The Miracle of My USA

I was going to tell you more about what I’ve learned about increasing longevity and enjoying excellent health through all the years of your life. But something else has been on my mind this past week.

I have been reminded many times through my writing and reading, that everything I do should be connected to that good ole USA. Okay, do you remember what USA is for me? It’s pretty simple and, no, it doesn’t stand for the country I live in. It’s an acronym I use to remind myself to live a life of Unconditional Self-Acceptance.

I know a lot of us struggle with accepting and loving ourselves unconditionally. We can be so very self-critical. But even if you’ve worked hard to have good, positive inner self talk and can truly say to yourself that you love and accept who you are, negativity can still sneak in. It’s not a given that once you’ve learned to accept yourself unconditionally that you’ll always accept and love yourself unconditionally.

You just have to give that USA some thought from time to time, and if you do, you will discover that living with that USA on the top of your mind will really lift your life. It can do this for pretty much any part of your life, from your career to your relationships. 

It’s so easy to forget about the meaning of my version of USA but it really can make a huge difference in your life. If you make Unconditional Self-Acceptance a super big goal for yourself, and think about it on a regular basis, you will see that by being more and more accepting of yourself and your life you’ll find more success, happiness, and contentment. And that’s because it’s that negativity and self-doubt that can really bring us down.

Whenever I focus on my USA, it helps lift my life in so many ways. It improves the way I do business as well as giving me the confidence and dedication I need to write my books. It has even lifted the quality of my tennis game. I’ve also seen how it can improve my relationships with my dear and wonderful hard-working wife, my super kids, and all my wonderful grand kids. Because when I can accept and love myself, it’s easier to love and accept everybody and everything about the people around me. And I mean everybody. Yes, everyone from new friends to long time buddies and, of course, family members!  

I’m sure you’re familiar with the feeling of being around people who don’t seem to like themselves very much. It can bring everybody down. So, if you stay focused on the good ole USA, you’ll be in a position to lift the lives of everyone around you instead of bringing them down.

It really does work. I say it even borders on the miraculous.

More Than One Path to Longevity

A number of years ago, when I was writing one of my later books, The Next Step to Waking Up the Financial Genius Inside You, I decided to bring up a subject that I knew some might find surprising to be in such a book.

In that book I wrote about how impressed I was by the work of both Dr. Roy Walford and his daughter, Lisa Walford. They both wrote books on longevity. It’s a subject I’ve long been very interested in.

Doctor Roy Walford, who you may know, was the attending physician in the famous Biosphere experiments and was probably one of the world’s leading experts on longevity. One of his books, Beyond the 120 Year Diet, really grabbed my attention when I found it. The book by Lisa Walford that really sparked my imagination was The Longevity Diet. There is so much great information and advice between those two books.

They just seem to be so dead on accurate about the keys to great health and longevity. However, as I read and reread these books and learned about the strategies and practices they suggested, I realized that we really could dramatically increase our chances of excellent health throughout our lifetime, possibly pushing the maximum lifespan to well beyond 100. The thing was though, I came to understand that it was likely to be very difficult to do what they recommended.

Did I want to be super healthy? Did I want to live a superlong life? The answers to those questions are easy – yes! However, I had to seriously think about whether I could follow these suggested practices and stay with it. And I just wasn’t sure.

Because I wasn’t sure, I kept looking for more answers. And what I did learn was that there are several different ways that I could increase my longevity and enjoy excellent health. I will share what I’ve learned with you on my next week’s blog.

I have to say, it’s really working as I approach my 80^th birthday, on my way to 105 and maybe 120 or more!

Following the Super Agers

A few days ago, I read a very interesting article in the AARP bulletin titled “Super Agers” that talked about aging and how, without a doubt, we will all die someday. Ouch! I didn’t like that last part but I don’t think anyone has figured out a way around that bad deal.

The super great article really got my attention because I am only about 5 months away from turning 80 years old. That’s a very big number!!

The cover of the November 2023 AARP bulletin reads, “Some people in their 80’s and 90’s stay sharp, retain their memories, and have youthful energy and enjoy life deeply!” Then in that article, they talk about how super agers live longer with better physical and mental health. Now, how do they do that? Is it something they eat? And can you and I super age too? 

In the article they explain that “some people 90 plus have the memory, thinking skills, and zest for life of people decades younger. Researchers are starting to figure out why and how more of us can age the same way.”

The great article goes on to talk about a guy by the of name of Vernon Smith who cranks out 10 solid hours of writing and research every day. His career is incredibly demanding. He is on the faculty of both the business and law school at Chapman University. And his hard work really pays off—Smith’s research is consistently ranked as the most cited work produced at the school. But what might be even more amazing is that Vernon Smith is 96 years old! Hey… who says you can’t be strong mentally and physically at an old age?

The article goes on to say some very interesting and encouraging things. Mostly, it is encouraging to know there are things we can all do to help encourage great mental and physical health as we age. The four top habits found among Super Agers are that they:

1. Keep physically active, doing a lot of things referred to as natural movement like walking and gardening.
2. Eat healthy, focusing on a plant-based diet.
3. Have an active social life.
4. Have a purpose and keep challenged.

These are all things we can be doing now, and can keep doing the rest of our very long and active lives.

Find Your Formula

Having a ton of money does not make for a perfect life and I’m pretty sure that most of you would agree with that. Still, a lot of what I have written about in my life is about making big money because there are lots of great things and big benefits that large amounts of money can do for you and those around you. I think my readers here would probably agree with that too. But, if people know how great wealth can be for them, why are most people not wealthy?

I’m pretty darn sure I know the answer to that question and it’s not one of the answers many people might think it would be. Not having wealth isn’t because they …

… don’t have a very high IQ.

… didn’t earn a college degree from a top school.

… didn’t win the lottery.

… didn’t come up with a stunning new invention.

… didn’t get a big inheritance.

So, if those are the reasons why most people aren’t wealthy, then what is it?

Well, there’s actually several reasons, but the biggest factor is a failure to follow or use a proven formula or plan. And believe it or not, that reason is a pretty darn simple one to do. Notice that I didn’t say it was easy to do. Following a formula or plan can take a lot of hard work and it does take time. But once you have a plan, you simply follow it.

Sure, there are a lucky few that make fortunes almost overnight, getting a big inheritance, discovering a new invention, or winning the lottery but those cases are very, very rare and can’t provide most people with a way to wealth. Most fortunes are made over many, many years by following a solid, time-tested, and proven financial formula.

It’s rather sad that so many people still think and dream of the day they are going to suddenly “strike it rich”. That myth is constantly fed by the rare but widely reported occasions when someone does get lucky. Those very exceptional cases are magnified by the media, and it keeps people holding on to “the dream”.

But winning the lottery or inventing the next big thing is not something you can plan for, much less depend on. Planning and finding a formula that works is the only way to make wealth happen for you. There are never any guarantees but if you plan, work hard, and keep at it, you are more than likely going to reach your goal and you’ll certainly be much better off than if you sat around waiting for wealth to find you.

So, don’t just dream about having large amounts of money. Do something about it. I have sure-fire formulas that you can read about in my books like The Next Step to Waking up the Financial Genius Inside You. Find your formula, make a plan, and get on track to improving your life with great wealth.

Reinventing Yourself

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the idea of reinventing yourself. If you’ve done this before, just think back on that great feeling of fulfillment brought about by the process of reinventing yourself. Although it’s not something we do all the time, it can be a huge boost to your life when you do.

Let’s take the physical part of our lives for example. Think about pushing yourself to lose weight and get in great physical shape at age 45, 55, or even 65. Building muscle, staying lean, and gaining flexibility can improve your health to the max. But can it be done?

Sure it can! Is it easy? Of course not. If it was, everyone would do it. But is it worth it? Well, that all depends on you because I’m not saying a super health goal is the only way to go. What goal you have that pushes you to reinvent yourself is up to you. Maybe it’s a whole new career, starting a new company, sailing the South Pacific, or any one of a hundred different things. But whatever you choose, at whatever age, it all can be done and it is so well worth it. And while you reinvent and redefine your life, you will also be reinvigorated, giving so much more life to your, well, life!

Now, reinventing yourself doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and a lot of effort to redesign your life. It takes setting your mind on your goal and the changes you want to make and sticking with it. But, oh, the results you can gain! The results are a life that is so well worth the wait and all the hard work.

Right now, take a few moments to imagine your own ideal life.

• What does it look like?
• How does it feel?
• Who’s there with you to share and enjoy it?
• Where are you going to live?
• How are you going to vacation?
• What are you going to give back to the world? (You have probably noticed that when your give to others it raises your mood and happiness levels so much.)
• How are you really going to make a real difference in your life?

Now, please know this — you can have all that you just imagined, exactly like you visualized, if, for one, you want it bad enough and, secondly, you are willing to make a plan, write it down, and follow the steps that you outline. I can’t pretend that reinventing yourself is easy, but all the best stuff we do for ourselves in life usually comes from hard work which just makes reaching those goals that much more fulfilling.

The Fighting Entrepreneur

After giving you my abbreviated history the last couple weeks, I thought you might also be interested in a little battle I had with the US government. This article tells the story. It is from February 1997 and was printed in the Salt Lake Tribune.

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Best-Selling Author Wins in Court

The Federal Trade Commission has lost still another round in its fight with Utah businessman Mark O. Haroldsen, author of the best-selling How to Wake up the Financial Genius inside You.

US District Judge David Sam has dismissed the FTC lawsuit against Haroldsen’s FreeCom Communications and other defendants in the case. Sam ruled the government failed to allege in its lawsuit exactly how Haroldsen’s company defrauded anyone.

Last June, the judge turned down an FTC request to freeze the assets of Haroldsen’s companies. He also refused to appoint a receiver to take over the business operations.

“The FTC uses intimidation to cause businesses to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend themselves against ridiculous allegations,” Haroldsen says. “I hope the FTC realizes they have lost and move on.”

The FTC, and a joint effort with the Utah Attorney General’s office, filed its complaint in Utah federal court in June 1996. It contended Haroldsen, three other individuals and six related companies made unfounded claims at seminars and in television “infomercials” to persuade people to buy $495 starter kits to help them launch home businesses.

The government contended that few if any consumers actually earned substantial income from the business ventures FreeCom detailed — ventures that included the resale of distressed merchandise, the operation of vending machines and the sale of vitamins and color-change T-shirts.

Shortly after the government filed its lawsuit, Haroldsen’s attorney Richard Casey responded that company records indicated customers’ complaints were low, less than a fraction of 1 percent.

Haroldsen’s hope that he will be able to go on with business without the cloud of an FTC lawsuit may not be realized.

Although he dismissed the lawsuit, the judge gave the FTC permission to file an amended complaint within 30 days.

“This is a setback, but we are not too concerned about it,” says Jeff Gray of the Utah Attorney General’s office, which has been working with the FTC.

— Written for the Salt Lake Tribune by Stephen Oberbeck

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That happened in 1997 but the FTC continued to file suit and, essentially, harass us until July 2001 when the court again found that “the FTC utterly failed to introduce sufficient probative evidence in support of its allegations.” In the end, we sued them for attorneys fees and won.

This whole experience is kind of a lesson in being an entrepreneur who thinks differently than everyone else. When you try something new, and especially when you’re successful at it, people might question what you’re doing. But if you believe in what you’re doing, if you’re offering a useful product or service and are helping people along the way, there’s no reason for you to question it yourself. Believe in what you do, and I think you’ll always come out on top.

Finding That Passion for Living

Last week I started telling you the story of my life. I wanted you to see how setting big goals started me off on the path that I am on even today. So here is the rest of my story with a little bit more about what I’ve done and how having big goals that keep me excited and challenged led to much of my success.

For one, I worked on bigger and bigger real estate investment deals. My work in the development side of real estate has been among my most profitable endeavors. I successfully developed large condominium complexes in Pennsylvania and Mississippi. I completed a 13-acre commercial development in the south part of the Salt Lake valley and a very successful condominium project on the beautiful North Shore of Kauai. Although I am less involved in real estate development today, I still have a few projects going with much of the work handed off to my children.

After finding success in real estate, I knew I wanted to something else big and something that could help others find the kind of success I did. So, I eventually developed and successfully ran a real estate investing seminar company that would set the standard for real estate investing seminars, conventions, and educational retreats throughout the world.

I not only became extremely successful in my seminar business and as a real estate investor, but I also got into writing books. I am now the author of four books on real estate investing including the book titled, How to Wake Up the Financial Genius Inside You, which has sold over two million copies. I also published the Financial Freedom Report, a real estate investing magazine, for over 20 years. Then after my so-called retirement, I published another book called, How to IGNITE Your Passion for Living. It wasn’t about real estate but instead I wrote about what keeps us chasing those dreams and those big goals.

You see, after I tried to retire, I felt very lost and depressed. It was then that I realized we human beings need to do more than just have one or two big goals to go after and to succeed at to be happy. We need to have something to work towards, something to keep us challenged and purposeful. So, I wrote that book and started this blog and I keep creating big goals like keeping myself super healthy and active.  

I have also learned to balance my life with my many passions. I love to travel, having visited well over 100 countries. I still love to write which is why I keep this blog going. I also love tennis and getting out to see my friends. All these passions are surpassed only by my devotion to my wonderful wife, Kimberly, and to my children and grandchildren.

So, as you see, I have kept my life full of things that I can work on and challenge myself with as well as enjoy. We need to always have a goal and a purpose and, especially, a passion for living.

Forming Those Big Goals

I’ve been talking a lot about my past in recent posts. I thought maybe you should hear my whole story—maybe shortened a bit—so you understand how my goal setting and persistence has really paid off over the years.

I was born in Portland, Oregon but have lived in quite a few US cities and even overseas. I attended high school for a little over two years in Turkey, then we moved back to the US where I graduated in 1962 from Ames High School in Iowa. Afterwards, I attended Utah State University on a basketball and track scholarship.

This was the time when my big goal setting really started. I went to college, dreaming of eventually being a professional basketball player but after spending most of my time on the bench, I decided I needed a plan B and pursued a Degree in Business, and I really took to it. After I graduated, rather than continue to chase my dream of playing professional basketball, I went on to further my education in business through post-graduate work at De Paul University in Chicago.

My business career began as a stockbroker with Goodbody & Company in 1969. I also worked as a stockbroker for Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis, and for Bosworth Sullivan, the latter for whom I managed an office in Salt Lake City, Utah from 1972 to 1974.

Although I did well those first handful of years in business, I knew I wanted more. I considered a political career for a little while and ran for Utah State Treasurer in 1975. I didn’t manage that, but I had another big goal I was working towards. I had decided that I wanted to be a millionaire.

Now that was a really big goal and one that made people wonder about me a little. But I did my research on how to make it happen and then started purchasing real estate. I bought cheap, dirt bag properties, fixed them up, and began making huge profits selling them in a hot market. In just four short years, I made over a million dollars. I’d reached my goal!

However, I didn’t stop there. But I will stop this post here and wait until next week to tell you what happened in my life after I hit that first big goal. Hint: I didn’t stop making big goals and just kept challenging myself. I encourage you to be the same way. Have big dreams, write them down, and don’t let anyone tell you it can’t be done.

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 Rewards of Sharing

Recently, I was thinking back about the time I met a very ambitious young man who had some big, big dreams for the future. I was really impressed and fascinated by what he told me about his life plans and could easily see myself in him. Well, I could see the me I was 40 plus years before in him. I too had huge dreams of success back then.

I remember that, as I listened to him, many sweet memories came back. My younger years were such fun and exciting times. I was very fortunate to have gained both fame and fortune (even though the fame only lasted the traditional 15 minutes but it was great!)

This young man was telling me his story because he wanted me to give him some advice and help on a plan and formula for success. So, basically, I told him my road to riches story, about how I started with nothing but eventually found my fortune, far exceeding my wildest dreams.

The thing is, even though I became a multimillionaire, it wasn’t my first big dream and goal. I had initially aimed to be an NBA basketball star. I had led my American High School team from Ankara, Turkey to a come-from-behind finals victory in the Olympic stadium in Rome. I was on top of the mountain then and thought I could do anything but when I got to Utah State University on a scholarship and found myself sitting on the bench, I realized I needed to alter my goals a bit.

I quickly shifted my thinking from being all about basketball to gaining knowledge through books on goal setting and fortune building. I became fixated on making a million dollars and wrote the goal down with a drop-dead date — my 30th birthday. Although I missed the deadline by one year, I did become a millionaire, and then, much more than that.

So, my advice to this kid was to set a big goal, or goals, write those goals down, and then be sure to set a time deadline on those goals. I added that it’s also better to set goals around things that you love, enjoy doing, and know you have some talent for.

Then I told him about the habit I had formed when I was only 19 years old — the habit of keeping a journal of my life and, more important, of my inner most thoughts. I told this young man that those many journal entries over the years lead me to write a book that not only enhanced my own life but also pushed me to do more. That book gave me virtually instant fame and even added to my fortune. I was so blessed and lucky to eventually sell more than 2 million copies of my first book, How to Wake Up the Financial Genius Inside You, and that was just the beginning.

Thinking about all I’ve done with my life, I have to say I get as much joy and satisfaction from sharing my success and mentoring others as I get from reaching my goals. It’s why I write this blog, hoping I can continue to help and motivate others to keep reaching for those big goals.

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