2008 Will Be GREAT!!!

That is the attitude I'm taking into the New Year.  I know, I know...everyone starts out the year like this while some, if not most, slowly start to fade away.  Not me.  Not this year.

This is the year that I get my life back, both personally and professionally.

Let's start with the personal side.  When I graduated from high school almost 14 years ago, I was extremely outgoing and got along with almost everyone I met.  Even while in school, even though I wasn't the best student in the world, I always had a gift for making people laugh.  Something happened though.  I don't want ot say I lost that gift, but I've misplaced somewhere.

I've gone through a lot of tough times over the past decade and a half, most of them self induced.  I made a lot of poor decisions and really made my life a walking disaster.  Part of that was gaining a lot of weight.  Over the last 14 years I've put on more than 140 lbs.  That's ten lbs every year for all you math people!

I think that slowly, pound by pound, my self-confidence was dying.  I was, and still am to an extent, very self-conscious about my appearance and how others view me.  My mother and I were talking and she was telling me about a show she saw (I can't remember which show or which station) where they actually did a study and found out that people do discriminate against obesity.  It is an unfortunate fact if true (I believe it is).  I always thought people looked at me with disgust and I think it has affected my attitude towards everything in my life, including my real estate career.  I noticed that only rarely did I speak up in a crowd and I hardly ever made it a point to go out of my way to talk to someone or make someone laugh.  As a matter of fact, there are times in my life that I avoid phone calls because I shut down from the rest of the world.  NO MORE!!!

My mother and I started weight watchers last week and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.  I can't wait to start regaining control of my life instead of being pushed around by own insecurities.  As a matter of fact, I'm extremely upset that it took me this long to figure this out.  I can't believe it took me this long to get started.  What was I thinking?  Oh well, can't dwell on the past, only focus on the present and plan for the future.

One the main reasons I'm so excited is because I truly believe it will give me a new attitude and a new outlook on life.  With that attitude and that outlook I know I can accomplish great things in this business.  It's already started with just an attitude adjustment.  If everything I have pending closes on time, I'll have earned 75% of what I earned in all of 2007 by March 1st.  That's crazy!

I know I kind of rambled on a bit with this post, but if you take anything away from it, take this.  It is never too late to start to improve your life physically, mentally or financially.  If you try and don't make it, DO IT AGAIN.

I'm going to leave you with some of my favorite quotes that I look at everyday to help keep me focused on what I need to do to attain my goals.

"Failure is an event, not a person.  Yesterday ended last night."  Zig Ziglar

"Strength does not come from physical capacity, it comes from an indomitable will."  Mahatma Ghandi

and lastly

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."  Michael Jordan