“What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people’s lives.” –Oprah Winfrey

I’m fresh back from four days of my company’s International Conference at Oklahoma City. There were 11,000 associates in Cox Arena for trainings, team meetings, recognition and networking.

Years ago while under the tutelage of Coach Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor, I learned to appreciate the importance of attending the national events sponsored by network marketing companies. This is the opportunity to learn from the top producers. It’s where you get your company’s announcements first hand, learn about product and service innovations, and perhaps most importantly meet people from all over North America who are aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs sharing their successes, their trials, and building not only business connections but lasting friendships.

Most attendees will tell you that the events are great, but the journey to get there is the real accomplishment.

My company has roughly 400,000 associates across the U.S. and Canada. There were 11,000 of us who made it to Oklahoma City. There are those who can travel with ease and afford luxury accommodations. There are many more who ban together for travel filling vans or cars and buses, and sometimes sleeping 6 or more to a room just for the privilege of being there.  (I can tell you from personal experience that Group Hotel Room Rule #4 “Ten minute morning bathroom shifts” goes a long way to keep the peace!

Everyone has their own story. The sacrifice to get there, whether it be financial or risking the wrath of your boss at work, or family objections…whatever the particulars are, the victory comes in overcoming the obstacles and making it there!

We learn, we have fun and we get a better understanding of our business – and its magnitude – in a real up-front, close and personal way that just doesn’t happen in the smaller venues.

One of our speakers offered this for our consideration:

You make a living by what you get,

You make a Life by what you Give.

I have really come to appreciate this, not only with regard to the business I’m in currently, but in all sales, as well as Life in general. Coach Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor demonstrated to us the value of a service-driven life. One of her constant prayers is:

“Creator, use All of me. Use me up.”*

Our business is a vehicle for making connections with others. We make a commission from our sales, but we reap rewards beyond measure when we take time to get to know and care about a person. When we give of our time, our sincere interest in another and offer ourselves in service, we create a life of beauty.  -Deborah Adler

“Allow there to be much to be thankful for in your day. Touch others’ lives today in a service that will reward you and them in a good and helpful way. Harm no one and let truth be your solid ground.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor*

*©1986-2011 Parisha Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

DISCLAIMER: All the opinions expressed in any articles, blog posts and Internet content written by me are my own and do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of any individuals or organizations with whom I associate.

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved (NOTE: ALL quotes and/or materials from other authors or sources remain the sole property of the original authors/source.)

I’ve been participating in a 90-Day Run to advance to a goal of a position/promotion in my network marketing company. As part of my activity I have had the privilege to be on weekly Team Conference Calls with some of the top leadership in my company. These are people who, having already achieved 6-figure incomes and some with millionaire status, could easily have “retired” into obscurity and lived the remainder of their lives on residual income. Instead they are leading the charge in the trenches providing energetic and enthusiastic leadership and taking active roles in the advancement of our company and its sales force.

Having worked with Coach Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor, I can only smile at hearing from these committed leaders the same wisdom and inspiration that I have experienced while being coached by her.

What I appreciate most on tonight’s call was the clear message that with one week to go in our 90-Day Run, it’s time to pull out all the stops and give it our all to make the strongest finish possible.

Years ago I learned about the “80-percent wall” phenomenon from Coach Pa’Ris’Ha. The phenomenon is such that most people will quit just shy of their goal because they encounter a final piece of resistance having reached about 80 percent of the way to their targeted goal or projected completion.

“Completion is Power,” Coach Pa’Ris’Ha reminds us.  Business and sports coaches alike often quote Vincent Lombard’s famous declaration,” Winners Never Quit and Quitters Never Win.”

So the emphasis on tonight’s call was all about taking inventory and daily noting “What have I learned today?”

It was about assessing where each on e of us is in relationship to our stated goal and drawing up a precise plan of what’s needed to get there from where we are right now and what actions will be required.

It was all about going full steam ahead – running for the wall pull throttle, if you will.

All too often if we think we are going to fall short of our goal, we pull up short. The time to slow down is after you’ve crossed the finish line, not before.

If you accept defeat in your mind, you are already defeated. If you realize, as tonight’s leaders were trying to impart, that by doing the footwork and the correct productive activity on a daily basis, the goal will be met, you become the Victor of the journey, not just the destination.  -Deborah Adler

“I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself.” -Oprah Winfrey

“There are no limitations in your life, only limited vision & little faith.” -Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor*

 

* excerpt from Follow The Question Inward

 

DISCLAIMER: All the opinions expressed in any articles, blog posts and Internet content written by me are my own and do not reflect the opinions or beliefs of any individuals or organizations with whom I associate.

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved (NOTE: ALL quotes and/or materials from other authors or sources remain the sole property of the original authors/source.)

“Change is constant and it challenges us in every moment and breath. Every breath in and every breath out – every heartbeat is change. Each is a measure of life that is finished, past, and to be no more.” -Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, from Grandmother’s Legacy*

The only thing that we can count on in this lifetime seems to be that nothing stays the same. That can be a comfort or a cause for consternation – depending on how we choose to see it.

The top coaches know to keep their charges in constant chaos – to avoid the onset of complacency, and therefore stagnation. When you’re stretching and growing, there is no “neutral” – there’s forward or backwards.

How often do we hear some lament that “nothing stays the same?” Maybe we’ve uttered those words ourselves.

To live in stagnation is death.

As Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has shared in the passage from Grandmother’s Legacy, each new breath brings change. Each moment that passes brings the accumulation of yet another piece of “time exchanged for experience.” We grow with each experience, or at least change. We can deny it but we can’t keep it from happening.

It is this phenomenon that gives credence to the premise that we can re-start our life in any particular moment. “Today is the beginning of the rest of your life” reflects that. But we aren’t held to the 24-hour time frame. It only takes a moment to make a decision. Then we must take action to support that decision.

There is a saying, “If you want tomorrow to be different than yesterday, you have to do something different today.”

As I sat in a business briefing tonight and dutifully raised my hand when the speaker asked, “Who here couldn’t use an extra $1000 each month?” – I wrote in my notes, “So why don’t you?” – meaning, why don’t I take the necessary prescribed actions to achieve what I say I want?

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has never supported self-castigation.  She coaches and teaches from a “so you want to change, then change” posture. It’s about taking that different course of action to yield different results in the next moment that counts, not what I did or didn’t do in the past.

So tonight when I returned back from my business briefing I called one of my upline coaches and asked for his assistance in locating an accountability partner. I asked him for someone in his organization with my excitement and commitment, who needs to work with making the necessary numbers each day. We’re going to work together as a result because we both are ready to take our organizations to the next level.

That’s taking a different action. The decision is the first part – the follow-up action is what brings about the change. Change is what delivers us to the growth we are seeking.

It can happen with us or in spite of us, but it will inevitably happen. When we embrace it and harness it to our advantage, it becomes a Force that can lift us to new heights.  -Deborah Adler

“I believe the choice to be excellent begins with aligning your thoughts and words with the intention to require more from yourself.” –Oprah Winfrey

*© Copyright 2007 Parisha Online. All Rights Reserved.

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

“To every thought and action there is re-action – opposition. This brings the experience and outcome. Cause and effect….For every determination and intention there will be a counter determination and intention. Every thought will have an effect and action.” From Grandmother’s Legacy by Pa’Ris’Ha *

The other day I was traveling back from a sales training with a fellow sales rep and we were discussing an apparent “slump” in the activity of our local sales force. He shared his recent discouragement from getting more rejections than normal and that he was letting that holds him back from pursuing more new contacts.

I offered the wisdom of my business coach, whom I have also known as spiritual mentor and Elder for over 25 years, Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor. Coach Taylor often speaks of the using the opposition to gauge the strength of what we have put into motion.

We know, from the laws of physics, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore when we declare a goal, or make a declaration of position, there is a natural response of equal and opposite energy that comes back to us.

Some will see that as a “sign” that they weren’t supposed to proceed, or that they were on the “wrong” course, or that it’s going to be too hard. Coach Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor always used that show of opposition as an indicator of the power and strength of what she had put into motion.

She taught by her example, to welcome and embrace the opposition.

From Quantum Physics we learn that there can be no creation without resistance. “Resistance” can be another term for opposition.

Cold calling isn’t something that comes easy to me necessarily, but it is something I have done well when I’m consistent with it. Many sales people can identify with the “fifty-pound phone” analogy. So can some network marketers. So my “resistance” is to picking up the phone. But unless I pick up the phone and make the calls necessary to make contacts and appointments, I make no money.

In order for me to experience success in sales, or “create” income, I have to move through my resistance and do what I might not find pleasant, but in the end profitable.

If I’ve set a high goal and start experiencing lackluster results – it might just be that “opposition” factor coming into play. The opposition/resistance can come from outside myself or within myself – or be a combination. What I know from my own past experience is that if I allow the resistance to stop me, I don’t reach my goal. If I persevere and press through the resistance, I accomplish what I set out to achieve, and then some.

“You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more”. Oprah Winfrey

 

*© Copyright 2007 Parisha Online. All Rights Reserved.

 

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always. -Oprah Winfrey

At some point in our lives, and probably more accurately at several points in our lives, we have one of those “That’s IT!” moments.

I had one today.

Successful network marketing is really about following a formula, and persistency.  So is success in any form of sales. Actually, that’s pretty much a benchmark for success in anything.

If you want to be successful you have to follow the instructions and do so enough times in order to “get it right.” It’s like becoming a home-run hitter in baseball. You gotta step up to the plate and swing. The more you swing, the more you’ll miss BUT the more you will eventually connect and get the hits and yes, the home runs.

Babe Ruth had 1330 strike outs…and 714 Home Runs.

Reggie Jackson had 2597 career strike outs…and 563 Home Runs.

What’s my point? Can’t connect if you don’t “step up.”

Today I sat in a restaurant waiting for someone to show up who didn’t. that’s not so unusual. People don’t always honor their appointments. BUT the real problem was that that was the only appointment I had for the day.

I got out a pad of paper and wrote out 7 cities where I wanted to expand my business, based on having acquaintances or relatives there.

I left the restaurant and went back to my place and started CALLING people in three of those cities – even though it was already 4:30 pm where I was. I kept moving west as the time in each zone got to 5 pm. And I made connections!

Tonight at 9 pm I hosted a prospect to an informational call and afterward introduced him to one of my upline coaches. Afterward I called my coach back and we discussed the next step for him and other strategies for my expansion. We finished up around 10 pm.

Today I went up to bat a number of times and was successful. I “struck out” at the restaurant, but I connected on the new prospects in different states. I also made an adjustment of seeking to “recruit up” – go to people more successful than myself, rather than those with less. Funny thin happened when I made my introductions – they “got it.”

I got sent home from work after only 4-plus-some hours because “labor was up” (statistics = cost to owner). Then my appointment didn’t show. Then I came back and made the decision to make a change.

“This isn’t working” turned into “I gotta make this work.”

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha in her business coaching role with us has countless times reminded us to “up your failure rate” in order to achieve success. She is also an advocate of action = results.

I took action today. And I got positive results. Now I gotta go for persistency. Stay tuned. –Deborah Adler

‎“As we are propelled into transformation, we must master our thoughts and mind. We will need to push past our comfort levels and move to higher ground. Our passions and courage will push us past old fears and resistance.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

God has a wonderful sense of humor! I walked into Pa’Ris’Ha Talyor’s office in the Center for Human Development in Cleveland twenty five years ago, filled with chagrin that after having gone to listen to other “teachers” in the fields of personal, professional and spiritual growth, I had heard nothing so profound and so pure as the Elder’s Wisdoms she shared from her traditional roots. We laughed that day, and have done so on numerous times since recalling my exasperated declaration of discovery!

Tonight I found myself smiling once again as I listened to an excellent coaching session from my network marketing upline leader that was essentially a recasting of the coaching I and a team of others have received numerous times down through the years from Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha pursuant to building personal business ventures as entrepreneurs.

The wisdom is simple. Here’s a few highlights:

“Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan”

In evaluating daily and weekly activity, here are some indicators to consider –

1. In honest reflection, how was my week (day)?

2. Did I complete the actions I said I was going to do?

3. Did I stretch?

4. Did I grow?

5. Was I focused on the right activities and the right people?

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has shared a simple benchmark from hr Grandmother:

“Does it grow corn?”

In other words, is the activity I’m engaged in one that will produce results. Will it bring my desired outcome into fruition? Is it the best activity for the time in which I’m doing it? In sales, the time to make calls is when businesses are open, or people are available. Emails, paper organization, etc. can best be done in “non-productive” hours, rather than take up precious contact time.

Energy is the essence of life. Every day you decide how you’re going to use it by knowing what you want and what it takes to reach that goal, and by maintaining focus. -Oprah Winfrey

When evaluating the true progress of your plan, here’s a simple but effective test:

1. What is not working in your business?

2. What corrective action do you need to take in order to change that?

The focus here is on self-discovery. If I’m looking at my own progress, I need to be honest, without being self-castigating. If I’m coaching a team member or assisting an associate as a reflection, my role is simply to ask the question from the place of the Observer and let that individual come up with their own answers. That leads to self-empowerment, which will make the “course correction” more readily embraceable.

‎“If you are not failing on an hourly and daily basis you are not trying to grow or move forward.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

I shared in an earlier post about Grandmother’s analogy of the airplane pilot needing to make course corrections in order to reach their destination. (ref). Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha also often utilizes a strategy of action built around the concept “Mis-take; Re-take.”

When we embrace “failing forward” we take what hasn’t worked in stride as part of the learning process and then make the necessary “course corrections” or “re-take” that opens the way for a different and potentially better, more effective outcome.

‎“Making adjustments as we go and covering as much as we can in any instant is still not likely to prevent failure here and there. So you were wrong. Now do you die? Is it fatal? No! You re-take the whole thing and move forward.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

We are most successful when we are constantly measuring the effectiveness of our plan. That means perpetual evaluation. Evaluation is not about criticism, but rather about determining the “value” of what has taken place.

‎“Learning is dealing with failure. Growing is maximizing our failures.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

 

-Deborah Adler

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

I’m working with a personal evaluation system that I received from my network marketing Team Leader. It’s part of a weekly leadership call that I’m taking part in as I make my 90-day run for a promotion. The information comes from R. Schefren and talks about “How to Make 2011 Your Best Year Yet.”

Coach Parisha Taylor, known to some (including myself) as Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, always encouraged those of us working with her to learn about ourselves through network marketing. It’s the total business and personal development project, really. I find the exercise below very much in line with what she has shared with us regarding taking stock of our successes and failures – and how to learn from both an move forward to create greater success in our business ventures, our volunteer activities, and all aspects of our personal and spiritual lives.

“As you become more clear about who you really are, you’ll be better able to decide what is best for you – the first time around.” –Oprah Winfrey

Here are five questions to answer:

1. What were your greatest accomplishments last year?

2. What were your greatest disappointments last year?

3.  How did you limit yourself last year, and how can you remove those limits in the coming year?

4. What did you learn from your answers to the first three questions?

5. How can you use this information to make the coming year your best year yet?

In addition to listing answers to Questions 1 and 2, we’re encouraged to go back and write out “take-aways” – conclusions or summaries from what we’ve written

I found this exercise extremely helpful in helping to pinpoint my activity – and in some cases, lack of it – regarding my business. But it also gave me a way to quantify that information, rather than personalize it in terms of “good” or “bad.”  It’s a basic inventory that is helping me shape my strategy for being more successful in my business in 2011.

Coach Parisha Taylor stresses journaling to get a clear picture of what we want, and why. The more specific we can be, the greater the probability of actualizing those goals.

By taking an honest look at out previous year’s performance we can make whatever “course corrections” are necessary to yield more desirable results and make sure we re-create that which delivered profound success. Either way, we have the opportunity to “begin anew” and “become more” at any time.

“Whatever you fill in your day planners and until you make and set your goals, the “time” is open and possibilities are unending! So you can begin new and more profound in truth and powerful postulates now. You can get more in life, if you become more.” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor

 

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

“If you are not failing on an hourly and daily basis you are not trying to grow or move forward.” – Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor *

I have often heard Coach Parisha Taylor remind those us who were not obtaining our desires results, of the necessity to be willing to “up your failure rate 300 percent!.”

This has particular meaning for those in sales, or network marketing, where the law of large numbers is what success is all about.

EXPOSURE is the name of the game. My job is to get the information to as many prospects as possible. I can’t control how they receive it or whether or not they eventually get it. My job is to EXPOSE the Prospect to the Information.

This brings to mind a saying from the 12-Step Recovery programs: “Let Go and Let God” In other words, if I do my job – getting the information out there in the proper way, then the results will be taken care of by a larger picture than just my personal wants and desires.

When I operate from a sincere place of service and helping others – my success rate goes up, for sure. But I’m still required to commit to the numbers and know that I’m going to hear “no” possibly more often in my day than I’m going to hear “yes.”

“This is not about setting out to fail. It is about knowing the reality that as you move forward with what you know in any given moment you are most likely to learn what you did not know when you began!” –Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor *

Each time I experience “failure” I learn from the outcome. Maybe I gain insight about a nuance in speech or gesture. Maybe I learn something more about my product or service through a question asked. Maybe I just get one of those “no’s” out of the way – on my way to the next sale. Whatever the case, whether if I run towards failure or run from it will determine the amount of wisdom gained. If I run from it, I will most certainly never gain any ground, never succeed – in business, or in life.

We’ve all heard the story of the lion and the gazelle awakening to a new day on the Serenghetti Plain. Each knows that by the end of the day, they may either be eaten, go free or go hungry. Either way, they both will have to run for their lives!

“Good luck is opportunity meeting preparedness.”
— Deepak Chopra

 

-Deborah Adler

*From Financial Literacy Series, An Enterprise Venture. © 2004 Pa’Ris’Ha Taylor. All rights reserved.

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quoted material remains the property of the original authors.)

While listening to one of several conference calls today, I was inspired by the words of one of my company’s Millionaire Club members. He was sharing his excitement about the coming year and what he was anticipating in terms of growing his own business.

“Give me a person who doesn’t believe and I’ll give you a person who doesn’t achieve.”

Then he went on to voice a truth I have experienced many times over in my work with my spiritual mentor and Elder, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, and that is “You attract what you expect.”

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey

How do we live the life of our dreams? By knowing that we deserve them. By understanding that we are Loved. We are Children of God; Co-Creators with God-Creator-The Source.

In 1902 Sir John Ambrose Fleming, a physicist and electrical engineer, referenced “an unquenchable energy of attraction” relative to the formation of matter and “every completed manifestation, of whatever kind and on whatever scale.” According to Fleming, this “energy of attraction” causes objects to “steadily increase in power and definiteness of purpose, until the process of growth is completed and the matured form stands out as an accomplished fact.”

“Definiteness of purpose” can also be described as “focus with a specific intention.” The more one is “frequency specific” in the visioning process of their goals, the greater the likelihood of the desired outcome.

Definiteness of purpose also implies strength of conviction. We’re not talking about someone’s “hope” here. Don’t be fooled by the term “dreams.” We’re talking about living to the fullest of one’s potential – the capability each of us possess as the result of our natural talents.

We all come into this life with Birth Talents. Creativity, a beautiful voice, a gift for listening, a great cook – those are all examples. But so is capability, persistence, compassion. We can tend to overlook our natural gifts because – well, they’re natural. We might just take them for granted, not realizing they are gifts.

To live purposefully is the ultimate goal. We trade time for experience, as Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha often reminds us. If we embrace that we are deserving of the best in life, we will achieve it.

“BE, OBSERVE, DECIDE who and what your role in this grand Drama is. Life is an Adventure Live fully and make impact.” – Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha

 

 ©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved.

“If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way
you think”. – Oprah Winfrey

Some folks just really don’t appreciate “positive thinkers.” I know – I’ve heard from some of them after writing my blog posts! LOL!

But that’s okay. I think they assume that people who speak to the value of the power of our thoughts and words to shape our life experience think we are a bunch of fruity Pollyanas.

Actually, the people I know who are currently creating their lives out of their dreams and ambitions have seen their fair – and in some cases seemingly “unfair” – share of hard knocks in life. Tough “breaks” – failures – tragedy.

Whiners cry “foul” and constantly complain about the tide being against them.

Winners take the High Road. It’s NOT about never stumbling or grumbling or falling down. But Winners take what comes in stride and KEEP GOING. They don’t get bogged down. They don’t dwell in the obstacles, they get past them.

Winners practice appreciation. I’ve learned from my business and spiritual mentor and Elder of 25 years, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, to look at what the word “appreciation” really means. It means to increase in value. So when we appreciate people, events and experiences in our lives, we invite more to appreciate.

We can get mired in the details or propelled by the overall view and outcome, all of which we determine by our thoughts and perceptions.

I have come to understand that we are not humans learning to be “spirit” while here on earth, but Spirit learning about being Human. We are all extensions of God-Creator-The  Source experiencing Creation through our bodily senses. Sometimes we can go “out-of-body” and re-experience the truth of who and what we are – Spirit. But I think that’s just a helpful reminder for us to not get lost in the physicality of third dimensional existence.

The “day-to-day” details of life can seem to close in on us if we let them. When we’re busy with Mind-Child, we don’t take time to “smell the roses.” Since we’re not really sure those roses exist anywhere else – they’re gifts for us to behold here and now!

“We feel happy when we have good intentions, and it’s a key to our days successes, but much too often all the great intentions get lost in the mind-child’s chatter and pathways* of what some call reality or necessities of living, while we do not catch or see that Creator is with us and talking to us in one thousand beautiful things!! Ahh…Beloveds so much slips away unnoticed….” -Pa’Ris’Ha

*pathways-habitual thinking and beliefs.

It takes repetitive action and vigilance to change the way our perceptions – positive thinking, staying in an attitude of gratitude, but the rewards are worth the effort.

Here’s a practice that has been shared by business coach Parisha Taylor, also known as Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha:

“Begin your day with a focused moment, sit up as you awaken and think of four things that you feel grateful for, two people you appreciate in your life, and speak aloud good of yourself……

“Say, ‘May my eyes see one thousand beautiful things, and my hands touch one hundred sacred things!’

“Now the brain is in flow with intent. Repeat throughout the day as often as needed in celebration of recognition and having an ‘Aha!’ moment when you did catch the meaningful things of your day!

“Want success? Just count the good things of each day and give grateful acknowledgement that you have allowed it to be part of your day!” – Pa’Ris’Ha

 

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All original quoted material remains the sole property of the original authors.)