I'm still in the mode of preparing my plans for 2015. I have some pretty big ideas about what I want to accomplish next year, and I'm sure you do as well.

In today's episode, the theme is “how to own your life”.  It includes an interview with one of my favorite people, Chris Brogan.  It also includes an opportunity to work closely with me in 2015. Keep listening for details.

Announcements

In a little over a week, I will be gathering with all the other folks who are attending the Platform Conference in Colorado Springs, starting November 9th. There are still a few seats available, and you can still save $100 when you click here and add the special code RAY to your order.  yes, I am a featured speaker, but I am also a student. I plan to learn as much as anyone while I am there. I hope you will be there with us.

We have been quietly formulating the plan for a Private Personal Mastermind Group, led by me, in 2015. This will be a small group, and our time together  will be intentional, demanding, and designed to bring you into alignment with your personal destiny. The criteria for membership in the group will be very precise, and the investment will not be exorbitant, but neither will it be cheap. If none of that scares you off, and if in fact you are one of the people who have expressed to me how you wished I would create a group like this, please reach out to me by sending an email to support [@] rayedwards.com.

Tip of the Week:

As I have mentioned previously, Cliff Ravenscraft and I are hosting a special one-day event the day after the Platform Conference. This is a “Day With Cliff and Ray”, and if you're going to be in Colorado Springs for the Platform Conference, you should definitely consider joining us for this event.

On the last day of platform, the people who are attending the “Day with Cliff and Ray” will gather together and share an evening meal. This will be very relaxed, informal, we will get to know one another on a deeper level before our intense one-day event the next morning.

Here is what we will be doing at this event, on Wednesday, November 12:

• The Deeper Connection Session:  in which our intention is to foster deep, lasting relationships between all the people in the room, so we can mutually support one another in the coming year as we all seek to take our platforms to the next level.
• The Next Level Resources Session:  in which Cliff and I will be sharing all of our most useful tools, tricks, techniques, apps, procedures, systems, and even our workflows. This is like getting in “over the shoulder” look into how we run our businesses.
• The Most Valuable Investment Session: During this session, each member of the group will be given a few moments to share what they feel has been the most beneficial investment that they have made in taking their own platform to the next level. Hearing “what has worked” for others may be just the source of inspiration that you need to get a glimpse at new possibilities.
• AMA with Cliff & Ray Session: During this “Ask Me Anything” session, you will have the opportunity to ask Cliff or Ray ANYTHING you want. Both Cliff and Ray are very willing to share anything and everything from their own experiences that may be of help to you. So just think about it. If you could ask anything of Cliff or Ray, what would it be? Write those questions down and bring it to this session.

Spiritual Foundations: God Is With You In Your Trial by Fire

“I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
Daniel 3:25

Daniel was God's man inside a corrupt system-the government that was overrun by unbelievers, or even worse, those who believed in the powers of darkness. This corrupt system was even run by a man who would set himself up as God-King Nebuchadnezzar. When Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, were thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, because they would not bow down to a foreign God, guess what happened?

The most remarkable thing: one of the Old Testament appearances of Jesus Christ. he showed up right there inside the furnace with them, preserve them in the fire, and brought them out alive and well.

The Bible tells us that “the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them” (Daniel 3:27).

Right now, you may be going through your own fiery trial. You can rest assured that God is not watching from a distance, wishing you good luck, and telling you to hang in there until the afterlife.

He is with you in the very trial. In the very flames.

The Bible says that “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

When God is with you, you can walk through the fiery furnace, and you can walk out, holding his hand, undamaged and even without the smell of smoke on you.

Feature Presentation: How to Own Your Life With Chris Brogan

Check out the podcast audio to hear the complete interview with Chris Brogan.

Next Week:  How To Create Your Own “Unfair Advantage” In 2015

Get The Transcript

Click here to get the transcript. Transcripts provided by SuccessTranscripts – a great solution if you need your podcast, sermon, speech, or other audio transcribed.

Question: What parts of your life do you feel you don't “own”… and what are you going to do about it? Click here to leave your comments.

It's not too early to start getting ready for 2015. In fact right now is the perfect time to assess how this year has gone, and what you'd like to see happen in 2015. In my case, 2014 started off a little “bloated” – both physically and mentally. I want 2015 to be lean & mean (in the most fun sense of that word).

That's what today's episode is all about: how to set yourself up for a lean, mean 2015.

Announcements

I am getting excited about the upcoming Platform Conference in Colorado Springs, starting November 9th. There are still a few seats available, and you can still save $100 when you click here and add the special code RAY to your order.

Tip of the Week:

Plus, Cliff Ravenscraft and I are hosting a special one-day event the day after the Platform Conference. This is a “Day With Cliff and Ray”, and if you're going to be in Colorado Springs for the Platform Conference, you should definitely consider joining us for this event.

Here is what we will be doing at this event:

• The Deeper Connection Session: During this session, every person will be given a few moments to introduce themselves. These introductions will be done in a fun and interesting way that will certainly help you get to know each of the other folks in the group on a much deeper level.
• The Next Level Resources Session: During this session, Cliff and Ray will go back and forth, in rapid fire succession, as they share their most valuable tips, tools and other resources that have helped them to achieve what is most important to them. There is no doubt that you will walk away with many valuable resources to take your own platform to the next level.
• The Most Valuable Investment Session: During this session, each member of the group will be given a few moments to share what they feel has been the most beneficial investment that they have made in taking their own platform to the next level. Hearing “what has worked” for others may be just the source of inspiration that you need to get a glimpse at new possibilities.
• AMA with Cliff & Ray Session: During this “Ask Me Anything” session, you will have the opportunity to ask Cliff or Ray ANYTHING you want. Both Cliff and Ray are very willing to share anything and everything from their own experiences that may be of help to you. So just think about it. If you could ask anything of Cliff or Ray, what would it be? Next, write that question down and bring it to this session.

Spiritual Foundations:

3 ways to hear from God today.

1. Know.
2. Expect.
3. Listen.

It's easier than you think.

Feature Presentation: How to Set Yourself Up For a Lean, Mean 2015

Here are 15 Practices I am adopting for a lean, mean, 2015:

1. Devote more time to practicing the Presence of God.
2. Evaluate all existing commitments and renegotiate or eliminate those that no longer work.
3. Get more rest (8 hours + a nap).
4. Read and eat slowly.
5. Connect more deeply with a smaller number of people.
6. Consume less, produce more.
7. Upgrade my Mastermind.
8. Schedule no more than 40% of my time.
9. Say “No thank you” to 90% of requests for my time and energy.
10. Spend 80% of my working time in the area of my Unique Ability. See Dan Sullivan's material on Unique Ability.
11. Re-commit to GTD. Check out David Allen's GTD class on Lynda.com.
12. Expand my use of templates.
13. Make better use of my main tools: OmniFocus, DragonDictate, TextExpander, Evernote, Scrivener.
14. Retire my email address and cell phone number.
15. Simplify, simplify, and then simplify.

Next Week:  Chris Brogan!

Get The Transcript

Click here to get the transcript. Transcripts provided by SuccessTranscripts – a great solution if you need your podcast, sermon, speech, or other audio transcribed.

Question: How do you plan to have a lean, mean 2015 – or do you? Click here to leave your comments.

The tag line in my logo says “Live with Joy, Lead with Passion, and Prosper with Purpose”. Occasionally someone asks me, “So how to do you that?”

That's what today's episode is all about: answering that question.

Announcements

I am getting excited about the upcoming Platform Conference in Colorado Springs, starting November 9th. There are still a few seats available, and you can still save $100 when you click here and add the special code RAY to your order.

Plus, Cliff Ravenscraft and I are hosting a special one-day event the day after the Platform Conference. This is a “Day With Cliff and Ray”, and if you're going to be in Colorado Springs for the Platform Conference, you should definitely consider joining us for this event.

Here is what we will be doing at this event:

The Deeper Connection Session: During this session, every person will be given a few moments to introduce themselves. These introductions will be done in a fun and interesting way that will certainly help you get to know each of the other folks in the group on a much deeper level.

The Next Level Resources Session: During this session, Cliff and Ray will go back and forth, in rapid fire succession, as they share their most valuable tips, tools and other resources that have helped them to achieve what is most important to them. There is no doubt that you will walk away with many valuable resources to take your own platform to the next level.

The Most Valuable Investment Session: During this session, each member of the group will be given a few moments to share what they feel has been the most beneficial investment that they have made in taking their own platform to the next level. Hearing “what has worked” for others may be just the source of inspiration that you need to get a glimpse at new possibilities.

AMA with Cliff & Ray Session: During this “Ask Me Anything” session, you will have the opportunity to ask Cliff or Ray ANYTHING you want. Both Cliff and Ray are very willing to share anything and everything from their own experiences that may be of help to you. So just think about it. If you could ask anything of Cliff or Ray, what would it be? Next, write that question down and bring it to this session.

Tip of the Week:

I absolutely love the Field Guides at MacSparky, which is the blog of David Sparks. Currently I'm reading his guide on Presentations, as I'm preparing for my presentation at the Platform Conference. His Field Guides are thorough, media-rich, and darn near flawless.

I also recommend the podcast he does with Katie Floyd, which is called Mac Power Users.

Bonus Tip: Dan Franks and Jared Easley are doing the Business Podcaster Summit in January. This is a great, no-travel-required event you should consider putting on your calendar.

Spiritual Foundations:

Instead of looking for something to do in God’s word, look for something to believe. Here are 5 things to believe that will change your life. Speak them and hear them.

1. My prayers are powerful and effective. (James 5:16)
2. I hear God's voice. (John 10:27)
3. Today is the best day yet. (2 Corinthians 3:18, Isaiah 9:6)
4. Everywhere I go people encounter Jesus. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
5. God is madly in love with me. (Psalm 33:18,  John 3:16-17)

Thanks to Levi Hug from Bethel Church in Redding, California for these points.

Feature Presentation: How to Live with Joy, Lead with Passion, and Prosper with Purpose

So how does one actually do what I propose in my tagline? How you do “live with joy, lead with passion, and prosper with purpose?” While I could write a book about this (and I am in fact doing just that), I want to share a shorter answer. This answer is simple, but high-leverage. It's really just 3 steps:

1. Decide
2. Connect
3. Pursue

Decide to live with joy.

• Happiness is a decision first. Be careful little brain, what you think.
• Emotion follows motion. The bet cure for depression is usually a good run.
• Protect the asset. Get proper food, exercise, and rest.

Connect your deepest passion to what you do every day.

• What do you do when you are free to do what you want?
• What did you dream about as a child?
• What do you do that makes you forget the clock?

Pursue your life's purpose.

• Know why you are here on earth.
• Let purpose drive your life.
• Make sure you stay “on purpose”.

Next Week:  Set Yourself Up For a Lean, Mean, 2015.

Get The Transcript

Click here to get the transcript. Transcripts provided by SuccessTranscripts – a great solution if you need your podcast, sermon, speech, or other audio transcribed.

Question: How do you manage to live with joy, lead with passion, and prosper with purpose? Click here to leave your comments.

The quality of your life is directly impacted by the quality of your habits. The problem is, most of us did not consciously choose to habits we currently possess. We drifted, stumbled, or otherwise accidentally acquired most of our habits.  Not all of those habits support the outcomes we truly want for ourselves or the ones we love.

In today's episode, we will examine five common habits that will completely wreck your life and how to get rid of them.

Tip of the Week:

Maybe you read The Four Hour Workweek and tried to outsource different parts of your job or business. Maybe that even worked well for you. And maybe, just maybe, you are still kind of stressed out. Perry Marshall suggested something to me once that was actually life-changing. It's one of those “tiny hinges that swing big doors”. It's a twist on the idea of outsourcing.

What if, instead of outsourcing high-level tasks at your job or business, you outsourced tasks in your personal life? You may scoff at first, but think about it: if you could outsource things like your laundry, yard maintenance, shopping, cooking, cleaning, mail pickup and drop-off, etc… how much time and energy would that free up for you?

Perry's suggestion to me was that it's better to start by outsourcing those things to clear out space in my life so that I could have time for critical thinking. This gives me margin so that I can spend time on creating ideas, reading, making connections, and generally performing the kind of alchemy that entrepreneurs get paid for.

I've been experimenting with this idea in a serious way recently, and my latest find came to me through my friend Stu McLaren, who turned me on to Fancy Hands. Basically, Fancy Hands will do anything for you that can be done in 15 minutes or less. So far I've had them:

• Research a long list of inspirational quotes for an upcoming presentation.
• Find me the best deal on a Keurig coffee maker.
• Proof some blog posts.
• Find and recommend a list of local people who might be available to do some personal assistant work for me (like the things I listed above).

One of the things I really like about their service is they calculate how much time you've saved by having them do this stuff for you. So far, I've invested about 10 minutes typing up the tasks I wanted them to work on: they estimate they saved me 1.4 hours. I think that's about right.

Currently, I plan to have them proofread all my blog posts, which I estimate should save me anywhere from 4 to 6 hours per month. Not that I spent that much time proofreading my blog posts, mind you…that estimate comes from the number of emails I get from people who say things like, “Do you realize what a goofy typo you made in this blog post?”

For the record, I had them proof this post. How did they do?

This is a very easy service to try, and if you decide to stick with them it's cheap. And there's no contract. Click here to check out Fancy Hands now.

Spiritual Foundations:

Are you worried, anxious, stressed out, overwhelmed? If you are troubled about a lot of different things today, I have an answer for you.

You've heard me talk about a book called The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. And that is indeed a good book. You've also heard me talk about a book called Essentialism, By Greg McKeown. That is also a good book.

But in truth, there is really only a single “one thing” that is essential to a fulfilled and peaceful life. And you'll find that story in a different good book-the Bible.

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, we read the story of Jesus visiting the home of two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha was fluttering around the house working hard at being “the hostess with the mostest”. She wanted everything to be just right. Mary, on the other hand was sitting at Jesus's feet, soaking up everything he had to say. It didn't take very long for Martha to get angry, and she apparently felt angry enough that she rebuked Jesus! She said to him, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”

Technically, Martha was correct in her assessment. In that culture, and at that time, it was considered improper for a woman to be sitting at the feet of the teacher. And it was also considered good manners to prepare food and serve your guests.

Jesus was gentle, but he came down on the side of Mary.

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42

The emphasis on “one thing” is mine.

So what is the “one thing” that Mary chose? It was to sit at the feet of Jesus, and listen to what he had to say.

If you have a lot on your mind today, the one thing you need to do is to sit at the feet of Jesus and soak up his words. He has an unlimited supply of grace, wisdom, and peace.

We tend to get busy doing things when we are anxious. We often transfer that into our spiritual life, thinking if we can just serve God at some higher level then he will bless us. That's exactly what Martha was doing-and it wasn't working.

That's not to say that serving God is a bad thing. In fact, it's worth noticing that Jesus did not rebuke Martha for the service; he gently corrected her for being “worried and troubled about many things.”

 You might say, “Ray, how can I sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to his words now that he's no longer on the earth?”

Two things to consider:

1. First, we as believers are the “body of Christ” on the earth. Jesus resides in your brothers and sisters who follow him. He can speak to you through them: through their words, through their prayers, and their acts of service.
2. Second, Jesus recorded his words for us through the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. And of course, all Scripture is inspired by God, so the entire Bible is his word. You can have it with you all the time-even on your smart phone!

The next time you are “worried about many things”, why not try doing “the one thing that is necessary” and listen to the words of your Savior?

Feature Presentation: Five Bad Habits That Will Wreck Your Life

The forces that shape our lives are usually more glacial than catastrophic. Meaning, they work over time like the ancient glaciers that carved out the mountains, moving inch by inch over the span of years.

The glacial power of life change is often contained in the habits we form-the things we routinely do without thinking about it, over and over again, year after year.

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
~ Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Here are five bad habits that are virtually guaranteed to wreck your life.

1. The habit of reactivity.
2. The habit of poor association.
3. The habit of procrastination.
4. The habit of instant gratification.
5. The habit of victimhood.

Of course, I'm not going to leave you hanging. Once you've decided to get rid of these bad habits, you need to replace them with good ones. These are five good habits that will enhance your life. They are the antithesis of the bad habits we just discussed.

1. The habit of proactivity.
2. The habit of intentional association.
3. The habit of advance preparation, and the power of the compound affect.
4. The habit of delayed gratification.
5. The habit of the victorious mindset.

Cultivate these habits for 30 days and I guarantee you will see a dramatic change in the quality of your life. Commit to them for six months and I believe your results in life will be almost unrecognizably good.

Next Week:  How to Live with Joy, Lead with Passion, And Prosper with Purpose.

Get The Transcript

Click here to get the transcript. Transcripts provided by SuccessTranscripts – a great solution if you need your podcast, sermon, speech, or other audio transcribed.

Question: Have you overcome any of these bad habits in the past, and if so how did you do it? Click here to leave your comments.

Many people in our modern society are prisoners. Prisoners of a job they hate, of a profession they despise, or even of a business that owns them (instead of the other way around.) It doesn't have to be this way.

Today's podcast is devoted to the idea that you can break free of that prison. That you can escape your “day job” and start living in the reality of your “dream job.”

Feature Presentation: Interview with Author Kary Oberbrunner…

Author, life coach, and speaker Kary Oberbrunner shows people how to launch their dream jobs and experience the freedom to go as they please, earn as they wish, and live as they like. His nine proven steps will help readers “jailbreak” from their day jobs without relying on an MBA, investors, or a lucky break. In this interview you'll discover how to:

• Overcome self-limiting beliefs that sabotage success
• Start lean and stay lean by ignoring conventional thinking
• Build a dream team of experts committed to their cause
• Carve out a niche and get noticed in a noisy world
• Market beforehand to create critical momentum
• Monetize a message to its full potential
• Achieve personal clarity, competence, and confidence
• Earn greater influence, impact, and income in the marketplace

Through sharing his own story and the success of others who have followed his process, Kary shows us that anyone can turn their passion into a full-time gig.

Kary Oberbrunner Links

Kary Oberbrunner's main website.

The Day Job To Dream Job website.

Order Kary's book on Amazon.com.

Next Week: Five Bad Habits That Can Wreck Your Life. For real this time.

Get The Transcript

Click here to get the transcript. Transcripts provided by SuccessTranscripts – a great solution if you need your podcast, sermon, speech, or other audio transcribed.

Question: Why do you want to move from “day job” to “dream job”? Click here to leave your comments.