HOW BIG ARE YOUR QUESTIONS?

Asking the Big Questions

There is magic in asking and answering yourself big questions. How often do we stop and ask the big, the right questions to ourselves? This is a great exercise that is being forgotten or ignored by the majority of people. Yet, asking the right questions is the key to get where we want to go in life. Also, answer them thoughtfully, and above all write down your answers. 

How can we hit a target we don’t have? The answer is very simple, we will never hit a target we don’t have. The answers to the big questions will bring meaning to our lives, and that friends, is the key to living a significant life. Answer the following 7 questions and I assure you that you will live a life of meaning and significance. Don’t overthink it, just go ahead and answer and ink the answer.

1.     20 years from now, what would I wish I had done today? We overestimate what we can achieve short term and underestimate what we can achieve on the long term. The compounding effect of accomplishments makes all the difference. Small victories over time lead to big victories.

2.     What do I want to be remembered by? Go for the eternal, not the temporal things. Even the material things we often fight for are worthless when our time comes to leave this world.

3.     If I could live anywhere in the world, where would I live? There are so many wonderful places in the world to live in.

4.     If I could travel anywhere, what would be my top three destinations? The locations may be the candidates for question 3. Go visit the places and spend time there as if you were living there.

5.     What is the purpose and mission of my life? In order to answer this question, you may need to answer other smaller questions like: What do I absolutely love to do? What can I be the best in the world at? What can provide income for my lifestyle?

6.     What do I believe in and why do I believe in what I believe? If we don’t believe in something we fall for anything. Eternity is a long time to be wrong. There are certain things we must not compromise for convenience or fear of upsetting a relativistic world.

7.     What do I live for, what am I willing to die for? What causes reside in my heart, the things I can make a difference.

Carlos Fontana

Financial and Leadership Coach

Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes

Be the leader you want to see in the world

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"

“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”

How do winners talk to themselves

The Winner Self Talk

Stop listening to yourself and start talking with yourself. Here are the things winners tell themselves. What do you say to yourself when you talk with yourself?

Freedom prospers where individuals take full responsibility for their lives. Tyranny rules where individuals focus on their rights. As you can see below the self-talk of a winner is full of responsibility. What separates winners from losers is the content of the conversations they have with themselves. Read the following statements and take what fits you. Create your own conversations and create your winner's self-talk. You were create to win! 

I love to win.

I love challenges.

Critics energize me.

I will adapt quickly.

I look and feel great.

Consider this deal done.

I feel very productive today.

If it is up to be it is up to me.

Go ahead and bet against me.

My future looks really bright.

Today will be another great day.

I am going to get this thing done.

Let me take responsibility to this.

I am going to figure this thing out.

I love to respond to an opportunity.

There is no competition in my space.

I am learning new things all the time.

I really feel motivated and energized.

I believe I am always divinely guided.

I don’t feel like this is hard work at all.

Now is the time to think big, really big.

If God is for me who can be against me?

I love to turn complexity into simplicity.

I have to say NO to this so I can DO that.

I love to produce a lot out of what I have.

I believe I will take the right turn on the road.

My time is the most valuable asset that I have.

I have clarity and full confidence to reach my goals.

I believe God will make a way where there is no way.

I love to flip excuses into reasons for doing what’s right.

Carlos Fontana

Carlos Fontana

Financial and Leadership Coach

Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes

Be the leader you want to see in the world

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"

“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”

HOW BIG DO YOU WANT TO WIN?

WINNING BIG

How bad do you want to win? Do you want to win BIG? Why most people don’t win? The short and simple answer is: people don’t win because they don’t know what winning is; therefore, they don’t keep score. Everyone has the potential to win at something. Winning is associated with powerful words like victory, conquest, success, significance, competence, triumph, gaining, etc. So, it is a big deal to win, win often, and win BIG. 

If you want to win BIG, then read what follows, reflect, and apply these 7 things and you will start winning and continue to win for as long as you want to win. You can rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each of the seven items, 1 meaning you are not currently applying the item, and 10 meaning you are applying the item at all times. Winning is fun. Winning is not everything, but it sure beats the hell out of losing.

1.  Define winning. Write down why you want to win. The why is the most important and the most difficult to nail down. Just do it. It is that important. Develop a plan on how you are going to win. Write down the activities and actions you need to take to win. Begin with the end in mind. This is the most important step, and not surprising is the step that non-winners often skip. Excel in step one and the others will be easier because you acted on the most important and most difficult of the seven items.

2.  Be hungry to win. Be a hungry learner. Be a voracious reader and listener. Associate with winners. Ask questions. Make your questions bigger than your answers. Never forget, it is OK not to know so you can grow your ability to learn. What is not OK is not to be learning every day in every possible way. Continuous learning is the hallmark of all winners. Be open minded to teachable moments and turning points in life.

3.  Have the attitude of a winner. Have a positive uplifting attitude at all times. Keep one eye where you are going to and the other on what you are going through. Make the best of all situations. Learn from small victories and setback alike. If you get knocked down, get up, shake the dust off and tackle the next challenge with the attitude of a winner. Have this attitude: “if it is up to be, it is up to me.”

4.  Have grit. Have the ability to overcome adversity. Be tenacious. Be resilient and self-reliant. Resist the urge to settle, to camp out when faced with adversity. Be a no excuse type person. Individuals with grit don’t get raddled or bogged down by obstacles. When your why is strong enough the facts don’t shake your foundation. Grit is the main reason winner win.

5.  Be a leader. Little can be accomplished by ourselves. Lead yourself first by setting the example for others to follow. Have character (integrity and courage), focus on the tasks that bring the results, and above all develop people by building strong relationships. Take full ownership for your endeavors. Take full responsibility and be accountable for all that happens, your fault or not. Your winning or losing in a big scale will greatly depend on your level of leadership.

6.  Use leverage. Leverage the right information, knowledge, and systems to achieve more, a lot more. Leverage is the use of a lever for your advantage. Leverage can duplicate, amplify, and magnify the right activities and processes leading to the bigger results. The use of a lever as a tool has been used for a very long time. Archimedes once said, give me a lever long enough and I can move the whole world.

7.  Make decisions and act. Execute. Be good at making decisions, then making your decisions right. Focus on results by minding your scoreboard. Take massive action and stay the course. Don’t give in to distractions, stay focused on what matters most. Make the necessary adjustments and keep going. It is a lot easier to make adjustment once you are moving.

Carlos Fontana

Financial and Leadership Coach

Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes

Be the leader you want to see in the world

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"

“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”

THE COST OF IGNORANCE

Major Systems of Control

No conspiracy here, just some brutal reality that enslaved we are enslaved by our own ignorance. Also, nothing new here, these systems of control have existed for many years; we just have not taken the time to study them closely to figure out how to effectively deal with them. These systems are systems of control are designed to take our time and money; the two things that we want most and forfeit without even realizing.  It is 100% our fault for not getting educated on how to deal with these powerful systems. Less than one percent of the population is fully educated on these systems. The failure to educate ourselves results in our own enslavement resulted from our ignorance.

The problem:

1.     The Financial Matrix. This system of financial control tilted against us. Debt is what feeds the system. We pay for government debt through higher taxes, business debt through higher prices, and personal debt through interest expenses. On top of it all, there is inflation to deal with, caused by the monetary system. The system depends on our financial illiteracy.

2.     The Education Matrix. A system of information designed to train on what we think. This industrial age conveyor belt system is based on the belief that there will be a job at the end of the conveyor belt. The system feeds on the crave for diplomas, certifications, and credentials.

3.     The Food Matrix. The system keeps the masses fed with low cost foods that are available, convenient, and with a long shelf life. Most manufactured products are produced in mass quantities and loaded with chemicals and preservatives in order to be low cost, tasty and convenient. The system feeds on our nutritional illiteracy and the proliferation of conflicting information.

4.     The Drug Matrix. The monster system focuses heavily on medications and operations, a little on cure. The system provides a multitude of options to fix symptoms for aches, pains, and discomforts. The side effects of medications are a major reason for new drugs. Systems feeds on our ignorance and health illiteracy. The system is tightly controlled by a drug approval process and medical profession with close relationships with drug industry. The system feeds on our belief that there is a fix for any ache or pain.

5.     The Media Matrix. The media system is a relativistic biased system designed to sway public opinion. The majority of information with its catchy headliners and superficial look at issues has little use for us. The system feeds on our insatiable hunger for sensationalism, controversy, and negativity.

6.     The Sports Matrix. A system designed to lure us, through clever marketing, into following a multitude of sports.  The system creates the illusion for the coolness of knowing who’s winning or losing. The system feeds on our expanding crave for entertainment.

7.     The Political Matrix. The complex and self-serving system creates the belief that government has to provide solutions for our problems. A centralized system designed to maintain the status quo on a two-party system. System feeds the masses with entertainment, confusion, division, and ignorance.

The solution: get the right knowledge, get self-educated and apply the right knowledge.

1.     Awareness. Be aware these systems are real and impact all of us. Be skeptical. Be observant. Recognize each system for what it is.

2.     Truth. Dig in. Seek and find the truth. The truth will make us mad before we act on it.

3.     Education. Discover for yourself. Learn to discern. Get into the dirty details of things.

4.     Decisions. Get the edge by making good decisions. Use more logic than emotions.

5.     Score. Keep a scorecard on what matters most. Track over time. Use the long-term memory.

6.     Unplug. Do some mental cleansing or scrubbing. Get to think right. Think from inside out. Better solutions come form nature than from factories and biased science.

7.     Community. Associate in the right community. Community is the key to surviving in a biased and tilted world.

Carlos Fontana

Financial and Leadership Coach

Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes

Be the leader you want to see in the world

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"

“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”

What is the reason for the season?

Seasons of Life

Time is the essence for the seasons of life. There is a season for everything as there is time for everything important in life. There is time to plant, time to cultivate, time to harvest, and time to rest. We are now in the time of harvest, time to reap what we sowed and cultivated. Now is the time to harvest and count our blessings. There are many great things to do in the fall season. The key question is “what is the reason for this season? Here are seven sets of words to think about fall:

1.     Time to change. Colors. Beauty. Renewal. Time for positive changes and spiritual renewal.

2.     Time to harvest. Bounty. Rejoice. Work. Time to reap and gather and that we sowed and cared for.

3.     Time to preserve. Gather. Store. Slow Down. Time to store the bounty for the future.

4.     Time to comfort. Prepare. Enjoy. Be still. Time to enjoy the cool weather in the comfort of a cozy comforter.

5.     Time to give thanks. Rejoice. Friendship. Gratitude. Time to be thankful for count all our blessings for they are more than we can count.

6.     Time to let go. Praying. Reflect. Lighten up. Time to eliminate the wasteful habits and replace them with better habits.

7.     Time to share our blessings. Hope. Giving. Sharing. Time to share our blessings and give more than we think it is wise to give.

Find reasons to experience the season!

Carlos Fontana

Financial and Leadership Coach

Get out of debt, make more money, pay less taxes

Be the leader you want to see in the world

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust"

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious"

“Managers influence numbers, leaders influence people by inspiring them to pursue excellence”