Motivating the masses.

I was sent this from my corporate HQ with tag line of, "Team Motivation: The 40 greatest speeches for making an impact". Enjoy!

Are you going to finish strong?

As I toddled into work this brisk Spokanian morn, I found myself squinting through my shoddily scraped icy windshield into a sea of morning fog that has seemed to envelop this valley every a.m. for the last week or so. My thoughts were floating between the sports talk radio I was listening to, and my sales teams performance this month. It was any other wintry day. As I enter my office my routine is the same, call to life my Dell beast, log into my Aflac websites to see my weekly sales numbers, then turn to my baby, my little nugget of hope, my cyber mattress where our money is hid, my glorious stock portfolio. I have always secretly dreamed of rising to the semi lofty realm of day trader. Wielding my financial muscle as I stock pile millions into my various bank accounts dotting this great land. Alas, my dream is unfulfilled, other priorities keep creeping in (like life).

Being a west coast baby now when I awoke this morn the markets had been open for hours and - gasp - the damage had been done. Nooooo, I screeched as my real time stock ticker looked like a kamikaze nose diver heading for the ground. I know the market has been shifty the last several months and I know everyone has lost at least something. But in my genius head, I thought I was resistant. Several strong investments here or there and my baby had been able to withstand the beating the market has been taking recently. This morning it caught up, a 36% loss and a two day total of 46%.

What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. Life is still good. the market will rebound. Two months from now business will be back to normal. A small hiccup. It is all temporary.

But somethings in life are not temporary. I don't mean this to be a weird of unsympathetic segue (I dig the random parable) but as I was experiencing this silly moment of me losing a little money in the market I was sent this message and video that showed me again what life is all about and what true happiness is and where it comes from.

See Nick Vujicic.

What do you do when you fall down? You get back up. Sometimes in life when you fall down you don’t feel like you don’t have the strength to get back up…

Do you feel like you have hope?
I will try 100 times to get up and if I fail 100 times do think I am ever going to give up?

It is not the end it matters how you are going to finish.

Are you going to finish strong? If you have hope you will find the strength to get back up.

Next time you feel bad, lose hope or want to quit, remember this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0JqQeSNjsw&feature=related

You know that insurance...

For 6 years now I have been working for a little company called Aflac. It has been a very rewarding career. It has taken my family across this country, developed an incredible book of business, a life changing income and allowed us to have flexibility in our lives.

Before I found the duck my career search was built upon a set of core values I developed from past jobs, schooling, and future goals. I desired to find a position that would fit these values. My values where very specific and almost overwhelming.

I wanted a career that would be the means to provide me a very comfortable living and not be the end of my life. I wanted to represent a company that had a great reputation. I wanted to fulfill a promise. I wanted to represent a company that people were passionate about. I wanted to truly help people. I wanted to become a better person through the work I was doing. I wanted to get paid what I was worth. I did not want to punch a time clock or have a ceiling above my head limiting my potential. I wanted my family, my church, and myself to come first. I have an entrepreneurial spirit that I wanted to cultivate yet still have the opportunity to have the support from a major organization. As you can read they are very specific that fall, sometime, into the personal aspects of my family life. I looked at these core values and was concerned that I was too demanding and that my search would be in vain. Fortunately through a good friend I was introduced to Aflac and before my first interview was over I asked when do I begin. This job compliments, perfectly, every value I was looking for in my life. It has been a dream come true to work for this company and as I have developed my career I have had the fortunate opportunity to give this dream to others. Aflac products save lives, The Aflac job changes lives, and it gives those looking for a something different a new life.

Long live the Duck.

Whoa...that was a heavy post. I simply started this post to share with you Aflac's newest commercials but it turned into a recruiting pitch. Forgive me and enjoy the duck doing crazy things.

Shake it off and step up.

A neat little ditty I heard at a sales conference.

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well. The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened...and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back...a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back...HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow.

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!

You're right! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him...all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT'S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to them...THE ADVERSITIES THAT COME ALONG TO BURY US USUALLY HAVE WITHIN THEM THE POTENTIAL TO BENEFIT AND BLESS US!

"SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP" out of the wells in which we find ourselves!

- Author Unknown

The Rapture Gopher Sez!

I just finished watching an historic moment in my country's history. The inauguration of it's 44th president, Barack Obama.

A sense of pride fills me as I witness freedom and democracy in action but a nervousness creeps in as a man with little experience and questionable allies becomes commander in chief of the United States of America. I have heard many an opinion on this man and what kind of leader he will be. Is it too early to decide if it was a good/bad choice? Yes! It is OK to question his politics? Yes! that is what makes America great. Is it time to throw our hands into the air like my new friend the Rapture Gopher, and think all is lost? No! Change is good. Cautiously moving forward I look to see the next chapter of American History written beginning today.

He is already ahead in the popularity race because the nation is craving change. Any new face would instantly boost the morale of this country. Obama looks like a champion today because of the doom and gloom perception that has been painted in this country.

I will support his office, I will support the Constitution and pray that this nation will continue to give me the privilege to live, work, and worship, how where and what I may.

He gave a good speech today.