Happy Mother's Day!

Well, as most of you know, my mom passed away last year after a LONG battle with various health issues. My mom was a FIGHTER through and through.

Now, me and my mom weren't ever close like most families are. She made a lot of selfish decisions which impacted my life tremendously. From making sure the cats and dogs had food, she had cigarettes, to then feeding me. I was always last...but at least I was there.

She spent $5000 to save a cat that eventually died anyway. This, was the starting point of us becoming homeless and living in the station wagon. I was pulled out school midway through the 7th grade.

I could go on and on, and someday will in a book I'm writing. However, Through all the painful years, we still stayed a team. Sometimes more like friends than mother and son. We'd go to rock concerts (mom loved heavy metal). When I was young, she did try her best to make me feel special on occasions. Disneyland, Chuck E Cheese, the races, Christmas, and my birthday.

The last few weeks of her life she changed. Nothing was more important than me. I've struggled with that since. Why? Because of the conditioning that had taken place in my life, the games and whatnot, I thought she was telling me what I wanted to hear. But, I think back to those times, and really feel blessed and thankful she shared with me how proud she was. That, she really loved my wife and thought we made a great team. Even right up until the point she took her last breath as I held her hand and caressed her forehead.

Through it all, my mom taught me lessons she didn't even realize. People ask me "Don't you feel ripped off for having to be homeless, dig in garbage cans, miss having friends etc?" My answer is always "If it weren't for those times, the lessons I learned about hard work, tenacity, never listening to other people's opinions, I wouldn't be the man I am today!"

Mother's day used to be a pain to be honest. But, now that she's gone, it's even more painful. I know she's with me in spirit

The point of all this is to cherish ALL the moments, both good, bad, fun, painful, etc. These times are what creates our character. It's what we do, how we respond, in these tough situations that impact the future. Don't become a victim of your circumstances! Change what you're doing and be who you WANT to be! Not what other people tell you to be.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Signed,

Your Best Project Ever!

Being a part of a team can be one of the most rewarding and/or most frustrating experiences depending on the leadership involved. However, I’m pleased to share with you proven ways YOU can be a successful part of a team!

Are you ready? I ask, because you have to take a deep look within yourself to see whether or not you’re part of the problem or the solution.

First, let me share with you a personal story about how I learned about my role in being a part of a team. It was early on in my career, I thought I was the best thing since bottled beer. I was smart, hard working, but lacking in a necessary component of being a good team player. That component? Simply put, understanding everyone around me. You see, I thought “I’m a person, they are people, so we must be the same right? NOPE!

Here’s the problem: I thought, that by making suggestions to my fellow teammates on how they could perform their jobs better, I was helping them. So, I thought, “I’m helping them become better at what they do, so I must be a good teammate” right? WRONG!!!

My supervisor at the time, and at my personal request, was completely honest with me during my annual review. She said “Do you really want to know what the guys think of you?” I said smugly, “I know they love me right?” WRONG again! She proceeded to share with me my team thought I was an arrogant, condescending, you know what. “Huh? How could they?” I thought. My defenses immediately went up and said “Well, that’s their problem – not mine!” WRONG again!

You see, my intentions were good, but the execution or deliverance of my intentions was being sorely misunderstood. In a nutshell, I made them feel stupid rather than empowered. Here are the key concepts to keep in mind if you want to be a good team player:

1. Evaluate your expectations
   1. Just because you think it should be like you see it, doesn’t mean its right. We have to adjust our expectations to be realistic for the situation
2. Seek first to understand – then to be understood
   1. If I had really understood what they were doing, how they were feeling, what challenges they were up against, I might have handled myself more carefully. We never truly know what someone else is going through unless we ask, and more importantly, listen!
3. Happy or right?
   1. Most of us are brought up to think “Right is good and wrong is bad.” Therefore if I’m not right then I’m wrong and won’t get the appreciation, respect, or inclusion in whatever we’re a part of.
   2. This is the BEST relationship advice I could ever give you – next time you’re in a difficult situation, ask yourself “Do I want to be happy or do I want to be right? In other words, win the battle, but lose the war. I was brought up to always make dang sure I was right.
   3. So, when you’re right, what does that make other people? Wrong! Then, if they feel wrong, what might they do? Of course, defend themselves! What happens then? Arguments, disagreements, sides are drawn, and the team morale negatively suffers.
4. Q.T.I.P and D.C.Y.
   1. Quit Taking It Personally
      1. Often, we take too much personally. We let it infect our soul and we expect we must make it right! Sometimes, we have to let it roll off our shoulders like water off a duck’s back. Let it go! Don’t take on something you may not be able to change or even make worse.
   2. Don’t Concern Yourself
      1. Again, keeping with this theme, don’t worry about what so and so is doing or not doing. “Well they should be doing this and that!!!” That’s your expectation and sometimes not your problem.
5. Two ears - one mouth
1. There’s a reason why we have two ears and only one mouth!
2. Listen, really listen more than you talk. This goes back to understanding more than telling.
3. When you listen, paraphrase, or repeat back what you understood. This lets the person know you truly cared enough to listen and understand

In my next article, I’ll share with you ways you can handle a situation should it escalate in a full-blown conflict.

Ultimately, like I said before, too often we look at what everyone else is or isn’t doing. They aren’t meeting our expectations and we seek to make things right. Instead, look inside yourself to see if perhaps you’re more part of the problem than the solution. 

If you have a particular teamwork situation you’d like my advice on, please don’t hesitate to email me at Christopher@master-motivators.com

All my best until next time,

Christopher Rausch (A.K.A. the “Master Motivator”)

Invest In YOUR Future

Hey There!

As you may know, I'm currently attending a 4 1/2 day bootcamp on marketing, social media, book writing, etc.

I have to be honest, when I saw the cost of the bootcamp I thought "I can't afford this." Have you ever said that to yourself?

Well, I asked myself one simple question and I STRONGLY encourage you to ask yourself the same one:

"If I go and learn, really learn and apply what these successful people have ALREADY done, is it reasonable and possible for me to recoup my investment doing what I love?"

Once I asked myself that question I knew without a doubt I HAD to invest in myself! If we can't make money doing what we love, then it's a message that maybe we shouldn't be doing it!

There's ABSOLUTELY no doubt I won't make this money back and then SOME!!!

MESSAGE: Do NOT die with your music inside of you!!!

Live life - don't just exist in it!

All my best,

Christopher "The Master Motivator"

Hey There, 

Well, I'm sure you've heard by now, Whitney Houston died yesterday. Death is interesting because it makes us think. Too bad we don't think that hard before something terrible happens. I found this amazing little piece from Steve Jobs I want to share with you. It made me think and I trust it will do the same for you!
 

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” - Steve Jobs

Simply put, LIVE life...just don't exist in it! Listen, we only get ONE shot to make the absolute MOST of every minute we're blessed to be here. Are you making YOUR's count? If not, give me a call, I can help you get on track!!

All my best,

Christopher

Can you hear it? Tick-tock, tick-tock, the second hand of life’s clock ticking by, only going forward, never back.

Greetings my friend and welcome to the rest of your life! As cliché’ as it is, the beginning of a New Year usually means one thing – New Year’s resolutions right? Well, if you’re anything like me, you start off with a really big list of wonderful things you want to accomplish, but usually end up frustrated wondering where all the time went right?

Now, what would you do if I gave you 1,440 dollars every day of your life IF you spent each of those dollars wisely? Here’s the kicker, if you don’t spend them that day, or don’t spend them wisely, you get zero! Well, if this was a bet in Vegas I’d gamble everything on fact you’d spend every single one of those dollars very carefully right? I mean, who in the heck wouldn’t???

Well, I hate to burst your bubble, and although I have better hair than he does, I’m not Donald Trump with 1,440 dollars to shell out every day.  However, the incredibly important lesson I’m about to share with you changed my way of thinking forever and I’m certain it will have the same impact on you.

To be honest, I was using dollars to prove a point, but what I’m really talking about is minutes. You see, every day we’re blessed with 1,440 minutes to spend however we see fit. The problem, which I’m positive you can relate to, is most of us waste a lot of them right? Over the course of the last two years I’ve had the pleasure of talking with a lot of older people. And, about 99% of them shared with me “Christopher, I wish I’d done this and that with my life” or “I wish I’d realized just how precious each moment of life really is!” And finally, “If I had it to do all over again, I’d really…” In other words, they have serious regrets. Simply put, regrets SUCK!

Here are my two main goals in life:

        1. Leave this world without any regrets

        2. Stay the heck out of a hospital!

I’m certain if I’m constantly working on achieving those two goals, no matter when my time’s up, I’ll have lived a full life. You want the same right?

Until then, seriously consider your bank account of non-refundable time every morning. Spend those minutes like dollars and you’ll be well on your way to living a tremendous life!

All my best until next time,

Christopher Rausch (A.K.A. the “Master Motivator”)

Hey folks....Christopher here to talk about "What they said." How many times have I heard "Well, that's what they said" and usually about shit they didn't know crap about.

Listen to me: True, I've learned a LOT from what other people have shared with me over the years. HOWEVER, please, don't believe something is true just because someone said it. More importantly, don't neccessarily believe it's true if you see it in print as well.

"So, Christopher, who do I listen to?" My answer: Your gut and your heart!

It's complete bullshit when we claim we don't know what to do about a given situation. We know...we just are too afraid of rejection and stepping out of our comfort zone to say it out loud and do it.

Life is too short to listen to what they said....they said what you should do...they said about the future of the world....live YOUR life for today! Tomorrows are not guaranteed.

If I had a mere $1 for every time I heard someone learn the lesson "You don't know what you got until it's gone" I'd be a zillionaire.

The news...the media...the so called "Experts" are full of crap! Well, maybe not all of them, but you get my point.

My final thought....make a legacy so that someday, your family, friends, the world, will hear about what they said about how you lived your life to the fullest!

All my best for your success and happiness!

Christopher