The ups and downs. The twists and turns. The known and unknown. Today and beyond. Does it get an better than this?

Life is too sweet to be bitter...How about your life? Are you where you want to be? Are you in a good spot? Are you living the life you want to live? Any dreams lately? Priorities in line? Time well spent? Moving forward on the right "stuff"?

If you need to make changes, do them now. Why?

Life is too sweet to be bitter!

24/7/365

I was recently asked the question: How much time to spend on your business? My response was 24/7/365. The person was taken back so allow me to clarify as I did with her.

First, let me define my business. I am in the Dream Chasing Business! Chasing Dreams for:

• Chris Tapken (myself)
• My Family (and Friends)
• My Clients
• My Community
• My Church
• My Earth (any one that will listen)

So that is a ton of work and a ton of people which requires a ton of time. Second, don't think for a second that I spend all night at my office and neglect my family and other responsibilities. That is not the case; in fact, the opposite is true. My best work comes for my family and Chasing our Dreams as a family! And I can't do that at my office. That requires serious time and serious energy spent on my family.

But the point is that I don't allow my mind to sit idling. I keep pushing myself. I keep challenging myself. I keep moving forward. Bottom line: I have Big Dreams to Chase and achieve. So my business hours are 24/7/365!

How about you? For most, the sad story is that some people don't even have dreams. When I ask about dreams, most tell me they have not dreamed since childhood. That breaks my heart. Take some time and think about your dreams today. (by the way, this is the best r.o.i you can spend on time!) Think about what your dreams are and how you can achieve them. Write down your dreams. And then share your dreams with others. Get inspried by your dreams. Don't let your past or currrent situation stop you from dreaming.

Why not me?

When adversity comes our way, the first thing we want to do is make sense of it. Then we immediately say... "Why me?" We get consumed with having to figure why bad events happen to us. We spend all of our energy on trying to figure it out and hosting an world class event called: the Pity Party. All of this energy is negative and doesn't solve or address any of the adversity. I was guilty of this (as much as anyone on the planet). This was my operational conduct.

Then I sat down and thought about it from a positive view. Why not me? When adversity comes my way, Why not me? If I handled it with passion, courage and positivity then maybe others can learn from me and it will help them! Why not me?

So I have a new outlook on adversity. Plus I know this to be absolutely true: We learn so much more from our adversity than any of our good fortune.

Why not me? Adversity: Bring it on...I will grow and learn from it...and when it's all said and done; actually I will be thankful for it!

Have an awesome 4th!

Why not me?

Lighthouse

Do you have a lighthouse in your life? Lighthouses were, at one point, a critical part of success and accomplishment. Lighthouses guided ships to safe harbors, warned of dangerous waters, and guided people to navigational progress. Lighthouses were depended upon to guide and correct us through navigational points.

Same is true for our business and our life. We need lighthouses. We need those navigational points that tell us of progress, that warn us of danger, and take us to safe harbors and success. But in real life, most people don't have any lighthouses. They walk through life with no navigational tools to keep them on track or warn them of danger. The results is that most people in this life, hit the reefs.

And the reason is because they don't have lighthouses.

Today, we need a lighthouse our life. We all deserve that.

We have a Lighthouse program for you today!

Chris