The Most Powerful things in Life are SIMPLE BUT NOT EASY

"Everyone needs someone to help them take action on the simple things in life, because simple is not EASY."- Jon Bohm

In high school I wore a baseball cap that had the name brand "SIMPLE" on the front. SIMPLE is a great clothing and shoe manufacturer. I had a boss that would always make fun of me for wearing that hat. His jokes always themed around the idea that to be simple is to be slow... and basically a moron.

As you can imagine, I'm over it now- ok I still have a little resentment :). As a matter of fact, I couldn't disagree with that assumption (that "simple" means you can't even tie your own shoes) more! The mark of a brilliant person is to be able to take complicated ideas and make them simple enough to be useful and practical.

The greatest things in life are simple:

• Love
• Friendship
• Compassion
• Making Money
• Saving Money
• Starting a new healthy habit in the New Year
• Quitting an old unhealthy habit
• Staying active
• Eating Healthy
• Improving your quality of life
• Raising truly great kids
• Developing greatness in others
• Making the world, or at least your world, a better place

Maybe, as you were reading that list you started to disagree with me? What do you think? Simple? Is it simple to love your spouse? Is it simple to raise great kids? Is it simple to make money? To eat healthy, make the world a better place....etc?

Of course. It is SIMPLE. However, it is NOT EASY. Somewhere a long the line I believe just about everything in our culture has confused simple with easy.

For example, if you want to stop smoking it's not complicated. All you have to do is not put another cigarette in your mouth, don't light it, and don't puff on it. This is not rocket science. If you want to eat healthy all you have to do is put healthy food into your mouth, chew, and swallow. Again not rocket science. But NOT easy either.

So, let me ask you. If you could change anything in your life and improve on some things, what would you change?

Take a moment....ok got it?

Now, let's be real honest, is it a simple change?

I would be willing to bet all 3 of those things could realistically change in the next 12 months. Could they? If so, than why haven't you changed them already? What is getting in your way? What simple thing has become complicated or difficult and why?

Let me ask another question? Are you becoming more and more, everyday, the person YOU WANT to be in the future? Are you pulling your future into your present? If you are stuck in a rut, or if you know what simple things you need to change, than change them and don't make it complicated. Or, reach out for help. I help people every single day accomplish SIMPLE but not EASY things that they never thought were possible!

If you need help, reach out.... to family, to friends, to a professional like myself, or all the above and get your life moving. Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy, and it doesn't give you an excuse to just keep saying that "someday" I will be different and quit smoking, start a business, love my spouse better, make more money, etc."

Enjoy your life and make changes NOW, because "Someday" never comes without changing things NOW.

Jon Bohm

Key Questions when Hiring a Coach

"If you would attain what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you were pleased with yourself there you have remained. But once you have said, “It is enough,” you are lost. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing; do not stop, do not turn back, do not turn from the straight road." — St. Augustine

It's about time I gave some advice on what to look for when hiring someone to help you move your life and business forward. Some great questions:

• Are they a good fit for you? Do you like them and trust them?
• Are they results focused? A lot of people will charge you good money to listen to you. But, will they help you actually achieve the results you need in your life and business? Knowledge is NOT power- APPLIED Knowledge is power.
• Do they have legitimate names and numbers of people you could call to see if they are truly good at what they do?
• Are they focused on long termdevelopment of you and your life, or is it short-term training that you will have to try and remember?
• Do they help you get past the obstacles in your life and business or are they just focused on your goals?
• Do they help you in life and business? Or do they just focus on one or the other?

A couple pitfalls that are easy to fall into are:

Often people want to make sure the coach they are looking
at has extensive knowledge in their industry, but a good coach
can help you develop your skills and attitude in a field they
may not even know much about. If you need training look for
a good consultant or mentor. Although, some coaches do very
well in both roles.

Often people will look for a coach with the most degrees.
But, degrees do little in determining whether someone is
good atmotivating, inspiring, developing, and applying the attitudes
and action of others.

Sometimes people think they have it all figured out and
don't need help. We all need help, every good coach will hire
coaches themselves and they are always focused on life long
learning.

TigerWoods has three coaches and he is the best in
the world. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have arrived.

Cheers to always moving forward with some collaborative help!

-Jon Bohm

Lighting the Fire of Success

You get the best results from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within." - Bob Nelson

I want to ask you a simple question today. What drives you?

What really gets you going? What makes you so excited you can't sleep? What makes you so angry you would run through walls to stop it? What do you care enough about that you would sacrifice for it? Where is your fire?

Don't say money. Money can be a score card. Money can be tool to be used to stoke your fire. Money can be something that opens opportunities, provides influence, or invests in a cause you care deeply about. But, what is that "cause?"

What is your "Cause?" What is your "purpose?" Everyone has a purpose just like everyone has a heart. What's yours?

This may surprise you, but I hire a personal coach every year to help me grow personally and professionally just like all my clients hire me, and my coach turned me on to a powerful story of a man named Ralph Metcalf (above on Right). Read about him on Wikipedia or in the history books, but something you won't read is that Ralph Metcalf had a stated purpose statement for his life. For Ralph it was "to honor and serve his country." That is why he ran in the 1936 Olympics against Hitler's German squad, this is why he volunteered to fight in World War 2, and this is why he ran for congress at a time in our country when it was obviously difficult for a black man to gain a seat in politics. Bottom line... his purpose statement was his "Fire within."

What's yours? Find it. Breathe it. Live it. Or, call someone who will help you dig it up and get to really living on "purpose." After all, if you want a fire you have to fuel it and you have to light it, before you ever feel the heat.

Make the next stage of your life a magnificent obsession, rather than a meaningless odyssey.

Enjoy Life and LIVE today!

Jon Bohm