Sun. 7/26/2009 (11:00 PM MST)

 

I am amazed at how quickly time flies. I am making progress each day which I am excited about. I am reading the book, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napolean Hill. This is a very insightful book. It was written by Napolean Hill, an understudy to Andrew Carnegie, the steel billionaire in the early 1900s. He organized his findings by speaking with some of the most successful men of that time over the course of about 20 years!

 

This book is giving me great tools to use as I seek to break the barrier that stops so many of us from becoming more than just regular folks at regular jobs. The more I seek to do, the more work I realize I have to do, but I look forward to the continuing challenge.

 

When I was young as in when I was in high school and before, I still gave no thought towards what I would do with my life. As I look back, the first 29 years of my life were spent not giving a great deal of thought to what I was doing with my life. Sure I majored in Information Technology and got a great job and I am a whiz at working with websites. But now I feel that this is such a poor use of my time. I affect such a small percentage of people in the world by doing it. And so I am on a quest to find the fulfillment that comes with doing what I know I should do – and that is to reach out to as many people as I can through my books, online writing, speaking arrangements, and whatever else I can find to do.

 

But I digress, what I really want to talk about is the struggles I know many of you reading face to finding happiness and fulfillment. I do not want to go into the specifics, but I know your struggles involve the following:

 

Your kids

Your marriage/relationship

Your eating habits

Your depression

Your frustration with your job

Your financial struggles

Your jealousy of others

Your fatigue

Your anger towards another person

 

So take a moment and think about what you are focusing and thinking about each day. Is it how frustrated you are with your life? It is amazing that the reality for each of us generally becomes what our thoughts are most focused on. The great truth I have learned is that a shift in your physical stature and focus is enough to steer your reality ship in a different direction.

 

Instead of focusing on what is wrong, focus on what is right. As a child, we talked about our dreams and what we wanted to be when we grew up. As adults, we have generally spent a life of being told to be quiet and follow directions. This is unfortunate. From the time we are children, we are told to sit down and be quiet. This curtails our creativity.

 

Take hold of your thoughts. See the talents you have and what the wonderful things in your life are. Let your focus continually be on these things. When something goes wrong, deflect the natural negativity that tries to enter into your mind. Keep your focus on the good things of life. You will gain a mental strength over time as you do this and find life changing for the better. There will always be challenges, but your strengthened resolve will be able to handle it.

 

I have an edited draft of my first fantasy book ready now. I printed it out today. It is amazing how much paper it took up! And all of this started with an idea in my head – “I want to write a book.” And that thought is transforming into an amazing reality. Now my idea is this: “I will write a fantasy SERIES. And it will be known all over the world. And this is just the beginning to the books I will write.”

 

When you think about this, if you have not trained your mind, it is a little absurd. Write a fantasy book series that is well known all over the world? That is outrageous! I say to that NO WAY! If I can imagine it in my mind, I can create it. And I am doing it even now! There is nothing that you cannot accomplish if you have a burning desire. But that is not enough. You must have the tools to strengthen your mental state of being as well as make smart decisions. And even that is enough. Persistence and a continuous dedication are required.

 

I know you can do whatever you put your mind to. There is nothing quite as great as the human spirit!

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I thought of this short poem/excerpt today while at work. Take what meaning from it you will – each person is unique.

 

There is a point in time where every person faces a fork in the road of life. Some are graced with many chances at finding this fork. One turn in the fork continues down to the life as it has always been known. To a life containing frustration, stress, anger, dissapointment, fear, doubt, and emptiness.

 

And if that is the life one has known, why take a chance on any other path? For their is a twisted sense of comfort and accomplishment in continuing on the road in life for things as they have always been. Perhaps the worth of at least knowing that life can at least be as it always has gives a feeling of certainty even if misery remains.

 

But the second path presents itself willingly. At times, it may seem far in the distance, unable to be reached. At other times, it is within arms reach, begging to be trod. The path is unknown to many and contains hidden mysteries which astound. A life containing confidence, calmness, happiness, success, courage, certainty, and fulfillment are contained on this path.

 

And the soul goes through life, and the chance to take the second path remains. And every so often, the second path receives another, and the path gives everything it has to the one taking it, so long as the one taking it gives everything they have. And the fear and doubt that may come to one on the second path is squelched as a voice whispers.

 

“Move forward, do not despair. For doubts, fears, and failure may come. And even if the weather forms a hellish whirlwind tearing you apart, forcing you to live on the streets as a beggar. And even if you are beaten and found naked, and lost everything and everyone you know.”

 

“Or hanging from a cliff, those closest to the traveler scorn and mock the choice of taking the new path, hold on still, for the strength to climb will be found, and the journey on the path will continue, and the iron will gained from the second path surpasses any circumstance. Those not on the path will increase in being confounded, and the growth from the second path will shake the foundations of the earth.”

 

And so it is, standing at the crossroads, the second path is known. And whether it is taken is left to a choice. And the choice will gradually change the life of the one who takes it, and over time, lead to a completely new and glorious journey.

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Fri. 7/17/2009 (11:00 PM MST)

 

Our daughter Ellie turned two on May 12th 2009. She went with us to Wingers tonight for dinner. As our waiter brought out a bowl of popcorn, Ellie screamed in excitement, “Popcorn!”

 

Ellie’s excitement and enthusiasm for life are a tremendous example for me. How wonderful it is to see her consistently optimistic and excited. Whether it’s a bowl of popcorn, watching Ice Age the movie on DVD, or getting a glass of milk, Ellie excudes an enthusiasm that is contagious.

 

And this is a great help for me. What a daunting, yet exciting task I have before me. I now see myself as an author and a life coach. Now how many books have I written? How many workshops and seminars have I held? The answer to this is zero. But my state of mind is shifting. I have a clear vision of where I am going. The day will come when my books go into print. The day will come when I hold my first workshop/seminar. I am learning that the mind is an amazing thing. The thoughts we focus on have a funny way of becoming reality.

 

It is well known by those close to me that I finished 90 days of the P90X extreme fitness program and continue it to this day. My thoughts before I started were that my physical state was unacceptable. As I looked in the mirror, I saw someone who far exceeded the stature of what I currently was. I looked at pictures of individuals who achieved physical transformations. As I focused on this, I found a way everyday to work out in the mornings or evenings for an hour.

 

Evidence is extremely important for me. And my physical transformation is evidence to me that what the mind focuses on becomes reality if there is an intense desire, a smart plan, following successful persons, set forth to make it happen. But be careful! Focusing on negative aspects of life will cause you to set in motion undesirable things. Look at the foods, people, entertainment, and other areas of your life you delve into. Are any of these unsatisfactory to you? Keep note of how much time you focus on the unsatisfactory aspects. Now replace those thoughts/actions with satisfactory things. You will be amazed at the change in your life.

 

Some may say about my physical transformation to me, “Well that’s easy, you just bought the P90X and did the workouts, big whoop.” My response to that is two things. One: How many people do you know that followed through exactly with the P90X program for 90 days? The amount of people I know is 2 – and that is my wife and I. This isn’t to boast or say everyone must do it. No, not at all.

 

This brings me to point number two: Evidence is brought to light for me me that in order to achieve an extraordinary result, that an intense desire with a smart plan following those who are successful in the area you wish to succeed in is paramount. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless other strategies and techniques necessary to truly achieve a great result.

 

Were someone else to achieve the same physical transformation as me, I would know that they were focused on it intently, and following a specific plan of success. What I am saying is that I achieved a desired result. But it took a burning desire, a specific plan modeled after someone who found success and consistent reiteration and reciting of that plan.

 

Translating this into other areas of my life is the next big challenge. I seek to become an author and life coach. That’s all fine and good, but how am I going to put what I have learned about translating thoughts into reality to make this happen? The answer I believe is simple and includes the following:

 

• I will learn from the best authors and life coaches. I will do this in the way that I learned P90X from one of the world’s top fitness trainers, Tony Horton. I will study and learn their techniques and put them into practice for myself.
• I will create a specific strategy for writing, publishing, and marketing my books. I will use what successful authors have done as a guide. The first author as an example is Bobbie Christensen, a SUCCESSFUL author I had the privilege of listening to over a week ago now.
• I will learn from the most successful life coaches and the techniques they use. I know the two most successful life coaches of our time are Anthony Robbins and Wayne Dyer. I will then refine these techniques and add my own unique ideas and personality to create value.
• I will create a detailed schedule plan of action. I will complete all goals by their designated dates. I will use my talents and resourcefulness to achieve the results in areas I am currently inexperienced with, such as marketing my books and holding seminars.
• I will begin the formation of an experienced master mind group. This involves two parts.
• Part one is the further enhancement of my leadership skills. I will spend time honing and strengthening my leadership capabilities.
• Part two is the seeking out of individuals who excel in the following areas: marketing, public speaking, nutrition, physical fitness, psychology, and writing/editing.
• This last one is a big one for me, one I have never done before. That is to set a specific desired result I wish to achieve by a designated date. I have done this. When that date arrives, I will disclose the results of this experiment. There is no doubt in my mind that I will achieve what I am seeking out to do. I am putting to the test what I have learned, a pattern followed by successful men and women throughout the last century.

 

Does all of this sound overwhelming? Is it any wonder why it would be easier to just try and excel at my job as a web developer for Ancestry.com instead of pushing to become an author and life coach? This doesn’t mean I won’t excel at my Ancestry.com job – I continue to excel at it to this day.

 

My hope is that there are those reading this that will take pause and perhaps say inside, “maybe there is something more for me to achieve in life than what I am currently doing.” And that that person will begin the transformation that I am currently experiencing. And that is the essence of my desire to life coach. It is to help individuals align to a person of burning desire, proactively, confidence, success, and happiness in all areas of their life. And I continue learning and growing each day as I seek to do this and am excited for what the future will hold.

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I just wanted to drop a quick line here. I created a Facebook group and would love to see you join (if you have not already). To visit the page, go here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/DrJerm/96394173113 - see you on Facebook! And as always, you can subscribe to my blog here: http://blog.drjerm.com/register/

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Sat. 7/11/2009 (7:25 PM MST)

 

I am about to go mow our lawn, something I tend to do as fast as possible.  I often wonder what amusement/puzzlement our neighbors get seeing a man run as fast as he can while mowing.

 

Two days ago, I went to a two hour class about writing, publishing, and marketing books.  It was very insightful and the lady there makes a very good living doing it.  She’s written 10 books, and is a self publisher.  Two things that I thought were quite interesting.  The New York Times Best Seller List is a paid list you can get on, and the best seller sections of book stores are paid for to have your book there.  How funny!  But it makes sense when you think about it.

 

It seems that writing may be a good way for me to get this ball rolling.  I have the rough draft completed for my fantasy book series, book number one.  With the newfound advice from the class, I know of many ways I can make it better.  And I already have an idea for another book which I will write after this one is polished and published.  I am excited.

 

If I were to give a piece of advice to my readers and myself it is to constantly seek to learn and find fulfillment in life.  It would be to never be afraid of your own voice.  I know the more you speak, the more you risk offending or hurting someone, but that should never keep you from getting out there and sharing yourself with the world.

 

As I continue to write, I envision my own publishing company.  I envision traveling and doing much with my books.  It is exciting and it will come to fruition.  I know I will have many opportunities to speak and communicate with people and look forward to that challenge.

 

I’ve completed so much already.  I’ve finished draft number one of my first book, completed the P90X program (and continue it to this day), and my wife has our 2^nd child on the way.  Sure I have challenges and mistakes I make along the way, but the many seeds I am planting will soon enough grow and may I be ready for the riches which will result from them.

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Mon. 7/6/2009 (4:23 PM MST)

 

I woke up with a splitting head ache (probably from a late night last night) and worked from home from my Ancestry.com web developer job – I am thankful they allow me doing this periodically.  For those of you who are wondering, I work at Ancestry.com on the search UI.  That’s UI as in user interface, as in the stuff you see while you are using the website, such as the search pages where you can type in first and last name and more, search results page, and the image viewer page, just to name a few.  I am blessed to have such a terrific form of employment and wonderful group of people to work with.

 

I am an optimistic person.  I believe in myself.  However, today was one of the few days where I had to fight the age old battle against discouragement and depression.   It happens to the best of us.  I am not immune to it.  Let me share with you why I was discouraged.

 

I am trying to find success in a field that I’ve only recently begun studying (as in just over a year now).  I am 31 years of age as of this blog post, and so I am somewhat of a late bloomer.  I look at the success of Anthony Robbins and Wayne Dyer as the benchmark to measure myself against.  This is a huge benchmark, and of course where I am now, it is nowhere near what they have achieved.

 

As I brainstormed my first service, I thought of personal appointments to individual homes.  I thought of offering personal training, nutritional guidance, pep talks, access to my website, a pamphlet of useful information, weekly emails, and more.  I thought about doing this as a $75.00 package, and for each individual visit after that, for just personal training and general guidance and advice for $50.00 an hour.  The discouraged part of me said, “Nobody is going to pay you – you have no experience, just forget it.”  As I began to dwell on the negative I really had to slap myself in the face hard.

 

This is how spiraling depression happens.  It’s something that runs in my family.  We get depressed for a while, then flickers of excitement and then back into depression.  Thankfully I’ve been able to reverse this to where I only have rare days where depression hits – and I can recognize it as in today.  What did I do?  I took action.  I went to work and stopped dwelling on what might go wrong or might not work.  I started focusing on how talented I am, and how there are so many people in the world who need my services and if I can just reach them, they will be benefited greatly.  That’s the key everyone.  Fight depression with action and enthusiasm.  Do it.  Do not spend another second in self pity.  Action and service trump depression.

 

And so it is, I continue to move forward with determination and faith.  I am excited for the opportunity and challenge that lay ahead!

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I’m going to be keeping a journal log of what I am learning and thinking as I seek to develop more my business of life coaching. I believe it will prove useful to people who are seeking to progress in their lives. As such, here is the first entry!

 

Fri. 7/3/2009 (11:15 PM MST)

 

I’ve been at my computer for the last three hours now thinking and going over what it is I wish to accomplish. I see two main things. The first is my fictional series of books, of which I am fine tuning the rough draft of the first book. This is a book about a high school kid who finds passage to another world. The second thing is the pursuing of life coaching in all its forms. I see Anthony Robbins and Wayne Dyer as the two most successful individuals in this area for our time. They’ve certainly set a high bar.

 

I had the fortunate privilege to meet a gal by the name of Denise Hall who came to our company (Ancestry.com) last week. She is the CEO of Salus Solutions, a corporate wellness company. She showed us (about 50 people) her ‘AB Solution’ routine and talked about nutrition. I volunteered first for some of her abs moves and they were awesome. I contacted her later and went to do a personal training session with her in Salt Lake and this gal rocks! I knew from watching her speak to all of us that she would be someone that networking with would make a lot of sense. I feel fortunate to have met my first person to network with that is on a path of success in life. You can see Denise Hall’s website here. And if you live relatively near Salt Lake City, Utah and need a personal trainer, contact her from her website; you will be glad you did.

 

As for what I’m trying to accomplish, I’m sitting here now thinking of everything I need to do. I need to write better, speak better, create a better website, learn more, spend more time working, perfect myself more, plan more, organize more, network more, practice more, get more experience, and the list goes on with hundreds of things to do. I am thinking to myself, “my goodness, how can I accomplish this?” I am a very intelligent person. I am smart and capable, but I am not naïve. I know I cannot be successful by jury rigging together something, making it pretty, and packaging it up and selling it. I know I need to become a well known, sought after individual, who has perfected the art of writing, speaking, and understanding how to provide a more meaningful and fulfilling life to individuals.

 

This is overwhelming. But I know I must do it. I will do it. It is my destiny, what I was put on earth to do. As good and smart a software developer as I am, it is not my true destiny. And that is what I do for Ancestry.com currently. And make no mistake – it is a terrific job with wonderful people. It pays well and the health and other benefits are off the charts. The environment is relaxed. I feel extremely fortunate to be there. But it is not enough. An infinite force is pulling at me, and I know I must follow where it takes me. And so I am taking my ideas for life coaching and planning. And writing my fictional book series. And doing the best I can, one day at a time.

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Back around Feburary of 2008, I began to feel within me that there was something more to my life than what I was currently achieving. I began to feel a pull in a different direction. It was slight at first, but has gradually intensified to the point that it is nearly impossible to resist the force with which it is applying to me. DrJerm is one result of this intense tug.

 

For those of you who knew me in my younger years, I was far from being someone motivated to do something extraordinary with their life. I generally walked around with my head down, was very shy, critical of myself, and pessimistic about life to the core. I agonized over my mistakes, worried about upsetting other people, and in general, lived with very low standards of myself.

 

Fortunately I now see otherwise. I now have a wonderful family, well paying job as a web developer for Ancestry.com where I work on a team with some terrific individuals, and am taking the steps to further my life’s purpose. I completed the P90X 90 day fitness program and am amazed – I have ab muscles and a tone body whereas before I had no thought whatsoever about my health.

 

I believe one of my main purposes is to be, simply put, a beacon of light to individuals for guidance in life, and all that goes along with it. Some good advice I am taking is to look at the path of those who are successful in what is seeking to be accomplished. For me two such individuals are:

 

Anthony Robbins: Learn More About Tony Robbins
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer: Learn More About Wayne Dyer

 

I took the liberty to find the two most successful life coaches in the world today and there they are. They each have over 30 years of experience doing what they do. They speak, write, and carry themselves with confidence, complete assuring, and the belief and faith to carry out their life’s work. They are a great example for me to follow and in addition, improve upon as I seek to assist people in their lives.

 

And so this is what I have set out to do. The plan is not quite complete yet. I seek to be an author, have a website, hold workshops and seminars, and do personal coaching and counseling with individuals as well as groups. There is the standard part of me that fears the monumental task this entails. But then there is the new side of me, the powerful side, which knows my limitless talent. Which realizes are deepest most desired thoughts can become reality if we have passion, desire, faith, diligence, and a sound plan following the best people and groups in the world today.

 

I look forward to this journey and the excitement and thrill of helping others to any degree that they will open up and allow. I have living proof. My first step was to transform my physical body – it was ONLY a thought at first. The action was then taken and I am blown away.

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