When I wrote my book The Jalapeno Handshake, Strategies to Heat Up your Business Relationships 5 years ago, I specifically talked about Goal Setting vs. Goal Getting. Many of us set goals. Not many achieve them. It all starts with our minds. I have been introduced to the concept over the years but never knew much more about it than what words told me. Like many others, I have a long list of events…seminars, webinars, conferences, workshops and an even longer list of books, CDs, DVDs, and downloadable audios that complimented my yearning to know more. …and so I did.
My passion crossed paths with an old favourite of many seekers, the classic book Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. And after reading the book several times (oh how I did not know the book is not just a book to read…it is a journey to experience) and over several years, I met a man who lived, ate and breathed the principles of Hill’s great accomplished book. Mark and I met through business in 2012 and before long I learned he was offering a 13 week Think & Grow Rich webinar course!
I knew then that I attracted Mark and his passion for Hill’s work into my life. Studying under Mark to strip Hill’s work into paragraphs and churn them week after week, was a most welcomed adventure and one that aligned completely to my place of learning and yearning for more. Attraction? Yes…no mystery that I met a guy and his fabulous wife Davene who were creating change in people’s lives simply by sharing what they also loved. It all started in my mind…wanting to know more about getting better results in my own life and how I could help others get more too.
More dots to connect…
Going back in time however, in 2009 I worked with a group of friends to create a “community” where people could mastermind both in person and on line. The concept grew from my passions around the Think & Grow Rich book. The project plan was formulating over several months and I found myself presenting the concept to an on-line sales company who also valued the book’s teachings. Bottom line….not enough cash to kick-start the project the way I envisioned it….a highly interactive on-line presence . The concept of “U Chooz” died even though my heart knew people all around the world would value such a meeting place to share their dreams, goals, challenges and support one another’s.
While “U Chooz” was brewing, a different group of friends and I masterminded with Think & Grow Rich and soon began down the path of creating a “LifeFolio” concept where someone would hold their dreams and their planned actions to achieving them. It was a fun project and again we knew what a valuable tool we had conceived. This project didn’t have the legs we needed and at the same time, on-line apps were popping up everywhere and it became apparent the world was turning to apps and folios were on their way out. Concept great. Practicality not so much.
What do U Chooz or LifeFolio have to do with anything? Well, just because they were both sitting on back burners did not mean their concept value were gone…..again Mark and Davene enter my life in 2012 and voila….BOTH concepts are in the developed stage, well funded and growing more attention by each passing day…from people all around the world! Again my own thinking attracted them into my life to complete the circles I had been drawing several years earlier! Thank you Mark & Davene for your hard work and finished project that I could jump into and enjoy!
If Think & Grow Rich wasn’t amazing enough, I then learned about Mark & Davene’s The Master Key – a tough 26 week intense deep dive into myself. I jumped in because I knew I could not say no to something as profound as their offer. My big hairy audacious goals were clearly set and in place from about 2 years earlier. How would the 26 week virtual class unfold with each of them I wondered.
It began in a totally unexpected way….my vision of writing a very personal book has been in place for 8 years now. It has been started and shelved on several occasions….my energy for the book is there and yet my confidence in writing it has waned. When Mark asked the Master Key Master Mind Alliance class to blog on a weekly basis, I must admit I resisted at first and wished myself through the blogs in the first few weeks. Then suddenly my perception of the task changed completely. The blogs were actually helping me get my confidence in writing back and soon I became more and more excited about my book project. Targeted for April 2016, I feel more sure of completing it than ever. MKMMA, the blogs, the confidence and my book….another mystery solved. I took the MKMMA not knowing it would challenge me in such a productive way and re-ignite my desire to write what I have started long ago.
Giving back in a big way has always been something in my heart. Lots of little things I am proud to say I have been part of but I have always wanted to leave my mark on an impactful project of sorts….something that really changes lives in a big way. I was almost stunned to learn that after the first few weeks of the Master Key course started, Mark told us about a project he is supporting in Africa. Funds from the course will be sent to his African church contact who has become his dear friend…impact? oh yes! and in my own small way, I was part of that impact.
Then a few months later my daughter went to Ghana, Africa for her second trip to do some volunteer work with the World Credit Union Counsel, supporting and sharing her knowledge as a leader in the credit union system in Canada. Opportunities like these have crossed my own path several times as well based on my past executive role in the system as well. It has been a pleasure to see the opportunity come to mean so much to my daughter. After several months of placement discussions, my daughter’s Ghana contact and manager of her village’s credit union, we learned she would be coming to Canada to learn directly from our business culture. Not just to Canada but to my daughter’s home to experience Canadian life as well as business. Florence was a beautiful woman who shared her heart and dreams with us over conversations like women do all over the world. We learned about her 3 children and also about her 7 adopted orphaned children, a problem Florence wants to remedy in her small village. Her dream? To build an orphanage and never see another child die on her streets alone.
As Florence opened her heart I knew what my “bright yellow square” goal meant…not just “volunteer work in a needy world community” . I knew it was to partner with Florence and the woman of her village to fix this sad situation. Days later I spoke with another credit union friend who Florence met while she visited us. I shared Florence’s story about the orphanage. Pamela said without missing a beat…I have always wanted to help with an orphanage! The group of women grew that moment.
How can I explain that a woman from Ghana Africa who has never left her village and surrounding area, came to my town thousands of miles away and we shared tea and our hearts and can now begin to plan how each of our dreams will come true….together. The Master Key course had me reading and repeating my big goals every day, multiple times. The Universe caught those dreams and help connect them to the right person. Thank you Master Key.
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. ” Thoreau. This is one of my most favourite quotes ever. I have a wall hanging with it. It is common enough and certainly the Master Key Master Mind Alliance reminded the class of it daily, multiple times, not in these words but in the exercises, self promises and so much more. You can imagine my surprise when I joined a new company, received the box of business tools and opened the first page of the Success Planner….there was my Thoreau…greeting me to my new business and reminding me what can be.
As I chuckle at the mysteries of manifestation, I want to share that another big dream goal is to take my 3 grandkids around the world. I love to travel & sharing the world with them would be a thrill for us all. Little by little the trips have been happening and most recent they enjoyed coming along with me to Kauai, Hawaii where many Master Key Master Mind Alliance grads celebrated…. a full cycle perhaps.
So is it all so mysterious or is it all a well planned and well orchestrated strategy for goal getting? The Master Key and Mark and Davene and their team would say it’s all in my HEART…and they would be so right!
Thanks Lydia for sharing this chapter of your journey. I’m so glad I’ve joined the Master Keys part with Mark and Davene, and grateful to you for introducing me to it.