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I said that we should make something clear about life on your own terms. I could be going through a mid-life crisis. Does life on my own terms mean getting a fancy new sports car, spending money like crazy, going clubbing, shirking my responsibilities, and walking away from relationships, all in an attempt to get my youth back?

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Life on your own terms is not a license for poor behavior

In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It should be an ideal that we strive to live up to. It’s about finding our purpose for being here and then deploying all of our resources to live up to that promise.

Because of that, it’s not a selfish thing. We can’t reach bigg success without the help of others. In this age of interdependence, we are able to live our lives on our own terms by helping others live their lives on their own terms.

Life on your own terms is also not a passing fancy

It’s a direction, not a point. It’s very emotional because it is so personal, but it’s not based on one’s feelings at this moment.

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I may feel depressed right now. Does that mean life on my own terms means being depressed? Of course not.

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Feeling down from time to time is something we all experience, but we have to respond to it, not just accept it or give in to it. Going to the mid-life crisis example, maybe I’m not feeling as young as I used to. Is the answer really to blow a bunch of money and waste a lot of time?

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Bigg goal-getters accept that there are some things that we can’t change. No amount of money is going to make me any younger physically. We recognize the realities of our situation and respond positively to keep moving toward our bigg goals – where we want to go, what we want to achieve, who we want to be known as.

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Each day we write another page of our autobiography. We show the world who we are by how we live our lives.

Life on your own terms is dynamic, not static

While it’s not a passing fancy, it does evolve over time as we discover more about ourselves and the world around us.

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I remember when I was in my early twenties – life on my own terms then meant being in the Forbes 400. I wanted to get rich in my own business. Then I heard Donald Trump asked about the difference between $70 million and $700 million. He said, “A bigger boat.” I realized then that I didn’t need a bigger boat!

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So how did that change your terms?

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I decided it wasn’t worth my time to work that hard to make the extra money. If all I was going to get out of it was a bigger boat, I wasn’t interested. Don’t get me wrong; money still helps! But life on my own terms evolved to building quality relationships and sharing experiences.

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Your desire to own your own business didn’t change?

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Oh no, that desire definitely stayed the same.

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So life on your own terms changed as a result of this new information. You realized there were more important things to you than the money you thought you wanted. But you still wanted to be in business for yourself.

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You may decide that less is more like I did. Or you may realize that you’ve been selling yourself short and you want more.

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It’s life on your own terms. It’s not a license for poor behavior. It’s not a passing fancy. But it is dynamic; it may change over time as you gain knowledge about yourself and your environment.

How has your definition of life on your own terms changed over time?

Share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us at 888.455.BIGG or sending us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

Thank you so much for reading our post today!

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New research shows that a promotion may be good for your wealth, but not necessarily your health. Please join us next time to find out why.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00373-041509.mp3

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(Image in today's post by svilen001)

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1 + 1 = 3

We saw an opinion recently that “synergy” is an outdated word. We disagree. When synergy exists, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

1 + 1 = 3. It doesn’t work in mathematics, but it does happen in our lives. With the right elements in place, a tiny spark can turn into a full-blown fire.

The bigg idea

That’s the bigg idea behind bigg success – finding ways to sync the five elements so we reach bigg success, life on our own terms, faster than we could otherwise.

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Here’s a very simple example of how these five elements come together. I want to take a course on CSS to improve my web design skills. That’s growth. It’s going to cost me a little bit of money. It’s also going to cost me quite a bit of time. But this new knowledge will allow me to get more work, which will help me make more money so I can travel more. That’s play! In the short term, it will cost me time but in the long term, it will me save time because I’ll be able to work more efficiently. That’s synergy!

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By thinking about the whole – all five elements together – and working on them all at once, we find solutions that we couldn’t, or at least didn’t, see before.

It empowers you

When you have a choice to make, you can use these five elements holistically to weigh how that choice impacts your vision of bigg success, of life on your own terms.

It empowers you as the entrepreneur of your life.

You can say “No” without guilt! If it’s not moving you closer to the bigg success you dream of, just say no.

You can say “Yes” when you clearly see that it is taking you down the path you want to follow.

Don’t balance, blend your work and life

Our idea goes beyond work – life balance. The old way of thinking was to draw a line in the sand. That was how we tried to separate our personal and professional lives.

It’s great if it works for you. Most people have found this nearly impossible to do in the 21st century. We use technology prodigiously and that technology is live 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have responded in kind which has placed stress on the idea of work – life balance.

So we moved to integration. Don’t separate the personal and the professional. Keep them both live simultaneously and move seamlessly between the two worlds.

We found this concept helpful, but it doesn’t go far enough. There is little benefit to integration other than giving ourselves permission to not feel guilty if we’re working when we should be playing or playing when we should be working.

So the bigg idea is synergy:

Our two worlds should not only blend, but benefit one another.

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I spoke with an inventor recently about how he discovered his latest idea. He said that he was reading a book for pleasure one weekend. This book sparked a thought that became his bigg invention. He wasn’t reading the book for any reason other than enjoyment, but he also kept his whole being, his whole mind, live. By not turning off his professional side as he read for personal reasons, he discovered his bigg opportunity.

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So as you can see, you don’t have to be in work mode to find something that can help you professionally and you don’t have to be in play mode to find something you might enjoy personally. Keeping our whole person live all the time leads to bigg success.

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The age of interdependence

There’s a final element to this synergy, to what’s running throughout the five elements. Synergy goes beyond just ourselves. The 21st century is the age of interdependence.

We can’t succeed bigg by ourselves. We must build relationships that build value. We add value by doing what we do best while working with others doing what they do best.

There’s the synergy; we create value together through interdependence. When we build together, we reach bigg success faster!

Let’s build bigg success together

So what does life on your own terms mean to you?

What challenges are you facing right now in your quest for bigg success?

How are you using synergy to get to bigg success even faster?

You can share that with us by leaving a comment below, calling us toll free at 888.455.BIGG or sending us an e-mail at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com.

We’ll take the most common challenges and do a show about them. We hope you will share your solutions to these challenges as well. Working together, we can all reach bigg success even faster!

We’ll also highlight how people are living life on their own terms. In these stories are lessons for all of us. So share your story and get in on the fun!

Thank you for reading our post today. Until next time, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00360-032709.mp3

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Last time, Jonathan discussed why it’s so important, especially in tough times like these, to understand how to operate online because it’s an inexpensive way to swap work for money. Let’s get back to the conversation …

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Jonathan, I believe that really good entrepreneurs are masters at minimizing risk. I think one of the great secrets of being online is that you can test concepts with a relatively small amount of money compared to what it used to cost us in the real world. You find out fairly quickly whether or not that concept can get traction. If it doesn’t, you move on. If it does, you keep funding it.

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That’s such a great observation. We were talking briefly before we started recording. You said that it seems like everything I do is a success. And I said, “No, everything that lasts that I do is a success.”

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Test, listen, adapt

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Because you have two successful blogs, you have this book and then you have best yoga center in New York? You have the magic touch.

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I do a lot of different things. I’ve had failures offline and I’ve had failures online. I will continue to have many more failures in both worlds. I can tell you, hands down, that I have lost so much less money in my online failures. I’m able to jump back in to the next adventure in the blink of an eye online. Whereas when something goes wrong offline, you have a substantial amount more money, overhead or time invested in it. Everything is recoverable in my mind, but it takes longer. It may take months or years. In the online world, I’m sort of off and running. I have tried and failed online too many times to count, but that’s just part of being an entrepreneur. You’re constantly testing. The ability to listen and adapt are critical to survival, whether you’re online or offline.

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Getting started online

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So for our audience, Jonathan – they may be thinking, “This sounds interesting. I may like to explore this online world. But I have no idea how to build a web site. I have no idea how to get started with an online business.” What would be some critical, career renegade, first steps for someone like that?

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Step 1 – Buy my book!

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Ha-ha, good suggestion! Does your book help walk people through that?

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It’s interesting. When I started writing this book, I didn’t intend for it to have so much online advice, but it turned into a massive encyclopedia of references answering that question. So, if you’re interested in blogging, starting an information business, or figuring out how to turn your knowledge into a revenue stream – not just little products but real businesses – the book offers a ton of information. It also offers a ton of links and resources to other places where you can go a lot deeper because I don’t believe any one book is capable of covering the entire space. Beyond that, though, there is so much free information when you start to explore the blogosphere. I would start out with an idea, with what interests you. Search on it. Find the blogs where people write on a regular basis. To me, one of the critical things for almost anybody who is trying to build a reputation as a leader in any field is blogging. That’s something you can leverage into working for someone else or starting your own business. To me, it’s an amazing way to position yourself as the go-to person in your field of interest in an astonishingly short period of time. Anybody can start a blog, probably in less than an hour, and it costs almost nothing to do.

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I became a renegade because I couldn’t find anybody to pay me what I thought I was worth. Then I found out I couldn’t afford to pay myself what I thought I was worth. What do you do about that? I had to adjust the value a little bit, but over time it’s been just fine!

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A very special offer

Jonathan amazed us with a special offer for you. He’s put together a sixteen-hour video training course called Career Renegade Flight School. You could expect to pay $1,000 for similar programs. He’s giving it away for a short while with proof that you’ve purchased his book. Go to Career Renegade to learn more.

Thanks, Jonathan, for the great advice!

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Thanks so much for stopping by our site today. Next time we ask, “Is your idea worth your money?” Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00320-013009.mp3

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Junior lenders want as high a lending authority as possible because that shows confidence in their abilities. Senior lenders want as low a lending authority as possible because that gives them cover!

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Entrepreneurs are hot about hot decisions

Scientists at the University of Cambridge recently released a study on “cold” and “hot” decisions by two groups – managers and entrepreneurs. By their definition, “cold” decisions involve little emotional involvement whereas “hot” decisions involved taking risk. The outcome of these hot decisions is unknown in advance; it could go either way – good or bad.

Both the managers and the entrepreneurs in the study were about 50 years old, on average. The researchers found that the managers took risks consistent with their age.

So we can only conclude that entrepreneurship is the fountain of youth. By taking risks, we act younger than we are!

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I thought taking risk was the cause of some of the gray hairs I have to cover!

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And I thought it was the reason I have a lot less hair than I used to!

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We know that, right now, a lot of us aren’t in a risk-taking mood. But if the past is any indicator, it will be risk-taking entrepreneurs that turn our economy around and start creating jobs.

Risk-taking can be learned

This study also showed that risk-taking can be learned. So you can tap into the fountain of youth by learning how entrepreneurs are able to manage the risk they take.

Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurs aren’t risk lovers. They are willing to accept moderate risks, in general. However, as we see again in this study, they’re more willing to accept risk than the general population. We can think of four reasons why they do this:

Entrepreneurs may read the situation differently.

They often have insights that people on the outside don’t have so they’re able to interpret the situation differently. We may look at a situation and see a lot of risk. The entrepreneur knows it’s much less risky because of his or her unique knowledge.

Entrepreneurs aren’t paralyzed by risk.

Many people are willing to do everything right up to the point of taking action. They develop analysis paralysis and never pull the trigger. Entrepreneurs analyze to a point, but then they just go.

Entrepreneurs are often able to shift a portion of the risk to others.

It could be the firm’s employees, customers, vendors, or financiers. As entrepreneurs get others to buy in, no matter what the form, the level of risk they are taking goes down to a manageable level. Then they know they can act.

Entrepreneurs are able to handle and live with “entrepreneurial terror.”

They can handle the stress that comes along with the risk. They are able to ride the ups and downs of the entrepreneurial roller coaster ride.

So what we learned today is that entrepreneurs don’t act their age. And that’s one of the secrets to their bigg success!

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Thank you so much for reading our post today. Join us next time when we talk about another study that shows that a happy friend is worth $20,000 in the bank! Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed.

Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00284-121108.mp3

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