Goldwasser Institute

Hello all of my awesome friends! I know that it has been way to long, I have not been writing to you. I have plenty of good excuses, but will spare you the gory and boring details and just say, speaking at NAR was incredible (almost 500 in the room!), almost finished writing the first book (Some Assembly Required-A Networking Guide for Real Estate Professionals!), and launching a real estate revolution! That is right, it is time for the next big name in real estate brokerage-Goldwasser Real Estate! I am very proud to announce that today we have officially launched our new company. I am very sad to be leaving the amazing and awesome Keller Williams family, but it is just time. I feel that our team has just grown too big to fit into the current model at KW. I owe so much to Gary Keller, Mary Tenant, Mo Andersen and Mark Willis and I will always be indebted to have been part of their great leadership.

It is time to make our mark though; it is time for Goldwasser Real Estate to shake up this real estate industry. Through the growth of my team, and the experiences I have had, I feel it is a natural next step to build a company that is based on being an advocate for the consumer. Now more than ever clients need the best solutions, the best advice and the most elite agents to take care of one of the biggest investments they will ever make.

The evolution of our company helped us to realize that the way to meet the needs of our clients and our agents dictated a radical new model focused on consumer needs and agent support. This new model is the driving force behind the launch of Goldwasser Real Estate. Goldwasser Real Estate is bringing Fortune 500 business practices, technology and discipline to a struggling and fragmented industry. Relationships aren’t enough to sell real estate anymore.  Competency standards must be pushed higher, and companies need to provide better support so agents can be free to focus on what they do best:  advising clients. That is what we are doing.

Over the last ten years the real estate industry has been detrimentally impacted by an influx of under-qualified agents looking to make a quick buck in a profession that emphasized volume and commission over quality service to homebuyers and sellers.  As a result, many home buyers and sellers are frustrated with the lack of consistency, service and market knowledge of real estate agents and rate them just above used car salesmen.  Goldwasser Real Estate seeks to transform the industry by moving away from the prevalent franchise based brokerage structure to a service-based model that offers agents unprecedented training, revamped compensation packages, and powerful tools and technology that enable them to provide extraordinary service and value to homebuyers and sellers. 

We want to be the Four Seasons of the real estate world in terms of service and the General Electric in terms of systemization. Our foundation for building long-term success for our company and to serve our clients best is to elevate the art of selling real estate into a science.  The way we do that is to nurture the best trained, best prepared, and most informed real estate professionals in the world. We’re not just about growth, we’re about attracting and developing service-minded superstars who want to be part of something unique – something that will elevate business standards in every market we enter.   In our new model agents are free to just sell real estate while the company takes care of all the other details of running a world class sales organization.

We look at ourselves as consumer advocates. Our goal is to attract and retain the most highly competent agents in the industry and then hold them to the highest standards of client representation through mandatory training, surveys and ongoing education. Our company will be the Tiger Woods of the real estate industry; virtually untouchable in terms of service and the delivery of innovative value to our clients and agents.

To achieve greater customer service experiences, we have developed a cohesive IT system utilizing best in class technology and software systems. The systems help our company segment both new and existing clients so that relevant communication can be delivered based on customer needs.  The system also provides seamless transaction management, and ultimately high-quality, customer service experiences.

One crucial difference between our company and other real estate companies is that we integrate the latest high-tech systems and programs into our operations. In the past, agents who had great ideas just didn’t have the means or the time to implement them.  Goldwasser Real Estate takes away the burden of implementation and administrative overhead so our agents can focus on selling and providing the best customer experience possible.

Alright enough already!!!! I am just really excited and I look forward to sharing more. I look forward to publishing the book, which should be available here within the next 2 months, and I am looking forward to getting back to creating more systems to help us all take our careers to the next level!

There are no limits!!!

Hey all. Hope life is awesome and you are keeping your chins up in this challenging time. I know that the media is portraying the world as a total disaster, but we have so much to be thankful for. Do me a favor and spread some positivity today. You have no idea how far a smile, a “hello”, or a kind word can do for someone. Maybe you need one yourself, so here is one from me, “YOU ALL ARE GREAT! YOU PUSH ME AND MAKE ME WANT TO BE BETTER, I LOVE YOU ALL.” I swear I am so motivated to grow right now, I am so focused on staying positive even though my business is going through a tough time (just made my first layoffs ever in the history of my company). It is now that we will create habits that will take us to the next level. This time is here to strengthen me, to strengthen my will, my determintion, my focus, I am strong! You are all strong too! Say it to your self right now, “I AM STRONG!”. It feels good, say it over and over to yourself today, pump yourself up and go make it happen.

I had several requests to share my why with you so here it is:

MY WHY 8/8/04

I am doing what I am doing because God gave me the tools and presented me with the opportunity to make a huge difference in this world. I have the ability to be the best at what I do because I understand it, I have a major passion for it, I am a student of it, and I have absolute and utter  belief in myself and my team. I want my children, my wife, and all of my family to have total freedom of choice to do what they want to do. I want to positively impact the lives of everyone I touch, especially those whom I love the most. I want to give back to those that love me support me and believe in me so that they may live a life they never thought possible. I want to create positive change as much as I can and make the world a better place. I will always strive to the very best I can be. Most of all I want my family to be proud of who I am, and I want to set us totally financially free so that we may live an incredible and happy life.

Keep making it happen. Keep pushing me. If any of you are going to be in Orlando next week for the NAR Convention , please come to my presentation Saturday morning November 8th (next week!) How To Sell 100 More Homes in a Year. I am going to light that place up with power and energy. Please give me all of your positive thoughts and inspiration, so that I may give my most inspired and powerful presentation ever!

I appreciate you all so much. Have an incredible day! And root for the Texas Longhorns this weekend!

cg

Read this and be grateful you are not them…thought we could all use a good laugh!

Subject: Darwin Awards

The  2008 Darwin Awards

Yes,  it’s that magical time of year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honouring the least
evolved  among us.

Here is the glorious winner:

1.  When  his 38-calibre revolver failed to fire at his intended victim
during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be
robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire
wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again.
This time it worked.

And now, the honourable mentions:

2.  The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting machine and, after a little shopping
around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence sent out one of its men to have a
look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef’s claim was  approved.

3.  A  man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find
a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4.  After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be
transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver
went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental
 hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn’t
 discovered for 3 days.

5.  An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he
 received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply  trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving
train before he was hit.

6.  A  man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash
   drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the  register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the
  cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the  counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer…
 $15. If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?

7.  Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he’d just throw a cinder
 block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run.  So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at
 the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store
 window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.  

8.  As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911
 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police
 apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove  back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and
 told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, ‘Yes, officer, that’s her. That’s the lady I stole the purse from.’

9.  The  Ann Arbour News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan , at 5 A.M.,
 flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn’t open the cash register without a
food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said  they weren’t available for breakfast. The man, frustrated,
walked away.

10.  When  a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much
more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near
spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into
the motor home’s sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best
laugh he’d ever had.

In the interest of bettering mankind, please share these with
your friends and family… unless of course one of these
 individuals by chance is a distant relative or long-lost
friend. In that case, be glad they are distant and hope they
remain lost.

                  ****Remember… They walk among us!!! ***

“If you want your team to succeed, then you need to win some battles inside yourself. You cannot win unless you first win WITHIN! Do that, and you put yourself-and your team-in position for victories.”                                    John Maxwell

What an awesome day it is in Austin, Texas. I just got done with an awesome run and I am energized and excited about today, I hope you are as well. I want to share some thoughts with you about my spirituality, I hope you enjoy, if you don’t-to bad!!!! For a long time I have struggled with my relationship with God. I was not raised to be a Christian. I did not go to church, my parents were not particularly religious, we never talked about God in my house, I had no understanding of the bible or Christianity, and so I never found myself to be a believer. I often wanted to believe, and I even claimed to be “born again” at one point, but I truly never had a great relationship with God. I do believe in God, and I am connected to him now, but beyond just that struggle and that relationship I have now found myself to be living a very spiritual and inspired life.

The first time I realized that I was living a spiritual life, was from my therapist! That’s right, the cat is out of the bag, I see a shrink. Not as put together as you all thought HA! She is actually my marriage counselor and I have taken up seeing her on my own some and I find it incredibly helpful. One day we were talking about this struggle that I have had with my belief and she looked at me and said something very profound, she said “Chad you are living your life in a very spiritual way. Your drive to positively impact people, your goal to be a great father, a great husband and a great leader, is a spiritual type of life.” Wow, what an incredible eye opener this was for me. I now realize I am living a totally spiritual life. I do have a better relationship with my God than I have ever had before in my life and I am also living a more spiritual existence than I ever have lived. I am fulfilling my purpose and my destiny every single day, and that is spiritual in itself. Let me share with you what I mean and how I believe I am being spiritual each day and maybe it will help you to be more spiritual and not just with praising your god. Now, please understand I am a very simple man, so do not judge me for the simplistic nature of my thoughts and ideas, if you do not like them then do not read them, I will just share what works for me, unfiltered, straight out of my brain to you. Here you go.

1.      I wake up every day looking to be my best.  Part of my spirituality comes from me wanting to be my absolute best every single day. When you wake up just want to do the best that you can, you will feel good about yourself, because that is really all we can ask of ourselves is to do our very best, each and every day. If you go through your life focusing on what you didn’t do, or focusing on how much more it seems others are doing you will never be happy. Being happy lifts your “SPIRIT” and it lifts the spirits of those around you. As John said in the quote above we need to win the battle within. Win your battle within by focusing on being the best that you can be every single day, and life yourself up, be your greatest fan and supporter (see wake up thoughts and affirmations blog for more).

2.      I do everything I can to make a positive impact on those around me. Another aspect of my spirituality comes from lifting others up around me. If you really want to feel good about yourself, give of yourself. My goal to positively impact the lives of millions of people worldwide is totally selfish and ego driven. That’s right I am selfish, I love the feeling I get when other people are positively impacted by my life, my words, my actions and my deeds. I love to see the comments on my blog posts where you enjoy my words, I love to walk off stage and get a compliment, I love it when I get hugs from my wife and children for good deeds I have done, it lifts my “SPIRIT” and it makes me feel good about myself. So you see I am totally selfish! I want people to love me, to believe in me, to lift me up! So I do everything I can to lift others up, to positively impact them in some way. If you want to live a more spiritual life, lift people up, all the time, it is as simple as telling someone you are proud of them, or that they look nice. People need it; we all need to feel good about ourselves and little compliments are the fuel for our tanks. Peoples tanks need to be filled every single day. This is a harsh and hard world we live in, do your part to positively impact people, lift them up and you will be lifted.

3.      I constantly focus on my “WHY”. Part of my spirituality comes from my why. If you have a purpose in your life, a greater vision for why you wake up in the morning and you constantly are working toward it you will feel a greater “SPIRIT”. Do you know why you are doing what you are doing, is it for money, is it for power, is it to feel good about yourself, WHY do you do what you do. What pushes you, what makes you want to be better?  If you know why you are doing what you are doing and you focus your life on it, you will feel a greater sense of hope for the future and you will be a happier person. To discover your why, you have to take time away from the busyness of your life and think. In 2004 I took time away from my busyness and I strted writing in a notebook about why I wanted so much from life and it was a huge self discovery time for me. I came up with my why, I will share part of it with you here, what I believe is the most important part:

I want to positively impact the lives of everyone I touch especially those whom I love the most. I want my family to be proud of who I am.

If you want to see the rest of it, email me and I will send it to you. If you will take time away and put some intense thought into your why, it can change your life. I have my why laminated and I keep copies of it everywhere.  I constantly look at it to remind myself of what is important, and why it is important for me to do great things.  By remembering why you are doing the things you are doing, you will find yourself living your life more spiritually.

Well, that’s it for now. Again, this may seem elementary to you, but not to me. I am constantly staying focused on these things and I know that I am affecting my life. I have an intense connection to my spirituality, and when things get tough and I start to throw a pity party, or I start to get down I can turn things around by remembering that I am good, by remembering that my God loves me, by remembering that I am a strong, spiritual person that really does want to make a difference and it lifts my “SPIRIT”, I hope I have lifted yours! Have an awesome day….cg

I just received this video from a friend of mine in Maryland, and I watched it. I was blown away and i think you will be as well. This is a great message and it is interesting to listen to how similar it seems the times were to right now. It is 20 mins long, but worth every minute. I hope that you have the time to check it out. DO IT!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5026310041540225283&hl=en

cg

Leaders who want to rise have to do more than [be willing to] take an occasional cut in pay. They have to give up their rights…That’s true of every leader regardless of profession. Talk to any leader, and you will find that he has made repeated sacrifices. Usually, the higher that leader has climbed, the greater sacrifices he has made. Effective leaders sacrifice much that is good in order to dedicate themselves to what is best…      John Maxwell-“The Law of Sacrifice”

Leadership always has a cost. Are you willing to sacrifice to succeed?

DIG DEEP and STAY POSITIVE! That is the message I send to you today. There has been no better time in history to strengthen your energy and your mindset than right now. With all of the unease, anxiety, fear, worry and mystery that is our national psyche right now, you can make a difference. You can make a positive impact on every single person that you touch by being a positive light in their day. The way that I want to live my life is to be a positive energy source for everyone I come into contact with. I also want to be a great role model and leader to others and I can do that by working hard. I am doing my part to make sure the economy keeps moving, I AM SELLING HOMES! I am working hard in my own business and working hard on my mind to strengthen it, and keep the most positive outlook that I can, after all, I am alive, I have a great family and I have great friends. We cannot let fear overtake us. Here are three strategies for you to stay positive:

1.       Utilize a Wake Up Thought- We all are having conversations with ourselves all of the time, we need to start controlling those conversations. In order to strengthen your mindset you must wake up right and immediately put a great thought into your head, it is your wake up thought. You have to teach yourself to think this thought every morning first thing. Make it a positive and affirming statement, mine is this-“It is an awesome day and I will positively impact the lives of everyone I touch today.” It is a beautiful way for me to wake up and get excited about the opportunities in front of me. Your wake up thought is going to get you on the right track and then you back it up with my next strategy…

2.       Affirmations- Now is when we tell ourselves what a great person we are. For me this is usually done in the car, but I have my affirmations all around me and laminated. I have a copy in the closet, above the visor in my car, behind my desk, and in my shower. By putting them everywhere in my life I never forget to say them to myself. To affirm means to make firm, to strengthen, and that is what you do every time you utilize your affirmations, you flex the muscles in your mind and you beef up your self confidence. You want to make sure that even when you are down you use these to pull you out of the doldrums. Say to yourself right now, “I like Myself, I am an awesome person, I am in control of my future, if I must doubt something I will doubt my limits, I am the best person I can be, I am positive and enthusiastic, I am a leader!” If you are sitting there wondering if I am crazy, telling yourself there is no way you will do this, change your mind. Affirming myself and fortifying my attitude has paid big time for me. I am now constantly throughout the day repeating to myself over and over-“I am the best at what I do.” Try it, you will like it. My third strategy is this…

3.       Fill your head with the greatest thoughts- I am a passionate personal growth junkie. I love to read, listen to learning CD’s in my car, and attend seminars. I think that in order to stay positive in this turbulent time you need to shut off the tv, don’t watch the news (that’s all negative!), quit looking at your stocks, get involved and focused on personal growth. I feel like we should be reading something inspirational at least 30 minutes a day (reading this counts by the way), making our car our university (I believe that we must always have learning cd’s in our cars, no music), and I believe we need at least 2 great seminars a year. Your attention to this detail in your life may be the single biggest factor in your failure or success. I know that my personal growth plan has been instrumental for me.

We are in one of the strangest and most concerning times financially in the history of our country, but we do not need to let ourselves get down. We can be the positive shining light and be different by choosing to DIG DEEP and STAY POSITIVE! You can change your life by changing your mind. Utilize the strategies outlined here, get around other positive motivated people and you will come through this tough time stronger and more solid than ever before. What an awesome opportunity!

cg

I hope this helps you. It is time to create some momentum in our businesses. Will you commit and make it happen? You can do it. I believe in you all. Leaders create momentum! 

Are you a hyper-productive person? Do you get more things done in an hour than most people can get done in a day? Do you find yourself so on top of things that all of your important work is done by noon? Are you so focused that you do not see the outside world when you get into a project ort activity that is important? If you can answer yes to all of these questions you are at the top of your game, and you are also in the minority. In this new world that we live in with cell phones, emails, text messaging, internet, and all of the other things that can distract us, we must work on our productivity. If we want to get the most out of our lives we must hone the skills that will enable us to see great results. Legendary management guru Peter Drucker said, “Nothing else distinguishes effective leaders as much as their tender loving care of time.”  I want to share three skills that will help you to become more productive with your time, they are: prioritization, scheduling, and focus.

Prioritization

Do you ever have one of those days where you get to the end of it and you are wondering what did I do today? Where you think, man I really wasted a lot of time today. These are the times that push me to prioritize my most important activities. How do you prioritize, do you create a daily to-do list? Do you do whatever you feel like in the moment?  In order to figure out what should be taking precedence in your life you should ask yourself, what activities give me the greatest return? Where am I most useful? What are my main strengths?

Here is a simple formula that I learned from leadership author John Maxwell. Consider the things that you want to do in the coming month and the coming year. Then use the following formula to rate when to do them. For each task, multiply its importance (Critical=5pts, Necessary=4pts, Important=3pts, Helpful=2pts, and marginal=1pt) by its urgency (This Month=5pts, Next Month=4pts, This Quarter=3pts, Next Quarter=2 pts, and end of year=1pt). Then determine when the task should be scheduled on your calendar.

A=16-25    Critical task to be finished by the end of the month

B=9-15       Important task to be finished by the end of the quarter

C=1-8         Low priority to be finished by end of the year or eliminated

You can use this system to help you to prioritize. Use something to start filtering the activities that you do on a daily basis, and start getting rid of the time wasters in your life. You will be amazed if you start really watching your time, how much is actually moving you in a forward direction and how much is just being thrown out the window.

Scheduling

Are you using your schedule? To get to our most productive state we must use some sort of scheduling tool. I use a computer system called Top Producer and everything I do goes in there. Every single thing from family time, personal time, appointments, prospecting, networking, open houses, everything that you do goes into your schedule and you must start looking at it every day and every night. You then start taking those items that you have prioritized and putting them in there.  Making sure that the items of most importance to you get the most scheduled time. On Sunday nights after I put the kids to bed, I will jump on my schedule and start looking at every day of my week and filling in the holes where I have blank unused time with my priorities. Start putting all of your life in your schedule and do as your schedule says. There will be times when it will be impossible to stick to the schedule, but if you can stick to it 75% of your time you will be in the top 1% of people in no time.

Focus

Focus is your superpower! Say that with me now, “Focus is my SUPERPOWER!” If you watch Tiger Woods on the golf course when he is getting ready to make a 20 ft putt, he gets bent down and he cups both of his hands over the bill of his cap and he has laser beam focus. There is nothing else going on in his mind but that single putt right there right then. Tiger is the greatest golfer to ever live because he has developed his ability to focus to a level of mastery. When you work on, and strengthen your ability to focus, the entire world will fall away when you get into a project and you will get so much done. A lot of people are so distracted that any little bump in the road can take them off kilter. Here are some suggestions to help you stay focused when in the midst of an important task.

1.       Shut off your world.  So many of us can get taken off task by our cell phones, emails, other people in our office, so turn all of those things off. When I want to be hyper productive, I turn everything off and get in the zone.

2.       Close your door. If you want to get things done, then shut your door, or do what my executive assistant Tina does, put a sign up outside of your office door that says, I love you but I am focused now, please come back later. Thanks!  

3.       Stick to it. Sometimes the mundane tasks of our everyday work will get us bored. I say, stick to it. Give it 5 more minutes. Work through the boredom, stay on track and you will be amazed at your results.

The power to focus is amazing. I have worked very hard to increase my ability to focus and it has paid off big time. It will pay off for you too.

So there you have it-proritize, schedule and focus. These are three keys to becoming the most successful person that you can become. The ability to sharpen these skills will not happen right away, but keep at it and you will find a major shift happening in your life. People will look at you in awe of what you are able to accomplish and you will be a great asset to yourself and your company. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It is not enough to be busy. The question we must ask is, What are we busy about?” Make sure that you are busy about the right things in your life. Have an awesome day! cg

Are you growing to reach your maximum potential? In this hustle and bustle world that we live in we need to stop and take time to grow. Our goal should be to relentlessly pursue personal growth every single day. Obviously we cannot take all of our time to read, think, meditate and change ourselves, but we can do a little bit every day to make ourselves better. In this day and age where it seems a lot of the world is focused on the doom and the gloom, we can be the bright and radiant light of hope if we stay focused on the positive. We can do this by being aware and planning for it. Here are some thoughts about how we can all relentlessly pursue growth.

1.       Have a personal growth plan-Just like you have a business plan; you should have a personal growth plan. It should be short and easy to follow and should include the simple steps that you will take to get better.  Things such as reading great books and studying them. Taking out the quotes and the ideas that they give you and applying them to your life. I have a system that I use when I find a great section or a great quote from a book. I take a 3 * 5 note card and I title it with the context of the quote, either leadership, or commitment, or sales, or service, whatever the main point of the quote is. I then write out the quote and who it was attributed to and what book it was from. Then I file these quotes and study them to keep my mind thinking on the greatest thought.

Your personal growth plan should also include some writing, or journaling time, keeping track of your progress and cataloguing your thoughts and ideas that will help you move to the next level. Writing has always helped me to get clearer on ideas that I have been thinking and it also allows me to go back and review ideas that I may have forgotten. I also like to journal and write about my goals and my vision.

Your plan should also include seminars and self improvement workshops. My goal is to attend three personal growth seminars per year. It is incredible to get around others that are looking to grow and be the best that they can be as well. When you got to these seminars it is also a great opportunity to network with other top leaders.

Once you have a plan for your growth and keep after it every single day. Laminate your growth plan and look at it every single day to remind yourself that you have to grow and enlarge yourself every day.

2.       Resource yourself-When you decide to dedicate yourself to growth you have to buy the resources for yourself. Books, books on tape, DVD’s and other materials that you will be able to utilize on your path to greatness and change.  I remember listening to one of my favorite motivational speakers, Les Brown and he was saying that he had a resource collection of over $50,000, that is huge. You should listen and buy the great stuff that people have put out and continue to put out. get the classics such as How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Power Of Positive Thinking, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, just to name a few. Fill your library with books and tapes and cd’s that will fill your mind with the greatest thoughts of all time.

 These resources will teach you how to think great thoughts, and they will change your life forever.

3.       Focus on changing yourself not others-It is easy to see the faults in others, but hard to admit the faults in ourselves. We cannot change others, only ourselves. If you just continually focus on making yourself the best that you can be, others will follow your lead. When I see people growing and getting better, I take their lead. I have realized that no matter how much I want people to change the only person that can make change is me. And the only person I can make change in is myself. Yes, I can lead by example, but I cannot force others to do as I say-even with my kids most of the time. so focus on you and the rest of the world will fall into place.

From John Maxwell’s  “The Law of Process”

“Becoming a leader is a lot like investing in the stock market. If your hope is to make a fortune in a day, you are not going to be successful. What matters most is what you do day by day over the long haul. If you continually invest in your leadership development, letting your “assets” compound, the inevitable result is growth over time.

The good news is that your leadership ability is not static. No matter where you are, you can get better.”

I feel like in the past ten years I have grown more than at any other time in my life and it has been an awesome process to go through. I am still focused on getting better every single day, as a husband, as a father, as a friend, as a Christian, as a leader. I want to grow to reach my maximum potential and the only way to do that is to never stop. Never stop growing, never stop believing that you have reached the top, always strive to grow and we as leaders will make a difference in this world.

You servant hearted, growth driven friend,

cg