In days of economic uncertainty, it's especially important to cultivate an attitude of abundance. How can we switch from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance? One key is to recognize opportunities. Here's a story that illustrates this. Once there was a fisherman who caught a large fish. Bringing out his ruler, the man measured his catch: twenty inches. The man threw the fish back. Soon after, his rod wiggled again. This fish measured only five inches and the fisherman dropped it into his bucket. And so it went. The fisherman kept every fish under twelve inches and threw back every fish of greater size. Finally, a nearby fisherman could no longer hide his disbelief. "You keep throwing back the fish larger than twelve inches," he said. "Why the heck are you doing that?" "It's real simple," the man answered. "My wife only has a twelve-inch frying pan." This is a silly story, but it shows how some of us think. We often don't recognize great opportunities when they land at our feet. Such opportunities must be "too good to be true," illegal, or scams at best. But if an opportunity does present itself, research it. If the opportunity looks legitimate, go for it! Hanging out with wealthy people is another way to increase your abundance consciousness. For one thing, you can learn how they think and by their example. They have connections with experts that you don't have; they know the experts. Wealthy people also have the money to finance your ideas and they have ideas they don't have time to get to. An illustration of a third principle, pushing against your comfort zone, is discussed in chapter 8 of my book When Good Intentions Run Smack into Reality. Several years ago, my friend Randy needed to move. One apartment he was considering cost $800/month, the same amount he was presently paying. Another apartment cost $1,200/month. Randy called to ask my advice. I told him that his choice depended on how each apartment influenced him. The less expensive apartment wasn't in a very good neighborhood and Randy didn't feel comfortable in it. But he was excited about the more expensive apartment. He felt good in it. My advice was this: Randy couldn't afford not to take the $1,200/month apartment. For some, the less expensive apartment wouldn't have had the impact that it did on Randy. Renting the more expensive apartment was a stretch for Randy financially, but he needed to push against his comfort zone. The $1,200/month apartment gave a message to his subconscious that helped him along the road to the success that he desired. Ten years later Randy owns the third largest stock seminar company in the world and owns a house worth over one million dollars. Now, I'm not encouraging people to go out and buy just anything! But I am saying that "going for it" will often make you feel uncomfortable because it pushes against your belief systems. We shouldn't reject something just because it's outside our frying pans. Going for new opportunities, learning from others with an abundance mentality and pushing against our belief systems are all ways to help us expand into an attitude of abundance.

Imagine with me for a second that we are in a seminar room together and in my hand I have an orange. A big, ripe, juicy orange. Then I start to squeeze this orange right in front of you and liquid is oozing out of it and dropping onto the carpet. What is that liquid? Most of you would reply that it is obviously orange juice. Here is the million dollar question… Why did orange juice come out of the orange? Orange juice came out of the orange because that is what was inside of it, and pressure was applied. You are exactly like that orange. The only emotions and reactions that can come out of you are the ones that are already inside of you. Oftentimes people don’t realize what is truly within them because they work to avoid situations where they experience pressure. Pressure is coming. I don’t care how hard you work to avoid it, I don’t know anyone who is able to experience a life where they have no pressure. Pressure can come in all shapes and sizes and it is still pressure. If you don’t have something you say you want in life… guess what… you are experiencing pressure between what you want and what you currently have. The time to work on what’s inside of you is ideally before the pressure is applied. After 9/11 Brian Klemmer took our entire company to New York to visit where the Twin Towers had fallen. It was an incredible reminder of why we are in business. While we were there Brian asked the firemen questions. Shockingly enough not one of them thought they were being brave. They all just thought they were doing their job. They had trained going into the man made fire so many times, that when the real emergency happened it was instinctual for them to run into the buildings. What is your instinctual behavior? If you were to evaluate yourself right now on your automatic processes and responses would you want to keep them? The time to work on you is now. If you are someone who wants more financial abundance, are you practicing now what it will take for you to become more financially abundant? If you desire a deep connected fulfilling relationship, are you practicing right now being the person who has that relationship? Whether it is with someone in the future or your spouse or family, you want to change what is inside of you so that what comes out of you when you are squeezed is congruent with what you want to see. This is a practice. With every choice you make to invest in your own growth you are changing the fruit of your heart. You are course correcting your automatic responses. It may not happen overnight, and with time you will respond automatically with the qualities and character traits that you are actively cultivating in your life right now.

Being involved in the television, movie, book, and speaking industries has given me the privilege of meeting some of the greatest people in the 20th, and now the 21st, century. All people of success have something to teach us. Whether it’s financial success, artistic success, or simply success in their personal family life, we reach our goals by following the leader. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know and correspond with Jack Nicklaus through his reading of my books. Most experts agree Mr. Nicklaus, given the nickname the “Golden Bear” by sportswriters, is the greatest golfer of all time, and his career records will likely never be broken. In a world where, when it’s all said and done, there is a lot more said than done, Jack Nicklaus generally remains relatively quiet and lets his actions speak for themselves. When he does talk, people around him tend to listen and take note. Mr. Nicklaus has always been very generous with his time and money. He has played in countless charity golf tournaments raising millions of dollars for good causes. At one such event, an average weekend golfer who was playing in the tournament asked Mr. Nicklaus for his recommendations on the kind of clubs to buy. Mr. Nicklaus responded, “Your problem is not your clubs.” Mr. Nicklaus’ advice can speak to all of us. Technology has brought many great conveniences and tools into our lives. It makes a great servant but a horrible master. If you listen to advertisements for all of the myriad devices and various types of equipment available to us, one might think you can’t begin on your road to success without spending a lot of time and a lot of money acquiring stuff that you don’t currently have. If you want to get into an exercise routine and improve your health, some brief research will tell you that there are many programs, devices, formulas, and pieces of exercise equipment that are essential before you begin. In reality, if you have a decent pair of walking shoes, most doctors and trainers will tell you that you can improve your health greatly by simply walking 20 to 30 minutes each day. If you want to update your business skills and knowledge, you might feel like you need to travel to a distant university or take an outrageously expensive course. In reality, if you have access to the internet or a library card, you have more information readily available than you could ever absorb or master in a lifetime. Tools, equipment, and resources can help you get where you want to go, but they should never be an excuse for not getting started. As you go through your day today, begin your quest right where you are with the tools that you have. Today’s the day!

How do you communicate when you are angry with someone else? As discussed in If How-To's Were Enough We Would All Be Skinny, Rich, & Happy  (page 52), there are responsible and irresponsible ways to handle resentment and let another person know that we are upset. When we are not used to expressing our anger or have allowed it to bottle up over a period of time, our communication typically takes on negative tones. Honest communication that is non-responsible may be manifested in several ways. You can communicate honestly, but non-responsibly by: 1) blaming the other person for how you feel. 2) embarrassing someone in order to get revenge. 3) leaving the receiving person or team with negativity they can do nothing about. To illustrate this, imagine a garden hose that has lain dormant all winter. Then, on the first day of summer when you're thirsty and you drink from it — UGH! Have you ever done that? It's foul tasting! Sometimes we are like the dormant hose. If you — or a person you are supporting in open, honest, responsible communication — have not communicated negative feelings in awhile, these feelings may come out like foul water from a dormant hose. When learning to communicate open and honestly, try rehearsing your communication in front of someone you trust. Tell them what you are doing and request that they listen for blame versus responsible. We once received an e-mail from a graduate who had an alcoholic, homeless father. During a Personal Mastery , he determined that he was going to have an open communication with his dad. Fortunately he was wise; he chose to run his thoughts by his mother first. She recognized that her son was coming from a perspective of blame. As a result of his mother's input, the man changed his approach. He told his father how angry he had been, and how sad he was that their relationship wasn't what it could be. All this was communicated without anger. According to the man's e-mail, he and his father walked down the beach and had one of the greatest conversations of their lives. Responsible communication always begins with I. The feelings you express are yours, so own them. How does this sound? One example is, "I felt this way when you did this." Actually come out and say that you are not blaming the other person. Express that the reason you are communicating openly and honestly is because you desire a better relationship.

The concept of going the extra mile is among the many transformational thoughts that have become the enduring legacy of the author Napoleon Hill. If you watch a horse race, oftentimes the difference between first place, second place, and the other horses in the field is such a slim margin that they have to utilize a photo finish to determine which horse won, as well as which horses finished out of the money. While the difference may be fractions of an inch, the result can be dramatically different. The first-place horse in one of the Triple Crown races receives millions of dollars in prize money, endorsements, and future payouts, while other horses in the field—who ran almost as fast over an entire mile—may leave the track with almost nothing to show for their efforts. Rarely do we ever make a 100% improvement. We, instead, make one hundred 1% improvements. It’s the small details that produce tiny margins that can make all the difference. If you think about why you do business with the companies and individuals you choose to spend your money with, many times you will realize that their products and services may be no different than their competitors, but you chose them because of some small gesture or minor convenience they offer that made all the difference to you. Shortly after Muhammed Ali became the heavyweight champion of the world, he was asked how many push-ups he did each day. He responded, “I don’t start counting till it hurts.” Ali understood that the real competition begins when most people are ready to quit. My late great friend and mentor, legendary coach John Wooden—during his unparalleled run of winning ten championships in twelve years—taught his teams that while it may appear that basketball games are won or lost on last-second shots, in reality any basket made or missed throughout the entire game could have made all the difference. In your personal or professional life, think about the small and insignificant things that can make all the difference to those around you. I consult with several real estate firms, and I find the real estate industry to be a great proving ground for success principles because everyone has access to the same listings at the same price. However, with this totally level playing field, some real estate professionals make millions of dollars per year while others are working for less than minimum wage. The difference is not the property or the price. It is the service, the attitude, and the small details that make all the difference. As you go through your day today, you can win big victories if you pay attention to small details. Today’s the day!

We all share a common pair of sunglasses, or belief systems, known as our need to be right. This is the need for one person to be right, and the other wrong. Please do not hear this in the sense of morality. This program runs rampant among us, and can be one of the most difficult programs to change. If you can remove this set of sunglasses, right and wrong would not even exist. What would open up would be abundant opportunities and possibility. The thought that "responsibility" is "fault" is an example of the need to be right program. Many people view responsibility as, "I am responsible, so you are not," or, "you are responsible, so I am not." If you disregarded the set of sunglasses of right and wrong, everyone would be responsible. An indicator that you could be wearing "be right" sunglasses is if you are viewing a situation as an either/or.

Power of Team Hewlett Packard hired K&A because they were five weeks behind in developing the ink-jet printer (losing $10 million a week). They were having a teamwork problem between design departments in Barcelona, Spain and San Diego, California. For HP, we completed workshops in San Diego and Barcelona and they credit our workshops with making up all five weeks of their manufacturing delay.

Leadership Communication "As you know, we kicked off Specialty’s exciting new leadership training program by sponsoring 12 customized Corporate Personal Mastery seminars over a 2-month period for our organization. By engaging in your program, we were expecting our team members to be able to independently set bigger goals, take more risks, understand the dangers associated with the “victim mentality”, become more influential leaders and most importantly, become more sincere and honest in their communication styles. I am pleased to report that Specialty’s results have been most satisfying! We have seen substantial changes in our overall openness in communication styles, more trust among fellow Mastery participants and other team members, more willingness to take risks, and a refreshing ability to deal with constant change in a dynamic work environment.   Our long-term return on investment should be reduced turnover and associated costs, less external recruitment at the supervisor/managerial level, increased retention and most importantly, satisfied and happy team members – and we are well on our way to achieving these sustained results thanks to your Personal Mastery program!" - Nick Shauer, Assistant Vice President Human Resources Specialty Laboratories

Working Together, Collectively Moving "We are starting to see tangible results from the earlier classes. In the face of declining sales we were able to maintain our profit level and actually beat the prior year! Cooperation, tolerance and patience have visibly increased. Old grievances are being resolved, many joint projects are being started and much is being accomplished. Besides the content, the training gives everyone a common language in certain situations. You hear “don’t go victim on me” and “they are in the three R’s” in the halls. Good, frank discussions that solve problems   and ultimately allow us to better serve our customers. It trans-formed the way we work together, making us more effective collectively." - Michael R. Simmons, Vice President of Finance & Planning Fulton Boiler Works, Inc.

Investment into our People "As a company, we believe strongly that investing in our people to help them grow personally will equate into growth of our business. Our company vision includes the growth and improvement in each of our personal and professional lives, and your message on incorporating “Intentions = Results” and discovering the mechanism to achieve those results, highlighted those things each of us can do to achieve our goals. Your message on the 3R’s in the breakout sessions was an equally powerful, and benefited all who attended."

Christie Medical Clinic in Illinois hired Klemmer and Associates' Klemmer Corporate Services because their executives were unable to get management to commit to their goals and lower overhead. They had been working on buy-in for 12 years on several projects. Our training incorporated a measurement matrix to track results in two primary areas: to lower overhead by 4% or more and reduce patient complaints by 10% or more. Actual results yielded a 6% reduction in overhead and a reduction in patient complaints by 12%. Following our training, Christie Clinic experienced double-digit growth for the first time in 20 years and has sustained double-digit growth every year since our training. Christie also yielded a $500,000 savings within 2 months and over $1,000,000 within six months, with no reduction of head-count.

Aetna Healthcare hired K&A because they were interested in hosting fewer meetings with their teams and the meetings they did conduct needed to be more effective. We delivered training with a primary focus on communication, trust, risk taking and honoring agreements. This training yielded an overall increase in open communication by 51% and a 39% increase in collaboration among team members which was credited with reducing meeting costs by $2 million dollars over 12 months.