Believe in Your Truth

I have had the belief these many years that I was going to live to be very, very old. In fact, I was brash enough, many years ago, to run a full-page ad in Denver’s Rocky Mountain News literally saying that I was going to live to the age of 144.

At best, that goal of mine is questionable, and at worst, it’s ridiculous. But if I choose to believe it, and it drives my life to the point that I take excellent care of myself (while revealing the need to cultivate friendships with a lot of young people), can you find fault in that goal? I don’t think so.

Of course, if I step in front of a bus or die from any cause at all before the year 2088, you can laugh and say, “Yep, he was crazy,” and prove I was wrong. But before, and until, I pass on, you really can’t prove me wrong. And besides, if my so-called “ridiculous goal” drives me to do a number of things I would not have done without it, then I think it was a very good, useful, and beautiful goal.

So, is my true believer mindset aiding my health or hurting it? Well, it comes down to whether I believe that my mind-set can aid my health or hurt it. And I do believe it can help. Now, can you use that mindset and attach it to any goal or lifestyle that you choose? And, if you do, can anyone really prove that doing so is wrong or even just ridiculous?

A belief in something that is true for you doesn’t have to be connected to the ultimate so-called truth that other people believe in. Especially if having that belief helps you live a better life.

The thing is, you and I have the power to decide what we do with our lives as well as what is true for us as individuals. That power allows us to dream and set goals that can bring about the things we want in our lives. In other words, we decide what is true in order to find and support what works for us.

Once you have set your course, don’t let someone else talk you out of your life’s passion because that is your truth and if you let it, it will drive your life and most likely make your life much better and much more satisfying.

I love the plaque on the wall of tennis champion Tracy Austin which reads, “The world will step aside for the person who knows where they are going!” So, decide where you want to go and believe in it.

The Onassis Method

Last week I started telling you the story of a young man who asked me for some financial advice. His questions and what I had to tell him was too good not to share. Supercharging your goals is something we can all benefit from.

As I mentioned last week, you must first firmly set your financial goals and then write them down with a time deadline. After that, you can supercharge and speed up your success by following these few easy tips:

1. Go out and find a mentor — mentors are a must!

2. Get your feet wet and get some experience with a few small financial deals.

3. Go out and make yourself the best calling card possible.

4. Use a “Partner Path” to supercharge and speed toward your goal.

Anyone who has followed my blog over the years knows that I became as financially successful as I have by wisely using leverage to buy real estate. I started with small houses, duplexes and small apartment buildings [usually ones that needed to be fixed up] then I rented them out and/or sold them.

Just look at these numbers and the return on investment and you can see how a person can make a fortune in a short time by using ten to one leverage and selling property for, let’s say, a 10% higher price than the price paid for it. This can give a 40% or 50% return on the total money you invested, maybe even more, because of leverage.

So, with this as the basic game plan I advised the young man to start on the list I just gave you. First, we talked about mentors.

A mentor should be someone that has done what you want to do and has been successful at it. I encouraged this young man to meet with his mentor frequently and to pick his or her brain as often as he could.  He was already doing that with me but with how much I travel back then, he was going to need at least a back-up mentor.

But, how do you find a mentor and, more importantly, how can you get them to agree to be your mentor? Well, my advice is to use what I call the Onassis method. This follows what Aristotle Onassis did many years ago when starting out to meet the perfect contact so he could import cigarettes from Greece to South America.

When Onassis was a very young man — long before he made his fortune — he wanted to meet this particular top guy in the cigarette business that he thought could help launch him into his first business deal importing cigarettes. So, basically, Onassis just pestered the guy. He simply stood out in front of this man’s office every morning then by his gate at night. He didn’t say anything.

Finally, after about 2 weeks, this very influential cigarette executive stopped and said to Onassis, “Who are you and what do you want?” Finally having his chance, Onassis started talking. Because of that conversation, this top executive told him to go see his main buyer and use his name as a reference. From that simple strategy, Onassis began his road to become a billionaire. 

I used a similar but easier tactic to meet with Ray Kroc, the billionaire founder of McDonalds. I called his office almost daily asking his secretary for an appointment and after many, many phone calls she said that Ray would meet with me but for only 10 minutes. I flew to San Diego and met with Ray Kroc walking out of his office 2 hours later. Hey, what can I say? I just asked him to tell me why and how he became such a great success in life and business and as it turned out he loved talking about himself. Who doesn’t?

There are three more items you will want to implement in order to be super successful but let’s save those for next week. In the meantime, think about who you would want as a mentor. Who is doing what you want to do in a very successful way? And what would it take to get a hold of that person and have them mentor you?

Wisdom from the Beatles

Do you think the most successful band in history might have a few bits of wisdom to share? Well, in the book “The 5 Best Decisions the Beatles ever Made” they have, well, 5 bits of wisdom–rules you might consider adopting to aid your own super success.

No. 1 Share the Spotlight
In other words, hire and work with the best people you can find, people that are smarter than you are, who know their stuff. Don’t try to take it all on yourself and don’t hire mediocre people or you may never even have a spotlight to share.

No. 2 Have a Great Dream and Share It
Dream big about something you’re really passionate about and then surround yourself with people that will be as excited, inspired and energized by your vision as you are. They should be so excited by your dream that they make it theirs as well. If you have people that see the work they do with you as just a paycheck or simply ‘doing you a favor’, have them move on and get the people that will not only keep up the energy and momentum you need but grow it.

Then there’s No. 3, 4 and 5 … but I’m not going to talk about those yet. You need to go buy the book and let the pages inspire you. Or maybe, just maybe, I will tell you about the other great decisions in future blogs. But if you’re already getting wound up by the idea of adopting the rules the great Beatles followed, why wait?