The Importance of Goals

For some reason, I have always had big Dreams and Goals.  It was taught to me by my parents as I witnessed them Dream and create their dreams.  The feeling of being able to create the life that you want fills me with hope and excitement. When I was young I decided to believe that my life was supposed to have great meaning, that this life was precious and there was so much I wanted to achieve.

Many people hold themselves back because they are afraid of failure.  Or maybe what holds people back is the fact that when we set a goal and a deadline- many times we don’t make that goal at that time.  But instead of giving up on our goal- all you do is set a new deadline.  The key is to not let yourself be so disappointed that you are willing to restart. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail, only that you get back up and start again.

Our daughter Ashley has been a great example of a person willing to keep restarting. She followed me and has set goals with crazy deadlines.  And if she did not make it, as many times we don’t- she just would restart.

Now today it is so rewarding to see her finally hit her stride and achieve her wild dreams.  It took her 10 years of personal development and building up her inner strength, but now she is the leader she was always meant to be.

What a joy as a parent to watch our daughter experience her greatness.  We are so filled with excitement for her future and how she will impact the world.

Quantum Leap

Last February, my daughter, Ashley, made a decision to change her life.  She had given birth the prior year to her son Luke and after 6 months had slipped into what she called “The New Mom Fog.”  Maybe it was a bit of post partum depression.  It seems after we give birth to our children- especially the first one we kind of go through an identity crisis.  The question of who am I, and how can I can be a good mother, along with all the other obligations I have.

By February 2017 she had reached an all time low.  Her business had suffered, she was sleep-deprived; however, her dream of creating her own business was still there- as faint as it may have been.  On February 20, she learned of some other moms who had achieved success through a Social Media Channel and made the biggest decision of her career.  She decided to go ALL IN.  This was the moment everything changed.

On March 1 we sat down to go over goals.  There was a Success Trip she could qualify for- but she would really have to achieve great things by March 31 to earn that Trip.  Looking into her eyes I asked her to trust herself.  I asked her to hold on to the vision that it was possible.  She agreed and got to work.  She has never worked so hard.

By March 31 she reached that goal.  On that Success Trip to Iceland that took place in September 2017- Ashley was the only person on her team there.  She made a goal to have 25 business partners with her on the next trip.

By December 31, 2017 Ashley has 17 Business Associates along with their spouses or partners who have earned a trip to South Africa.  That is 34 people going together on this trip.

The Power of a decision, the power of belief in what is possible- along with Going the Extra Mile each day has resulted in huge success. Can’t wait to see what 2018 brings.  Her next goal is 60 business partners on this next trip.  I believe it will happen! 

All 17 team members who qualified for the Success Trip.

Defining Moment

In February of this year Ashley, my daughter decided to finally go ALL in to making her dreams come true.  It had been 10 + years of mentoring and developing herself. She had realized a dream of becoming a wife and mother and now she was ready to explode her business.

Finally on February 20 the pain of Staying the Same became worse than the Fear of Change.  This is a magic flash point when you realize in order to achieve what you want in life you must take yourself on.  She got mad!  She finally decided to do whatever it takes.  She finally decided to give up the doubts in her mind that she could do it.

When you get to this point something magical happens.  When you decide to take 100% responsibility for your life and your dreams, a huge weight is lifted!  This may be opposite of what you think may happen.

On February 20 she changed her life.  Ashley decided her dream was worth all the effort she could put into it.  On March 1st she faced a huge goal to achieve by March 31.

My only coaching was to Suspend Doubt everyday and do the following 1) Believe it was possible to achieve her Goal  (not allowing doubt to creep in) and 2) work as hard as she could each day on the most important activities (pushing herself each day to just do 1 more thing at the end of that day than she thought she could do) and finally 3) to have fun.

By March 31 Ashley achieved her goal. This achievement set her up for a rapid growth phase in her business that has only gained momentum every month.

Each month her goals expand and she is achieving more than she ever believed possible.  It all came from that One Defining Moment- the decision to Change and Grow as a leader.  It came from the decision that her Goals and Dreams were absolutely necessary to achieve in her life!

Jumping Off A Cliff

I love Firsts!  Sounds kind of strange but I have always really thrived on new adventures, trying new things and change.  It is always a little scary thinking of doing something you have never done before, but I have found that this is the most exciting part of life.

When I was 19 my older brother came over to my apartment and said “Let's go Hang Gliding.”  Well my brother is amazing, smart and I knew he was a great pilot.  That day we jumped off of Torrey Pines Cliff together.  It was incredibly scary to just walk off the cliff- and believe the glider would take over.  Once we were flying I felt a pure sense of joy and security.  The wind felt so solid in an instant my fear had turned to faith.  It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  Conquering the fear of doing something new had pushed me into a growth spurt in all areas of my life.

That is what happens to us- if we conquer our fear we grow.  Our fear is there to keep us stuck.  One of the best ways to get “unstuck” is to go do something you are afraid of.  See the magic unfold as you become bigger, stronger, more courageous.  Courage is a muscle you have to exercise or it goes away. 

What Super Bowl 2017 taught me

Yesterday’s game was a perfect example of the power of the mind.  It is yet more proof that if you adopt certain principles you will win even when others don’t believe you can.

 It really did not look promising for the Patriots.  In fact the game was looking like a blow out.  The Patriots seemed doomed.  But Tom Brady didn’t see it like that.  In fact it was obvious that he came to Win that game and it was clear in his mind that their team would do just that.

 The Definiteness of Purpose coupled with a Clear Plan and Massive Action created the success.  With only a couple minutes left in the game and being 8 points down, most teams would accept failure.  What we all witnessed is that it does not matter what the score is, it only matters that you are clear with what you want, and you do whatever it takes to achieve it. The Patriots believed they deserved to win that game- and so they did.

 I am currently listening to the Science of Personal Achievement by Napoleon Hill on Audible.com.  It is fascinating to listen to the stories of what it takes for people to succeed.

 Tom Brady  and the Patriots are WINNERs and yesterday was a brilliant example of what that looks like.  The best part is that all of us can use these same principles to WIN in our own lives.

This is a couple of years ago at a San Diego Charger game. We love football. 

Be a Seeker

We are all either growing or decaying. There is no such thing as staying the same.  When our lives are great there is a tendency to want to pull back and stay safe- keep our lives the same. This has happened to me at times.  This is a dangerous trap to fall into.

 It is important to always be a Seeker.  A Seeker is someone who is always wanting to improve and get better.  There is no possibility that we could ever use up all of our potential, so becoming better should be a habit that is developed.

 Wayne Dyer is one of my all -time favorite teachers.  He died recently and it is hard to believe he is no longer with us.  One of his lessons was recorded in Assisi, Italy.  I was drawn to watch this video and was fascinated to listen to him because we recently went to Assisi and I was filled with inspiration while touring this hill town in the Umbria section of Italy.  It was a special trip because we were with close friends and my girlfriend’s father had spent time in Assisi living in the monastery before he was lead to marry her mother.

 From this recording Wayne Dyer recommended a book about St. Francis written by Nikos Kazantzakis.  Since I believe people lead us to lessons we need to learn, I am now reading that book.  This book would never have otherwise crossed my path.  It is fascinating learning about this man who grew up in Assisi and had a profound impact on the world we know today.  I am loving the lessons so far learning about his life.

New Year - New Life

Started this New Year’s day with early morning Spiritual Service. The message was so perfect for this day.   My favorite teacher mentioned that a higher percentage of people die around Christmas than at other times of the year.  He said the saddest thing is when someone is on their deathbed regretting that they never really lived their lives.

The problem is we give up on our dreams, we stop believing we can grow and develop ourselves.  If you go into a Kindergarten class and ask who in the class is an Artist- everyone’s hand will go up.  Go back to that class 2 years later, and only ½ the hands will go up and by age 12 you will only have a few who believe they have any talent at all.

When we don’t become who we are meant to become we not only cheat ourselves but we cheat the world.  It is our obligation to become who we are meant to become- it is our obligation to live our lives to the fullest!

 Today I was inspired to work harder daily on breaking through fears.  The fears that keep me safely in my comfort zone.  What a great message for this 1st day of the New Year.  Today is a new day in a new year and I am ready to go to the next level.

Becoming a mom

Becoming a mom has been the most joyful experience of my life. At the same time, it has been the hardest thing I have ever done. No one can prepare you for the emotions and all that comes with this new chapter of life. For me it was the emotions of realizing my life will never be the same. That’s not a bad thing, just something I wasn’t fully prepared for. Daily decisions became about choices. Do I choose to go to the bathroom or take a shower? Do I do the dishes or the laundry? Do I eat breakfast or have a cup of coffee? I am so blessed to be a mom (I think I have the cutest little boy on the planet)! But just now, 11 weeks after having him am I starting to feel more like myself, more in a routine of figuring out this new life, more of an understanding of one door closing and another huge door opening. I have my own business and I work from home and I designed it that way for the sole purpose of being able to raise my kids and be home with them. I am so grateful to be a mom and so excited for this new challenge of being able to do it all. I always wanted to be a successful business woman and a great mom… Now is the time! Now I am doing it! 

Luke at 11 weeks old

Travel opens the soul

Traveling is one of my passions in life. It started at an early age going to Europe with my best friend at the age of 21.  We worked hard, saved our money and even took a semester off of college to venture off for 6 weeks.  This adventure was even more that I could have imagined.  It taught me so much about myself, about the world and really ignited a lifelong passion for travel.  One thing I learned as I ventured out into the world was that we are all really the same in so many ways.  Our practices and habits may be a bit different, our food and activities different, but our desire to be loved is always the same.

In the New York airport with my best friend Grace in 1979 on our way to Europe. 

Honoring Women

This last weekend we had a special luncheon that was honoring Women and their accomplishments.  There is something magical when women get together to respect and honor each other.  It is not easy being a powerful, ambitious, driven woman with big goals.  We have unique challenges to overcome. Sometimes we don’t support each other in the business world.  My dream is that women feel empowered and confident to achieve any dream they are given.  We finally live in a time when this is truly possible for women all over the world.  Together we are better!

Discipline

I read a book yesterday called How to Build Self Discipline by Martin Meadows.

 Discipline is an interesting word.  Often it brings up a negative connotation with its meaning.  But really discipline actually makes our lives easier.  The author said something very profound- he said “Life is easy when you live the hard way”

 The hard part is creating the new habits necessary for success.  Once the habit is formed then, it becomes easy.

 He has a great suggestion that there are Keystone habits that if created, can effect other positive habits.  So by adopting these keystone habits other positive habits will be formed more easily.  Those keystone habits are:

1) Daily Exercise

2) Meditation – start with 5 minutes of just focusing on your breath

3) Wake up earlier

4) Try a new thing everyday- something that you are either afraid of or are just procrastinating

5) Save money

6) Gratitude

 Except for waking up earlier and daily exercise (I already wake up at 5am and go to the gym at 6am) I can get better at all of the other keystone habits.  I am taking on the challenge to get better at all of them.  With that we will see how they ripple out into other good habits.

Surrender

When I was 36 weeks pregnant my doctor saw that our baby was breech (butt/feet down). Once he confirmed this he told me we would have to deliver the baby with a C-section.  This was so disappointing to me, as I had planned on having a natural birth.

On Wednesday August 31st I walked in to the hospital at 7am to be checked in. I’m not sure what I thought the c-section would be like, but it was much BETTER than I could have ever imagined. It probably helped that I LOVE my doctor, my nurse and the anesthesiologist (who was talking about Game of Thrones the whole time to distract me.) I loved having Doug by my side and watching as the whole surgery was happening. Such a beautiful thing knowing Doug saw our baby come in to this world, and because we didn’t know the sex it was magical for Doug to announce that we had a little boy.

 It turned out that the C-section was truly a blessing for our baby.  There were several reasons he could not turn into the birth canal.

 I always knew that the most important thing was having a healthy baby (didn’t really matter how he got here). So for me it was a huge lesson in surrendering to what is and trusting that God always has a plan.

 I would like to introduce all of you to my baby boy Luke William Robichaud.  He was born Aug 31st 2016. 10:17am 7 pounds 2 ounces. 

Junior High

While I was away on a business trip my daughter was bullied.  She received a letter in the mail that was quite disturbing.  This really woke me up and I got more involved in her school and her circle of friends.  As painful and eye opening as it was, it was a gift.  My involvement in her schooling lead us to put her in a private Christian school that demonstrated the same principles that we have.  I read a book called Reviving Ophelia- and discovered that raising girls in this day and age is a very serious and delicate proposition.  We have always emphasized loving people as a top priority.  This was an example of the Law of Polarity- there is always a good side to everything bad.

Women Leaders

Working with technology companies I was used to working with men.  Most of the Engineers graduating from college are Men because many women don’t think they are good at Math.  As I began working as an Entrepreneur with a company where there are no limits for women I have been so empowered.  To find a business where I can make as much and even more than men is exciting to me.  Although most of the top leaders are Men- I believe in the future we will have many more Women succeed.  It is time for Women to step up and LEAD!

Top Leaders from Latin America opening the market in Chile. 

Choosing Our Parents

If you don’t already know… NOW you know… I am 9 months pregnant and having a baby in the next 2 weeks. I have had an amazing pregnancy and I am loving being pregnant. I can’t wait to meet our baby soon. This post was inspired by a woman I met about a month ago. I was at a wellness fair and this psychic came up to me and started telling me about my baby. She said “your little girl is very intuitive and there is a special reason why she picked you as her mom”. (Now I was shocked and touched at the same time – we don’t know the sex of the baby so that was my shock) I will be so happy either way… boy or girl. But this sentence made me think on a very deep level. I believe in God, and I do believe he gives us our parents for a purpose. Most people say either you want to be like your parents or you want to be the opposite of your parents. I always knew I wanted to be just like my mom. My mom is one of the most beautiful, loving and driven people I know. My mom LOVES to work. Yes she LOVES to work and she has the biggest most consistent work ethic I know. She is also very good at looking in the mirror and seeing what she needs to work on and improve. When she had the courage to go full time in her business and she built a large team of people here and all over the world and I witnessed her create absolute freedom, what it did for me was I finally realized that I too could go for my dreams and that my dreams could become a reality. I believe that we all have certain things that hold us back in life. Just realize that your kids, your loved ones, your friends are waiting for you to make it happen so they too can realize that they can do it. I am very blessed that God gave me the parents I have… I know that it was on purpose and I look forward to starting my family with my husband. 

37 weeks pregnant! 

Good at Math

When our kids were young we were always looking at ways to help them learn.  We discussed college with them and it was just expected that they all go.  I believe college is and should be a part of growing up.  At one point I bought a video program called Where there is a Will There is an A by Dr. Olney!  Dr. Olney is a professor from Arizona State University and what he said fascinated me.  He said that most girls don’t do very well in Math because they are told they are not good at Math as they are growing up.  I was always good at Math- but my parents always told me I was.  And I always told all my kids they were good at Math and so they believed.  Make sure you tell the Girls they are good at Math!

Ashley's pre-school graduation   

Have courage and be kind

When Ashley was growing up she was obsessed with the Disney movie Cinderella.  We would watch it together and I am pretty sure we watched it over 50 times.  The overall message was so great and that was to believe in your dreams even when others did not. The obstacles Cinderella faced were a great example of how we can’t listen to others opinion of us.  We should believe in ourselves always.

 Then Disney introduced a new Cinderella and it was my son who told me to watch it. So on one of my long flights to Latin America I watched the new Cinderella.  Well this movie is amazing and even more great messages.  The one that really impacted me what when her real mother was dying and she looked Cinderella in the eyes and held her hand and said- Cinderella- always remember to Have Courage and Be Kind.

 Really life is so great if we all remember these things. Our relationships, our families our communities, our country and our world would be a better place if we all remembered this.

Olympics Inspiration

As we begin watching the Olympics from Rio De Janeiro it brings back so many great memories.  Our favorite sport to watch is Gymnastics and specifically Women’s Gymnastics.  This sport is so beautiful and the women are so beautifully strong.  It was certainly one of the influences Ashley had as a child that inspired her to begin learning Gymnastics.  She was a natural even as a child, somersaulting through the house and from room to room.  My friend Grace suggested she go into gymnastics because she was so flexible.  So she got started and it became her passion.  She devoted so much time to this sport.  It is a great sport for girls as it helps them develop their confidence and strength.  She ended up getting all the way to Level 7 which was great.  In High School she then used her Gymnastics to get into All Star Cheerleading which she continued in College.  I learned that it is so important to develop the love for fitness and sports at an early age.  Each child needs to find what they like and then commit themselves to that.  Ashley later coached Gymnastics as well which has given her added skills that help in her business today.

Strong line of Women

My mother is a great example of being a strong woman and a loving mother. She inspired me by her Faith, commitment to family, high integrity and incredible passion for life.  Her mother was also a very strong woman.  My mother’s mother had 5 children and watched her oldest child who was a daughter die a long slow death at a very early age.  I have tremendous respect and love for the strong women in my heritage.

Build a House of Bricks

When Ashley and her brothers were young our night ritual was a warm bath and then reading a book while they were in their bed ready to fall asleep.  For a while all 3 kids shared a room.  It was so fun to read books together.  One of our favorite books was the 3 Little Pigs.

Every time we read the 3 Little Pigs it reminded me of my business and what I needed to do to succeed.  The best Children’s books give great lessons.

If you remember- the 3 Little Pigs all wanted to build a house- but the first 2 Little Pigs took an easier route and built houses of straw and sticks.  Their bright idea of taking the easy way out did not work for them- they got destroyed by the Wolf. It was the 3rd Little Pig who took his time to build a house of bricks.  It was harder and it took longer, but it saved him from the Wolf!

Each time I would read this book to my kids, I would think about my life and my business and each time I would decide that it was worth it to do the hard thing, and sometimes take the long road because in the end it would work out best.  That is exactly what happened in my life.