I received a Facebook “tag” yesterday morning from one of my connections. One of the things I love about the growing list of friends on Facebook are the quotes I see from famous people or simple words of wisdom provided by them personally.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate reading these words and quotes on my wall. Quite often the quotes I see are extremely timely for what’s going on in my current life – or like the one I found yesterday, I can relate to through my own experience. As I wind down the week, and get ready to spend a week with my family on vacation (the kids are on Spring Break) I thought I’d share my thoughts on what was forwarded to me – and see if you can relate.

It’s entitled “Winners vs. Losers”

Winners are always part of the answer.
Losers are always part of the problem.

Nobody’s perfect and everyone has problems – but why on earth do some people constantly dwell on the problem rather than looking for an answer? I mean – does complaining actually solve anything? While “venting” can make some feel better, it doesn’t resolve squat. Furthermore, until you actually find a solution to the problem – it’s never going to go away.

I’ll expand a little more a little later on how coming up with an answer can not only eliminate problems, but can also be extremely profitable.

Winners always have a program.
Losers always have an excuse.

Remember the goal setting you did back at the beginning of the year? (You DID do the goal setting right?) That’s your program – your road map – your blueprint. You wouldn’t build a house without some type of blueprint to follow. And for guys, I know this is hard…but it IS a lot easier when you actually READ the directions. You don’t however have to tell anyone. ;-P

Let’s say your “program” comes up short, or even worse, doesn’t work at all. Instead of making excuses and thinking you’re failure, think about what you could change or tweak that to produces a better result. I never look at anything I do as a failure, only a result.

Next time you think you need to make an excuse because somebody (even your own head) screams at you that you “failed” – think about this quote:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
~Thomas Alva Edision

Instead of coming up with excuses the next time you stumble and fall, think about what kind of adjustments you need to make to your program. What you come up with could be the light bulb you need to complete your program.

Winners say, “let me help you.”
Losers say, “that’s not my job.”

The appreciation that I receive on an ongoing basis for our newsletter is humbling. I remember a time in our company that if you weren’t part of a particular team, you didn’t get much help. I never understood that concept, and the thing that I’m probably proudest of these days is a willingness to help each other out regardless of who your sponsor is, your Power Team Leader, or your Director.

You’ll never know how good it feels to give unconditionally until you actually try. You know what they say about tithing – that works with actions too. What you give happily and without any expected return – comes back to you many times over.

Opening up our newsletter to everyone in our company has proven to be not only extremely rewarding – but produced ample opportunities for new ventures and income I could have never imagined if I didn’t freely give of my knowledge, skills and talents.

Winners find answers in every problem.
Losers find a problem in every answer.

Wanna hear a really cool definition of an Entrepreneur? An entrepreneur is a “problem solver”.

Think about it.

Have you ever heard the story of Mike Nesmith’s mom? For those who don’t know the name Mike Nesmith – think back to The Monkees’. (And if you don’t know who The Monkees’ are – just call me an old fuddy duddy and read on…)

Anyway, Mike’s mom invented “liquid paper”. Her problem was she couldn’t correct her typing mistakes on one of those old fashion typewriters. (Please tell me that you at least know what a typewriter is.) She ended up using her experience as a starving artist to solve this problem and the rest as they say – is history.

An average housewife who was simply looking for a way to solve her problem.

Winners see a green near every sand trap.
Losers see 2 or 3 sand traps near every green

It’s so odd to me how so many people focus on the sand traps instead of the green. The Masters is coming up next week. Is there any question that these professionals have a laser focus on one thing and one thing only – the green. Imagine what their game would be like if the thought going through their mind as they take the club back is “Don’t hit the sand – don’t hit the sand – PLEASE don’t hit the sand!”

Those types of thoughts only ensure that the next thing that comes out of their mouth is “[expletive]! I just hit the sand!”

I can tell you from personal experience that listening (or reading) from those who focus on the sand will land you in that trap. And it doesn’t matter how strong willed you think you are. That kind of negative crap will rub off on you like it or not.

Instead, get yourself a Coach who will not only show you the green – but how to hit it every time.

All those Golf Pros you’ll see next weekend at The Masters have a Coach, and it’s because of their Coach (along with a lot of hard work and practice) that their playing on one of the most pristine tracks known to man – and you’re sitting at home watching.

Winners say, “it may be difficult, but it’s possible.”
Losers say, “it may be possible, but it’s too difficult.”

What the mind can conceive, it can achieve. Kennedy knew this when he gave our nation the goal of sending a man to the moon and landing him safely back here on earth. Ford knew it when he gave his engineers the task of creating a V8 engine.

Imagine where we would be if someone said “Nah – it’s too difficult.” The amount of problems and scenarios to overcome in order to land a man on the moon is mind blowing. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy – and I don’t know about you, but I’m nowhere close to knowing everything or feeling like I can stop learning, growing and expanding.

Walking was once difficult when you were a baby – but possible. Becoming financially independent in this current economic climate is difficult – put possible. If you see others doing it, it’s possible. The trick is finding out what they think – how they act – and what they feel. Then just model that behavior.

I won’t be around next week. Instead, I’ll be spending some time with my family and myself to work on more goals. I’ve checked off some born and achieved back in December and January – and it’s time to re-evaluate and create new ones. My own quarterly report if you will. I’ve also got some new ideas that you’ll find out more about in this weekend’s Newsletter and you’ll see one of the steps I’ve taken and how I’m planning to achieve this new idea.

So food for thought as we move into your week – be it spring break or not:

You’ll enjoy your weekend and you’re week much better if you think and act like a winner instead of a loser.

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A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail from good friend Charlie Howe with a very funny mock ESPN Press Release that President Obama and Roger Gadel would be dividing Pittsburgh’s 6 Super Bowl Trophies to teams that were less fortunate. Namely, the Detroit Lions who went 0-16 this past season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who by virtue of hard work, excellent team play, stellar draft choices, responsible investing of free agents, careful hiring of coaches and excellent community service and commitment to their fans, has prospered greatly during the past 30 years and have won six Super Bowl Trophies. But President Barack Hussain Obama’s plan calls for the Pittsburgh Steelers to carry the larger burden of the NFL’s less successful teams. Obama went on to further proclaim, “In these difficult times we are all in this to work together. We must reclaim the NFL Championship Dream for every team, for every city and for every fan.”

While something like this sounds obsurd I began to realize a couple years ago that that’s exactly what we are teaching our children. One holiday tradition that I first noticed this was the Easter Holiday we just enjoyed yesterday. Before my children entered into grade school, they were enrolled in an academy which had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. I also noticed the same practice in our neighborhood egg hunt for the kids.

Parents would go out and hide the eggs based on a level of difficulty appropriate for the age before sending the kids out in a group to collect and find the eggs. Watching the event, you would see kids who were going all out in gathering up the eggs, while others seemed to wonder aimlessly around not really all that concerned with the activity at hand. At times two kids would race towards the same egg, but only one was able to put the egg in their basket.

After the event the kids would gather with their baskets. A few baskets would be overflowing with eggs, while others would have a paltry one or two eggs.

Not to worry, as the baskets were collected by adults the kids were whisked away to another activity while the adults divided all the eggs equally between the baskets, giving each child the exact same amount per basket. No matter how hard or little each individual child worked to collect the eggs, each was granted an amount deemed appropriate and fair.

For children, I really don’t have a problem with dividing up the eggs, until this equal division of property, money, or belongings becomes a right as an adult. I realized what an early age we teach our young this idea of taking from the “haves” to give the “have-nots”. This practice should be used with children as a lesson in sharing and giving of our resources. It becomes a problem however when it’s taken out of context and this “larger burden” is taught throughout our school years, trapping many as they grow up with this limiting belief into adulthood.

I’ve seen this type of limited thinking for years, but it’s become especially prevalent since the economic recession hit and a gallup poll I found support that thorey of growth. And for some reason, this increase has nothing to do with what they themselves are doing to create that perception. (Heaven forbid we take responsibility for our own circumstances.) Just like the Super Bowl Trophies, it’s not an excellent work ethic, stellar choices, responsible investment of money, careful attention to picking the right mentors to model and learn from, or a commitment to their family to prosper to become one of the haves instead of the have-nots.

Unless an individual actually learns what natural abundance is all about, people are held hostage by this limiting thinking. For those who have learned that it’s not a problem with limited resources (only beliefs) they don’t have a problem with sharing resources, money, or knowledge. We realize that like Doritos, you can eat all you want, we’ll make more. For some, it almost seems effortless, natural in a way. If you look at nature, it doesn’t struggle, it doesn’t hoard, nor does there seem to be any shortage of resources for each blade of grass, leaves growing on trees, or flowers blooming during this time of year. You do have to provide the proper amount of sunlight, water, and nourishment while nature takes care of the rest without any further effort on your part. You couldn’t stop it even if you tried.

My newsletter is a perfect example of abundance. By giving away what I know in knowledge about YTB to others based on my years of experience with the company, I’ve been given other opportunities and resources that support me. The more poeple I help, the more resources I have at my disposal. Old beliefs would have kept me from offering this out to everyone because the belief was there’s not enough. But because I understand the context of the teaching as a child during the egg hunt, I now reap the rewards.

We run into this fear of not enough especially in Network Marketing, all the people at the top who got in early, make all the money. They obsess over this “fact” not realizing that the theory they’re so fearful of has ever come to true. Yet they spend a considerable amount of time and energy warning everyone that comes across their path that someone is going to loose out. And like the innocent children who wondered around aimlessly during the egg hunts that were held all over the country, they as adults are left with empty promises and no money to speak of because their too distracted about what they learned while growing up.

Most NFL fans only look at the 6 Super Bowl Trophies right now and if you’re a fan of another team, look in envy of the 6 Super Bowl Trophies. Especially Cowboy fans. (Isn’t that right Charlie?) They look at the last 40 years when Chuck Noll was hired as head Coach and the dynasty that he started back in the 70′s. Nobody considers the first 40 years of their existence in the NFL when they lived in the basement with only a handful of winning seasons during their first 40 years. They were certainly one of the have-nots during that time and the laughing stock of the NFL.

When Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, he changed that way the team drafted, the way they practiced, and the way they thought about basic techniques and drills. In making these small adjustments, he changed the direction and the destiny of the team from a basement dweller to Super Bowl Champion. Instead of looking for a handout, taking from the haves as a have-not, change those childhood memories and thinking that there’s not enough and begin to think and work like those more successful than you are. That my friend is the REAL American Dream of Hope in this country. You don’t need a hand out, you don’t need the Government, and you certainly don’t need that limiting belief any longer. If you do what other successful teams or people do, you’ll begin to reap the rewards of their success.

It’s never too late to start, and your chances of creating something based on proper thinking and action, instead of waiting for some hand-out will greatly enhance your chances of success and happiness. It’s not easy, it takes some time, and there is a considerable amount of doubt the creeps in from a considerable amount of screaming and yelling going on by those who only want what’s fair based on what they were taught as a child.

It’s time to grow up and become an adult and stop complaining and start creating.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

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I found this image while looking for something to put into our weekly newsletter to the team and thought it was cute enough to share with everyone else.

We know this is a very special time of year, especially today as we spend time with family and friends. Easter reminds us of new beginnings with flowers blooming and trees beginning to bud.

It’s a true rebirth of new life.

You can just feel new life all around you. We hope you see all that’s new and bright with YTB via this blog. There is so much going on with this wonderful company, and those that recognize and take advantage of what this company has to offer will have abundance in all you have and do.

We wanted to thank you for allowing us to come into your homes and lives each and every week with news and updates on what’s going on with YTB.

If you have enjoyed this blog and are a member of YTB, please feel free to subscribe to our weekly Newsletter!

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450
RTA #24635

I have two young kids, who admittedly are the most adorable, cutest kids on the face of this earth. My daughter (AKA: Schmoopsie-Pooh) is in Kindergarten this year, and my son (AKA: Googley-Bear) is in Pre-K. They at the age now that Easter Egg hunting is a BIG thing, and every year, I can’t wait till they grow out of it because when they eat candy, they both just run around the house in circles screaming from the sugar rush they get. (Still cute, but one can only take so much.)

It’s also a time of year when I see a perfect example of why we as adults can be so screwed up in our thinking and beliefs. I’ve told you before that I’m a big Neal Boortz fan, and still listen to him from time to time when in the car. One of his favorite rants is our school system is programming false beliefs in our children, and how dumb the future of America will be if we as parents continue to let the Government educate our children. In this particular example however, I found that it doesn’t matter if it’s public or private school.

For the last couple of years, while the kids have enjoyed the Easter egg hunt, after everyone has found all the eggs, the teachers collect the baskets outside the school room; have the kids work on another project inside the class while someone else divides all the eggs equally among all the kids’ baskets. So if Johnny went out and hustled and collected 30 eggs for his basket, most of his eggs are taken away and given to Sara who was only able to find 1 egg. When it’s time to go home, all the kids have the exact same number of eggs in their baskets.

Now I know some of you might not think this is no big deal, and some might even think it’s the “fair” thing to do. They’re kids and they don’t know the difference right?

Believe it or not, some adults carry this programming that we must divide everything up equally among the rest of the group into our adulthood. I really never noticed it before until I got into YTB some years ago and started posting on a board called Scam.com. There was a guy on there that swore up and down that you have to take the total number of RTA’s (what ever number that may be at the time) and divide the total number of commissions found on the SEC reports (which represented numbers months before all the RTA’s were even in YTB) and the number he came up with doomed everyone in YTB to making something like $67 per RTA for the entire year. (By the way, if I remember correctly, he was using quarterly numbers for his yearly average.)

This poor guy was one of the kids who busted his tail to fill his Easter Egg Basket every year, only to find that most of his eggs were given to the other children in the class, and this programming carried into his adult life.

What’s even more disheartening is that after being shown how someone who sells Travel in YTB can actually keep all the commissions they make in YTB this character disappeared for a while, only to come back as someone else, (another screen name) to pitch the exact same lame math again.

Is it any wonder I became bored with that board?

I’ve worked in sales for a long time, and I’ve never known any Corporation who takes everyone’s sales, puts them together and then divides them up equally among all the sales people. (Would have been nice when I worked “part time” at Gateway all those years ago…but that’s ancient history at this point.) Can you imagine Bill Gates telling Wal-Mart that he needs to collect all the Office 2007 and Windows Vista revenue to divide it up equally with Best Buy and Circuit City? Most of you couldn’t and would think that’s silly, while at the same time, this notion that everyone is doomed to making just $67 a year in commissions isn’t.

Fact of the matter is, most people are programmed to think this way from a very early age, and this Easter egg hunt example is just one small piece of the puzzle in regards to why so many people have such limiting, dysfunctional beliefs about prosperity and money. I’ve mentioned before about T. Harv Ecker and his book “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” and after reading his book, that’s when I first started to evaluate and think about my own beliefs. After attending his Millionaire Mind Intensive some years ago, that’s were I truly learned how to literally start reprogramming all the old limiting beliefs I once had. (It’s still a work in progress, and I’ll share some of my tools with you on a later post.)

What’s scary for me is that I had no idea that these were in fact limiting beliefs. I thought I was normal and found out that normal or average…well…it stinks.

I need to find a file somewhere in this vast space we call the internet, and have you take a test on money and it’s beliefs. I found it some time ago and can’t seem to locate it right now. My kids will be up soon and I promised I’d spend the day with them. (It’s Good Friday and they have the day off of school.)

Let’s not worry ourselves about limits right now, and I want you to enjoy a Happy and prosperous Easter. I love this time of year, and I just wanted to let you know that right around the corner are some tools and keys so make sure you come back for the Easter Egg I have for you some time next week. I’m going to enjoy my family for the weekend.

I promise there will be enough to go around for everyone!

YTB Members: Subscribe to my weekly Newsletter!

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

Learn How To Become A Travel Agent

Book Your Travel & Vacations With

Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450
RTA #24635