One day, many years ago when I was a young boy, my Grandmother told me a story of a lunch date she had with some of her closest friends.  ”Aunt Florene”, as we called her growing up, although I don’t think we were actually related, was a sturdy built “blue-haired” woman of about 80 years old; a friend of my Grandmother’s from the Bomber Plant where they worked together here in Fort Worth during WWII was also at the luncheon.

My Grandmother looked intently at the menus that were presented all around;  ”We all ordered salads, sandwiches and soups; everyone except for Florene, that is.”

Florene proudly stated, “I want Ice Cream, please. Two scoops, make ‘em chocolate.”

Grandma said she wasn’t for sure if her ears heard right, and the other ladies seated around the table looked puzzled as well…

“Wait!” Florene said, “I’ll take a piece of hot apple pie, too” without hesitation.

Grandma said she and the other friends seated around the table did their best to act nonchalant, as if people did this sort of thing all the time. But when our orders were brought out, Grandma said she couldn’t enjoy hers much.  She said, ” Holy cow, I couldn’t take my eyes off Florene’s pile of pie & ice cream. It was distracting!”  Grandma said that the other ladies looked a little uncomfortable, and ate their lunches in silence.

The next time Grandma went out to eat, she and Aunt Florene went just by themselves.  Grandma said she ordered the chicken-salad on wheat bread and a small side salad. And Florene, well, she ordered a banana split!

Grandma said she gave out a slight chuckle at the sight of that banana split, when Florene asked if she amused her.

Grandma replied: ” Well yes, you do, but also you confuse me.

“How is it you order these rich desserts, while I feel like I must eat sensibly or nutritious?

Grandma said Florene laughed, and replied in her rather “matter-of-fact” attitude,  ”Ethel, I’m tasting and enjoying all that’s possible. I try to eat food that I need, and do the things I should. But life’s also too short, my friend, I hate missing out on something good. This year I realized how old I was. Florene  said with a grin, and I have never been this old before!”

“So, before I die I made myself this promise.”

“I’m going to try those things that for years I had ignored or was too busy to enjoy.  There’s flowers I haven’t seen or smelled yet.  There’s too many books left unread. There’s more banana splits and apple pie to wolf down and kites to be flown up high. There are many stores & shops I haven’t shopped. I’ve not laughed at enough funny jokes. I’ve missed a lot of great movies, popcorn, and cokes with peanuts in ‘em. I want to walk along the surf on the beach again and feel the ocean spray on my face. I want to sit in an ‘ol country church and thank God for His grace…

I want gobs of chunky peanut butter spread on toast. I want to enjoy long distance calls to the folks I love most. I haven’t cried at enough movies yet or get soaked walking in the morning rain. I need to feel the breeze in my hair, and I want to fall in love again. So, if I choose to have dessert instead of having dinner, then if I should die before the night is through, I’d say I died a winner, because I missed out on nothing. I filled my heart’s desire. I had that final chocolate fudge sundae before my life expired.”

With that, Grandma called the waitress over…

“Miss, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll have what she’s having, only add some more whipped cream and a few extra cherries on top, please!”

Godspeed,

James

~+~

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment, a moment that will never be again  And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two equal four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?

We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique! In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.

If a person does not keep pace with their companions, perhaps it is because they hear a different drummer. Let them step to the music which they hear, however measured or far away.”

This is one of my favorite quotes by American author, poet and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. In it , Thoreau describes the uniqueness that lies within each of us, and by it he emphasizes the power of validation and how important it is to each of us. In this incredibly inspiring video, you’ll not only discover the power of validation, but also what happens when you do not.

James

The power of the Third Influence is a personal success discovery that I made a few years ago.

It is profound, but yet simple to explain and implement in your life.

It helps you to understand that you can accelerate changes that you need to make and put yourself onto the right path toward the goals that you want to accomplish.

If you remember science classes for a moment, imagine water.  There are two hydrogen molecules, and they have potential to become water.  You need to add something else to them to make the water.

You need to add an oxygen molecule!

If you do this you have water, a living force.  Thus, with the right combination’s, in this case hydrogen and oxygen, you created something good.

However, if you take those same two hydrogen molecules and add the wrong third influence the outcome is different.

For example, if you add sulfur to the hydrogen molecules this would create a stinky rotten egg gas that is highly poisonous.

This shows that if you have the wrong third influence in your life, you can be completely off track from what you want to accomplish.

There are many examples of where this has happened in real life, such as with Mike Tyson, River Phoenix and Elvis Presley to name a few.  Unfortunately, this list of wrong influences seems to get bigger every day!

It is commonly seen with young people, for example, who are easily persuaded to get into drugs, premature sex, alcohol or all the above, and then some!

There are third influences in your life that impact your life and decisions you make.  Some of these things can be good such as certain movies or music, and others can be bad.

Stop and ponder for a second

“What bad third influences do I have in my life?”

and,

“What am I allowing myself to be exposed to, and influenced by that is not good for me?”

The Third Influence Chain Reaction …

There is often a chain reaction that takes place with the third influence. It can be seen with the young, in business and with scams.

What happens is this:

Something takes place to get your attention. In that process you accept that what got your attention may be probable or possible.

The third influence is extremely powerful. You have power and ability to control it.

However, after this thing gets your attention, you can enter the point of persuasion. You are persuaded by the concept or idea, and move towards the adoption process. You adopt the idea as something you want to accept and have as your own.

Then you have an outcome.

This can be seen with the young with something like smoking marijuana.

Something happens and it gets the kid’s attention. Perhaps the smoking is being done by the cool guys. This associates the cool factor with it. It becomes cool.

The young person accepts the act as being cool. At that point they’re being persuaded. They want to be cool so they adopt it as something that is cool and start doing it. Then there is the outcome, they can become hooked on drugs and bad things can start to happen in their lives.

Gaining a Better Understanding of the Third Influence …

We have to understand the third influence. We can control the things we’re influenced by and we can counteract them. We can’t control what’s being said around us, but we can control what we watch on TV and who we hang around with, what we listen to and what we read.

Contrary to how you and others may feel about you at the moment, your situation or circumstances, you are still in control of your influences.  And, therefore, your life’s outcome…

One of the best ways to gain control over your influences is to find a mentor, or someone who you can look up to who has accomplished what you want to.

Think, did you not get to where you are now in life by “modeling” someone else’s behavior?  Sure you did, just like everyone else has, me included!

So why can’t you do the same, but for all good purposes with good influences and omit the bad ones? You know the answer is, of course I can!

So consider what is your goal, what is your objective?

Are you aligned properly and congruently with this objective to accomplish these things?

Are you letting yourself be influenced by the right things?  By the right people?

For your mentor, make sure that you choose someone with a proven track record of success that you want to achieve as your third influence.

Think about who has accomplished what you want to achieve and how you can best be influenced.

You may not be able to go to that person’s house necessarily, but perhaps you can buy their books or CDs.

Ask yourself how you want to be in a certain area of your life, e.g. financially.  Say you want to make $100,000 per year. Say you’re now making $50,000 per year in sales, and you want to double your income.

Look for role models – what are people doing in other areas?

How can you look at and modify their ideas, how can you adjust and adapt that to improve your results in your area?

Find out who in your organization is already making that. What are they doing? Engage in conversations with them. Get hold of training material about it, get one on one coaching. Align yourself with this.

You need a time frame to hold yourself accountable. Look at how many more prospects you need to call on, how you can refine openings and closings.

Model yourself on who knows how to do it best in your industry. This third influence in your life aligns you with what you want to accomplish.

To learn more about the Third Influence as well as other secrets of creating wealth, please visit more about wealth creation secrets.

“Do What Works!”

James