The end of the year is upon us and a standard USA practice is to have a New Year’s Resolution. To proudly state that you are going to do or stop doing something and change a behavior in the upcoming year. A majority of resolutions are forgotten before the end of January. So I am here to tell you to throw that tradition and replace it with a new one.

Say hello to the New Year’s Commitment. To some of you, the change of one word may seem insignificant. But words are powerful as are their meanings. For example, “you’re hired” and “you’re fired” have completely different meanings, outcomes, and emotions associated with the change of one word. As do “I love you” and “I hate you”, “I do” and “I don’t” and many, many other phrases that are differentiated by one word.

Resolution: something that is resolved ( to reach a firm decision about).
Commitment: the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled.

To draw an easy and distinct difference I will use the breakfast example. The chicken is resolute when it contributes eggs to the breakfast. But the pig is committed in its contribution of bacon or sausage to breakfast.

A resolution is simply to make a decision. A firm decision. But a decision none the less. There are 3 levels of choice: want, choose, and commit. When you make a commitment, you are internally compelled through obligation, emotion, or both. True commitment requires the highest levels of dedication. And if you are going to make significant changes in the coming year, you will need the highest levels of dedication and support.

So this year, make the change and make a New Year’s Commitment. Want some help with it? Stand up in front of your family, a group of peers, or your entire office and make a declaration of your commitment. Declarations are out loud where as affirmations are silent. Declaring your commitment out loud allows it to resonate through your entire body which will enable your body to truly feel what it is you are committing to. And by declaring your commitment in front of a group of people that you will see often, should engage the sense of obligation to carry forward with the commitment. If you surround your self with positive, like minded people…viola! You just developed your support group to help you achieve success.

I am printing my commitment here where the entire world can see as well as declaring it to my family, friends, and peers. No one is an island and the more support you have, the better your chance of success.

My 2009 New Year’s Commitment is to convert one of my current entities into a passive income generating machine that completely covers all of my monthly expenses thereby granting me financial freedom.

That is a tall order and I could not accomplish it with a simple resolution or without the assistance of my support team (family, friends, peers, and professionals). Hold me accountable and check in with me through our contact page to find out about my progress. Also, if you do not have a reliable support team, declare your commitment in a comment below and I will check in on you throughout the year and provide support when needed.

Have A Safe And Happy New Year From All Of Us At Barfield Management, LLC!

Bad habits, we all have them. Some of us have more than others. But none the less, everyone on earth has them in one form or another. I recently attended the Millionaire Mind Intensive (read about it here). While in attendance I learned a little technique for changing bad habits. Stay with me to the end because it may sound odd or too simple. But, if you commit to it, it does work. I have used it and my wife has used it. We both achieved successful results.

First allow me to give a short explanation on how habits are formed at a fundamental level. When you are introduced to a new stimulus, your brain forms associations to words, pictures, textures, sounds, and smells. The physical path of the thought for the association is called a dendrite or dendritic fiber. In plain speak, it is the shortest path of least resistance from the stimulus to the association. For example, the first time you ever felt ice your brain, most likely, formed an association with cold. Now when you see the word ice, see an ice cube or hear some one say ice, you think cold. A dendrite has been formed between ice and cold. Your brain automatically travels from ice to cold before you can think about it due to the dendrite that was formed.

There are two types of stimuli that motivate behavior and they are pleasure and pain. Out of the two, pain is a stronger motivating factor. The reason is because our brain is programmed to help us survive. Survival tactics lead us to avoid pain. So, on a fundamental level, we are pre-programmed to take the path that is opposite of a stimulus that induces pain.

Now, on to the behavioral change process. As I said, it is simple to do but some find it difficult to execute. You will need a rubber band. Go get one of the thicker ones that resemble a bracelet and place it on your wrist. You want it to be lose enough that it does not cut off your circulation as you will be wearing it every day.

The first bad habits that a person really needs to work on is their image of self. Take a moment and write down the first negative thing that comes to mind when you think of yourself. Now, write down the exact opposite out next to it. For the purpose of this example, I will use the phrase, “I am not good enough.” This is a common phrase that many people develop a dendrite to that leads to their image of self worth. Hold your hands out in front of you, palms facing each other. Now, grab the rubber band and stretch it as far as you can pull it. Declare (declarations are out loud as opposed to affirmations which are simply thought) your negative item that you wrote down and let the rubber band go. The rubber band should strike the inside of the wrist and make a loud “thwap!” The louder the thwap the bigger the change. Immediately after the rubber band strikes your wrist, rub your wrist gently and lovingly while declaring the item you wrote exactly opposite of the negative item you previously declared. Using my example, the exercise would proceed as follows:

• Hands out in front of me palms facing.
• Grab rubber band and pull tight.
• Declare (remember that declarations are out loud) the negative connotation - “I am not good enough!”
• Let the rubber band go so that it strikes the inside of the wrist.
• Immediately rub the wrist and declare the positive connotation - “I am good enough!”

You see, what transpires is actually rather simple and rudimentary. Let’s say that me simply looking in the mirror was what sparked the thought of “I am not good enough.” My brain has a dendrite that associates images of myself with the feeling of not being good enough and the phrase “I am not good enough.” Now, each time the thought creeps into my brain and I “thwap” the rubber band, I am disrupting the flow of the thought through the dendrite that formed the path from self image to not being good enough. Remember, the brain is consistently in self preservation mode. It does not care how you perceive yourself. Your brain simply wants to protect the person and avoid pain. So naturally, each time you begin to think that you are not good enough, your brain wants to protect you and avoid the “thwap” of pain. By rubbing your wrist and saying positive words, “I am good enough,” you are building a new dendrite. Soon, when you see yourself in the mirror, the thought “I am good enough” will rush to mind rather than feelings of inadequacy.

Time periods vary depending upon person and severity of belief. But this exercise does work. I have personally used it to alter negative feelings and beliefs as has my wife. Each time I have a negative, non-productive thought or belief, “THWAP!” Believe or not, both my wife and I are much happier, more positive people with higher tolerances of self and for others. It may sound too easy or it may sound hokey, but it does work as long as you commit to doing it correctly. Go get your rubber band and begin your Thwap Therapy.

I recently had a lunch meeting with an inspiring lady named Marlene Chism. She wrote a guest post about the effects of drama keeping you from your success. During the course of the conversation, Mrs. Chism commented upon my relationship with my spouse and encouraged me to write about it. Taking Mrs. Chism’s advice in the belief that others may find value in my elaboration, I am proceeding forward with doing so.

Many of you that are married, in a strong relationship, civil union, or other descriptor where two people live their lives together depending upon one another and caring for each other, will be able to identify with the following arrangement. I typically work outside the home while my wife works inside the home. This is a simple sentence that you have probably heard many times but few of you have taken the time to actually evaluate the impact of the implications of that sentence. I will be writing form the point of view of the man working from outside the home and the woman working inside the home, not to stereotype but because I am writing from my present experience. Adjust the sex to orient the story to apply to your particular situation.

I have heard couples where the spouses, who share the aforementioned situation, fight over money. The fight generally stems from some kind of financial dominance, guilt or resentment. The individual who leaves the home to work and collects a paycheck, earns the revenue, brings home the bacon, or whatever your term may be is typically considered the breadwinner. Because they are the breadwinner, the natural perception is that the money is theirs. The individual that works inside the home feels like they need to ask permission for things to be purchased or worse, they feel like they do not contribute to the family’s wealth. This type of thinking is poisonous. I have written on support teams and family is one of them. Support teams are vital to your success and as such, you should view the individual that works in the home as a vital member that contributes to your overall success.

This post makes the assumption that the individual that stays home actually participates rather than capitulates to laziness. My wife is one of the hardest working individuals I know. And let me put this out there for the entire world to read, “I Could Not Do This Without Her!” I will remove the emotional aspect from this temporarily and appeal to the fiscal nature of things. Without my wife undertaking the responsibilities that she does, I would have to hire the following people:

• Full time baby sitter to take care of my sons
• Private tutor to teach my sons
• Maid service to clean the house
• Maid service to wash the clothes (everyday)
• Personal assistant to accommodate my miscellaneous tasks
• Bookkeeper to reconcile the statements of 2 of my companies
• Web marketer to handle promotion of my various entities through social media
• Body guards to ensure the safety of my sons

Fiscally speaking, you can see that it would cost me quite a bit of money to hire competent entities to accommodate the above responsibilities. Now, many of you may not have as full of a plate as I do, but the example should show one thing, my wife is an integral part of my support team. Two things that she does that I can’t hire out for, that I did not list above, are give me peace of mind that my family is safe and taken care of while I am out of the home and grant me calm, with loving arms, upon my return home. To me, those are priceless. I can concentrate on what I do best, professionally, because I do not have to worry domestically.

Because my wife is an integral part of my support team, she has the same rights to the revenue I generate as I do. The money in our accounts is ours. We make major spending decisions together, but that is because we decide all things for our Home Team together. This point is a digression, but we recently implemented the Jar System and it dramatically assisted with our money management and made spending decisions much easier. If you want to know more about it, contact me.

Do not undervalue the individual that works in the home and supports you while you are out of the home. Worst yet, do not let that individual undervalue them self. I know that sounds odd, but they often times do. They feel that because their efforts do not directly lead to revenue generation that their role is less vital. This is where you need to step up and remind them of how important their support is. In order for this to work, you must have respect for each other and not take advantage of each other. If you treat your professional team members with respect, treating your home support team with respect should be a given (as should their respect for you). You must align your goals and work towards them as a team. For you will either grow as a team together to reach your goal or you will grow apart as individuals destroying your team. If one member is standing still while the other is progressing forward, the divide will continue to grow. Moral of the story, life is a team sport. Value and respect all members of your team or you will truly know how important they were when they are no longer part of your team.

I read an article recently that discussed The Creative Mind. I found some of the information in the article to be quite useful as it gave me one of those “ah ha” moments of understanding.

In essence it described why some people seem to be naturally creative while others are not. And it elaborates on a point, which I am going to discuss here, that illustrates how to keep your creativity going. You entrepreneurs that are reading this will be able to identify with the following example. You get an idea for a new company and you are super charged about it. You do all of your research, due diligence, and can’t wait to jump in and get started. In the beginning while things are fresh and new, everything seems exciting and the creativity of new ideas, products, and services just seems to naturally flow. After things begin to flow on their own and the business settles into more of a routine, you slowly begin to become bored or worse, burned out. So, you take a vacation, get away from work, and recharge the batteries. When you return, you are ready to run full steam and you probably had some great revelations of new ideas while on vacation. Does any of this sound familiar? The article I read explains this behavior and why these actions transpire in our brains. You can actually keep the creative juices flowing without going on vacation and keep your energy about you as well.

Your brain is a creature of habit. When you initially undertake a task or learn a new skill, an entire network of neurons will process this stimulus. After about the sixth time, a subset of neurons handles most of the heavy lifting and the processing of the stimulus becomes rather automatic. How often do you have to concentrate on tying your shoes? For most of you, the action is automatic and the brain wastes no energy processing the task. Tying your shoes becomes automatic, easy, and mundane.

Similarly, this happens with your business and your life in general. You brain is only forced to think when it is presented with a new stimulus. Perception and imagination are linked because the brain uses the same neural circuits for both functions. Your perception is based on past experience and classifying or categorizing various stimuli. Creativity and imagination begin with perception. And since your perception is based on past experience, it is difficult to derive truly novel ideas when you are performing the same actions daily in the same surroundings.

Now you can begin to see where the vacation and sparks of creativity come into place. Your surroundings change, your actions change, and the brain wakes up and has to process all types of new stimuli. Haven’t you heard of someone having a breakthrough idea while in the shower, taking a drive, or taking a walk? Their surroundings and typical actions changed, so subsequently their brain kicks into gear and the creative juices start to flow. Ever heard of a writer having writer’s block and going up to a cabin in the woods to write? It’s not the quite of the solitude, but rather the change of stimuli.

You want to spark creativity and invoke the imagination contained within your mind? Seek out environments for which you have no previous experiences with. Visit a new place, do new things, meet new people. New places, people, and experiences unlock your creativity because it causes your perception out of its normal classification and categorization mode. This opens up new possibilities of perception which, in turn, allows the imagination to run wild like when you were a kid. The brain can not rely on past experiences to classify this new, novel experience.

So, if you suffer from creative block, boredom, or burnout, shake things up a little bit. Only after you force your brain to break the shortcuts that your perception has built between categories and past experiences can you begin to think outside the normal boundaries of your mind. To truly think “Outside The Box.”

Register For The Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar - This is guaranteed to shake up your perception! (If you are asked for a reference number, it is 661164).

First of all I would like to apologize to all of my readership for not posting last Friday the 21st. But it was for a good reason, I was at The Millionaire Mind Intensive in Chicago, Illinois.

The Millionaire Mind Intensive is a 3 day long training that lasts from about 8 in the morning until 10 at night. Many people refer to it as a seminar. This is a big understatement. Calling it a seminar is like saying Donald Trump has a few extra bucks in his bank account.

As many of you know, Robert Kiyosaki and his Rich Dad Poor Dad book forever altered my perception of money and the financial world. I’m sure if you have read Rich Dad Poor Dad, you know exactly what I am referring to. If you haven’t read it, click here and buy it. It is a mandatory read for any entrepreneur. As I was saying, the Rich Dad Poor Dad book and the 3 subsequent books, that are supposed to complete the set, forever changed my financial perspective. These books do an excellent job of teaching you the concepts. However, much like The Secret, they do not give you actionable steps. Do not misunderstand, I would not be where I am today without The Rich Dad books. But, they are the wake up call. The big ah ha. The epiphany to want more.

This is where Secrets of The Millionaire Mind comes in. This book, also found in our educational section, is written by T. Harv Eker and it progresses you to the next step. It focuses on you specifically. This book narrows the focus from concept down to personal awareness and action and begins to identify and rectify the underlying issues that are ingrained into your mind and your body.

Ok, so I have a new perception. I understand the concepts. I started to identify and try to rectify my underlying issues, now what? The Millionaire Mind Intensive is what! The difference between reading the book and attending the intensive is like the difference between reading about a vacation spot and actually vacationing there. You can read and learn about it, but that doesn’t compare to experiencing it. I went in thinking that I was a learned and astute entrepreneur that could take on anything. After the Millionaire Mind Intensive, I realized that I had just scratched the surface. I have read and listened to many books, consumed volumes of magazines, subscribe to many business and finance blogs, and graduated from The Rich Dad Coaching class (a year long endeavor). Those of you who have communicated with me know that I am not ignorant and I am telling you, you will learn more about yourself, life, business, and money in the 3 day intensive than you will sitting at home or in your office just reading books and listening to audios. Remember, thoughts and feelings are internal. You do not achieve external results until you apply action to them.

For those of you reading this and have already attended the intensive, please remember this when commenting, “What happens at the intensive, stays at the intensive.” For the rest of you who have not attended, I highly recommend you attend the Millionaire Mind Intensive. If you have not read Rich Dad Poor Dad yet, I recommend reading it, the Cash Flow Quadrant, and Secrets of the Millionaire Mind first. In my opinion, you will appreciate the intensive even more.

If you aren’t growing you are dying. As an entrepreneur, it is up to you to grow yourself and your education. Are you going to sit there, do nothing, and begin to whither? Or, will you take the step, commit to action, and take control of your professional life? Attend and participate 100%, you won’t regret it. I did and I am a better for it. Register Now (If you are asked for a reference number, it is 661164).

I would like to say a special thank you to Doug Nelson, Stewart Welch, Collin and the MMI staff that was in Chicago from 11/21/08 to 11/23/08. I sincerely appreciate each one of you and everything you all did to make the intensive what it was. Just say “Thank You” and walk away.