Posts Tagged ‘faith’

Morning Mojo: Challenge + Crisis + Pain = OPPORTUNITY

By Tom Tognoli | November 21st, 2011 0 Comments

Why does life throw challenges and crisis at us, like the crisis we have all been dealing with for the last year?

Because that is the only way we will change. It is the only way we will rid ourselves of evil, bad habits, greed, ego and the wrong priorities. It’s human nature wanting to stay the course, not to rock the boat, and usually the only way we will change is if we are forced into it by some outside influence, i.e. financial crisis, death, illness, catastrophe. We have to look at the challenges of the last few years as an opportunity and as a way to re-prioritize what is important.

What has happened with most people these last few years is they are focused; no they are consumed, by what has been taken away and not focused on being thankful for what they have and the opportunities of tomorrow. Step back for a moment – the reason things get taken away, the reason life throws us challenges and crisis is because it is the only way we will wake up and quit overlooking those things which are really most important in life – our F5 (Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness and Finance). Challenge and crisis gets thrown at us because it is the only thing that will slap us in the face hard enough to get our attention. Think back in your life to a time of crisis – yes you may have lost something or someone. There may have been a scare in your life of some kind, and with that crisis a door opened. A new person appeared when you looked in the mirror, usually a better person, a more thankful person, a more humble person, a more caring person, and a person with better priorities.

In every crisis and in every challenge there is an opportunity. We just have to find it.  But, until we let go of the pain and anger of what we have lost, and focus on all that we have which is really most important, the agony will not stop. And, once we do focus on what we have, life will be even better than it was before. This week and beyond, make a commitment EVERYDAY to give thanks and be grateful for everything and everyone you have in your life. Quit being consumed by what you have lost, or the pain will not stop and you will not be able to move forward towards accomplishing greatness. If you can do this, not only will the pain stop, but life will be better and you will be more at peace than ever before.

Remember, life is about who we become and how we grow when faced with challenge, with crisis, and with pain. It is what life is all about. It is why we are here.  So step back and look in the mirror, who are you becoming?

This week is Thanksgiving – be thankful and be grateful for all we have in our lives. The rest is just “stuff.”

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Morning Mojo: Capitulation

By Tom Tognoli | September 12th, 2011 0 Comments

It was March 6, 2009 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 54% to 6,469 from its peak of 14,164 on October 9, 2007 – a span of 17 months. Everyone’s stomach was in their throat as they watched their 401K’s and personal wealth vanish before their eyes. I can’t tell you how many people I know who cashed out at or near the bottom of the market because they could not take the pain and fear anymore. Unfortunately for them, it was at that exact moment, when the pain and fear was at its height, that instead of pulling their money out, they should have put more in.

If you watch a financial news channel like CNBC, you have heard them using the word capitulation a lot over the last few years. Capitulation is a term mostly used in finance and it simply means to surrender or give up. This term indicates the point in time when investors decide to give up as a result of falling stock prices in the market. Basically it is the time when the pain is so bad that no one can take it anymore and everyone throws in the towel and gives up.

Unfortunately for most, at capitulation in the financial market, or really capitulation at almost anything in life, is EXACTLY the moment when you should not give up. It is the point when you need to dig deep and push through the pain and fear. It is the point when most massively successful people in life and savvy investors like Warren Buffett make all of their money and grow their fortune. They have confidence and jump in to capitalize on everyone else’s fear and the fact that they have given up. It sure is easy to score when the other team walks off the field. Candidly, that is the point I think we are at today in the housing market, but that is for a different conversation.

You know what would have happened to those who panicked, gave up, and cashed out of the market on March 6, 2009 if they would have stayed the course on their long term plan and kept their money in? Instead of sitting back today looking at a 54% loss they would have experienced a 75% gain from the bottom, from the capitulation point. And that is as of today after the market has pulled back over 1,000 points in the last 4 weeks.

So, what does this capitulation have to do with a Monday Morning MOJO? We all struggle with different areas of our life at times – our F-5: Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness, and Finance. We may even reach capitulation in one or more areas. My challenge to you, is don’t give up. Dig deep when all hope seems lost and push through the pain and fear. If you can do this, instead of experiencing a significant loss you will experience a monumental gain only very few will ever experience. Just remember, capitulation is God’s way of seeing how committed we are and how bad we really want it.

Capitalize…don’t Capitulate!!

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Monday Mojo: Road map to success

By Tom Tognoli | March 7th, 2011 0 Comments

Good Morning MOJO,
 
Last week I spoke to a group of about 70 Mortgage Bankers with Western Bancorp on what I would do if I were them to increase their business and be more successful at what they do. I went over a list of activities I would do if I were them, but first I started off by talking about why people start their own business’s, like being a Mortgage Banker. I stated it is typically because of the freedom and the unlimited earning potential and they all agreed. Unfortunately, freedom can also cost unlimited losses as well. What so many small business owners forget to understand is we have the freedom to set our schedule instead of having someone else set it for us, however, in order to be successful we still need to set some kind of a schedule. One which includes all of the activities we need to do to accomplish our goals, and then we need to live by it. It is our road map to success. No schedule leads to no business. A schedule filled with productive activities leads to a lot of business! It is simple to do, but unfortunately it is also simple not to do. Bottom line is, no matter how good your intentions are, if it is not in your schedule it is not going to happen, no matter how bad you want it. 
 
When I meet with people one on one about their business, the first question I always ask is to let me see their schedule. It is amazing to me how many people either do not have a schedule at all or if they do it is completely blank-both of those options are a train wreck waiting to happen!
 
We can’t just have it in our heads. Our minds are meant for creating ideas not storing them. We need to take the time to create our success plan, whatever it is and outline the things we need to do to accomplish it, then put those things in our schedule and stick with it day in day out…forever. Now, that is not to say we cannot make some adjustments along the way and modify our schedules to become more efficient, but we have to follow our directions/road map to success and that road map is our schedule. Way too many people spend the majority of their day thinking about what they need to do instead of doing what they need to do. I know it sounds so simple, but it is amazing how most people don’t have a detailed schedule with all of the things in it they need to do to accomplish their goals.    

Look at your goals as your destination on a trip halfway around the world to a beautiful and remote place you have never been to before and look at your schedule as your map/directions to get there. Could you imagine traveling half way around the world to a place you have never been and doing it without detailed directions and a plan? Of course not, we know we would get lost and never make it. Well the same thing applies with our goals and our schedule. We have never been where our goals are so we better have a detailed plan and schedule on how to get there and the discipline to follow it every day or we will never make it.
 
Remember as you set your schedule to keep your F-5 in mind and make sure you put time in to focus on all of them every week. What is your F-5 you ask? FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS, FITNESS, AND FINANCE.
 
Make it a POWERFUL week!!!!!

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Monday MOJO: Who are you becoming?

By Tom Tognoli | February 7th, 2011 0 Comments

Good Morning MOJO,
 
Why does life throw challenges and crisis at us? Because that is the only way we will change. It is the only way we will rid ourselves of evil, bad habits, greed, ego and the wrong priorities. It’s human nature wanting to stay the course, not to rock the boat, and usually the only way we will change is if we are forced into it by some outside influence, i.e. financial crisis, death, illness, catastrophe. We have to look at these kinds of challenges as an opportunity to reprioritize what is important. 
 
Too often people become consumed by what has been taken away and not focused on being thankful for what we have and the opportunities of tomorrow. Step back for a moment, the reason things get taken away, the reason life throws us challenges and crisis is because it is the only way we will wake up and quit overlooking those things which are really most important in life…our F-5 – Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness, Finance. Challenge and crisis gets thrown at us because it is the only thing that will slap us in the face hard enough to get our attention. Think back in your life to a time of crisis, yes you may have lost something or someone, there may have been a scare in your life of some kind, but with that a door opened. A new person appeared when you looked in the mirror, usually a better person, a more thankful person, a more humble person, a more caring person, and a person with better priorities.
 
In every crisis and in every challenge there is an opportunity, we just have to find it. But, until we let go of the pain and anger of what we have lost, and focus on all that we have which is really most important, the agony will not stop. And, once we do focus on what we have, life will be even better than it was before. This year, make a commitment EVERYDAY to give thanks and be grateful for everything and everyone you have in your life. Quit being consumed by what you have lost, or the pain will not stop and we will not be able to move forward towards accomplishing greatness. If we can do this, not only will the pain stop, but life will be better and we will be more at peace than ever before.
 
Remember, life is about who we become and how we grow when faced with challenge, with crisis, with pain. It is what life is all about. It is when we grow. It is why we are here. Who are you becoming?

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Monday Mojo: What would you do with $86,400 a day?

By Tom Tognoli | January 17th, 2011 1 Comment

If you received $86,400 every day of your life and you had to spend it or lose it by the end of each day, what would you do? Would you let the $86,400 just slip through your fingers and not worry about it if you did not spend it all? Would you invest it wisely? Would you give some to charity or your church, to your family, to your friends? Would you invest it in your F-5…your Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness, Finance/Business? Would you become a fanatic about putting together your plan RIGHT NOW to make sure you did not waste a single cent? Of course we all would not waste one red cent, would we?

So that is what we would do with money. What about your time? We all have 86,400 seconds in everyday. How are you spending it? Have you been a fanatic about putting together your plan and executing on it so you don’t waste a second? Remember, every day we are either going to use it or we are going to lose it. Put together your plan and execute on making sure you are investing every second of your life in your F-5. Just as important, remember we all only have 86,400 seconds in a day, so respect other people’s time as well…don’t waste a second of their time either.

Cheers,

Here is a great song from Chris Allen that drives it home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBjSxo2JGxI

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Monday Mojo: Make the final two minutes count

By Tom Tognoli | November 29th, 2010 0 Comments

I was watching a little football over this Thanksgiving weekend and it’s interesting how two teams can play for 58 minutes, but in the end, most of the time, the game is decided by which team is best in the final two minutes. It is the teams that can suck it up when they are beaten up and tired that end up being the winners.

Just like football, it’s the final two minutes that determine the winners and the losers at almost everything in life. Everything we do up until that last two minutes just keeps us in the game and gives us a chance to win.

Well, we are in the final two minutes of 2010, and the winners of 2010 will be determined by what we do between now and the end of the year. I know everyone is tired and everyone needs a break, me too, but it’s those few who can dig deep, remain disciplined and push through the pain that will finish up 2010 the winners.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for spending time over the holidays with friends and family, I am all for having some fun, but I just see so many people take their foot off the gas at Thanksgiving and coast into the end of the year. And then when January 1st hits, they are at a dead stop. Then it’s really not until the middle or end of January before they are back into “game shape”.

As I said, I am for taking some time off over Thanksgiving, taking some time off over Christmas and taking a couple of days off over New Years, but I am not for taking off the entire 4th quarter of the game. I am up for finishing the game of 2010 strong! This applies to everything in life from our jobs, to our health, to our faith, to our relationships…everything!!!!! The beautiful part is, if you are one of the few who choose to finish the game of 2010 strong, there will be a lot less competition because everyone else will be sleeping, everyone else will be taking the final two minutes off. And because there are a lot less people in the game in the final two minutes of the year, it makes it a lot easier to score.

Have a powerful week and finish 2010 STRONG!!!!!!!

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Monday Mojo: Amy’s Inspiration

By Tom Tognoli | August 23rd, 2010 0 Comments

It’s been 4 years since my cousin Amy passed away from breast cancer at the age of 41. In the final year of her life she received Monday Morning MOJO every week and loved it. We shared thoughts back and forth via e-mail many times after I would send it. This is the MOJO I wrote after she passed away on my flight back home from her memorial service. I have made a commitment to send this out as a Monday Morning MOJO every year at this time as a tribute to Amy and her life. I think there are great thoughts in this MOJO that one can never hear too often.

I walked into my home on Saturday night from one of the most emotionally draining experiences of my life.

Attending and presenting a reading at the funeral of my 41 year-old cousin, Amy.

Amy was beautiful, healthy and living the American dream. She had a storybook marriage and two beautiful daughters (12 and 14) when tragedy struck sixteen months ago.

In the words of her daughter, “It was a clear blue spring day – well, at least it was outside, because inside it was raining. We felt sadness and disbelief from the bad news. Not just regular bad news – but the kind where your life seems to fall apart in just two simple minutes. We listened closely to mother as she whispered, ‘Its cancer,’ and immediately feelings of shock, anger, and fear rushed through us all.”

Under her tears her daughter said faintly “Just never lose faith. Nobody knows what it’s like until it happens to them. And when it’s YOUR Mom how you view the world begins to change. You look at the mountains and now see their magnificence, just as seeing my Mom smile became everything to me. I started to appreciate life so much more. During those final months we would spend time gazing at the night sky, and I treasure everyday what she would say, ‘I love you more than all of the stars in the sky.’ Looking back at how it used to be, and how it would have been, and how it’s going to be without her by my side – truly it will never be the same.”

Her words I repeated over and over in my mind. It felt as though someone had shook me – forcing my eyes open to see the world for what it really it was. Forcing me to take a hard look at the ultimate truth, the truth that has the power to wake us up and make us live before it’s too late.

“Amy is gone,” the truth told me quietly, “and someday you will be, and so will all the people you love – it’s just a matter of time.”

So I ask you – are you doing what you want to do right now with your life, or are you putting off living your hopes and dreams because you think there will always be a tomorrow? If my cousin were here she’d tell you differently, she’d say “there will come a time when tomorrow doesn’t come, and you are wasting your time if you are not loving and laughing and enjoying your days now, while you can.”

This leaves us with a choice – we can delete this message because we find it too depressing, or we can let this message be a force that pushes us over the tipping point into the life we dream of. That is most often what it takes, something so strong it carries us past our fears and doubts and the terrors that come when we think about finally doing the things we’ve been dreaming about for so long.

Let Amy be your inspiration this morning. And realize she had a great life, doing the things she loved, with the people she loved – and she would want you to do the same.

I’ve heard it all; it’s just not possible, I’ve got obligations, responsibilities, and don’t forget the economy, and of course the - I can’t just DO what I want – I’ve got a job, bills, yada yada yada…

All those excuses mean nothing when your time comes, and who knows when that might be. All I know is the days are passing quickly and now is the time to do what YOU KNOW you need to do. Don’t put if off, or you may just be too late.

We will miss you Amy.

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Monday Mojo: My Big Audacious New Year’s Resolution…Easy Does It!!!!

By Tom Tognoli | January 4th, 2010 0 Comments

Today marks the first full week of a New Year and a New Decade. It is an opportunity for a fresh start on whatever it is that we have wanted to accomplish with our health, faith, family, business, and finances. We just need to remember it is the beginning and not the end, so we need to pace ourselves. Don’t let what happened to your last year’s resolutions happen to this year’s resolutions. Be realistic and don’t burn out.

We all have these big audacious things we want to accomplish in life, but remember, if it is really worth doing, it is probably not going to get done in a day, in a week, or in a month.  If it could be done quickly, we probably would have already done it. For the most part, most New Year’s resolutions are life changes we need to make – not day changes, week changes, month changes, or year changes. We need to look at our life or our resolution like running a marathon. We cannot wake up one day after not running our entire life (or for years) and expect that we are going to knock out running 26 ½ miles.  But, if we start small, perhaps with something as easy as a 1 mile walk and build on it, anyone can do it. It is about committing ourselves to something we know we can maintain and building upward – not choosing something that is going to bury us.  It is also important that we have “mini goals” so we are experiencing success/winning along the way to that big audacious goal.

Using the metaphor of running a marathon – start with lightly jogging or walking one mile everyday and over a month or so, build that to lightly jogging 3 miles a day. Then over the next month build it to lightly jogging 3 to 5 miles, then 7 miles, then 10 miles, then…before you know it, if you are consistent, you will be ready to run that 26 ½ mile marathon. You will be accomplishing whatever your Big Audacious Goal is. The coolest thing is once you have that under your belt, can you can begin to imagine what next year’s resolution is going to look like – talk about big and audacious.

Easy does it…

Let’s make 2010 our best year yet!

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