Mitch’s Blog

I mentioned this website, Beautiful Summer Morning, on my Blog Day post in August. This guy, Nick Grimshawe, really does come up with some very good stuff.

Two videos have been highlighted on his site within the past couple of weeks that I’d like to share with you now. The first is called The Strange Secret Movie. The second is called the Appreciation Movie. I think you’ll like them both. Thanks Nick!

A friend turned me on to this little video called Five Big Questions, which is associated afterwards with an ecourse by a gentleman named Michael Bungay Stanier. It’s a pretty neat little video, backed up with what I call bebop jazz, a little long, but very worth watching because it’ll make you think about some of the positive things in your life without your realizing it.

I love things like that, and I believe everyone needs a reminder every once in awhile that what we may deem as regular is actually fairly extraordinary. Enjoy the video.

This morning I went to a seminar called 7 Habits of 7 Highly Successful People, based on the Stephen Covey book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Each of the speakers are, of course, very successful people in their own right. One of them is nationally known; the other is probably one of the most important people from our area. The first five presenters were: Dr. Richard Hezel, Hezel Associates; Marilyn Higgins, National Grid; Joel DelMonico, Clear Channel Radio; Darlene Kerr, Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce; Jim Carrick, Strategic Computer Solutions.

Truthfully, if the seminar had ended with just those five people, it would have been worth the money. But the next two speakers really set things off for the crowd, though the first guy really surprised most of us. William Fitzpatrick is the district attorney for the city of Syracuse. He’s a very accomplished prosecutor, with one of the best records in the nation. We see him on TV all the time whenever there’s a very serious crime that’s taken place. Very serious looking guy, tough talking guy, originally from Brooklyn. That’s why, when he took the podium, he caught most of us off guard with his wit and energy. I think the last time I laughed this hard at an event, it was Bill Cosby in concert many years ago. That this man, who mixed all this humor with tales of crime and some of the most serious and heart wrenching stories you can imagine while giving us his habits could be this funny was amazing. But one of his habits was to be able to find a way to remove yourself from the bad things that can happen in your life, because bad things happen all the time, and if you live in that place then you’re going to have a miserable life. That was a great lesson.

The final speaker is someone I’ve wanted to meet for many, many years. His name is Tim Green, and he’s a lawyer for Hiscock & Barclay in this area. That means nothing to most people until you give the rest of the story. Tim Green went to my high school, though he’s about 6 or 7 years younger than me. He was a high school All-American football player; he was a college All-American football player from Syracuse University; he was a Rhodes Scholarship nominee, though he didn’t get it. He played for the Atlanta Falcons for 8 years, finally deciding to retire after one too many concussions. After he retired he was a football announcer for Fox Sports, then did some other sports, and hosted one of those TV tabloid news shows; well, no one is perfect. At the same time, he earned a law degree and has written 14 books, his latest a children’s book, and most of them have made the New York Times best seller list.

So, this is a very accomplished guy, very driven, and someone I’ve wanted to meet because, as odd as it sounds, it’s Green’s career that has somewhat inspired me to try to do the things I do. I see him as a renaissance guy, someone who’s always busy, always trying to achieve something else, and doing very well at it.

During his part of the conversation today, he gave as one of his habits two little words that are the most important thing in his life: “Get Up.” He said that people get knocked down every day in some fashion, whether it’s physically, emotionally, or anything else. He said the most important thing in life is getting back up and trying it again, or trying something else, and never giving up.

I thought about that and realized just how real and true a statement this is. I look at my own business life, since I decided to work for myself. If I’d have quit after being in business for the first three years no one would have accused me of not giving it my all. I’d written a book during that time, given some presentations, but nothing overly spectacular. Truthfully, I was floundering. Then things started to work, and my life changed for the better. At the present moment I have 4 books started, though I haven’t concentrated as much on them. I write two newsletters, run four websites, and have different divisions within my business. I keep very erratic hours, always coming up with new ideas and trying new things, with the eventual goal being that $1.5 million dollar house I see in my mind. I’ve given other presentations, and I’m always looking to do more. I want to be a renaissance man, just like Tim Green, and it’s odd because, well, it’s not often that someone tries to be like someone who’s younger than they are.

Today was a good day on more than one front. One doesn’t usually get to be in the presence of so many accomplished people, so many millionaires at one time, without being one themselves. We learned some great lessons today, and were entertained more than I thought we’d be. All it takes is the willingness to take some chances, have confidence in yourself, keep an open mind, and, this one I’ll need to work on, have more fun.

Can’t be mad at fun.

On Thursday, I wrote up and sent out my 100th Newsletter, which I entitled Number 100; seemed to make sense to me.

I started the newsletter in February 2003, with the intention of writing something every two weeks. And, with only a couple of blips, I’ve done just that. You don’t think about it much, but it would take at least getting into the fourth year of something like this in order to reach 100. To some, this is pretty amazing; to others, I’m sure one might say “only 100; I write more blog entries than that.” Well, I’ve written more blog entries than that also, but it’s not quite the same thing. Content and planning is one thing to consider, as the newsletters are way longer, and writing a second newsletter on a totally different topic is another; I’m around 39 of those.

Perseverance is the key word here. I could easily stop any time I wanted to; after all, I know quite a few people who have stopped writing their newsletter. Some started before me and already had a history, and some started after me, finding it harder to come up with topics that they felt they could touch upon on a continuing basis. It’s the same type of thing with writing a blog; if your topic is somewhat limited, or you put too many restrictions on your topic, then you’ll find yourself with nothing to write about after awhile.

I’m proud of myself for sticking it out. I believe every person who’s able to stick with something that they wish to accomplish for their lives deserves congratulations. Someone who’s given up drinking, smoking, or drugs, or someone who’s been able to change their lifestyle and have lost a lot of weight. But having a sense of accomplishment doesn’t have to be gauged on someone else’s criteria, just set your own, and do your thing.

A few years ago, my mother gave me a little card that was entitled “Today I Take Control”, with the subtitle “Declaration of Financial Empowerment.” Every once in awhile, I pull it out and read it, just for a quick mental boost.

Today I decided to see if it was online, so that I could provide a link to it, and it is. For most people, 9 of the top 10 are all they’re going to be concerned about, yet I still feel it’s powerful enough to post here. It’s at this link on the Black Enterprise site, and I hope you take some time to check it out.

I don’t talk about money often here, but the truth is that if we have financial independence, we have room and time to dream, and dream big, and then to accomplish great things. And, ultimately, that’s my ultimate dream.

What does it take for you to consider that you’ve had a good day?

For me, it’s usually a good day if I’ve received one call related to business of some sort, but I also have good days where all I do is work on a project. My wife has a good day every day because she wakes up; I wish I were that effervescent.

There are some people who are naturally happy, and others who are naturally grumpy. I tend to believe that if one is predisposed to being happy, or positive, that they’ll have more incidences of good things occurring in their lives. If one is unhappy, or negative, they’ll tend to have more bad things occur in their life.

As we come upon Memorial Day, the day where we honor those American service men and women who gave their lives so that we can have a choice in the matter, I say why not try to move towards the positive side of things, and see if making just that slight mental change brings better things your way. I’ll bet it makes you feel better also.

I wasn’t going to post this here, but this one deserves a trackback.

Nick Grimshawe writes a very nice blog which he called Beautiful Summer Morning. This post in particular, which is actually only an inspirational video, just caught my eye, and I knew I wanted to share it with y’all.

Enjoy the video, then read some of his other offerings. Very nice stuff indeed.

In different forums, I’ve posted these links for people to see, most probably through email. I’ve decided to put them all here for others to see also, and it helps me because now I’ll know that I have them all in one place.

So, here we go. First, the first 20 minutes of The Secret.

Second, a video on how one really doesn’t know their own capacity for achievement until they try.

Third, a video called Lessons From Water.

Fourth, a video called The Race, once again about testing ones own limitations.

Fifth, a video called Living Luminaries, about some known and unknown folks who have achieved great things in life.

All about motivation today!

On Monday, in another forum, I presented this video as something that was motivational. Basically, it’s a video of a football coach showing one of his players that he could push himself more than he might have ever imagined with the right, well, motivation.

The posting of the video link got all positive reviews initially. Then, out of nowhere, a couple of people had problems with the video, saying it showed coaches and athletics in its worst light because, as they saw it, it showed how coaches don’t really care about those who they mentor, and how unimaginable it was that anyone could do that to a kid.

As someone who played a lot of sports, and as someone who found the video nothing but inspiring, I was taken aback by the criticism. To me, they had missed the point of the video, which was that all of us can probably do more than we believe we can. It was the video that led me, in a way, to write my last newsletter (even though it was originally sparked by a conversation with a friend of mine). I really do believe that most of us find reasons “not” to do something rather than to get it done, and sometimes we need the help of someone else to push us to those things we say we want in our lives.

And, of course, this is on the heels of what seems to be growing criticism from many areas on the success of The Secret DVD, and now the book. Some are saying that it’s irresponsible to tell people that positive thinking can get them anything, and that, if bad things happen, it’s their fault, even if they have no idea how it was manifested.

It’s easy to look at a good thing and beat it down. From what I’ve seen, most of the people who are complaining don’t have anything good to say about anything else either, so I take most of it as I take movie reviewers; with a grain of salt. And that’s what I needed to do when reading the negative posts that came from the video I posted above. Luckily, before I got there a couple other people had something to say themselves. Not everyone wants to hear or see someone putting down something that they saw as inspiring.

And that’s the reality of it all, then. It’s hard to find your positivity, then have someone else try to take it away from you. Naysayers say they’re trying to protect you from pain and harm; maybe they are. But having a little encouragement works a lot better for someone like me in trying to reach my goals and dreams; I’m betting there are more people like me than the opposite in this regard.

The latest T. T. Mitchell Consulting Newsletter is now available, Titled Sabotage; What Holds Us Back, it takes a look at that may hold us back from being more successful than we are, and what we might need to do in order to move beyond it. Enjoy.