Bumps in the Road

In the support group for Winning the Game of Money, many people say that they have some resistance to completing the program.  I took a few days off.  I became depressed after having a seizure on Friday afternoon.  I was following the autoimmune paleo diet to the T.  I assumed that my seizures were of an autoimmune nature because there was no injury that triggered them.  I think my body was actually going through a Herxheimer reaction.  As it was eliminating built up toxins, it may have triggered a seizure.  The good news is that I felt it coming on, got in bed and didn't get hurt at all.  Only my ego was slightly damaged.  I'm going to continue on with the autoimmune paleo diet.  I read some blog posts that talked about sticking with it for a good 3 months before declaring that it doesn't work.  I'm only at 3 weeks right now.

Keeping momentum is easier than building it up.  I kind of lost my momentum this weekend.  Now I have to reform some of those awesome habits that I had last week.

My profile on Rover.com has been somewhat active.  I had a few requests for dog sitting.  Unfortunately, their neighbors volunteered to take their dogs while they are away and I lost their business, but things are looking up in that area.

This week in the Winning the Game of Money program, the homework assignment is to make out a list of all the things that you need to do during the week.  Then you are to prioritize the activities by highest income earning activity and high impact activity.  It is hard to say that my appointment setting is a high income producing activity right now.  I get a lot of wrong numbers and haven't set an appointment yet, but I've only done it for four hours.

Week 3 of Winning the Game of Money Complete!

I started the Winning the Game of Money program in order to increase my income and discover new revenue sources for myself.  It is a 12 week program.  Some people realize more money and income faster than I have.  This is the end of week three.  I will be honest, my overall attitude and resolve has increased, however, that has not resulted in money.  Yesterday, I received my first inquiry from Rover.com for a  pet sitting overnight.  While this isn't a ton of money, and I haven't actually booked the overnight yet, I'm going to count it as a "win."

One of the things that has been difficult for me with this program is getting into the habit of scheduling my days.  For someone who has suffered with epilepsy, unexpected seizures have forced me to become a flexible person.  I tend to associate an open schedule with flexibility and planning to accomplish a lot of things and have a full social life just seems overwhelming.  The good thing is that I'm working on changing that attitude.  Not only have I started working a second job, I have applied for some weekend sales positions.  While they haven't been a good fit, I'm certain that I'll find a great way to earn money this summer.

During this program, I have started talking to more and more people.  I have chipped away at my fear of rejection through my Zero Down Solar telemarketing gig.  Although, I will admit that I have gotten frustrated with phone calling after about an hour.  This may be in part due to the fact that I'm exhausted from substitute teaching all day.

My gratitude exercise for today!  I love that I'm writing this blog for ninety days because it reminds me each day to write something that I am grateful for.  It forces me to reflect on the skills and knowledge that I am acquiring and slowly but surely it is increasing my self-confidence and self-esteem.

1. I am grateful for a response in Rover.com!  I can't wait to meet their dog and see if the overnight will happen, but even if it doesn't, the response has lifted my spirits.
2. I am grateful that the summer is almost here and the kids will be out of school shortly!
3. I am grateful for the delicious foods that I am learning to make that are Autoimmune Paleo friendly.  (I made sweet potato fries the other day!)

Winning the Game of Money Day 20

I've almost completed 3 weeks in the Winning the Game of Money program.  I feel like I am well on my way to earning more income, but I haven't seen that manifested in paychecks just yet.  My substitute teaching job essentially ends next week.  By the end of next week, I should have been able to schedule a few appointments for Zero Down Solar.  So while the Winning the Game of Money program doesn't hand you a way to make money, it primes your brain to look for more opportunities for earning income.  It also helps you to release the fears that are holding you back from trying new things.  Throughout the program, John Assaraf gives you assignments to get you more organized and focused on the top income producing activities.

This week's focus has been on clearing the clutter in my life.  I got off to a fantastic start with throwing out a lot of random paperwork and sending off some tax forms that I had been avoiding.  I started listening to a Prosperity Consciousness program by Frederick Lehrman that is in cassette tapes.  Since that technology is so dated and the tapes have been on the shelf for years, I took the liberty of throwing them out after hearing them.  It felt great to get rid of that clutter and benefit from some of his ideas.  I can't say that I accomplished everything on my clearing the clutter to do list, but I started making a dent in my clutter.

One of Frederick Lehrman's ideas was to write down your positive affirmation 20 times for 20 days.  If you don't believe the affirmation, you can also use the affirmation, "My affirmations are working for me whether I believe them or not."  This is a strategy that I've started incorporating into my life in addition to reading the Winning the Game of Money affirmations out loud and carrying my vision board with me.  I'm definitely priming my brain for success every single day, now to see what the action produces!

In my life, I am grateful for the ability to learn these many strategies and attitudes of success.  It has started taking me on a whole new path in life.  The three things that I'm most grateful for today are the following:

1. The work from home telemarketing position that I have
2. The internet and craigslist where I can easily find more opportunities 
3. The simple strategies to change my mindset and help me become more successful and happy!

Try to do this gratitude exercise in your life and write three things daily that you are grateful for in your job or with your family.  You'll be amazed how much better you feel in only 21 days!

Winning the Game of Money - Day 19

I must have heard the audio from Winning the Game of Money this morning, but in my early morning haze, I didn't really remember much of it.  That actually could be a good thing.  Information tends to slip into your subconsciousness when you are between awake and asleep.  Some people insists that your results are a reflection of what your subconscious believes.

Right now, my subconscious must believe that I am not a telemarketer.  I've started making phone calls for Zero Down Solar in the San Antonio area.  After about an hour of calling, I find some excuse to quit.  Yesterday, I was supposed to have a role playing phone call with the owner of the company, but he cancelled on me.  I quit because I was exhausted from working all day at school and I felt insecure about my own abilities.

I've started listening to the ThinkRightNow Accelerated Success program while I make the phone calls.  I have it low so I can still hear the people on the phone over the audio.  I'm optimistic that the program will turn me into a sales achiever.  I've always had an aversion to sales, but this experiment could be great.  I bought the program as I was trying to start a business, but my sales didn't take off because I needed better transportation to reach more people.  I wasn't making presentations to the people who were decision makers and that impacted my results.  Now, I'll be on the phone and can easily contact many people.  Transportation isn't an issue.  I won't be selling, but I will be setting up appointments, which is the first step in the sales process.

It is uncomfortable to make phone calls to people who aren't expecting to hear from you.  I've been nervous about calling people who are my friends.  However, getting out of my comfort zone is part of Winning the Game of Money program and earning more in life.  It is part of living a more fulfilled life.

I'm concluding today's blog post with my gratitude exercise.  Three things daily that I am grateful for in my own life.

1. I'm grateful for my sales/appointment setter position with Zero Down Solar
2. I'm grateful for the technology that allows me to call people who are interested in using solar energy
3. I am grateful for my treadmill desk to make the phone calls from and help me get exercise and better posture at the same time.  

Life is getting better everyday and I'm improving myself in multiple ways.

Making Changes

Some changes are easier to make than others.  Listening to the daily audio for Winning the Game of Money is a simple and easy change to make.  Working more and focusing on things that I've been avoiding most of my life is one that is not so easy to make.

Yesterday, I got some important tasks done.  I mailed off some tax forms, I fixed my Rover.com application in case there are dogs in the neighborhood that want to be walked by me or an easy dog sitter job comes up.  I don't want dog sitting to be my primary form of income, but I wouldn't mind comb
ining my exercise with a furry pooch in order to make a few bucks.  I doubled my telemarketing time to an hour and started enjoying some of it.  My goal is to work up to a few hours per day.  I got my blogging in yesterday, but I fell a bit short and didn't put any links up or make it pretty with memes.  I can forgive myself for that.  I'm creating consistency and putting something out there every day and that is good.

Tackling my mindset was an easier task yesterday.  Whenever I started thinking about my failed relationship, I reverted to my most important positive affirmation that actually has nothing to do with him.  I wrote that affirmation down 20 times during the day when I had some down time at work.  In between phone calls, I repeated the affirmations in my head.

I fell short with planning.  At the end of the day, instead of planning, I curled up in my bed and went to sleep.  Today, I will change that.  I will evaluate the day and plan out the next day.  While Winning the Game of Money hasn't manifested itself with more income in my life, I'm currently pursuing more income earning possibilities.  I still have nine weeks left of the program.  My goal is to increase my income by $5,000 per month by the end of the program.

My gratitude for today is going to revolve around forming new habits.

1. I am grateful for the ability to see my mistakes and correct them.
2. I am grateful for customer service people who helped me fix my rover profile yesterday.
3. I am grateful for the inspirational videos on youtube that help me to understand some of the secrets to success.  

To do today!

This week's focus in Winning the Game of Money program is to clear the clutter and get organized.  Yesterday, I tackled my bathroom cabinets and threw out tons of products that while still useful, I didn't use.  For example, I threw out lotion.  I never use lotion.  My skin just doesn't get dry.  I also started tackling my filing cabinet.  Yikes!  I have files mislabeled and thing waiting to be filed.  I was able to go through and toss a lot of papers and put some much needed labels on some files.  Getting organized doesn't produce income immediately, but it is an important task.  Everyday this week, I'm going to dedicate 15-20 minutes to cleaning and clearing the clutter in my life.

To do list:

1. Clear the clutter in my filing cabinet
2. Throw out junk mail
3. Spend 30 minutes applying for jobs/searching for job opportunities on craigslist
4. Listen to the meditation audio
5. Plan!
6. Work
7. Write and say affirmations

As I cleared my clutter yesterday, I came across a Prosperity Mindset set of cassette tapes by Frederic Lehrer from the 80s.  I decided that they had to go.  I listened to half of them and gained some insights into increasing my prosperity mindset and organizing my finances.  One thing that he talked about doing was replacing your old negative thoughts with positive ones.  He gave an example of writing his affirmation 20 times per day to get it to gel in the subconscious.  I know that the Winning the Game of Money program has subconscious programming built into the audios, but I decided yesterday that writing my affirmations out twenty times for twenty days couldn't hurt.  I am repeating the Winning the Game of Money ones out loud each day, but I think that writing is a lot more powerful.

Now for my daily gratitude exercise:

1. I am grateful for the Prosperity Mindset tapes that I came across and the ideas that I gathered from them regarding crowding out my negative thoughts
2. I am grateful for my healthy breakfast of tuna, broccoli and a banana for helping me to feel full and keeping me on track to eliminate my autoimmune condition.
3. I am grateful for my cute dog that gets me out on a walk

Clearing The Clutter

Today is my third week in the Winning the Game of Money program.  I watched John Assaraf's video yesterday on getting more done in less time.  Today is Sunday and I'm going to take one component of his message and implement that today.  Today, I am focusing on clearing the clutter in my life.

Every aspect of your life has clutter in it.  A routine of clearing the clutter helps you prioritize the important things in your life.  Clearing the clutter helps you let go of the unnecessary things in your life that are holding you back.

Where to start clearing the clutter?  Where does clutter hide?  Clutter is everywhere.  You'll discover it in your refrigerator, your medicine cabinet, your desk, your closets, filing cabinets and even files on your computer.  There is even mental clutter that you have.  You sometimes may find yourself focusing and replaying events in your mind that didn't go the way that you wanted.  It is important to let go of those thoughts and replace them with positive affirmations and goals that you can reflect on instead.

Clutter represents indecision.  If you are holding onto something that no longer serves a purpose in your life, but may serve a purpose in the future, you are hanging onto the past.  Hanging onto objects that you aren't using because you spent a lot of money on them is something that I have done many times in my life.  However, it becomes a reminder of a financial mistake.  Letting go of it and allowing it to be useful to someone else helps you to move on.  Make a decision today to let go of your clutter.  Allow other people to get use of things that you aren't using.

If you feel like you don't have enough time to clear the clutter from your life or if you are overwhelmed by the amount of clutter that you have.  Start small.  Make a goal to get rid of one thing each day that you aren't using.  Schedule fifteen minutes a day to throw away things that are unnecessary or pieces of paper and notes that have collected on your desk.  As you meditate, take 5 minutes to think about the mental clutter that is holding you back.

One of my favorite programs is the Think Right Now organizational program.  It is relatively inexpensive, but it is chock full of positive affirmations that refocus your thoughts on getting organized.  It works wonderfully and quickly.  When I lend it to my mother and play it, she starts cleaning up and throwing things out.  She shortens her television time because the lady's voice is going through her head reminding her to clear the clutter and get organized.

Today, I will attack my desk and clear the clutter there.  In conclusion, I'm going to share three things that I'm grateful for in my life.

1. I'm grateful for the ThinkRightNow organizational program and affirmations that push me to succeed.
2. I'm grateful for the Autoimmune Paleo diet which helped me lose 3 pounds in 2 weeks and start feeling great.  
3. I'm grateful for the Winning the Game of Money program which is teaching me this week to clear my clutter and focus on organization.  

How to Get More Done in Less Time

Week 3 of Winning the Game of Money program focuses in on how to get more done in less time.  Did you know that 20% of your actions are responsible for 80% of your results.  The other thing that is important to know is that the importance of the task that you have to do is inversely related to the time frame that you give it.  If you give yourself a lot of time to finish a task, you will not feel it is as urgent and important to get done.  I learned this concept when I wrote my first book with Alicia Dunams, Seizure Free - Addressing the Causes of Seizures Naturally.  She had us focus in on tight deadlines and meeting them.  Most of the people in that Bestseller in a Weekend course finished their books within a month.

Make a list of all the things that need to get done each day.  Then mark which ones are the most important based on highest importance, highest income earning activity and highest impact activity.  When you start doing this, you will start increasing your income.  You will discover that the important things are getting done and the least important things are leaving your life.  Most individuals don't take the time to analyze the question, "What is the most important income earning activity in my life?"  Take the time in your life to answer this question and ensure that you are focused everyday on an income producing activity.

Develop a routine with the most important activities.  My routine starts with meditating in bed with the daily Winning the Game of Money audio.  I then proceed to breakfast.  I eat a healthy autoimmune paleo breakfast to jump start my day.  Then I move on to the 15 minute rebounding workout.  Rebounding on a mini-trampoline is a maximum effectiveness workout.  It stimulates the immune system and maximizes the force of gravity.  It isn't the only workout that I will do, but building it into my day as a habit keeps me on track to achieving my health goals of eliminating my autoimmune condition.

Organize and simplify.  Everyday you should take the time to organize and simplify your life.  Eliminate the clutter and confusion.  Make it a daily or weekly routine.  This will help you eliminate the chaos in your life.  This is an essential step.  If there is junk in your environment, there is junk in your head and it is causing chaos.  John Assaraf uses Friday as his decluttering day.  I like to clear the clutter on Saturdays.  Once you clear the clutter, it gives you the time to implement these time tested techniques to get more done in less time.

Make sure that the habits that you are forming support your goals.  One of my important habits is to express 3 areas of gratitude each day.  I write them on this blog everyday.  I do this because it has been shown that expressing three things that you are grateful for each day can improve your mood, your happiness and your self-esteem.  That is something that I want in my life.

1. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have today to clear my clutter
2. I am grateful for my vision board to help me refocus on my goals daily
3. I am grateful for the healthy autoimmune paleo pumpkin bread recipe that I found that will help me stay on track with my healing.

Week 2 Complete

I'm on week 2 of the Winning the Game of Money 12 week program.  What has changed?  What has improved?  What hasn't?

Although eating isn't a part of the Winning the Game of Money program, the focus on developing good habits and setting goals helped me to dive into the Autoimmune Paleo diet.  It has become much easier than I expected to develop meal plans that exclude dairy, grains, nightshades, peanuts, eggs, preservatives and legumes.  Now, I simply focus on vegetables and meats.  I rotate my favorites throughout the week and I experiment with different recipes.  I discovered that I love sweet potato fries (which are an exception to the nightshade group because they are not in the solanace family and don't cause the gut irritation).

I found a telemarketing position that I can do in my down time instead of watching television or surfing the internet!  I actually just did my first half hour of calls yesterday.  It was pretty discouraging, but I'm going to figure out how to keep my spirits up and enjoy it.  I have some sales audios from Think Right Now that are supposed to propel you towards sales success.

I started planning my days better.  Following through on the plan is something that still needs work, but you don't always change overnight.  I still have ten weeks in this program to start hitting sales goals.

The other great thing is that I started this blog!  I have blogged for 14 days straight.  While that doesn't gain me a huge following and I'm not going to earn money off this affiliate link without people clicking on it, it does help me refine my blogging skills and get back into writing.

To close out each and every blog post, I share three things that I am grateful for today.  Showing gratitude improves mood and self-esteem.  A daily habit trains you to be more focused on the good things in you life, so here we go:

1. Grateful for the telemarketing job opportunity even if I didn't like making phone calls yesterday.
2. Grateful for my ability to learn daytrading and succeed in that area
3. Grateful for my blog as a method of reflecting on what I'm learning and solidifying new knowledge that will propel me to success!

Day 13 - Just Keep Swimming

Some days you don't feel like following through.  Some days you want to revert to your old habits.  Today would probably be one of those days.  I didn't wake up excited to start my Winning the Game of Money habits.  However, I peeled myself out from under the covers.  I wanted to write something inspiring on my Winning the Game of Money review blog, but I'm coming up a bit short.

As I watched some videos for the Autoimmune Paleo diet, I listened to Sarah Ballantyne talk about the proper foods and amounts that you should be eating to heal from an autoimmune disease.  In one of the videos, she said regarding eating offal, "You don't have to like it, you just have to eat it."  That has been going through my mind since yesterday morning when I didn't season my frozen spinach well and I had to muster the courage to finish it.

Yesterday, I was ready to collapse into my bed, but I hadn't planned yet.  I knew exactly what I was going to do today and could do it on autopilot.  However, planning and reviewing your progress is part of the  Winning the Game of Money program.  It is one of the big habits that successful people count on.  Planning leads you to your goal.  So, I whipped out my red notebook and wrote down my "wins" for the day.  I also wrote down areas of improvement.  Writing down my "wins" helped me to feel as though I was on my way and accomplishing the things that I set out to accomplish.

These habits and tasks in Winning the Game of Money aren't difficult at all.  Changing your routine just takes a bit of effort and time.  In fact, I almost forgot to do my gratitude exercise for this blog post today.  Here it is for today:

1. Grateful for the inspiring stories on youtube of people healing from alopecia so I can stick with the autoimmune paleo diet.
2. Grateful for my coworkers who make life enjoyable
3. Grateful for the encouragement I receive from other youtubers and bloggers.  It made my day when someone told me they liked my blogpost yesterday.  

Action is the Great Separator

I was listening to the Darren Hardy interview again today.  The first time I listened to it, he said we don't need more information, we need to apply the information we have.  We need to study more.  I took that to heart.  I decided that I would review the information more and apply it.  So, this morning, I replayed the interview for myself.

What stood out to me today is when he was talking about interviewing Richard Branson.  He said that the biggest thing that separated him from the rest was that when opportunities presented themselves, he took action.  John said, "Make decisions quickly and change your mind slowly."  I think in my life I have been making decisions slowly.  I can blame my anticonvulsants and slower thinking for 25 years of slower decisions.  Now it is time to amp it up and make decisions faster.

Plan out your success.  Make sure that you are going through your day with a plan to earn money, a plan to obtain better health, a plan to improve relationships or whatever you want to achieve.  I'm working on planning out my time better each day.  Yesterday, I had a great plan and stuck with it until the evening.  Then I came to a bump in the road.  My headset wasn't working.  I solved the problem by ordering a new one on Amazon.  I felt good about problem solving, but was a bit disappointed that I couldn't complete my daily plan.

Create good habits and be consistent with your success habits.  Remember the parable of the tortoise and the hare?  The tortoise beats the hair all the time.  You don't need to be the best.  You need to be consistent in order to achieve your goals.  Consistency in your actions is the great grand separator of them all.  Become persistent.  Small behaviors over a long period of time create exponential growth.

One of the habits that I am focusing on consistently is to write down three things that I am grateful for each day.  It is an activity that has been show to boost your self esteem, improve your mood and prime you for success.  A habit of gratitude helps to keep you focused on what is going right in your life.  Today, the three things that I am grateful for:

1. My nutrient dense breakfast that I enjoyed this morning
2. I am grateful for the ability to learn from successful people.  
3. Grateful for having food and shelter

Abundance Mindset

While in my journey through the Winning the Game of Money program, I realized that I don't always have an abundance mindset.  I noticed a post in the facebook group where another member discussed not quite having an abundance mindset just yet.  I realized that mindset, just like skills and habits can take time to cultivate.

So, how does one gain an abundance mindset?!  There are activities that you can do to help cultivate an attitude of abundance.  Yesterday, I watched a Tony Robbins clip on how he was completely broke and he gave away his last $17 to a child who was going out to lunch with his mother so the kid could pay for his mother's meal.  At that time in his life, he made the mental shift from scarcity and lack to abundance.

We listen in the Winning the Game of Money program to affirmations that help us to cultivate an abundance mindset.  The repetition helps them to sink into our habits and daily lives.  Something that Mark Waldman teaches us to do is mindfulness.  Be mindful of your thoughts.  When thoughts of scarcity and lack creep in, simply change them.  Whip out an index card with thoughts of gratitude and abundance and review it.

A big thing is actually recognizing the thoughts that are associated with scarcity and lack.  Below is a comparison between scarcity thinking and abundance thinking.

A great exercise to help you get into the abundance state of mind is writing three things down each day that you are grateful for in your life.  As you do this, you become more focused on the positive and good things that are happening in your life and you invite more of the same.  I close this blog each day with three things I am grateful for in my own life.  Today's three things include:

1. Having dinner last night with my brother and my mother
2. My blog where I can share what I learn with other people
3. My treadmill desk which helps me squeeze in more physical activity while I work
   

Focus is Essential

As I was reviewing some of the materials in the program, Winning the Game of Money, the thing that stood out to me today was John Assaraf saying, "Do less to completion."  In life, we tend to want to tackle too many bad habits at a time.  You really can focus on no more than 3 goals at once.  However, if you focus in on changing one habit at a time, it only takes about 60 days.  You can therefore change six habits per year.  That is a powerful message.  Focus in intently on what you want to change.

I'm reflecting on the changes that I have made in the last week.  I would like all the changes that I made to last, but I can feel my focus on some of them slipping already.  I intended to read my affirmations 3 times a day and I'm only hitting once or twice a day and it has only been 5 days.  My diet was the easiest change to make.  I'm eating vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I had accomplished that in the past.  It was easy to create a plan of action and make it a routine.  I just had to find foods that fit the diet that I could make quickly.

Planning is probably one of my weakest areas.  I'm always wanting to be flexible and sometimes feel that not planning will open up my options, when I think it ends up doing the opposite.  Planning sets you up for sWinning the Game of Money program.  It tells you exactly what the next baby step is to creating the habits that lead you to success.
uccess.  Taking a step towards your goal consistently every day will inevitably lead you to your goal.  That is one reason I love the 90 day

This week, I'm going to focus in on planning every single day and reviewing my day to identify what I could be doing better.  Checklists aren't my forte, but this week I am going to focus in on writing down the most important things that I need to do to accomplish my goals.

Today, I'm ending my blog post with my gratitude section.  Gratitude helps you raise your self-esteem and self-worth.  Having a high self-worth is essential to earning more money, so this gratitude exercise is important for me to make a habit.  Here are today's things I'm grateful for:

1. Grateful to be learning the secrets to success
2. Grateful for the autoimmune paleo diet that I'm implementing
3. Grateful for the numerous fitness and recreational classes available to me in the DC area

Changing Your Habits is the Key to Success

This morning, I woke up and listened to the Winning the Game of Money audio.  This is a new morning habit for me.  I am now priming my brain daily to think more positively and become more in tune with financial opportunities.   Some of the other great habits that I have been inspired to make since starting the Winning the Game of Money program is eating veggies three times per day, reviewing my vision board, reciting my positive affirmations and exercising.  I love that this program is 90 days.  I can stick with anything for 90 days.

I had some extra time this morning and decided to pull up one of the bonus videos.  I'm listening to Darren Hardy, publisher of Success magazine, talk about maximizing your personal effectiveness.  In the past, I've been guilty of buying personal effectiveness books and halfheartedly implementing the strategies.  Now that I'm blogging about my results, I'm going to be a bit more invested.

First and foremost, you must take responsibility for your life.  At some point, you have to stop the blame game.  I played it for years.  I have epilepsy and people treat me differently and restrict my freedom.  Blah, blah, blah...Guess what?  No one cares.  The other thing is that when you stop blaming others, it is very empowering.  It's okay to have been making crazy mistakes or failing.  You can change right now.  You can be real with yourself and say, "I'm here right now.  I'm going to move forward.  I'm going to learn from these mistakes and fill my life with habits of success."  There is power in taking responsibility and refocusing on the fundamentals.

All the outcomes in your life are the cumulative effect of the choices in your life.  Changing your choices will change your results.  Every choice you make starts a trajectory.  Compounded over time, it ends up in colossal success or colossal failure.  Healthy eating habits and exercise will lead to a smaller waistline, muscles, a greater ability to lift things and more energy.  Focusing on generating cash flow and money will result in having money.  The important thing is to identify what isn't working and make adjustments along the way.  Don't get "stuck on stupid" as my father would say and continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

The most successful people in the world find a way that no matter what the circumstance, excuse, find a way to overcome it.  You have a choice to how you respond to your choices.  There are thousands of cases of people who had it much worse than you that end up doing much better than you.

It is our responsibility to change.  It starts with how you think and what you do.  One thing that I'm doing daily is writing down what I'm grateful for at the end of each blog post.  This is going to improve my self-esteem and my overall attitude.  Here are the three things that I'm grateful for today:

1. My healthy eating habits are becoming easier and more enjoyable
2. I created a wonderful recipe for sweet potato fries that will make my autoimmune paleo snacks yummier.
3. I am grateful for the work from home appointment setter job that I discovered and the opportunity that I have to earn money in my spare time.  

So, today, I encourage everyone reading this blog to take full responsibility of their current outcome and identify a healthy habit that you are going to apply to your life today.  In the infamous words of Nike, "Just do it."  Make it a habit and for best results, track it so that you can see what the impact it is having on your life.  

Priming Your Brain for Success - Week 2

As I start the second week in Winning the Game of Money journey, I am noticing things that I neglected the first time through.  One of the things that I neglected to do regularly was write in a journal.  For me, this blog is my progress journal.  It is helping me to stay focused on what I should be doing in order to achieve my goals.  The other thing that I sort of neglected was priming my brain for success.  While I was fabulous at consistently listening to the audios, I didn't pick up on some of the things that were mentioned in the video as ways to prime the brain for success.  One of them being reading your affirmations out loud each day.  I listened to a lot of affirmations, but reading them out loud was something I neglected.  Going forward, I'm going to be reading the Winning the Game of Money affirmations after I get out of bed and before I go to sleep.

This week's assignment is to create a vision board.  My last vision board had pictures of things I wanted, but they weren't in color and it got placed in my closet.  I'd still see it everyday because I have to get dressed, but it mostly was out of sight.  I'm going to laminate this affirmation page on the back of my vision board and carry it with me throughout the day to be a constant reminder to refocus in on the goals that I have.

Making goals specific for me has always been a bit challenging.  When seizures disrupt my life, things change drastically for me.  Often my driving privileges get suspended by the state and my employment changes.  However, one of my goals is to get a driver's license and a car.  It is at least six months out legally, but I put a car on my vision board.  In some ways, this goal seems unattainable, but I'm going to have faith in the process.  Sticking with the autoimmune paleo diet (my seizures pop up when I fall into unhealthy habits ie. junk food and not exercising) will help my overall health.  As my finances increase, I should be able to afford a car and insurance.

Today, I'm listening to the special training from John Assaraf while I walk on my treadmill.  I realize through this video, I need to work on making the goals more real in my mind.  Visualization for me has always been kind of challenging because I'm a logical person.  It is getting easier and more enjoyable.

The gratitude that I want to focus on today in order to raise my vibrations and attitude  is this:

1. I am grateful for discovering ways to improve on my past performance
2. I am grateful for people who are supporting me in my goals
3. I am grateful for a healthy diet that will propel me towards success

Week One of Winning the Game of Money - Complete

As I reflect on my first week of Winning the Game of Money, there have been some improvements in my life outside of the financial area of my life.  I have started the Autoimmune Paleo Diet and created an exercise program for not only my body, but also my brain.  I discovered that I need to improve my memory and processing speed to bring myself up to par.  I have incorporated a ton more veggies and fish into my diet.  I have started to say "No" to opportunities that aren't in my best interest.  These are great improvements.

This week, I started organizing and planning out my finances more.  Thanks to Winning the Game of Money, I have been more focused on finances.  Whereas, in the past, I was so overwhelmed with my "inability" to effectively earn a living, I ignored my budget.  My parents and doctors definitely contributed to the mental attitude that I had with money.  When I was a teen, I was prescribed expensive medication that I couldn't afford unless I became a dependent or went on medicare.  That is a horrible position to put a young adult into.  When I graduated from high school in the 90s, my monthly medical bills were around $1000.  As long as I had a job with group health insurance, I could cut that cost down.  However, keeping a job with a cognitive deficit and even controlled epilepsy is easier said than done.  I was very discouraged from entrepreneurship because that meant I wouldn't be eligible for health insurance.  My frustration with earning money started early.

While I didn't have a ton of insights today, I wanted to emphasize the importance of determination and sticking with a task.  Einstein said, "It is not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems
longer."  This retraining the brain is going to be a marathon and not a sprint.  Some days, I'm sure I'll start feeling like these are useless tasks, but in a few months, I should be a changed person with a better attitude and more financial resources.

Yesterday, while listening to the Winning the Game of Money program, I focused in on the gratitude aspect.  While, I can't always control the flow of money into my bank account, I can be grateful for three things everyday.  I decided to pick three things to be grateful for and share them here on this blog.  So, here they are:

1. Grateful to discover a quick and easy autoimmune paleo snack
2. Grateful to receive my residual check in the mail yesterday
3. Grateful to discover a fun rebounding 15 minute workout to invigorate me in the mornings

Gratitude - Day 6

I'm on Day 6 of Winning the Game of Money.  As I listened to the audio this morning, the thing that stuck out to me was hearing John Assaraf say, "Be grateful for the other people in your life who are leading you to the right financial opportunities."  This morning, I am grateful for people leading me away from some of the opportunities that I found this week.

Yesterday, I went to explore a financial opportunity that wasn't quite a good fit for me.  I went to LearningRx to inquire about a brain trainer position.  I've done tutoring before.  I love LearningRx's approach to learning.  They focus on strengthening the executive function of students so that their content mastery is easier.  While I was there, they gave us an exercise.  I was extremely slow on the task.  My auditory memory was getting a little confused by it.  While I rarely notice my slowed processing speed in the tasks that I do on a daily basis, challenging my mind yesterday was eye opening.  I was twice as slow as the other two people there and I didn't complete the task.  I realized that sharpening my mind is something that I should prioritize.  I'm grateful that neurogym is having me work to improve my mind so that I will see more success in my life.  I decided that I may utilize LearningRx's services and perhaps do some Lumosity brain exercises.

It feels a little odd to be grateful for an opportunity not working out for me.  I'm not going to increase my cash flow from this opportunity, but it opens me up to other opportunities that may be more financially beneficial.

I'm grateful that I could easily and quickly discover financial opportunities that fit my needs through Craigslist.  I'm grateful that some of them didn't work out, so I didn't have to put energy into too many different things.  I'm grateful for Barbara at Fairfax High School, who always says positive things to me each morning and offered to be a reference for me for job applications.  I'm grateful for bus drivers, uber drivers and friends and family who are willing to help me get to my job interviews and work sites.

I'm almost to the end of week 1 - Finding Financial Opportunities in Winning the Game of Money.  Here's what I have accomplished:

• Acquired a work from home appointment setter job
• Discovered a need to improve executive functioning skills
• Started the Autoimmune Paleo Diet (to eliminate seizures, alopecia and allergies)
• Started this blog and got an affiliate link to promote 

Take One Step Forward

Today is Day 5 for Winning the Game of Money.  Woo Hoo!  I have found new financial opportunities for myself and started identifying more and more ways to earn money in this thing we call life.

Yesterday, I didn't really feel like starting on a task that I needed to complete to get my finances in order.  During my lunch break, I opened up Srini Pillay's interview with John Assaraf that was in the Brain-A-Thon.  During his interview, John reiterated that often we have these ideas that the task will be difficult or hard and we don't start it.  Getting started is the key.  A good thing to do is to chunk it down into smaller tasks and feel great about getting started.  Often setting the goal for just starting and doing a portion of it instead of procrastinating will get your wheels in motion.  Every goal can be broken down into small tasks from cleaning your room, to organizing your finances, to dating and eating healthy.

With the Winning the Game of Money program, I am breaking down the task of earning $10,000 a month into smaller goals.  John Assaraf recommends starting with the goal of increasing your income by 2.5 times instead of increasing it by something that sounds unattainable.  The great thing about doing this program and blogging about it is that it is keeping me focused and accountable for taking action.

Today, I have a meeting with LearningRx.  While my end goal isn't to be a tutor at a learning center, it will help me reach the 2.5 times my own goal.  I will be able to interact with different people and it will give me the opportunity to gather different ideas for earning.  A part-time position is a win-win especially if it is at a fun place to work.  The other thing that a fun part-time job will do is to build up some of my confidence.  This week, John Assaraf talked about how building confidence is an essential part of earning more money.

Day 4 Winning The Game of Money

I have a new job, which means a new source of income!  Bam!  Actually, I applied for a commission based appointment setting work from home job about a week before starting this.  However, this is perfect for me.  I can do it whenever I have free time.  Time is money and there is no reason to watch television being bored.  In fact, now I have a hard time relaxing in front of the television.
I also received an email from LearningRx, where I was hoping to tutor and have an orientation tomorrow.  While these two sources may not provide a huge source of income, they will give me an opportunity to earn income when I have extra time.

I listened to the audio this morning.  I am starting to enjoy the audios as a way to rejuvenate and relax.  While the audios are focused on finding financial opportunities this week, I have discovered that my focus on other goals has become much more intense.  One thing that happened to me a few years ago was that my hair fell out due to an autoimmune condition.  All of it.  It is called alopecia universalis.  It is basically the hair follicles being inflamed to the point where they aren't producing hair.  It doesn't hurt and isn't life threatening, but I still want my hair back.  Yesterday, I made the decision to go on the ultimate elimination diet for autoimmune disease, autoimmune paleo.  I had tried the Gut and Psychology Syndrome diet, which allows eggs and dairy, but autoimmune paleo suggest people who are suffering autoimmune disease need to eliminate even those at least for a time.

In the Winning The Game of Money program, you are encouraged to get an accountability partner.  This has always been a challenge for me.  I don't always want people to know what I am doing because often I will fail at things.  Yesterday, I jumped into the neurogym group and asked for an accountability partner.  Another member directed me towards all the resources for accountability partners.  I am definitely getting out of my comfort zone with this program.

  Today, I am going to focus on finding people who will support my goals and dreams.  I am going to start my appointment setting calls.  I am going to apply to become a Fairfax County Public Schools Adult Continuing Education teacher for the fall.  I'm going to look for more summertime opportunities that would be fun and exciting.

So, what I've learned from Winning The Game of Money lately is that other people are essential to your success.  You are not an island.  You can become better.  Challenge yourself to do more.  You can find the people who will support your goals and dreams.  Allowing them to know about your failures is essential to your success.  Even though it can feel difficult to tell other people about my own failures and embarrassments, it helps other people connect with me and realize that I am human as well.  

Finding New Opportunities to Make Money

Today is Day 3 in Winning the Game of Money.  As I listen to the daily audio, I am training myself to become more in tuned with the financial opportunities that are available to me.  I started to recognize people who have been helpful to finding me opportunities in the past.

It occurred to me that I love taking the Adult Continuing Education classes with Fairfax County.  As a published author, I realized that I could create a network of budding authors in this area and teach them how to publish their own works on Amazon.  It wouldn't be until the fall and it wouldn't be a ton of money, but applying for it is the first step.  Teaching a workshop with adults could be tons of fun, so I think I shall try it.

The other thing that I realized yesterday while I was reflecting after listening to the audio was that I am part of a wonderful network.  My friend has a networking group that I joined last year.  He encouraged me to work for him and grow his network.  I think I can contact him and let him know that I'm available to do that this summer.  At the very least, I can start attending the weekly meetings and start to make some sales, participate in networking.

So, this week, I am focusing on building the door for opportunity.  As I listened to the audio this morning, one thing that stood out to me was learning to focus on the right opportunities for me.  While I am noticing more and more opportunities around me to earn money, not all of them will work for me.  One example is driving for uber.  I have a friend who turns the uber app on when he runs errands and will pick up a few dollars here and there in his spare time when he is running around.  That isn't going to work for me, since I don't drive, but it may be the right opportunity for someone reading this blog.  For some people driving for uber can be their full time job.  If they get an advertisement on their car, they can maximize the money they earn just from driving around.

Winning the Game of Money is helping me stay positive and gain focus.  Having daily assignments is great for helping me to build consistency in taking action.  While I love the ThinkRightNow behavior modification programs and their price tag, it is easy to give up early on behavior modification because they are lacking daily activities and a facebook group.  I love the EquiSync meditation programs, and meditation is one component of Winning The Game of Money, but it is easy to forget and not create a habit when you haven't invested as much money into it.  So, while it is a bit of an investment, you are more likely to see results because you are investing more time and money into improving yourself.  By the third day, I haven't seen an increase in income, but I have started increasing my activity level in terms of making more money.      

Gaining New Insights and New Ideas

Today is officially day two of my Winning the Game of Money journey.  Although, technically, it is not my first round of Winning the Game  of Money, it is the first time I have been meticulous about documenting my progress and wearing headphones while listening to the meditations.  (I didn't think that was a big deal until I read up on binaural beats and how they are good at creating a deep sense of meditation quickly.)

So, what changes have happened since yesterday?  What does day 2 hold for me?

This week's brain retraining is about finding financial opportunities that are a good fit for you.  This is much more challenging for someone who has epilepsy because there are jobs that are not available to me despite the fact that I am capable of doing them.  Transportation poses a problem especially right now as the D.C. area metrorail has announced that they are going to start shutting down some of the lines this summer for maintenance, so relying on public transportation to get places is not a good idea.  However, I am determined to find more income sources for myself!

My action steps yesterday were to apply for some summertime tutoring positions, so that when my substitute teaching disappears on June 24, I still have some income.  I brainstormed and came up with some marketable skills that I could monetize.  I remembered that the Winning the Game of Money program has an affiliate program.  Everyone who clicks on my link will be cookied to me and I will earn a commission off of the people who purchase the program from me.  It is basically a sales commission.

Here are some of the other ideas for earning money that occurred to me in the last couple of days:

• Monetize my folk's old car with a car wrap ($400/month - this idea came from an email I received.  Although I wouldn't receive the money, I thought I'd share the idea on the blog.)
• Write this blog and attach affiliate links for commission
• Use this blog as a starter for a new book!  Have John Assaraf endorse it, since it promotes his products!
• Tutoring at LearningRx, a company whose mission I love
• Online tutoring
• Telemarketing that I can do from home

Another thing that I did yesterday was to watch the Brain-a-thon that is basically a long sales pitch for John's program.  It actually gave me a ton of insight into what I had done wrong the first time through the program (hadn't fully committed and held back a bit not wanting to let myself down if I failed).  I learned more about how we are programmed for fear.  I identified with some of the guests and experts on his show and was inspired to do more.  I realized that I want to be more.

So, what's on the agenda for today?

• Meditative audio
• Review the weekly video
• Review my goals
• Apply to telemarketing and sales positions on Craigslist
• Write this blog post (check!)
• Brainstorm titles/topics for book

Do I recommend Winning the Game of Money to you?  Well, it definitely is a comprehensive program.  I find that addressing your subconscious through meditation is kind of tricky.  I love the ThinkRightNow programs that work on changing your conscious thoughts first and that starts to change your subconscious thoughts.  However, it is easy to forget about those programs.  They are less expensive and when you spend a bit more money, your commitment level tends to be greater.  I love that Winning the Game of Money has assignments for me to work through.  It forces me to set goals and work through them.  I'm certain that this week, I'll discover a couple great opportunities for myself.

Week 1 in Winning The Game of Money

Today, I started Winning The Game of Money.  The program has a few components.  One of the components is a weekly video to watch along with some assignments.

Throughout the program, John explains that he teaches you to use your conscious and your unconscious brain.  Apparently the unconscious brain is ten times as powerful as the conscious brain.  

In this first video, John explains that you can use your imagination to imagine yourself doing different things.  The first time I went through Winning the Game of Money, I imagined myself becoming an author.  That was quite a journey.  I utilized Alicia Dunam's Bestseller in a Weekend course to write my first book.  The picture on the right is a picture of me after my first book signing.  My books aren't perfect and I need to improve my marketing skills, but I am now an author.

His first video has you start to set some goals for this program.  You are to set goals based on your current beliefs, your current goals, and your current money story.  He encourages you to push outside your current limits.  He encourages you to discover what you truly like to do and what you want to achieve and set goals surrounding that.

For me, I had often been flaky about setting goals, which may be why the first time I went through the Winning The Game of Money program, I didn't make as much money as I had hoped to earn.  However, this time around, I am documenting my progress for my friends and family to see.

The goals that I set in week 1 this time around are quite challenging.  The first goal that I set was to create $10,000 per month in income.  I set a goal to have my finances organized and to be completely financially independent.  The third thing that John asks you to do is create a why.  My big why right now is to be able to travel.  I currently have a plane ticket that I received from being "bumped," but in order to travel, I need to generate some excess income to spend on fun activities.

The program has a video component of John explaining how wealthy people think and do things differently.  It also has a daily meditative audio component to it.  Meditation is a wonderful exercise.  He does a guided hypnosis along with the meditation and uses imagery and positive affirmations.  He tells you that he is training your brain to identify the financial opportunities that are all around you.

Today, I am going to review my books and videos on day trading.  I am going to apply for some part time jobs for this summer when my substitute teaching position ends and I'm going to follow up with the telemarketing position that I applied for last week.  I know that something wonderful is going to come out of this!  I'll keep you posted on how and if my attitude changes, what action steps that I am taking towards my goals, and whether or not I think Winning the Game of Money is worth your time and money!

Is John Assaraf's Winning The Game of Money effective in helping people generate new income??

John Assaraf was featured on The Secret.  He has a few expensive programs out there that make a lot of promises, but do they deliver?  I'd like to take you on a journey through one of his programs and let you know my own personal results.

I purchased John Assaraf's Winning the Game of Money in 2014.  I listened to the audios diligently for 90 days.  My attitude towards money did change.  I started to notice different methods of creating income.  I started to feel more free to invest in myself and I did.  However, I wasn't diligent with some of the assignments in the program the first time around and have decided to go through it again, documenting my progress along the way for other people's benefit.  I will add my affiliate link in case you decide that this is something that will benefit you, but I want to be completely transparent about the efficacy.

Let me be 100% honest and clear.  I have been routinely meditating and listening to other self-help tapes in addition to Winning The Game of Money.  However, currently I still am simply working as a substitute teacher.  This is a position that I enjoy and feel successful doing after having a horrible first few years as a Special Education teacher.  

Since I suffer an occasional seizure here and there, I follow the state laws and don't drive.  This limits my employment choices.  This is going to demand more creativity from me in following the Winning the Game of Money program.