Smart Money

“When the archer misses the mark, he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull’s eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim – improve yourself.”

Gilbert Arland
Writer

These holes are not only amazing, but some are really terrifying – especially #5.

The sheer scale of these holses reminds you of just how tiny you are.

1.  Kimberley Big Hole – South Africa

Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tones of diamonds before being closed.

2.  Glory Hole – Monticello Dam, California

A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir.

This is the “Glory Hole” at Monticello Dam.  Its the largest in the world of this type of spillway.  Its size enables it to consume 14,400 cubic feet of water every second.

3.  Great Blue Hole, Belize.

This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize.

There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one.

4.  Sinkhole in Guatemala.

This photo is of a sinkhole that occurred early this year in Guatemala.  The hole swallowed 2 dozen homes and killed at least 3 people.

And the really terrifying one!

5.  The Rat Hole.

This is the famous “Rat Hole” that you have heard about in D.C.

It is capable of swallowing trillions and trillions of Federal Reserve Notes annually, never to be heard from again.

Reputed to contain at least 535 ass-holes.

 Good Morning and Great Day…

How many times have you said to yourself…. “How am I going to do this?” This is a perennial
question to all of us. Where have you gotten stuck in your thinking and by buying into your
stuckness have let opportunity pass you by because of some fear about not knowing enough,
being enough, didn’t know where to begin, weren’t quite ready, and on and on. The only way to reach the goal you set for yourself is to begin it NOW by taking a first step towards it no matter whether you know the final answers or not. Action will create momentum and momentum will create an ability to forge through any adversity you perceive is in your way. Just remember one thing There’s Always a Way for you to have all you desire. The answers are right within you so stop telling yourself you can’t and start telling I CAN!

Everywhere you are there is a power and presence that is aligned with the magnificence of who you are.

This power is infinite in its wisdom, imagination, creativity, and desire to bring out in you the best that you can be. No matter what may appear on the surface you have all the tools to have and build the LIFE you dream about. Remember one thing. You wouldn’t be able to dream something if you didn’t already have that dream inside of you. Is is so easy to give up and throw in the towel when you come up against a challenge you think is insurmountable. That’s the very time you must ramp up your desire for success and find the ways you need to turn those challenges into opportunities. You can do it. No matter what you my think about hard situations you always have the choice to think of the solutions to get you through them.

There’s Always a Way to make your day the very best it can be when you start to say yes to all the excellence you are and step into the spirit that brought you here express all the greatness you are.

“The flow of life doesn’t make decisions to create hardships for anyone…. those hardships are
created by the limited thinking that we decide is our truth…however our real truth is that we are
abundant, prosperous and gifted with all the tools to accomplish anything we decide to do…listen to yourself so
the story you hear is one of complete desire to fulfill all the success you can dream about.”

I AM infinite abundance
I AM infinite prosperity
I AM magnificence and excellence
I AM the flow of creativity
I AM a discoverer of my greatness
I AM committed to my success
I AM Free Right NOW To Be ME

It’s your day…MAKE IT A GREAT ONE!

Paul Hoffman

Good Morning and Great Day…

You can have everything you want. No matter where you are on the learning line of life all the resources you need are always available to you so that you can reach the destination you are seeking powerfully. You just need to call them to you. Did you know that once you set your intention and speak it with conviction and hold a strong and unwavering belief the universe will set in motion the flow of LIFE so that you receive all that is already destined to make your desires manifest in all the ways you can think them  into reality?  By being the very thing you are intending to become there can be no other way than total success in the efforts you put forth for your goals to become real.

When you Become Your Destination your destination becomes all of the presence
and power you commit it to be.

In life we all have ups and downs, feelings of being unsure about a course of action,
ways in which we can talk ourselves out of doing something, being susceptible to others
points of view of how we should be and many other roadblocks that inhibit and deny our true calling to be brought forth. Sometimes we call this weakness. I call it a lack of commitment to the inner calling that is seeking to express itself as our authentic self. Whether it comes from some fear or a doubt about one’s ability the result is the same. We get thrown off course by the limited thinking of such beliefs and therefore we give in to mediocrity and sameness.
I know we all have a burning desire within to achieve greatness in the passion for excellence that calls for us to have it all. Become Your Destination in all you do. Align yourself with all the things you need to accomplish your goal. Think powerful and positive thoughts and above all believe in yourself because when you do all of LIFE will as well. You are destined for greatness which is why you are here so you might as well step into that and become the very thing you hold in your dreams.

“There is no thing that can stand in between what you see for yourself… except if you can’t see it….
and if you can’t see it it’s only because your not looking in the right place.”

The magnificence of LIFE is etched on my soul
My heart is home to the passion in me
I see abundance everywhere I look
I know that I AM ready to have it all
Within me is a burning desire for excellence
I claim my destiny by setting my intention to
Become the Destination I choose to be

It’s your day… MAKE IT A GREAT ONE

Paul Hoffman

Giving Thanks

Dear Reader,

We’re quickly approaching Thanksgiving Day – that time of year in which, via a national holiday, we’re reminded of the value of gratitude.

But what about The Power of Gratitude – The Power of Giving Thanks. Not just on Thanksgiving – but every day of our lives.

Recently I was listening to a conversation between two American women. One was telling the other about doing a Gratitude visualization or meditation each day.

“I have a friend back home who has been doing this every night for the past few weeks,” she said. “And the positive things coming her way are nothing short of miraculous.”

I don’t doubt this woman’s story for a single moment.

When you express gratitude for what you have – and really, really mean it, the energy from this helps to increase the flow of good into your life. Nature favorably responds to those who recall, remember and re-celebrate the good things in life.

There are always more good things than you can imagine – but most people rarely give any thought to what is working, what is good and what worked in the past.

If you want to get yourself into a truly positive frame of mind, sit in a chair and mentally picture everything in your life that you are truly grateful for.

Your body.
Your health.
Your friends and/or family.
Your home.
Your clothes.
Your food.
Your water.
Your transportation.
Your library.
And so on.

If you really take some time to honestly evaluate all the good out there and in there – it’s not possible for this exercise to last less than 15 minutes.

I am reminded of the young lady, Teresa, whom I trained many years ago when I had a personal training studio in California.

Teresa was a knockout. A perfect 10 by most peoples’ standards.  Long blonde hair, stunning blue eyes, long slender legs – and so on.

Yet, she didn’t see anything good about how she looked. When I asked her what she was thankful for about her body and looks, she immediately began attacking herself with her index finger.

“I have this mole on my face. And I have this spot on my neck.  And my skin is too dry. And my hair doesn’t set right – and I’m just getting warmed up here,” she said. “I can go on and
on. Are you sure you want me to continue.”

“You’ve had a lot of practice with this fault finding, haven’t you,” I said. “And do you realize you have not answered my question. I asked what you were thankful for – not your long list of flaws and faults.”

“Well I cannot give you anything on that list,” she said.

“Really,” I said. “Well, let me get clarity on this. Do you like your legs.”

“No, I hate my legs.”

“So you’d rather have them amputated. You’d rather go without.”

“NO,” I wouldn’t want that.

“Okay, so you are somewhat grateful for your legs then.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, how about your arms.”

“Oh gawd, I hate my arms.”

“So you want them removed, too,” I said.

“No.”

“You mean you want to keep them. Well, if that’s the case, you must be glad to have them.”

“And how about the skin on your face – should I have that removed for you as well.”

“That would be scary.”

“Okay, so you want to keep your face, moles and all,” I said.

“Yes.”

“And what about that hair. Why don’t we shave it all off,” I smiled.

“No way. I wouldn’t want to be bald.”

“Oh, so you do like your hair.”

“Compared to being bald, yes.”

“I’m the exact opposite,” I said. “I’m so grateful I lost part of my hair that I removed what was left. Not only that, I really, really like my cauliflower ears. They’re big and gnarly, but
man they are cool. I consider them a trademark for a job well done.”

She began to laugh.

By the time we finished Teresa had a much deeper appreciation of her body than any other time in her life.

But that was only one day of gratitude. It wasn’t yet a habit.  If she reviewed the list each day for a month, it would take hold of her and improve her life in seen and unseen ways.

You may not think this is so. You may think what I’m saying is some sort of mystical or esoteric teaching. If you think such a thing, you may be surprised to discover that the above is a  very basic and fundamental truth. But you cannot and will not discover it unless you apply it.

Start your gratitude visualization today. Carry it out again during Thanksgiving – and afterward. Give yourself 30 days – minimum – and if you don’t notice any improvement – then delete this email – which was sent to you at no charge.

That’s it for today’s tip – which I’m giving to you in a state of gratitude to thank you for being on this earthly journey with me.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Matt Furey

“It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.”

Jim Rohn
Author and Speaker

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”  Eric Hoffer

Dear Reader,

Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as an educated person. You are either learning or you are not. In today’s world, it is vitally important that you see the truth in Eric Hoffer’s statement. The win or loss, which is waiting in the wings for every person, is enormous. You get to choose which you will experience.

Examine what Mr. Hoffer said. There are two obvious parts to his statement. The first part is very clear; how well it is understood is another subject.

“The learners will inherit the earth.”

That’s pretty straightforward. I want to come back and elaborate on that statement because it is exciting, full of promise and possibility. However it would probably be wise to look at the second part of his advice first. Then, if you happen to fall into the category Eric Hoffer referred to, you can change your situation and win.

“The learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

In virtually every country of the world you can find individuals, thousands of them, walking the streets with degrees in their hands…degrees from prestigious universities. They cannot find work. Why? These individuals view the conditions and circumstances that surround them as very frightening. They are the people who Eric Hoffer referred to who “are beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Look around, the world is definitely changing, and it will never be the same again. Power is slipping away, disappearing from some circles, and reappearing in others. Countries, companies and individuals who have held the power in the past are quickly losing it, if in fact, they have not already watched it melt in their hands. Their often smug, sometimes selfish, domineering, complacent attitude has cost them dearly. They are confused and this confusion is frequently fueled by their own ignorance. When that happens it ultimately leads to anger or resentment – sometimes both. This negative energy is then quite frequently misdirected, possibly at their loved ones, which then causes an entirely new set of problems.

These people are clutched by an unseen enemy and their frustration is endless because they are not sure what has happened or what is happening. Their world seems to be turning upside down.

The entire world is in the midst of a paradigm shift, which is unprecedented. There have been transitions in the past but nothing to equal what we are presently experiencing. The world is moving from an intellectual to a spiritual vibration. The rules for winning have changed dramatically and the majority of the populations are still living with the old rules. There are an enormous number of people in every community who have worked hard and disciplined themselves to follow the only rules they know…still they are losing. They are bewildered, confused and in many cases, angry and most feel their anger is justified, whether it is or not matters little. They are doing what they were taught by their parents, teachers, and employers. Unfortunately they too, were working with the old rules.

In the past, individuals were recognized and rewarded for what they knew. Corporations waited on the sidelines dangling monetary rewards attempting to attract the graduates from the big name universities of the world. There were the multi-million dollar MBA management development programs that corporations placed their hope in for years. Most everyone was conditioned to deify the intellect. Individuals were not properly recognized and rewarded for what they did.

Rather than focusing on what is or was wrong, we should let it go. Let the dead bury the dead. The world I grew up in is gone, forever. The world has changed. We live in the new era. This is a spiritual world governed by exact laws. Everyone who studies these laws and incorporates them into every aspect of their life will be richly rewarded. I believe we would be wise to go back to the promise Eric Hoffer shared, “In times of change, the learners inherit the earth.”

The learners are continually preparing themselves to adapt to the changes. Rather than reacting they are responding to these changes and they are responding in an appropriate manner. The learners are excited with the prospects of what this paradigm shift is bringing.

Bob Proctor

Dear Reader,

The greatest stumbling block to achieving anything of importance in your life is circumstances. We let circumstances get us off the hook when we should be giving it everything we’ve got. More dreams are shattered and goals lost because of circumstances than any other single factor.
How often have you caught yourself saying, “I would like to do or have this but I can’t because…?” Whatever follows “because” is the circumstance.

Successful people use circumstances to catapult them on toward their goal, while the masses use them as road blocks. A circumstance may cause a detour in your life but you should never permit it to stop you.

George Bernard Shaw is quoted as saying, “People are always blaming circumstance for what they are. I do not believe in circumstance. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstance they want and if they can’t find them they make them.”

Napoleon said, “Circumstances hell, I make them.”

The next time you hear someone say they would like to vacation in Paris, or purchase a particular automobile but they can’t because they have no money. Tell them they don’t need any money, your reward will probably be a blank stare followed with, “What do you mean I don’t need any money?”

Explain they don’t need the money until they make a decision to go to Paris or purchase the car. When the decision is made, they will figure out a way to get the amount needed. They always do.

The circumstance they are using is one of the most common: a lack of money. The real cause of their problem is lack of decision. You always attract what you need when you decide it must be done. Try this yourself today. You know the task you have been putting off “because…” Make a decision, forget the circumstance or adopt Shaw’s theory, but get it done!

Bob Proctor

 Dear Reader,

The very worst use of time is to stay at a job for months and years for which you are completely unsuited.

There are a great number of people who spend their whole lives doing something they don’t enjoy during the week, always looking forward to the weekends. They refer to Monday as “Blue Monday” and to Wednesday as “Hump Day.” At the end of the week, they say “Thank God It’s Friday!”

These are men and women with very little in the way of a future. They look upon their jobs as a form of drudgery, a penance they have to pay in order to enjoy their free time. And because of this attitude, they will seldom advance or be promoted.

They will stay pretty much where they are, moving from job to job, and always wondering why other people seem to be living the good life while they feel like they are living a life of quiet desperation.

At my seminars, I am frequently asked by people what they can do to be more successful. In almost every case, they are working in jobs they don’t like, for bosses they don’t particularly respect, producing or selling products or services for customers they don’t care about. And many of them think that if they just hang in there long enough, the clouds will part and everything will get better for them.

But the fact is that you are where you are and what you are because that’s what you have chosen. You can do amazing things with your life, but nobody else can change your situation for you. It’s entirely up to you.

The economic function of your company is to hire people at the very lowest cost so that they can serve customers at the very lowest cost in a competitive market. For this reason, no one has any obligation to pay you any more than you are getting. If possible, they would like to pay you less.

One thing I tell people over and over again is that they must become very good at doing what they are doing if they want to move up in their company. And if they don’t have the inner desire to be very good at their job, it means they are probably in the wrong one.

Excellence is like a ladder, and excellent performance at your current job is like the rungs on the ladder. In order for you to progress, you must become extremely good at what you are doing right now. Once you have mastered your current job, you will automatically move up to more difficult, more interesting, and higher-paid jobs.

Too many people do their jobs in an average or mediocre fashion, with the idea that, when the right job comes along, then they will really do a good job. But for some reason, the right job never comes along. They are always passed over for promotions and advancement. They are always the last ones hired and the first ones laid off.

So be perfectly honest with yourself. Look deep inside and decide what it is you would like to do if you only had six months left to live. What would you choose to do if you won a million dollars in the lottery tomorrow? What sort of work would you do if you were absolutely guaranteed of success in any one field? If you had no limits on your abilities and opportunities – no debts, no problems, no commitments – what would be your ideal job or career?

Research shows that the things people liked to do best between the ages of 7 and 14 were a very good indicator of what they would be most successful at as adults.

A man at one of my seminars told me that when he was between the ages of 7 and 14 he loved to build model airplanes. He built more and more complicated planes, and then built them with engines and flew them in contests.

Today, he is 35 years old. He has a degree in aeronautical engineering. He designs small aircraft. In addition, he owns an aircraft maintenance company and an air charter firm. He is a multi-millionaire, and he feels like he has never worked a day in his life. He has always done what he loved to do and most enjoyed from the time he was a little boy.

If you’re not sure about your true calling, ask the people closest to you. Ask them, “What do you think I would be the very best at doing with my life?” It is amazing how people around you – including your spouse, your best friends, and your parents – can see clearly what you should be doing when often you cannot see it yourself.

Project yourself forward five years, and imagine that your entire life is perfect in every respect. Imagine that you are doing exactly the right job for you, in exactly the right place, with exactly the right people, and earning exactly the amount you want to earn.

What would that look like? Where would you be, and what would you be doing? Who would you be with, and how would you have changed?

When you have that picture in your head, think about the steps you would have to take to get from where you are today to where you want to be in five years. What skills would you have to develop? What information would you have to acquire? What obstacles would you have to overcome?

Success comes from being excellent at what you do. The market pays excellent rewards only for excellent performance. It pays average rewards for average performance, and below-average rewards for below-average performance.

But excellence is a journey, not a destination. You never quite get there. You can never relax. The market is always changing, so what constitutes excellence today will be different tomorrow and very different next year and every year thereafter.

All really successful and happy people know in their hearts that they are very good at what they do. And if you are doing what you really love and enjoy, if you are following your true calling, you will know it too.

By Brian Tracy

Dear Reader,

Some time ago I did a show on Habits. They play an important role in your life. Like many aspects of your life, habits can be considered both a blessing and a curse. Robert Russell in his magnificent little book “You Try It” wrote that habit was God’s way of making good automatic in your life.

I had a wonderful friend in Atlanta, the late Dr. Jay Dishman, who wrote an excellent article about habit in his monthly newsletter dated February 1985. I have shared Dr. Dishman’s article with thousands of people around the world. Today I want to share it with you. Here goes!

“Recently I visited Alcatraz Prison. Once it housed the most hardened of criminals. Today it is open to tourists under the direction of the United States Parks Department. Many men have tried to escape Alcatraz; no one is known to have succeeded. As I listened to the tour guide explain the impossibility of escape, I thought of other prisons equally confining but where the doors are never locked, no guards walk the halls, and escape is encouraged and possible. That prison is Habit.”

Our habit is thinking about ourselves and our environment as a jail or a paradise. We need but to look around us to see people who are rich emotionally and materially because they think and feel rich. We also see people who are laden with emotional and material debt because they think lack. Some are inspired with vision, others are encumbered with doubt. Some are moved by ambition, others feel safer in monotony. Some reach for the mountain tops, others huddle in the pits. Some seek opportunity, others wait for it to knock. The sad fact is that more people are confined by their thoughts than are fed by them.

Negative thinking shuts us in a prison, but there is a way out. The apostle Paul said, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Paul knew a lot about prisons, both physical and mental. You renew your life by renewing your mind. You renew your mind when you change your habit of thinking.

Dr. Jay Dishman helped thousands change their habit of thinking in his lifetime. Now hopefully he has helped you.

Bob Proctor