Principle V
Without insurance, your dream is dead. Let me say it again. Without insurance, your dream is dead! We have home insurance, health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, all kinds of insurance to protect our “stuff.” Unfortunately, most of us treat our stuff better than we treat our dream – our very reason for living. That’s why 97% of people in the world are dead broke by the age of sixty-five and only 3% are successful.
Do you have dream insurance? You must have a rock solid plan in place to protect your goal and dreams before you can ever stand face to face with the enemy. For example, if someone challenges your ability to achieve your dream, what do you do? If you begin to stammer over your words and don’t have foundational belief in yourself, then that person will steal your dream. When you have dream insurance, your success is indestructible.
I’m going to breakdown the word “insurance” for you and lay out a plan of action to protect your dream. If you physically take the time to prepare for a hurricane, then your house and belongings will be protected. Similarly, if you take the time to lay out a plan to protect your dream and make the decision to be in that top 3%, then your success is inevitable!
I - For 97% of the world’s population, “I” stands for indecision. They can’t make a decision. Go to any restaurant and you’ll see this for yourself. When asked if they ready to order, nearly every answer will be - “No, I don’t know what I want. Go on to the next person.” They’ve had several minutes to make a decision about something as simple as what to eat, and they still can’t decide! What do you think happens when they’re faced with a real, life-changing decision? Nothing! They’re paralyzed by fear. They’re afraid of making a mistake. They ask other indecisive people around them what they should do.
Inside the word indecision is decision. Make a decision right now to develop and live free from the nonsense of the world. Associate with other champions. Never ever give up in the pursuit of your dreams. Keep progressing towards the achievement of your goals and dreams and remain confident in your decision. The moment that you give up and listen to the enemy, you’ve quit. You’ve given up on your dream. You must never give up on your dream! God birthed that dream inside of you so that you could realize it and see its fulfillment. It’s no mistake that you have big dreams for your life. Do yourself and the world a favor; follow your passion. Follow what drives you forward. You owe it to yourself, to others, and to God.
While 97% of people are indecisive, 3% of people are inspired. Champions are inspired by their dream and their purpose. They are continually inspired and fulfilled and inadvertently inspire other people around them. Inspiration radiates from them, because they believe in themselves and their dreams with every ounce of their being.
When you’re inspired, you take action. You see your dream, your vision, your goal, and you move towards it. Action is one of the most important factors in achieving success. You can visualize and say affirmations all you want, but if you don’t take strategic action towards the achievement of your goals and dreams, nothing is going to change. You simply can’t attract success, you have to take aggressive action to achieve it.
One of the best action steps that you can take to propel yourself towards your goals and dreams is to examine what you fear. Is there something that you fear so much that is getting in the way of your dream? Maybe it’s prospecting. Maybe it’s changing your diet. Maybe it’s getting away from your negative associations. Without reading any further, I want you to think of the thing that you fear the most that is preventing you from achieving your dreams. After you have a clear image in your mind of that fear, I want you to commit to overcoming it. How? By just doing it.
You will be absolutely amazed how quickly your life will begin to change if you simply just do the things you fear. The sooner you face them, the better! After you conquer your greatest fear, every other obstacle in your success path will become easier to overcome. Here’s a great acronym to assist you in overcoming your FEAR:
F – Face it and don’t back down.
E – Extinguish it. Commit to no longer letting fear stop you.
A – Annihilate it. The fear is gone forever!
R – Return to your dream. Keep forging forward towards success.
Once again…just do it! Get inspired to take the action needed to finally achieve the things in life that you’ve only dreamed of until now.
N – This letter stands for negative. Unfortunately, most people, 97% of them, in this world are negative. They focus on what’s not working in their lives and the lives of everyone else around them. These people spend their time reading the newspaper, complaining about the weather, watching the news, etc. If you saturate yourself with negativity long enough, you become negative. If you hang around negative people long enough, you become negative. It’s not rocket science. Negative in equals negative out.
Yes, we all have our moments. It’s impossible not to have a negative thought cross your mind ever in your life. However, most people take it to the extreme. They refuse to see what’s good and positive in their lives. They’re not willing to take active control over their destiny. Champion, you’re either going forward towards your dream or backwards to listen to and associate with the negative naysayers. There’s no other way to go. Which path you choose is entirely up to you. I can’t decide for you. If you are tired of all the negativity, then take make the decision to get it out of your life forever.
I said that “N” stands for the negative 97% crowd. However, “N” also stands for a word that describes the 3%’ers - notorious. They are recognized for their ambition and determination. I was notorious in changing my own life as a clinically diagnosed stutterer. Everyone saw me as a stutterer and believed that I was a stutterer. But I refused to see myself as a stutterer. I read and listened a lot. I learned how to see the possible inside the impossible. I learned how to see my ability inside of my disability. I began speaking my future into existence. I became notorious to my family and friends for my crazy idea that I could actually overcome my stuttering disability.
I didn’t let their opinions stop me from becoming an international, motivational speaker. My God-given destiny is to change peoples’ lives through my teachings, and I wasn’t about to let anyone tell me that I couldn’t do it. I am notorious for speaking my mind to anyone that challenges me or tries to hold me back from fulfilling my destiny of empowering and motivating champions around the world.
What are you notorious for? Do you believe you were put on this Earth to change peoples’ lives? I believe that you were. If people try to get in your way and stop you on your journey to success and prosperity, tell them to step aside or climb aboard. It’s as simple as that. Get out of my way or come with me. Join the 3% crowd and be known by everyone as the notorious dreamer that won’t let anyone or anything stop you from your God-given destiny.
S – Basically, “S” represents the “See What Happens” people in the 97% crowd. We’ve all encountered them. They don’t plan out their days. They don’t take control of their lives. They’ve never set a goal before, and if they did, they gave up on it at the first sign of adversity. Instead, they just sit back and see what happens. That’s their answer for everything, “I’ll just see what happens.” The results in their life are basically dependent on everything and everyone else in the world except for them. That’s no way to live your life!
A great example of this mentality deals with people that read horoscopes. “Well, my horoscope has been telling me for the last six months that I’d be experiencing some challenges and setbacks. John, I just can’t move forward because it says so in the alignment of the planets. There’s nothing I can do!” Excuse my language, but that is such a bunch of crap.
You know what a horoscope is? It’s a horror scope. Yes, a HORROR SCOPE! I have personally coached people that use their horror scopes to explain why they can’t gain active control over their lives. It’s an excuse not a reality! They’re using their horror scope as justification for not living the life they want to live. Being a passive bystander in your own life will never lead to the achievement of your goals and dreams. You might as well be living someone else’s life. Well, actually, you are, if you’re allowing your life to be completely controlled by outside influences.
You know what’s better than a horror scope? How about developing a vision scope? A vision scope is the best kind of scope out there. When you look through your vision scope, you are able to look forward. You don’t look back at the past. You don’t let your present results dictate where you’re headed. You decide what you want and choose to stay focused on your vision. Doesn’t that make a lot more sense than using a horror scope? It’s your life, why not make the most of it?
Lose the “See What Happens” mentality. Join the 3% crowd and develop the Stickability attitude. Yes, that’s another “S” word for you. Actually, it’s a word that I completely made up that basically means that you must be persistent in pursuit of your goal and stick to it. Have you ever gotten a piece of gum on something? It’s nearly impossible to remove it. That’s how you have to be with your dream. Stick to it and be resistant to anything or anyone that tries to remove your belief in it. Your vision scope combined with stickability will guarantee your success!
The great Les Brown once said “Whatever is impossible is possible, for the impossible can be achieved.” When I heard that statement, it changed my life. It reconfirmed for me my decision to stick to following my heart’s desires. Everything in this world has a polar opposite. If something is impossible, it must also be possible. It wouldn’t be able to exist otherwise.
I was willing to be stuck….completely glued to my dream of becoming a fluent speaker. My family and friends told me I was losing my mind, because I wasn’t listening to what anybody said. They were right! I was losing the mind of a clinically diagnosed stutterer and gaining the mind of a champion. I refused to listen to the enemy even when they were right in my face. I stayed focused on my vision of being a great communicator and retiring to South Florida by the age of 30. Due to my vision and my stickability, I moved to South Florida at 29 years, 11 months, and 18 days of age as a millionaire speaker!
Your dream has more power hidden inside of it than you could even imagine. Things you could never even comprehend will occur when you remain focused and dedicated to your dream. You must be committed to your journey regardless of what anyone else says. Your dream really is that important. It’s YOUR dream. They can’t see it, but you can! If you can see it, you can achieve it! They can’t achieve it because they don’t see it, at least not yet. But when you achieve that goal, that’s when they’ll believe you. It’s not their fault. They just couldn’t see what you could see. You could explain it to them a million times, and they still probably wouldn’t see it.
U – This letter stands for Under-deliver. 97% of people work at their J.O.B. (Just Over Broke), because they have to, not because that’s what they love to do. They go into work late and leave early. They take a long lunch, and always manage to squeeze in their two fifteen minute breaks that they are owed by their employer. They do just enough to ensure their job stability. They do just what’s required of them, not only in their job, but in every area of their life. They do just enough to get by. They never break out of the mold of their daily routine. They never take a chance or try anything new. They UNDER-DELIVER!
How many people do you know that live like that? A lot, right? I do. Have you ever tried telling them your goal? Have you ever told them, “I know what I want and I know where I’m going. I don’t know how I’m going to get there or how I’m going to do it, but I’m staying committed to what I want, and I’m going for it!” They probably looked at you as though you were nuts, right? They thought, “Who are you to change your life? Only the lucky are able to do that, and you’re not one of them!”
NEVER listen to the doubters! That’s what they are. They doubt everything in their own lives and everyone else’s lives as well. They were born a champion with the right to achieve greatness, but they allowed society to mold them into someone that does just enough to get by in life. They don’t know any better. But just because they don’t know any better, that doesn’t mean you should listen to them.
If you share your goal and where you’re headed with someone, and they look at you as though you’re a nutcase, use that as fuel to drive you forward. They’re in that 97% crowd, and you’re in the 3% crowd. No, I’m not saying that you are better than them. You have simply made better decisions than they have in your life. Stay focused on being a 3%’er when you begin to doubt yourself and your dream.
I hate to break this to you but…You must be abnormal in the pursuit of your dreams. Abnormal means you are above normal. You’re above the norm. You’re so dedicated to your dreams that you go above and beyond the call of duty. You do more than what is expected of you, because you know that it’s an investment in your future. You continually over-deliver, because you know it’s an investment in your dream and in your future.
By only doing the bare minimum, you never grow. Your dream will actually start to die and decay if you don’t continually grow and stretch yourself. As a 3%’er, you are Unbelievable instead of an Under-Deliverer. You do things that sound completely unbelievable to others. When people say “Come on, you can’t do that!”, do it anyway. Do not listen to the people that chronically under-deliver! They wouldn’t know a dream if it hit them in the face. They only see the believable. They can’t see their own vision, let alone yours. If you listen to them and stop moving towards your dream, you become a 97%’er. It’s completely irresponsible for you to allow that to happen.
Most people simply can’t see your dream. Why is that? Because they aren’t used to looking outside of the box. They don’t know what it’s like to have a dream, a vision, a goal. They let outside circumstances stop them from living the life that they want to live. The most important thing is that YOU can see your dream. You are able to look past adversities and circumstances and see the future. You understand that only you can create the future that you desire. You can let outside people positively influence your decisions on your future, but you and you alone create it.
The 3%’ers do the unbelievable, because they know it will bring them one step closer to their dream. They know that those actions will create immense amounts of momentum towards their goal. They continually step outside of their comfort zone and do things that seem impossible or scary. When you step outside of your comfort zone and do things that seem unbelievable or incomprehensible, amazing things begin to happen. God wants you to step out in faith and create the unimaginable. Inside unimaginable is imaginable, and inside imaginable is an “able image.” Once you see it in your imagination, you’re able to carry it out. You’re able to move towards it.
Your image, your dream, is worth more than all of the gold in the world. You either go for the gold or go home. There’s no other way to go! Are you going to willingly give it away in the face of your enemy? I’ll say it again. Are you going to relinquish your dream in the face of your enemy? Your enemy doesn’t believe in the impossible or unimaginable. They never learned how to look beyond the surface and see what’s hidden just beyond the mind’s eye. If you listen to them, you’ve given up on the unbelievable. When your enemy says, “Who do you think you are,” respond by saying, “I’m unbelievable. I’m abnormal. I’m an action-taking champion in pursuit of my dreams.” It is so important for you to truly believe that and live by these statements.
R - 97% of people are stuck in a Rut. Their typical response to “What’s going on?” is “Nothing.” Where are they going with that attitude? Nowhere! They’re too stuck in their rut to move to the next level. They’ve settled for what’s comfortable, which means that they’ve settled for how things are and have no motivation to change.
I love when I hear people talking to their friends and they say “What’s going on?” The friend responds “Nothing. Come on over.” Let me give you a clue…Don’t go over there! It only makes sense. If there’s nothing going on, why would you waste your time? Remember, your future is greatly determined by who you spend your time with. If you hang out with people that are stuck in a rut and going nowhere, soon you’ll be in a rut, too. Do you really want to be sitting around doing nothing forever?
Champions are continually moving forward and developing new dreams, goals, and visions. They want to push and develop themselves as much as possible, because in so doing, they are an inspiration to others. When someone accomplishes the impossible, it’s as though they’re telling everyone else, “I did it, and you can do it too!” People that are stuck in a rut are comfortable.
Don’t get comfortable. Get uncomfortable, because discomfort causes you to move. It causes you to take action. Remember, if you’re not moving, you’re dying. If you’re not moving, you’re not helping other people. You’re basically saying, “I’m comfortable with what I have, I don’t want anything more. Leave me alone and I’ll be just fine.” Mediocrity is not for you! Live your life with passion. Live your life with honor. Live your life knowing that you are making a difference and making a positive contribution to other peoples’ lives.
Champion 3%’ers are Relentless when it comes to their dreams. They smile when the naysayers tell them “You’re still going to seminars? Come on, that stuff doesn’t work. Why do you keep blowing your money on books and CDs. It’s a money making scam!” You have to be relentless in pursuit of your dreams to handle comments like that. If it ever gets to you, just take a look at the status of their life. Where are they headed? Nowhere! What are they doing? Nothing! You can’t let people like that distract you from your calling.
What happens when you don’t read or listen to motivational material for five days? Your brain starts to get dirty. We’re surrounded by negativity. You start to listen to the people around you. “Maybe they’re right. Maybe my dream really is too unbelievable.” You must be relentless and focus on your dream every single day. The famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar says, “Some people say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does a shower. That’s why you do it every day.”
You have to immerse yourself in personal development on a daily basis so that the negativity doesn’t cause you to lose focus. You don’t take a shower once and expect it to last ten years. You don’t eat once and expect not to get hungry again for a week. So, why would you think reading one book in five years is going to help you achieve your dreams? It sounds ridiculous because it is! Be relentless and refuse to be stuck in a rut.
A - This letter represents what everyone does at one point or another - Analyze everything. However, 97% people typically don’t just analyze something. They overanalyze it to prevent themselves from making a decision. “Should I invest in that seminar? I don’t know. Do I have enough time? How much does it cost? Can I get a refund? What will my friends think?” Then instead of actually considering how this one thing might actually change their life, they ask their negative friends and family members what they should do. Of course, they say “NO!” They’re analyzers too. Analyzers look at all of the facts and details before they make a decision. They take their eye off of their vision for the future. They stop focusing on the possible or believable and instead focus on the practical and realistic.
If you ask someone for their opinion about your goals and dreams, they won’t hesitate to tell you what they think. They’ll say, “You’re crazy. Who are you to think you can achieve that?” They don’t know who you are. How could they? Remember, you’re developing an insurance plan to protect your dreams so you can’t waste a moment worrying about what they say. You don’t want losers in your insurance plan, do you? I don’t see why you would. There is no reason for them to be involved in the process of achieving your dream. They will only hold you back! Only allow people that believe in you and your dream to be involved in your insurance plan.
One of my most favorite things to do that just happens to begin with “A” is Annihilating the enemy. To be in the 3% crowd, you must be relentless in pursuit of dreams and annihilate the disbelievers and dream stealers that get in your way. No, I don’t mean physically annihilate them. Just stop associating with them and refuse to let their negativity impact your life. You can also take an offensive approach to annihilating the enemy of your dreams. All you need to do is a little bit more than you’ve been doing. Take a look at what everyone else is doing and do the opposite. Do something that seems impractical or improbable. It will skyrocket your success, and your focus will cause the enemy to run the other way.
Geniuses are the type of people that do everything outside of the norm and live life completely differently than anyone else. Why? Because they allow themselves to see what no one else sees, believe what no one else believes, and are willing to step out in faith to achieve the unrealistic expectation that they have. Albert Einstein saw what no one else was able to see. Genius – yes. Perfect – no. Many people don’t know that Einstein had a speech challenge as a child, and he actually failed his school entrance exam. After graduating with an average school record, Einstein had problems finding a job and even questioned his decision to become a physicist. As you see, Einstein wasn’t a perfect being but he was able to achieve his goals, because he believed that he could and he believed in himself.
When his theories about science and the way the universe works were proven to be correct, he gained the utmost respect not only from other scientists, but from people all over the world. Einstein truly was a genius in his field of study and lived outside of the norm to achieve greatness. As one of the most intellectual men in the world, even he had his challenges.
You don’t have to be a genius to discover something new, something incredible, or something revolutionary. It happens every day by people just like you that simply followed their dreams and believed in something that only they could see. Let me ask you a question…Can you see your dream coming true? If not, then there’s no way that you will achieve it. Before you can accomplish anything in life, you have to believe with all of your heart that it is possible.
Let me take this time to tell you about another million dollar tool that will help you annihilate the enemy of fear and skyrocket your level of belief. This simple yet life-changing device is called a pillow speaker. When you’re sleeping, attached the pillow speaker to your mp3 player, set your player to repeat your favorite motivational teachings and tuck it underneath your pillow. As you listen to this material, your mind will be infused with positive motivational messages. It shouldn’t be so loud that it disturbs your sleep. This doesn’t take the place of your daily personal self-development. It’s just that little bit of extra that will create extraordinary results.
N – This letter stands for Nothing. Why? Because that’s what 97% of people have going on in their lives…NOTHING! Remember, you want to stay away from these people. How exciting is nothing? Not exciting in the least! If nothing is going on, THEN you’re living a dull and meaningless existence. You’re refusing to see the blessings that surround you. Every single person has an infinite amount of blessings in their lives, but sadly most people never see them.
For the 3% crowd, the letter “N” stands for “Nothing will stop me.” Even if you don’t know how you’re going to achieve your goal, as long as you know why you are doing what you are doing and you believe in yourself and your dream, that’s enough. Most successful people didn’t know how they were going to achieve their goal when they first set it. But they kept going nonetheless, because they believed in their dream enough to know that nothing would stop them from achieving it.
Henry Ford dreamed of producing an automobile that was reasonably priced, reliable, and efficient. Most importantly, he wanted the automobile to be affordable to ordinary people and not just the wealthy. He became laser-focused on his product and customer base to achieve his dream. Several major financial backers actually left Ford, because he refused to introduce a car that he didn’t feel was ready for customers. There were also many people that questioned his abilities, and his right to even legally manufacture automobiles. But that didn’t stop him.
In October 1908 when announcing the birth of the Model T, Ford proclaimed “I will build a motor car for the great multitude.” Because of Ford’s dream, the Model T automobile was one of the greatest changes in the lives of common people in history. Can you imagine how much different the world would be if Henry Ford had listened to everyone around him? Thank God Henry Ford believed in his vision and was relentless in pursuit of his dream. How often do you let what someone else said or another obstacle keep you from achieving your dream? Are you as relentless and persistent as Ford? If not, what’s stopping you? Move beyond your fear and self-doubt and allow absolutely nothing to stand in the way of your success.
C - For the 97% of people, C stands for Casual. Most people are casual about their life. You could even call them passive observers. They let life pass them by day after day. Casual people are bored in life. They don’t know that life can be absolutely amazing if they only made a decision to dream big and step outside the societal role that they have conformed to over the years.
Casual is synonymous with comfortable. Casual clothing is seen and defined as simple and comfortable. You already know how I feel about being comfortable. When you’re comfortable, you’re not growing! You’re settling for things as they are at that very moment in life.
Even billionaires are constantly growing and expanding. It wasn’t enough for Bill Gates to create Microsoft and become a multi-billionaire. He didn’t want to stop there. Now he runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest funded non-profit organizations in the world. Could he have stopped and settled for being the chief officer of Microsoft? Sure he could have! But he knows how important it is to keep pushing yourself and keep developing new dreams and visions. He’s dedicated to helping the world in more ways than one and knows that being comfortable does not contribute to society in a positive way.
Are you casual in regards to your life? Do you let your dreams go by unnoticed because you think those dreams are bigger than you? Let me tell you something champion, you are so much bigger than your dreams. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t even have the mental capability to think them up. As the famed author of Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill said, “What the mind can conceive, it can achieve.” I believe these words with all of my heart.
Those in the 3% group believe in staying Committed. You must be absolutely committed to your dream. If you’re not, no one else will be. No one else will believe in your dream if you don’t. You must be so committed to your dream that you can see it, taste it, touch it, feel it, and smell it. Your vision can become your reality if you’re committed.
When you make a commitment to someone, that commitment is as good as gold. People take commitments very seriously. If you break a commitment, it’s as though you don’t value the other person. You will more than likely lose that person’s respect. You may even lose all possibility of doing business with them again. When you give your word to someone that you are committed, they expect you to uphold your end of the bargain. When you don’t, you not only disappoint them, you disappoint yourself.
Have you ever made a commitment to yourself and broken it? Perhaps you committed to exercise five days a week. Perhaps you committed to quit smoking. How did it feel when you broke that commitment? It didn’t feel very good, did it? When it comes to your dream, you are the most important person in your life. When you break your own commitment, it’s as though you’ve given up on yourself. Make a commitment to keep your commitments. Don’t allow yourself to break them.
Commitment will take you to places you never thought you could reach and beyond all realms of expectation.
E – Here’s where 97% of people just lose it. “E” stands for Enough. “I’ve had enough of this. I’ve had enough of dreaming, quitting is much easier. This is too hard. I’ve simply had enough!” These people give up on their dream. They dwell on the adversity rather than focusing on their dream. They forget that their vision controls their future, and they control their vision! They’ve had enough of dreaming. They’ve had enough of thinking about how they’d like to live their life. It’s so sad to think about the number of unfulfilled dreams that exist in the world. There are an infinite number of unfulfilled dreams, because there are an infinite number of ideas that people simply give up on. But remember, everything has an opposite. If there are an infinite number of unfulfilled dreams, there are an infinite number of fulfilled dreams of people just like you that simply r