Sometimes the road of life feels bumpy…

…although we don’t usually get the warning sign.

But is it the road of life that is so bumpy?  The road might actually be like this…

…and still feel quite bumpy.  Why is that?  Well, it may not be the road that is the problem.  It may well be the wheel you are traveling on.

There is a certain balance to life, call it the Wheel of Life, and if your Wheel of Life is out of balance your ride is going to be bumpy, even if the road is smooth.  Your Wheel of Life has 8 “spokes” if you will.  Each spoke on the Wheel of Life represents a different significant role or segment of your life.  They are:

1. Business/Career
2. Finances
3. Health
4. Family and Friends
5. Romance
6. Personal Growth
7. Fun and Recreation
8. Physical Environment

When you look at these areas in the Wheel of Life they look something like this:

Once you self-assess your performance and satisfaction on a scale from 1 - 10 in each area your actual Wheel of Life may look a little more like this:

Now, imagine driving on such a wheel.  It wouldn’t matter how smooth the road is, the ride is going to be quite bumpy.

“What if I am all 3’s?” you might ask, “Isn’t that balanced?”  Well, technically speaking, yes.  However, that would be a little like putting perfectly balanced skateboard wheels on a Ferrari.  The car would have to work hundreds of times harder to travel only a fraction of the distance and speed.  We don’t just want balance, we want optimal balance.

So, do you have to be all 10’s?  Not necessarily, but consider this: You decide what a 10 is for you.  We are not talking about perfection; we are talking about what you want in any given area of your life and fulfilling your vision for that part of your Wheel of Life.

Whatever the heart and mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

~ W. Clement Stone, American Best Selling Author and Founder of Combined Insurance Company (now part of Aon Corp.), 1902 - 2002

If you lack balance how can you stand, let alone travel from where you are to where you want to be.  Balance is the very key to lasting success, in any part of your life.

Take your own Wheel of Life Personal Assessment by clicking on the Wheel of Life below:

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

The following is a short Fable I wrote some years ago.  I believe it teaches a very important principle.  Enjoy:

Ladies and Gentleman, gather ’round and lend your attention full.
As I venture to tell a tale of woe, the Parable of the Farmer’s Bull.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a gentle and kind-hearted farmer. Though he lived in meager times, he had an industrious mind and an entrepreneurial spirit. He was quite successful in his farming business, having specialized in such crops as corn, wheat, barley and hay. He also enjoyed a small but thriving dairy farm.

One day this farming entrepreneur was struck with an idea. “Cattle ranching could be quite profitable”, he thought to himself, “This could be just the thing to add to my small but growing enterprise.” He already had a fair number of cows from his dairy business that he could begin with, but what he was lacking was a quality bull to act as sire for a growing herd. So, the farmer conducted some research and diligently shopped around. Finally, he found a rancher in a nearby village that had a quality bull for sale. One thousand dollars was his asking price. Not cheap for the time period, but then again quality never is.

The farmer and the rancher conducted their business and closed the transaction. The farmer paid the rancher one thousand dollars cash and promptly began his journey home with his new bull in tow, mulling over his plans with excitement along the way.

About a week later the rancher from whom the farmer had purchased the bull came to call. He said to the farmer, “I know this is going to sound strange, and I am sure you will not be pleased, but I need you to pay me another thousand dollars for that bull.”

The farmer was indeed not pleased. In addition he was also confused. Had he not alreadypaid one thousand dollars for the bull? Hadn’t the price already been agreed upon?Was the bull not already his? All these thoughts and more went through to the farmer’s mind. Finally, all he could bring himself to ask the rancher was, “Are you sure I need to pay you another thousand dollars?” The rancher replied, “I am sure.” And with that the farmer reached into his satchel, retrieved another thousand dollars, and handed it to the rancher.

Trying to ease his troubled mind regarding the circumstances surrounding the purchase of his bull, the farmer quickly immersed himself back into his new cattle business and soon forgot all about the rancher and the extra thousand dollars.

However, after another week had passed, the rancher came to visit the farmer once again. He began much the same way as he had during the previous visit. “I know this is going to sound strange” said the rancher as he went on to explain that yet again he required another thousand dollars for the bull. All the same thoughts again went through the farmer’s mind about having already paid, the bull already being his, and also about how expensive this was getting. But, once again all the farmer could bring himself to ask was, “Are you sure?” “I am sure” said the rancher. And with that the farmer paid the rancher yet another thousand dollars for the bull.

This continued for several weeks until eventually the farmer had no more money left to pay. In fact, the farmer found he was bankrupt. He lost his new cattle business, his previously successful farm, his beautiful home, and all that he possessed. The farmer was left with nothing. He was destitute.

Now, in the beginning I told you this was a tale of woe, but this sad little story is not without a moral.

The moral of the story is:

Never, never, buy your own “BULL”!!!

Now, I am fully aware that my little parable is blatantly corny, maybe even a little too obvious in its play on words. And even though you may have rolled your eyes, I am pretty sure you won’t forget this story any time soon. The truth that it speaks is quite plain.

There is an old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” It is one thing for us to buy our “bull” once, maybe even twice, but to buy our own “bull” again, and again, isn’t that just too expensive? To fool ourselves over and over, isn’t the price just too high?

The choice is ours, but we have to be awake and aware as to what our own “bull” really is. We must be willing to acknowledge within ourselves that we are responsible, that we are accountable for the choices we make. Ultimately it was the farmer who was responsible for the demise of his business and financial well-being, not the rancher. Sure, we could rightly say, “Shame on the rancher” for fooling the farmer once, but shame on the farmer for being fooled time and again.

So as my little parable draws to an end, keep this thought in mind my friend

Over your own eyes never pull the wool, and never, never buy your own “bull”.

To your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

© Kip Kint; Mission Ignition

The Core 4: Principles of Success (V⁴)

I. Vision: To have vision one must see things clearly, or in other words, as they truly are. It starts with discovering the truth about yourself, your desires, and your purpose, who and how you desire to be. Be a Visionary for your own life (discover and clarify your own personal Mission, Vision, Values, & Strategy).

II. Voice: Who’s voice? Your Voice, Their Voice, The Individual Voice, The Group Voice. All voices must be heard, but even more important, they must be understood. Be a Communicator. To effectively communicate is to be in a state of intimate, heightened sensitivity and receptivity with another person or with one’s surroundings. (Empathy, Understanding, Connection, Influence).  Without effective communication there can be no understanding.  Without understanding there can be no trust.  Without trust there can be no influence.

III.  Vitality: To Live with Vitality is to live life being full of life. The Latin root of Vitality is “Vita”, which literally means Life. To be truly successful one must live life in a state of vibrancy; fully awake, fully alive, and balanced physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. These four areas of balance are absolutely essential to Vitality. Vitality is based on the principle of renewal. If you do not renew yourself then you will lose Vitality, and Quality of Life along with it.  You cannot truly be of service to anyone without excellent Vitality. This goes back to an old Chinese Proverb that says: “You cannot give from an empty vessel; to give to others, you must fill yourself.”

IV. Velocity: The Speed of Motion & the Force of Action required to break through Inertia and achieve Systemic Momentum.  To achieve Velocity one must have a Propulsion System. Only an effective system which is consistently adhered to can create the Perpetual Systemic Momentum (a.k.a. habits of effectiveness) needed to pull free from the inertia of life’s challenges and our own ineffectiveness. This system (a system of systems really) includes systems for Planning, Execution, Evaluation, Communication, Organization, Accountability, Follow-through, and others.

As illustrated in the diagram below, the intersection where personal application of these success principles meet is where success begins and where it is sustained:

In summary, there is no great mystery to success.  If you are not limiting yourself by negative thinking, if you believe you can have more, do more, be more, then all that is left is to apply The Core 4.  These timeless principles of success, when properly applied and lived by, are the very keys to unlocking success like you have never had before.

To your success!

Kip Kint

Success Coach & President

Mission Ignition

This week’s Success Blog is about the Emotional Bank Account.  Stephen R. Covey writes about the Emotional Bank Account in his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  Many other great authors have also written about this concept.

The Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor for the level of trust we have built (with deposits), or the trust we lack (because of too many withdrawals) in our relationships.

Pick a relationship in your life and assess your Emotional Bank Account balance by giving the trust you have built with that person a score ranging from -10 all the way up to +10.  If you have built amazing trust through consistently depositing with that person, if they get your meaning even when you make a mistake in your communication, because they know your heart and they trust you, then your balance is high.  If you can’t seem to say anything right in their eyes, if the slightest mistake on your part seems to make things even worse, then you are probably way overdrawn.

Identify the deposits and withdrawals in this relationship.  Seek to maximize your deposits while minimizing withdrawals.  As you do keep the 3 Keys to the Emotional Bank Account in mind:

1. Make Valid Deposits - Find out what the valid deposits are, from the other persons perspective.  While the Golden Rule states, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you” the Platinum Rule as written by Dr. Tony Alessandra is, “Do unto others as they would have you to do unto them.”  This is the rule to follow when seeking to make deposits with others.
2. Make Deposits Sincerely & Unconditionally - If there are “strings” attached, if you have a hidden agenda or expect something in return, then what you are hoping to be a deposit will most likely become a withdrawal.  Be sincere.  Make the deposit unconditionally, with your only motive that of wanting to build trust.
3. Make Deposits Consistently - You know the old saying, “What have you done for me lately?”  Well, this certainly applies to the Emotional Bank Account.  If you make a bunch of deposits in the short term, then nothing for quite a while, then the other person starts to wonder about the sincerity of your previous deposits, or if they have done something “wrong”, or if you just don’t care anymore.  Be consistent.

Now, imagine that all of these keys are taken and locked in a box and you need one Master Key to access the other three.  That Master Key is Personal Trustworthiness.  The whole focus of the Emotional Bank Account is to build trust.  This cannot be done if we ourselves are not trustworthy.

Now, I encourage you to take this principle and apply it to your relationships.  Make it part of your purpose to build trust in your relationships.  With great trust comes great influence, and with great influence you have the power to effect happiness… yours as well as others’.

Quotes to live by:

You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved yourself into.
~ Stephen R. Covey

Discover your purpose, and then live ON PURPOSE.
~ Kip Kint

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition

When is comes to success we have all heard the age-old question, “How do you eat an Elephant?”  And of course the answer is, “One bite at a time.”  But, which bite do you start with?  No one ever seems to ask (or answer) that question.  First, to be successful you must break your elephant down into Hunks, Chunks, and Bites, then schedule appropriate time to “eat” the bites.

Your goals are nothing more than elephants.  You must break goals (elephants) down into Hunks, Chunks, and Bites and then schedule time to “eat” the “bites” of your goal, or in other words, perform all the various tasks associated with your goal.

This is one of the primary systems discussed in the Mission Ignition Launch Workshop & Coaching Program.  We refer to these as Achievement Systems.  With Achievement Systems you systematically approach your goals and break them down into manageable pieces which are then time-activated into your schedule.  I will finish this week’s Success Blog with a little poem from an unknown source:

You can eat an elephant.
Oh, yes you can it’s true.

They may be huge but not to worry,
they aren’t to big for you.

Just how can I eat such a thing
that’s so immense in size?

Just look at it in pieces
and make them all bite-size.

You see to look from head to tail
can be a daunting task.

Many would just give up now
and let the elephant pass.

Look at it as if you can
eat it piece by piece,

It may take you a while,
but your goal you will reach.

So, next time you have a task
that is difficult to do,

Remember, you CAN eat an elephant
so take a piece and chew!

To your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition