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Have you ever been driving when that pesky "check engine" light goes on, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your car? If you're anything like me, you think to yourself, "I'll go get it checked later! I've got more important things to do today!" Except, later keeps getting pushed off and fixing your your car is near the bottom of your to-do list. That is, until your well tuned car ceases to be so work as well...and a formerly fuel-efficient, well performing automobile starts sounding and feeling like a old clunker.

Now, imagine your life like a car. I think that's what Brian Tracy had in mind when he said, "Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance." The key word that jumped out at me was "values".

If you have strong values, then knowing the right thing to do in questionable situations will be easier than if you had weak values. Think about it: if you always tell the truth, you'll never have to remember what you said (Thank you for that quote, Mark Twain). So, this week, I have some posts planned about finding your values and how they are, well, invaluable. I also have a special guest writer who will share his experience helping others find their values in a very hard place.

So, what are your core values? How did you arrive at them? Why are they important to you?

To Life,

Mac Anderson

"The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret of outward success."

-Henry Ward Beecher quotes

To end your week, here's a short movie about thinking creatively:

How have you been innovative in your life and career?

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." ~George Bernard Shaw

What's the Big idea? This is a question that all entrepreneurs ask themselves before they start on their road to success...and if they want to succeed, they'd better have a good answer! Today, I'm so pleased to share with you something that I've been researching for quite some time now. I've hand-picked twelve stories that I think illustrate the Big Idea Philosophy. These twelve leaders took their big ideas, put passion behind them, and the rest is history! I've even thrown in a bit about my Big Idea experience founding Successories.

Here's the introduction to my latest book. It'll give you an idea of what I mean:

Ideas are powerful and one, just one, can change your business and your life. If you don't believe me, just pick up the phone and call Steve Jobs, Howard Shultz or Bill Gates. (Oops...I just remembered, they might be pretty busy.) Here's the question and also the inspiration for this book...How do Big Ideas happen? Is there a process or a formula? Or do Big Ideas just "bubble up" when minds are curious and open to change? As a lifetime entrepreneur, the "Big Idea question" has always fascinated me. Although every story is different, sometimes just reading how it happened can spark your imagination into action. Sometimes learning about how an individual, who was willing to take the risk to follow his or her dream and fight through adversity to keep it alive, might be the "push" you need. However, this collection of "Big Idea Stories" was not only written with the entrepreneur in mind, it was also written to inspire innovation within existing companies. Far too often, companies "roll on" with the status quo, only to wake up one day to find...competition has passed them by. I know how one idea can change your life, because the "Successories idea" (in 1988) changed mine. The simple idea of taking a beautiful photograph, adding an inspirational quote, and framing it for those who want to reinforce what they believe took off! It was so simple, that to this day, I find it hard to believe that no one had done it before us, but they hadn't. Our sales went from $5 million a year to $45 million in just 3 years, because of one very simple, Big Idea. I truly respect those people and those companies with the courage to take a risk or embrace change, because risk and change are the common denominators for all Big Ideas. So with this little book, open your minds and prepare to be inspired. The next Big Idea could be yours!

So, what have some of your "Big Ideas" been? How do you you get your idea from your mind into real life?

To Life,

Mac Anderson

Today, I received a letter from a Simple Truths customer. He told me about the near-death accident he had, and the long and difficult road he has traveled to recovery (I'd love to post more about his amazing story, but I'm waiting to hear back from him first). He wrote that our motivational material helped him through his trials, and that our Facebook group prompted him to inform us of how we helped him.

It's strange how a moment of validation can turn a day around. I came across this funny and true video about this subject on YouTube:

Today, our customer's letter brought a tear to my eye, and reminded me of the importance of encouraging others. He validated me and what I did...so I would like to do that for you. Thank you for being a subscriber to our blog, and thank you for helping us reach others with our messages. Believe it or not, your stories of success are our inspiration!

So, how has Simple Truths impacted your life? How do you validate others? How have you been validated?

Today, we have some quotes for you to help with your priorities. These all come from Brian Tracy's book, Eat that Frog! Enjoy these quotes!

"The first law of success is concentration-to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right nor the left."

-William Mathews

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

-Theodore Roosevelt

"No matter what the level of your ability, you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime."

-James T. McCay

"The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be."

-Og Mandino

"The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary."

-Thomas Edison