Short ‘n’ Sweet

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It’s time to wrap up another week on loving life. This is one of those topics that I can pull so many things about because I actually live this subject. I know I’m not a scholar and I know I do not have great things to share on every single subject, but this is one of those subjects I live every day.

While I’m in Los Angeles for the weekend attending James Malinchak’s Boot Camp of Speaking workshop, I am still enjoying my life. I still tell people that I’m living the dream and I mean it. Even when I will be up taking notes in a seminar with long hours, then meeting new people after the event, then writing a blog late at night after that, I’m happy. I’m loving life even while I’m spending time learning.

No matter what you do in life, you must love it. Yes, this week we mentioned a few of those things we must do that are not always the most fun, but they are part of what must be done to achieve our goals. The truth about loving life is that it’s your choice to do it. You decide to enjoy the process, the path you are on. You will make those choices and decisions today that will either be working to build a life you love and that is better for you or you will make it worse by not finding things to love in the process.

Your attitude and choices tell if you will be loving life or not. I choose to love life. No matter what, life is good. I love it good, bad or ugly. So enjoy your weekend and I will see you back on Monday.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Your attitude will determine your love for life and that will make you the RockStar in your world.

True Cost of the Upgrade

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This week I am spending my time attending many seminars, learning a lot of new things. At one of the great events I attended, I was offered the VIP upgrade package. At first we were not crazy about it, as I am conservative with money when I’m on a mission. But at last I accepted. This is something that made me think.

When was the last time you actually took a look at the value of upgrade packages? So many times Gwynne and I choose to not take those extras based on what our wallet holds and not based on the value that is being offered.

So this day the VIP package included lunch with the speakers in their private suite. During that time we were able to ask questions to them directly and get answers to the things we wanted to know from them. For me it was great to speak one-on-one with the host of this event — not just on what he was teaching that day, but sharing his knowledge and getting his insights into building my own events.

It reminded me of the old saying: “Would you want to have a large sum of money with no idea how to invest it? Or would you rather have lunch with a man of wisdom and wealth?” I have always thought of the lunch with a man of wisdom being the greater investment. In this case that is exactly what we got.

Now, if this is your first time to come read my blog, let me tell you my personal story. I am a coach and a speaker today because I got personal, one-on-one time with Zig Ziglar. I never was in Zig’s program; I never got official training from him. But what I got was worth far more. He took what he did to help other speakers and coaches and made it personal to me.

So if you want another big tip about loving life, look into the value of each VIP upgrade you are offered. For me, I look to see if it gets me one-on-one time with people like Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, or Craig Duswalt. If I can learn more from that personal time with them and it’s a $50 or $70 upgrade to get it, wow! What a great investment that is! Think about it.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Look for the value in life to see if it will help you become the RockStar in your world.

Why Can’t I Play First?

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As I was sitting here tonight thinking through all the things  I have to get done over the next few days, it brought to mind how sometimes we have to wait on others to get things we need done. I wonder why I can’t always seem to have time to do what I want.

So many people, when they look at me, ask why I can’t get things done. They think I have free time and should always have available time to just do what I want. We all think of the “Loving Life” ideal as just doing what we want, when we want to.

Just because people work for themselves does not mean they always do what they want to do. We do choose our paths in life. That means sometimes we have to do work we know has to be done, and not always the things we want to get done.

Sometimes we have to make phone calls we do not want to make; sometimes we have to do a joint venture with people we are not totally excited about. The truth is, the idea of loving life is about building a long-term life. It’s about learning to find the joy in those small tasks we have to get done.

We have to find the joy in the things that we must get done and not always focus on the things we want to be doing. A lesson I was taught as a young boy was get your work done first, then go play. It’s funny that, even as I get older, I want to do the fun stuff first. But to build long-term success, we must do the work first and then play.

So today’s message is: “Yes, you can love life while doing the things you must do, but you must do ‘the work’ before you go play.” A friend once told me to write a list of things to do each day and then hurry to get them done. After that, I could reward myself with fun time for the rest of the day.

With that message, I’m off to Los Angeles again for a week of work…and fun.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Get the work done before you plan anything else and become the RockStar in your world.

No Problem Dude

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We all have those things in life that we worry about. Yes even I do. Over the years I know the things that have held me back from reaching my goals, the areas where I was not willing to do just a little more to make something work. And those areas that just would not work, no matter how much I wanted them to.

Last year I was shown a great example of the reality of what happens when you set goals. The example was used of a man talking about how, when we set big goals in our lives, the first thing we seem to get is a big obstacle. The bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacle that shows up in our path.

To illustrate his point, he held up a chair and put it in front of his line of sight, then he demonstrated how most of us now become focused on the obstacle once it is placed in front of us and let it take up our thoughts keeping us from our goal.

Over the years I have done this to myself so many times. It is when we understand that this obstacle is coming that we can now learn how to prepare and deal with it and move beyond it to reach our goals.

When I learned that this was what was going to happen – that an obstacle would present itself as soon as I set a big goal for myself – then I learned to make plans so I could keep the focus on my goal and deal with the obstacle as it appeared. Doing that helped make those goals happen. I now have learned to become more focused on what I want to happen, and quickly make decisions that help me deal with obstacles so I can get back work to reach my goals.

This does not mean that it always feels like fun reaching goals; no, they still require work. Again, you must make a choice to enjoy the journey past the obstacles. Working with clients who need to get that part down is easy for me, but tough for them. It’s another mindset of learning what is going to happen and dealing with it.

So today to help you enjoy and love your life, to make it a choice to love life, and not make it just a feeling, first understand obstacles are coming. They are there to deal with; don’t let them take your focus off the goal. Don’t focus on the obstacle. The more you learn to handle these obstacles the faster you will become at reaching your goals.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Don’t let obstacles keep you from being the RockStar in your world.

Is this love?

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I was sitting on our upper balcony watching the lake, watching the planes landing this evening. It was one of the greatest days we have had to just sit on our deck and relax and I was thinking of what we could do this week for a theme.

I had the idea of making it about relaxing, enjoying what you have, or maybe just reflecting on great memories. And that brought me again to idea of loving life. How many of us are working to plan something in our life and really not loving the process of getting there?

One of the things that we have tried to do is to love our lives. I love having Gwynne in my life I love how we may not always agree on everything in life, but we understand we think differently and we still love each other. The process of love is not always getting a comfortable place; it’s not always feeling good. Life has some ups and downs, just like those planes we have watched as they are coming in for a landing tonight. They are coming back down so those people can reach their destination.

Well, life is going to have some ups and downs. It’s about enjoying the ride and loving the fact that you have a life that makes it better. My love for Gwynne is not always a feeling; sometimes it’s the knowledge that she is the best thing that ever happened to me.

As I am getting ready this week to head back out to LA for another Speaker’s Boot Camp, then preparing for the Love and Romance expo here in Dallas in a few weeks, it makes me think of the subject of love. I love my life, even when it is not always a good feeling.

So we will have a week to discuss how our lives are just like those planes that are taking off and landing; ups and downs but still loving life; enjoying the journey because once you hit the goal, it’s just time to find a new goal. The journey along the way was the real joy. I recall the statement: “It’s not about the dream; it’s about what you learn along the way to reaching that dream.”

So what are you learning to enjoy on the road to reaching your dreams? I hope you are finding the greatest joy in life by living through the tough times and the screw ups that make life fun. I know I am.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Learn to enjoy the journey to be the RockStar in your world.

Losing Hope in the Change

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Good Friday morning to you. As we close out the week of change that matters, our final day is to get you to keep hope alive in a world that shows lack of hope. So many times we make choices based on the fact we have no hope that what we want to see will happen.

Many years ago I had no faith that the world I wanted to see, the life I wanted to live would come to me. That brought me to a point of not making any changes to make what I wanted happen. I had no hope so why make changes? In so many parts of our world people are not making changes because they have no hope in themselves.

The purpose of all these writings about change is to help you believe in a better world. I wish I could give you the hope that the better world is out there. But you must bring that hope and belief alive to make your changes work.

So we finish out a week on changes that matter with one last thought: have hope in a better tomorrow based on what you can do. I have hope in life getting better; and even I have challenges in making it better. I have a belief even despite the fact that I have tried other things that have not worked. This time I’m going to do it better.

I read a story yesterday of a young woman who hoped her long lost love would return. When he did return it was to ask forgiveness as he was dying. Where is the hope in that? I actually ran into the young lady yesterday in the Dallas area who had lost her eye and hand to an airplane accident this past December. Lauren showed me with her smile that hope is still alive. No matter what I may be facing in this world, there is a reason you are still alive. You still have a purpose.

While we may be complaining of what it is we are going through, life could always get worse. We need to have the hope in a better tomorrow and make the changes that matter now while we can. We talked about making the changes early in the week, how you should make the changes while you can; we do not know the challenges we will face tomorrow.

I choose to have hope, so I will make the changes that matter while I still have the chance. How about you? What changes are you going to make that matter? Please leave some comments on how you plan to make changes in your life that matter in the comment section. Have a great weekend.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach; it’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Have hope to make the changes that matter to you, and become a RockStar in your world.

I Changed My Life. Where Are the Results?

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Each and every morning I walk into my favorite Starbucks and get my drink. Most days when arriving, by the time I get to the counter the drink is made and handed to me while paying for it. This is a great result to have when you are a coffee person like me. But you say, “Tim I’m sure you’re like a RockStar in your world, so they treat you that way.”

My home coffee shop has changed many times over the past 13 years of making the morning visit to get a specially-made drink to start my day. My drink has changed many times over those years as well. I can tell you that more than 100 baristas have made a drink for me. I am a regular; I was not always a regular.

The current coffee shop I go to now has Doug as a manager; he has built an over-the-counter friendship with me. I’m not all that special; he is this way with all of his customers. That is the Starbucks way, but if you visit small hometown or other coffee shops you don’t get that fast service. You sit at a table and place your order with a server and it takes 5 to 10 minutes for them to have your drink crafted.

I want to use this story to show you how our theme of change that matters is not an instant thing. The first time I went into Doug’s store I was not a regular, I had to wait in line to get my drink, I had to explain the way I liked it. When sitting at one of those cafes, you do not get it as fast; it’s not an instant drink like we get in the fast paced set-up of a Starbucks.

Well if you are making changes the results in life are not instant; change takes time to get results. It seems we have become this instant world; we want to have it in an instant. Well like the specialty café we need to create a better quality product of our life. If you want to change you health you must make long term changes that will yield long-term results.

Last month I got started with my own 90-day challenge in the Visalus system. It was not just a challenge to “take this instant shake and you will be healthy, take this magic pill and you will lose weight.” Well for me it’s not a lose-weight thing; it’s about building healthy long-term life habits. Getting involved with Visalus was about using a system that changed my life to my own challenge. I was introduced to it by one of my mentors in life, Craig Duswalt, who got involved in his own challenge.

Gwynne works with people in Weight Watchers, helping them with their system to change lives and become healthy. Losing weight is part of their goals. It’s a new lifestyle and just attending a meeting a few times does not bring about that goal you want. It’s over a length of time.

I used the idea of getting healthy and preparing for long-term change this month many times. Changing my health habits is just as important for long term as those who are losing weight. I am about to start a new long-term life with Gwynne as we are getting married this summer. Marriage is a long-term thing; it’s not just a one day event we invite all our friends to, and it’s about planning a life together.

So if you made changes in your life this year, but are not seeing results you want, you must look at the long-term.  When you look at the year as a whole, the changes made in the beginning of the year may not show the results till late in the year.

Over time, building the relationship with those people who serve me coffee everyday gets them to know me; over time the process is not a lengthy process to getting from my bike to getting my coffee. If you are patient you will see that building your relationships or building your world over time it will get better, it will get faster if you are building it to last. So keep working on those changes the results are coming if you continue each day doing the work.

I’m Tim Gillette the Rocker Life Coach; it’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Make your changes long term and never give up; soon you will be the RockStar in your world.

Want a Change? Then You Have to Make Some Changes.

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Today I was wishing I had a comfort zone again in my life; I get up and each day I’m not in the same place. This year I decided to get out of my comfort zone and keep moving no matter what. Well some days I wake up sore, tired and wanting to have a familiar routine where I know what to expect.

I spent too many years in my life getting down to a zone of comfort and making a life where I was so in control that I always knew what was coming next. Well getting out of that comfort zone this year was the greatest thing I could have done.

I recall hearing the story from another speaker who told us you need to just do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. I took that advice and decided that if something was not working for me, it was time to change it. That took me from a life in my comfort zone that was making my world smaller and smaller to a life that may seem like it’s out of control. But it’s working; I have things happening that I only dreamed of before. Yes, for those who think I’m already living the dream, I’m making improvements to live a dream that’s even better.

For years, that has been my saying: “I’m living the dream.” I learned to believe it and started to really enjoy where I was in life. I spent more time helping others and less time helping myself. But I still got into a comfort zone where my life was starting to get smaller and smaller. I wanted to do more so I had to get out of that place of comfort and predictability I was in and make some changes.

My brother Ken always used the line: “if you want to change your life, you will have to make some changes.” And he did that. After years of what seemed like a great way for him to earn money working for himself, he went back to school. Ken, like our father went back to school at 40 to get his high school diploma then his Associate and Bachelor degrees and is now working on his MBA in business finance.

Ken is working with some large companies, and in his 40s he was working to land internships where his competition was mostly college-age kids. He made changes that got him out of his comfort zone and moved his life to do something different.

So many people come to me and ask, “How can I live my dream?” What do I have to do to make those changes? Well, start by making yourself a new set of rules that gets you out of that comfort zone. If you want to change, you need to make some changes.

Has your life has gotten you to a comfortable spot? Maybe it’s the income from that job that gives you a comfortable place to live; maybe it’s the home you live in that gives you comfort. If you want to live a dream, you have to make changes that will get you out of a place of comfort. You may look to others like you are living a dream now, but once you have reached a dream or goal, do not set up a permanent home. You need to set new goals and move again.

I remember hearing Robert Schuler talk about building his church. He spoke about writing the book The Peak to Peak Idea. Once you reach a mountaintop, instead of stopping there, you search for a higher one, for a new peak. Then you head down the valley towards that mountain so you can climb the next one.

Today as I was thinking about that speech I heard him make so many years ago. He talked about the struggles he went through in building his church and each point of what seemed like defeat he would go into his office and shut the door and take out his own book to then apply those principles from his book towards reaching the goals he was working towards.

Well the past few weeks have had challenges for me, and I had to pull out my own programs, books and writings to pull myself out and get back to work. Guess we all need to be in a process of growth. Even tonight I worked with another coach in helping her find answers as she worked to find her own direction. We all need to find a path.

So today, find your path. Get out of the comfort zone before it’s too hard to leave; set some new goals, make some new rules to make you change. As Ken would tell me, “If you want change, it’s time to make some changes.”

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Set some rules to make change a part of your life and be the RockStar in your world.

Start With the Man in the Mirror

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It’s hard to believe that next month it will be three years since we lost Michael Jackson. While he was most known in his last years for eccentric behavior and things he was accused of, I remember him most for his songs from my young teenage years, songs like “Billy Jean,” “Thriller,” and “Bad.” The song that I would say gave me the most to think about would be “Man in the Mirror.”

It’s hard to believe a man who wrote a song about looking in the mirror and making the changes you need to do for yourself, was a man who was accused of so many things. I’m not here to say he is guilty, or to say that he is innocent either. We all will forever hold our opinions of what he did or didn’t do – the same as we will think of OJ and what happened there.

In our lives we are going to make mistakes; we are going to screw up, we are going to fail. It’s what you learn from life when you are down that makes you the strongest. And after you make bold statements like Michael did in his song, “Man in the Mirror,” you will be held to a higher level by those who watch you.

But if you want the world to change you have to make the changes to yourself first. How many will take that look in the mirror to see what has to be changed in themselves before asking others to help change the world?

This week’s theme is about how real change has to start with one person and that person is you. Yes you have screwed up, yes those who are close to you will likely be the first to point it out. Still you make the change to make the world better by first starting to make yourself better.

Many people who come to me for coaching want the changes to happen in life, but do not want to do the work to make those changes happen. True change is a long-term job; you don’t make a change in your life and find that your world suddenly gets better. You make a change, and then you get up the next day and practice that change, sometimes over and over again for years before you are rewarded.

I have said before in my blogs about how the bamboo tree experiences its greatest growth years after it was planted. Think of your garden: if you plant a seed to grow a tomato plant, it does not give you tomatoes the next day.

We just planted a few tomato plants in pots on our balcony at the house. Gwynne put them in about a month ago and they are getting close to a foot tall. We do not have tomatoes from them yet, but we still water them, check on them. By the middle of summer, we will have some great tomatoes to eat. Gwynne’s father planted several grape vines a couple of years ago. Some of them will bear fruit this year but some of them will need to go another season before they produce. And he continues to tend them, knowing it takes time and nurturing.

So many people expect life to give them the fruit right away, but it takes time. To get that fruit you have to plant the seed of change in your life. Take care of the change; water and make it grow in your life. It takes a growing season to harvest what you want. For tomatoes it is a few months, for other things in life it may be a few years.

So what changes are you going to make today? This morning, if you looked in your mirror, you probably took the time to make sure your hair was fixed; you made sure you washed your face. Do this with your life; look into the mirror of who you are and see what is needed to make the change to bring you to that life you want to live. Make a list of what you see that needs to be changed, then start with a plan to live it. Michael Jackson wrote the song, but that didn’t end the change; and after that, he had to live it. He stood out to make a difference when he sang the song;, after that came the hard part.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Look in the mirror and make the real change that takes you to being RockStar in your world.

Time for True Changes

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I have wanted to do another week on the subject of change for a long time now, but I also wanted to wait until the time was right. Over the past few weeks I have been in a funky, looking-back-at-life mode. It all goes back to how many things have changed in my life in the month of May over the years. It has been a significant month for me for a long time.

Two of the businesses that I created were started in the month of May. Also, my first seizure happened in May. The occurrence of seizures was the hardest thing for me to deal with. It was 20 years ago this week that I was an over-the-road truck driver. It was a Monday morning. I had ridden my motorcycle to work and then I was supposed to be moving trailers around loading docks for a day.

It was exciting to be able to ride the motorcycle to work because, back then, it was not my everyday ride. That particular job involved me moving trailers from one dock to another. While doing that I was taking a short-cut under a trailer and I had a rather hard hit to my head. I seemed fine, until break time 30 minutes later. It was then that I had a seizure and I was taken to the local hospital.

Later that afternoon, when I woke up, I was told I had had a seizure and how that would change my life. My trick driver’s license was taken away from me in the hospital. At first I did not want to believe it. How was I going to give up the way I made my income? How was I going to support my family without driving a truck for a living?

Looking back 20 years later, I can tell you it was not all easy, but I have been able to support myself, pay my bills and picked up some great knowledge about being an entrepreneur. I have started many small businesses since then: I worked cleaning cars, painting cars, doing oil changes and services in cars. I have painted houses, installed TVs and sound systems in homes and cars. I have served coffee, sold cars, sold insurance, sold various services.

In all the things I have done, the one thing I have learned the most from was getting involved in direct sales or multi-level marketing. I love these great opportunities; each company I’ve been part of teaches that you can change your world. You make the changes that make your life better.

One of the greatest lessons taught to me by a multi-level up-line was “work hard at building something to change your world yourself before you have your world changed for you and you HAVE to build this.” He was referring to building the business I was involved with at the time. He had a great thought that I later heard in a different way from Gene Simmons when he said, “Whatever you do, learn to promote it or you will be promoting someone else’s business instead– as in, ‘Can I get you fries with that?’”

So this week we are going to cover some things about change and how you need to be making the changes in your life. Those who wait around will have life make changes for them. Life never stays the same; if you are living in a comfort zone it’s time to change. Comfort zones only get smaller over time; you lose things in life if you stop building.

I heard the statement more than 10 years ago about building your business before you have to build it. That thought has always been with me. Nowadays, more and more jobs require you to meet some kind of quota, or performance level, to make all or part of your income. So while you may think you are taking the easy way out and not having to work as hard, someday you will have likely have to make a change to work harder.

I chose to change my world and build several different forms of income, so we now have real estate rentals, multilevel partnership income, coaching income, job income, investment income, and speaking income.

Many blogs I read are about creating other forms of income. Much of my life is about helping others create the ideas they need to form several businesses and income sources to keep making the changes rather than letting life make the changes for them. Come back every day this week and see some great ideas about making the changes you need to make your life successful.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Learn to make your own changes and become the RockStar in your world.