Nugget For The Noggin

The SECRET is in the BAG!
By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, May 26, 2009

By now just about everyone has heard of the movie The Secret. The sad fact about The Secret is that it is not a Secret nor has it been a secret for quite a long time. In the 50’s Earl Nightingale said, “We become what we think about!” In 1910 Wallace D. Wattles wrote The Science of Getting Rich (among other great books) and he repeatedly said, “Think in a certain way!” Before Wattles it was written in the Bible, “Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find...knock (on the door of abundance) and it shall be opened unto you!”

It has been said that Tiger Woods as a youngster had photos of professional golfer Jack Nicklaus on his wall along with the various records that Nicklaus had accomplished and was still achieving. It was also said that young Tiger Woods set his sites on surpassing all of Nicklaus’ records. Many of today’s youth probably never heard President John F. Kennedy say, “First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” I would encourage everyone, young and old, to read President’s Kennedy’s speech again and ask yourself if a national focus just might solve one or more of the major problems facing our Country today. For example, what if the President said that we as a nation will commit itself to replace the internal combustion engine within 3 years? You can read the speech at:
http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/kennedy_man_on_the_moon_speech.htm

What does this have to do with The Secret? The REAL secret is in the BAG! Everything, and I mean everything you want to achieve in your life or our country’s life is truly in the BAG! What do I mean by “The BAG?”

BIG ASS GOAL!
(Excuse my language but sometimes words should not be substituted in favor of political correctness.)

We have probably heard of a study of Harvard Graduates and how a few of them set written goals and of the few who did how they completely blew away their fellow grads in life achievements. We have heard of people who have set goals to lose weight, yours truly included (lost 40 pounds). We have all set income goals, advancement goals, purchasing a home goals, becoming debt free goals and you can add whatever goals you personally have set throughout your life. Such goals pale in comparison to putting a man (woman) on the moon in less than 10 years when you are starting from scratch. Or at the age of 6 or 7 seeing yourself winning at least 19 major golf tournaments. Or, finding a substitute for the internal combustion engine in less than 3 years. How many of your goals have you achieved? Did you ever write your goals down and look at them on a regular basis – like daily?

My friend and mentor Joe Tye pointed out that as good as the movie The Secret is it left out one very important detail. Just thinking about a goal may help you to achieve it but without taking some action towards the goal makes your goal(s) more of a “hope” than a goal. Dr. John Maxwell said, “Hope is not an effective strategy.” I do not want to presume to have more insight than legends such as Wattles or Nightingale, yet having said that, I am convinced that the REAL secret to achieving your goals is to first have a really BIG ASS GOAL!

What is YOUR BIG ASS GOAL? Do you know? I particularly like what Zig Ziglar had to say in regards to this: “Are you a meaningful specific or are you a wandering generality?” I think we can agree that someone like Tiger Woods is a “meaningful specific” can we not? It is very difficult to be a meaningful specific if your formal education and/or your parents or mentors failed to point out the value of establishing goals. Your success would be more by accident than by design. Sadly I can say that in my high school and college days none of my teachers or professors ever discussed the importance of goal setting – let me repeat that – NONE! The closest I can recall to setting a life goal occurred when someone would ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” In the 60’s if you said anything that did not require a college education, there had to be something wrong with you.

Dr. Morris Massey said, “What you are (is based) on where you were when you were ten.” I originally heard that in the early 70’s and it has stuck with me ever since. Dr. Massey’s theorized that your core values and your beliefs were firmly ingrained into your inner self before you reached the age of ten. Some may argue with that and now that I have been able to see life and lives for almost forty years, I absolutely believe that the majority of people fall into that category. For example, why can some people become doctors with an understanding of complex medical issues using words that I can not even pronounce? Why do other people become great woodworkers and others athletes? Does anyone really believe they were born with the talent to advance in one direction as compared to another?

I believe that if you want your child to excel in life, it is not so important to direct or steer them in a certain direction as it is to convince them in their formative years that they CAN be anything they want to be! The first step is to convince and personally demonstrate (be a role model) to them that education is the path to everything and setting a BIG ASS GOAL is the secret (key) to unlocking their future.

I have had over 60 years to think about this and the question has become, can someone of my age set a new BIG ASS GOAL? Absolutely! One of the prerequisites however is setting a REALISTIC BIG ASS GOAL! Please take note that “goal” is singular not plural. Just ONE REALISTIC BIG ASS GOAL is the secret. Everything else you do and every other goal helps build the foundation that eventually leads you to achieving your life’s BIG ASS GOAL! With that in mind, could I become an airline pilot? The Pope? Play in the Masters Golf Tournament? That is why the word “realistic” is so important. You may outwardly set your BIG ASS GOAL and you may think about it every day (Nightingale). You may also go about your life in a “certain way” (Wattles) and you may even knock on the door of abundance but no one is home. In this case, not only would my BIG ASS GOAL be unrealistic, it would also be impossible.

Someone is going to once again land on the moon, someone is going to be a doctor, an airline pilot, the Pope or play in the Masters and those someone’s are more than likely now under the age of ten and someone else is encouraging them that they can be anything they want to be regardless of their environment, their parents or lack of parents, their race, their sex or their nationality.

What is my BIG ASS GOAL you ask? As I grew up I did not have one; shame on me. I had small goals, most of which where within sight meaning they were short term goals. I remember in the late 80’s I had a goal of managing a large full service real estate office. Looking back it is now obvious that goal was minor in comparison to a BIG ASS GOAL. I also recall very vividly when my manager Wayne Songy asked me shortly after hiring me to manage a large full service real estate company, “What’s next; what are your goals now?” I had no answer for him. I was in my mid 40’s and had no goals beyond where I was at that time. As stated above, it was a little late to want to become the Pope. It was possible to play in the Masters but not very probable.

One telephone call between Jay Papasan, one of the authors of The Millionaire Real Estate Agent book and myself helped me to formulate my BIG ASS GOAL that I am still working towards. I have been writing Nuggets for the Noggin for over 5 years. I have written over 250 of them. It has been suggested by many that I put them into a book but that is not realistic because the book would be longer than War and Peace. Jay Papasan asked me why I wanted to write a book. Was it to make money? Was it because I could? Or, was it because I wanted to leave a legacy? I had never thought about it before. It became obvious when Jay asked the last question regarding leaving a legacy. First let me explain that I had long ago created the following personal mission statement:

Mission Statement: To help people do what they do to do it better.

I have discovered that one of the best means of achieving my mission statement was to educate myself through reading, listening, and attending training and then writing these short Nuggets for others to read. I realized that people are busy and reading a book, attending training, etc is oftentimes a choice between educating themselves and other seemingly more pressing activities. The Nuggets were short enough that they could be read in a matter of minutes and then over time the readers would have been exposed to those things I have learned and thought important over time. Therefore my BIG ASS GOAL is to leave a legacy by making a difference; one person at a time. A lot of different people have said, “To get everything you want, help someone else get what they want.” Jeffrey Gitomer put an exclamation mark on that by saying, “To get everything you want, help someone else get what they want, FIRST!” Maybe this Nugget or one of the other 250 will help someone get what they want – FIRST!

Hopefully somewhere someone, maybe you, is going to read this Nugget or one of the many other Nuggets. That same someone is going to take this Nugget to heart and begin helping their children and/or grandchildren (or someone else’s children) to understand that he or she can really become anything he or she wants to be. It might sound presumptuous or immodest to suggest that this Nugget (or others I have written) may be the catalyst for that youngster (and possibly others as well) to become a doctor, the Pope, or win a Masters but I don’t think so. I only wish that I had this Nugget in my hands when any of my four children were born. Would things have been different? Maybe not; probably so!

THE SECRET REALLY IS IN THE B.A.G!