Drip, drip, drip...

While my husband has been watching Sunday night football, I've been surfing the web, feeding my brain. OK, I didn't mean that to sound like watch football is not brain food - it's certainly entertainment - it just doesn't hold my attention 100% of the time.

In any event, I stumbled across an interesting blog entry by Seth Godin, who by the way is fast becoming one of my favorite authors! He writes:

I discovered a lucky secret the hard way about thirty years ago: you can outlast the other guys if you try. If you stick at stuff that bores them, it accrues. Drip, drip, drip you win.

It still takes ten years to become a success, web or no web.

This message has been consistently in my face over the past year or so. I've heard it at my job with Keller Williams Realty. As the market has shifted, training in our market center has also shifted. Back to basics. Lead generate. Consistently. Those who stay in the game and do the basics, over and over, remaining in activity, will only increase their own market share in the long run. Drip, drip, drip...

I've heard it at my team training for my network marketing business. Desire to succeed = Action, ie. Activity = Momentum. Over and over again, you have to consistently re-qualify yourself monthly. Drip, drip, drip...

Do you see the same theme here that I do?

Activity...consistent activity is KEY! In any venture. You must do the boring, over and over again. For me the challenge there is to GET OVER the activity being boring and Just Do It! It's truly the only path to success!

I'm off to work on my calendar of BORING (read success) activities for the week! I hope you do yours as well!

OH - Have you read SHIFT How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times by Gary Keller - read it and get back to basics with the rest of us!

Check out the Seth Godin's blog that inspired this post here: The secret of the web (hint: it's a virtue)

Blessings,

Jan
My Website

Social Networking

Lately, all my research regarding online marketing points to social networks. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Whew - this is a new world out here!

I'm jumping in and trying to figure this thing out - I'm finding 20 and 30 "somethings" that I work with to act as mentors. They have been kind with my questions. It's sure odd to seek out younger, more experienced people to act as mentors. I'm intrigued by the whole process - the world has certainly changed, thanks to technology!

Thank you Kimberly, Meghan and Brandy specifically! You guys rock!

Jan
www.janorga.myarbonne.com

RIP "I Can't"

Shared today in Dale Thomas' Motivational Monday email. "Tonight I am sharing a story with you that I felt was so powerful. I have always believed that " I Can't" should be words we should remove from our vocabulary. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did."

An Inspirational Story, Motivational Story -
The I Can't Funeral
by Author Unknown
Donna's fourth grade classroom looked like many others I had seen in the past. The teacher's desk was in front and faced the students. The bulletin board featured student work. In most respects it appeared to be a typically traditional elementary classroom. Yet something seemed different that day I entered it for the first time.

My job was to make classroom visitations and encourage implementation of a training program that focused on language arts ideas that would empower students to feel good about themselves and take charge of their lives. Donna was one of the volunteer teachers who participated in this project.

I took an empty seat in the back of the room and watched. All the students were working on a task, filling a sheet of notebook paper with thoughts and ideas. The ten-year-old student next to me was filling her page with "I Can'ts". "I can't kick the soccer ball past second base." "I can't do long division with more than three numerals." "I can't get Debbie to like me." Her page was half full and she showed no signs of letting up. She worked on with determination and persistence. I walked down the row glancing at student's papers. Everyone was writing sentences, describing things they couldn't do.

By this time the activity engaged my curiosity, so I decided to check with the teacher to see what was going on but I noticed she too was busy writing. I felt it best not to interrupt. "I can't get John's mother to come for a teacher conference." "I can't get my daughter to put gas in the car." "I can't get Alan to use words instead of fists."

Thwarted in my efforts to determine why students and teacher were dwelling on the negative instead of writing the more positive "I Can" statements, I returned to my seat and continued my observations.

Students wrote for another ten minutes. They were then instructed to fold the papers in half and bring them to the front. They placed their "I Can't" statements into an empty shoe box. Then Donna added hers. She put the lid on the box, tucked it under her arm and headed out the door and down the hall.

Students followed the teacher. I followed the students. Halfway down the hallway Donna entered the custodian's room, rummaged around and came out with a shovel. Shovel in one hand, shoe box in the other, Donna marched the students out to the school to the farthest corner of the playground. There they began to dig. They were going to bury their "I Can'ts"!

The digging took over ten minutes because most of the fourth graders wanted a turn. The box of "I Can'ts" was placed in a position at the bottom of the hole and then quickly covered with dirt. Thirty-one 10 and 11 year-olds stood around the freshly dug grave site. At this point Donna announced, "Boys and girls, please join hands and bow your heads." They quickly formed a circle around the grave, creating a bond with their hands.

They lowered their heads and waited. Donna delivered the eulogy.

"Friends, we gathered here today to honor the memory of 'I Can't.' While he was with us here on earth, he touched the lives of everyone, some more than others. We have provided 'I Can't' with a final resting place and a headstone that contains his epitaph. His is survived by his brothers and sisters, 'I Can', 'I Will', and 'I'm Going to Right Away'. They are not as well known as their famous relative and are certainly not as strong and powerful yet. Perhaps some day, with your help, they will make an even bigger mark on the world. May 'I Can't' rest in peace and may everyone present pick up their lives and move forward in his absence. Amen."

As I listened I realized that these students would never forget this day. Writing "I Can'ts", burying them and hearing the eulogy. That was a major effort on this part of the teacher. And she wasn't done yet.

She turned the students around, marched them back into the classroom and held a wake. They celebrated the passing of "I Can't" with cookies, popcorn and fruit juices. As part of the celebration, Donna cut a large tombstone from butcher paper. She wrote the words "I Can't" at the top and put RIP in the middle. The date was added at the bottom. The paper tombstone hung in Donna's classroom for the remainder of the year.

On those rare occasions when a student forgot and said, "I Can't", Donna simply pointed to the RIP sign. The student then remembered that "I Can't" was dead and chose to rephrase the statement. I wasn't one of Donna's students. She was one of mine. Yet that day I learned an enduring lesson from her as years later, I still envision that fourth grade class laying to rest, "I Can't".

Getting Back on Track

Whew - what a summer! Beginning this blog was a good idea back when I did it - and it's still a good idea...I've just lost my momentum in keeping it updated. As mentioned previously this has been one busy year for our family. I AM getting myself back on track this September! This is my month!!

My daughter, Meghan was married to Lucas in July. It was a beautiful wedding and fabulous reception! We couldn't have asked for more! My son, Alex has started his college career at Ole Miss. We moved him into his dorm on August 21st (and was that a scary experience! Dorm built in 1961 - need I say more??) and he began classes on August 25th. He seems to be settling in well...my phone is not ringing NEARLY as often as I would like! While I am fully aware that these life events are normal and the expected path - my heart is sure heavy with the changes. Life today is very different from life "yesterday" and is forever changed.

Last week I attended Keller Williams' MegaLeadership Camp and MCA Masterminds in Austin, TX. I've attended these events annually since being in my current position - so 3 years in a row. I have to say - this year - was VERY timely for me. My emotions were raw and the bulk of this event dealt with mindset and succeeding in the real estate business during a shifting market.

My life has been shifting - talk about a shifting market!? It doesn't hit home more than that! I came away with some great information, support, new tools, new friends AND a fresh new outlook!

Patrick McGowan reviewed the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I've not read the book - but I have ordered it and will read it when it comes in! The premise I took away from what Patrick shared was - live NOW! As we left, Patrick gave us a handout - it's a letter he wrote to all the MCA's in attendance with a story that was originally shared with him by his father (over 2 decades ago). He shared that whenever life gets hard - he pulls it out and reads it. It reminds him to find joy in each and every day. "The Station itself isn't the reward in life. Rather, the reward is in the path we followed to reach The Station."

The Station
by Robert Hastings

Tucked away in our subconscious minds is a vision - an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves on a long journey that spans an entire continent. We're traveling by train and, from the windows we drink in the passing scenes of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at crossings, of row upon row of cotton and corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of city skyline and village halls.

But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination - for at a certain hour and on a given day, our train will pull into the station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands playing. And once that day comes, our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. So, Restlessly, we pace the aisles, and count the miles, peering ahead, cursing the minutes for loitering, waiting, waiting, for the station.

"Yes, when we reach the station that will be it," we cry. "When we're eighteen! When we buy that new 450 SL Mercedes! When we put the last kid through college! When we win that promotion! When we pay off the mortgage! When we retire!" Yes, from that day on, like the hero and heroines of a child's fairy tale, we will live happily ever after.

Sooner or later, however, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy.

The station is an illusion - it constantly outdistances us. Yesterday's a memory; tomorrow's a dream. Yesterday belongs to history; tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday's a fading sunset; tomorrow a faint sunrise. So, shut the door on yesterday and throw the key away, for only today is there light enough to live and love. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it's regret over yesterday and fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are the twin thieves who rob us of that Golden Treasure we call today, this tiny strip of light between the two nights.

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, swim more rivers, climb more mountains, kiss more babies, count more stars. Laugh more and cry less. Go barefoot more often. Eat more ice cream. Ride more merry go rounds. Watch more sunsets. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.

Live well,

Jan