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Winning Now

Turn Your Job Into Your Joy

and NeverWork Again.

By

Dave VanHoose Americas Favorite Business Builder

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Winning Now Copyright 2012 by Dave VanHoose All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission fromDave VanHoose, except as provided by the United States of America copyright law or in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is sincerely appreciated. Printed in the United States of America First Printing: 2012

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife,Rachael, and our

adorable daughter,Victoria, who inspire and awaken the passion in me every day.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my folks, who taught me the most important lessons in life.

I would also like to acknowledge the mentors, leaders and teachers

who have been in my life and shared their wisdom with me.

And, of course, Ann McIndoo, my Authors Coach, who got this book out of my head.

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Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................... 9 Preface .............................................................................................. 11 Chapter One: Life Is a Game: Pre-game Strategies .......................... 19 Chapter Two: Preparing To Succeed ................................................ 35 Chapter Three: Personal Power ......................................................... 49 Chapter Four: What is Your Passion?.............................................. 55 Chapter Five: Relationships ............................................................. 73 Chapter Six: The Time of Your Life: Being Present ......................... 79 Chapter Seven: Scheduling Your Wins ............................................ 89 Chapter Eight: Financial Freedom ................................................... 99 Chapter Nine:Wealth ...................................................................... 103 Chapter Ten:Increase Your Money Consciousness .......................... 107

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Introduction

This book is about winning. Whether its a race, a new career, or

someones heart, this book will teach you how to get in and stay in the

game until you achieve your goals and win!

Just like any great success, there are ingredients to creating the

perfect mix to achieve your goals. Knowing what to do is very different

from doing what you need to do. I am constantly thinking about winning

and the next step toward winning. What would be a winning edge? How

can I create a winning advantage? All I think about is winning.

I share my own success strategies with you in the pages that follow

to inspire, motivate and help you turn your ideas into a firestorm of

passion and make your own dreams come true.

I tell myself everyday, and I say the same to you: Create the

Results you want NOW!

Dave VanHoose

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Preface

For eight years, I was a professional football trainer and the day I

won my world championship ring was a dream come true. The reason I

wear this ring everyday, is to it remind me of the journey I traveled to

become a champion.

As a professional football trainer, our team received lots of media

and was on national television. We played in the Arena Football League

and in my first year, we had the best team ever. We knew we were going to

win the Arena Bowl National Championship we were ready and there

was nothing stopping us.

Game day arrived. We were pumped and excited to win.

Television crews followed us, interviewers jostled to talk to us. We were

supposed to win, I could already feel my championship ring on my finger

and celebrating with my buddies drinking champagne.

We lost.It was devastating. It hurt the entire team and hurt me

badly.

The next year, we had our best winning record ever, went to the

playoffs and then lost the first round.

The third year I came back expecting to win the ring, this time for

sure, and we lost again.

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The fourth year, the same, and so it went. Getting so close to the

win, I could taste it, but never brought it home.

Finally, eight years later, we won it all.It was the most magnificent

win of all.

And that is why I wear my championship ring every single day.

It reminds me that persistence kills whatever is stopping you. If you

continue to follow your goals and dreams, persist and push through the

roadblocks that come up, you will achieve your goals and make your

dreams come true.

All I have to do is touch my ring and it triggers me to stretch, to

push, to do better and excel.

During my last year as a football trainer, I played a lot of sports. I

had injured myself and knew something was wrong because the pain in

my back would not go away.

I remember going to the doctor andlearning about my injury. I had

fractured my back; I had a par fracture, spondylolysis and a herniated

disc.I had to have surgery.I was in shock, and I was scared. I had a million

questions in my head about what was going to happen to me as I drove

home to share the news with my wife.

When I told her about my injuries and the need to have surgery,

the sympathy and consolation I expected was not what I got. She looked at

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me and said she didnt want to deal with this stress and anxiety. She left

me.

A week later I had my surgery, which took 10 hours and two

orthopedic surgeons. They cut me in the anterior part of my stomach,

moved all my organs out of the way and then reconstructed my back.

I woke up from surgery in excruciating pain. They had me on

morphine and I was numb. I couldnt feel my legs. Now I was really

scared, I didnt know if I would walk again, function normally or ever be

with a woman again.

I remember laying there in the hospital as I realized my career was

gone, my wife had left me, and I asked myself, What am I going to do?I

wondered if the pain would ever go away.

My mom came to the hospital to visit me. She looked at me and

said,What can I do for you?All I could say was, Help.

I had a lot of passion to come back and win again.My parents

picked me up from the hospital.I left in a wheelchair in a full body cast. I

stayed at my parents house where they took care of me; they even had a

hospital bed at the house for me.

I remember waking up at my parents house and looking at their

screened in pool, I thought to myself, If I could walk around that pool

just one time, then I could learn how to walk again. So I got up that day,

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put on my full body cast, and with my walker, slowly started to walk

around the pool. It took me 30 minutes to get around the pool the first day.

The next day I got up at 6:00 a.m., walked out to the pool and walked

around it twice. After that, I started walking more and more around the

pool, getting a little better each day, even though I was still on a lot of

medication.

Next, I started walking around the neighborhood. Being a physical

therapist and trainer, I knew the more I could walk and move my body, the

better I would heal and bring oxygen and nutrition to the injury.I was in

so much pain, thats all I could really do anyway.

As I walked, I asked myself, What am I going to do now? What

kind of career path am I going to take? I could not sit or stand for more

than 20 or 30 minutes without being in excruciating pain, so what could I

possibly do to survive?

During my walks, I noticed the houses that were for sale and I first

got my idea about becoming a real estate investor. I figured real estate

could be the way to recoup my fortune and get everything back.

I heard about a foreclosure auction down at the courthouse, so I

went to the auction in my full body cast, with my cane, and saw them

auctioning off properties on the courthouse steps. From the moment I saw

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them bidding on properties, I knew I wanted to become a real estate

investor. I knew this was the solution for me to become financially free.

I met my Operations Manager, Debbie, at the courthouse getting

the pre-foreclosure list. I found a foreclosure property from the list, bought

the property with no money down, arranged for a handyman to fix it up

while I was in my full body cast, flipped it and made $42,000 in my very

first real estate deal. Bodycast or not, I was on my way.

In addition to the excellent profit I made on my first deal, I learned

a very important lesson that I turned into a multi-million dollar business.

I realized that the foreclosure information I got from the courthouse was

very important. So, I got together with Debbie, and a friend of mine, and

we created a company called ForeclosuresDaily.com.

We supplied people with a foreclosure list so they could buy and

sell properties. We went to Starbucks in downtown Clearwater, Florida,

envisioned the business and signed the paperwork to begin the foreclosure

company. I paid a technology company by credit card to design the

software and we started the company.

I also went back to football that year, four months after the

surgery,for one last season. Although I was in excruciating pain, while

recovering from the surgery, I took care of the players injuries and helped

with their training.

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I went back because I didnt want to let the team down. Working

on the team helped me pay the bills while I was building the foreclosure

business.

At the beginning, Foreclosures Daily wasnt very profitable and

we lost money for the first six months. I remember waking up every

morning in agonizingpain and thinking to myself, I dont think I can go

another day.But it was my passion and enthusiasm that kept me going.If

you want something bad enough, and continue to work at it with passion;

eventually you will get your reward.

After being injured so badly, another motivating factor was that I

wanted to get my life back to where I had been. I knew I had to win

and I would do whatever it took to succeed.It was this commitment

to myself, dedication to my outcome and a strong mindset that I would not

lose that carried me through each day.

After the first six months of losing money, things started turning

around and soon our foreclosure company was doing very well.We went

full-time, started paying ourselves and the business started to grow and

expand.

We grew to having 80 contractors working for us. We did $14

million dollars and also made Inc. 500 as the 35th fastest growing private

company in the United States. Our success was pretty awesome! We were

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supplying investors with the pre-foreclosure list and after that we began

doing workshops and seminars teaching real estate investors the

principles, tools and strategies to make money in real estate with no

money down.

At the time, 2003-2005, the real estate market in Florida and

across the country was heating up, so a lot of people ran toward real estate

when it was on the rise. People were anxious to be trained in how to buy

and sell real estate, and we were sitting in the midst of it. We supplied

people with great tools and services to help them with their businesses. It

was very exciting and my success was back! It was an extraordinary

success and inspired me to continue creating, achieving, succeeding and

helping others do so as well.

My entire life, it has always been my passion to help people by

giving them an edge to achieve their goals. That is why I initially became a

sports medicine major. I truly enjoyed helping people prepare for the

season and recover from injuries.

I used that same passion and knowledge to help real estate

investors. I wanted to give them every advantage so they would be able to

succeed and win!

Dave VanHoose 2012

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Passion: To Sacrifice;

Example: When you are passionate about something, you are willing to do

what it takes to make progress.

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Chapter One Life Is a Game: Pre-game Strategies

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

~Winston Churchill

Life is a game, so play to win! We come into the world to play a

game, have fun, enjoy life, experience life and learn lessons. I

believe life can be everything you want because of one thing: JOY.

When you make life a game, it is something you can win,

learn from and be better.

If you follow your internal guidance system and discover

what brings you joy, happiness and passion; youll be on the right

track to discovering what you were meant to do.

For me, life is a game and you need to know the rules, which

at times, can be tricky. Radio ads, television commercials,

billboards on the side of the road, media of all types, bombards us

with messages and rules they invent to sell their customers

products. Many people have been taught, and programmed that to

be happy you must drive a certain kind of car, drink a specific

coffee or vacation at the resort they are promoting.

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Happiness comes from the inside and is generated by you,

based on your thoughts, language and actions. None of what

brings you true happiness comes from the outside. That is why it is

critical that you determine what is important to you, what you are

passionate about and what gives you joy and happiness.

When I coach my clients, many of whom are successful

entrepreneurs, professional athletes, business owners, professional

speakers and authors, I ask them:

What are you passionate about?

What do you love?

Many times there was a long

pause because my client had not

thought about it or, more sadly, not doing something they loved

and were passionate about.

I find it amazing that most people dont know what theyre

passionate about or what they love. Its very important to identify

your passion and love. If you are not doing what youre passionate

about, what you enjoy and brings you love; your life can be

incomplete.

Why even bother to play?

What game are you playing?

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In the game of life, I have another standard.I always tell

myself, Play the game to win or dont play at all.

What do I mean by that? Being a coach and trainer, I saw

how the athletes worked so hard in their games. We were

supposed to win the championship. We lost. However, through

persistence, and hard work, we won, eight years later.

Rules of the Game.

It is of paramount importance to understand that, like in

sports, there are rules. You have to know the rules so you can play

the game to win. In todays world, there are some rules which

many of us are confused about. Weve been told that we have to

work harder to make more money and we have to go to college to

become successful. But these are not the rules of winning.

For me, every day is a new game and I thank my Creator for

giving me another day to play to be able to go out, have fun and

play. Shouldnt every day be an opportunity to do what you enjoy

most and create what you want?

Just like in any game, there are rules. If you follow the rules,

practice, have a great coach, and a team that supports you, you can

win. Its the same with the game of life.

Here are the rules:

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You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons or the wind.

-Jim Rohn

Rule #1: Take Responsibility. You must take responsibility for your decisions, choices and

actions in your life. In my life today, I take 100% responsibility for

my life. Everything that happens in my life and every person that is

brought into my life is because of my decisions and choices. I hold

myself 100% responsible for

everything that happens. I dont

blame anybody; I take full

responsibility to win in this

game of life.

Many people let life control them instead of them controlling

their life. One way to control your life is to take 100%

responsibility. You cant blame your parents, your boss, the

economy, your ex-spouse or partner.

Remember, a decision you made created the situation that

you are in and brought the people you are surrounded by into your

life. What you choose determines where you are in your life, in

your career, and the relationships in your life. Good or bad, you

made the decision that brought that boss, business partner or

circumstance into your life. You must do your due diligence when

choosing what you want and do in your life.

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Rule #2: Give Up Your Excuses! Part of taking responsibility is giving up all your excuses for

why things dont work, the success you desire has eluded you, the

job you applied for that didnt come through, etc. It is time to let go

of all the complaints, blame, and excuses for not having what you

want or being where you want to be.

Beginning today, no more excuses. It is what it is. Accept

what is and take responsibility.

Right now, put your hand on your heart and say: I give up

all complaining, blaming others and creating fault. I take 100%

responsibility of my life.

From this moment on, it is what it is.

Give up your excuses!

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Rule #3: Understand the Game. To play the game, you must understand the rules and how

they work. We understand how gravity works so we can use it to

our advantage. Its the same thing with success.You need to know

the rules so you can succeed.

Many people think that to be successful, you need to work

hard and make a lot of money. I was always told to go to college,

work hard for 30 or 40 years, and you would be successful. I have

found that is not necessarily true.

So what is success? How do you know when you have

achieved success? How do you measure success? Ill get to that in

a few minutes, first, lets understand the game.

You can actually use many different winning principles and

strategies to win. Some of the most valuable principles I have

learned include:

Leveraging other peoples money, time and talent

Knowing what our core genius is

Having total clarity about what we want to accomplish

Using our mind and thoughts, and

Taking Massive Action!

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I struggled in high school to get good grades. Studying was

hard for me. Right before graduation I saw a guidance counselor to

help me choose a career as I did not want to work in a factory like

my father and grandfather.

My counselor looked at my grades and told me I would

never make it and that the best thing for me to do was to be a

laborer. This was not in my plans, I could not see myself working

in a factory for the rest of my life, so I took action.

I applied at the local junior college and convinced the

admissions counselor to give me a shot. I was persistent and they

let me in. That started the process of creating my career. It was a

great lesson for me to pursue my dream, no matter what someone

else said.

Ive found that most of the time we become what we think

about.Most successful people understand that the thoughts you

think and what you continually bring to your life contributes to

what is going to happen.We must understand that to win the game,

you must be able to control your thoughts and what you bring into

your mind.

Secondly, you have to understand the law From

Within,From Without. Everything that happens to us, happens in

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our subconscious mind first and then materializes in the physical

world.

If you want to change your life and win, you have to

understand that everything comes from the inside out. Start first

with the thoughts youre thinking. Start by creating different

thoughts,so you can change your game.To understand the game is

to understand that everything comes from the inside out.

Start thinking differently about everything you want in your

life and how you want it. Write it down and include:

The black book and how you used it

o Hopes, dreams, desires, o Actions o Plans o Affirmations o Self limiting beliefs o Goals o Gratitude o To do list

I write everything down, everything that comes from within.

I have always wanted a house on the water and a boat. I took out

my black book and wrote it down: I want a cigarette boat that I can

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have outside my house and drive. I decided that I would get that

boat on December 1, 2008. I kept thinking about it, I kept writing it

down. Everyone told me I could never get the boat, but I didnt

listen to them, I writing and planning and persistent in searching

for my boat.

A few months later, while I was at a conference, I received a

call from a yacht broker that told me he found the perfect boat for

me and that he could get me a really great deal on it.

I went to see him a few days later, and he was right. It was

the perfect boat. I bought it. As I was signing the papers, I noticed

the date: December 1, 2008!

Rule #4: Know EXACTLY what you want.

You need to get very clear on what you want. Once you

know what you want, you mustdecide, commit and resolve to

achieve that goal.

What do you want? What is your outcome?

As I think back, we had some old myths growing up.We

believed that if you went to college,

got a job, worked for somebody,

saved and got a pension; life would

What do you want? What is your

outcome?

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be good. The days of the old myths are over.

You cannot rely on a J.O.B. (just over broke), so why would

we have a job? To win in life, you cant have a job and work 30-40

hours a week for someone else.You need to begin creating the

wealth that you want for you and your family.

You may want to consider becoming an entrepreneur and

creating your dreams and future. Entrepreneurship is a winning

strategy proven by many people, like Bill Gates, Oprah, and

Richard Branson. Every one of these individuals pushed their

limitations to the side and persisted to making their dreams come

true, creating a difference in the world.

They knew what they wanted and went after it, never

wavering in their resolve or giving up.

After I had my back surgery, even though I was in a cast,

had no home of my own, I was staying in my 98 year old

grandfathers retirement home, doing therapy by walking around

the pool, I decided to start my own business.

I had no idea how to start or run a business. I had no capital

or expertise. But I didnt let that stop me. I was persistent. I

decided, commited and resolved to create something.

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My grampa lived by the courthouse so I went their and

observed a foreclose auction. I went and watched and learned, and

I got an idea.

I envisioned creating a foreclosure business where I provide

foreclosure information to investors.

Rule #5: Whats Your Why? One of the most important principles for winning is to know

why youre playing the game. The why is the foundation and

motivation behind the game. When you break it down, the reason

youre playing the game is to experience emotion and to have joy

and happiness. You might want to become a multi-millionaire, but

whats the reason why? Whats going to get you up in the morning?

What is the compelling reason?

You have to have a big enough why to consistently

motivate you to win. Successful people understand this. One of the

things I do at my seminars is to have entrepreneurs create a why

video, which helps them express why they want to succeed and

clarify what is important to them.

I taught real estate investors to become wealthy buying real

estate and I told them its not about the real estate, its about why

you want to become wealthy. When they broke it down, it was

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about their family, freedom, travel, the cars and foods they wanted

to experience, which is the reason why they wanted to become real

estate investors.

The real estate was just the vehicle to make that

happen.Therefore, its very important to understand why you want

to win.

Rule # 6: What is your Vehicle?

Now it is time to write down whatever game you have

decided to play. Take out your Winning Journal, which you can

download from WinningNow.com or receive in the mail, but write

down the why for why you want to make this change, because if

the why is big enough, you will consistently have the motivation to

make it happen.

Rule #7: What is your Outcome? What is your ideal outcome? What results are you seeking?

Do you want to make a million dollars? Do you want to lose 10

pounds? Do you want to be the best mom? You must know what

you want.

Rule #8: Measure Your Results.

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When pursuing your dream, achieving a desired goal,

attaining success, how do you know you have completed what you

set out to do? How do you do that?

You have to measure your results, so you can consistently

check and see where youre at in your journey to your goal.

How do you know when you have accomplished your goal?

How do you measure your success?

In my business, we track revenue as well as how many

clients we have helped, inspired and led to success. It is important

to know what you want to get out of it as well as what you have

accomplished.

One of the most important things Ive learned is that results

never lie. In life, you either win or you dont. Youre either thin or

youre heavy. Youre either financially free or working. In life, its

very easy to figure out if youre on track, again, results never lie.

Look at your results. Are you winning, yes or no? A lot of

people get confused and think they are in between. The worst

thing you can be is in between. You need to ask yourself, Are the

actions Im taking today going to increase my results? If they are

not going to make a difference, then you are taking the wrong

actions, and going in the wrong direction.

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One of the consistent things I do is record my results in my

journal. For me, its important to stay healthy and in my journal I

look at what my results are. How much do I weigh? What are my

results in the gym? I write them down and keep track of how I am

making progress on my goals.

One of the most important things you can do as a business

owner is look at the results of your business. What are your P&Ls?

How much is your revenue? What are your expenses? How many

new prospects or leads are coming in? You need to look at the

results, because results never lie.

The results you are getting are in direct correlation with the

pictures in your mind. Therefore, if you want to change your

results, you need to change whats going on inside of you. The

greatest thing is that were working on ourselves from the inside

out. The best thing about journaling is that you will begin thinking

about and taking new actions to create new behaviors in order to

achieve the results you desire.

If you want to change your results, here are three success

strategies to do it:

1. Change the pictures in your mind

2. Change your self-talk and how you talk to others

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3. Change your behaviors

By implementing these three strategies, you will certainly

get different results. Look at your current results and work

backwards to see what pictures you need to change in your mind,

how you talk with yourself and to others and what new behaviors

you should implement to change your results.

Rule #9: Mastermind.

In 2006, I began doing a lot of seminars and speaking on the

circuit. I wanted to become one of the best inspirational speakers in

the country. I was reading Napoleon Hills Think and Grow Rich,

where I learned about the 17 principles to become successful.

The second principle, which he said was most important,

was masterminding. Hill says nobody has ever become successful

without the alliance of a mastermind. So with that in mind and

wanting to become one of the best speakers in the country, I created

a mastermind for speakers. I contacted all the best speakers in the

country and put a mastermind group together. We were going to

mastermind three times a year and then once a year in Costa Rica.

The Mastermind was about helping each other, building our

businesses and determining how we could help our clients. We

made each other accountable and made sure everyone was playing

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a big game. We put the mastermind together and within one year,

everyone in the group was making at least a million plus.

A Mastermind alliance can be very powerful. When you

bring the resources of 10 or more people together, it is as if a third

or fourth mind shows up;the principle of masterminding is

amazing.

If youre in a mastermind group and youre the most

successful person in it, youre in the wrong mastermind group. You

want to be in a mastermind group with people who have more

resources and are more successful than you.If you ever have a

challenge in your business, you can look to your mastermind group

and they will usually have the answers.

Masterminding is also important for reference points.If

youre seeing people succeeding and winning then your reference

points move up and you start winning at that bigger level because

the belief in your mind raises you up so you start to play a bigger

game. Its simply that you become who you surround yourself

with. Tony Robbins says, You become the five people you

surround yourself with most.Be sure to surround yourself with

high-powered people.

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Take a moment now and get your Winning Now book.

Write down the names of the five people who you surround

yourself with most of the time. Put a plus sign next to the person if

they are positive, motivated, winning and have good morals and

values. Put a negative sign next to those who are toxic complainers

and not winning. We call them dream stealers.Now look and see

how many pluses and minuses you have.

For the next 30 days surround yourself with positive people,

limit the negative people in your life, and see what happens.

Rule #10: Enthusiasm and a Winning Attitude. One of the most important ingredients for success and

winning the game is enthusiasm, attitude and mindset. It is

important to get up each morning excited, inspired and passionate

about what youre going after. It also creates great energy when

youre passionate because people want to be around you.People are

willing to show up in your life and help you on your journey to

achieve your goals.

Many people wake up in the morning with the attitude of,

its just another day and hoping nothing bad happens.Instead, get

up and say,Its a great day.I cant wait to see how many amazing

people are going to enter into my life and what wonderful things

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will come about.People often look at the glass as half empty

instead of half full.

Make the mind shift of getting up and approaching each day

with a better attitude, asking how you can learn and grow from

your experiences and show great enthusiasm. Having that

enthusiasm will stretch a long way because no one wants to

surround themselves with somebody who is negative and bored in

life.Passion is the main ingredient, people are drawn to people that

are winning.Create a mind shift of excitement, being inspired and

having great energy.

Rule #11: Turn Unexpected Time into a Treasure. My wife and I were out for a drive in our new car and in all

the excitement, I forgot to check the gas level and we ran out of gas.

We were sitting beside the road and for a split second I was mad

and disappointed, but I decided right then to make it a great

experience by spending quality time with my wife while my buddy

brought me some gas. We had the best hour long conversation and

connection of our lives.

Waiting in line at the bank? Are there 3 cars in front of you

at the gas pump? On the subway, in traffic, stuck at the airport?

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Have a book, an audio or a project to work on?You need something

to feed your brain at those times.

Strive to have great energy and a winning attitude, no

matter what shows up in your life, always look at the positives.

Even though sometimes bad things happen, there is always a seed

of good that allows for a great learning experience.

Rule #12: Gratitude.

One of the most important things I focus on is gratitude.

Every morning when I wake up I focus on 10 things for which I

have gratitude and appreciation.Before bed I write down,in my

Winning Book, 10 things that happened that day that I appreciate.

Its amazing when you make that mind shift of appreciation

how your happiness goes up. Having appreciation and being

grateful is one of the keys to winning in life. Even if your current

situation isnt exactly what you want it to be, be grateful. I believe

the more gratitude you have and the more grateful you are about

things, the more things start to show up in your life like magic.

One of the things a winning personality has is to never give

up. In college I got my degree in sports medicine and my first job

was a professional football trainer working with an Arena football

team called The Tampa Bay Storm. I was 26 years old working

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with the team, we were on national TV and it was very exciting.

Thats where I started understanding the winning principles. Being

around sports my whole life and being around athletes, I was able

to model and see what success was all about. I was able to take the

principles I saw from sports and implement them into my own life.

In 1998 we had one of the best teams and we were expected to win

the world championship in Arena football.

At 26 years old I wanted one of those rings to show I was on

a winning team. We went to the game and lost. The loss hurt so

badly and destroyed my hopes of winning a ring. We went back

the next season where we had the best record ever in the regular

season. Then we went to the playoffs and lost in the first round of

playoffs and my second chance to win the ring was gone. We

played another season and lost again. It was 8 years later that we

finally won the championship, we were on NBC TV and I got the

ring. It has been amazing wearing one of these rings because you

got the status, restaurants gave us free food, and everything about

it was very exciting.I wear the ring with pride showing that

persistence kills all.You will finally get there if you have a winning

attitude and are continually workingtoward your goals and whats

important to you.

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If I was in New York and wanted to go to LA and had to

walk, as long as I had a map and direction, taking one step at a time

I would eventually get to my destination. Thats what winners do.

They know there will be bumps in the road. They know there will

be blocks in their path, but they never give up. They consistently go

after their goals and continue to go after their goals, which is what

its all about.

Right now, write down some of the roadblocks that could

happen or have happened to you. By being aware of these in

advance, youll recognize them when they come up and you can

forge ahead through them.

Lou Holtz was a well-known football coach who was also a

legendary goal setter. His belief in goal setting began with a lesson

he learned in 1966 as an assistant coach at the University of South

Carolina, he was 28 years old.

His wife, Beth, was 8 months pregnant with their third child

and Lou had spent every dollar he had on a down payment for a

house. One month later, the head coach that hired Lou resigned, so

Lou found himself without a job.

In an attempt to lift his spirits his wife gave him a book

calledThe Magic of Thinking Big. The book said that you should

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write down all the goals you want to achieve in your life, and thats

just what Lou did.

He sat down at the dinner table, turned to his imagination,

and before he knew it, he had listed 107 goals he wanted to achieve

before he died.These goals covered every area of his life including

having dinner at the White House, appearing on the Tonight Show

with Johnny Carson, meeting the Pope, coaching at Notre Dame,

leading his team to a national championship and shooting a hole in

one in golf.

So far, Lou has achieved 81 of these goals, including a hole

in one, not once but twice.

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Rules for Winning the Game

Rule #1: Take Responsibility Rule #2: Give Up Your Excuses! Rule #3: Understand the Game Rule #4:Know EXACTLY What You Want Rule #5:What is your WHY? Rule #6: What is your Vehicle? Rule #7: What is Your Outcome? Rule #8: Measure Your Results Rule #9: Mastermind Rule #10: Enthusiasm and Winning Attitude Rule #11: Turn Unexpected Time into a Treasure Rule #12: Gratitude

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Winning Action Items 1) Start Your Winning Journal. 2) Write down your top 10 goals for this year. 3) Schedule your success: What are you going to do first today? Tomorrow? Next Week? This Month? 4) What are your goals for this year? 5 Years from now? 5) Create your Life List What do you desire, want to achieve, see, be, do in your life?

37

Chapter Two

Preparing to Succeed

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when youtake your eyes off your goal.

~Henry Ford

One of the powerful tools you have, and the most important

thing you must understand, is your mindset. Everything we have

talked about so far is from the inside out.

In my home, the thermostat is set at 72 degrees and when

the environment becomes warmer, the thermostat automatically

kicks in to keep the temperature at 72 degrees.

Your mind is like a thermostat. If your internal Earnings

thermostat is set at making $40,000 to $50,000 a year, that is where

it is going to stay. If you make $100,000, and throw your internal

thermostat off, chances are the next year you will sabotage yourself

and earn less so your thermostat remains in the same place. To

increase your results, you have to change your settings.

Its been shown that 80% of people who win the lottery end

up filing bankruptcy in five years. It would seem with all the

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money you have just won, you can set yourself up for life. Why

does this happen? The new life has the old settings. One of the

most important things you can do is to raise your thermostat on a

regular basis.

What is your internal thermostat set at? What are your

beliefs about your settings? Your thermostat, of course, was set at a

young age by your parents, your peers, your role models and other

people around you. We see it all the time. Many professional

athletes who grew up in poor areas and became very successful,

end up back where they started because their mindset and

thermostat wasnt set high enough. You need to determine where

your thermostat is set and decide where the best place is for it to be

set. Perhaps, you might need to raise it.

In preparing to win, I will be teaching you some affirmations

as well as how to change your beliefs. These are the key

components to getting your millionaire mindset and mindset to

succeed. Have you ever noticed that certain people seem to win in

life, whereas others dont? The winners win because their internal

mindset is set to Win!

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What is your mindset? Is it set to win or set to lose? This is

something you need to know and constantly check in on as it drives

your decisions and the actions you take.

I want to share with you my story and about my own

limiting beliefs. I grew up in Michigan and had a rough childhood.

I was held back in school because I was told I was Dyslexic and that

I couldnt read or write; so I struggled through school.

My parents were divorced and left me home alone. I was

very depressed, I started drinking alcohol and doing drugs. I

barely made it through high school, graduated with a 1.2 grade

point average and was told I would never make it or survive. With

my parents divorced, we ended up on welfare, so I was one of the

poorest kids on the block.

I went to college barely able to read or write and went to

Florida where my first career was working as a professional

football trainer. I had a sports injury, not related to football,

fracturing my back and ended up having back surgery. In the

process, my wife left me with nothing. I was in the hospital and

my parents took me home at 29 years old, paralyzed, in a

wheelchair and with a walker. I lived with my 98 year old grandpa

who took care of me for a year.

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It sounds like a rough road, and at times, it was. What kept

me going was determination, discipline and dedication. I set my

goals and focused on them.

I decided to start a business.

I started my business with a credit card, took it to Inc. 500

and became the 35th fastest growing company in the United States.

I recovered from back surgery and bought two limos, a yacht; I had

it all.

I was successful and living the life I had dreamed of.

And then I lost it all because of bad business decisions and

bad partnerships.

Today, Im back on top. I do not have Dyslexia and I am an

avid reader. I have my own business. Im financially free now.

And I keep fit through exercise and running on the beach, every

day.

How did I do this? Mindset. DECIDING to be successful,

raising my internal thermostat and taking action.

Thats the power of using my philosophy in this book. Ive

overcome nearly every obstacle anyone could have financial,

physical, emotional, so when Im working with clients or others

who say, Dave, I cant do it, Im injured, or I came from a

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broken family, or I cant read its time to work on your

mindset.

Ive broken through nearly every limitation someone could

have and the truth is, they are all stories. Break through your

stories to create and win at any game you choose to play.

The Importance of Environment Playing to win and succeeding has a lot to do with your

environment and surroundings.

What is your set point?

You become like those whom you surround yourself with

most often. Its amazing that when you are around other successful

people and start to see your reference point as being successful,

that you somehow, like magic, are drawn into being successful

yourself. Thats why a lot of successful people join mastermind

groups and go to seminars, so they can continue to surround

themselves with like-minded people and great environments. A

toxic environment can wreak havoc on your mindset, goals, plans

and dreams, which contribute to not winning.

Knowing and creating your winning environment is very

important.

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You may need to change your environment and go to places

where successful people hang out. Perhaps join a mastermind

group with other successful people. Go to golf courses where

successful entrepreneurs play or join the country club because your

environment plays a major role in your success. Surround yourself

with a good environment. Maybe youre in a job with a negative

environment, if thats the case, you need to get out of that

environment, move on and surround yourself with successful

people.

One of the strategies Ive learned and used as a secret to my

success is to find out what I truly want to do and stay around

others that are doing it. This leads to becoming like them.

This is called the Law of Proximity: when you become close

to a specific environment, you start to act and change yourself to be

more like the people around you. Its quite amazing. Your

environment is an important part of your success.

My limiting beliefs were that:

I couldnt read because I was Dyslexic.

I couldnt become successful because I wasnt smart

enough.

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I couldnt have a great relationship because I came from

a broken home.

I broke through those limiting beliefs and fears.

Right now, I would like for you to take a few minutes and

think about your own limiting beliefs. What are they? What is

stopping you from success and achieving your dreams?

I know it may be painful to think about it, but it is important

that you KNOW what they are. It is critical that you are clear about

what your limiting beliefs are, so you can change them into

empowering beliefs.

Write down five self-limiting beliefs that are holding you

back, stopping you in your tracks, the reason for not achieving your

goals, and costing you your dreams.

1. _______________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________

What are your stories?

Do they serve you?

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Why do you stick to them? Why do you keep repeating

them?

People create and live on their stories because it creates

certainty for them and they become addicted to the vicious

repetitive cycle of their negative identity.

Decide, right now, to break through that mindset.

To change your life, you must change your mind.

One way to change your mind and your mindset is to

change your environment.

Choose To Win To start, choose to win. Make a conscious decision to WIN!

To win at whatever it is that you want. Not only to win, but to

WIN BIG!

Think about each one of the limiting beliefs you wrote down

above and decide to change it.

Take different actions for each one of those limiting beliefs to

start raising your thermostat. Decide and make a commitment to

victory. Commit to self-mastery, which in Japanese is known as

Kaizen, never-ending improvement, continuously working to get

better so you can win.

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Each step forward is a victory. Celebrate each victory no

matter how small.

I see a lot of professional athletes who consistently practice

and train, repeating their skill until they reach victory. Thats what

winning is all about, continuing to work on you and over time,

getting better and better.

As soon as you commit to victory, one of the most important

things you can do is take 100% responsibility for your life. You

must stop blaming outside forces, stop blaming your parents,

bosses, the media, spouses, the weather, lack of money and all the

other outside forces. You must know, understand and believe that

youre 100% responsible for your life. Where you are is based on

the decisions you have made so far. Give up the excuses and stop

complaining. If you dont like the outcome, then change your

actions.

Let me share a quote from Lou Holtz, The man who

complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped

it.

The most important thing is to quit blaming. Blaming is a

complete waste of time, because no matter whose fault it is, the

result remains the same and it is still a waste of time.

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You will never become successful if you continue blaming someone or something else for your lack of success.

If you are going to win, you have to understand that you are

the person who thought the thoughts. You are the person who

took the actions and you are the person who said yes. It is

important that you know and understand that you are the person

who found that business partner, married that individual, took that

job you hate or ate that junk food. You decided and you took the

action. So stop the blame game.

The most amazing thing about complaining is that when

people complain, its usually to the wrong person. If a person is

unhappy at work, they dont talk to their boss, they go home and

complain to their spouse. If theyre unhappy at home, they go to

work and complain to their boss or co-workers.

Stop complaining and start talking to the right person. Most

people are afraid to talk to the person they have a conflict with, so

they complain, which is simply a waste of time. If you complain to

your spouse about your boss, what can they do? Nothing. So you

just wasted your time and energy.

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If you have a problem at work, go to your boss and talk to

them. Go prepared with suggestions for making the situation

better or solving the challenge.

If youre not getting the results you want in life, you need to

look at the actions you are taking to achieve them. The only way to

change your results in life is to take different actions and start

thinking differently.

We talked earlier about the three ways to create change:

Change the pictures in your mind;

Change the way you talk; and

Change your behaviors.

If you are not getting the results you want, then you need to

do one of the three things listed above.

One of the easiest ways to get started to achieving better

results is by changing the vision you hold in your subconscious

mind, for something you want. Change the view of what you want

to something that inspires you and gets you excited about what

you want.

For example, I remember after my back surgery, I couldnt

walk or run and I could have blamed God or the doctors. I thought

my life was over!! The only thing I was ever good at was sports

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growing up and when I broke my back, I thought I lost everything

because that was who I was . That was my identity. But then I

created a new game, which was to be a success, then I became a

new person.

Instead, I changed the pictures in my mind. I visualized

being able to walk again. Then I started to let myself think I could

walk again. In fact, I knew I would be able to run again some day. I

changed my behaviors, I started to eat better, do exercises,

strengthen my body and it all started to take shape. I started

walking, then running and got to the health I visualized for myself.

Take new actions to achieve your goals. Change your

strategy, talk to others and get new ideas.

Begin communicating to yourself and other people

differently to get the results you want. Speak in a positive and

empowering way about EVERYTHING that you talk about.

You will immediately notice a change how you feel, how

you look at things, how others respond to you. It will be significant

and create a positive force in your life.

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Release the Magic from Your Mind The Law of Attraction, in philosophy and throughout life,

states that man has found out that we become what we think about

most of the time.

The mind is one of the most powerful organisms on the

planet, so much so that it attracts people, ideas and things to you.

Releasing the magic of your mind and knowing exactly what you

want, and thinking about it consistently over time releases the

power of the mind.

Here is a quick story about how powerful releasing the

magic from your mind is.

I carry a little book with me every day. I call it my

Winning Journal, and it is my magic book because whatever I

write in this book, happens. I write what I want to happen and

then I write act as if today is my last day and I always play full

out.

Integrity

One of the most important things people dont realize is the

importance of having integrity. In todays world, a lot of people

dont keep their commitments. Its amazing that a majority of

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people in business dont have enough integrity to keep their

appointments and commitments with their clients and prospects.

To win you have to make sure that when you make an

agreement, you keep it. Every agreement you make is with

yourself. If you dont keep your agreement, the cost can be huge

and devastating.

If you make a commitment with somebody and you break it,

then you have both external and internal consequences. The

external, of course, is that people wont believe you; they wont

trust you when you say youre going to do something, and it can

ruin your character.

But, more importantly, when you make commitments and

dont honor them, the internal effect is huge because now youre

teaching yourself that when you make a commitment; you cant

rely on yourself.

If you say to yourself that youre going to the gym and you

dont go, the effects are enormous because youre now teaching

yourself not to believe in you.

Your brain hears this, registers as a commitment and then

when you break your commitment, the result is that you start

doubting yourself which results in losing self-esteem, self-

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confidence and self-respect. You lose faith in your ability to do

anything, which weakens your sense of integrity.

As you can see, it is critical that you keep your

commitments. Your integrity is worth more than a million dollars.

Most people dont realize how important it is to keep the

commitments you make to yourself and others.

The key is to make ONLY those commitments you intend to

keep. If you have any doubt, do not make a commitment. Make

sure you have the time, resources and ability to keep your

commitment.

I have met people who carelessly throw around their words

without having the intention to keep their word and I keep my

distance. Make sure when you make a commitment that you keep

it.

Here are some tips to make sure you keep your

commitments:

1. Before making a commitment, make sure its something

you intend to keep. Some people make commitments

knowing full well theyre going to break them.

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2. Make sure when you make a commitment that you write

it down. Put it on your calendar, into your playbook or

into your computer. Write it in your journal.

3. If for some reason you have to break your commitment,

let the person know and then reschedule it.

4. One key note is to say no more often. Too many people

are saying yes to good and saying no to great. Make sure

you say no to good so you can say yes to great.

One of the greatest ways to create a lot of change in your life

is to up the ante. We do this in my Mastermind group. We have

goals and commitments were going to make so we up the ante,

turn up the pain so that you have no choice but to make the

commitment.

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Write down five things you want to change, keep your

commitments and then up the ante.

What do you want to change?

How are you going to keep your commitment?

How are you going to up the ante?

1. _______________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________

Commit to yourself. It could be that you want to lose five

pounds in a month and if you dont, then the cost is that you

donate $1,000 to a charity you dont believe in.

Or, up the ante and take away something thats very

important to you so youll be sure to get it done. Keeping your

commitments and having integrity is massive in the world of

success, because people need to know they can rely on you and

your teammates in life need to know they can count on you.

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Winning Action Items

Write down your 5 limiting beliefs: What are they? What new visions, actions and language are you going to use to implement positive changes in your life? How are you going to make and keep commitments in the future? Write down the 5 things you want to change: What do you want to change that will make a big difference in your life?

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Chapter Three Personal Power

Put your future in good hands - your own.

~Author Unknown

The challenge we have in todays society is that everybody is on

the move going fast. Moving fast, driving fast, and eating fast

food. Our food and water supply is contaminated and we have a

problem with obesity.

I see a lot of people that try to win who simply dont have

the energy to make it through a day of work or meetings and

quickly get burned out. Im going to share with you some

strategies that will increase your ability to have more energy, to live

longer, be happier and enable you to get out of bed with energy.

One of the most important components to being successful is

to be healthy. Your health is very important and one of the things

people take for granted is that you need to take care of yourself.

You need to exercise and eat the correct foods. This book is to help

you to win and one of the ways to win is to take care of your body.

Being in the sports/medicine world and an athletic trainer, Ive

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worked in hospitals and clinical settings where I saw people that

were 55 years old, obese, having total knee replacement surgeries,

back surgeries and their bodies were completely breaking down

because they had not taken care of themselves. They were so obese

their body wore out and gave up. A simple, smart and easy way to

get started is by simply moving. Start walking today, choose to eat

better foods and get the energy you need to win.

Water is a very important and often an overlooked topic. A

common thing we need to do is to drink 8-10 glasses of water per

day. About 90% of the American population is dehydrated, their

bodies arent getting enough water because they are drinking soft

drinks, alcohol and/or are eating foods that are low in water

content. If you are not hydrating your body correctly, your body

will not be able to do the things it needs to do.

One strategy I follow consistently is when I first get up in the

morning, I go for a walk or run. I do that for 45 minutes to an hour

every morning to get the flow of my energy level up so I can go out

and win. Its very important to exercise and get moving. Being in

the athletic world, I was consistently around people achieving and

winning, and I saw that taking care of their bodies and exercising

made a big impact in their life, not only on the field of sports but off

57

the field as well. They were able to outperform business owners

because they had more energy and excitement. Its important to

maintain your health and energy.

Physiology There was a study where 20 people were brought into a

room. The participants in the study were asked which person in

the group of 20 was the most successful. They all picked one

person simply because of his posture. Posture totally affects your

ability to win and succeed. The position of your body determines

how your body and mind think.

How you stand, sit, walk, breathe all of these contribute to

your entire image.

I have been a winning athlete my entire life. I took care of

my body, worked out and then at 29 years old I was seriously

injured, became paralyzed and had to learn how to walk again.

One of the things I did to gain back my personal power was to hire

a coach.

After my surgery, I was fully paralyzed and I left the

hospital in a wheelchair, unable to walk. Two years later, with

persistence and unwavering determination, I was actually running

again.

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My mindset was consistently committed to winning and

improving every day. Its amazing how, when you start to stretch

yourself, how you can expand and continue to grow.

As I started training, I committed to victory and turned up

the painI knew that if I didnt continue to improve then I would

never walk again. I took the leverage of wanting to walk and

forced myself to continue to empower myself to continue moving.

In this way I upped the ante.

If you are not satisfied with your health or energy, you need

to decide and commit to making the change, and be sure to turn up

the ante.

Ask yourself the following questions:

How is my health? How do I rate my overall health?

What can I improve?

What am I going to do to improve my health?

What can I do EVERYDAY, just one small distinction that

will lead to more energy, vitality and great health?

What can I do TODAY to get started?

Committing to never-ending improvement is a powerful

way to get started and keep moving forward. From my own

experience, I learned that it is not possible to go from being

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paralyzed to running. Progress must be done in small increments.

Take baby steps, and keep working toward improving your skills,

changing your behavior and surrounding yourself with successful

people.

Take small easy steps and eventually you will get there.

Decide you want to improve and then begin taking small

consistent actions, baby steps, to get to where you want to be.

When I was paralyzed in the hospital, I thought my life was

over and that there was no way out. I thought I would be in pain

and immobilized for the rest of my life, but I changed my mindset

to where I wanted to win and committed to being able to walk

again. I made a commitment to myself that I would be able to run

again, and began taking steps to achieve that important goal.

Now, more than seven years after my surgery, Ill be

running my very first marathon. Ive consistently improved myself

by taking small steps. I am grateful to be in the position Im in

right now.

Know how important it is to take care of your health and

yourself, because life is so much more enjoyable and precious when

you have the freedom to move, use your body and have plenty

energy to do what you want to do. This chapter is dedicated to

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knowing what you need to do and doing what it takes to get it

done.

Take out your Winning Journal and write down one thing

you are going to commit to do to improve your life. What small

action can you start right now, today, to get there?

________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

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Chapter Four What is Your Passion?

Don't live down to expectations.

Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein

I believe we are all born with a life purpose, an identity and a

special gift. It is important to find out what that gift is and figure

out your purpose. Take the time to understand why you are here,

what your purpose is and what you are passionate about.

Why were you put on this Earth?

There are two ways to find out what you are passionate

about. Each and every one of us has a core genius, something we

are naturally gifted at. For example, we can look at Michael Jordan,

who had a gift to play basketball; Tiger Woods, who has a gift to

play golf. When you follow what you are naturally gifted at, it

usually brings you joy and happiness.

This is one way to determine what you are passionate about,

what do you simply love to do?

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When you are in alignment with what you are meant to be,

the first step is to find your core genius. Secondly, find out what

gives you joy and passion and then design and build your life

around your core genius and what gives you passion and joy. If

you do those two things, life flows easily.

We use the word inspire. People become inspired. When

you become in spirit, you figure out what you are meant to do and

you never get tired.

I found what Im truly passionate about and Im never tired.

Im always full of energy and people who are around me all the

time say, Dave, you have such positive energy and you are always

excited and passionate.

Its simply because I found out what I truly love to do and

what my core genius is. I think that is the key to life and to play to

win. If you look at sports, football, for example, you dont take a

quarterback and put him as a tight end or wide receiver.

It is about finding what you are naturally good at, so you

can have everything you want in this world.

My passion is to help people win, whether in sports the

business world, in relationships or their financial life. Its amazing

what happens when you find your passion. I call it being inspired,

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because when you are inspired you are in spirit and when you are

inspired you never get tired.

I was able to work and have joy by turning my J.O.B. into

my J.O.Y. and I never worked again.

We all have a purpose, and of course, we want to find out

what it is because when you find your purpose; life flows more

easily. Id hate to have you climb the ladder to find out you are on

the wrong roof, so lets now take time to get clear about your

passion. Your inner guidance system is a great way to help figure

that out. It can help you learn what your passion is, and if you

know your lifes purpose youll have massive joy.

It is important to take time now to figure out your purpose.

This will be an exercise about your life purpose to find out what

you are truly passionate about.

In my life as a professional football trainer when I got hurt, I

had to find a new passion. Because I couldnt do what I did before,

I became passionate about real estate. As I was recovering from my

surgery, after about four weeks in a full body cast, I heard that they

were auctioning off properties on the courthouse steps. I got in my

car and drove to the courthouse in Clearwater, Florida to a

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foreclosure auction. I knew I wanted to create wealth and financial

freedom for myself, so I decided to get into real estate.

I found my first real estate property, purchased it with no

money down, had a handyman come fix it up, flipped it and made

$42,000 in quick turn real estate. I became passionate about real

estate and making lots of money. In the process, I also enjoyed

teaching others how to do the same thing. So, I went on the road

for about five years teaching people how to win at the real estate

game and make millions of dollars. I created a company that made

the Inc. 500 Magazine as the 35th fastest growing private company.

Success is naturally drawn to you and you can have huge

accomplishments when you find what you are passionate about.

Within three years of being paralyzed by an injury, and starting my

company on my credit card, we were in Inc. 500 Magazine making

millions of dollars and the company was valued at $40 million

dollars.

The KEY to winning is to discover your passion. What is

your natural core genius? What are you naturally gifted at? What

makes your heart sing when you do it? When you find what you

are passionate about, you never get tired; life comes to you easily

and flows naturally.

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The challenge we face in our society is that people focus on

improving their weaknesses instead of focusing on what their

strengths are; this results in outsourcing and building their team

around their weaknesses.

One thing about winning is that we all have something

natural in our unique core genius. If you go to WinningNow.com,

you can take a test that will give you a report to help you figure out

what your core genius is.

One of the major challenges we have today is that after

students graduate from high school and go to college, they dont

know what they want. They dont know what they are interested

in or what they are passionate about, which is why there is such a

high dropout rate. If students were shown how to figure out what

their natural core genius is, then they would have a much better

chance of winning.

Core Genius As soon as you figure out what your core genius is, it is best

to leverage it and outsource your weaknesses. Build your team or

systems and your life around your strengths and then build

systems and people to help you in your areas of weakness.

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The greatest thing about life is that you cant do everything

by yourself. Life is about working with other individuals and

having passion and joy. Its very important to understand what

your strengths are, but also what your weaknesses are, that way

you can build yourself up. You are only as successful and strong as

your weakest weakness. Therefore, build your team to do the

activities that you dont do well.

There are so many resources in todays market that an

entrepreneur, business owner, or anybody who wants to get into

business, has easier access to skills and professional services at

every level. Outsourcing can be a lot cheaper than doing it

yourself, especially if your time is worth more than the value of the

task. There are systems and technology that can help you with

every aspect of your business, so it is critical to understand your

strengths and weaknesses which will allow you to build a winning

team around you.

What Do You Want? The next thing you need to understand and figure out is

what do you want? We have all heard about the Law of Attraction

and the philosophy of ask and you shall receive, but the problem

is that people dont know what they want. If you dont know what

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you want, then how are you going to get it? It is a basic fundamental

of success to get clear on what you want in life and what gives you

happiness.

Have you thought about what you want in your life?

Where you want to live? What your passion is? How you want to

spend your life? Is there anything you want to create?

Answering these questions will give you direction toward

creating the life you want to live. It is essential that you decide

what is important to you and what you want in life.

In creating the life I wanted, I focused on what I was

naturally good at, which is my core strength, and thats being able

to communicate. In business, I would communicate and

everything else was outsourced and delegated. I would travel and

when I was at home my entire life was automated. I had a

housekeeper to take care of my home, someone to do grocery

shopping for me, an assistant to take care of my bills, an expert

who took care of my limos and a skilled professional to manage

and take care of my yacht.

By building a team around me who could handle the

logistics in my life, I could focus on what I was passionate about

and did best! This created a life for me that I truly enjoyed.

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To discover what your core strengths are, go to

WinningNow.com to take your personality and profile test. This is

the first step to begin working on your core genius.

Taking Action Taking action is the principal thing successful people do. If

you look at any successful enterprise whether it is in business,

sports, entertainment, politics, it all comes down to taking action.

What we know is not as important as what we do, the world

doesnt pay you for what you know, it pays you for what you do.

The Universe rewards people for taking action. This is one of the

most important principles of winning; winning people always take

action.

Taking action triggers additional action and creates

momentum to create your success. Action indicates your intent

which creates attention, which will give you feedback about what is

working and what does not work.

Talk is cheap. There are a lot of people who talk about

success and talk about their dreams, but what really separates

winners from losers is the people that take action and make things

happen.

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Nothing happens until you take action. Like the saying goes, If

your ship doesnt come in then swim out to it. To be successful

you have to do what successful people do, successful people take

action.

One of my primary action items is to take out my journal

and write down the things that I want to accomplish the next day. I

put them in the order of importance, which for me, my first goal is

typically the action item that will produce the most revenue for my

company. I put a checkbox by it and note a time in which to get it

done.

Whether you write it in a small journal or key it into your

iPhone, this is a very simple way to keep track of what action you

are going to take. Once you have written them down, the next step

is to visualize yourself taking the actions see yourself

implementing these actions. See yourself successful. Imagine the

victory!

Most people are familiar with the phrase, Ready? Aim!

Fire! but I always say, Ready? Fire! Aim! I go out and start

making things happen; I fall forward fast. This is what successful

people do because when you start taking action you get feedback

so you can adjust.

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Most people procrastinate, waiting for the right time to take

action. People are waiting for the right time for the real estate

market to turn around. Theyre waiting for the right time to ask

their boss to get a raise. Theyre waiting for the right person to

come along. Theyre waiting for the right time to get to that

workshop. Satisfaction comes from taking action. You have to go

out there and make it happen--dont wait, just do it now!

Many people are afraid to take action because theyre afraid

to fail. Successful people realize that failure is an important part of

the learning process, knowing that failure is simply another way

for them to learn. So, if you are stuck and cant get into action just

fall forward fast, take the steps you need to take to make it happen.

Then, as you start to take action, listen to your feedback so you can

correct your strategies. One of the best lessons about taking action

is that you can never learn anything in life unless you make

mistakes.

Enjoy the journey of success and remember that there may

be bumps in the road. Perhaps you may take some wrong steps,

but thats okay as long as you learn from the missteps and get back

on track. Dont take it personally. Dont create the story that you

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are not good enough for something, just learn from your mistakes

and keep moving forward.

Feedback

This is the breakfast of champions. Once you take action,

you will start getting feedback on whether or not you are doing it

right. To make the most of your feedback, gather data and use it so

you can consistently make sure you are on track. When an airplane

takes off and heads towards its destination, 90% of the time it is off

course. It is constantly receiving feedback from its instruments and

ground control to help stay on track and reach the desired

destination. Its the same in life. Its easy to get off course in life;

this is why it is important to use feedback to your advantage.

There are two types of feedback: positive and negative. We

tend to view positive feedback as good results, making more

money, being more productive, happiness, rewards, inner peace or

feeling better. We dont like negative feedback because its usually

a lack of results, no money, less productive, unhappiness, conflicts

or pain. However, both are useful.

The good thing is that when you get negative feedback its

simply telling you that you are off course and that you need to get

back on course.

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Positive feedback is good because it tells you that you are on

course. So all you have to do when you get feedback is to ask

whether you are on or off course.

At my seminars, I demonstrate this by asking who wants to

win a DVD player or an iPod. Of course, many hands in the

audience go up. I select someone from the audience and ask them

to come to the front of the room and wait there. I then go to the

other side of the room and place the item on a chair. I tell the

person that the only thing they have to do to win the prize is to

walk from where they are standing to where the item is on the chair

and they win the prize.

I ask the participant if they think that is fair and they always

say yes. Next, I blindfold them and spin them around, just as life

sometimes spins you around and gets you off course, with a

divorce, a poor economy, the loss of your job.

Now, I tell the audience they can say two words to the

participant: on course or off course. Then I say, Go!

The person starts walking and heads in the wrong direction,

so we tell them, Off course. They then adjust and begin moving

again and we tell them, On Course. This goes on for a few

minutes and eventually with the coaching and feedback they are

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receiving from us, they eventually make it to the destination and

win the prize.

It is a great example of how important coaching and

feedback can be, and even more essential, that we listen to the

feedback and win the prize!

Its the same thing in life. We need help to determine if

were headed in the right direction. This is why it is so important

to have a coach who will give us feedback and keep us on course so

we take action, accomplishing our goals and reach our destination.

You can go to WinningNow.com to learn about my coaching

program.

Use your journal right now to find out if you are on or off

course in the various areas of your life personal, relationships,

career, or business.

Are you living the lifestyle you dream of?

Do you have the relationships in your life that you desire?

Is your career on course?

Is your business growing the way you intended?

That is why coaching and feedback are vital to get you and

keep you on course.

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There are a variety of ways people respond to feedback.

Some people get feedback and quit, others get mad. Some people

ignore feedback, they simply dont pay attention to it and many

take the data and then move on.

As you take action, always ask for feedback and use that

valuable information to make adjustments and keep you on course,

just like the pilot who is flying the airplane. Remember, it is not

personal, its just feedback. Its not an attack on you or your

business, its just feedback important information that you want

to listen to, consider and take the appropriate action.

I ask for feedback from my wife and business partners every

Friday. I ask my wife, If you were to rate our relationship from

zero to ten, where would we be this week? She might say, Its an

8, Dave. Then I ask her, What would make it a 10? Shell tell me

things like, if you spend more time with me, go for walks or even

just sit down and watch a movie with me that would be great.

Now I have the feedback I need to make the proper adjustments

because everything should be a 10.

I also ask my business partners by asking them to rate my

performance from zero to ten for today, this past week or on a

presentation I made. Where would it be? They would hopefully

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say a 10, but if they dont and they say 8, then I ask them, What

would make it a 10? They give me their feedback; then I know

what action I need to take to play full out.

This is an easy thing to do. Get out your Success Journal

right now and ask someone significant in your life, On a scale

from zero to ten, if you could rate ( an action you are taking )

during this period what would it be? If they give you results less

than 10, then ask them what it would take to make a 10. This gives

you truly good feedback you can use.

You need to be aware that not all feedback is accurate.

Certain people may give you feedback or you might get false data

in their feedback, so find out what the source is and make sure the

person giving feedback is credible or that the feedback you are

getting is accurate. Always ask for feedback and use a zero to ten

scale to make the necessary adjustments so you will always be a 10.

Hire a Coach or Mentor One of the most important elements of winning is to have a

coach, someone who has been to where you want to go, someone

who knows your industry, and can coach you because they know

the winning strategies and techniques to help you get to your

destination.

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We see it in sports, for example, professional football

athletes practice with a variety of coaches. They have a team coach,

a defensive or offensive coach; they may have a receiver coach, a

kicking coach, a coach for every aspect of the game. And so should

you!

I have a business coach, a speaker coach, a trainer coach, a

relationship coach, a time management coach and a financial coach,

all of whom keep me on track to reach my destination in the

various aspects of my life.

The greatest thing about coaching is that I havent spent a

dime, Ive invested in myself. Coaching is very important and

successful people understand this.

One of the best kept secrets of success is finding a great

coach. Coaches have helped many people win and succeed in

professional sports. We see a great team with a bad coach that

doesnt win. Then we see a great coach come to a team and

suddenly they win a championship.

Why does coaching work? Its because coaches have already

been where you want to go. They know how to get you there.

They know the steps and exact strategies, and theyre looking from

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a different angle than you are, so they can give you feedback and

help you and coach you to a s