Respect follows Responsibility

One of the hardest things I ever had to do for my job was to give up David Letterman's Top Ten List. Well...sort of.



When you have to be at work at 6:00 AM and you are supposed to be able to communicate, be somewhat pleasant, and sound like you love life....you need sleep. It took me a long time to realize that I either needed to get a job with a starting time of 9:00 AM or stop staying up late to watch Letterman. I had to grow up and be responsible.



Now on the surface....going to bed earlier because you have to get up early is not a scientific break through. However, I believe that our society could learn from that simple lesson. Everybody wants respect....but some are not willing to take the responsibility to earn the respect. Let me give you three quick examples.



1. The banking and housing crisis to me boils down to the ill fated thought that everybody deserved a house -- regardless of their financial situation. The responsible thing to do is work and wait until they could afford the house.



2. There are TV commercials featuring, supposedly, real people bragging about the fact that they owed the government back taxes so they called a 1-800 number and got those taxes reduced. The responsible thing to do is pay your taxes.



3. The fast food industry is under attack because our society is overweight. Hey I struggle all the time with my weight. I have never been forced to pull through the drive through and eat.

And when I did, I should be held responsible not the fast food owners.



Small consistent changes lead to major success. If we want respect, we need to take the responsibility to make the changes. Do you have any changes you need to make? Stay Tuned.





If you are reading this blog on email, be sure and click on the link below to visit my blog page and see interesting facts such as: Daily Bible Verses, Fitness Tips, Financial Tips and Amazing Fact of The Day. Remember, this is the best day God is going to give you today, you might as well make it a great one!

Challenge Yourself!

Up for a challenge?

In the midst of the tough economic news, when the market is up and down like a roller coaster, I am going to challenge you to challenge yourself. Here's what I did.

I decided to turn off the TV for thirty days....this was big for me. TV used to be the first thing I turned on when I got home and it really dominated my evenings. Even though I had curbed my TV viewing a lot, I decided to keep the set off for 30 days. Here is what I learned from my experiment:

1. Not listening to all the bad news helped my outlook. I am not suggesting that I was not informed. I kept up with the news via radio and internet. But not listening to the naysayers night after night, was good for me.

2. I accomplished some major goals in my life. It is amazing what you can do when you re-invest as little as thirty minutes a day into your goals. In a seven day week, I probably put as many as eight hours of TV time into productive time. It paid off with three major goals achieved.

3. One of my goals was to create a new speech video demo. While doing that I invested 15 minutes per day in examining and listening to some of our greatest speakers. That time was major for my overall view of my goals and what I could accomplish.

4. When my time is near and the oatmeal is drying on my chin, I won't be wishing that I had those thirty days of tv back.

So the question is to you. Are you up for a challenge? What would happen if you invested thirty minutes a day into your major goals? Good Luck and Stay Tuned!

Go to http://www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com/ to see my speech demo.

Are you making an impact?

I can still see his smile. A good looking young man, his muscles bigger and more defined than you would expect at his young age. He loved life, loved to make people laugh, and he was always in motion.


My faith tells me that, because of Jesus' death and resurrection, I will enter heaven some day. My 13 year old friend will be hiding behind the pearly gates; and as I am looking around in the awesome of eternity, he will sneak up and scare me....then run (or fly) away and he will want me to chase him.


I always think of him, but especially when I allow myself to get down or to tired to do something. I think of him and what he would have done, if given time. He seemingly was never tired, he wanted to make the most of his day -- and boy did he. He had an impact on people in his 13 years that most of us won't reach if given 100.


You have been given time on this earth...are you having an impact? Are you too busy worrying about what you don't have instead of taking care of what you do possess? He seemed to make it a goal to make people's day. If we all had the same goal, society would be a much better place. Stay Tuned.


If you are reading this blog on email, be sure and click on the link below to visit my blog page and see interesting facts such as: Daily Bible Verses, Fitness Tips, Financial Tips and Amazing Fact of The Day. Remember, this is the best day God is going to give you today, you might as well make it a great one!

Is it time for a tune up?

January 09 is history and February is almost half over -- how are your goals coming?



The excitement of the new year is over. How about that excitement of hitting your goals for the new year? Is it time to get re energized?


I challenged you to write a letter to yourself at the first of the year and explain how 2009 was going to be different. If you did that, find the letter and re-read. If you didn't, write one now.

You have to be responsible for keeping things in perspective. Bad news is at an all-time high right now. Radio, TV, Internet, newspaper, etc-etc are in your face talking about the problems you are facing.


With all this bad news, the simple fact is your attitude will determine how you are going to come out of this most challenging time. You have to stay strong, motivated, and keep moving forward. Here are some tips to get you back to the first of the year motivation level.


1. Start the day by writing down five reasons why you feel blessed.

God, My spouse, My house, My kids, My Grand kids, etc.
Don't have five?...yes you do, I will give you three....you are breathing air, you can read, and you have access to a computer.

2. Think about what you want to achieve. Whatever it is, you need to start with the end in mind and take simple steps everyday. Write down three things a day that will help you achieve your goal....mark them off as you complete them. You do three things everyday to hit your goal and your goal will be hit before you know it.

3. Find someone who has done what you are trying to do and ask if you can interview them. Ask them their secrets, how they kept motivated, see if they will mentor you. All they can say is no.

4. Stay positive. In most situations there is reason to be positive. I found out earlier this week that I was not chosen to speak at an event. My thought was....Hearing no is better than not having the chance to speak at all. More people know about me than did last week, there will be other events, I am on their radar. I am moving closer to my goal.

I am a realistic person...I understand that the economy is what it is -- and we are all making changes in our spending and saving. However, the fact remains that you have 168 hours per week to make the most of your opportunities....how much of that time are you watching TV, or talking about how bad things are, or feeling sorry for yourself. Although they disagree when it will happen, most experts talk that the recovery will happen....will you be ready? Stay Tuned.

If you are reading this blog on email, be sure and click on the link below to visit my blog page and see interesting facts such as: Daily Bible Verses, Fitness Tips, Financial Tips and Amazing Fact of The Day. Remember, this is the best day God is going to give you today, you might as well make it a great one!

Are you the problem?

Here is a corny old joke. Lady goes to the doctor. No matter where she touched on her body, it hurt. Touch her leg, pain. Touch her arm, pain. Touch her stomach, pain.


The doctor examined her and told her...."you have a broken finger."


I think of that story every time I hear people talking about what it's going to take them to be happy. The clerk behind the counter answers the question, how are you? with "I will be better when I get off work." I always want to answer that with...really? Will you be happier or will you be miserable at a different place?



I never really bought into Thank God it's Friday. Every year, you will have 52 Fridays -- does that mean that the other 313 days are not as important? Even if you take the 104 weekend days out, plus your 52 Fridays that is 156 days...you still have 209 days left. Might as well enjoy them.


When you have a broken finger, it does not matter where you touch, it hurts. When you are not a happy person, it really does not matter what day it is, who your boss is or where you work, you are not going to be a happy person. I can't tell you how many interviews I have had with potential employees and they sit there and tell me what is wrong with every boss they ever had.


I am not talking about not looking forward to things. My wife and I are looking forward to a bike trip with our friends in September, we are on a cruise right now (we looked forward to this) and we just finished a weekend getaway that we looked forward to before that. But unless we are happy with each other, going and going will not matter.


Sit down and have an important conversation with an important person...you. What changes do you need to make? Are you always basing your happiness off waiting. There are a lot of people who follow this path:


1. Can't wait to grow up.

2. Can't wait to get married.

3. Can't wait to have kids.

4. Can't wait until the kids get older.

5. Can't wait to have an empty nest.

6. Can't wait to retire.

7. Can't believe that they did not enjoy life more.


Start realizing that life is full of opportunities, take them. Stay Tuned.




If you are reading this blog on email, be sure and click on the link below to visit my blog page and see interesting facts such as: Daily Bible Verses, Fitness Tips, Financial Tips and Amazing Fact of The Day. Remember, this is the best day God is going to give you today, you might as well make it a great one!