It's OK to ask for help...

During the recession of 2008 I was without a job. I couldn't pay rent and I didn't have much money in the bank. I felt like I was running out of options but I continued my life pretending that I can handle it all and that I would get out of this hole on my own. Eventually, I decided to swallow my pride as the burden was too heavy. I ended up staying for a few months with my sister and later with my brother. I slept on the couch for months until I got back on my feet. 

Do you feel comfortable asking others for help? It might be something embarrassing such as asking for money or asking to sleep on someone else's couch, but it could also be as simple as asking for a ride, advice or just asking someone to talk to you. We sometimes feel as though asking is a form of weakness, that it might expose our failures and our faults. We might also get caught up with thoughts such as, "what will they think or say about me" or "they'll probably tell me no, or give me crap for asking." 

The truth is, most successful people didn't get to where they are now without a little help, a little push, from someone else. In fact, if you ask me, I think asking for help is a sign of confidence and a strength to have. It not only eases the burden of trying to do it all, but it obviously speeds up the process or resolves the challenge. Swallow your pride. Get rid of the negative thoughts that asking for help is bad. Don't be afraid about what others will say.

Is there something you need help with? Have you thought about asking but you haven't gotten the courage to do it? What's stopping you?

"What would you d if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song and I'll try not to sing out of key. I get by with a little help from my friends."

- The Beatles

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

- Dr. Seuss

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. 

You Think Your Job Is Tough? This Is Absolutely The Toughest Job In The World

Time to time I hear people complain about how tough their life is. I hear people saying how they have to balance a job while going to school full-time and how tough everything is at work. I hear how tired people are because they are working 10 hour days and how much their back hurts because of the physical labor that they do. If you think your job is tough, watch this video and then read the rest of this article.

Almost everything we do and everything we think about is about "me" or "I." "I  have a million things to do" and "I am stressing out because of everything that is coming up and everything that I am doing." Those are only a few examples. I am definitely guilty of this selfish pursuit. I want to continue to grow professionally and personally, I am pushing to become the best at my job and I am always busy with all the things I want to accomplish.

However, we owe most of our success and most of who we are to our mothers. Mother's Day is coming and this is only one day that we try to go out of our way for our mothers. This day is only celebrated once a year. Yet, I'm sure your mother celebrated you almost every day from the moment you were born until the day you left the house.

You don't have to wait until Mother's Day to call her. You don't have to wait until Mother's Day to tell her how much you love her. You definitely don't have to wait until Mother's Day to give your mom a present. What if your mom would have said, "I'm not going to get you some new socks until your birthday or Christmas"? Mother's are at work every single day and every single hour. Make every day a Mother's Day.

Nick - The Man With No Arms, No Legs and No Limits

A good friend gave me a book for Christmas. The book was called Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic, a man who has lived with no arms and no legs all of his life. The book was very inspiring and made me think constantly about myself. After finishing the book I looked for videos on Nick on YouTube and read a few more articles about him. After watching a few videos, I was impressed by how much Nick would smile.

Nick lived a rough life during his youth. He was teased frequently by other kids and called names such as "freak" or "alien." Nick grew up watching other kids play basketball, surf and go on dates with girls. At age 8 he contemplated committing suicide since he believed at that time that his life was already pre-determined: he couldn't do anything, he wouldn't get married and he would always need others to help him because of his disability.

However, Nick's attitude was impressive. He relied on God to remain positive and used his huge heart to get through some tough times. He learned how to swim, how to surf, how to use a computer and type, how to run a business and how to speak in public. Now, Nick goes throughout the world motivating other people and preaching how life can be lived without limits. He speaks to children about bullying and about loving themselves and each other.

Many times we are angry about the things that we don't have or the things that we do have that we don't like. We'll hate ourselves because we feel we're ugly or we're fat, we'll convince ourselves that we're not smart enough and we'll believe that we're not capable of achieving success. Yet, we forget the things in our lives that should matter. We forget that we have the blessings of our family, of our close friends, of the music we love, of the hands that allow us to hold our babies, of the lips we possess to kiss our mom on the cheek, of the dirty little car that has more than 200,000 miles but is still going, of the home that provides us a bed to rest, of the food we eat every single day and of the heart that allows us to forgive and love with no limits.

You are better than you think. You are beautiful. You are strong. You are smart. You can accomplish anything. The only limits you have are those you are setting for yourself.

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't - you are right."

- Henry Ford

"You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude towards what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you."

- Brian Tracy

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.

Before you spend your STATE or FEDERAL REFUND CHECK, read this!

This morning I received an email from Walmart with the subject, "Tax Refund Online Specials Are Here". If I would have received that email a few years back I would have definitely opened it. Companies know that we are waiting for our state and federal refund check to spend it and they want us to spend it on them.

Some years ago, I felt that I was living paycheck to paycheck. Every month I felt as though I was the middleman for utility companies, credit card companies and my landlord. I became proactive and decided to track my spending. After two years of diligently tracking my expenses, I realized that now I was living paycheck to paycheck while spending certain evenings trying to calculate where my money went. In other words, I was a middleman trying to be an accountant. Then I realized something: not only was I living paycheck to paycheck, I was living refund check to refund check. Any given year would have looked like this:

Spring: Refund check time! Party time! So many choices. What should I buy first?

Summer: Shoot! Where did my refund check go? Well at least I still have a job.

Fall: How did I get so broke? Christmas is around the corner and now I won't have any money to buy presents.

Winter: Crap! Why did I buy all those presents? Now I'm in debt. How am I going to make it through the year? I can't wait to do my taxes. 

This became a vicious cycle that wouldn't stop for years. Sometimes I would even buy things before I received my refund check simply because I knew the check would be in the mail sometime soon. It was time to put a stop to it all. No more living refund check to refund check. 

This tax season, instead of spending your state or federal refund check in minutes, here are some suggestions on what you should do instead:

Think before you spend. Think before you act. Answer these following questions: Do you REALLY need to buy this? Do you REALLY need to spend your money on that thing NOW? Could your money be used for something better? If you don't really need the item you are thinking about purchasing, don't buy anything. If you feel as though your money could be utilized elsewhere, then don't buy anything. You might be better off holding on to the money instead.

Start a savings account. If you already have a savings account, put the money there. Give your self some time to really understand how the money should be spent. Saving your money is a great way to begin building your wealth instead of living month to month. 

Create financial goals and financial priorities. Be careful. Some people will automatically want to pay off all of their debt only to find themselves getting more loans or getting another credit card later in the year. Think about cash flow - the money you have or need in your hands. List out your financial priorities and your financial obligations. Begin calculating your expenses or use an app like Mint to do it for you.

Think about this check as new beginnings. This is a fresh start for you to make things right this year. Make better decisions financially and you will soon stop living paycheck to paycheck - or refund check to refund check. Any questions? Don't hesitate to ask. 

Do you have what it takes to be wealthy?

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." 

- Aristotle 

I recently ran into an info graphic (see below) about the habits of the world's wealthiest people. We sometimes fool ourselves in believing that there is a "reason" why someone is rich and we're not. We convince ourselves that we can't possibly do what they did so we never try. However, one way to begin is by breaking our bad habits and creating new ones that might be closely aligned to those that are successful. 

What bad habits do you need to break? What habits of the wealthy can you incorporate immediately?