Winning Starts With Your Mind

Usually my focus is on formal business strategies, but I was listening to an audio about letting people know who you are and decided to pass on a little bit about me to give you some perspective on my attitude about success and why it’s important.

About ten years ago, I was on top of the world, I had been a very successful businessman and was in demand in my market. I was making a healthy six figure income and actually doing so well that my wife decided to take some time off because we really didn’t need the extra income. We had moved to a Colorado in a rural town and were looking forward to about ten more years of work for me and then a very early retirement.

One day, I was getting ready for work and as I walked out of my home office, I collapsed. We thought it might be a bad reaction to a medication I had be taking to get over the flu, but boy were we wrong. After a few months with no diagnosis, my day consisted of rolling off the couch on to floor, crawling to the bathroom and with my wife’s help rolling back onto the couch. I was dying, nobody knew what was wrong with me, but I had gotten so weak that I could barely move.

Part of the reason they were having such a difficult time diagnosing me was that I had so many different symptoms.  Besides falling down, I had terrible rashes all over my body, severe joint pain, I was light headed most of the time and had these terrible sores in my mouth and nose.

At six months of this, nobody expected me to last much longer. In fact, I later learned that my wife feared every morning that when she came down stairs that I would be dead. Sadly, I assumed the same thing, I wasn’t sure everyday if I would wake up the next day. But a miracle happened for me that month. I saw an infectious disease specialist who was not only smart, but also very compassionate. She new that I didn’t have a problem that she could cure, but she also figured out that I had a neurological problem and possibly an auto immune issue as well. While I was in her office, she left, marched down the hall and went to talk with the neurologist, who saw me immediately. I also saw a Rheumatologist that she set up the same day.

The Neurologist examined me and said that he wanted an MRI done right away and the next day I was in a tube with a lot of banging noises. Two days later I was sitting in an office with a neurosurgeon. By the way, I couldn’t sit, I would slide out of the chair, my wife had to keep me propped up or I would have been on the ground.

That day, my life was saved. He looked at the MRI and told me that I had a severely herniated disc in my cervical spine and that I was lucky to be alive. He actually booked an extra surgery the next day and made me stay in the hospital from 7:00 AM till my surgery late in the afternoon because he was concerned that me being at home was too risky.

The next day, after surgery, I was able to walk. You don’t know me, but I am a pretty tough guy. I am 6′ 3″ and weigh in at around 250, I am built like a line backer and was a hardcore business guy, but that day, I cried like a baby. I actually was going to have a life and from that point forward, I really appreciated it.

Two weeks later, I walked into the Rheumatologists office all smiles thinking I was out of the woods and expecting him to say that he found nothing. Unfortunately, I was wrong, I was informed that I have a disease called Lupus and it had already damaged my heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen, brain and nervous system. So I went from the frying pan into the fire.

But I had beaten one tough situation and I was no longer going to let this disease or anything else take my future with my family away, I have had to adapt and can no longer deal with the stress of the high pressure management jobs that I had in the past, but I wasn’t going to give up on myself or my quality of life.

I studied nutrition and put myself on an intense exercise program. I believe that those programs have kept me alive and have actually improved my life. I was actually a semi finalist in a men’s fitness competition for those over 50 a few years back and continue to keep myself as healthy as I can be. I do have some limitations, but I never let them stop me.

Last but not least, I have held off on going back into the business world because I can’t handle the stress, but I feel blessed because I now have options. With the advent of social media and web technology, I can work from home and grow a business. I am excited about my prospects and have a challenge to look forward to everyday.

I am saddened when I hear people who have 100′s of excuses why they can’t succeed. I would rather continue to be ill with a positive attitude then have better health and live with the negativity that these folks have.

So if you are one of those who feels that the world is against you, think again, if you have your health, you need to check your mental health as well. I am going to succeed in my new business venture and I challenge you to come along and succeed with me. But I don’t need you if you have a negative attitude. So check it at the door and lets do something together.

I plan on being around for a long time and making something happen, join me, shut the door to the past and hang on, it’s going to be a great ride.

Click here to join me and empower your life!