Fall Forward to Prosperity

Your prosperous ideas are so fragile. They are quiet, powerful packages containing unlimited opportunity.

A single opportunity, the smallest thought… the decision you make on what to do with the thought can either take you closer to your goal or leave you drifting further from it.

The idea pops into your head and can change your life, or it can be discarded, or rejected in a fraction of a second.

Each moment you exist is a moment of choice. The next time an idea pops into your head, care for it like a newborn. Protect it. Nourish it. Don’t reject it just because it doesn’t become an adult in a day.

Enjoy the dream of what it could become. Honor it. An idea is God’s way of bringing you solutions to your problems. At times they seem absurd, but they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t possible (and intended) for YOU.

Don’t worry about making mistakes so much that you remain paralyzed. When making a decision, do as Paul Martinelli teaches: ask if it is in line with your Purpose, and ask if it will get you closer to your goal. If the answer is yes to both, then go for it. Don’t be afraid of falling, because everyone will fall sometimes. The question is, are you falling forward or backward?

Fall forward, and keep on keeping on.

How Rude I Was (Or Was I?)

Prosperity is built on faith. It requires thinking truth in spite of appearances and making decisions based on the images of one’s dreams, over and above the state of perceived reality. The truth is that there is only abundance in this world. However, perceptions often get in the way of individuals being able to see that truth.

Let me share a recent experience to illustrate:

One Saturday night my husband and I returned home late from an event. As usual, we each went to our desks to check email one last time before hitting the sack. Coincidentally, his office was directly below mine, so sometimes I just stomped on the floor if I needed him to call me (see, outbound calls from my desk took extra long to connect, and it was just faster to stomp). On the other hand, when he needed to get a hold of me, he just called my desk phone (because his outbound calls connected quickly as they should).

Well, that night I was extra tired and went to sleep long before he was done. At midnight or so, I heard my office phone ring. I knew Trevan was still up, and he obviously thought I was still in my office, too. So as not to keep him waiting and wondering, I jumped up, ran into my office, picked up the phone before it could go to voice mail, and immediately said, “I’m not still up…”

There was silence on the phone and then a click.

It was at that point that I realized the person on the other end was not Trevan, but some innocent caller trying to get some help from ThoughtsAlive.com. I had answered my business line at midnight in a terribly unprofessional way, and probably made the person on the other line feel confused, embarrassed and horrible.

Even worse, it was some unknown person of a different culture who called from a country on the other side of the planet, according to the country code on my caller ID.

I have since tried to call back to apologize and explain, but have yet been unsuccessful… getting a failed connection, or busy signal. So part of the reason for this article is to say how sorry I am for being rude, in case the caller has opportunity to read this message.

As I went back to sleep, I couldn’t help but put myself in the person’s shoes and wonder how they must have felt. It can be so intimidating to call someone you’ve never met, even when the person answers politely with a very sunny, “Hello!”

(Case in point: I remember being a newlywed, nervous to call even the utility company, because I was afraid I’d stammer, forget why I was calling and maybe mess something up... who knows what I could have messed up, but those were still my fears...)

So here was someone who pays good money to make a long distance international call, who calls for a reason, perhaps to get some help with an order or something, and I answer with “I’m not still up…”!

How rude.

Well, isn’t it interesting that “appearances” did not accurately represent the “truth?”

Let’s analyze the “truth” vs “appearances” here.

Fact: the phone rings

My Assumption: Trevan is calling me from downstairs

Fact: I pick up the phone and say, “I’m not still up.”

Client’s Assumption: I am speaking to the client, expressing annoyance about the late night phone call

My Assumption: I was speaking to Trevan, hurriedly explaining why I hadn’t picked up sooner

Fact: client hangs up

Result: a mess of misunderstandings, and possibly hurt feelings

Lesson: Appearances aren’t always what they seem to be. I would have been happy to speak with a reader at midnight had I known it was a reader who called. The truth: I was (in my mind) speaking to someone else; the appearance: I was annoyed.

So if someone seems rude or unhelpful, you have a choice to assume that they aren’t frustrated with you at all. If they truly are, then you can find out for sure (or get the whole truth) by picturing them as if they are actually reacting to some other concern on their mind, assuming the best, and then inviting additional communication. From this experience I have fresh determination to exert greater effort to respond rather than react when appearances do not seem to be in my favor.

Even if you cannot imagine the truth being anything other than how it appears, release the strain by letting go and trusting that God can and will make something good out of whatever appears to you to be so bad. Then do not retreat. Press on, believing.

When you begin to assume that everything works out for the best for YOU, you’ll respond to apparent setbacks with optimism and understanding, thus yielding more positive results and accelerated progress.

The same principle applies to prosperity. Spend more energy on actions based on the positive results you expect to attain, rather than on reactions to the perceived state of lack you find may yourself in right now. It’s just a perception.

You might be thinking “Yeah, well the bank says I’m broke…” I’m here to tell you that you are richer than you realize. When you can see what I see, you’ll understand what I mean, and start to behave differently too, and when you do, everything changes. It all begins with believing more strongly in what you cannot see: in something that is NOT supported by physical evidence. That’s faith; and faith can move mountains.

If you find what I’m describing to be difficult to do, then all you lack is knowledge about how this process towards increased prosperity really works. When you understand the process, fear, confusion, and uncertainty dissipates and faith prevails.

Let me help you step-by-step to overcome FEAR once and for all, and live with confidence that you can conquer all that life throws your way. Don't put it off any longer. Take that step and experience the breakthrough you've been waiting for. Find out what the FTMF (Family Time & Money Freedom) Home Study Program can do for you right now.

Prosperity Tip: Open your Eyes

Prosperity increases as awareness grows. With your eyes wide open (figuratively speaking), your confidence and faith is strengthened and you set up an attractive force that brings all the good that you need into your life.

Oh, how often I've been consciously aware that I needed to be thinking differently, thinking more faithfully, more confidently... but could not see how. I know how it feels to KNOW that I should be believing in my dreams, but finding myself in a place where I can't remember how. Maybe you know what I mean. If that is where you find yourself right now, this message is for you.

Now, even though there tends to be more conversations among our readers about Jackrabbit Factor (simply because more people have read it), once a person moves on to Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help with Your Money Matters, THAT’S when the lid really comes off and dreams can finally begin to materialize in a bigger way than ever imagined.

After Jackrabbit Factor came out more than two years ago, people began to discover the astonishing message of the other book, Hidden Treasures, and it organically became an Amazon best seller last September. (At least that’s when I finally noticed. I actually don’t know how long it had been there). In fact, it has continued to show up in the “Money and Values” category top 100 regularly for the last four months.

Why?

Because people like you are really starting to find out how effectively it opens your eyes. It opens them even when you don’t think they’re closed. It shows you how to have faith when you don't know, or maybe have simply forgotten.

The information it contains is so ground-breaking, so profound, and so life changing, that if you have read Jackrabbit Factor, you’ll look back on it like it was kindergarten. If I may borrow a phrase from Bob Proctor... I have license to brag because none of it is mine. The message is universal and true, and I am simply passing it along in the clearest, most understandable way I know how.

Unlike most books on the law of attraction, instead of telling you that you need to think positive, or that you just need to believe, it gives you the reason, the evidence you need, that makes believing easy. How would it feel to know with certainty that the thing you need is on its way? How would you like to know why you CAN be so certain?

Furthermore, the law of attraction is only ONE of the seven laws that you must know, and Hidden Treasures covers ALL of them extensively, and more.

Perhaps you’ve heard about it (Hidden Treasures, formerly called Heavenly Help with Money Matters) for years, but never got around to reading it. Now’s the time to finally get answers to the questions you’ve been asking: the questions that maybe nobody else even knows you’re wondering:

“How can I have faith when everything around me is falling apart?”
“How long do I have to wait before my prayers are answered?”
“How can my catastrophe be a good thing?”

Find out right now through the complete, extensive Hidden Treasures Ecourse or alternatively, the powerful but less comprehensive paperbacks, ebooks, and audio formats are available at our bookstore.)

Pick Your Picnic - Prosperity Secret Revealed

John Sims was traveling with an associate. The associate said, "John, aren't you going to put on your seatbelt?"

John replied with his raspy tenor voice, "Why, are we going to get into a crash?"

"No, but seatbelts save lives..."

John retorted abruptly in his usual blunt way, "Seatbelts don't save lives."

"Of course they do! Once I was driving with my family and something told me to make sure everyone was wearing their seatbelts. So we all belted up, and just as we turned a corner, there was another vehicle coming at us in our lane. Even though it was a head-on collision, we all survived because of those seatbelts!"

John was firm, "No, the seatbelts didn't save your life, whatever told you to put them on saved your life."

Probably a decade has passed since I heard John relate that story. Leaving a lasting impression on me, its message has deepened and taken on new meaning. He's right. It wasn't the seatbelts that saved their lives. True, they played a part in the actual physics of keeping the bodies secure during impact, but the credit belongs to the voice of warning. The "life-saving" seatbelts were there during the entire trip. But the timeliness of the prompting, and the man's response to it, changed the would-be tragedy into a miracle.

I am reminded of a game I played in high school. Planning to take some friends to a picnic, my friend and I prepared a tape recorder which described our every move as we traveled from our starting point to the final destination.

When it came time for the event, we told our unsuspecting friends to wait at a payphone until we called them and told them where to find the hidden tape recorder. Our instructions: "Turn it on and follow the directions explicitly!"

At the end of the journey was the picnic fit for a king. But along the way, we followed our friends, incognito. The most hilarious moments came when they tried to mimic what we had done, but in the wrong places. Having accidentally fallen out of step, our friends found that the description of our actions no longer suited their surroundings and, to us, it became absolutely laughable. If they had only known where they were trying to go, they could have improvised and found their own way.

Sometimes we look at others who have reached an admirable destination in their life, and then imitate their same steps in an effort to achieve their results. We listen to their tapes, read their books, and attend their seminars; and then we do our best to follow what they say. While we can learn a great deal from people who have what we want, we must realize that we're not always on the same sidewalk, so to speak, as they were when they began their journey to the picnic. We've had different life experiences and carry with us a different variety of baggage, all of which makes a difference. We need to have the destination clearly in view, so that when someone else's instructions do not work, we are still able to improvise our way to success.

So, how do you identify your picnic? It's so simple that most people discard the idea as unimportant. This is one reason why few ever discover the power behind it. All you have to do is simply DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT.

If you knew you could not fail, what would your goals be? This is actually the toughest part of achieving success; the part that at least ninety-seven percent of the population will never do. Create a description of the success you desire, and commit it to paper. Write it in the form of a gratitude statement as though it has already happened. Then you are entitled to, and can trust the impressions which come to your mind. By doing this, you've done it: you've 'spotted' your picnic table. As you hang on to the vision, you'll know instinctively just how to get to it, because it will be in clear view. Without it committed to paper, your impressions will seem random and you'll struggle to know what to do next. Perhaps you've already felt that way.

Take control of your life, and experience the exhilaration which comes from proceeding methodically toward your worthy ideal. Your success begins with the dream...and happens after you've done your part to enlist the voice of inspiration on your journey. See it in your mind, commit it to paper, and be grateful for it before it's even yours. This puts you in tune with that 'inner voice', and you'll finally know just what to do, and when.

For more on this topic, read The Jackrabbit Factor.

Prosperity Tip: How to KNOW if You'll Reach the Goal

Setting and achieving a goal is as simple as placing an online order. If you perform each step in the order process, you can be certain that the thing you want is on its way.

Suppose you've set a goal to sell 20 widgets during the month of February. I'll compare the online bookstore (where I recently purchased an antique copy of “As a Man Thinketh”) to Life's Distribution System.

1. Decide what you want.
Just as I can't expect the bookstore to send me a book before submitting my request, neither should you expect clients who will support a vague sales goal. Pick the dollar figure you want to reach so that life can deliver the right clients.

2. Put it in Writing.
Before I could place the order for the book, I had to find the right order page for that book. However, before I could find the right order page, I had to type the right key terms into the search bar. Wouldn't it have been absurd if I had entered "not Catcher in the Rye, not anything written by Poe…" in my search for "As a Man Thinketh?” Even if the search feature was smart enough to exclude all of that, how long would it take me to get to the book I want? Precision saves time. Write what you want, and be as precise as you can.

Don’t talk about "getting out of debt" when you really mean that you want "financial freedom." We must choose our search terms carefully so that we can be taken to the right order page of life. You're not looking for the "debt" order page, so quit using that term!

Vague orders bring vague results and so we never see the connection between our requests and what shows up. Too often we're placing careless orders unknowingly, and then wonder why life doesn't go the way we want it to go.

Now, commit to the thing you want by putting it in writing. It’s like entering it into an imaginary search box. It's the fastest way to get to the right order page. Write it in present tense as though it has already happened. For a deeper explanation on this, read The Jackrabbit Factor.

So, maybe your written statement will say, "February 28th, 2008: I have now sold 20 widgets." Getting it in writing takes you to Life's "order page" . . . but you're not done yet. Neither the book, nor the clients are on their way until you've completed the entire order process.

3. Add to Cart.
In my book buying experience, after entering "As a Man Thinketh" in the search tool, it took me to a long list of different books. Some were brand new reprints; some were from the 1980's. I spent some time narrowing them down, until I found the one that I wanted which was more than 100 years old. Then, after identifying my specific choice, I clicked "Add to Cart." This is a logical step; after all, I can't expect the store to ship the book until I have told them precisely which one I want.

This step is comparable to adding detail to your goal statement. You need to spend time creating a more detailed description of the thing you desire. Instead of "February 28th, 2006: I have now sold 20 widgets," you write, "February 28th, 2006: I am so happy and grateful now that I have sold 20 widgets. I am astounded at how easily the clients came into my life. I am grateful that I was able to provide them something of great value that will help them accomplish their objectives for a price that was fair. We are establishing a positive relationship and expect to do more business together in the future."

Do this step, and you have just added your desired thing to the big Cart in the Sky.

4. Enter your shipping address.
After the book was in my shopping cart, I had to tell the store where to send it. This step assigns the book I want to the location where I am. It brings together two key pieces of information into one virtual place. Without this step, the bookstore cannot send me the book because they have no address for the package.

Goal setting is no different. Just as the book and my address had to merge into one database, the thing you want needs to be merged with your personal information, too. Notice that during this step, it isn't the actual book that came together with my actual house; it is simply a representation of the book that came together with a representation of my house.

The same needs to happen with a representation of the thing you want, and a representation of you. How? Picture it done in your mind. See yourself signing those final contracts. With the power of disciplined thoughts, you merge the thing you want, with the person you are. Your mind is the virtual database where it all must come together before the order is filled.

5. Receive Confirmation.
After I filled in my shipping address, it asked for my credit card info. This is where I "pay the price" for the thing I want.

In setting a sales goal, to "pay the price" traditionally refers to "pounding the pavement," "making the phone calls," "pulling late nights," "skipping lunches," etc.

But that's wrong. At least, it's wrong if you really want to prosper.

The last thing required before you receive the order confirmation is to allow yourself to experience the feelings you expect to feel when the goal is reached. It isn't easy to do, but you need to take your visualization exercise just one step further. Here's an example:

You're signing those final contracts, and shaking the customer's hands, and having the warm exchange of good will. Then you feel the elation well up inside your chest, and you escort them out of the room and close the door after they leave, and feel the cool, metal doorknob in your hand, and hear the heavy wooden door click shut, and you walk to your desk and sit down with a big, huge grin on your face, and tip back for a moment, then reach for the phone to call your spouse, and you hear the dial tones, and then you hear he/she answering, "Hello?" and with tears in your eyes, you tell him/her, "I did it! It was a miracle, but I did it! Let's go out for dinner tonight!" And your spouse screams on the other line and can hardly speak, and the kids are chattering in the background, "What? What's going on??"

That's your price. That's it. (Don't watch yourself doing it, BE yourself doing it. Don't be an outsider looking in, be in it where all you see of yourself is your arms on your armrests and your lap in front of you, and your feet way down there.)

If you spend some time generating those kinds of images in your mind, and feel the exhilaration of success, you've done it. You've paid the price. And, as those feelings swell inside of you and as tears really well up in your eyes, that is your confirmation. Printing that receipt is optional by describing your assurance in this moment on paper, so you can look at it later as a hedge against doubt.

Trust Life to keep its promise, and go about your business in peace. No need for frantic rushing around, pushing, forcing; you've already paid the price. Go about your business with a calm assurance that it is already a done deal.

The right clients are on their way and will connect with you naturally as you go about your day to day activities. Spend time with your family. Enjoy a little recreation. Be at peace. In the right time, you'll have a thought to call so-n-so or follow up with someone else. Simply follow the thought. Do what it dictates. This is the final step:

6. Expect it to Come, and Open the Door.
After I made the payment, and I received my confirmation, the book was on its way. I needed only to expect it, watch for it, refrain from canceling it, and answer the door when it arrived.

As for your goal to sell 20 widgets, if you've gone through the entire order process, and received confirmation, expect it, watch for it, refrain from canceling it with unbelief, and when opportunity knocks (because it will), simply answer the door. By faith it comes to you; by action you receive it.

For more help on this topic, begin with The Jackrabbit Factor, then explore the 12-week homestudy course described at ProsperYourFamily.com.