That which trumps it all

That which trumps it all

 

For the first half of my life I had an attitude “If you are broke it isn’t my job to fix you” I needed to focus on the top of my head and the bottom of my feet, making sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing it. Then I was in “Operation Just Cause”, we had four dead and eight wounded and at 3:00 AM the second night on that runway I took assessment of what I had just experienced. We were Navy SEALs, that wasn’t supposed to happen to us.

I thought back on the Vietnam veterans who trained us, we were told that we needed to have the element of surprise, cover and concealment and superior firepower or we shouldn’t engage the enemy. Here we were, on a lighted runway and they knew we were coming. All we had was superior firepower.

I no longer could allow others around me not to be correct with their choices because they directly affected my mortality. After that, I challenged every decision my superior’s made. They didn’t like it. They kept pushing me out until my last six months in the Navy I stood gate guard duty.

When I got out of the Navy I worked for a former IBM executive who used to preach “You need to find their buying rules” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. If I hear a buying sign I will jump right on it. He explained that “Buying Rules” were a person’s inner decision making process that dictates everything they do and all of the decisions that they make. I began a quest for that Holy Grail.

I read all of the books that I could get my hands on pertaining to sales “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Personality Profiles” and many more, three and four times each. I went to seminars by Tom Hopkins and Tony Robbins. I have broken boards and walked on fire. In one of Suzy Orman’s books she scratched the surface when she wrote that our earliest money memories effect how we handle money the rest of our lives. John Avanzini wrote two books “War on Debt, Breaking the Power of Debt” and “RapidDebt Reduction Strategies” The first book was thicker and all about tapping into the supernatural through prayer and commitment to get out of debt and “RapidDebt Reduction Strategies” was very thin talking about the specific strategies to manage and pay off debt.

There is amazing power in the supernatural power of God and Jesus Christ. Once someone experiences a supernatural answer to prayer and makes that connection to the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t matter how they were raised, what their NLP or temperament was, they will change. When they truly love the Lord if what they used to believe or were conditioned to think takes a back seat to scriptures. They will learn to call upon the Lord to make their choice and if it doesn’t line up, if it isn’t congruent they will shuck it off. They will not compromise.

Because God’s word is Love they will learn to be compassionate, even when they are standing on their principles. They will soften their rhetoric but without compromising. Not math nor science can cause them to abandon the will of the Lord.

It doesn’t matter where they have come from or what they have done. Once that relationship what the Holy Spirit is fused they don’t carry shame or regret, anger or hurt. They are even immune to fear. This is when all of those analytical strategies come into play, instead of trying to figure out how they work and what makes them tick, we have to focus on how we come across and what comes out of our mouths.

Instead of trying to appeal to everyone we only concern ourselves in attracting each other. Instead of looking for their hot buttons we present to them how God has affected us in our lives and caused us to change and saved us.

As Clear as Cristal

As Clear as Cristal

                I witnessed something yesterday that has my attention. I have known about my wife’s desire to help young women. I got a glimpse of this the spring semester the last school year when she had the opportunity to teach leadership to four classes at a middle school here in the Rio Grande Valley. She took all of the stand out leaders. The good ones, on the honor roll and heading to college and those who lead in the other direction, disrupting the class and skipping school and put them all together.

                She developed her curriculum and challenged them with assignments in their presentation skills and collaborative projects. She was highly stimulated every day when she came home. They challenged her but she dealt with it. Then the very last class, one of her most challenging students gave his speech about baseball and credited one of the other students in the class for helping him to be better. This one boy who didn’t have the outward appearance of a leader actually captured the essence of the John Maxwell style of leadership which is to push other people up.

                Now when my wife told me that there was a young girl whose mother had died and she was being put out of the place where she was living, I had an idea of what to expect because my mom used to take in kids whose parents would put them out. My wife rearranged the extra bedroom and tidied up the house but she had a vibrant energy about her anticipating this new member of our house hold. When the girl came over with her boyfriend I could feel her uncertainty, she was lost but Janice was so ready to help her, she was sitting on the edge of her seat. She asked the girl about her family situation and she said that her mother recently died and that her father let her alone. She had an aunt in mid-valley but wasn’t willing to take her into her home.

                Then her boyfriend announced that even though they were thankful for the offer of support to house his girlfriend, they had it covered. Janice questioned whether that would be a good idea and she showed the girl the extra bedroom and asked her what she wanted to do but she really didn’t have an answer. She is in a place where her life is being tossed around by her circumstances. Her boyfriend is a faithful young man but they are playing with fire living under the same roof. Janice is going to keep the invitation open for her to come back but I could see the distinct contrast of her excitement and enthusiasm to help this girl and the letdown after they didn’t take her up on it. I know I have to do whatever it takes for her to be in that place where she can help all of the young girls she can.

                It is like other women I know like her friend Luisa so committed to help dogs or others who foster cats. There is a drive and commitment deep inside of her to create an atmosphere of comfort and safety but unlike someone fostering pets she wants to give them life skills to help them break the cycle in their lives but also their linage. I have dropped all of my ambitions of achievement other than to support her and to ignite in men, young and old to be bold and realize that they have strength enough to make a way in this world. I am learning, myself that with the Lord’s help they can have even more power. There is more to being a man than the physical but it doesn’t make sense to let your body get run down any earlier than it should. If I can get young men to understand that they can be strong physically and in character that they can have an impact on the world that they can’t imagine.

                There is a pattern for the type of men who become Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Rangers and Force recon Marines. They usually come from broken homes, they get involved in individual sports like wrestling, boxing and martial arts. They gravitate towards those men who are the image they see in the media of muscular tough guys. Those who make it have a coach or a mentor who they actually hold in higher respect than the instructors in training who are always trying to trip them up and intimidate them. It might be a coach or a teacher. They are teachable and because their desire to be recognized as the kind of man who is respected. They will do whatever it takes to live up to that image.

                I hope to be that kind of a man that the young men I influence wouldn’t just leave their children to fend for themselves. I know that the Lord put me with this special woman to make a difference with these kids. I am grateful beyond words to be with her.

               

 

Let it all Hang out

Let it all hang out

               

                After the Les Brown event in the Pharr Event Center I felt something. I am going to give credit to the Lord, Ona Brown, Terrance Leftridge and Chis’Mere Mallard. Something about the way Ona puts together her father’s message caused my breakthrough. I started thinking about all of the times in the boxing ring, SEAL Training, being shot at in Panama, in sales and when had success in business. Every single time I threw caution to the wind and let it all hang out. Many times, looking back I didn’t use the perfect technique or strategy but I overwhelmed the situation with intensity.  

                In every case I spent a period of time learning or being taught my skill, I would attempt to be as perfect as I could and I would fail. I would get tired of failing and then I would pour my all into it with the most aggressive intensity I had in me and with the skills I had developed it would prevail. It might not have been the prettiest but it would be effective. In many cases I would just overwhelm them.

                As I am writing this I am imagining Anthony Suggs Sr. reading this and laughing. Volume and intensity can be very effective. Even God can’t steer a parked car but you would be amazed at how good he is at maneuvering when you stand on the gas.

                In sales I have said things to people that should have blown them out but they ended up doing business with me and from that point on we were always on the same page. It was the Navy SEAL way of laying out what was to be expected. It is different than “The proper expectations”. That would mean giving them a chance to make a choice. The choice sometimes is “Are you in or are you out?” It doesn’t work for everyone but you will know in about a second if it does or not.

                I remember when coach John Hunter the Navy Boxing coach, when I walked up to him asking “Can I work out?” I meant “Could I hit the heavy bag” and he said “Who do you want to spar?” I got excited and said “Can I use your gloves?” I went six rounds with Sean Fletcher, Renaldo and Thorton and I held my own pretty good. Their light weight has recently got out of the Navy and I filled his slot. What is it they say “Luck is when opportunity and preparedness meet”? I am thinking about Les Brown’s story of how he got on the radio.

                When I fought Anthony Suggs Sr., right after he won the number one slot in the 1988 Olympic Trials, knocking out Kennedy McKinney, the first punch he hit me with sent me to my knees. I got back up and I had no other choice but to throw caution to the wind and give Tony everything I had and that is what he got! Tony, I hope you appreciate it?!

                When I got into sales, one of my first jobs as venture capital broker the manager gave me a stack of leads and a script and said “There is a desk and a phone” I looked at that phone like it was a warm cow pie. I didn’t want to touch it but I thought “They can’t shoot me through the phone” I started smiling and dialing. All I got paid was a $10.00 an hour draw on commission for the first three months but then I talked to a guy who followed the script. He had $30,000 in CDs that he wasn’t happy with the returns, I asked him if he and his wife made joint investment decisions and he said “No!” That didn’t bother me, I didn’t talk to my wife either. I wasn’t closing my own deals, Joel Topia the manager did the follow up call. Joel had a voice and tone like Carlton the doorman. The next day he came by my desk and dropped the client’s folder on it and said “He is not interested” I thought there might have been a personality conflict so I called the guy back.

                I asked “Did you have a problem with Joel?” He said “No” I asked him “What Happened?” He said “My wife said I can’t” I said “Didn’t you tell me that you make all of the investment decisions?” and he said “Yes” and replied “You lied to me!” That got his attention and everyone in the office. I quoted him verbatim what he said to me and he agreed that he did say those things and then I said “What you need to do is move your zipper around to the front and do this deal” He didn’t like that. Everyone in the office was shocked. I told them “What? He lied to me. I am going to call him every day until he either changes his number or commits” and I did.

After about two weeks he put his wife on the phone and she explained to me that those CDs were hers that her mother left her. I said “Oh I understand, this is venture capital, it is not for the faint of heart. This is for a player, someone who is looking to beef up their portfolio and they have enough where with all that if they lose $10,000 it’s like sticking their finger in a glass of water and taking it out but if this does as well as we think it is going to do it can mean the difference of whether they are driving a motor or a motor coach in their retirement. I tell you what, if you know someone like that and they participate I will let you in for half a unit” She referred me to her boss, he invested $30,000 and she did $5,000. That is when I learned to go for the referrals. I closed 60% of all of the referrals given to me.

The company changed projects and things slowed down and I started looking and I answered an ad for a debt management consultant. It was group interview and they were combining a mortgage refinance with debt management and consumer credit counseling strategies and because of all of the books I had been reading for my own personal finances I could understand what they were doing. They promised a $50.00 bonus for every signed loan application and check for an appraisal that I turned in and I needed $600.00 to pay my rent. My first commitment was from this attorney who was very arrogant. He gave me the run around I went to his house and he wanted me to give him all of the terms and interest rate. He was about 6’ 6” tall and I just looked at him and told him as directly as I could “I can’t give you the answers without pulling your credit, getting an appraisal and going over your financials to see if you qualify” He went inside and after a couple of minutes handed me his last three years tax returns, bank statements and all of his bills. I told him I need a check for $350.00. He got the check book and wrote me out a check.

He didn’t commit to the financing but because I had gotten him to commit as far as giving me what I was asking for, I was fearless. I turned in twelve applications that month, paid my rent and ten of those loans funded. I made $7,500.00 in commission that month and they made me the manager. You’ve got to be Hungry! Every single time I have had a breakthrough was right at the point where I had to push back and when I did the door opened.

Terrance Leftridge told me that I needed to have Chis’Mere Mallard mentor me. Chis’Mere, I am ready!

For his Glory

For his Glory

This morning at the men’s bible study they were teaching on Job. I have read the story of Job at least seven times and today, it finally made sense to me. All of the calamity he had to go through was for God’s glory. By Job staying faithful to God and by God’s restoring everything back to him in abundance as an example of how we, by staying faithful to the Lord, he can restore our lives.

As the lesson was being taught I was doing an assessment of my body. Yesterday after the John Maxwell simulcast I wasn’t feeling good. So I went for a run and workout. I ran three miles to a gym that has mostly baseball couching and they do boxing aerobics. The classes didn’t start until 6:00 PM but I didn’t need an instructor. I did 12 rounds of jumping rope, shadow boxing and hitting the heavy bad and ran three miles back home. I felt cleansed after the workout and this morning I ran three miles with the dog and did my usual BUD/s work out and three sets of 20 pull-ups.

They had coffee and donuts but I don’t ever eat the donuts, I found that sugar causes me joint pain

because of the inflammation and I don’t like joint pain. That is probably why I wasn’t feeling good

after the John Maxwell event. I ate cheese cake and my am a little lactose intolerant. I love cheese

cake but I probably shouldn’t be eating it.

As I was taking assessment of myself and hearing the lesson it occurred to me that when the Lord restored Job, it wasn’t anything to do with Job except that he stayed loyal to God. Satan fell for the bait.  I looked at all of the guys in the bible study who could demonstrate an incredible testimony to the Lord. I am so thankful for how he restored my body. This whole F3 workout group is all about helping guys to be restored. I never put the two together until this morning.

There is so much that can bring glory to the Lord, all we have to do is give him the Glory.