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Give Someone a Standing Ovation Listen to last week’s interview with Robert D Smith here: Life is Short, Eat Dessert First In this week’s episode of the Successful Life Mindset, host Tracy J Trost sits down with author Robert D Smith to talk about his new book 20,000 Days and Counting and why it’s so important to live each day as if it was your last. But Who’s Counting? Robert has often had friends tell him about their latest app for their phone.  One does this and another does that, but when Robert heard about the Countdown Calendar, an app that could tell you how many days until Christmas or until your next birthday or until…..you name it, he was intrigued and got it.  One day he wondered if it counted backwards.  He put in his birth date and was amazed to see that he had been living more than, at that time, 18,000 days!  When the number neared 20,000, he decided he was going to do something to celebrate.  After all, having been blessed with 20,000 days of life was something to celebrate. Destination Unknown As the day approached, Robert called Andy and Polly Andrews and told them he was going to take a few days off.  The first question was where are you going, but for the first time in his life, Robert had no destination.  He packed a bag and drove.  When he reached a certain point, he stopped and stayed at a luxury hotel.  He felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the life he had been given.  He looked up several Bible scriptures about how our days are numbered and how only God knows the number of days allotted to each of us.  He sat down at his PC and checked emails.  He decided to write a personal email to Andy and Polly and tell them how much he enjoyed his relationship with them and how much he appreciated the opportunity to have them in his life.  He sent it.  They responded telling him they felt the same way, blessed to have him in their lives.  He wanted to share that same sense of gratitude with others in his life.  Over the next 18 hours, he wrote and emailed 48 more people about the excitement he had after 20,000 days of life.  He was astounded to receive 48 responses. Fast Forward A couple of years later Andy’s team was looking for an e-book.  Robert was asked if he had anything they could use.  He said he had notes for himself about how we’re supposed to live and how to accomplish what we’re supposed to be doing.  A team member took the notes and read them.  He thought they were perfect.  He shared them with the rest of the team, about 6 or 7 people, and they loved it.  Everyone wanted to make this into a book, but half wanted the e-book and half wanted it to be published.  Robert called Andy’s publisher for a second opinion, but he was out sick.  Robert emailed the outline of what he wanted to know and sent it off.  He received three emails over the next hour.  First, the publisher was surprised that it was Robert’s manuscript and not Andy’s.  He emailed again after reading it and wanted to know if it was all right to share with his team.  Robert assumed it was a small team, much like the one he worked with, but found out it was shared with the entire publisher’s management team and they too were unanimous.  They wanted to publish.  That book is now Robert’s book, “20,000 Days and Counting”. Yes and No! Tracy likes the way Robert looks at life.  How he helps people put things into perspective.  Tracy asks Robert how he helps people get past rejection.  Robert tells of Andy’s first book.  It took 3 ½ years and 3 Literary Agents to get it to press.  Robert and the agents got 51 NOs, before they got the one YES they needed to achieve their goal.  Ask yourself, “How many NOs are you willing to go through to get that one Yes”?  Don’t let the NOs stop you.  Keep moving forward looking for that YES.  Don’t build your self-worth strictly on your accomplishments-to-date.  Do your best every day.  Live your life so you can feel good about your effort every day.  Look for that “well done” at the end of every day.  If you did your best today, then you did a worthy job.  Do it again tomorrow. Focus It’s all about focus.  Don’t focus on the NOs.  Focus on the progress-to-date.  Focus on your goal for tomorrow.  Don’t focus on yourself.  Focus on others.  We miss the importance of others when we can’t see past ourselves.  We are never so blessed as when we focus on and reach out to help others. Celebrate Life! Robert learned at an early age that each day could be your last.  In 9th grade, a friend died during a basketball game accident.  He was greatly affected.  As a result, he became the best brother to his sisters, the best son to his parents that he could be.  He didn’t really go through those weird teenage years.  He wants to leave no work behind that he could have done, so he keeps all work up-to-date each day.  He makes his bed each day.  He leaves nothing that others couldn’t come in and pick up where he left off. Adults celebrate each time a baby takes its first step or says its first word.  We need to celebrate others in our lives in the same way.  Give a virtual or literal standing ovation to those we love; those that we treasure; those people that we appreciate and admire.  Say thank you and I love you to everyone that matters.  Live each day as if it were your last! Things to Remember Use your days wisely! It’s all about focus. Celebrate life! Connect with Robert D Smith Robert’s website: TheRobertD.com Robert on Twitter: @TheRobertD Robert on Facebook: /TheRobertD Robert’s Book Pre-Order Now! 20,000 Days and Counting by Robert D Smith Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Send Email twitter.com/tracyjtrost facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

Celebration Leads to Success In this week’s episode of the Successful Life Mindset, host Tracy J Trost sits down with author Robert D Smith to talk about his story, how he and best-selling author and speaker Andy Andrews met and his secrets to living a successful and happy life. Tracy met Robert about 7 years ago.  Tracy read a book by Andy Andrews and sent an email to his organization to say how much he enjoyed it.  Robert not only replied, but also sent Tracy every book by Mr. Andrews.  Tracy responded with his thanks, and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Chance Meeting of a Lifetime Robert left St. Petersburg, Florida for Birmingham, Alabama.  Before going, he contacted the youth pastor of a church he knew he would be attending in AL.  The pastor asked Robert to do some counseling at youth camp before college started.  At that camp, he met Andy Andrews.  They hit it off. Andy wanted to be a comedian.  He wanted Robert to be his manager.  Robert said no, he didn’t even know what a manager for a comedian did.  Andy kept after him for several days and finally told him, to think of him as a book or a piece of stainless steel medical equipment – just go out and sell him.  That Robert understood and it’s been over 33 years of a professional working relationship between them. Playing a Game Of course, there were pitfalls along the way.  Mostly a lot of “No” responses when Robert tried to book a comedian on the collegiate circuit.  Robert decided to make it into a game.  His goal was to get 30 no replies a day.  He would deliberately call on colleges that specifically said they did not want a comedy act.  He would call them and say, I represent a comic and want to verify that you definitely don’t want a comedian for your show.  Would you like to book Andy?  He would get a “no”.  He’d call the next college.  He would continue and inevitably, he would come across a college that would say you know we were just talking about that and we’ve changed our minds.  We are interested in a comic.  In all the years before Andy became sought after, Robert never reached his goal of 30 no replies.  Finally, Andy was in demand and college and universities started calling them.  Playing the game took the fear out of getting a rejection.  After all, rejection became the goal.  Most people don’t want the little things in life, they want bigger and bigger successes and they fail to celebrate the little steps along the way.  You need to celebrate all forward progress in life and then focus so you can do it again.  You need to focus on your passion in life. Passions Robert is passionate about setting goals and accomplishing them.  He is passionate about helping people improve their lives.  He asks them to ask themselves – If this were your last day; would it have been your best?  Your mission every day is to change your life to improve yourself. God wrote a message on the wall for King Belshazzar and Robert wanted a message too.  What would God tell him if it were a twitter message with only 140 characters. Robert’s answer was just two questions to ask yourself throughout the day, 1) What’s important now?, and 2) What’s next?  When you know the answer to each, go DO it! If you want to make your dream come true, but don’t know where to start, read books.  Talk to others about how the steps they took to get where they are. Celebrate Life is uncertain – eat dessert first.  There is always something to celebrate.  Celebrate life!  Focus on the positives and get where you want to be. Things to Remember Lose the fear. Ask yourself every day, “What’s important now?” and “What’s next?” Celebrate life! Connect with Robert D Smith Robert’s website: TheRobertD.com Robert on Twitter: @TheRobertD Robert on Facebook: /TheRobertD Robert’s Book Pre-Order Now! 20,000 Days and Counting by Robert D Smith Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Send Email twitter.com/tracyjtrost facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

Move Your Life in a New Direction In this week’s episode of the Successful Life Mindset, host Tracy J Trost sits down with nationally recognized speaker and author Simon T Bailey to discuss his latest book the Vuja de Moment and how you can learn to move your life in a new direction. The Vuja de Moment When you’ve drawn a line in the sand and you decide it’s time to do something different.  When it’s too uncomfortable to stay in your comfort zone, when you reach a point where you say enough is enough, it’s time to shift gears, it’s time to move in a fresh direction and unleash your inner salmon and swim upstream that’s when you’ve reached your vuja de moment.  The vuja de moment is when you decide the future is going to be better than the present and do something to change it. See What Others Are Missing People know so much about what they know that they are the last to see the future differently.  If you are going to shift from average to brilliant, you can’t wait for things to happen.  You need to ask yourself these questions:  Where am I?  How did I get here?  Where do I want to go?  Essentially, you need to map out your flight plan of life and figure out where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.  You also need to find out why that place in life is important. How to Ignite a Fresh Vision Look at all you have accomplished.  Examine what works, what needs to shift a little, and what needs to go away.  To see things differently can change the world.  Steve Jobs walked into Xerox and where others saw copiers, he saw the potential to put a computer on every desk.  Leverage, retool, repackage what’s right in front of you and make it something new.  That was Steve Job’s vision, not Xerox.  We need to look at things differently and find what we see differently and say, “How can I flip this around?” to ignite a fresh vision.  The iPod disrupted the movie industry, the music business and technology in general.  The Walkman is actually the grandfather of the iPod, but Apple saw it differently and their fresh vision turned the world upside down. Many times the idea is not necessarily new, but the application is new.  Other times, our mindset has changed and we now see/think/act different and produce a new set of needs in our lives.  We need to grab hold of the steering wheel of our life and drive into our future, or everything and everyone else will drive us into our future.  We can have an owner mentality and do the driving or allow ourselves to take on a victim mentality and be driven by others. You are Responsible to Fuel Your Mind We need to take responsibility for our own growth and development so we can reach our full potential.  Leaders are readers and readers are leaders.  We need to fuel our minds to increase our brilliance.  “Chunk it down” and read 15 minutes a day – EVERY DAY.  We should read something that inspires us, and then ask ourselves how to apply or act on what we’ve read and finally, how can we measure our growth to see how the application or action is working. Every system has its own language, its own terms.  We are a system.  What works, and are we using that to create our future.  How do we say those words to make things happen?  You can’t decide what will happen to you, but you can decide how you will react/adjust upon things when they happen.  Take control.  Intentionally adopt new habits to shift from average to brilliant.  Ask yourself how are you using your time, your energy and are you surrounding yourself with people that will move you forward, not hold you back.  Change something every single day to make it happen. The Power of Doing Things for Others What goes around comes around.  Pay it forward.  Give away what you need the most.  These are foreign concepts to most people, but as the Bible says in Acts, it is more blessed to give than to receive, and it’s true.  Simon gave an example of this.  He went through the tollbooth every day for about a year and a half paying his toll and the toll for the car behind him.  One day last week he stopped to pay the toll and the attendant told him to go on through; the person ahead of him paid his toll!  The feeling was great! When we focus on ourselves, our world is only as big as we are, but when we begin to focus on others and how we can help them, it opens our world and it becomes huge.  The truth is, when you start to move forward and change your mindset to move ahead, people and opportunities will seek you out. The moment one commits oneself then providence leads to all sorts of things.  Things begin to merge and come to you. Things to Remember Learn to see things differently. When it comes to your future – plan the work; work the plan. Read and apply what you learn on a DAILY basis. Connect with Simon T Bailey Simon’s website: Simon T Bailey Simon on Twitter: @SimonSaysShift Simon on Facebook: /SimonTBrillionaire Simon’s Books The Vuja de Moment by Simon T Bailey Release Your Brilliance by Simon T Bailey Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Send Email twitter.com/tracyjtrost facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

Challenge Yourself with Being Uncomfortable Simon T. Bailey, noted speaker and author, joins Tracy J Trost on today’s podcast.  They talk about Simon’s own amazing life story of living in a drug-infested community as a college dropout making $5.10 an hour to becoming a leader at Disney and now traveling the world to speak to major corporations and write books. Release Your Brilliance Tracy shared how Simon’s book, “Release Your Brilliance”, ultimately led Tracy to film making.  Simon’s book has a chapter about living your dream.  Tracy’s employees all read the book and discussed that chapter.  Tracy asked them what they would do if they could do anything.  After the discussion, one employee came to Tracy and asked him what his dream was – what would he be doing if he could do anything.  Tracy answered “making films” immediately.  From that, came Tracy’s first movie, “Find Me”, and then “A Christmas Snow”, an award-winning movie that is currently in its second season as a successful stage play in Branson, MO. and finally, “The Lamp”.  Tracy recommends the book, “Release Your Brilliance”, to everyone.  You can learn how to take steps to live your dreams. The Beginning of Simon’s Story Simon and his parents lived in Buffalo, NY.  His parents took him to Atlanta, GA. to begin his first year of college.  By the end of his freshman year, they called and told him they not only had no funds for the rest of his college degree, but they didn’t have the funds to get him and bring him back home.  At a loss as to what to do, found a job making $5.10 an hour and moved into a drug-infested community – the only place he could afford.  He was offered a job at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Buckhead, but felt he wasn’t good enough so he turned it down.  He said we don’t see things as they really are, we see things as we think we are.  Eventually, his life turned around, he worked for Disney.  He left after 7 years to pursue a new dream and hasn’t looked back. Learning About Ourselves One day Simon attended an event where he met a man from Xerox.  The man was impeccably dressed with French cuffs and links to highly polished wing tips.  He taught Simon the power of perception.  The man asked him what he was reading.  Simon thought to himself, with a dead-end job, no degree and living surrounded by people on drugs, the simple answer was “nothing”.  The man saw something in Simon.  He invited him to lunch.  They met every three or four weeks for lunch and Simon learned all he could.  The man fed him positive thoughts about dreams and becoming anything he could dream if he applied himself.  Simon began reading books like “Think and Grow Rich”, among others.  The books and the affirmation from the man of the possibilities within himself changed Simon.  Simon began to think positively.  He made a plan to finish college and did it on the “10-year” plan.  He had to work his way through school and it wasn’t easy, but he went on to get a masters.  When they went to a Ed Lewis Kohl conference together, Mr. Kohl said if anyone felt they were called to communicate a message to the world they should come up on the platform.  Simon was filled with a resounding YES to the question and ran up to the stage.  Later, the man told Simon he could see Simon was on fire with the desire to go in that direction with his life.  He saw something in Simon and supported him and encouraged him.  Look at the five people around you and you will see your future.  Put yourself in circles where you are uncomfortable – that’s where you will meet/bump into people from which you can learn. The Rest of the Story Next, Simon met his future wife.  When it’s time for you to go to a different dimension in your life, you can tell by the people that come into your life.  Who you’re supposed to become and what you are to move toward is influenced by those people.  Simon said his wife married a diamond in the rough and 20 years later they have grown together.  They moved to Orlando, several jobs and a 2-year process later, Simon secured a job at Disney.  He held several positions for the corporation and enjoy it very much, but sometimes you have to move on.  When being in your comfort zone becomes uncomfortable, you need to make plans and realize that this was a comma in your life, not a period.  Although he was offered several excellent positions, both within and outside of Disney, he turned them all down to follow his passion to communicate a message to the world.  He began speaking to corporations (without compensation in the beginning) to build a reputation and a clientele list.  He also wrote books (available on Amazon.com).  He has become successful following his dream.  He left the security of a “real” job and never looked back. The Secret Sauce to Change Your Story Don’t focus on what didn’t happen, but what CAN happen.  Feed your subconscious positive thoughts.  It is always working and gives you back what you feed it.  Read positive motivational books and ask yourself, how am I going to apply this today?  Then ask yourself three things: What am I thinking EVERY DAY? What am I saying EVERY DAY? What am I doing EVERY DAY? The key is to focus in the direction you want to go.  Your life will always go in the direction of your most dominate thoughts.  You wouldn’t have the capacity to have the dream of something if you didn’t already have what it took to obtain it!  Go out DAILY and make it happen. Things to Remember If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward. Surround yourself with positive people. Use the “Secret Sauce” on a DAILY basis. These tools work for everyone – it will work if you work it! Stop making excuses and start working for what you want. Connect with Simon T Bailey Simon’s website: Simon T Bailey Simon on Twitter: @SimonSaysShift Simon on Facebook: /SimonTBrillionaire Simon’s Books The Vuja de Moment by Simon T Bailey Release Your Brilliance by Simon T Bailey Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Send Email twitter.com/tracyjtrost facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

Making Your Mountains Move Tracy J Trost concludes his session with Chuck Morrison, from Make Your Mountains Move, and how to move mountains in your own life. Right, right, right The purpose of The Successful Life Mindset podcast is help people learn to live their life to its greatest potential.  Each of us has a great amount of potential, but there are tricks to achieving our dreams; our passions.  The secret lies in learning how to retrain your mind.  We all carry on conversations in our mind, roughly ten times more often than the conversations we carry on with others.  Change occurs when we can retrain the voice in our head.  That one that usually dictates our actions/reactions to daily situations. There is a program in life that is like a scale.  We try to balance our thinking with our actions, but we really need to start with the thinking and expand on that.  Right thinking leads to right actions, which in turn, lead to right results. I Challenge You Chuck has a challenge he issues his listeners that he calls the 7-day “Don’t Complain Challenge”.  For seven days, don’t complain either in your head or aloud.  When you find yourself going down the wrong road and let negativity creep into your thoughts, re-take the challenge.  What you focus on is what you attract.  Focus on the positive and positive things come into your life. Tracy feels we should really focus on people rather than things.  We can build relationships with people.  Life is more than about who we are, it’s about other people.  Tracy issued a challenge of his own – each day, for 7 days, call someone just to say, “I appreciate you.”  Life is all about sowing and reaping. Faith vs. Worry Our core beliefs are those things we believe to be true, regardless of whether or not they are true.  When you have faith, it says, “I believe the best is going to happen”.  When you worry, it says, “I believe the worst is going to happen”.  Worrying is like praying for what you do not want.  Focus on the best.  Focus on the positive.  When you believe the best, when you have faith, your actions will reflect those positive beliefs. Tracy virtually examines his core beliefs when necessary.  If his brain tells him he can’t or shouldn’t try, or something else negative, he “takes” out the file in his brain and examines the situation that originally causes him to think that thought.  If it was someone else’s opinion, or it is no longer true, he “crumples” that old belief and rewrites the file and puts it back in his brain.  His new core belief is that he can do it, he should try, and he will be successful.  His brain may need to review that new belief a couple of times before it becomes his new core belief that controls his action/reaction to the situation, but eventually it becomes natural to react based on the positive belief. We are ALL Annoying When we are annoyed by something that someone else does, a personality trait or negative virtue, look within yourself.  You will find that same trait.  At first, we don’t want to believe it, but if we honestly look hard enough, we’ll find it.  Once we make a conscious decision to remove that action/habit from our own lives there are steps we need to take.  Chuck has three basic steps to rid us of our faults:  1) Say to yourself NO MORE, and mean it, 2) Learn from the fault, become a better person, and 3) Truly commit to releasing it from your life.  Paraphrasing Tony Robbins, “A decision has not been made until there is action upon it.” Affecting or Infecting Others?  We must make a deliberate choice to affect others and allow them to affect us, or to infect others and allow them to infect us.  Focus on the positives in life.  Don’t let negative people infect you with their negativity.  One way to do this is focus on the reward, the relationship, the achievement, the outcome of the challenges in life rather than focusing on the process, the action needed, the obstacles to overcome, the barriers to tear down.  To make this work, you need to establish a goal or set of goals in life. Tracy’s friend, Jim Stovall once said people do more planning for a 3-day vacation than they do for the rest of their lives.  If they don’t know their dreams for life, how will they ever achieve them?  People need to be clear on their passion, that thing that drives them.  They need to get the doubts and fears out of the way and refuse to place limitations on themselves.  They need to physically write down their plans and ideas will come to them.  They need to take inspired actions to make it happen.  They need to stay incessant and persistent to get it done.  Nothing is impossible.  Even when walking in a fog, when it is difficult to see 100 feet ahead, if you keep moving forward, you will eventually reach your destination.  Don’t let your current circumstances keep you from reaching your goal. Things to Remember Listen to and follow your dreams. Keeping moving forward – even through the fog. Take the two 7-day challenges and improve your life! Connect With Chuck Chuck’s website is: MakingMountainsMove.com Find Chuck on Twitter: Making Mountains Move on Twitter Find Chuck on Facebook: Making Mountains Move on Facebook Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

Making Your Mountains Move Tracy J Trost sits down with Chuck Morrison from Make Your Mountains Move to talk about his own life story. Chuck tells Tracy how his life changed from being a below average student, who was made fun of by everyone, to living his dream of becoming a motivational speaker, when he discovered and applied one simple idea to his life. How Do I Find My Passion? Chuck and Tracy list some of the main things you need to do to find your passion and purpose in life and live your dreams as you begin your own journey on personal development and growth. When I Was Just a Boy When Chuck was about 10, he was used to pretending to be sick to escape school.  He was ADD and a poor student.  He was a skinny kid and was teased by everyone.  On the days he did escape, he was rewarded with going to work with one of his parents.  His dad was a truck driver and his mom was an outside sales rep.  He loved going along as she met with clients.  One day he stayed in the car and decided to turn on the radio.  To his surprise and delight, rather than music as he expected, he heard the voice of motivational speaker Tony Robbins.  He was hooked.  He even took notes.  He discovered his passion, his dream for the future – he wanted to be a motivational speaker. Passion Drives Actions With a newfound passion, Chuck was motivated in school and went on to college.  He majored in business and worked at a college radio station.  He loved the radio work and took communication classes as well.  When he graduated from college, he held a degree in both fields.  He took the more secure route and accepted a business job, but he wasn’t happy.  After bouncing around for a while, he decided to follow his passion and find a job, any job, in radio.  He took a job as an intern, which required him to work 3 days a week; he worked five.  The job required him to work 3 hours a day; he worked eight.  He was like a sponge, soaking up all the knowledge he could about radio.  He learned when you are passionate about something it will drive you to do more; to over-deliver.  You need to set a target and let your thinking create your results.  Once he had a radio show of his own he went back to his original dream as a 10 year old boy of becoming a motivational speaker to help others by teaching them the steps to take their dream and make it a reality.  Remember, we are all good at something. The Steps from Dream to Reality Chuck shared some simple steps to insure we translate our passions into reality.  First, find your passion.  Find that thing that drives you; that thing that you would do happily for the rest of your life.  Next, examine your thoughts and actions and discover what is holding you back.  What is your biggest fear?  Eliminate that fear with the reality that whatever it is, it can be overcome.  Find others that do what you want to do and read their bios, learn how they became successful, use them as mentors.  Third, focus on the steps you need to do to make your dream work.  The last step is to learn the power of persistence.  Continue to move forward with your dreams.  Make it happen! Tracy reiterated that when we experience an event, like taking a test, our subconscious files away the outcome in our brain.  If we do well, it files away that we do well on tests and if we don’t do well, that is filed away.  The next time we have a test our subconscious goes to our brain to see what we believe about tests and we react accordingly.  We need to continually feed our brains positive thoughts.  Tracy had a friend that was going through a negative period in his life.  Tracy asked him about a typical day.  It was listening to the news on the way to work, hanging out with negative co-workers, then more news on the way home.  Once he agreed to listen to positive podcasts Tracy provided him on the way to work and find more positive co-workers, his life turned around. Inspirational Quotes “Everybody is a genius.  But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.”  – Albert Einstein “The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts” – Earl Nightingale Things to Remember Find your passion. Focus. Your actions are a result of your thinking. Connect With Chuck Chuck’s website is: MakingMountainsMove.com Find Chuck on Twitter: Making Mountains Move on Twitter Find Chuck on Facebook: Making Mountains Move on Facebook Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

A New Story, A New You Tracy sits down with friend/counselor/pastor Mark Tietsort once again as they talk about helping people re-write their internal hard drive and break free from the past hurts, events, and emotions that are holding them back. Changing Your Story Changes Your Life As a pastor, councilor and teacher, Mark works with people to identify where things are coming from in their lives.  From the moment we’re created, our subconscious begins to process every event that happens and files in our brains (our hard-drives) how we feel about, the emotions we attach to each event.  When something happens, our brain goes to what we know about that and brings back a memory (good or bad) about our “story”.  A song might bring back a memory of an activity or event that we associate with that song.  We can close our eyes and relive that moment in time.  Our subconscious is waiting for assignments.  When an event occurs, it triggers the subconscious to go into the hard-drive to see how to react; what emotions to associate with that file – happy, sad, fear or something else.  God created our hard-drives along with the rest of us, but we are the ones that write the files.  All of our present life is based on reacting to the memories of our past, or writing new memories as new events occur.  Mark uses prayer and counseling to help people rewrite their stories when the story/memory is not true. Who’s Story Are You Living? When Tracy and a friend were working on a mechanical project as a teen, he and his dad had a conversation about the project, which led his dad to ask what Tracy wanted to do with his future.  Tracy responded that he’d like to be a mechanic.  His dad laughed and said he didn’t want to burst Tracy’s bubble, but he simply wasn’t a mechanic person.  Tracy’s subconscious filed that “truth” away and Tracy distanced himself from his passion/dream of doing something mechanical.  Sometime later, a college counselor asked him a similar question about his future plans and he pulled out the “I’m not mechanical” memory from his hard-drive and made a joke saying “something mechanical”, then went on to say he was joking that he’s not mechanical.  The counselor asked him why he felt that way, which forced him to reexamine that “truth”.  He thought about it and decided that maybe it wasn’t true.  When a girl needed her car fixed, he was able to fix it and began working at a garage while working during college.  He discovered that he had let his dad’s opinion of his abilities become “truth” in his own mind.  So, when an event happens that triggers a negative belief, we need to ask ourselves what do we believe about the situation and is it true. Rewriting Our Story The ability to retrain our minds is one of the tools in the toolbox God has given each of us.  We don’t have to live the story we or someone else has written about us.  We can reexamine our beliefs, each time they are triggered negatively and decide if our current belief is true or false.  If it is not true, we have the ability to rewrite that file in our hard-drive with the real truth. Mark uses emotions, triggered by events that happen to those that seek his counsel, to help guide how they react to events; to help them rewrite their story and begin reacting with truth. What Emotion Triggered Your Story? Emotions brought on by our core beliefs – those things we have filed away – are often the things that hold us back from reaching our full potential for living a successful life. Mark shared a story about what held him back from pursuing a dream of getting back into film work.  About a year before he met with Tracy, he was struggling with a fear of not being good enough to return to working on films.  Mark took his struggle to God.  He asked God why am I so afraid, where does my fear come from.  A memory came to him from a time when he was about 7 years old.  His dad told him to mow the patch of grass next to the glass shop the family owned.  As he mowed, bits of glass scrap embedded in the lawn would fly up and nick him.  His mother came to the rescue and told him to stop.  His dad said the job wasn’t done, that Mark couldn’t do anything right.  The feeling of failure – the fear of failing anything he tried – was written to his hard-drive as truth.  He felt worthless.  Mark asked God to show him the truth in the story.  God put on his heart that the truth was that job was too big for 7 year old Mark. For Tracy, the emotion of being a disappointment to his father, held him back from exploring his dream of doing mechanical work.  For Mark, the emotion of fear and failing, held him back from exploring his dream of getting back into film.  Once Tracy and Mark rewrote their files with truth rather than the opinion of others, those negative emotions were gone. Trigger Thoughts The thoughts that are triggered are often more about what others think about us than truth.  We need to get to a place where we don’t feel the need to please others.  It is a matter of retraining our minds.  We are all creations, not mistakes, accidents or anything else.  God had thought, purpose and intention when we were created. Tracy’s mom was pregnant at sixteen and had to leave high school and the state until after he was born.  Although he was born in an era that had a very shameful stigma associated with unwed mothers, when he became a follower of Jesus Christ, he now understands the love God has for each of us.  When his own first child was born, he reformulated his thinking about how much God loves him, so he no longer needed the approval of others.  It has come over time, but he now knows he must only please himself and God. His quest for wisdom over the last 10 years brought him to the truth that life isn’t about us; it’s all about helping others.  Sharing what we’ve learned and helping others become all they can be reaching both quality and success in their lives.  When it’s all about you, you are never fulfilled.  When it’s about others it gives you freedom.  When you live to please others, they control your life. Mark was involved in the family business, but didn’t feel it was enough – it felt shallow, self-centered.  Those emotions put him on a quest to discover his desires.  He found he needed to help others to feel fulfilled himself. Last thoughts    Slow down and look at the most meaningful times in your life.  They were probably when you were helping others. Things to Remember Examine your emotions for their core. Rewrite any beliefs that are no longer true. Helping others is a key to finding fulfillment in your own life. Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks! BONUS CONTENT – Be sure to check out the all new Inspired Family podcast here: Inspired Family on Inspired Harbor

What’s Holding You Back? Tracy J Trost sits down with his close friend and counselor/pastor Mark Tietsort to learn about how Mark helps people to slow down so that God can help them find trigger thoughts, beliefs, and emotions in their lives and there by change their lives and get into a Successful Life Mindset. Common Goal Tracy told of meeting Mark about a year ago when they were introduced by a mutual friend. Tracy often speaks with people about making movies or the entertainment industry, so the meeting wasn’t unusual, but the friendship that grew from that meeting was unexpected. Mark also remembers their first meeting. He found it a bit intimidating to talk to someone and ask their advice when that is usually what people ask him. He has a history in movies and acting, so when he was interested in getting Tracy’s advice, but it made him feel uneasy. He said when Tracy is in the room, it doesn’t go unchanged. Tracy challenged him to face his fears – something he usually helps other do. It became clear that they have a common desire to help others become the best they can be in life. Tracy does this via his movies, his books, his facebook and twitter postings and this podcast. Mark, as a pastor, often counsels people. He helps them discover their trigger thoughts. Trigger Thoughts Trigger thoughts are the thoughts we have in our subconscious that cause us to react to situations the way we do. The behavior we default to in any situation. Even if the behavior is wrong or bad for us, we will default to the “easy”, the “normal”, the “comfortable”. People involved in abusive relationships will often stay because even though it is bad, leaving would introduce the unknown and the fear of the unknown is perceived to be worse. People want to feel safe/normal in their lives. Tracy said one of his favorite scriptures is Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” God has given us the ability to change our lives by the renewing of our mind. Mark said many times people turn to physiologists or psychiatrists to heal their “brain issues”, such as bi-polar or schizophrenia, when it is actually an emotion, the reason behind the behavior that is the real issue. As an illustration, Mark told of a woman that came to him about habitual sexual behavior, even though she was a strong believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Her behavior was not consistent with her beliefs. He asked her what emotions she was feeling. She said anger and rage. He knew she was right, because he could feel her anger. He asked her to pray with him about her emotional state. The Power of Prayer As they prayed, asking God to bring out why she felt the rage, a memory from about age 8 came to her mind and she shrank down in the chair, crouching in pain of that memory. He asked her about it and she remembered being abused by her uncle. She blurted out that she hated her uncle, hated all men and couldn’t understand why God would allow her to be abused. She felt trapped. They prayed again and asked Christ to come to her memory and she immediately said the room went from dark to light – she felt the compassion of Christ for her situation. She was filled with the thought that her uncle abused her because he had been abused himself. She suddenly felt compassion for him – the uncle, just moments before she had hated. She said the hatred for him and for all men was gone. She felt she was chosen so her sister would be spared – there had been a reason. With the change of emotion, her life was changed. Release your feelings Tracy’s mother was married three times. The first two marriages were short, but she has been married many years to Don. Tracy had a feeling of inadequacy for many years, never knowing exactly why because he loves Don and Don loves him. Don adopted him. Don couldn’t be more his father unless he was flesh and blood. When he was 28, Tracy met with his biological father. He told him he was happy with the way things had turned out, essentially releasing his father from any guilt he may have felt for abandoning Tracy as a child. The strange thing is, when forgiving his biological father, his own feelings of inadequacy disappeared. It was something he apparently needed to do to finally get on with his own emotional well-being. Often we feel like failures when it is usually the failing of someone else that should have saved us or protected us or loved us and we take the responsibility of their failing. The woman Mark counseled was released from the pain of her memory. The memory was still there – it happened and that can’t change, but how she reacts to men, how she feels about herself, and the release of the anger, rage, and shame associated with her memory is gone. Last thoughts Tracy asked Mark for his last thoughts to share. Mark said along with Tracy’s 3 keys to success, which are 1) believe, 2) write it down and 3) talk about it, he would add a fourth step of going from self-talk to talk with others – find someone to talk to, someone to trust. Don’t believe the lie. Find the truth. Things to Remember Find your trigger thought. Learn the difference between behavior and emotion. Don’t live the lie – find the truth and live your life successfully. Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

The Importance of Gratitude Tracy sits down once again with his close friend Cliff Ravenscraft to get a dose of happiness as they look at the power and importance of gratitude and why it’s so important to know what you are feeding yourself, both mentally and physically. Be thankful for each amazing gift you have and determine to focus on it. Savor the moment Tracy asked Cliff how things were going and Cliff’s response was that life was great and getting better every single moment. Tracy knows Cliff is a person who has harnessed the power of appreciating the moment. Cliff reinforced this by saying “any day above dirt is a good day”. We need to learn to savor each moment. “Woe is me” vs. “Blessed is me” Cliff has a friend that was always a “woe is me” kind of guy. One day the man called and wanted to come over to see Cliff. Cliff told him he was going out for a walk, but if the man was willing to walk along he should come on over. The first 15 minutes the man complained about everything. Finally, Cliff told the man to stop. He asked him how many times in the last 4 years he and his family had been without shelter – homeless. The man said never. Cliff asked him how many meals they missed because they couldn’t afford food. Again, the man answered none. Cliff said the one word the man needed to focus on was “gratitude”. Cliff pointed out that the man had a car to drive over to Cliff’s house. He had a cell phone to call him in the first place. These are both things many people don’t have. He should be grateful for what he has been blessed with instead of focusing on what others have been blessed with. Don’t compare your life with someone else’s life. Be thankful for what you have in your life. Tracy agreed wholeheartedly. He pointed out that our lives will always go in the direction of our most predominate thought. We need to think positive thoughts, to concentrate/focus on the positives. Where is your focus? Food for thought Tracy had a friend with a similar problem of negativity. He asked his friend what are you putting into your life? The man was confused, so Tracy asked him if he listened to the news on the car radio on his way to and from work. The man said yes. Tracy asked if he still hung out with the same friends he complained about while he was at work. Again, the man said yes. Tracy told him from leaving for work to arriving back home, he fed his sub conscience negative thoughts and situations all day long. Tracy asked him to pledge to listen to podcasts and recorded books that Tracy suggested for 30 days. The man agreed to do it. After the first week Tracy called to see how things were going. The man was still negative. At the end of the second week, he called Tracy to say he was actually enjoying one of the podcasts Tracy had suggested. After the third week, he called to share something good going on in his life. At the end of the 30 days, the man called and was emotional about how much he wanted to thank Tracy for bringing a sense of positivity into his life. He was a changed man. It starts when you Believe Cliff told of the ups and downs in his physical fitness life. Three years ago he reached an all-time high of 268 pounds. He was sick, tired and knew he had to get serious about getting fit. He got inspired by a podcast and began a 3-point physical fitness routine. 1) Increased intentional physical activity 3 to 5 times a week (walking), 2) learned how many calories his body needed, not wanted and began to count calories and 3) researched nutrition and began following a Mediterranean based diet (not a formal diet, but following the same nutritional foods as the Mediterranean people – among the healthiest in the world). In 1 ½ to 2 years he was down to 210. Then he was ill and got behind in work along with other distractions and soon lost the way to his routine. In nine months, he was back up to 254! On August 24th, he reread the book, “The Strangest Secret” by Napoleon Hill. This time he got it! He began his routine again with 2 important steps to his routine. 4) I don’t care about pleasing people anymore – became a phrase to live by. He could no longer let pleasing others interfere with his physical fitness. He had to learn to do his walk and answer emails later. And 5) He asked himself “Where does my providence come from?” He needed to remind himself that his providence comes from God, it is not from anything he does on his own. He carries a card that says “I will be less than 200 pounds by the end of 2012” – a card that has his signature following that statement. It is a constant reminder of his goal. Getting Physical Tracy likes a book “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss which asks the question are you working to be busy or working towards a goal. We should never work just to keep busy. When our work is done we should stop and make good use of the rest of our day. Spend time with family and/or friends, read or relax. Our physical activity also helps our mental fitness – make it a habit. Tracy and his wife run each morning. Some mornings are easier to get up and at it than others, but they are benefited each morning. Once the run is over, they spend time together just walking and talking while they cool down. They are more fit and enjoy the extra time together. Keys to it all Everything comes down to the three keys to success: Believe, write it down, and talk about it. For Cliff, he began to believe he could get back on track, he wrote down his goal of being less than 200 pounds by the end of the year and he podcasted about it, told Tracy about it and talked about it on the podcast. Without action, knowledge is just knowledge. We must believe and write down our goals, but without action they will not be reached. To be successful, you must have a positive and successful life mindset. Believe you can reach your goals. Write them down and share your thoughts and plans for reaching those goals with yourself and others. Things to Remember Be grateful for all you have Feed your sub conscience positive thoughts Believe – Write it down – Talk about it! Connect with Cliff You can find our more about Cliff at: PodcastAnswerMan.com or follow him on Twitter at: @GSPN Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Wants vs Needs with Cliff Ravenscraft Tracy J Trost sits down with his good friend Cliff Ravenscraft to talk about why we get ourselves in debt chasing wants. They look at what we can do about it and how to break free from the debt based cultural mindset and get into a Successful Life Mindset. On an Average Tracy shared some astounding averages with Cliff…. The average credit card debt, per person in the United States today is $15,500. It is actually higher when you consider the fact that many people do not have a credit card. The average income for that same person is $20,000. What drives us to have debt nearly equal to our income for the entire year? There are several responses people give when asked that question. “Everyone does it”, “Its normal”, “You’re always going to be in debt anyway”, or something similar, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Wants or Needs? A few years ago, Tracy had about 60 call center employees. One woman came to him and asked for a one-week advance on her pay. He asked her how she planned to pay it back and they agreed to a payment system. She didn’t make the payments and soon came back and asked for more. He said he couldn’t and asked her how much she needed to catch up on the bills she had. She said an amount and he asked her a series of questions about her spending – do you have cable/satellite service, how often do you eat out, do you get a newspaper delivered, and more. When they were done he pointed out she could save the money spent on those things and spend it where she actually needed it. She was angry and said he didn’t understand. He owned a business and didn’t have to make those sorts of choices. But she was wrong. Years before, he was making about $700 a month and his wife was making money cutting hair. She became pregnant and had to go on bed rest at six months. They couldn’t make it on his income so they were forced to sell their home and rent his parents’ basement. They did that until his income was enough to move out. Even then, his furniture was a beanbag, his TV was a small black & white set, and the car was old. Debt, debt, debt Cliff and his wife were in debt in excess of $80,000. A small student loan, two car loans and credit card balances had them in over their heads. Some friends raved about Dave Ramsey and his financial revolution. Cliff thought they were crazy, but one day, while listening to the radio he happened to hear Dave Ramsey’s show. It made sense so he began to listen to learn more. He began to believe it would be possible to live debt free, but his wife wasn’t convinced and was tired of hearing about Dave Ramsey and his advice. Cliff planned a weekend away for him and his wife and took her to a Dave Ramsey live event. She listened and was hooked. They began to follow the plan, starting with baby step number one, an emergency fund of $1000. They took the next step of putting all their extra cash to paying down the high-cost bill. When that was paid, they moved to the next, then to the next. It took 7 ½ years, but they now live debt free except for their mortgage, which will be paid off in the next 3 to 5 years. Two of the illustrations Dave Ramey gives at his live events are coming on stage, wrapped in chains to show how we live and having your boss yell at you – again – for something someone else did. Living debt free you would have the option of walking away from that job. A couple of take-away lines from his plan are “debt is dumb” and “cash is king”. While they are cliché, they are also true. Believe The first and most important step is to believe. Believe you can live debt free. Then act on that belief. Learn to determine the difference between a want and a need. You need transportation. You want a new luxury car to drive. You need to eat. You want to eat out. Learning the difference and making choices based on your needs, not your wants will help you start your journey to living debt free. Entitlement Many times the problem is our mindset. We believe we are entitled to certain things in life. We believe we are entitled to a yearly vacation – whether we can afford it or not. We believe we are entitled to have premium cable or even basic cable – whether we can afford it or not. We believe we are entitled to a new car – whether we can afford it or not. The salesperson tells us it’s only $260 a month – surely we can afford that. What they don’t say is that over the life of the five-year loan that $21,000 car will ultimately cost us $45,000. We need to change from the entitlement mentality! If you can’t afford it – don’t buy it. Things to Remember Learn the difference between wants and needs. Take control of your debt. You are not necessarily entitled! Connect with Cliff You can find our more about Cliff at: PodcastAnswerMan.com or follow him on Twitter at: @GSPN Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Power to Create with Tim Redmond Part 2 Tracy sits down with author Tim Redmond to finish talking about his latest book “Power to Create”, his own life story, and the power of words in our lives. Finding Your Purpose Tim’s book, “Power to Create”, has a tag line of “A Revolutionary Way to Redefine Wealth, Creativity, and Your Amazing Purpose!” Tracy’s first question to Tim is do you believe everyone has a purpose? Tim said everyone has a purpose; a why they exist. Tracy said the discovery of the purpose is the exciting part of life’s journey. Doing our work can be our purpose. In one ancient language, to work is translated to fulfill your purpose. Tracy gave a hypothetical situation where Joe has dreams of college and a great career, but he meets Mary and falls in love. They marry, she becomes pregnant and he feels honor bound to give up his dream. Three children later, he loves his wife, he loves his family, but he longs for the dream he gave up. He becomes bored with life because it’s not what he wanted. He feels like his life is a prison. Tracy asked Tim what steps can Joe take to get from where he is to where he wants to be – how do you get from point A to point B? Primarily, you need to flourish where you are. Be the best. Be positive. People can sense the negativity of a person bored with where they are in life. Many times people that we think have everything feel empty inside because they have no purpose. The book, Power to Create, redefines purpose, not so much where you are, but how to use your purpose, your talents and abilities to be helpful to others. Overcoming the Opinions of Others Tracy asked Tim to tell a little about how he became the successful man he is today. Tim said he was the fourth of 11 children. He was born with several difficulties, which included a double cleft palate. Some of the difficulties were so severe it wasn’t known if he would survive the first week. The priest was called. He took one look at the baby and pronounced judgment saying the baby could never amount to anything important like a priest and he would never be able to speak properly. His mother told him what the priest said when Tim was about 5 or 6 years old. The pronouncement stuck with him all through his early years. Even though he had several operations to correct the palate, he had scars both visible and invisible. He let the priest’s opinion define who he was. He began to think of himself as worthless, someone who couldn’t succeed. He became shy to the point of running out of the room when pictures were being taken. We can’t allow the opinions of others or even of ourselves to cast a shadow over our lives. We can’t feed the opinion of others as truth to our belief system. Devine Intervention One day, Tim (now about 15) and his brother, were in a terrible car accident. His brother was killed and Tim was very seriously injured. Even after he awoke, his thought processes were disturbed and he had to learn to read and write all over again. God spoke to Tim’s heart and told him he wanted Tim to become a speaker and bring hope to others. Sometimes we have to take the biggest source of pain and convert that into stepping-stones. The truth was that Tim had physical difficulties. The truth was that Tim’s belief system put obstacles in his path mentally, he had to overcome these in order to put normalcy back into his life following the car accident, but the power of God is greater than physical or mental issues. Tim chose to ask those powerful questions of himself and overcome the challenges. The questions are a type of ramrod to force your way past the issues. Life is an ongoing challenge. What you believe is what you are. People often have to overcome a struggle more than once to conquer it for good. If they put positive thoughts in their minds, they will eventually overcome. A powerful question Jim Stovall once asked Tracy was, “What would we do if we were amazing?” Tim said that was a great question to ask yourself during this process. Final Words of Wisdom  Tim’s last thoughts for today: The book has the five keys to maximize your productivity. The first key is to remember all good, great, big things start small. So don’t be down on yourself on where you are today – start small and build the fulfillment of your purpose, one-step at a time. Things to Remember Learn to flourish where you are. Don’t automatically accept someone else’s opinion of you. Small steps lead to big results. Connect with Tim Redmond You can find out more about Tim at his website, www.RedmondGrowth.com or www.PowertoCreate.org Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Power to Create with Tim Redmond Tracy sits down with author Tim Redmond to talk about his latest book “Power to Create” and how a sense of scarcity can cripple us in our drive for success, peace, and happiness. What is Kingdom-minded? A side note about the term Kingdom-minded. It applies to businesses that follow the Kingdom Principles (Biblical principles) while learning to become more productive. Those that know you don’t chase after the money and other desires, but you follow your passion, that thing you would do for no money for the simple pleasure of doing it and knowing the money and other desires will come to you. Tim believes that God’s gifts of our individual abilities and talents are not for our use, but for our use to serve others. Tim has just released a new book titled, “Power to Create”. It is available on Amazon, but if you order via Tim’s website, www.redmondgrowth.com you will find several specials including a free e-book. The Lies of Scarcity  Tracy asked Tim about a section of the book “Lies of Scarcity”. Tim explains that there are two major lies regarding the framework of how we think about the world economy. A definition of Economy is that economy is based on the scarcity of resources against the supply and demand of those resources. Given that definition, there are two ways to view the economy. We view it as if we have abundance or as we have scarcity. Most people operate on a scarcity view of our economy because we are trained that way. The economy is viewed as if we don’t have enough oil, or enough crops, or enough money, or enough friends, or enough education and on and on. The First BIG Lie of Scarcity  A lie is something we believe to be true regardless of the absence or presence of truth. The first big lie is that THERE’S NOT ENOUGH. We believe there is not enough so we base our decisions, our actions on that perceived truth. We begin to operate from our perceived inadequacies. We start to bow out of things we should not only participate in, but perhaps star in or be the hero of, or maybe we don’t even attempt something because we feel we wouldn’t be able to do it anyway – that’s pre-quitting! The Second BIG Lie of Scarcity  The next big lie is I’M NOT ENOUGH. We feel that we are not good enough, bright enough, educated enough, wise enough and we sort of drop out of life’s challenges. Tim states that everyone will face another challenge in life before they die. The decision is to either face the challenge as a person that believes there is an abundance or a person that believes there is not enough. Life is all about choices. Choose abundance! God’s gift to each of us is the power to create. We can create peace, joy, happy attitudes regardless of our challenges and/or circumstances or we can create stress, anxiety, self-sabotage. To move from a personal economy of scarcity to one of God’s gift of enough is to take ownership of your choices. We have the power of choice. A belief is an opinion and opinions can change. Don’t let a negative mental attitude, pain, disappointment or a lack of results define who you are. Powerful Questions We have the ability to change things if we ask ourselves powerful, and empowering, questions. Don’t ask why me, or say I could never…. Ask yourself “What can I create in this situation?” or “Who told me that?” and “What invaluable lesson am I learning right now?” These will bring positive, creative thoughts and you will discover ways to change the situation. Ask yourself questions that give you the power. Tracy gave an example of a business deal that was a negative situation with seemingly no way to change. He was negotiating with another person that just would not give him what he wanted. He was feeling overwhelmed and while driving, just talked with himself and prayed. He felt in his mind and heart that God was telling him, don’t be in it for what you can get, but what you can give. The next meeting the other party made a ridiculous offer and he just said okay. They couldn’t believe it. They asked him why and he said that he wasn’t it in for what he could get, but what he could give. Soon they changed one thing and then another to make the deal more fair and in the end he got more than he originally wanted by just surrendering to self-need. Final Words of Wisdom  Tracy asked Tim for any last thoughts. Tim said, “Whatever people are involved in they should take the “now moment”. What can they show up in a creative way to make the situation better? Take the courage to take little steps to make it happen.” Things to remember: Choose Abundance not Scarcity. It’s all perspective – get yours straight. Ask yourself powerful questions to change your situation. Connect with Tim Redmond You can find out more about Tim at his website, www.RedmondGrowth.com or www.PowertoCreate.org Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

How a Blind Man Sees with Jim Stovall Tracy sits down with the bestselling author of The Ultimate Gift Jim Stovall to talk about his life and the power of perspective in changing his life after he went blind. Jim’s Life Story Tracy asked Jim to tell his story — how several life-altering events affected his life. Jim said he grew up in Tulsa, one of three children. His sister died of leukemia, his brother died from a lung disease and he focused his life on pro football. He didn’t really envision any other life, just college ball then on to pro ball. At 17 he went for the required physical to play ball another year in school and was diagnosed with a condition that would cause him to slowly lose his sight. His goal; his dream of playing pro football was gone in an instant. It would take another 12 years before his sight would be completely gone, but his whole world changed. During this time, Jim experienced a fateful day. He went to the Tulsa State Fair where he experienced two things; first, there was an exhibit of the previous Olympics and he saw a weight-lifting event. He thought, that’s something I could do even if I was blind. He was able to switch his natural athletic abilities from football to weight lifting and eventually became a national champion Olympic weightlifter. Another life-changing event occurred when Jim attended a free concert and Ray Charles, a blind musician, took the stage. Later Jim and Ray struck up a friendship. One Day… Tracy asked Jim if he experienced a time of anger. Jim said, with something like blindness you go through the same stages as you would with a death – denial, anger and shock, but eventually acceptance. Tracy asked Jim to tell about his struggle to reach the acceptance stage. Jim said he had a room that he spent most of his day. One day he decided to watch an old Humphrey Bogart movie that he’d seen so many times he thought he could picture it, but when there were action scenes he found he just couldn’t remember the movie well enough to know what was going on so he uttered those famous magic words, “Someone ought to do something about this…..”. That thought led to another and another and the concept for Narrative Television Network was born. He spent a lot of time contacting one network at a time to promote NTN. Someone asked him to speak to the national convention of networks. Jim thought he could talk to all the networks at once. Perfect! NTN was born and won an Emmy a few years later. Jim recalled the first time after his blindness when he was left alone. He decided he was going to leave his room. He was going to leave the house. He was going to make it the 52 feet to his mailbox. Once he made it to the mailbox and his foot felt the curb, it was magical. He lived on a street that was amazing! His street intersected with other streets, which intersected with other streets, and he knew he could go anywhere! Tracy quoted Dan Bobinski, “You will move in the direction of your focus.” Jim said when asked if God changes things, he replies that God changes people, people change things. It’s All Perspective Jim went from speaking occasionally to enjoying a very successful speaking career. For him speaking was like “putting my own foot in my own shoe” – it just felt comfortable. One day he was speaking at a corporate event at a resort in Mexico. A man that worked at the resort snuck in to listen. After everyone else had gone, the man approached him and invited him to his home. Jim went and spent time with the man and his family. They lived in a two-room corrugated shack with dirt floors, but they considered themselves blessed. They had one Coke and gave it to Jim without ice, but he was honored with their offer. He was asked to sign their family Bible. It was a day that put everything into perspective. He had so much compared to this poor family, yet they rejoiced and considered themselves blessed. Tracy had a similar experience in India. It was his first trip to a third world country and it was a revelation for him. He witnessed such poverty. It made him realize that his only problems were first world problems others would laugh at, should he complain to them. When You Have To, You Have To…  Tracy asked Jim how his writing career began. Jim said it was rather comical. He was speaking at an event with Dr. Schuler and others. Dr. Schuler told Jim he should write a book. Jim went on stage to speak and when he was done, Dr. Schuler told him it was all set, that the publisher was expecting the first draft in 90 days. That’s how he wrote “You Don’t Have to Be Blind to See”. Since then he’s written 20 books to date. His first novel, which was later adapted to film, “The Ultimate Gift” happened because he ran out of his speaking topics and decided to turn to fiction. He wrote the book in 5 days. When the book was filmed, he was interested in the movie making process and that led to a meeting between Jim and Tracy. Jim wrote a novel based on Tracy’s screenplay, “A Christmas Snow” and Tracy made a movie from a book Jim wrote years earlier, “The Lamp”. Final Words of Wisdom Tracy asked Jim for last words or thoughts. Jim said to remember, “Life is not a practice game. It is the World Series, Super Bowl and Olympics all rolled into one. You can’t get back a day so make the most of it.” Things to remember: Passion is more important than qualifications. Life is all about choices. Ask yourself, “What would I do if I were amazing?” Connect with Jim Stovall You can find out more about Jim at his website, www.JimStovall.com Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Becoming the Biggest Loser Tracy and Danny Cahill, Season 8 winner on The Biggest Loser, talk about winning, losing, self-sabotage and taking ownership of your life. (Part 2) A Winning Mindset Danny told Tracy he knew after the first week in “Boot Camp” he was going to need to change his mindset – the way he looked at things. A negative mindset would tell him “why try?” and he knew he needed to set his mind toward his goal, to winning, to never giving up. It was life changing. He had come to believe the negative term once used to describe him – “Reject”. He realized he was the only one responsible for his life; his choices. He had worked his way from the 175 pounds he was when he got married to the 430 pounds he was when he started his journey on “The Biggest Loser”. And, it really was work. His body learned to take in more and more caloric intake to reach and maintain his weight. It was also a lot of really difficult work to reach his weight-loss goal. He lost 239 pounds by taking the positive approach. Addicted to a New Way of Thinking People often think they are caught up in a habit (eating, gambling, smoking, alcohol), but they need to change their mindset and make a conscious decision to stop. These things can affect their relationships, actually every aspect of their lives. It really isn’t an eating problem, or whatever their addiction might be, it’s a thinking problem. People use whatever their addiction is as temporary escapes from reality. Thinking negatively will bring about negative actions. Thinking positively will bring about positive actions. Brain Teasers Danny’s years of self-sabotage, when attempting weight loss, actually gave him a pay-off. He lost hundreds of pounds over the years, but once he would lose 20 or 40 pounds, he would put it back on. The self-sabotage was thinking if he lost the weight and then started to regain it back, he really would be a loser, so he wouldn’t really lose enough to make the loss visible before he went back to his old habits and regained the weight. Tracy told about him and his wife training for a 3.5-mile run. His wife said she could never run that far. Rather than not try at all, Tracy asked her how far she could run. They started out running the first quarter-mile and walking the rest of the way. Soon they added another quarter-mile, and then slowly increased the distance, until they were running the entire way. She couldn’t do it all at once, but she could when she ran manageable distances to start. Your focus becomes your direction. The brain can’t distinguish between do and don’t – it jumps to the subject. If you’re told not to think of a pink elephant, a pink elephant is what immediately pops into your brain. If you’re told to think of a gray elephant, a gray elephant is what pops into your head. You focus on the subject, so fill your brain with positive thoughts. If you continually tell yourself you can’t – you’re right! Danny once attended a lecture by Billy Blanks. He said if you were asked to silently count from one to 10, but say your favorite color when asked, you would stop counting to say the color. You stop focusing on your original task to answer the question. Danny has a trick for restaurants too, when he orders, he has half of the meal put in a to-go box before he ever starts eating. Then he eats what’s left and does not overeat. Taking away temptation helps him retain his weight and stay positive. Retrain the brain to look for the positive. Fool your brain – feed it only positive thoughts. Tracy said some people think this is some sort of mind control or hypnosis, but it is actually believing you can achieve your goals. Over time, he has learned that to succeed, you must first believe, which is a thought process, and then write it down, so your goal becomes a physical action, and finally you must speak it to yourself and others so it becomes your focus. Success in life starts with a positive mindset. Danny said God made the brain such an amazing thing. Overtime it allows our actions to become habits that feel foreign when we don’t do them (good or bad) and it remembers trauma, such as getting too close to a stove and being burned has the brain sending out alarms when we get near a stove. When we are born, our first brain training says all is possible, but as we age, we take in negative thoughts and begin to doubt our abilities. Who Told You That? Tracy said he has a friend that will ask “Who told you that?” when you say something negative. Like his wife with her running, once you’ve done it you know you can. What everyone needs to do is to do just a little bit more each day and repeat that process until we are successful. Successful people grow because they keep going. They don’t ever quit. You have to push yourself, take away temptations and just do it! Final Words of Wisdom  Tracy asked Danny for his final words of wisdom. Danny replied we should lose self-limits. We all still mess up, but the difference between CAN and CAN’T is a simple “T”. If you believe, get rid of the “T”. You are worth it. You can do it. You will do it! Things to remember: Be positive! Feed your brain right. Lose the “T” for success. Connect with Danny Cahill You can find out more about Danny at his website, www.thedannycahill.com or at his blog, www.loseyourquit.com. Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Becoming the Biggest Loser Tracy and Danny Cahill, Season 8 winner on The Biggest Loser, talk about winning, losing, self-sabotage and taking ownership of your life. (Part 1) Winning, Losing & Self-Sabotage Tracy started by asking Danny a little about his journey to being a contestant on The Biggest Loser. Danny was a musician, a good one. He was with several bands that were on the verge of huge success, but they never quite reached the success they dreamed of – the big time. Every time they would come close, they would do something to mess it up. His core beliefs were triggers to make him think he couldn’t/shouldn’t achieve real success. His subconscious told him he wasn’t worthy of real success so he would do something that would cause him to fail. However, the truth was, Danny let self-sabotage cause him to fail. Tracy said he doesn’t use the F-word (FAILURE) because you only fail if you quit. If you falter along the way to success, you need to keep going. Succeeding At The Wrong Thing Danny said one thing he didn’t fail at was gaining weight. He weighed 175 pounds when he and his wife were married, but made a decision to give up music, his passion, and do something that would allow him to take care of his wife and family, as they came along. Over the next 17 years, Danny reached a weight of 460 pounds and actually lost 30 pounds before getting on the show. Tracy asked Danny why he thinks he started the weight gain. Danny said when he was going through a rough workout, Bob (a coach on the show) asked him “why?” Danny said it finally hit him that he was using his dad’s choice for his life to affect his own choices. His dad had dreams and a scholarship, but gave it all up when he found Danny’s mother was pregnant with Danny. He made the choice to do something besides live his dream for his soon-to-be family. Therefore, Danny thought he was supposed to do that for his family too. He married and gave up his passion, music. Once the music was gone, food seemed to be where he turned for the thing missing in his life. He felt guilty if he reached success, so he would stop on the 99-yard line. Taking Ownership Many people don’t know, but need to learn, what triggers those feelings and choose to react differently. Danny said he knows now that he blamed his father’s own choices, his wife and his mother so he would have an excuse for his weight, but the truth is he made his own choices and let himself become a victim rather than taking ownership for his own life. Tracy said that those are things that we file away in our brain as truths. Often, these are how others perceive our abilities. Sometimes we need to examine the truth and if we find it is not true or no longer true, we need to rewrite that file in our brain and fill it with the real truth. Then, when our subconscious is triggered, we can pull out the file, read the truth and react differently than before. We don’t allow the opinion of others, the choices of others, or excuse to affect our decisions. We can’t let our circumstances dictate our fate. We are capable of taking charge of our own lives. Tracy asked Danny for one last thought – Danny said it’s this: The only limits you have in your lives are the ones you put on yourself. We were put here for a reason, so lose the limits. Tracy said one of his favorite quotes is from Henry Ford, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Things to remember: You only fail if you give up! Take ownership of your choices in life. Lose the limits! Connect with Danny Cahill You can find out more about Danny at his website, www.thedannycahill.com or at his blog, www.loseyourquit.com. Danny will be back with Tracy next week, so be sure to listen to the rest of Danny’s story. Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Podcast Summary In this episode Tracy finishes his talk with friend, world record holder, and business owner Arthur Greeno about being a world record breaker, chasing after something bigger than yourself, and his own amazing life story. Growing Up As Arthur grew up and began to grow and mature he knew he needed new friends that would challenge him. As he began to grow as a young man in his teen years he then experienced a set back when he found out he had scoliosis and had to wear a brace over his back to school. Tracy asked Arthur how he overcame this and other setbacks as he was growing up. Overcoming Setbacks Arthur knew he couldn’t let it get him down. He had to overcome the thoughts in his mind and plant thoughts (seeds) that would help him to overcome them. He didn’t want to be a victim, he wanted to be happy. Tracy told Arthur it’s great to hear that he chose to be an owner and not a victim, especially as a 16 year old young man. Arthur said there was nothing he could do about having to wear the brace so he said he had to make a choice to be happy no matter what and decide to own the situation instead of letting it own him. Tracy said that was exactly it, we have a choice and it’s not easy. Everyday we have to make that choice. What Is Your Attitude Arthur and Tracy talked about how certain people can give off negative energy and you know it when they walk into the room. It is important to make sure you are putting out the type of attitude that you want to attract. How are you carrying yourself? If you see everything negatively, you will attract that. But the same is true if you are positive too. Your life will go in the direction of your most predominant thought. – Napoleon Hill Struggles Can Help You Arthur credited the brace with helping him build his personality to be where he doesn’t worry about what people think about him. It has helped make him who he is today and make him the person he is. Moving Up Arthur talked about how he got started with Chick-fil-A and worked his way up from being behind the cash register to now owning two franchises. Just as he had to find friends who were smarter than him as he grew up, Arthur found other owners who knew more than him to find out how to be better in his business. Tracy said he does the same thing on his movies, he surrounds himself with people who know more than him to make his movies better. If you are the smartest guy in the room, you can’t get any better. – John Maxwell Tracy and Arthur talked about the Law of Lid by John Maxwell and how some people limit their organizations by not surrounding themselves with smarter people. Filling A Need Arthur had a vision for free standing store in Tulsa and when people asked him about it, he told people to call the headquarters and ask. He even made cards with the phone number on it so they could call. He eventually became the owner of the first free standing store in the area. Always do your best to makes something happen, because even if it doesn’t work out you can still say you’ve done everything you can. He now owns the first store he worked at as well and is one of just 15% of store owners who own more than one store. Make A Choice Tracy said he loved having Arthur in because he made a choice despite all the limitations that he faced. He didn’t wait for the opportunity to come to him he went out and made it happen. Never Give Up! Contact Arthur You can get Arthur’s book Dysfunctional Inspiration and learn more about him at: www.ArthurGreeno.com To find out more about Arthur’s next World Record attempt and how you can be a part of it visit Hamster Ball Relay Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Podcast Summary In this episode, Tracy talks with friend, world record holder, and business owner Arthur Greeno about being a world record breaker, chasing after something bigger than yourself, and his own amazing life story. Record Breaker Tracy and Arthur discuss how he has set multiple world records and what it took mentally for him to not only believe he could do it, but to make it happen. Arthur had to believe he could set a record and overcome the fear of failing to try. Having this mindset helped him to not only TRY to break records, but to actually break them. Something Bigger Than You In the process of going after these records, Arthur discovered that people want to be a part of something big, they just don’t know how to do it. Sometimes its easier to do something big if you can show people how they can be involved. But you have to believe in it, people want to see your passion. Arthur’s Life Story Arthur told Tracy about how even though he had a rough upbringing that was full of turmoil as he moved around the country, he had to make a choice about how he was going to be. He couldn’t let the circumstances own him, he had to own the circumstance. He could use his family, friends, and everything that happened to him as an excuse or he could use them to grow even more. Who Are Your Friends? Who are the people you are hanging out with and how are they affecting you? When Arthur moved to Tulsa he decided he knew he wanted to have new friends that were going to influence him in a better way. He wanted to make sure he found people who were smarter than him to challenge him to be better. You will become the average of your five closest friends. To Be Continued Tracy and Arthur are going to continue their conversation next week, so don’t miss the conclusion. Contact Arthur You can get Arthur’s book Dysfunctional Inspiration and learn more about him at: www.ArthurGreeno.com To find out more about Arthur’s next World Record attempt and how you can take part in it visit the Hamster Ball Relay Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Podcast Summary In this episode Tracy talks with friend and business partner Joe Jestus about going back to the basics of what the Successful Life Mindset is all about. Tracy breaks down the three things that everyone must do in order to succeed at anything in life. Back to the Basics Tracy read an email from a SLM listener in Germany. Anna thanked Cliff and Tracy for the weekly motivating podcasts over the past year. She said they helped her shift from self-defeating thinking to possibility thinking. She started and finished a life-training course due to the encouragement she got as an SLM listener. She doesn’t believe she would have been successful if she had not learned the three keys to a success from SLM. Joe said how important it is to avoid the self-sabotaging mindset. We only fail if we give up. Our possibilities shrink over time because our belief that “it” can happen or is true, disappear. Tracy pointed out that often our focus changes and that, in turn, may change our lives. In a troubled or failed marriage, one or both of the parties change after the ceremony. If the focus changes to the things in the other’s personality or habits, they don’t like rather than what they love about the person it can become a downward spiral. Joe said your mindset/attitude every day is what affects your life and your relationship with people in your life. What do we choose to believe? Often our beliefs are based on someone else’s opinion of us and our abilities. Sometimes our “friends” try to protect us from “failure” by voicing their opinion of our limitations. Tracy said a friend asks, “Who told you that?” He thinks people should ask themselves that question when they have a negative thought about a situation. That question should be followed by, “Why do you believe it?” It makes you stop and examine your core beliefs. Your Limits Joe pointed out that we can be limited by what we observe from the people closest to us. Tracy told a story about his parents and their free expression of love for each other. A friend was over and Tracy’s mom sat in his dad’s lap and kissed him as they engaged in conversation. Later his friend asked if his parents were always like “that” – Tracy had to ask what his friend meant. For Tracy, their affection for each other was normal, but his friend told him he couldn’t remember his parents ever kissing. Our Strengths We should always live/move within our strengths. Tracy loves the writing, especially about the coach and his challenges, in the series “Friday Night Lights”. It is about a high school set in a small Texas town, where winning is everything! The team has a new quarterback that is great at what he does – throws, runs, everything. The coach struggles and when an older gentleman comes up to him at a practice, he asks why the old man thinks he’s having such trouble, the man tells him “maybe you’re trying to make him play your game and not letting him play his”. Who’s game are you playing in life? Are you playing your game or someone else’s vision of your game? Keys to Success BELIEVE IT The concept of “I am in control of my life” (within the limits set by the Creator) is essential. The Core Belief System is like a computer hard drive in the brain. We gather information from experiences and things others tell us and file it in our brain. Our subconscious is like the operating system. When we need to store new information or retrieve stored information, it brings it to our consciousness. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” ~ Henry Ford WRITE IT DOWN When you write down your belief, it goes from being a thought to something tangible – something real. “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” ~ Lee Iacocca “When you care enough to write down your goals, stand back. Wonderful things are about to happen.” ~ Henrietta Anne Klauser TALK ABOUT IT When you talk about it to yourself and others, your subconscious will begin to look for ways to make it happen. It will lead to positive thoughts and positive steps you can take. You need to ask yourself, “Are you putting anything positive in your life?” If you want positive thoughts, you need to feed your subconscious positive thoughts and images. Things to remember: Choose to be positive. Examine your beliefs for truth. Believe it – write it down – talk about it! Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Podcast Summary In this episode Tracy talks with friend and business partner Joe Jestus about what happens when you give more than you are paid for. If you live life giving more than what you are paid for will you reap a reward of promotion and compensation or will you be passed over while others reap the reward of your efforts? A New Season for the Successful Life Mindset Successful Life Mindset has passed from one season of life to another. This episode is the first of the new format. Thank you for joining us as we press on in our goal to help you live your life to its fullest potential. Today’s Guest The guest on this podcast is Joe Jestus. Joe and Tracy have known each other for years. He is now the Director of Marketing and Brand Development for Trost Moving Pictures and Tracy depends on Joe’s excellent level of service provided for both their customers and himself every day. This is the heart of today’s podcast. Giving More Than You Are Paid For A few days ago, Tracy posted this on Facebook: The quality and quantity of service you render will determine your wages. You are in charge of your promotion. Are you giving others a reason to pay you more? The posting prompted several responses, but none as real as the following: In the real world, it does not work that way. If you BS & suck up to the boss you get the raise. The BSer will take the credit for the job from the one who did it & get the raise. You live in a fantasy world if you believe what you wrote. Tracy’s post was inspired by this quote from Napoleon Hill: “The quality and quantity of the service you render, plus the mental attitude in which you render it, determines the amount of pay you get and the sort of job you hold.” Taking Ownership It starts with our thought process. So much happens because people see the level of service you provide and they can act on that regardless of whether that service is rendered for them or someone else – it can lead to new opportunities for you. Don’t work for the money, go beyond and you will reap rewards. Joe asked why Tracy thinks people do so often work for the money. Tracy believes it is a cultural norm to trade time for money, but if you love what you do, you’ll never have to “work” again. If you don’t love what you do, take steps to change. Joe said a scene that brings this point home is in the movie, “Meet the Robinsons”: Lewis: Look, I’m sorry your life turned out so bad. But don’t blame me you messed it up yourself. You just focused on the bad stuff when all you had to do was… let go of the past and keep moving forward… Bowler Hat Guy: Hmm, let’s see… take responsibility for my own life or blame you? Dingdingdingdingding! Blame you wins hands down! Someone with a victim mentality goes through life justifying things that don’t happen the way they want that way. Inspirational Quote “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.” ~ Albert Einstein In the case of the person writing the Facebook response, a man Tracy has known for many, many years, it seems as though he is taking the victim mindset. We need to take ownership of our life choices, regardless of our circumstances. Our belief system controls how we think, but we can ask ourselves “where is this coming from” or “who told me this” and get to the basis for that belief. Once we know why we do what we do, we can rewrite that experience with truth and change our beliefs and reactions to our circumstances even if we can’t change the circumstances themselves. A positive attitude is essential to success. Our thought process turns to habit and our habits become our life style. If we have a positive attitude and make it a habit, we can change our life. Joe asked what advice or encouragement can you give a person that wants to know how to stay positive when the good stuff does happen to the other person. The answer to how to stay positive when it does happen to the other person is to make a positive mental attitude a habit. You will quickly move past the hiccups of life. In a sense, if you believe it, it will be true. If you’re willing to go back, work through the issue in life and rewrite that thing that makes you believe the negative with truth, you can change your life. What’s In It For Me vs What’s In It For You We can either live with a WIIFM attitude or a WIIFY attitude. It is our choice. With the “What’s In It For Me” you focus on what you can get out of life, but you will never be completely happy or successful. With the “What’s In It For You”, you benefit from helping someone else. Napoleon Hill said, “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” A Final Inspirational Quote “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV) In other words, be changed by changing your thinking. Things to Remember Change your thinking and change your life. Don’t work for the money – go beyond and reap the rewards. Life is all about choices – choose to be positive. Miscellaneous Information Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website trostmovingpictures.com. Let Tracy Know Your Thoughts… Contact him at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost If you use Twitter use Hashtag #SuccessfulLifeMindset Remember, live your life to its greatest potential! P.S. – If you enjoyed this episode please share it with others using the links below or at the top of the post. Thanks!

Reaching Our Fullest Potential A question that Cliff has been asked several times is, “Do we all have potential or are some people doomed to ‘not get it’? The easy answer is, we are all born into poverty or plenty, we all have situations/circumstances that can lead us to failure or success, but how we face adversities determine if we will learn from them and move forward or become a victim of those adversities. We must learn to be owners and not victims. Some may suffer from a lack of motivation and choose not to reach their full potential, but the opportunity is there. Seasons of Life We all go through seasons of life. We need to embrace the season we’re in, good or bad, nothing is forever. When we make a decision in life we shouldn’t think we’re stuck with it, or worse, don’t make the decision because we fear it won’t be right. Don’t be afraid to make a decision, when it’s time, we can choose to make a choice to move to something else. We are not stuck for life. Seasons of life change and we need to change with them. Cliff told of a woman led to start a “random acts of kindness” ministry. It was successful for several years, growing larger each year. The work done was important to the community. When the woman had the opportunity to move on to another area, nobody would step-up to take the leadership, but because the work was deemed important, the church finally paid someone to keep it going. Without passion for the work, the new leader could not keep the ministry going. Life is like that ministry – we need to have passion and purpose or move on. SLM Season This is the final podcast in its current format with Cliff and Tracy. Cliff has other things that require changes in his podcast lineup. Tracy will continue the podcast, but it will be one of several things being introduced in the January 2013 timeframe. Inspired Harbor will consist of several parts: Inspired Life Inspired Health Inspired Home Inspired Family Inspired Entertainment Inspired Quotes (3 minutes each day) Inspired Conversation (15 minutes each week) SLM (30 minutes each week) Inspired Family Podcast (10 – 15 minutes each week) The Successful Life Mindset will continue on each week, even before the InspiredHarbor.com launch in January, so keep subscribing for each episode. Quote “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV) Things to remember: Be an owner not a victim – the choice is yours. Embrace each season of your life. Live your life to its fullest potential. Miscellaneous Information Get Cliff’s “How To Podcast” course online and free. It will teach you the basics of podcasting. Tracy’s movies, books and more are available through his website www.trostmovingpictures.com Contact Cliff and Tracy Cliff can be reached at – Send Email • twitter.com/GSPN • 859-795-4067 Tracy can be reached at – Send Email • twitter.com/tracyjtrost • facebook.com/DirectorTracyJTrost Listen to the podcast live on Thursdays at 1pm CST at www.TheSuccessfulLifeMindset.com If you would rather read a summary of each podcast, you can do so on our site here: www.TrostMovingPictures.com/category/podcast/ Remember, live your life to its fullest potential!