Puff the Magic Dragon…

…lives by the sea; and so do most of the assholes that try to sell you get rich quick schemes, wealth without effort, manifesting secrets etc, etc, etc.

They live in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and San Diego. Some live in the mountains and lush desert resorts, but you get the point. All I'm saying is that if they're living the high life it's probably due to much more than just wishing, and hoping, and manifesting, and positive thinking. Once in a while someone wins the lottery, but most of the recipe for success consists of 10 parts hard work with equal parts failure, frustration, disappointment, doubt and fear blended vigorously.

Oh, and some of the assholes I've seen in this world simply inherited money from their parents and haven't blown it all yet. If they're good marketeers they may even expand their inheritance several fold. It's easy to "go with the flow" when you were born on the river of plenty. By the way; you can sell anything if you've got enough capital to sustain a global marketing campaign.

Before I launch into my tirade; there is something to be said for "going with the flow." If you're relatively relaxed, open to new ideas and experiences and enjoy a relatively balance life you're going to be healthier, more engaged and more energetic. Your brain will generally work better so you'll make better decisions. You'll see abundance and opportunity where others might see scarcity and danger.

My mission today is to make sure you don't throw good money down the tubes on teachers, seminars, books and DVDs that promise to reveal the secret technique to success, health and wealth.

If you really want some secrets, here they are for free:

• Find someone who was successful doing what you want to do. Do what he did.
  
• Once you fully commit to a goal; keep going until you reach it.
  
• Accept failure as part of the game.
  
• Recognize small successes along the way and reward yourself for them.
  
• Do the right thing and you'll always feel better than you would if you did the wrong thing.
  
• Two heads might not be better than one, but two brains are. Make sure to surround yourself with good brains.
  
• Treat people with respect. All people; those above you, below you and around you.
  
• Work really, really, really hard.
  
• If you really want the easy life, find something you really love to do and work really, really, really hard at that.
  
• Give unconditionally; especially love, respect and wisdom. Giving is what you do now; rewards are what might come later.
  
• You're not entitled to anything but opportunity.
  
• Be here, right now and enjoy.
  

I may have just saved you several thousand dollars and many hours of study and research! That's how I learned these secrets. Many of these secrets came to me from ancient martial arts masters who were experts at doing things very well and maximizing human potential. Others I learned from generous teachers, bosses, mentors, peers and small children.

So…I'm saying you should never buy motivational books, attend self-help conferences or watch inspirational videos, right?

Wrong. I also learned many of these "secrets" from seminars, videos, great speakers and my Dashboard University.

Invest as much time and money as you're comfortable with on books, programs and seminars. Just be sure you're spending with your head and not just your heart; particularly when your heart is empty. Moments of emotional, spiritual and material poverty and desperation are not the best times to commit resources you don't have on promises that may or may not be realized. You may have more fundamental work to do first.

Make sure your expectations are realistic and that your motivation is internalized and sustainable. Start with a practical inventory of your resources and invest your time, money and energy based on a rational assessment of your current position. I encourage big goals and grand adventures; just be sure you prepare and provision for the expedition!

Finally, beware of the bullshitters! There is no authentic success without hard work. These days the most co-opted and exploited philosophy is the Law of Attraction. Can you really expect to manifest wealth by cosmically aligning your energy fields and mental state with the quantum field of the universe? Is the universe really some kind of psycho-metaphysical vending machine?

Come on. Think about some of these claims and apply your bullshit detector.

The Law of Attraction does work. You do tend to attract more opportunities when you're in a positive frame of mind. Negativity is blinding and narrowing. Positivity opens you to possibility which in turn improves probability of success. If you're a positive, creative and energetic person you're likely to find other positive, creative and energetic people; and those are the people who get the work done!

The Law of Attraction, however, is dependent on one ancient principle the great Chinese philosophers called "kung fu."

A good translation is: WORK.

The Law of Attraction is an action philosophy. At least that's what Napoleon Hill taught and he was the one who coined the phrase. The Law of Attraction is the result of a process of self-perfection. Making yourself a better person creates value for yourself and those around you. People are attracted to you because you offer greater value when you're a better person. You're open to greater opportunities because you train yourself to recognize them and you're constantly preparing to take advantage of them.

Self-perfection is hard and endless work. Enjoy it; it's worth it!

Here's what you should reasonably expect from motivational teachers, seminars, books and other materials.

• Inspiration and stories that motivate you to action. The first action is to internalize the motivation.
  
• Examples for what to do and how to do it.
  
• Systems and techniques that may make your journey to success more efficient or less painful.
  
• Validation of feelings of pain, suffering, frustration and failure. The knowledge that you're not alone and that successful people have these same feelings.
  
• Encouragement to continue on your path if it's the right one.
  

If you're willing to invest blood, sweat and tears along with a few bucks, then find a teacher, coach, book or seminar that makes sense to you and go for it!

If you're looking for a shortcut to fame and fortune; go to Vegas; you've got just as much of a shot as anyone else.

Jim Bouchard
Speaker, life-coach and author of Think Like a Black Belt and Dynamic Components of Personal POWER!
www.JimBouchard.org

A Response to Janeane Garofalo

I was all set to blast Janeane Garofalo unmercifully after her latest ridiculous rant. As much as I try to live by the Rule of Respect, Garofalo has challenged my patience and tolerance. Too many people substitute weakness and silence for authentic tolerance and compassion. I really felt it was my duty to speak up even at the risk of lowering myself to Garofalo's level and calling her hideous names including bitch, (Yup, that one did come to mind!), bigot, ignoramus and intolerant dolt.

I decided not to go there.

After all, Ms. Garofalo is entitled to her opinion. I'd prefer to debate her point by point.

In one of her recent tirades she said that everyone who attended the Tea Party protests were racists, that the protests were not about the economy but were obviously a bunch of "rednecks" who were "all about hating a black man in the White House."

I wanted to tell Ms. Garofalo that I voted for Jesse Jackson when her mother was still dumping poop from her Pampers. Of course, in the spirit of refraining from juvenile retorts, I decided to find out how old she is. To my surprise, these uninformed childish remarks come from someone who is only 4 years my junior. My mistake, I took Garofalo for much younger. I did in fact vote for Jesse Jackson for President; I don't know if Ms. Garofalo was still wearing diapers at the time.

The fact is that like many who attended the Tea Party protests, my issue has nothing to do with race. This seems to be a prominent theme in Garofalo's life. She also openly expresses hatred for attractive women and athletes. Strange perspective from someone whose looks have certainly not shut any doors in her career, but who am I to judge the depths of her insecurities? Oh, the race thing…I forgot that in the Janeane Garofalo world view you're only considered a racist if you're white; my mistake. I suppose the words redneck and cracker are terms of endearment, silly me to be offended.

By the way Janeane my neck is a rather bland beige color sometimes turning mocha brown in the summer. It is not red despite the fact that I often wear white socks and have enjoyed the occasional Blue Ribbon beer.

Next she goes off about how none of the people who attended the Tea Parties know anything about American history. To give her credit where credit is due, she did graduate with degrees in history and American studies from Providence College (Let's Go Friars!) so she must know something about the original Tea Party. She may have a point here; the original Tea Party was an illegal protest by English citizens in direct violation of several laws regarding assembly and the destruction of private property. If we really wanted to be authentic, we probably shouldn't have drawn permits for our events, should have destroyed someone's property and polluted some waterways. We really could have lived up to Garofalo's distorted accusations by disguising ourselves as Native Americans. That would not only have been racist, but we all could have hidden our true identities from the media who of course do nothing but promote right-wing causes. Oops! I forgot; at least at the event I attended the media never showed up!

Finally, Garofalo says that this protest is not about economics. If it were, she asks, where we were when the Bush administration was spending us into debt. Like many others I opposed the original TARP package. I questioned policies that were creating derivative financial products and extending credit without diligence. Janeane, most of us were speaking out then as now, though it was and remains a difficult struggle to be heard. We were respectful in our debate then as now which also makes it difficult to attract attention to our cause; obviously name calling and hatred attract more media exposure.

The real irony is that the political machinations that created these conditions were remarkably bi-partisan. Republicans allowed spending to go on unchecked and lost any fiscal high-ground as they joined Democrats in creating the policies that allowed the housing and credit bubbles to first inflate and then burst. Democrats jumped into bed with the "evil" big businesses that they'd been railing against for years; many of them own these business. Career politicians from both parties curried favors, lined their pockets and sold out the American taxpayer to preserve their power and increase their personal fortunes.

Of course most of us do not enjoy the public platform that Garofalo and other celebrities can use to blow their political horns. Pardon us if we were busy at our local Chambers of Commerce, attending town meetings and trying to get the ears of our state and federal representatives, many of whom have long ago forgotten that they work for us.

Here's the deal Janeane. I am very concerned that America is devolving at an increasing rate into a society where initiative is destroyed, personal responsibility cast aside and people who contribute to society are robbed by those who do not. We do not lack compassion as you accuse; we're committed to helping those with authentic need and those who appreciate and leverage our generosity to improve their lives. We're sick of those who take what we give and demand more and those who can and should contribute but instead condemn themselves to a never-ending cycle of dependency.

Most of all I'm sick of elite voices thumping chests and spouting rhetoric about tightening our belts and putting our "skin in the game." We've been skinned and our hides have been sold to keep lousy business afloat, to support foreign banks and to support politicians that pander to the same interests they publicly denounce. Our hard-earned supports illegal immigrants, deadbeats and people who refuse to do anything to take care of their own health.

Until recently we watched as our personal liberties were threatened and as our fundamental rights became the subject of political debate and judicial discretion. We've seen our treasure plundered and redistributed by so-called experts who cannot provide solutions but have the power to rob us of our property.

The Rights expressed in our Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution are not granted by our government. These are the natural rights of mankind that our founders, for the first time, rightfully protected from the abuse of any government. Many Americans have surrendered these rights for the sake of convenience. Many more of us have not.

The vast majority of the people who attended Tea Parties are those who still value the rights of the individual, the sole entitlement of opportunity and the fundamental principal that our government was created to serve and protect the individual, not to be a patriarchal provider to a society of dependents.

Janeane, to be blunt you're one of those elite voices. If you want to really find the heart of the American people I invite you to a delicious bar-b-cue and respectful debate on July 4^th weekend. If you're willing, I'll even take you to a Tea Party event so you can actually meet the people you so openly condemn.

You're a self-professed pessimist. You once said, "I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth."¹ I know you're a comedienne and to be honest, that is kind of funny in context, but it's also kind of sad in a way.

I'm a self-professed optimist. Despite a few chipped teeth, a dozen or so concussions, a pound of metal in my leg and times when my wallet and my heart were empty I remain optimistic for my future and the future of our country. Let's visit for a few hours; maybe I can cheer you up!

On second thought, I'd rather just enjoy my weekend.

Click here for Ms. Garofalo's complete exchange with bloggers in Boston.

1. Wikipedia contributors, "Janeane Garofalo," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,
   http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Janeane_Garofalo&oldid=289665592 (accessed May 13, 2009).

Jim Bouchard is America's Black Belt POWERVATOR...Speaker, coach and author of Dynamic Components of Personal POWER! Click here for more information on Jim or to book him for your next corporate event, meeting or conference!

Jim also serves on the Governement Liaison Committee at the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber of Commerce where is active in working with business people and legislators to create sensible policy for Maine and America. We could not find any such affiliations for Ms. Garofalo....DCPP Staff.

Power is not Control…

But I never said control isn't important!

The second chapter in Dynamic Components of Personal POWER is titled "Top 5 Lies About Power." In that chapter I talk about the lies we've been told by people who either attempted to keep power and control for themselves, or those who with best intentions were trying to protect us from the pain and suffering of failure.

One of the lies is: "Power is Control."

Power is not, in and of itself control. Power is your ability or capacity to act or perform effectively. Control is your capacity to restrain, command, dominate or regulate. You may be a very effective and powerful person, yet there may be circumstances, conditions and dare I say people you simply can't control! In the case of people, I'd argue that outside of logical restrictions that keep us from killing and harming one another, control is usually either an illusion or best left to dictators.

There are things we can control and things we can't; it's that simple. By yourself you probably can't control the global economy, regulate energy prices or keep your three year old from throwing food. What you can do at any time and given any conditions is to increase your power. You can at any point in life increase your ability to perform or act more effectively.

How? Here are steps one through a thousand:

1. Embrace the never-ending process of self-perfection.
   


2. Repeat…
   

You don't need money to increase power; take that excuse off the table now. If you're reading this you have access to a computer. How do you want to improve right now? Reduce your answer to a word or short phrase and type it into your Google search. I just did a search for self-confidence; Google returned 13 million links. 13 million links to articles, studies, advice, products and services all to help me improve my self-confidence. That would keep me busy for a while!

The words "personal power" returned over 54 million links! I'm very happy to report that a video of one of my television appearances popped up on the first page of the search right next to a video by Jack Canfield! Within seconds you can have access to over 54 million potential resources to help you become more powerful and effective.

At any point along the way you have two choices: quit or keep going. Only quitting assures a predictable outcome; once you decide to take action everything is at risk. You may fail; you'll probably encounter some degree of frustration, self-doubt and fear along the way. You can also be assured that with every drop of blood, sweat and tear you'll get a little closer to your ultimate vision of success and happiness.

You can choose to worry about circumstances, conditions and people outside your control; or you can choose to control your own destiny.

• You can wait for a lay-off; or you can learn a new skill or trade.
• You can wait for your sales manager to buy you new contact software; or you can buy your own and start getting ahead.
• You can wait for the government to save the economy; or you can find a way to expand your market on the internet.
• You can wait for the winning lottery ticket; or you can start your own business.

You're the only person responsible for your own success & happiness. Take a chance; go for it!

More powerful Google searches:

• Sales Training: 30.6 million results
• Language Study: 41.9 million
• Job Training: 43.1 million
• Leadership Training: 19.4 million
• Personal Coaching: 1.2 million
• Individuals affecting world economy: ZERO! (OK, I searched the exact phrase!)

Jim Bouchard is America's Black Belt Powervator; speaker, coach & author of Dynamic Components of Personal POWER. Get the power you want for personal and professional success NOW! Visit JimBouchard.org!

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Are You Sick of it Now?

Here’s how today’s headlines should read: “Congress Devolves into Name-Calling, Hair-Pulling Clutch of Petulant Children.” Of course, that might not be too far off the mark on any day in Congress.

I’m not picking sides; they’re all making me completely sick. We’ve got to try to figure out what the impact of the banking meltdown is going to have on our own businesses and on our neighbors. As someone who prides myself on being a student of politics and current events I have to admit painfully that I throw up my arms in frustration and disgust.

Hourly I’ve listened to partisan pundits blame the other side for current conditions, or brag about the heroic efforts their side is making to bring this wildfire under control. For the record, I’m a registered Independent and this is why. I’m absolutely sick to death of the constant petty partisan bickering, name-calling and accusation that is in fact the root cause of this entire debacle.

I’m sorry to shatter any illusions, but in legislative bodies legislation is not created in a spirit of bi-partisan interest in the American public. Articulate arguments and well-crafted oratory are not what seduces members of one side of the isle to the other. The fact is that on a national and state level, our laws and regulations are the result of a vestigial and wasteful quagmire of constant deal brokering, vote exchanges, earmarking and pork trading. Let’s throw in a healthy dose of nepotism and insider favoritism and we’ve got the system that has devolved to our current state of affairs.

The greater fact is that nearly everyone we’ve elected to office is complicit in this criminal abuse of our trust. There are some who claim they didn’t create the regulation or de-regulation that led to this crisis or those who did or didn’t carve out personal deals on loans, under the table compensation and favors and campaign contributions. Shame on you for not keeping your eyes on the ball; shame on you for keeping quiet when you smelled the leaking gas and didn’t warn those of us who put you in office and most of all, shame on you for not trusting us to understand this problem. Stop your selfish squabbling, stop your foolish CYA maneuvering and tell us what the hell happened, in plain English with names and addresses attached.

I have one more finger to point: To everyone of you who has said at one time or another that your vote doesn’t count, that the government is going to do whatever it wants anyway, that you don’t have time to get involved, that you don’t read the papers or watch the news; shame on every single one of you.

A single vote is not statistically significant when dealing with the vast numbers associated with a national election. When you do not exercise this responsibility the lack of your single vote resonates across the country. Your single vote may not decide an election; however by refusing to participate you surrender the one power guaranteed to you that makes you different than the citizens of most of the world. You surrender your voice; the voice that gave birth to our nation.

America is facing pressing problems. There are many issues on your state and local ballots that can make the difference between prosperity or bust in your communities; and in these elections a single vote just might be the difference. Vote your conscious; I don’t care if you agree or disagree with me. If you responsibly vote your conscious and your position is different than mine so be it; I respect your point of view and we have a basis for discussion. If you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear it!

I have faith that we will persevere and we will prosper, but only if you participate. It’s your responsibility to vote. It’s your obligation to learn as much as you can so you can vote responsibly. I know that’s difficult, but let’s do the best we can.

This November if nothing else let’s take back what’s rightfully ours: government by the people.

Jim Bouchard is America's Black Belt Powervator: speaker, coach and author of Dynamic Components of Personal POWER. Learn more about Dynamic Components and Jim at JimBouchard.org!

Two Filthy Words Again!

I’ve been watching very little television lately. Quite by accident I happened upon a panel discussion on one of the early morning newsertainment shows featuring a group of college students and someone who was offering advice for managing finances during and after college; it got my attention!

Then I nearly threw up! I had just eaten breakfast as these words, as nearly as I can remember them actually came out of the mouth of one of these babes: “I thought that when I started cutting back on my Starbucks frappacinos it would really make a difference; I really didn’t realize how hard it would be!”

About two years ago I decided to investigate the cries that college costs were out of control. From the perspective of my all too often squandered youth: I can remember feeling the world was unfair, costs were too high and college was indeed very expensive. Point of fact: college was expensive for me because I wasted the opportunity. I skipped classes, partied too much and never graduated. I post a zero return on investment from my college degree because I don’t have one.

At any rate; the crying about high college expenses was beginning to severely impact my martial arts business. Parents were telling me that they had to make a decision between continuing their children’s martial arts programs or saving for college. For the record; investing in a quality martial arts program is one of the best ways to assure maximizing your investment in college tuition; but more on that in another article.

I had to find out if college expenses were really that out of control and if I could make sensible adjustments to keep my students while honoring those parents who were at least recognizing, and here come the two filthy words, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for educating their children. There’s no way I could argue with a parent prioritizing the assumption of financial responsibility for higher education, particularly in this age of entitlement.

FACT: Post-secondary education is a privilege, not a right!

Before I completely piss you off; at no level is education a right. Historically you’ll find many examples of education being denied to Americans because of gender, ethnicity and race. In part to correct these injustices we enacted policies to not only guarantee, but in most cases to require education to at least a high school level. Still, this is not a fundamental right as spelled out by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. I only labor this point for one reason: If we could somehow restore the appreciation of education as a privilege we could go a long way toward helping students appreciate and take full advantage of the great opportunity of education at any level.

Back to our TV show: The next young genius was belaboring the impending burdens of student loans he was apparently forced into as the only option he had to finance his college tuition. I apologize for any lack of clarity in relaying this young man’s obviously well considered opinions as my thinking was clouded in this moment by a searing pain I was genuinely concerned may be a brain hemorrhage. At the word “unfair” it felt as if a stick was driven into my skull! “Exploitive loans, unfair interest rates, it’s not fair,” the words ripped at the back of my eyes. Once I knew for sure I was still conscious I did my best to maintain focus and follow the flow of this conversation when Frappacino Girl chimed in again!

I remember thinking that beer and a weekend ski trip were higher priorities than books and my next tuition payment. I also remember how easy “they” all made for me to dive into the deep end of college loan debt. What I don’t remember is anyone holding a gun to my head and forcing me to make these choices. I also clearly remember that when I complained about not having money for a ski trip because tuition was due; I was just as clearly told that it was up to me to decide which was more important in my life; of course I chose skiing! My fault, not theirs!
Sorry to be jumping around so much; this is a complicated subject, isn’t it?

Back to the parents of my martial arts students: is college really that expensive? Enter Michelle Obama; she claims that college expenses place an unfair burden on many families. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for providing assistance to help level the playing field and to make sure talented kids get the opportunity to share their talents with the world. This argument is not political; I’ve frankly gotten to the point where even I can’t tell the players without a scorecard. It seems any candidate that wants young voters is using some form of this platitude. Let’s just look at Mrs. Obama’s words and what they mean in this context.

Mrs. Obama attended Princeton and Harvard Law School. Her father, who worked at a city utilities job despite having MS should be held up as a model for trying to make life better for his children. Still, Mrs. Obama could have decided to attend less expensive institutions; attending Princeton and later Harvard were choices, not mandates.

Michelle herself should be held up as an example of how hard work pays off in school. She even skipped second grade based on performance. This early dedication to her work ethic no doubt served her well at university and later in professional life. She succeeded at two Ivy League colleges despite discouraging advice from her counselors and lingering prejudices.

I don’t know if she got financial aid to help her attend these schools; I’ll assume from her story that she did and she openly talks about taking student loans. Wonderful! These are both great tools to help finance a college education.

But…expensive? We can’t argue the fact that both Princeton and Harvard cost a lot of money to attend. I won’t even bother to lower the cost of Mrs. Obama’s education by adjusting for tuition in the 1980’s; let’s just assume she’s attending today at a cost of around $50,000 a year. Even if fully self-funded, let’s estimate the total cost of her post-secondary education at around $200,000. Given her last reported salary as Director of the University of Chicago Medical Center in excess of $320,000 a year. Isn’t that about a 65% return on investment for just one year in that position? I’d take that in business every day of the week!

College can cost a lot; considering the return on investment it may be considered cheap. The average return on a college degree is one million dollars over the course of a lifetime compared to people with only a high school diploma. Expensive?

Back to the TV show: no offense to Starbucks their reputation for a quality luxury product is beyond reproach. It just seems interesting that these young people don’t have a problem spending $6.00 on a cup of coffee, yet consider their college tuition expensive.

And…we haven’t even considered the average cost of a college education or less expensive alternatives. My research found a list of the top 20 business schools offering MBA degrees for $15,000 or less. Here are some sobering, and in my humble opinion, very encouraging figures:

• 56% of 4 year college students attend schools charging less than $9,000 a year.
• 43% of students attending public colleges & universities pay between $3,000 & $6,000 a year.
• Even at the high end, only 6% of students attend schools that charge more than $33,000 a year.
• Public 2 year programs charge an average of $2,300/year; less than 2% of average family income.
• More than $130 billion dollar in financial aid is awarded to students EVERY YEAR!
  2/3 of all undergrad students receive financial aid averaging $2,000 at public 2-year colleges, $3,600 at public 4 year schools and here’s the shocker: $9,300 for private 4 year colleges!

Is my math way off, or are we doing a tremendous job at making college affordable? Where’s the disconnect? Of course, this information has to come from some slanted source with an agenda for wasting money on anything but education, right? Actually, this data is readily available for your own scrutiny at CollegeBoard.com, a website designed to help you find and finance a quality college education.

Now for the “unfair” loans cited by our frappacino drinking friends:

• The average loan burden of a needs based student according to CNN is $13,800. Compare that to around $10,000 in average credit card debt for Americans.
• These “unfair” loan rates have just been reduced by Congress from 6.8% to 6.12%, and you don’t start paying on these loans until after graduation. Kind of like “no payments until fill-in-the-blank” loans for furniture? Compare again to average unsecured debt interest rates at 22% to 25% and it really looks like a rip-off, eh?

What’s the story? Time to get back to our 2 filthy words: PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

The fact is that college is still a great investment. My message is POWER: Your ability or capacity to perform or act effectively. Can you perform or act effectively without college? Can you be successful without a college education? Certainly! I consider myself successful on many levels and I absolutely squandered my college opportunity. However…

…I wouldn’t advise anyone to do it the way I did.

I learned the hard way; with the gift of hindsight I can honestly say I wish I had completed my degree and entered the real world with a college diploma. A college education is a wonderful opportunity for expanding your effectiveness for the rest of your life. A college degree can be an incredible resource in developing Power for personal and professional success and happiness.

If you or your family have the resources to finance a college education; then do it. Quit bitching and whining, make the sacrifices you need to make and invest in yourself and your future.

If you genuinely need assistance to pursue a college education; here’s some useful advice:

• The best thing you can do to access merit scholarships is to perform well in high school. Pay attention, get good grades and take full advantage of your high school education privilege.
• There are circumstances and conditions beyond your control. If you’re attending a high school in an underprivileged area, focus on what you can control. Same advice: study hard, develop good work habit and earn good grades. You may have to work harder than some to get where you’re going, but that’s much more effective than waiting for conditions to change. Later, when you’re successful you can go back and change those conditions for others.
• Investigate all your options including:
  a) 2 year programs…at least to start!
  b) State and public colleges and universities. Many of these institutions provide top-quality educational programs at bargain rates!
  c) If you are targeting the most prestigious or expensive programs, consider starting at a less expensive college and earning the grades that will support a higher financial aid package at your target school.
  d) Consider a smaller course load that will allow you to work during your studies to support your tuition and living expenses.
• Most of all, start saving early and prioritize your spending during high school years.

Did you know that according to the Indiana Business Review the average American under age 25 spends over $1,500 a year dining out and $1,000 a year on entertainment? Cutting dining & entertainment expenses in half just during high school could pay for a full associate’s degree or cut the need for college loans in half for a four-year program.

Ultimately Power is about freedom. When you make yourself more effective, you become more valuable to others. Your opportunity for material, emotional and spiritual abundance increases. You have more choices; you enjoy greater freedom to live the life you choose. The foundation is Personal Responsibility.

I did not learn this lesson early. It took me over 30 years of living a life of cyclical scarcity to learn my lessons. My fault; I will not place blame anywhere but squarely on my own shoulders. With just a few years of focused effort you can save yourself from the cycle it took me my entire adult life to transcend.

You can apply a college degree to generate enormous Power in your life. Take Personal Responsibility and start creating your opportunities for a college degree now. Can you live without your frappacino today?

Check out Jim's CampusPOWER program for college & university students! How to get the most out of your tremendous opportunity, your talents and your abilities!

The Bull by the Balls…Literally!

Walking up Broadway in the Financial District of New York City I happened upon a crowd of tourists posing with one of the huge bronze bull statues that represent the power of Wall Street. Of course the bull represents a profitable, charging marketplace.

At this particular monument, the bull’s horns are pointing up the hill toward the heart of the District while those of us walking up the grade are treated to the rear end of the bull revealing a bowling ball size set of, well, bull balls! That’s not the funny part. Something a little unusual caught my eye as an Asian woman who looked to be about 60 years old crawled under the hind end of the bull.

As soon as she got underneath the bull’s bottom, she turned around, smiling grandly at her husband who was ready with his camera. Grinning ear to ear she cupped her hands and pretended to support the bull’s massive family jewels!

That’s when it hit me! I wish I had my camera; I would’ve snapped this picture and made a deal with this woman to produce a complete line of motivational posters & t-shirts. In one spontaneous moment of fun she summed up exactly what we’ve all got to do when the bull is turning his backside to us: We’ve simply got to take the bull by the balls!

We can waste time bemoaning the high-price of energy and the struggling economy, but haven’t we been through this before? We’ve faced hard times as a country and most of us have faced hard times as individuals. What should we do? It’s certainly our right as Americans to bitch and moan; but I don’t remember that tactic doing me any good in the past. I’ve done my share of complaining but this time I’m simply not going to do it.

I’m going to take the bull by the balls and focus on what I can do. I can make myself better. I can make myself more valuable. I can market myself better. I can look for opportunities where others see disaster.

This time around I’m not looking back; I’m going to be the bull.

For more thoughts on dealing with difficult financial times and, gack, reccession, listen to recent PowerPOD episodes with William R. Patterson, Joan Sotkin, George & Mary-Lynn of BiggSuccess.com and Marsha Petrie Sue.