The purpose
of this exercise is to discover the source of your unlimited motivation,
because as Richard Brooke says, the reason we don’t attain our goals is a lack-of-motivation
problem, not a lack-of-knowledge-about-how-to-do-the-business problem.
Why are we
not motivated? Jesus desires us to be free and to live life to the full. He
said to his disciples, “I came that you might have life and have it
abundantly!” (John 10:10)
Yet the
realities of life often weigh us down and steal our hope. St Clement observed
that, in the 2nd century Roman Empire, rising inflation,
high cost of living, and increased taxes placed extreme burdens, not only
on the poor, but also on the middle class, which was eventually eliminated. He wrote:
“Health and
abundance-of-necessaries keep the soul free and unimpeded, and capable of
making good use of what is at hand. “For,” says the apostle [Paul; 1 Cor. 7:32,
35], “I want you to be free from anxieties...to promote good order and to
secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.” (Clement of Alexandria, Paidagōgos)
Clement’s
audience was largely middle-class Christian families doing their best to live as faithful Christians in a pagan society. Possessions, according to Clement of
Alexandria, are to be regarded as resources to be used either for good or for
evil. “The Word does not command us to renounce property but to manage property
without inordinate affection” (Clement, Eclogae Propheticae).
Some of us
may have the idea that God is not blessing our business because he doesn’t want
us to be rich. But what about a living wage? The popes for the last century
have spoken about the importance of a living wage for working families who are
protected by owning capital in a capitalist society. A living wage today is
about $120,000 a year. That is a Platinum salary. If you were making $10,000 a
month but not $30,000 a month, you could consider that maybe it is enough, but
the average middle-class family today is no better off than the families of 2nd
century Egypt. We are drowning in debt, taxes, and bills – hardly thriving.
So, what can
we do? God has given us all of creation for our pleasure and benefit. Jesus
said, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his
son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give
good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11)
So, let’s
ask him to bless our business and guide the work of our hands so we can give
him greater glory and honor in our work, family, and community. I can think of
no better place to start than to give God gratitude for the gifts he has
already given us.
Let’s get
started! This is going to be fun. Take out your notebook or a big piece of
paper and start writing:
1. Take a
minute to make a list of all the ways God has blessed you already. What are you grateful for? How has
God blessed you?
2. Now
take another minute to list your major life achievements. By God’s grace, what have you
accomplished already in life?
_________________________________________________________
“The future is in your hearts and in your hands. God is
entrusting to you the task, at once difficult and uplifting, of working with
Him in the building of the civilization of love.” - John Paul II
_________________________________________________________
Now let’s
switch gears a little bit and talk about what you are passionate about. What
does your heart long for? What do you desire? There are two categories of
passions and both are important. The first type of passion answers the question
– what makes me come alive!? This passion has to do with how you feel
close to God and most fulfilled as a human. My passion is adventuring in the
beautiful outdoors during the day and reading, singing, or talking to close
friends around the fire in the evening after a nutritious home-cooked dinner.
The second
type of passion has to do with our passion to serve others – to love our
neighbor. This passion has to do with the mission God gave you to minister to
the needs of others. Harold Whitman says, “Don’t ask yourself what the world
needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive, then go do that because the
world needs people who have come alive.”
My passion
for service is writing, teaching, and coaching families to thrive in life. What
really moves you? What makes you cry? What brings a glow of joy into your life?
What sparks enthusiasm?
3. Take
two minutes to write down both passions – what makes you feel alive and happy and how do you love
serving others?
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"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11
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This next
exercise is meant to help you dream big. Don’t be afraid to ask your father for
big things. Pretend it is Christmas. Your heavenly Father has unlimited time and
resources. Dream with confidence!
4. If you
were already financially successful, how would life be different? What would life look like? Where
would you be living? Who would you be spending more time with? What is most
important to you in your life right now? What would you keep in your life? What
would you let go? What would you love to accomplish? What would life look like
if you knew you were guaranteed success?
5. Life
is an adventure. If you could do anything or go anywhere, what would you love
to do? Where would
you go if you could go anywhere in the world? What pilgrimages would you take?
Who would go there with you? What clothes would you wear? What food would you
eat?
6. Make a
list of at least 20 practical and outrageous dreams. Where would you go and with who?
What would you accomplish and why? What would the environment be like?
Let’s talk about vision. The purpose of a
business is not to make money but to serve customers and families. Owning a
business is a noble enterprise. Until the industrial revolution, most families
owned their own business. A business provides a valuable service or product to
people. Young Living provides both valuable products an income opportunity.
Think about Young Living in terms of service as we talk about vision. Vision is
what pulls us forward to accomplish big goals and dreams. Once that vision is
clearly in mind, we can deal with the practical strategy steps of getting where
we want to go. We can have many visions and I would encourage you to do this
vision casting exercise for your marriage, your family life, your personal
development and other important areas of life, but for this exercise, focus on
your vision for your Young Living business.
7. What
does a successful Young Living business look like to you? Think about your gifts, your values,
and your passions. What is your favorite part about Young Living? The product?
The income opportunity? Your vision for what a successful Young Living Business
needs to by your vision and not someone else’s vision. What motivates you to
keep going in the business?
Here are some
examples of what a vision for YL success might look like for you:
- Walking across the stage with fellow Diamonds at Convention.
- Ten Gold leaders in your organization that are very grateful to you for the work you have accomplished together.
- 30,000 customers worldwide having life-changing success with the product.
- Being debt-free and helping twenty families pay off all their debt, including their mortgage.
- Founding a charity that you have always dreamed of and writing that first check to sponsor those people in need.
- Providing your family with financial independence – whatever that means to you: $10,000 a month of residual income, $30,000 a month, etc.
Pray and ask
the Holy Spirit to help you visualize success in Young Living, his plan for
success. Invite the Holy Spirit in. You are not bound to this vision. Don’t
rush it. You can revise it over the next few days, months, and years. This is
to get you started. But write down something. The reality is: You are either
living your mission, or you are living someone else’s mission.
8. Take a
minute to write down what you believe, right now, your vision of success for
Young Living is.
What is the mission and end goal? At what point will you feel like you have
accomplished what God wanted you to accomplish in the business? What will make
all the hard work worth it?
The final step in this exercise is to turn our vision into
action. Why is NOW the time to act? Because there is no better time than the present. The best time to plant a tree is twenty years a ago, but the second best time to plant a tree is today.
The enemy of
vision is the daily grind. A big vision might seem achievable right now, when
we are excited about it, but what about in the morning when the realities of
life set in? Everyday tasks tend to get in the way of our big dreams. When this
happens too many times, we start to give up on dreaming, we start to make
excuses. We shrink our dreams. That is not living life to the full – that is
called quitting.
Would you
like to know the secret for not allowing your daily tasks to get in the way of
your big dreams?
Darren
Hardy, the long-time editor of Success magazine interviewed hundreds of
the most Successful people in the world during his fifteen years at Success
magazine, from Warren Buffet to Kobe Bryant. Would you like to know how he and countless
others deal with this problem?
The secret
to not allowing the daily grind to get in the way of your big dreams is to make
your big dreams a part of the daily grind. Are your daily tasks stealing your
big dreams? Turn your big dreams into daily tasks.
What is
working in your business? Where are you already having success? Whatever it is
you do well in the business – whatever is creating OGV in your Virtual Office, do more of
that! Rinse and repeat. Do the things that make you money and teach your
team to do the same. We only do three things in this business: inviting,
presenting, and follow-up. What method of inviting, presenting, and follow-up
has been most successful for you? Just do more of that!
This is
where it all comes together. I want you to break down your long-term vision –
your big dream for the YL business into a scary but attainable goal for this
year, this month, and this week. Let’s start with this year.
9. By
next year this time, where will you be? Write it down. It could be something like a rank up or a
specific percent increase in OGV.
10. Now
break that down into months. What is your goal for this month? This could be an OGV amount or it
could be to teach four classes, or to find a business builder to build with
you.
11. What
is your goal for this week? It could be to teach two classes this weekend or to prospect a friend a
day…
Good job!
Now, this is my favorite part. This is how your vision accomplishment becomes a
daily reality. Look at your goal for the week and break that goal down into one
or two actionable daily activities that you can track on your calendar. This
could be four class invites a day or it could be one invite a day to look at
the business opportunity, or three follow-up calls a day. Whatever it is, it
needs to be specific, measurable, and trackable. When you accomplish the goal
at the end of the day, put a check mark on the calendar. When you don’t do it,
leave it blank and ask yourself, will I do it tomorrow?
Are you a candidate
for life coaching? Visit Life to
the Brim Coaching and take the 2-minute survey.
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