This quote is from Nelson Boswell, "The first and most important step toward ..... success is the feeling that we can succeed."  When a person believes they can succeed their chance of success goes way up.  The reason negative people are so destructive to success is because they make a person doubt their capabilities.  I decided along time ago to focus spending time with, reading about, and listening to people that encourage me.  This simple concept changed the results of my whole life.  How about you?  When are you going to start controlling what goes into your brain.  Garbage in means Garbage out!  Spend more time investing in your brain than you do your belly and look out at what you can achieve! God Bless you.

I am reading a letter sent to me from my former mortgage company that is congratulating me on paying off my mortgage.  I remember when we started this business, and owed 90% on a 982 sq. ft. house.  The dream has expanded a bit since then.  When we bought our new house, we put it on a 3 year balloon with 20% down.  Our goal was to pay it off at the end of three years and we did, while redoing the whole outside and creating Destinopolis.  The beauty of running businesses, is you are not constrained by what someone else wants to pay you.  Your pay raise in this business becomes effective as soon as you do.  Laurie and I decided to become effective and that has made all the difference.  Make the changes necessary to win and come join us in diamond club.  I can't wait to be celebrating your mortgage burning celebration.  Dream big, Act big, and you will get Big Time results!  God Bless!

Don Freeze is one of the most talented individuals you will ever meet.  His many gifts include, professional singer, value-engineering guru, emerald leader on the Team, and sound specialist.  I am only covering the tip of the iceberg on Don's many gifts.  Don ran one of the top consulting company's for over a decade with offices in USA, Europe, & Australia.  He lived a diamond lifestyle before the business.  Don's involvement in the business before we were big added a dose of credibility back when the business was under 100 people.  Don and Chris Freeze bring such credibility and belief to their many IBO's and Orrin & Laurie are thankful for their friendship.  Don and Chris are on their way to diamond, come join the leadership team and we will see you in diamond club. God Bless

Jeff Granger is a man on a mission.  When I first came to Jeff Granger's house to show the plan, he was not interested.  Not only was he not interested, but he was not present.  I met Jeff at the door, and he told me, "they are downstairs."  Jeff proceeded to turn on the TV and watch a hockey game.  Jeff and my relationship is much different now.  Jeff Granger has become one of the best students on the Team, which propelled him from platinum to emerald in less than two years.  Jeff and Barb have both left their jobs to build this business to diamond.  Thank you Jeff and Barb Granger for being the leaders that you are!  Your example is a beacon of light for others to follow! 

Tim and Amy Marks started their business in October of 1999 and at the end of August will be fully qualified Founders Diamond!  They were excited about their new Quixtar opportunity and hit the ground running.  Tim is 100% intensity and the kind of guy you are glad is on your side of any battle. Tim is an extremely focused individual and when he sets a goal to run after, it is as good as done.   Amy is a lover and encourager of people with a desire to constantly improve.  Thank you Tim and Amy Marks for all you do!  God Bless.

The quote of the days is, "Would you like me to give you a formula for ...success?  It's quite simple, really.  Double your rate of failure.... You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success.  But it isn't at all.....You can be discouraged by failure - or you can learn from it.  So go ahead and make mistakes.  Make all you can.  Because, remember that's where you'll find success.  On the far side of failure." - Thomas J. Watson.  Mr. Watson is describing one of the basic principles of success.  Success is going from failure to failure with a learning attitude.  Laurie and I were slow starters in our business, but unlike many around us we never quit learning.  If you ever stop learning in your business, you are as good as done.  Some people have quit the business mentally, that are still in the business physically.  Laurie and I stayed mentally alert to learn and grow.  Even though we were slow, our growth bonus alone last year from Quixtar was over 5 times my best year as an engineer.  The business pays for those who are willing to fail, learn, grow, and win.  God Bless!

Wow, I am so excited!  Less than one month away from another fully qualified diamond.  That means there will be four diamonds at diamond club in Hawaii.  With the Team system, when you go diamond you stay diamond. We build our businesses on a foundation of integrity, trust, and reward for performance.  I am so proud of all of the new pin winners this year, and I want to make sure you have set more goals for next year.  At the end of this month it will be four for four.  Four diamonds and all four requalify.  Actually, Laurie and I are requalifying EDC.  We qualify as diamond by the 15th of the month or earlier.  This business is not a game to us, it is our mission to make a difference. Are you wondering who the new diamonds are?  I'll see you in September when they are introduced!  Build your business on the proper foundation, so you requalify year after year!  God Bless you on your journey.

The Team quote of the day comes from the Roughrider President Teddy Roosevelt - "The boy who is going to make a great man .... must not make up his mind not merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats."  In our business you can change this to read, "The IBO who is going to go diamond......"  Any great success happens after great hardship.  I teach this over and over, because our TV advertisement culture teaches over and over instant gratification.  Our TV culture will show you a credit card and say you deserve the American Dream.  They want you to make a buying decision now and they pay marketing experts big money to instill this into your brain.  This helps leaders understand a new IBO's mentality.  Most have a hard time dealing with setbacks and delays, because they have been programmed for instant gratification.  This is why our tapes and books are so important, they give another perspective on life, one that Teddy Roosevelt shared.  Dream, Struggle, and the Victory!  God Bless You.

"I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying." - Tom Hopkins

Laurie and I had a great weekend hanging out with the leaders from a couple of our teams at poolside.  What a beautiful weekend it was to be poolside.  I am continually amazed by how much God continues to bless us with.  Even though I didn't post this weekend, I heard many great stories from our leaders that I will share.   I am back on my blog and ready to go so here it is. This statement captures the belief that failure is a necessary ingredient to success.  Laurie and I have achieved the success we have, because we were willing to endure failure long enough to learn how to have victories.  You greatly increase you possibilities for success, by enduring while others quit.  We believe our mission in life is to serve others and follow our three rules: Have Fun, Make Money, and Make a Difference!  If making a difference matters to you, then this business is where you need to be!  God Bless your success jorney.

One of the first books I read, after becoming a Christian, was the Bible and Sermon on the Mount  by Lloyd Jones.  If you want a book that will humble your pride, this is a book to read.  The ...   more »

The Team quote today is from Mike Todd, "I've never been poor, only broke.  Being poor is a frame of mind.  Being broke is only a temporary situation."  This reminded me of when I moved out on my 19th birthday ready to make it big!  I moved into a two room apartment with belongings that fit into a 1980 Chevette.  I was so broke, I couldn't afford to pay attention.  (ha, ha)  I had big dreams and a willingness to grow and that made all the difference.  Instead of looking at all the things you don't have, start looking at the things you have been blessed with.  You have to assess where you are and get going with what you have.  Not waiting for situations to change, but making them change through your efforts.  I am so thankful to have grown up in a small town and to have been taught the meaning of hard work.  Broke I was, but poor never!  Go fulfill your destiny.

My mother, the one who named me Orrin Woodward, going platinum?  Are you serious?  Yes I am, and it is exciting times in the Woodward family.  My mother has been in and out of the business two times before, but after my dad passed away from brain cancer and then in less than a year mom's mother (my grandmother) passed away as well.  These were trying times for her and after a couple of months she asked to get started again for the association.  She was not at first interested in building a big team, just meeting some positive people that are upbeat on life.  Well, she found some excited people and learned the ropes.  Then another team started exploding and now a third team as well.  Less than one month away from platinum from a person who was a two time "failure" in this business.  I put failure in quotations because I don't believe anyone actually ever fails at this business.  No one fails they only lack focus and committment which leads to qutting.  My mom was 61 years young and when she started for the third time and after a couple of months of associating she started getting serious.  She asked me what is was going to take and I told her tapes, books, seminars and showing the plan.  Less than two years later here she is!  I know some of you are thinking you put your own mom, a widow on tape of the week?  You didn't make her pay for them did you?  Yes I did, and yes I did.  I would never steal the struggle from someone's experience, because if you steal the struggle, you also steal the joy of the victory.  It isn't what you have accomplished that counts in the end, but it is who you become on the journey.  Thank you mom for being a heroine to me and the Team.

AFTERWORD

I think it is evident that there are two worldviews on a collision course in America today. They are so diametrically opposed and they cannot both survive forever in our great country. If man is truly what the Marx worldview would have us believe - Godless, worthless, hopeless, hero-less, loveless and limited - then our schools would be right in teaching such doctrine to the next generation of Americans. History, though, has clearly displayed the catastrophic result of this worldview.

If, on the other hand, man is more akin to what the Adam Smith and the Judeo-Christian worldview would have us believe – created in God’s image, transcendental values, heroic, hopeful, responsible, destiny filled - then we must do something now to turn the direction of our country. We have sacrificed the future of our kids on the altar of egalitarianism, turned our back on 250 years of economic excellence, and belittled the motives of any would-be hero. It is time for Americans to say enough is enough. Let us return to our historic roots and lift up our heroes again. Edmund Burke said, “The only way for evil men to rule the world is for good men to sit back and do nothing.” I believe every God fearing, freedom loving, free enterprise supporting American owes a debt to society to live their life in an honorable way, worthy of our forefathers who have gone before us. Let us not allow historians to write that America fell to the anti-heroes in our lifetime, but let historians write that a group of unlikely men and women lived a heroic life in an un-heroic time. Let history write that by the faith of their convictions and the necessity of their cause, these modern day heroes did what others said was impossible! Nathaniel Hawthorne remarked, “A hero cannot be a hero unless in a heroic world.” Hawthorne didn’t mean that an individual could not do heroic things. What he did mean was that a society that was not heroic would not recognize the hero as one. It takes more discipline, more courage, and more perseverance to do heroic deeds today, because while doing them you will not be recognized by the masses as heroic and your motives for a heroic life will be criticized.

We may not be heroes in the eyes of today’s socialists (anti-heroes), but strive confidently, because we know that we appeal to a higher authority. The worldview you choose to believe and act upon will have a massive impact on your financial future. I pray you choose wisely.

God bless you on your success journey!

Orrin A. Woodward

“The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they’re expected to do – they always reach.”
—Lee Iacocca

The Team Quote of the Day is from John Homer Miller who  said, "Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."  This statement is so true to the personal and business success that I have had.  I have seen people overcome incredible debt load to win in this business and I have seen others with 1/10 the debt use that as a  reason to quit or not even start.  Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you handle it.  The Bible says that God will never give you more than you can handle, so learn to handle more so you can get more of His blessing.  Also remember that everything you receive in life in God's and you are just the temporary steward of His wealth.  When people talk about money I know that ultimately I will be buried without any, so I know to keep my head on straight and know money is just a tool.  Love people and use things is the proper perspective.  Start looking at your challenges and lessons to be learned.  Learn the lesson and move on the the next one, this leads to an exciting and challenging life filled with personal growth and change.  Don't be a critic on the sidelines get into the game where the action is!  God Bless you on you journey.

No it is not true that we are recoginizing Orison because his name is more unique than Orrin.  We are recognizing him because he is one of the founders of the self-improvement field.  Orison recognized that the men that dreamed big and worked big subsequently achieved big.  Here is one of his many quotes, "It is certain that the greatest poets, orators, statesmen, and historians, men of the most brilliant and imposing talents, have labored as hard, if not harder, than day laborers; and that the most obvious reason why they have been superior to other men is that they have taken more pains than other men."  This is how our founding fathers intended for it to be an aristocracy of achievement determined by the size of your dreams, effort and perseverance.  Thank you Orison for dedicating your life to self-improvement and the improvement of others.  The Team owes you our gratitude. 

Booker T. Washington was an American hero who believed that people should move up based on their efforts not the color of their skin or what their last name was.  One of my favorite quotes from him is, "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."  If Booker were around today I would show him the plan.  His beliefs about success are so much like what you will hear on the Team tapes.  On my dad's side I am 1/8 Indian, but my dad's family never used race as an excuse for not working to succeed.  I do not look at someone's race, I look into their eyes and see if the dream is still there.  The Tod's motto is, "If you have a dream, you are on the team." Booker understood that it is through the struggles that you learn what it takes to win.  The Team salutes all the people going through struggles on their way to victory and encourages you to learn the same lesson that Booker did. May God Bless You!

SUMMARY

Over a century ago, while touring this country, Matthew Arnold noted that, “if one were searching for the best means to efface and kill in a whole nation the discipline of self-respect, the feeling for what is elevated; he could do no better than take the American newspaper.” We could update Arnold’s quote today and add T.V. and the Internet to his list. With few exceptions, most of what you read and hear has been “dumbed down” to anti-heroic rhetoric and even the thought of the heroic is laughed at.

The greatest minds and best results throughout history have been on the side of free enterprise and heroic doctrine. It is a relatively new phenomenon that has degraded the hero. Let’s read a few heroic quotes from America’s founding fathers:

“Do not live useless and die contemptible” – John Witherspoon, signer of Declaration of Independence – hero

“One man of tolerable abilities may work great changes and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan and …makes the execution of that same plan his sole study and business” – Ben Franklin – hero

“System in all things should be aimed at; for in execution, it renders every thing more easy.” – George Washington – hero

“We are always equal to what we undertake with resolution…It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate; to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.” – Thomas Jefferson – hero

“First was the creation of a ‘natural aristocracy,’ as Jefferson put it, of genius and virtue. This would be no aristocracy of wealth, caste, or privilege. Because genius and virtue are not limited to any particular class, but scattered randomly throughout the polity…By separating the ‘wheat from the chaff,’ as Jefferson starkly put it, he hoped to elevate worthy persons to guard the sacred rights of liberty.” – Bill Bennet, summarizing Thomas Jefferson – hero

Our founding fathers would not have tolerated what is taught to the last generation of Americans. They believed in accepting responsibility and inculcating virtue into the American citizenship. Now as you read and hear the anti-heroic rhetoric you will be better prepared to identify it for what it is – a denial of our American heritage and free enterprise system.

I wrote this article to highlight the difference between the two types of thought, so that when you read or hear information you will be able to analyze it from the framework of free enterprise (heroic) vs. a socialist (anti-heroic) point of view. This isn’t just TOD hype! The greatest minds and best results throughout history have been on the side of free enterprise and heroic doctrine. The degradation of the hero is a relatively new phenomenon in this country.

As I finish this article I reflect back to my childhood and the dreams that were birthed through the heroes of my youth. I am so thankful for my parents who taught me the value of hard work and read me stories from the Bible and other books like the “Little Engine That Could.”

I think about my own children. As I look out the window at my four kids playing in the snow, I wonder, who will be their heroes? Who will they look up to? I believe each of us has a responsibility to be an example to our kids as to what the “American Dream” is all about. Let us become the role models and heroes that our children can emulate.

I realize that in many circles, talk of free enterprise and heroic doctrine is looked down upon and criticized for being unsympathetic. Criticism does not bother me. I have always made decisions in my life based on what I was right, not what was convenient. I leave you with one more quote from Henry Link, “Circumstances may be difficult, but instead of becoming their victim I shall rise above them. My reason may be inadequate but my faith can be strong. I have faith in my powers as a free will agent, able to choose between right and wrong. I have faith in a moral and spiritual order higher than any comprehended by science or reason. By faith I can accept a super-human concept of personality which gives me confidence in my potentialities. I will not accept defeat, I will struggle to achieve. I may fall but I will rise again. I may not win wealth, but I will win mastery over myself.”

Many of the best success principles are so simple many people have a hard time believing it is that easy.  Success is simple, but not necessarily easy.  I am good friends with a top 30 Boston Marathon runner and when ...   more »

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

Whenever I meet heroes and discuss their break-though life experiences their story confirms a basic principle of success – accept responsibility. Every great person at some point in their life began to accept responsibility for the direction or lack of direction of their life. Jose Ortega y Gasset said:

“The mass-man would never have accepted authority external to himself had not his surroundings violently forced him to do so. As today his surroundings do not so force him, the everlasting mass-man, true to his character, ceases appeal to other authority and feels himself lord of his own existence. On the contrary, the excellent man (the select-man) is urged, by interior necessity to appeal from himself to some standard beyond himself, superior to himself, whose service he freely accepts. Let us recall that at the start we distinguished the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands on himself, and the latter the one who makes no demands on himself, but contents himself with what he is, and is delighted with himself. Contrary to what is usually thought, it is the man of excellence and not the common man who lives in essential servitude. Life has no savor for him unless he makes it consist of service to something transcendental. Hence he does not look upon the necessity of serving as oppressive. When, by chance, such necessity is lacking, he grows restless and invents some new standard, more difficult, more exigent, with which to coerce himself. This is life lived as a discipline – the noble life. Nobility is defined by the demands it makes on us – by obligations, not by rights.”

The greatest leaders (heroes) I have met have always sought to meet their responsibilities first before asking for rights. Many people have asked Laurie and me why we continue to build the business if we are doing so well. There may not be a financial reason to build this any longer, but there are many other reasons and I believe Jose Ortega y Gasset answered the question best – the challenge is doing something noble with your life that makes a difference.

Too many people feel government social programs are the way to make a difference in people’s lives, but bureauracracy just can’t deliver the personalized help that I believe it takes to develop the skills and confidence of people in need. One heroic mentor can make a bigger impact with much less money spent by teaching personal responsibility.

Henry Link said, “Whereas the social planning of our time treats people largely as permanent weaklings, the social efforts suggested by the findings of psychology will treat people as self-reliant individuals, at least potentially. Social movements toward a more abundant life need not degrade personalities. Liberal thinking does not have to be loose thinking. The great leaders and liberators of history were men and women who inspired their followers to a fuller life through struggle, privation, and personal achievement.”

If we want to develop responsible people then we cannot step in and struggle in their stead, because struggling is how they learn life’s lessons and subsequently grow. That is why anti-heroic doctrine, with its egalitarian lie, is so wrong and deadly with regards to success.

LEARN JUDEO-CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES

As you are developing and growing your plan of financial success, another area of study should be the Judeo/Christian principles that are the foundation of our free enterprise system. The Bible says, “We are to be in ...   more »