In my own experience, I found that an unrelenting drive is the key to extraordinary success.  Living, breathing, bleeding and crying that which you do, will take you to a place in your business or career, earned only by a chosen few.  It is for this reason you may find many business coaches, telling their clients to get involved in a business or venture that they really love.  Only with this, can anyone withstand the “roller coaster ride” of ups and downs inherit of any business endeavor.  In my many years as an entrepreneur (all of them to be exact) I strove to be the best in my field.  Tapping into my own unrelenting drive, I pushed myself to maintain a high level of productivity and strived to be better and better.  Perhaps I should admit to a tinge of stubbornness as a key ingredient in this recipe for exceptional success.

I have seen this rare quality in only a few of the associates I have worked with over the years.  I find myself attracted to their drive just as I’m invigorated by my own pursuit of excellence.  Many of them I am proud to say, have continued to go on to become multi-millionaires themselves, continuing to push and push themselves with an attitude that does not allow them to surrender to the pressures of the observing world.

It’s commonly believed successful people are of a different culture; one which the rest of the world refers to as “over-achievers”.  Often, they also believe entrepreneurs just got lucky or were born different or rich, or are just an over-night success.  To which I must reply; “My current venture, as one of the largest developers in Costa Rica, took me 20 years of over-night successes”.  Leading me to my fascination with the success of many actors and actresses, whom, when I research their careers, find that they have been obscurely on the movie scene for years and years, only to finally make it big and be ‘insulted’ by the title of “over-night success”.

Each entrepreneur has their own “Make it Big” success story fueled by a raging fire within, which can rarely be extinguished by anything, save self-doubt.  It burns boldly inside with the strength to shine like a beacon of courage in the darkest of times. It is a torch of hope that guides and protects us on our journey into the unknown.

With the shaky economy situation that the United States is currently experiencing, it has everyone hanging on to their money with a tight fist. The spending habits of individuals have become more managed and people are being quite frugal with their hard earned dollars these days. All of this is because we have seen the effects that the economy’s financial crisis has had on employment, businesses, corporations, home foreclosures, the demand for real estate, and the automotive industry, among various other things. However, another thing that has been affected by the unsteady economy situation is the amount of individuals who are traveling.

In the past, traveling was very popular among residents all over the United States.  However, since the financial crisis has come upon us, traveling is less crowded these days. There are numerous different reasons that keep individuals from catching the travel bug.

And the reasons why individuals are not traveling as much or as far are:

The priority to save money

Spending money effectively and efficiently

Gas Prices

Limited Funds

Fear of uncertainty

These are just a few of the many reasons that keep people from traveling. The ill standing of the economy is mostly to blame for this. Individuals know that their jobs may not be as solid and as secure as they had previously thought, which has encouraged them to spend less on unnecessary expenses and begin savings just in case some tragic event would occur. A tragic event is something such as a layoff from their place of employment.

Individuals also know that in a time of financial crisis, they should make sure they are spending their money wisely and getting the biggest bang for their buck. Gas prices have been a huge turn off for travelers. The citizens of the United States have watched gasoline prices skyrocket and then teeter back and forth from reasonable to outrageous prices. At one point, Americans witnessed gas prices increase to a jaw dropping four dollars and something a gallon, which was only a few cents away from being five dollars per gallon.

This was a huge increase in gas prices, seeing as how the average gas price was around $1.09 back in 1999. Back in 1999, gas prices were no more expensive than $1.17 per gallon, which was considered a little steep back then.

Another reason that holds individuals back from traveling as much or as far is because of their limited funds. If an employee was saved from being laid off from their job, chances are that they probably received a significant cut in their salary or in their amount of hours. This means that they are living on limited funds, which can put quite the damper on an individual’s life when they have become comfortable living on a certain amount of income. These are some of the major reasons that keep people from catching the travel bug and going on vacations, especially since vacationing is not a life necessity. It was a luxury that can not be enjoyed as frequently due to the unpredictability of the economy.

Since the majority of my readers are entrepreneurs, my strongest advice on this subject is the last item in the above list; Fear of uncertainty.  This type of fear can and will actually paralyze you from literally taking any kind of action, guaranteeing the certain slow death of your business.  You must continue to move forward with your business, both in operations AND marketing. Perhaps slower and with more caution and due diligence, but forward nevertheless, because as soon as you stop, you will start to die.  Many of my consulting clients have come to me with their new found fears and we work through them quickly, to insure they are making decisions based on logic and not fear.  This is critical, because once the fear based decisions take over, your business and marketing plans will be all over the place like the silver ball in a pinball machine (hmmm, I think I’m showing my age).

All for now

What many began to realize through this process, is the secret was to create a crystal clear vision of the end result of the project, viewed through every imaginable angle. No matter how many times they are told; “you’re doing it the wrong way, give up, you’re crazy for trying, or to just throw in the towel, the intensity of their vision just wouldn’t allow it. As a matter of fact, most became more determined in their pursuit of their goal and relentless in the quest to become the best. As most continued to persevere towards their unique visions, the passions grew and grew, ultimately shunning any doubts and realizing once again, a person could accomplish anything that they could envision in their mind.

When I realized that there were such a vast number of people who have never been exposed to this type of intense thinking, I began to seek some of these people out and ask why or why not they pursued their dreams. It was the information gleaned in these conversations that inspired my book “Rebuilt with Purpose, Get Ready for the Ride of Your Life!” I found many simply lacked the knowledge to create the vision and the ability to believe in something greater than themselves. It was only this lack of knowledge that more was possible that stood in their way of creating a powerful vision.

Through the difficult times as well as the successful ones, the power of a true vision will never falter. It becomes a beacon of hope and strength that lights the path in tiring times. It grows to become an incredible source of pride, not only for themselves, but for all involved. A grand vision can easily become a reality with the right attitude and getting the right team around it. Keeping this attitude sharp and on task is covered here and I will stay on top of many of the personal development techniques available today. Some easy, some hard, but nevertheless available to anyone who has the frame of mind to make a difference.

I am always amazed when people come up to me or other successful entrepreneurs and comment on our successes, articles, speeches and projects, but I always laugh when they ask how such accomplishments happen so fast. The most common answer; “It took 20 years to be an overnight sensation.” It requires a lot of hard work and dedication to create the masterpieces of our visions, perhaps they don’t materialize in the exact form of their original design, but definitely very close. So always remember that big dreams require big heart, big commitment and an absolute crystal clear vision. And if done correctly, it will always return big gains and immense personal satisfaction.

According to the 2009 Norton Online Living Report, kids are spending an average of 39 hours a month on the internet, nearly twice as much as their parents think they spend, and 76% of U.S. teens, ages 13-17 “constantly” or “frequently” visit social networking sites. Further, Norton reports that 4 in 10 teens, ages 13-17, have received an online request for personal information and 16% of U.S. children have been approached online by a stranger.

Social networking is a part of everyday life for most kids, and while providing a great platform for communication, self-expression, and engagement, most online communities are also magnets for internet predators, phishing scams, and cyberbullying. So what can you do to protect your kids online without taking away their virtual social life? One answer is Yoursphere. Founded by a concerned mom, Mary Kay Hoal, this kids-only social community provides all the benefits of an online social network without all the hazards. For a small fee of just $3.35/month, your kids can safely engage knowing all members have been vetted through an identity verification process in order to keep sex offenders out.

In addition, Yoursphere takes additional steps to put members’ safety first by protecting their privacy, limiting membership to ages 18 and under, and employing a dedicated safety task force made up of law enforcement officials to protect and serve its membership. Yoursphere’s unprecedented commitment to Internet security serves one goal: to keep your children safe. The result? A secure, dynamic, and rewarding online home where your kids can feel free to be themselves.

If you have kids and are in the same place as described above, then take a look at some options.  Good parenting starts with you.  ISPs, teachers, coaches, neighbors , etc. are their for support and assistance to “help” you raise your kids, but can not be relied on to do it for you.  I plan on writingmore about this in the next few weeks.

Yes, most of my posts are aimed at personal development and the state of affairs in our culture, but today I want to discuss an incredible show I saw this week, Earth 2100.  For those of you who didn’t get a chance to see it on ABC, go to their website and catch some glimpses into the show.

When I first started watching it, I was not sure whether I really liked the approach they took to telling the story.  I was wrong.  It was a very creative way to keep me from falling into the trance of watching a “TV Show” or “Movie” and kept in the present to the information that was being shared.

Along with the doom and gloom was the amazing job we have done to create technologies to present such an outcome.  But the thing that really caught me was that so much of this is based on economics!  Money?  How can we as a species, that one species not hundreds separated by borders, allow our governments and large corporations let the Earth be devastated by climatic global change because it costs too much?  I am assuming they understand that they too cannot escape the effects of climate change, lost crops, food shortages, drought, rising oceans, famine, disease and so much more.  Profits will not buy them out of this.

I think we really need to ask ourselves and our individual governments; “What needs to be done?” Demanding that they begin working together to find the solutions to these global problems and take action.  If they can’t get around the financial dilemma, then perhaps they can decide on a percentage of each country’s gross national budget to be set aside into a united world technology fund that is used to start making the needed changes throughout the world.

We are a species that waits until we no longer have a choice before we move on a solution.  WHAT WILL BE THE EVENT THAT FORCES OUR HAND?  WILL IT BE TOO LATE WHEN WE REALIZE FINALLY TAKE ACTION?

Sometimes this requires the help of a close friend or associate who you trust to be honest with you. From there comes a response to the second part of this process, which of course, is determined by your own individual answer. What needs to be done next? What am I willing to do to get it done? What can you do now, to prepare yourself for this possible quandary? Well that depends on what the problem turns out to be. I can tell you a few things I’ve seen people do to breakthrough some of their personal barriers;

• An associate got over his shyness to meet new people by stripping naked on a stage in front of 500 people. He succeeded, but caught a cold.

• Another associate who had trouble pushing himself, was given a list of items he had to obtain, without purchasing them, in 60 minutes and proceeded to ask every single person he came across, if they had the item or knew where he could find it. He succeeded, later was promoted in his company.

• A young lady I know had a terrible fear of flying. She needed to be somewhere very important and a plane was her only option for the time frame she was limited too. She bit her lip and flew. She found something that was bigger than her fear and now she fly’s regularly.

• Watch “The Apprentice” and you’ll see similar challenges. At the same time, you will also see a few of their own personal barriers surface.

These are small examples of the lengths successful people will go to, not just to succeed, but to insure that their demon doesn’t rear its head at that critical time, just when they’re ready to push through. You will see, it’s not a matter of thinking you can do it, it’s knowing it!

Integrity is so often weakened on many levels, from the little white lie of the promise of a phone call never to be returned to the withholding of information and the last devious lie.  Yes, these are considered minor infractions in most people’s opinion, yet they can be compared to the small trickle of water that slowly erodes the foundation of your home.  Drop by drop, lie by little lie, the erosion continues until you are forced to repair, tear out and rebuild or move away.

But where does this dangerous trickle lead to?  Generally, it takes us in the direction of deceit and despair for many, all in the name of business.  We are reminded everyday on gangster movies when the line “Nothing personal Vinnie, it’s just business.” is used. This hypocrisy reigns supreme in the world of business and in my opinion, is one of the primary causes for the state of the world.

1. I see people justify their actions to ease their own conscious, many times to the point that they believe the fabrication themselves.

So you will come across this question on a daily basis, “Do I maintain my integrity in this matter or sacrifice my standards for this particular outcome?”   While I believe there is just one answer, you may be surprised at the conversation you have with yourself while trying to answer the question.  Then, the conversation that follows will most likely be that of justifying the first answer.  To this I will say, if you find yourself justifying anything, your answer to the first question probably needs to be re-evaluated.

1. Small suggestions of what and how something should be said or done can be made without sacrificing your position.

This is a steady path that will lead you to a larger life than you can possibly imagine.  It leads to long term steady relationships, both at work and at home.  The first step, no matter how small is always the biggest.

The strain that the struggling economy has put on families across the United States is very hard. Unfortunately, the strain has become so hard in a lot of families that the family has fallen apart and decided to part ways. There are numerous different reasons why this happened and many times these actions are for the sake of the family. The statistics As of today, the amount of individuals that are married is 7.5% among every one thousand people. However, the divorce rate is 3.6% among every one thousand people. Since the struggling of the economy, many families have found it hard to make it by. For instance, a lot of divorces have been caused by the struggling economy because, perhaps, the male of the family was the higher paid individual. Therefore, the male was the sole provider in that household.

Since the economy has worsened and is continuing to do so, he was laid off from his job which is now leaving him unemployed and unable to find another full time job. This means that the female of the marriage is being depended upon as the sole provider. A lot of times this causes a huge strain on the marriage and ultimately becomes too much for the family to deal with. A lot of families have also gotten divorced in order to receive financial assistance or assistance through various other government programs. For instance, let’s say a mother could receive insurance through the state she is residing in for her dependent sick adolescent child if it was based on her income alone, since her income is rather low. The father in the family makes about the same amount of money, which disqualifies them from receiving any assistance with their child’s persistent illness.

It may be that even with their combined household income they are unable to purchase an insurance plan and neither of their employers offers insurance. In this case, a lot of families decide to divorce in order to receive these sorts of government and state assistant programs. The issue is worsening The amount of divorces has surely increased since the economy has become unstable. In fact, it seems like each time the economy gets a little worse the amount of divorces start to increase.

The unstable economy is putting a strain on families all over the nation. Unfortunately, not all of the families will make it out of this economical struggle with their family or their marriage still intact. In some cases, it is just too hard for families to cope with or to get through everyday life.

Most individuals have this uncertainty of whether their jobs will last through this economic struggle, which has people being more conscious of their spending. For instance, most people are terrified to step into a long term contract of purchasing a home when there are so many individuals who are losing their homes due to the inability to pay their monthly mortgage payment. When you are unsure of whether or not your job will be there for you to go to tomorrow, buying a new house is the furthest thing on your mind.

The recent crash

This past September the amount of building permits that were purchased in order to start construction on a new home sank from the previous amount of 2.22 million to an amount of 2.07 million. This was the second weakest amount since the year of 2005. The housing market is definitely starting to take an obvious slow down since previous years. This can be mostly blamed on the economic struggle that the United States is currently battling.

During the time frame of October through December of 2007, the foreclosure amount set a record at .83 percent. Prior to then in the months of July through September, the rate had been at .78 percent. During 2007, the amount of individuals who were considered delinquent on their mortgage payments, which means that they were thirty days past due or more, was 5.82 percent. This is the highest percentage of delinquent mortgage accounts that the United States has seen since the year of 1985.

But why?

The lack of full time jobs and the excessive rate of layoffs and business shut downs have caused a domino effect in the economy. Individuals begin losing their jobs, then they become behind on their mortgage payment, and then their home goes in to foreclosure. It is no wonder why the housing market has almost come to a stand still, individuals have either already been effected by foreclosure or become behind on their payments or they will not enter a purchase agreement in fear that they will end up in the same scenario.

Fortunately at this very moment, the amount of foreclosures is at a stand still. With the current plea bargains with homeowners that the government is attempting to work about the amount is maintaining itself. Mortgage companies are working to lower payments and interest and work out payment plans for individuals who are behind on their payments in order to help them keep their home. Hopefully, with these sorts of programs we will be able to put a halt on home foreclosures.

Unfortunately, these are not the only things that the struggling economy has caused. Many individuals have suffered the devastating loss of their job. And the unemployment rates are astronomical these days.

Now versus then

The unemployment rates now compared to years ago are soaring and they are continuing to do so. In fact, the unemployment rate has reached the highest percentage in more than sixteen years. The amount of individuals who are currently unemployed throughout the United States has reached a staggering 8.5%. This percentage only counts individuals who were previously employed and who got laid off or lost their job due to the closing of their place of employment.

It is an unfortunate fact that there are millions of Americans who are also without jobs due to the devastating economy because they were unable to find employment. It’s rare to find a full time job these days because employers are trying to limit spending. Many have cut down their employees already in order to cut down the amount they are paying for payroll each year. So the amount of individuals who could not find a job due to the struggling economy is included in what is called a U 3 rate.

The current situation

Since March of 2009, the amount of unemployed individuals has increased by leaps and bounds which is what has caused the unemployment rate to stand at the 8.5% currently. During the beginning of March, the unemployment rate was 8.1%, but has since rose to 8.5% in just that short amount of time. It is reported that there have been about 5.1 million jobs that have been lost, with about two thirds or 3.3 million of those job losses occurring within the previous five months.

As you can see, the struggling economy is taking a toll on everyone. Every family is affected by this unemployment rate somehow. The scariest thing about the struggling economy and the toll it is taking on employment is that it is continuing to rise and it is doing so quickly. The unemployment rate during the great depression was reported to be around twenty five percent. This economic crisis has people wondering how much longer it will be before we see those sort of numbers again. Hopefully, we will be able to avoid that percentage of unemployment and create a turnaround. Perhaps all of the bail out funds will provide the U.S. with the push it needs to get out of its economical rut.