Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

Champions have unquestionable integrity

I made a Thanksgiving Resolution this year—that I would not only make Thanksgiving a Holiday in my life, but a ritual!  Thanksgiving has a very special place in my heart for three reasons: it was exactly five years ago when I was first presented the Mary Kay marketing plan, Thanksgiving was actually Mary Kay Ash’s favorite holiday and sadly, it was nine years ago that Mary Kay passed away on Thanksgiving.  I remember learning about Mary Kay Ash and the unbelievable woman she was.  So it’s with thankful heart that I share with you some general thoughts about one of Mary Kay’s most admirable virtues: integrity.

I regret that, in starting my business when I did, I never had the chance to actually meet Mary Kay in person.  I feel a significant sense of responsibility to give my guts carrying on her legacy.  From reading her books, to flying around the country to get trained by people that were close to her, I do my best to soak up all of May Kay’s pearls of wisdom.  Whatever the topic, faith, family, business, leadership, intuition, humor, attitude, appearance, self-confidence, Mary Kay always operated her life around the concept of honesty and integrity, and like most great business leaders, she founded her company with those two virtues as her cornerstones.  Though I will never see her in person, I’m thankful that I found this company that she founded with such admirable principles, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, nine years after her death, I thought it would be appropriate to honor Mary Kay by sharing some general thoughts and principles from Mary Kay herself.

*Mary Kay’s words are in bold

Integrity-

We live in a difficult time of eroding morals and values.  It is critical that our morals and values remain sincere…that we can look in any mirror and be proud of what we become.  I believe in the value of integrity.  Integrity is less about what we achieve and more about who we are and how we’ve achieved.  While striving for success, we must feel good about ourselves.  Integrity is the ingredient that will enable you to forge rapidly ahead on the highway that leads to success.  It seems obvious that questionable character and dishonesty will inhibit success, but it rarely gets spelled out that honesty and integrity come back to you and will propel you forward in all endeavors.  Integrity advertises you as being an individual who will always come through.  Whatever you say you will do. . . do it, even if you have to move heaven and earth.  Our commitment to our core principles must be unwavering.  In the same way, Mary Kay’s commitment to honesty and integrity was unwavering.

Integrity is the calling card we leave behind when we are gone.  It is the one trait our customers remember most often when they think of us.  When they believe in us, they believe in our product.  And when they believe in our product, they guarantee our success.

It is my heartfelt wish that everyone who has anything to do with Mary Kay Inc. is somehow better for it, not only financially but spiritually and every other way.  Our Company was founded with the highest of ideals.  It was to be a company that would operate on the premise of the Golden Rule, that honesty and integrity would be our cornerstones.

The Golden Rule-

I will say again that our company was built on the foundation of the Golden Rule because I think it is worth repeating.  I hope that you will keep that Golden Rule bright and shiny, and that and our philosophy of “God first, family second, and career third” has made our Company different from every other company in the world.  These ideals are an appropriate guiding light to help stretch ourselves and ensure our hearts and priorities remain in the right place.

Make every decision based on the Golden Rule, putting themselves in the other person’s shoes.  I guarantee you that it works.  Remember that you can never obtain riches until you begin to enrich the lives of others.  All you send into the lives of others comes back into your own.  If you give the very best you have in whatever you do, the best will come back to you in a boomerang effect.

Faith-

I sincerely believe that faith is an important part in anything we undertake.  We can indeed do great things when we believe in a higher cause or calling.  I believe I can accomplish anything through God.  Everyone has obstacles to overcome; faith does not eliminate our obstacles or prevent future ones.  It is our faith though, that will help us conquer those obstacles.  Faith instead gives us a sense of what’s important and it is through our faith that we are reminded that we are never alone as we seek to overcome obstacles and pursue success.   I believe with God’s help, every woman can find a way to bring balance into their lives.

Family-

I’ve shared in previous blogs how important I think the notion of legacy is; I think our legacy is inseperably associated with our family lives because our family is both a reflection of us and we a reflection of our family.  Mary Kay understood the importance of a woman’s family to her business success and the importance of a strong woman to the success of her family.  When children know their mothers believe in them, they develop self-confidence.  On the other hand, if a parent repeatedly tells a child that he’s shy, he’s stupid, he’s mean or he’s going to grow up to be a bank robber, he’ll probably develop that quality or bring that vision to pass.  Everything has its time and place, and when your time and place are with your family, you must be able to detach yourself from your business.

Leadership-

The best executives in every industry understand that the speed of the leader is the speed of the gang. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “What you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.”  In other words, how you live you life, the image you project, the example you set, speaks so loudly that if it’s not in harmony with what you are telling people, what you’re saying will just never be believed.

We need leaders who add value to the people and the organization they lead; who work for the benefit of others and not just for their own persona gain; who inspire and motivate rather than intimidate and manipulate; who live with people to know their problems and live with God in order to solve them; and who follow a moral compass that points in the right direction regardless of the trends.

When I meet someone, I imagine her wearing an invisible sign that says, “Make me feel important.” The value of this is one of the most important lessons in dealing with people I have ever learned.

Work-

I read an article recently that stated the characteristic that separated the achievers from others is that they had a passion for their profession.  They loved what they were doing, and they showed that in their every action.  When you do something with your whole being, simply because you love to do it, you experience life as it should be lived.

I firmly believe that the happiest people are not the ones with the most money but the ones who truly enjoy their business.  For me, work is a thrill.  Even today, I get up at five every morning and start on my list of the “six most important things I must do today.”  I love the sense of accomplishment that I feel when the list is completed.  I have often said that I enjoy what I do so much that I would work for nothing!

Service-

If there were a single term that could capture the element that sets top performers apart, it would probably be customer focus.  They make customer needs their goals.  In direct sales, probably more than any other business, customer focus is truly the key.  It’s the real test of service, and service is the real heart of our business.  Ours is a business where selling results from a truly personal one-on-one relationship=a friendship.

Success requires competition, but a successful salesperson knows that the competition is not with someone else  It is with herself.  It is a quick start in the morning when it would feel good to lie in bed another hour.  In short, success is the result of a lot of hard work.  It’s forming the attitudes and habits of a successful salesperson and paying the price that makes you a winner.

The most important mile in our business walk is the “extra-mile,” the one called service.  It sometimes takes the time we don’t think we have.  But we always do.  It sometimes means going out of our way.  But helping someone else along the way, helps us on our journey to the top.

Focus-

In every occupation, focus is vital.   A woman at work must be able to leave her personal problems at home.  She should ignore distracting thoughts about the malfunctioning furnace or even the argument she had with her husband the night before.  What she can’t fix while she’s at the office must be put on hold until it can be fixed.  Like a fine athlete, she must focus with intensity so she can perform at her peak level.

I thank God every day for putting this opportunity in my life.  It is said that a truly happy person is someone who never quite reaches the rainbow’s end.  Mary Kay enjoyed so much during her lifetime—probably far more than she ever dreamt possible.  Still, she found it difficult to wait for the sun to come up on each new day.

When we live a life of integrity, thank God for giving us such happiness, we will enjoy every ounce of beauty our rainbow has to offer!

Make today a MEGGA Masterpiece!

Follow Your Heart,

Love and Courage,

Ms. Marni

 

Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

When we gain control of our emotions, we will gain control of our paycheck!

Next month, I will be celebrating my five year Anniversary with Mary Kay, Inc!  Not only is this a milestone in the life of Ms. Marni because of the fact that this is the longest job I’ve ever held in my life (smile!) but also I am filled with such gratitude when I think about how much this company has changed my life inside and out.  After six months of being in the business, when our team became its own unit, we came up with our mission statement:

We are a group of Professional, Dynamic, Million-Dollar Minded, MEGGA Leaders who are Independently Successful, Financially Stable, Emotionally Healthy, and Physically Fit Champions.  We knew that we wanted to not only be “Butt-kicking” businesswomen, but we wanted to be “Butt-kicking” in every area of our lives.  We spend a lot of time focusing on Emotional Health because the truth of the matter is that especially as women, we can be emotional beasts!  However, when we are able to gain control of our emotions, we will gain control of our paycheck!

Yesterday, Brian handed me an article he had cut out of the Green Bay Press Gazette that I found very interesting.  Thank you, Steve Van Remortel for stretching our thinking!

Increase emotional intelligence to build team

Let’s say you are hiring an employee, manager or partner. Would you want them to have higher intelligence quotient (IQ) or higher emotional quotient (EQ)? Through a thorough hiring process using assessments, you determine one of your final two candidates is technically very strong but occasionally loses his cool. Your other top candidate is not as technically strong but is very level headed, especially under pressure. Which candidate do you hire?

In today’s business world, it is imperative that we understand the differences between IQ and EQ.

When it comes to the workplace, we know that IQ is a measure of an employee’s intelligence that allows him or her to understand, interpret and implement that knowledge or intelligence within the organization. EQ is different, because instead of measuring your general intelligence, it measures your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power of emotions (yours and others) to facilitate high levels of collaboration and productivity in the workplace.

Understanding someone’s emotional intelligence has become a valuable part of SM Advisors’ hiring process as well as part of our leadership, team and individual development programs. We focus on five areas of EQ, both in intrapersonal intelligence (understanding oneself) and interpersonal intelligence (ability to understand others).

Intrapersonal EQ areas include:

Charitable Abundance

I took the opportunity to join Marni at Seminar in Dallas again this year.  I’ve written before that Seminar is truly an amazing experience for countless reasons, and I will not be able to do it justice in a few hundred words.  Simply put it is something you have to see to believe.  Neither Marni nor Mary Kay have solicited my ringing endorsement, but I nevertheless must say that it is something everyone associated with the company must experience, regardless of position, tenure, or goals in their business.  I will also say that for spouses, seminar is a must see if anyone wants to fully understand the depths of their wife’s passion, motivation, and ambition for Mary Kay.  Yes, I was blown away by seminar for all the same reasons I had been the two previous times I attended: the amazing top director success stories, the poise and confidence of the National Sales Directors, the rock-concert energy of the performances, the glamour of Awards Night, the charisma and professionalism of the company executives and corporate staff, and the sheer earning potential the Mary Kay opportunity provides.  This year I was also struck by something different. The new experience that blew me away at this year’s seminar was the commitment to positively impacting the lives of others that so many people involved with Mary Kay share.  Of course many Mary Kay directors and consultants are committed to positively impacting the lives of others by “sharing the Mary Kay opportunity” with other women, and the business itself does positively impact the lives of others.  However, what really blew me away this year was the commitment so many in Mary Kay have to positively impacting the lives of people who have nothing to do with their business.  Marni made an interesting point while teaching on Tuesday (a speech she hit out of the park by the way!).  Marni said “the way people do one thing in life, is the way they do all things.”  Her belief is that someone who wants to be great at any one aspect of their life should commit to greatness in all areas of their life because success is a habit; unfortunately, so is failure.  Getting back on point though, I was amazed at some of the ways members of the Mary Kay community had selflessly reached out and touched the lives of others.

Like many large corporations Mary Kay the company has a number of charitable outlets through which they give back to the community.  There is the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation which is the company’s flagship outreach program; an organization committed to finding cures for cancers that affect women and fighting domestic violence.  Amazingly, the Diamond Seminar alone, one of five seminar groups, raised more than $85,000 in just a few short days of fundraising for the Foundation.  While it was more than any other seminar, it was still only a portion of what was raised by the independent sales force as a whole.  Additionally, Mary Kay teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to build almost a dozen homes nationwide, one of which was being constructed by consultants right in front of the Dallas Convention Center during Seminar.  Of course, there is the Mary Kay Go-Give Award too, which recognizes special women who stand for the true moral value of the company leading lives committed to constant service to others through their business with a special focus on the Golden Rule.  The real “Aha” moment for me though was when I started to realize how much of their personal income many of these women commit to causes outside their personal interests.  The top National Sales Director at this year’s Diamond Seminar was a woman named Barbara Sundin.  On top of her commission for the year, thousands of dollars in jewelry earned, trips all over the world, and millions of dollars in past commission, Barbara was awarded a huge cash bonus of $50,000.  When President and COO of U.S. Sales, Darrel Overcash asked her what she did with her bonus Barbara said that her and her husband made a practical decision and paid their house off.  Additionally, through her church, she donated the remainder of her bonus to a transitional house for unexpected mothers without the means to support themselves or their future child.  The program helps women keep their children by offering the new mothers a place to live for up to a year with their child where they can be educated on what it will take to build a life for their new child.  It costs $15,000 to offer this opportunity to a single woman.  Barbara and her husband decided to completely sponsor two women through this program with her remaining bonus money.  That is $30,000 of her personal income that she donated to this organization!

It was at that point when I realized that Mary Kay is not only offering these women the opportunity to create wealth for themselves, but with that money, many of these women are supporting worthy causes bigger than themselves all over the world.  Wealth is one of those things that people don’t always know what to feel about it.  People are often made to feel guilty for aspiring to earn large amounts of personal wealth.  We hear things like, “no one needs to have that much money” or “money is the root of all evil.”  The truth is that money doesn’t create evil, people do.  Wealth is what you make of it; it can be horded and self-serving or tremendously altruistic and charitable.  Wealth is as good or bad as the people who earn it.  I’ve heard Marni refer to “pursuing a life of abundance.”  Abundance is a pleasant euphemism for being wealthy, and the truth is that Mary Kay offers thousands of women the opportunity to pursue lives of abundance.  What I realized at seminar this year is that with that financial abundance thousands of women are creating a tremendous amount of charitable abundance for people they don’t even know all over the world.

Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

Champions focus on maximizing their strengths, not protecting their weakness

One of my favorite questions that I often get asked is, “What was your degree in?”  The answer-Business!  One would think I just had my whole life planned out going into college!  The truth of the matter is, I picked business because I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do.  My older brother Scott told me a business degree would give me a good background.  In high school I really enjoyed Spanish so my original plan was to be an IBLAS major (International Business Language Area Study with an emphasis in Spanish) but decided to just go with general business.  Although I wish I would have stayed with Spanish because I just returned from a fabulous vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and caught my vision that I do want to learn to speak Spanish fluently!

After I share that my major was business, people frequently come to the conclusion that having a business degree helped me build my business.  I’ll be honest though, that is NOT the case!  College taught me exceptional time management skills.  At times I was juggling a lot of balls in the air: school, soccer, my friends and family, and a handful of part-time jobs.  College forced me to prioritize my time wisely, but my degree did not guarantee any success beyond school.  I will share, though, the biggest concept I remember learning about in one of my business classes is a concept called “Gaining a Competitive Advantage.”

Having a competitive edge means possessing an advantage over your competition.  A competitive advantage is what distinguishes your company.  It is your uniqueness, something you do better than anyone else, and it will often define your company’s success.  Having a competitive edge does not take the luck of the Irish, but rather some solid strategic planning.

What if we took that same concept and applied it to our lives?  What can we make our competitive advantage?  Stop yourself right there though. . . when we look at this question our natural response it to seek a competitive advantage over other people.  One of the best lessons I’ve learned is that in life, we cannot compare ourselves with others.  When we compare ourselves, we are comparing someone else’s strength to our weakness so we are setting ourselves up to fail or lose!  What if we put our blinders on and didn’t think about others for a moment?   Instead of viewing other people as our competitors, let’s try to find a competitive advantage over something else we compete against. . . Mediocrity.

Literally the first stage of evaluating an organization is a tool called a SWOT analysis.  SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.  Businesses can use a SWOT analysis to measure up the competition, themselves, or plan growth, but it is also something I try to do for myself as an overall person.    It helps me distinguish between where I am today and where I could be in the future!

Identifying your strengths and building your life based on them are essential keys for success.

You will excel only by maximizing your strengths, not by fixing your weaknesses.  Instead capitalize on your strengths, and manage around your weaknesses.  Our strengths are our competitive advantage; our ability to identify and capitalize upon them will define our success.  Managing our weaknesses will free us up to devote more time to further honing our strengths to a sharper point.  The bottom line in promoting your personal growth is this:  identify what you do best, and do more of it!  Identify what you do worst and stop doing it!  I remember being taught to devote twenty percent of my energy to minimize the impact of my weaknesses, but use the other eighty percent to build my strengths so much that my limitations become irrelevant.  A lot of people have trouble identifying their strengths, and it does take time for people to get to know themselves.  During the last SWOT analysis I conducted for myself, I asked myself the following questions:

1.  What do I like to talk about without stopping?

2.  Do I get excited most about people, ideas, or things?

3.  What do I enjoy about the things I do today?

4.  Who can I find who does things that may interest me?

5.  Who will be my future mentors?

Let’s make the commitment to keep our focus on developing our areas of real passion–and if we surround ourselves with positive people who will help us develop that passion–good things will follow!  The truth of the matter is that we all have weaknesses!  We can’t ignore our weaknesses.  I’m not suggesting anyone do that, but our natural areas of weakness will never carry us to magnificence.  We will never be happy doing the things we don’t do very well.  Unfortunately, the marketplace (aka LIFE!) will never reward us for doing those things either.  Instead seek out your competitive edge and maximize it!

Bam!!!  Our War vs. our competition, Mediocrity has begun!

Follow Your Heart,

Love and Courage,

Ms. Marni

Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

Champions are motivated by their dreams and take action in their daily routine

Picture your life with the end in mind. What do you want to accomplish? What will you take most pride in? Who is by your side? Do you want a particular career achievement? Will you make a difference in someone’s life? Do you aspire to create beauty in the world? Will you lead by example?

Thinking about these questions shapes our dreams.  Did you know that 98% of people do not set goals and don’t have dreams?  Did you also know that 98% of people are not where they want to be in their lives?  Therefore, those that set goals and have dreams tend to get what they are looking for.  Better said, you can’t find something if you don’t know what you are looking for. 

On July 1st, 2010, at the beginning of our MK Year (Our fiscal year runs from July 1st-June 30th …and we love it!  We get to celebrate a “New Year” twice a year!) I knew that I had some big goals that I wanted to accomplish in different areas of my life: our unit set the goal of building a Million Dollar Unit, our unit started organizing a MK 5K Walk/Run with a goal of raising $20,000 for the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, I wanted to continue to train toward an Ironman in 2011 and I wanted to deepen my focus on Faith and Family.  I knew that the only way I could even come close to accomplishing any of these goals is to break them down into three keys:

1. Begin with the End in Mind
2. Laser Focus
3. Consistent Action, Day In and Day Out

Dreaming is well and good, but the world is full of wonderful dreamers who go nowhere.  Dreams and goals are necessary for our success and we must begin with that end in mind.  However, our success will ultimately be determined by our ability to strive toward those dreams daily. My husband reminds me often of a lesson from John Maxwell that successful people make big decisions early in life and manage those decisions daily for the rest of their lives.   The saying is, “Success is hidden in our daily routine.”  My personal secret to staying “laser focused” and putting forth “consistent action” day in and day out is my Daily Planner I use.  Watch for a future blog with more details about finding a Daily Planner that works for you!

Multiple times every day, ask yourself, “Is what I am doing and the way I am thinking right now getting me closer to where I want to go?”  One way to keep this thought in your mind is to pretend that someone you admire will come to your house and spend one day with you.  For me, this person would be John Maxwell.  If they got up with you in the morning and went through the day with you, watching you for twenty-four hours, they could tell what direction your life is headed in and whether or not you are going to be successful. 

I have to be honest.  When I think of this, part of me wants to get defensive.  In my heart though, I know it’s true because the secret of my success is determined by my daily agenda.  If I make a few key decisions and then mange them well in my daily agenda, I will succeed—and when I forget this, Brian is quick to remind me! J 

The truth of the matter is that we will never change our life until we change something daily.  Success doesn’t just suddenly occur one day in someone’s life.  For that matter, neither does failure!  Each is a process!  Every day of our life is merely preparation for the next.  Success today helps you prepare for success tomorrow, or acceptance of failure today will make you more comfortable with failure tomorrow.  If there is ever a time I feel myself slipping in my daily agenda, I read the following by John Maxwell: 

Just For Today…

Just For Today…I will choose and display the right attitudes.  Today’s attitude gives me possibilities. 

Just For Today…I will determine and act on important priorities.  Today’s priorities give me focus. 

Just For Today…I will know and follow healthy guidelines.  Today’s health gives me strength. 

Just For Today…I will communicate with and care for my family.  Today’s family gives me stability. 

Just For Today…I will practice and develop good thinking.  Today’s thinking gives me advantage. 

Just For Today…I will make and keep proper commitments.  Today’s commitment gives me tenacity. 

Just For Today…I will earn and properly manage finances.  Today’s finances give me options. 

Just For Today…I will deepen and live out my faith.  Today’s faith gives me peace. 

Just For Today…I will initiate and invest in solid relationships.  Today’s relationships give me fulfillment. 

Just For Today…I will plan for and model generosity.  Today’s generosity gives me significance. 

Just For Today…I will embrace and practice good values.  Today’s value gives me direction. 

Just For Today…I will seek and experience improvements.  Today’s growth gives me potential. 

Just For Today…I will act on these decisions.  Practicing these disciplines will make today a masterpiece.

Then One Day…I will see the compounding results of a day lived well. 

Begin with the end in mind and then start walking! 

Have a magnificent day! 

Follow Your Heart,

Love and Courage,

Ms. Marni

Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

Champions have champion mentors

This may be one of my favorite topics yet because it is something that I feel very strongly about!!!  Being today is Wednesday, I hope this blog can offer you as much if not more inspiration midweek as it does to start your week off!  On Monday morning, I was in Madison, WI standing in line to officially register for the Wisconsin Ironman in 2011.  I felt eager to take on this challenge I’ve set for myself, and I believe a big part of the reason why I felt little fear was because I had one of my mentors right by my side registering for the Ironman along with me!

As long as I’ve been on this earth I’ve been blessed to have champion mentors.  I am the youngest of five children, so growing up I had not only my parents mentoring me but I had my four older siblings mentoring me as well.  It is said that smart people learn from their own mistakes, where as wise people learn from other people’s mistakes.  My entire life I’ve been able to watch and learn from my siblings as they’ve made great and not so great choices, and I know watching them has helped shape the person I’ve become!  Ultimately that’s what we need mentors for.  Mentors are our advisors, our guides through life.  They are tutors, teachers, gurus and silent examples.  We use the term “role model” a lot when we are talking children, but role models are relevant to everyone, regardless of their stage in life.  Role models or mentors are influencers, nothing more, nothing less.  We need to be conscious of who influences us because at the end of the day, we will either be better or worse as a result of our circle of influence; we will be better or worse as a result of our mentors.  The best way for us to improve the person we are and become the person God meant us to be, as it relates to mentors, is to do three things: identify the person you want to become, find someone who exemplifies that quality – a role model, then learn from them by applying their example to your own life.

I’m blessed with a family full of mentors, each of which I can thank for teaching me something valuable and unique.

When I think about my parents and how they mentored me, I think about my dad being a total cheerleader for me on the soccer field and basketball court.  He stretched me to be the best student-athlete I could be.  He would drive me to school every day and the last thing he would say to me was, “learn something new today.”  I still replay those words in my mind every day and will never lose my eagerness to learn and grow.  My dad taught me to be a strong, hard working person.  He taught me that there’s no substitute for hard work.

My mom taught me to care for others.  She taught me patience, understanding, and unconditional love. My mom has an absolute heart of gold.  Her unconditional and absolute devotion to our family has shown me both the importance of family and the power of commitment.  The world would be infinitely better if everyone filled their hearts with as much love as my mom.

My oldest brother Chad, like my mom, has a gentle soul.  Chad has taught me to broaden my thoughts and look at the whole picture.  I view Chad as the picture of control.  He has mentored me to always control my thoughts and emotions and never loose my temper or become too frustrated.

My brother Scott was my first coach.  He mentored me with words and direction by telling me to practice juggling a soccer ball or run sprints when I didn’t want to.  More importantly he mentored me by example, never being scared to stretch into something new.  Even today Scott spares no one’s feelings to tell them how it is and always asks me to get better.

My sister Melissa has a wonderful sense of humor.  She has taught me to always smile, laugh, and make the most out of every situation.  She is the one who taught me to be crazy…in a good way I hope.  My sister and I love to smile, scream, and have fun!

My brother Bob is cool, calm, and sometimes even collected.  I learned from him to never sweat the small stuff.  Bob taught me to chill out.  Life is less enjoyable when you’re stressed and Bob has mentored me to relax and enjoy life.

Still today, my family guides me.  In the same way my family has lead me to be the person I am today, I try to find mentors in other areas of my life to teach me to be a better professional, leader, athlete, etc.  I am so blessed to have exceptional mentors in every area of my life.  I do my best to be mentored in all 8 areas of my life.  Some of my mentors are people I’ve known forever, like my family, others I only know vaguely but learn from by observing, still others are authors who will never even know my name, and that’s okay!  They too have helped me grow as a person, even though they will never know.

In my business I have countless mentors; too many to list.  Women who are strong and professional; women who choose to make the world better by filling it with joy and a commitment to the golden rule and the undying belief that women can and should achieve their dreams. In the same way, I’m blessed with amazing role models mentoring me in my pursuit of Ironman.  Again, at the risk of leaving someone out, I’m going to abstain from naming individuals, but I will say that I have crossed paths with incredible people at my gym.  I have been so inspired to stay committed to my fitness goals, despite all the obstacles and setbacks.  Many of these mentors also keep me humble when I see what they’ve done to accomplish their goals.

I don’t mean to be vague because I do have some very specific and special mentors, but who they are specifically is not as important as the direction they give me.  I challenge everyone to decide where you want to go, choose someone who is already there or on their way, and then learn from them; learn from your mentors’ strengths and their weaknesses.  Learn to be the best you can be by learning from the example of others.

I hope that I can be a champion mentor to other people in my life someday just as I’ve been blessed to have champion mentors!  I believe the first step toward becoming a champion mentor to others is to become a champion student!  The best teachers are the best students!  “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”  Make your decision that you are ready to be mentored to the next level in every area of your lives and your mentors will appear!

Happy Hump Day!

Follow Your Heart,

Love and Courage,

Ms. Marni

I’ve been blessed with amazing mentors since the day I was born!

Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

Champions know that the risk of victory is worth more than the disappointment of failure

There is a common misconception that taking risks is … well, risky. In thinking about this topic this week, I am convinced that taking risks is no more risky than playing it safe.  Maintaining the status quo will surely lead to a mediocre life, while taking risks will lead to a life of magnificence!  In fact, often by failing to innovate, make changes and move forward in different areas of our lives, we open ourselves up to the possibility of stagnation and falling behind.  Life demands that we take risks. Not all the time. Not in every situation, but where we need to see change, growth and movement. Often it is the most prudent thing we can do.

When we choose to take a risk in some area of our life, we do so anticipating a positive outcome from this decision. We do not know for certain what the outcome will be, but we take a chance weighing all options. Let’s be honest with ourselves, every decision we make has its risks. Even the decision to do nothing has its risks. Often we don’t make changes in our life because we are satisfied with what is happening. Why change, we reason, when things are fine? It’s a valid point. Even people who are unhappy with their life situation often resist change. Change happens everywhere, with everyone and everything. Nothing is staying the same. Our health, our career, our finances, our friends, our children, our parents, our opportunities, our interests, even our thoughts, fears, desires and beliefs are all changing. But what if we make a mistake by taking a risk, we wonder?

When I was younger I was really competitive in sports, especially soccer. I distinctly remember my soccer coaches telling our teams, “Don’t worry about making mistakes. Just give all you’ve got. If you’re going to make a mistake, make it going 100 miles an hour.” That idea has always stuck with me. In sports and in life we are bound to make some mistakes. My coaches knew that, but they also knew that if we were afraid to make mistakes we would hesitate and get beat regardless. The goal of coach’s advice isn’t to prevent mistakes; mistakes are inevitable. The goal is to prevent hesitation. In life and in sports we can’t hesitate; we can’t be afraid to make mistakes.

“What happens if we make a mistake?” It doesn’t matter. We are going to make mistakes. We’ve got to be willing to play the game anyway. Champions aren’t great because they don’t make mistakes; when champions take risks some turn out bad just like everyone else. What makes champions great is the fact that they don’t hesitate when it counts; champions don’t hesitate because they are unafraid to take the risk. At the end of the day we will all make mistakes whether they are on the soccer field, in business or in our relationships. We cannot let these mistakes prevent us from continuing to try new things, evolve and take risks. We cannot get caught up in what could happen. If we spend too much time analyzing all of the potential negative outcomes of each decision we face we will become paralyzed; we will have paralysis by analysis. My soccer coach knew that if we hesitate on the soccer field the game will pass us by; the same is true of life, if we hesitate or become scared to take risks our lives will pass us by.

This is without a doubt an idea  that Mary Kay Ash understood and lived.  She always said,

“There are four kinds of people in this world:

* those who make things happen
* those who watch things happen
* those who wonder what happened
* those who don’t know that anything happened!

I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be first on that list. The world is full of people who are very quick to dream and very slow to act. Often it’s because they have failed to break big goals into manageable goals, but more often, it is a fear of failure. Many people are so afraid of failure, that they never try anything. I believe that the only difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is extraordinary determination.”

Champions make mistakes like everyone else, but they continue to risk anyway. Champions know that the joy of victory and achievement far outweigh the disappointment of failure.

Play hard, make mistakes, and become a champion!

Follow Your Heart,

Love and Courage,

Ms. Marni

Manifesting MEGGA Miracles:

Movin’ From Mediocre to Magnificent on Monday Mornings with Marni

Champions know the rules of the game and are willing to play better within them

To be a champion we must commit to becoming the best.  A champion is a person who “is first among all contestants or competitors.”  A champion in a contest is the best of all the contestants.  A champion in sports has defeated all of their competitors.  When you look at how champions become the best it is pretty clear that it takes a lot of work.   Regardless of what endeavor the person has become a champion of it is not an accident; the championship took a great deal of work, reflection and commitment.  Champions are first and foremost students of their games; “champions know the rules.”  Additionally, champions need the skills necessary to succeed.  Not only do champions need to “know the rules of the game” but they need to master the skills necessary “to play better within them.”  Knowing the rules of the game can be pretty simple.  We can pick up a book and learn the rules of most sports within a few hours.  Mastery of the rules and skills necessary to be a champion, however, takes years of great commitment to achieve.  Being football season, let’s use football as an example.  Millions of Americans know the rules of football very thoroughly, and if they don’t, there is no shortage of resources available.  When the New Orleans Saints became Super Bowl Champions last year they didn’t learn the rules of the game within a few hours of kickoff though.  Instead their success was the result of lifetimes of study of the game and practice at the skills necessary for victory.  Additionally, it isn’t enough to simply be the best at something; we need to be willing to play within the rules of the game as well.  Playing within the rules is something often overlooked and is increasingly difficult.  The “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying” mentality has become pervasive in American culture.  To extend on our football analogy though, it wasn’t good enough for the New Orleans Saints to be the best team in the NFL; instead they had to be the best team within the rules of the game and the league.  If they had players who had tested positive for certain drugs as other players in the league did, they would not be champions today.  They had to be willing to be the best within the rules of the game in order to become champions.

Rules and skills are often clear and definable in sports.  In fact, in sports we usually have leagues, coaches, and officials to agree upon the rules of the game and help us stay within them.  As a part of the rules of the game, it isn’t usually difficult to define a championship in sports; you simply beat all your opponents.  We want to become champions in life though; how does one define “champion” in the game of life?  In life the championships are often more personal and implicit than in sports.  While some rules and skills of the game are universal in life, others will depend on the specific area of your life you seek to master.  Finally, in life the competition and opponents are very obscure.  All that being said, I think we can define a champion in life.  A champion in life is someone earning success in their life through continuous learning, mastery of life skills, and an undying commitment to overcoming all obstacles.

I will never forget a turning point I had a year and a half ago.  It was January 1st, 2008 and I had been reflecting on the year prior and was setting new bigger and better goals for my business.  I remember just having the feeling and realizing that I knew I was created for so much more.  As I was reflecting, I remember literally feeling suffocated in a blanket of mediocrity!  Have you ever felt that way?  My business was great, but what I found was that my frustrations had absolutely nothing to do with my business.   What I found was that my frustrations boiled down to a lack of life skills.  What do I mean by “life skills?”  I mean the proper tools to be able to navigate through the road bumps of life, the proper tools to be able to decide where I wanted to go as opposed to just accepting whatever I was given.

One of my mentors taught me that the first step in gaining these skills is first of all, identifying that we are missing these skills.  I needed to know the game.  Then, we need to have the hunger to develop them.  Have you ever watched or studied a successful person?  You may have been watching them from afar, or you may have been able to watch them up close, but you find yourself sitting back and looking at them thinking, “Man!  They sure just seem to have it all together!  They have the it factor!”  You can’t put your finger on it.  You can’t define it.  There is something about these people that separates them from the pack, draws other people to them, and there’s something about them that allows them to make a difference in the world around them.  I remember very clearly when I had the realization that in order to get where they were going I was going to have to change a lot of things about who I was.  I am not saying that we have to become someone else to live our dream life, but we do have to stop settling for status quo and expecting magnificence in our own life!

I realized that the way we do anything in life is the way we do everything in life.  I know I’ve shared this before, but I divided my life into 8 different areas and set goals in each of those areas: Spiritual Life, Family life, professional life, personal development, physical health, financial health, social life, and community involvement. Our lives tend to be so intertwined (especially as women, because we are emotional beasts!) and if one of these areas is not where it needs to be, it can hold other areas of our lives back.   I think we would all agree that all of us want to feel fulfilled in every area of our lives whether it may be giving back to the community, achieving our own personal accomplishments, stretching ourselves, or being willing to learn and grow on a constant basis.

The difference between being a champion in life and simply being a participant or even a spectator is a commitment to learning the rules of success for each of life’s areas and becoming a master of each of them.  As I said earlier, some rules for success are universal; they will aid in your success in an area of life.  Some of these universal rules or skills that I committed to include: time management, money management, attitude management, emotional management, becoming strategically minded, communication skills, presentation skills, and leadership skills.  The rest of the rules of your game will depend on your specific circumstances.  The rules or skills necessary to be a champion of your Spiritual Life will depend on your specific beliefs.  The rules specific to your Family Life will depend on how you define family.  The rules of your Professional Life will depend on your profession, and so on.

By saying that I had this epiphany in 2008, it would be easy to misinterpret me as implying that I have accomplished something.  While I have identified some of the skills I need for success, I am at times as far away from achieving them as I have ever been.  Each day brings its own obstacles and unique challenges!  The championship in life is like most good mission statements in that it is never really attainable.  We will never reach perfection in life; instead, the reward is the person we become while challenging ourselves to pursue the championship.  My challenge for you is not to achieve a championship in life; it is to identify what skills and rules you need to play by and then set out on your journey to be the best you you can be at them!

Wishing you a Magnificent Week!

Follow Your Heart,

Love and Courage,

Ms. Marni