What's Driving you?

Have you ever heard stories about people who win the lottery and then a few months or years later they are completely broke? Or about people who enter college and change their majors three, five or ten times? What about the people who jump from job to job, or marriage to marriage? Ever wonder why some folks shoot right to the top while others struggle?

What's going on here? What's the common thread?

The answer is: values. More specifically: core values--those seemingly intangible forces that drive our every behavior. We all have them. And when you're aware of what they are and you consciously align your actions with your values you'll soon discover why I say:

"When commitment and purpose come together, there is abundance"

Those around you will say things like "He's so lucky" or "She's got it all together". It is from this
place of commitment and purpose that your business will grow, because who you are being is
attractive. People love to be around others who have an inner sense of peace and express it in their ways of being, doing and having.

Most people are clueless as to what their core values are. They seem content in jobs or situations
they say they dislike. They're more focused on--and quick to tell you--what they "don't want," which usually is exactly what they have. For example, when you ask new reps what their goals are you'll frequently hear: "I don't want to be broke" or "I don't want to commute" and the famous "I just want to pay off my debt." When taking a look at their life, guess what you see: all of those things. Thoreau calls this "living lives of quiet desperation."

So what is the solution here, doctor?

The success that my wife and I enjoy in our business and our life is a direct result of time we
invested into discovering our individual and collective core values. We follow a simple process that centers around four key areas:

Physical
We all have physical goals relating to how we look and we feel. We have goals for physical items like houses, cars, toys and amounts of money we desire to earn.

Intellectual
We all have a goal for education level, both formal and informal. Some of us have goals to become an expert in one particular area, for example network marketing or learning how to inspire, engage and entertain others. This area includes acquisition of degrees or certificates, reading books and joining learning organizations.

Emotional
We all want to feel good on multiple levels: about ourselves and our partners; with our families and those we associate with. We want to feel good about the choices we make. We want to feel
energized, alive, passionate or any of the other 3,000 positive emotions known to man.

Spiritual
This area is very personal and takes on many different meanings both in and out of formal religious context. Explore this for yourself.

Are you ready to discover your core values?

Start with pen and paper in a quiet place, write the acronym P. I. E. S.™ and list the items or goals for each area-- Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual.

Avoid the tendency to pre-judge, rate or timeline them. Once you have a list for each area, put your paper aside and return to it twenty-four hours later. Then complete the list. You might repeat this step several times over the next days; then periodically over time as your business grows and your life changes.

Next, notice any patterns. For example, in the physical area you might have listed manicure, hair
cut, new clothes, liposuction, join health club. The underlying core value here might be "to look
good." Be aware that "to look good" might overlap with the intellectual area because for some
people, being smart equals looking good in the eyes of others.

We've done this with hundreds of couples and thousands of people for the last two years and found that when the process is complete each person typically has four to six core values that drive the majority of their behavior. Being aware of those values is a necessary and crucial component to the process of improving your life. It is critical to become conscious of why you do the things you do because from that place you can live with intention and ultimately create your destiny.

Once we've established our core values, we create a "family plan." By design, a business plan must fit into your "family plan". Your networking business can fit into your life. Rather than making life the reason you can't do this business, make your life the reason you can and will do this business.

Most people start their business part-time. They still have their regular jobs, and of course their
family life is happening Grandpa--needing care, having to move or travel to visit family members. These things happen every day for everybody.

We all have the same twenty-four hours a day. The question is, why do some people make ten
million in a year, and some make only ten thousand? The answer lies in how they respond to life
happening around them. And how they respond is determined by their core values.