Have you ever felt that you were reliving the same day over and over and over…? Have you ever been moving so slowly in the direction of your ideal life, that it felt like you were standing still or even going backwards? Last Saturday was Groundhog day, and the good news for those of you that live in snowy places is — the groundhog did not see his shadow which means that its going to be an early spring. Often on Groundhog day I am reminded of the 90’s movie by the same name. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. In the movie, Bill Murray’s character, Phil Conners wakes up every single day, reliving Ground Hog day over and over. And in case you are wondering how many days it would take Phil to do all the things in the movie — One estimate is 12,395 days or just under 34 years— He spent 34 years reliving Groundhog Day. We can all relate to Ground Hog day. How often do you feel that you are living the same mundane day over, and over, and not making any progress? Maybe you continue waiting for the relationship of your dreams to no avail. Maybe, you are working really hard to be promoted in your job, and haven’t moved up at all . Maybe, you are working to learn a song and have been stuck learning the same 10 measures for the past month. Regardless of what you are feeling, remember that in some sense everyone is stuck in a Ground Hog day – call it problems, challenges or whatever else you may, but we all have challenges we are trying to be better today than we were yesterday, and we all are in the struggle of creating our ideal life. …

Last week, I was having lunch with a good friend that is in the wealth management industry at Genghis Grill. As I was enjoying my spicy chicken, pineapple and rice bowl we got to talking about his life and business. He went on to share that he was currently working long days and that he would do so for the next 10 years or so to build his book of business so that he could have an amazing life then. He went on saying that, If he started out focusing on the smaller clients he could build his book until he could finally get some of the larger fish.  As I was listening, I had a large plastic cup of water in front of me. I picked it up with both hands and made the motion as If I was going to smash it into the table. I then said, “Imagine that this cup was made of glass and I actually smashed it into the table, what would happen?” Of course he responded that it would shatter and water would go everywhere. I then shared with him, how his current perspective of working long days and focusing most of his energy on the little fish was okay. However, if he smashed the glass of this perspective that appeared to be real, true and even common in his industry, he would be able to achieve what he wanted quicker and enjoy life now instead of waiting 10 years. I then asked if he had one super wealthy client that he really wanted to work with. He responded that there was an individual of considerable wealth that he knew, that he would like to work with.  He then even went on to share some strategies of how he could approach this client. …

As we neared the top of the climb I was a bit tired and breathing hard,  I would be lying if the thought didn’t cross my mind to quit as I paused to rest. Even when I could see the end destination, I still had the thought pass through my head to quit… but that’s how it is always going to be. Whether on a hike or in life, we are always going to have the thought pop in our head to give up, but we don’t have to pay any attention to it. This weekend with a large group of friends, I hiked a trail in the Superstition Mountains. It was manageable but it took some work. As I was hiking I realized this particular hike related to our journey to achieve a goal in many ways. When we approached the trailhead we did so optimistically, a few people who had done the hike before pointed up to our destination which lay 1.5 miles in the distance.  I looked up and even commented, “that’s it, that’s not very far at all.” As we set out the first half mile of the path was  50 yards wide without many turns. It was pretty flat save it were for hundreds of football sized rocks partially protruding from the ground. Every now and then we briefly stumbled over them. The path was very wide and fairly straight, with few turns. . In our life goals, when we set out and decide what we really really want to go after, we are excited and smiling. We expect to accomplish our goal, sometimes we even look out at it and think that it looks really easy The first part of the journey is often scattered with challenges but they are so small that we …

If you had to eat an airplane, how would you do it?   Now before you sit there saying, Joseph, it’s impossible to eat an airplane. I want to remind you literally nothing is impossible. Many things that throughout the ages were deemed to be impossible, have now been done. Here are just a few. “It’s  impossible to fly a plane” “It’s impossible to go to the moon” “It’s impossible to run a 4 minute mile” “It’s impossible to get a robot on Mars” “It’s impossible for an actor to start acting in their 90’s” Every single one of these things has now been done and even improved upon. And now the answer to the question I asked of how to eat a plane is , one bite at a time. No this is not folklore or a metaphor, this really happened. Please understand I do not endorse nor recommend eating airplanes. Michel Lotito was a French entertainer known for eating metal, glass and other objects. His nick name was Monsieur Mangetout which is French for “Mr. Eat-All”. In the course of his 57 year life he consumed many different metal objects. If you want to hear some crazy stories, look this guy up. He ate 18 bicycles, 15 shopping carts, 7 televisions, 6 chandeliers, 2 beds, 1 pair of skis, 1 waterbed, 1 coffin, 1 brass plaque and an entire airplane… Yes you read that right, it took him almost 2 years but between 1978 and 1980, he ate an entire Cessna 150 airplane. To give you a better idea, The Cessna 150 weighs 985.5 pounds. That’s a little bit over 1 pound of metal a day If you are astounded by this, understand that when I first heard it, I was also. But, People do astounding things every day …

The first week of the year is almost over, and already some of those great aspirations and resolutions that people set a week ago have bit the dust. If you are one of those people, please just simply guide yourself back to what you really want to accomplish, but give it a try with the simple ideas that I will share with you in this article and then share it on social media so your friends can see it that have already stopped their resolutions also. Please don’t kill me, but I just have to come right out and say it: I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I could go as far as saying, I believe most New Years Resolutions aren’t worth the paper that they are written on. You may be thinking, “What? A coach not in favor of New Years Resolutions, that’s preposterous.” Now before you disagree, let me take a minute and ask a simple question, How many of your resolutions have you ever kept? Look around especially at your social media and you have probably seen your friends say this is the year that they are going to achieve that big goal. You may even look at what they have written and think in your head, “isn’t that what you said you were going to accomplish last year and the year before that.” Ironically, if you have posted something about a New Year’s resolution, they are probably saying the exact same thing about you and your resolution. I have to say I have even done it for years myself, so I am not calling the anyone else out. I just want to bring it to your awareness. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the exact same thing and expecting different results. But, …

2019 begins tomorrow and if you will allow it to be, 2019 is going to be your year of miracles. I want you to pick the one thing that you desire to happen this year more anything in the world and make that your laser focus. If you have a great coach (even if you just use my weekly articles that will be up every Monday morning on my website) and if you keep your commitments to yourself, no matter how tiny they are, your life will change. Especially if you really begin this journey of personal growth with me. This is YOUR year! Yes, you that is reading this, I am really talking to you. No matter what you have struggled with each and every year in the past, this next year is your year. You must believe that Miracles are going to happen, and they will. I will share a few things for you towards the end of this article that will help you make the most of the next year. Now if you are one of those people that is not excited about this next year, please understand that I can relate. This may come as a shock to those that know me, or even think they know me; but for many years now, I have really dreaded the coming of a new year. It was a reminder of all of the things that I did not accomplish. It’s almost like the cartoon scene in Monty Python and the holy grail where the narrator says, “and there was much rejoicing” and they less than enthusiastically hold up their flags and say, “yay…” This year for the first time in YEARS…I am actually excited for the new year. I feel I am on an excellent path, and can’t …

Well once again the eve of Christmas is upon us, and there is a sense of magic and anticipation in the air. Your children, or maybe your nieces and nephews are literally bouncing off the walls waiting for the night when a man in a giant red suit comes down the chimney delivering happiness and awesomeness in the shape of presents. Isn’t this truly one of the most wonderful times of the year? , no matter how challenging the year has been we have that opportunity to be with our loved ones and we really feel complete. It’s almost that sense of not just coming home to our loved ones but of coming home to our selves, and in that moment all the challenges, trials and hardships are often forgotten. It’s also as if when we return to our home base and are with those that love us, we find that we are okay… aside from all of our challenges, and heartaches, WE ARE OKAY… Yes I mean even you reading this, You are okay! And when we realize that we are okay, we begin to once again believe that life us full of possibility. And when we begin that our lives are full of possibility instead of impossibility, we begin to believe. And belief can be magically dangerous and amazing. We begin to believe that we are possible! Our lives are possible and it is possible to achieve our dreams. Don’t you think it is kind of interesting that Christmas falls literally one week from New years. It’s almost like Christmas is the starting line to get us in a great state of mind to mentally prepare and plan for the next year! It’s time to dream, believe and get excited. What would this next year be like if …

I can remember on numerous occasions of having my nieces or nephews ask me for help with something. One time while playing a video game my nephew asked me for help to beat a hard part. I walked over and beat the hard part that he wanted me to get past. Did my nephew thank me? Ironically, it was the exact opposite. He got a slightly high pitched voice as he said, “WHAT!! Why did you do that?” I looked over at him dumbfounded, thinking to myself, “You literally just asked for help and I gave it to you and now your upset.” You see the question that my nephew meant to ask is, “Can you please SHOW me how to do this?” He did not want me to do it for him. Even from a young age we all develop this idea inside of our head that we must – or at least want to- do things on our own. We are almost born not wanting help. We have to take it when we are a baby. However, once we can crawl and then walk, we become independent. We want to do things our way and only our way. We think that nobody can help us, even when they have our best interest at heart. As we grow up this desire to be independent and do things for ourselves often times just gets stronger. We often times hate when we have to “GET HELP”. It makes us feel that we are weak. When we think of having to work with a coach often times, we say in our head, “I don’t need any help. I’m doing a great job.” Now, at the same time one is saying this, there is a good chance they have been in the same …

I want you to think back to most of the movies that you watched as a kid. Odds are that most of them taught of one of the characters something along the lines of, “Be yourself!” This is great advice for little kids to try and figure out who they are. However, as we get older here it may not always be the best advice for us. When you have tried to accomplish something being yourself and it has not worked maybe it’s time to be someone else. You may be sitting there thinking this is a bit crazy so let me explain a bit further. I often work with clients that are working to achieve what they feel are impossible goals. I even tell people I’m the “it’s possible guy”, I help people turn IMPOSSIBLE into IT’S POSSIBLE. These impossible goals include: Finding the person of their dreams, starting a business, or writing a book. People feel that they have tried everything that they know by being themselves and doing what they believe is their best and it still hasn’t worked . Remember that what got you where you are, will not often get you to where you want to be. We must change and improve as we strive to grow and achieve our impossible goals. So when people come to me and tell me they have done everything they know how, I begin to help them stretch their boundaries and test their limits. Our boundaries and limits often times were set for us years ago and we have never tested them out. So when they approach me, Do I tell them I am unable to coach them and help them get what they want? No, I ask them who would you need to be in order to reach …

If you are in business for yourself, there is a good chance that at least at one point in your life you have treated a person like a dollar sign as opposed to a human being. Let’s face it, it happens , yes I hate to admit, I’ve even done it – not intentionally. We all have financial obligations that we have to meet. When a friend tells us about a challenge that they are having in life, we feel that we have a product or service that can help our friend and at the same times help ourselves. The golden rule tells us to treat others as we want to be treated. Think about it for a second have you ever been treated like a dollar sign? Did it make you want to buy whatever product your “friend” or someone else was selling? I’m guessing that the answer is no. Nobody likes to be treated like a dollar sign. We can all sense that uncomfortable feeling in the air when we know we are being sold, and all we did was ask the person, “how’s your day?” And then they somehow manage to weave into the conversation how their product could help us. I think the best word to describe what we feel in that situation is the icky – yes I just used the word icky. When you feel that icky feeling, you feel that your being used and that your “friend” doesn’t really care about you as a person. They don’t care about that flat tire, or terrible blind date or that you missed the latest episode of Survivor on tv. I hate to confess there were times that I treated people like transactions. It wasn’t until my amazing coach Limhi Montoya helped me to see it, …