When Good Stops Better

In the movie The Secret, Bob Proctor asks why do we think that about 96% of all the money that is being earned is being earned by the top 1% of the money earners?

If you are not one of the 1% folks, then is it because good is stopping better?

I see a lot of this first hand. My wife is an Independent Consultant and Regional Vice President with Arbonne International. In the course of doing this business, she has the opportunity to talk to many different people who will initially express interest in the unlimited income opportunity that Arbonne offers.

What we find, however, is that if these prospects perceive that their life is pretty good overall, even with those few things that they complain about, then they are less likely to pursue the Arbonne opportunity. People are not stupid. . . they generally know that to succeed in a Network Marketing Business is going to require that they change their thinking, which is an exceedingly difficult thing for some people to do. I do not wish to pick on the post office, but there are many who will do their day jobs through sleet and snow and rain and dogs and everything else before they will give one ounce of effort towards thinking in a different way. Why is that?

It's because that is what we know, and we will generally choose the problems that we know over the fears of the unknown every day of the week. It is a classic and epic battle of "security" versus "freedom". Some believe that security and freedom are essentially the same thing. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I cannot emphasize this next statement enough: Seeking Security reduces Freedom!

You know it is true. It starts the day we apply for and receive our first full time job. We exchange anywhere from 45 to 90 hours a week (counting commuting) for a secure paycheck, so that we can have money that we can count on. With this arrangement we may eventually obtain financial freedom, but that financial freedom will not include time freedom, and thus is not truly freedom. A similar situation occurs for many retired persons: They have the time freedom but not the financial freedom to do much with that time. It seems to be very few who have both time freedom and financial freedom at the same time.

No, I am not saying that it is time to quit your full time job today. In fact, just the opposite. If we are not able to meet our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter then we will not really be able to pursue our dreams. But what are we doing with our free time? Are we seeking freedom, or are we bunkered in security, which security includes protecting ourselves from ever failing?

There are literally hundreds of things that could be done in that spare time for those seeking freedom; but ALL of them involve us receiving training that will allow us to think a little differently. That training need not be expensive, especially at the very first. As an example, I again cite a Network Marketing business like Arbonne. In this kind of business you have an upline manager who is paid only when you succeed, and as a result they have a strong financial motivation to train you to succeed. Through experience in this type of business, we can learn the effects of failure, and further learn that it is only a stepping stone to success.

Every successful Network Marketer that I know (and I know at least 50 of them), tells about how they failed at first, but how instead of quitting they just simply tried to learn what they could from the failure and kept going. They generally say that it took them five to ten years to truly come to the understanding of what this Network Marketing business was all about. Their success did not generally come until after they had made that realization.

It is funny to me when people say that we are asking for a lot with a Network Marketing business. I mean ten years is a long time, and a really big commitment! But here is the truth: What is really asking a lot from you is this idea of security, and you will give up more and more of your freedom the longer you seek it. Its no different in world events! How much freedom are we willing to give up in the United States now in the name of greater security from those who would attack us? Here's the kicker . . . has giving up ANY of that freedom really made us any more secure?

So here is a great Secret that is not in the movie The Secret: The best security comes from seeking Freedom first, not security.

Learn.

Joseph