My Unemployment Anniversary and becoming Fearless!

This week makes it a year since I was laid off. Wow, what a difference a year makes. I am so much smarter then I was then….and back then I thought I knew it all.

There were a lot of things that I thought about during my 16 weeks of “unenjoyment”. The lessons that I assumed I would learn, I really didn’t. In fact, it has done nothing but re-install a lot of the stuff that I already thought. I went from thinking to knowing.

I gave that job all I had, no vacation, 70 hrs per week, just to get cut with no severance. They just don’t give a crap about you. I used to think getting laid off was for non-performers but when you are the Business Unit Manager for HUMMER and there is no HUMMER then there is no position for you, no matter how good you think you are.

I think I rebounded pretty swiftly; two job offers in 16 weeks – literally the roughest 16 weeks of my life. Mentally, physically and emotionally. Here’s what I re-learned, because a lot of this stuff I already knew:

WORK HARD AT WORK
You would think that I would be against this, but let me tell you, I lasted a lot longer then most people in companies that were struggling. The automotive industry has been laying people off for the last 5 years and up until 2009 I was getting raises. The hard work that I’ve done is what enabled me to find a job in the worse job market that my generation will ever face and at least hold on to the job I had as long as I had it.

WORK HARD OUTSIDE OF WORK
Don’t let your job be all that you have. I happened to want to be rich so outside of work I work on making that happen. Whatever your aspirations are, when you get home from that 9-5, don’t hit the couch every night, hit your dreams. The best way to insure your dreams don’t come true is to not even try.

FAMILY OUTRANKS MONEY – (YEP I SAID IT!!)
I’ve seen husbands getting their company cars stripped away from them and returning home with their tales between their legs; tantamount to castration. When they get home they have the support of their loving wife and their kids still think they are the greatest! Family Is Key, not to mention if the wife is working and unemployment check can go a long way!

YOU CAN DO ANYTHING THAT YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO – REALLY!!
When I was out f work, I wanted nothing more then to get a job. I eat, slept, drank employment. I looked for a job, like it was my job....(click below to Read More). I divided my day into four parts. I woke up, showered and went to Panera Bread everyday. One Bagel and all the coffee my blatter could hold. From 8:30 to Noon, I used www.indeed.com and applied for every job that fit my 6 different job descriptions I fit into. From 12:30 to 3:00 I worked the phones, calling head hunters, friends and friends of friends, and then after 4:00 I looked outside the box, emailing people I didn’t even know on Facebook and linked if their company’s were hiring. I watched interviews on Youtube, reviewed resume writing tips, looked for job fairs, and studied job fair tips. Then I spent the rest of the night doing self hypnosis, listening to Jim Rohn, Tim Robbins and Earl Nightingale. I knew that after 3 weeks of this, and I didn’t get a call that I would start to feel discouraged. It was true. Then 3 weeks turned to 4 and 4 to 8. I tweaked my routine a little but stayed at it. If there were 20 people doing the same thing, when 19 of them quit I would still be around ready to get that job.

There was no choice. I was able to keep all my businesses running, and pay all my bills. I laid awake at night dreaming about the day I would get the call for an interview. When I got an interview I went over every possible question in my head, I went to Barnes and Noble and read interview books until they kicked me out.

Some people, who were laid off, knew people in the right places and were able to obtain gainful employment super quick, some are still unemployed. I was prepared to work for it until I got it. How bad do you want it?

FEARLESS!
That’s why I know I am going to hit the million dollar mark. If you asked me a year and 1 week ago, what my biggest fear was. Honestly, I would have told you losing my job; by far my biggest fear.

I’m no longer afraid of that. Now if you asked me what my biggest fear is, I honestly couldn’t answer you.
I’ve already failed at many things many times, I’ve been so close to losing everything I’ve ever had many times, I’ve been forced to move out of my home because I couldn’t pay my bills, I’ve been divorced, I’ve been fat, I’ve been so many things except the one thing I am now. Fearless! (Fear of God doesn’t count). Getting laid off has removed one of my biggest fears….and for that, I’m Most Thankful.

So thanks to that crappy company, with crappy management, and my crappy boss for doing what I thought couldn’t be done….removing my Fear!! Now it’s time to Do Work!



P.S. When you think Fearless - Think Jet-Li not Taylor Swift!

Eitherway I've attached links to WallPapers of the Post. Click them and make these your inspirational Wall Papers of the week.


HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!!!
-MJL

Being a super hero 101 - Part 2 of a Series.....

We find ourselves back at super hero school! Question: If you are a superhero, do you have a lunchbox of yourself? Ha ha.

Welcome to Class. This is “Being a super hero 101”
In order to be eligible for this class, you have to have already completed “I am a Superhero”. If you need to be refreshed, click the Super hero badge to go back to the first part of this series.

Let’s get down to business…….

UNLOCKING YOUR SUPER ABILITY
Unlocking your superpowers is not easy! A matter of fact, it’s so hard that only a few of us will ever have the courage to do it. That’s where I come in.

Let’s take a normal day in your life. Not a terrible day a typical day. If you have no kids, in your 20’s then you are a Super Duper Hero. A typical day for you might be,
7:30 AM Wake UP
9:00 AM Work an 8 to 10 hour day,
7:00 PM Go to the gym
8:30 PM Shower, eat dinner, watch some TV.

Life is Good – but you are not using your Super Powers.

Now unlocking your super powers depends on what your goals are. Hopefully you have some goals that you want to reach. Things that you want to accomplish. No matter what the scale. Let’s pick a hypothetical goal or a dream. It must be somewhat realistic, but it’s Ok if it’s a stretch. For instance, if you are a decent bowler and want to go on the Pro tour, if you want to be a motorcycle mechanic and own your own shop, or if you want to be CEO of a fortune 500 company.

THE POWER OF MENTAL D-DUCTION!!!
Ok so let’s pick one. A Tour Pro bowler, on the PBA Tour. Let’s say you can easily bowl a 200 game. In order to qualify for the PBA, you must carry a 200 or better average for 36 games in a USBC (United States Bowling Congress) sanctioned league.
You have just used your super powers of deduction to make your problem simpler – add 20 points to your game.

Now this might seem impossible to most people, but you are a super hero! Difficult takes a day, impossible a week. We do the impossible, you had a bowl of impossibles for breakfast. Ha!

If this is really what you want to do, you go after it! PERIOD!!! You start by going to the library and reading how the greats got started, reading Bowlers Weekly, Bowlers Digest, reading anything you can get your hands on. Are you in good enough physical shape to be on the PBA tour? You tailor your workouts to get you in Pro Bowling shape (which is round). You stop drinking your paycheck away and upgrade your equipment and hire a Pro-trainer. You look for a better bowling league to join so you are surrounded by better players. You spend your morning and nights at the bowling alley. Instead of taking that ski vacation, you take a week and enroll in one of the best Pro Bowling schools. You EAT, BREATH, SLEEP bowling. Do you get it?

Your super powers allow you to do this. You have the mental capacity and the physical capacity to make yourself better.

No need to pray to God for it…he’s already given you everything you need to Go GET IT. You should start thanking God already for giving it to you, and act like your dream is already come true. It's a a matter of how bad do you want it!!

A REALISTIC EXAMPLE
If you have a family, living paycheck to paycheck – you are a superhero but just not like “Super Single Twenty Man”, instead you are “Family Man! “

Let’s take a more realistic example, one that is very real to me. I have a buddy who is working as a security guard and he wants to be a motorcycle mechanic. The school that will certify him costs a seemingly ton of money and he barely makes enough to pay his bills as is. After talking to him; I find out that once he’s completed his first year of school he can get a job that pays more then the security job and they will pay for the rest of his school. The more we talked the simpler the problem became. At the end of the conversation, after using our powers of D-duction all he needed was $5000. That’s it. His dreams were on hold for a mere $5000. How bad does he want it?

The solution is there; you work 3 jobs, collect cans, eat franks and beans, do what you need to do to get the $5000. If I had the money would I give it to him?
It depends on what he was doing. Was he going out to the club every weekend spending $30 at the bar. Yep, I said $30 dollars. If your dreams are on hold for $5000, $30 is .6% of your dream. $50 is 1% of your dream. If I called him on Saturday and instead he rented a movie and cooked dinner, staying in, trying to save money, then I would easily give him the money. Does he need to Pray to God for the Money. NO. He needs to Thank God! God has already given it to him. He lives in America, he’s healthy, he’s intelligent i.e. he’s a super hero!!! Use your powers and make it happen.

IS THIS CONCEPT EXTREME?
I know it sounds extreme, but life is extreme. Extreme people make it happen. Extreme people have uncovered their super powers. Anyone or anything that is not helping you is hurting you. Attack them with trying harder, pushing harder, being more clever. Finding out ways around your obstacles, using everything that God has already given you.

Hopefully you get it. You are a super hero – it’s just up to you if you want to use your powers or not.

Next lesson we will review Actual Seemingly Impossible real life Examples of superhero’s doing their thang!!

-MJL

THE TRUE SECRET TO SUCCESS - REVEALED!!!

I am reposting this for three reasons:
1. It will eventually fall in line with this months superhero theme.
2. Because sometime I need to be reminded of certain things
3. It's a powerful piece so this is it's 2nd Re-posting
4. Because I wrote it dammit, and I can do that! THIS IS MY HOUSE!!! (Like my dad would say!)

Re-read and enjoy!

THE TRUE SECRET TO SUCCESS - REVEALED!!!


I think I have found one of the key ingredients that make successful people successful. This is such a profound thought because in all of the numerous mind numbing literature I have read about success, self improvement, leadership etc. I have never been privy to this information.

Now I’m passing it on to my readers free of charge.

Here goes:

How many people actually give 100% of themselves at anything? You can always say you tried hard, but can you really say that you gave 100%? 100% is usually used for a select group of people like Olympians, recovering addicts, and professional athletes.

We tried to dissect ourselves to try and rationalize the reason that 100% effort is not given. The only thing that we could come up with, is the fact that the pay off is not guaranteed. I think the other reason why 100% isn't given is because on most all occasions 85% is more then enough to propel you to society’s definition of success.

If someone told you that they would give you a million dollars to run a 6 minute mile 3 months from now, your life would change immediately. If you seriously signed a contract and the money was put right under your nose, you would put down the large fries and start training. Per the agreement you are not allowed.....
to quit your job, or spend any less time with your family, but you can do anything else to prepare for your six minute mile. Somehow, you would make time to train. You would replace all your reading material with running information. You would have sweat suits in your car for a run before you got home and before work. You would replace all of your internet browsing bookmarks with running sites, messageboards and blogs. You would be fitness crazy. Only a fool wouldn’t give a 100%

This is the mind game that some worldclass athletes are brainwashed into when they are young. A perfect example of this is in the Spike Lee movie "He Got Game". It's about a basketball prodigy, Jesus Shuttlesworth (played by Ray Allen), and his relationship with his father, Jake Shuttlesworth (played by Denzel Washington). During the movie they show flashbacks of the basketball prodigy and his father. They are shown on the basketball court at night, doing running drills. Jake is running with a young Jesus telling him, "The only two people up right now are you and Michael Jordan, and what is Michael doing, training. ". Then he beginns to instill the guarantee of success in his child, " What are you gonna by your mama, What kind of house? ". So Jersus is brainwashed into thinking that if he gives 100% he would be the best basketball player in the US. There was no doubt, so that 100% is not hard to do.

Tiger Woods had this same advantage since he was a kid and continues to enjoy it. He can give 100% daily because he knows that he will win and become the best in the world. Players like Phil Mickelson, find it hard to give 100% working on their game because Tiger has already defeated them mentally. Why give 100% when you know you will never be better then Tiger. Phil can give 85% and still be one of the top players in the world. For fat Phil, that is good enough.



What does all this mean?

The reason that we don't give 100% is fear of failure. Fear that we would give everything we possibly have, to reach a goal and not hit it. We would rather give 85% percent and fail, saying at least I tried, then to go hard for 100%.

This applies to me and my resistance to give 100% to my outside endeavors. What am I afraid of? I will try and concentrate on the reward rather then the failure. If I realize the reward as concrete then I should be able to go 100%.

Sounds good in theory but can I apply it? 85% has been good enough to make me moderately successful in the past. Am I all talk and no action?
Knowing this information has put the responsibility of my success on me not any outside excuses.

If you are reading this, you know it’s true, and your success has now been placed in your hands and know one else’s. I have chosen to accept this responsibility because I need to be successful, by our definition of success. There is no other alternative for me. Rich or nothing.

LET’S GO!


-MJL

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