Good or Bad? Which Inner Voice Are You Listening To?

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."” 

– Albert Einstein

Cartoons are fun. Although I am an adult now, I still enjoy watching cartoons and in case you are wondering the answer is no – I don’t have any kids. Many cartoons have an episode where the cartoon character (whether it’s Homer Simpson, Sylvester the Cat or Donald Duck) is split between doing the right thing or doing something evil. Typically, you’ll see a little devil and a little angel on the shoulders of the cartoon character.

We are no different than those cartoons. Many times we are caught in the middle, maybe not between good and evil, but between positive and negative thoughts. We go back and forth between what we should do and what we should say and many times we follow the wrong inner voice.

The Bad Inner Voice

The bad inner voice is unfortunately the voice we listen to the most. This is the inner voice that brings you doubt – “you can’t do it.” This is the inner voice that gives you discouragement – “give up.” This is the inner voice that makes you feel guilty that tells you that “this is your reality” and tries to give you reasons why things “won’t work.” This inner voice also convinces you that you are not good enough, smart enough, creative enough or passionate enough. The worst part of this inner voice is that it knows you well and it uses fear to its advantage. It convinces you that everything can and will go wrong. This inner voice is powerful and sometimes we let it get the best of us.

The Good Inner Voice

The good inner voice can be more powerful than the bad inner voice. However, sometimes we are quick to shut the door on this voice. This inner voice is encouraging – “just try it.” This inner voice can motivate you – “you can do it.” Many times, the good inner voice seems as though it’s just a daydream because it makes things seem possible that might seem impossible. The good inner voice believes in you, believes in your ability, your skill set and your intentions.

Unfortunately, we think many times that the inner voice is just a fantasy voice, a voice that paints unicorns and rainbows. So what do we do? We shut it down and listen to the voice that makes more sense to us – the bad inner voice. That’s the voice that keeps it real, right?

Remember, the good inner voice targets the heart and the bad inner voice targets the mind. You are better than you think, if not, that good inner voice would never be there. Follow your heart a little more. Which voice should you start listening to? 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.  

How I Survived With $11 In My Pocket

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
- Martin Luther King Jr.  

I humbly write these blogs to help encourage others and help people understand that whatever financial situation they might be in, whether they're in a hole or not, that they can improve their circumstances. Yesterday I received great feedback from my Interested In Improving Your Monthly Cash Flow? Follow These 5 Steps... blog. I received a few emails and some text messages about this blog with a few folks wanting to know more about my story. I decided to take a quick detour with my blogs and introduce to you my story as it pertains to my finances. This is not a "How I got rich quick" story. It's more of a survival story.

Most financial planners that I have met might know a great deal about 401Ks or investments. However, most of them might have never struggled to make ends meet, had to live paycheck to paycheck or had bill collectors calling them every day. Therefore, many of them might not be able to tell you how you can get out of your tough financial situation. I feel as though most people can relate to my story and this is why I encourage others to keep pushing. Here's my story...

During the recession of 2008 I found myself jobless. After working for multiple education companies and trying to become a substitute teacher, I was once again applying for unemployment and applying to jobs only a teenager would apply for during the summer. I was a college graduate with a business degree and a huge appetite for success but at the time no one gave me a chance to prove myself. I had two bill collectors harassing me, a warrant for a failure to appear in court (which to this day I still can't remember why I had to go to court in the first place) and a car that kept breaking down.

One day, in late May, I closed my bank account before they charged me again with overdraft fees. I decided that I would just live off of the $300 or so I had left and whatever I received from unemployment I would use for rent. At the time, I lived in a small two bedroom house in Fontana with my nephew. That day I told my nephew I couldn't pay rent anymore so I called the landlord and gave the 30 day notice. I had no clue where I would go or what I would do. In the meantime, my goal was to find any job to have enough money to last me through this.

I took any job that came my way. At the time I also played in a band but we were lucky if we even got money for gas when we performed. I painted a house (or tried to paint a house) for a few bucks, I put strings on guitars for a music store for a few dollars and I babysat here and there. Once a week I tutored my friend's daughter in reading and since she didn't have money to pay me, she blessed me with shrimp tacos every time we ended a lesson. On Tuesdays, I drove to San Bernardino to teach a kid's mariachi group how to play mariachi music. The families would pitch in to give me $20 for gas. In no way did I complain about my situation. Yes, it was tough and I would get sad at times but my mom taught me to be happy for what I do have. I cheered loudly even if I only received $20. 

Shortly after, my cash was low and I had to move out of my house so I began to sell my possessions: microwave, toaster oven, TV, etc. I made a few hundred dollars but now I only had four boxes left with my name on them filled with books, clothes and a few memories. I was close to selling my guitar but some of my bandmates didn't let me. I was lucky enough to have a brother that let me stay with him. I was happy to just sleep on the floor so that I didn't have to sleep in my car. I stayed with my brother for a few months as I continued to apply for jobs every day. I interviewed with so many companies but felt as though I had the worst luck in the world. I didn't have a suit to properly present myself so I always wore the nicest shirt I had (which had a small hole that I had to cover during interviews). I didn't know why no one would hire me. 

I finally received a call in early August from a company that called me a week before to tell me that I didn't get the job. This was an education company that did SES tutoring and they offered me a 3-month assignment as an independent contractor. If I met certain targets in three months, I would be able to stay with the company. If I failed, I was out. I had no choice. The day I received that call I only had $11 and had to decide whether I used those $11 for gas or for food. I used the money for gas and hoped that I would somehow survive until I received a paycheck. I started work on a Wednesday and, by an act of God, I received a small paycheck on Friday for my first three days of work. At that point, I knew things were going to change...

To be continued...

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.

What Would You Do If Everything Was Possible?

One of my favorite stories is a story I read in an article four months ago. The story was about a seven year old girl who was fascinated by the game 'catch.' She began playing catch with her dad, trying to count how many times they could catch the ball without dropping it. At one point they reached 50 catches and the girl and her dad were excited because they just beat their old record.

One day though, the focused little girl requested a game of catch in order to break their previous record of 50. The little girl wanted to get to 100! The dad chuckled a bit because he knew how much trouble it took them to get to 50. A few days later they reached their goal of 100. The next day the little girl said to her dad, "Dad let's go for 300 in a row!" The dad tried to convince his daughter that maybe they should try 125 or 150 because 300 was a stretch. Despite the push-back, the father agreed and a few days later 300 catches became their record. However, the daughter wanted to keep going. Challenging herself, she now wanted to go for 500. The dad said nothing this time but thought to himself, "You got to be kidding me!" Surely enough, after a few days, they reached 500 catches. The little girl didn't stop there.

"Dad," she said, "let's now go for 1,000 in a row!" The father at this point believed that this was impossible. Embarrassed to say anything to his believing daughter he unfaithfully agreed to try to get to that impossible goal. This time, in less than 24 hours, they reached 1,017 catches!

Earlier this week I wrote about fear and how fear prohibits us from reaching goals or trying things for the first time. Many times, we are the ones who limit ourselves and we are the ones who convince ourselves that things are impossible. What if you didn't set any limits? What if you stopped using the words 'I can't'? What if you truly believed that everything in this world was possible? Are you the one limiting yourself?

"Everything is impossible until somebody does it"

- Bruce Wayne (Batman) 

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible!"

- Audrey Hepburn

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?

This week I saw a very inspiring speaker. She was a young black female that left the audience speechless. After she was introduced, she took the stage, didn't worry about the microphone and began her short speech. She made great eye contact and spoke clearly to her audience. She was very powerful. Her goal was to convince the audience to volunteer for a youth group. I was so moved by her words that I signed up myself as a volunteer (and later as a coordinator) for the youth group. This person was only 8 years old.

So many times do we get filled with fear. The girl that influenced me to volunteer had no fear. No fear of public speaking. No fear of making mistakes. She wasn't even nervous. As adults, we fear too much. Have you ever asked yourself, 'what would I do if I wasn't afraid?' Fear keeps us from pursuing our dreams, taking risks and eventually getting ourselves out of a hole. We sometimes don't want to speak up, don't want to confront others and we just continue to hurt ourselves. We let fear overpower us.

Time and time again, I hear people saying why they can't play the guitar. Most of the time they say "my fingers don't stretch that far" or they make up excuses such as "I'm just not musically talented." I added a video to this blog to show you that anyone can learn how to play guitar. It doesn't matter the size of the fingers (or the size of the person), it is something that can be learned.

What would you do if you weren't afraid? What would you do if you didn't care if you were embarrassed or ridiculed? What would you do if you weren't afraid of trying or failing? If you have read a blog like this before, then why are you still afraid? You are the one stopping yourself. Where there is a will there is a way.

2014 is the year of the NEW

I have no clue what I'm doing. I told myself I would begin writing blogs and I've spent the last three hours researching what a blog is. After signing up with three different blog sites, I landed here trying to write my first blog ever. I also stole a picture I liked from the internet that says "The Future - Next Exit". Am I even supposed to do that? I got in trouble when I was in 8th grade for plagiarism.

I'm the type of person that doesn't wait until the New Year's to do a list of resolutions. My list was created almost 5-10 years ago. However, as I discuss the many things I have done in the past (and what I plan to do in the future) people have been intrigued by my actions. I'm no superhero and I'm definitely not talented at many things but I always give things a try. This will probably be my worst blog ever because it's the first. Nothing comes naturally to me the first time. Or the second or third, for that matter. With experience and practice everyone gets better.

Think about the first time you tried to swim. You probably almost drowned, didn't you? Well, I did. What about the first time you drove a car? You probably hit a parked car, right? Wait, that was me. At least now I'm a decent swimmer that can doggy paddle for hours and I have some great parking skills.

To everyone reading this, first of all, thank you. I won't waste your time with my silliness. This 2014, make sure you plan to do something you've never done in your life. Maybe it's something you said you would do later. Maybe it's something your significant other has wanted you to try for some time. Maybe it's something you've secretly wanted to do but never had the courage to take action. This is the year to reinvent yourself - no excuses. This year will be Chapter 1 of your life. This is the year to take risks. This is the year to make plans. This is the year to take action. This is the year you will conquer your fears. Don't live your life thinking - "what if". Life is beautiful. Try to see how beautiful. Try life for the first time.