Monday Encouragement: "The dreams will come to you."

Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie Mellon University delivers his "final lecture" with just months to live. If you have 10 minutes, it will be time well spent.

Monday Encouragement: Never disqualify YOURSELF!

If there is one thing I have learned as a small business owner, it is that you NEVER, under any circumstances, disqualify yourself.

No matter what you do in life, there will always be someone ready and willing to disqualify you. On the rare occasion that those people actually have the power to do so, let them. Until then, press on with unstoppable perseverance.

Like Paul in this inspiring video...

“Thoughts Become Things”

This has nothing to do with marketing but I felt like it was an important point to share with any small business owner… or anyone at all for that matter.

I’m fortunate enough in life to be surrounded by great people like Daniel Wolt, Founder and President of Zen Windows. Dan has been a great mentor to me over the past year. A while back, Dan told me to read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill because he wanted me to understand that “thoughts become things.”

Most people make the mistake of thinking thoughts are harmless and intangible when quite the contrary is true. Once you understand that thoughts become things… they can become a very powerful driving force in your life. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.

Think of it this way… every thought you have goes into a bucket. There are “positive” buckets and there are “negative” buckets for every issue, goal, relationship or challenge in your life. If you doubt yourself and start to wonder if you can accomplish something, your “negative” bucket just got heavier. If you remind yourself that you are more than capable and will certainly reach your goal, your “positive” bucket just got heavier. Overtime, you have control over which bucket wins and ultimately, how you perceive each issue, goal, relationship or challenge.

In other words, the culmination of all of your thoughts has complete control over what tangible actions/decisions you make in your life that ultimately lead to outcomes and results. Thus, “thoughts become things.”

The moral of the story: be positive and believe in yourself! Take control of your thoughts and don’t allow yourself to dwell on the negative! Thinking negatively virtually guarantees negative results. Thinking positively doesn’t guarantee positive results, but it is an essential first step.