Everything begins with an idea!
Everything you see around you is created twice, first in your mind in the form of an idea then in its physical equivalent.
Look around you, the desk you are sitting at, the chair you are sitting on, the computer or tablet you are reading this blog on, they were all first a ‘thought’, an idea from its creator and then that person acted on the idea and worked towards creating it in its physical form.
That’s what happened for a wonderful friend of mine in the United States, the talented speaker, trainer and coach, Heather Manzano.
Heather had an idea and took all the necessary steps to turn into action a workshop with our joint mentor, the world’s Number 1 Coach and president of the John Maxwell Team, Paul Martinelli.
Heather and Paul held a workshop together in Rochester NY in April 2018.
When I heard from Heather what she intended to do, I followed her closely and watched her turn her idea into reality. When it was all over I reached out to Heather and asked her if we could have a call so I could find out about how the workshop went and how she created it.
When I came off that call, I decided I wanted to do exactly the same thing! Heather inspired me to have the idea that I too could also hold a workshop with our mentor Paul Martinelli, so I had the idea….but could I turn it into its physical form?
In May 2018 I attended Paul’s Turning Point event; at the end of that workshop, Paul teaches you to claim your ‘I am-ness’ .
It’s an exercise where every single day you speak out loud and claim and affirm what it is you want in the future, but in the present tense, for example, “I am focused”, “I am learning”, “I am growing”, “I am significant”, “I am loved”…..you get the picture??
You do this exercise every day for 90 days and as well as helping to set personal goals you realise that you learn to be kind to yourself and to say positive things about yourself instead of what many of us do and give ourselves a hard time when we talk to ourselves.
Well on day 6/90- 25th May 2018 I claimed: “I am teaching on the stage with my mentor Paul Martinelli”. I put it out there into the universe with no idea of how I was going to make it happen.
The other great thing about this exercise is that if you follow the process and do it the right way, you also make the idea public, so in this instance every day I was posting these ‘I ams’ on the Turning Point Facebook Page.
On day 6/90 22 other people liked it and a number of the closed group commented positively on the post…….including Paul!!
Fast forward to the Autumn of 2018 and I have really done nothing with this idea other than discuss it with a few of my inner circle, including Heather.
What I also haven’t mentioned, to make things worse is ……I have been investing in being mentored by Paul Martinelli for the last two years but I haven’t mentioned any of this to him. Why? Well, I was making all the excuses and reasons in my head on why Paul would not want to be on stage with me! “He’s bound to say no, right?”
Why would a multi-millionaire, world-renowned speaker who has shared the stage with all the greats including Zig Ziglar, Wayne Dyer, Bob Proctor, Les Brown and John Maxwell to name but a few, why would he share a stage with me?
Well, guess what……..I was never going to find out the answer to that question unless I asked him, and the real reason I was probably not asking him was that I was scared he might actually say yes!
When I did eventually ask him, he did exactly what you would expect a great mentor would do, who shares your dreams and desires just as much as you do……..he said yes!
So, once he said yes……I took a huge intake of breath, I began the research of when and where to hold the event and engaged my Mastermind group to help and support me, this was all in January 2019. By February of 2019 I had decided it was impossible!!!
Why? Well in my early research it became clear that every hotel wanted full payment upfront! I hadn’t even sold a ticket!!
So that was it right? My idea was a stupid one, on my next call with Paul I would thank him for his offer, tell him that it was a ‘stupid idea’ and that there would be no event with me in London! Paul wouldn’t mind, he’s a busy guy, he’s in demand, he will have lots of other more important things he could be doing with his time, right?
So, before I tell Paul all this, I jump on my next call with my Mastermind group…..which includes my wonderful friend Heather by the way, and on the call, I tell them that this was a bad idea and here are all the reasons why I can’t and won’t be doing it!
I’ve not mentioned too much about what a Mastermind group is and I won’t try and explain that here, but suffice to say this group of people are very bright, they are coaches and entrepreneurs and they are in this group because they are further down the road in experience than me, that’s why I asked them to help me form the group. This wonderful group of people were in no mood to hear about all the ‘BS’ that I was telling them on this particular day in February 2019. (When I say ‘BS’, you understand that I mean ‘Belief system’ right?)
Needless to say after I had been in the ‘hot seat’ on that particular call, I had borrowed their belief in me and decided that this event WAS going to go ahead – they shared ideas on how I could raise the money, on how I might negotiate with the hotel and to just get on and do it. That’s the power of a Mastermind group!
Let’s fast forward to 3rd & 4th July 2019!
It’s a beautiful summer’s day in London, it’s Independence Day in the USA and on this day 160 people have attended our Strategies for Success-Create Your Independence Day.
90 people showed up the previous evening of 3rd July to hear Paul Martinelli speak into his exclusive teaching on ‘The Spirit of Opulence’. Another 75 people have attended an exclusive VIP breakfast with Paul on the morning of 4th July
The running order for the day on 4th July sees my good friend Ashley Burgess Payne compering the event all day, Paul Martinelli is teaching on the stage with his friend and business partner Roddy Galbraith…..Roddy by the way coaches and mentors the world-renowned speaker that is John Maxwell!
Introducing Paul to the stage that morning is yours truly, who is also speaking later on in the day for 30 minutes on DISC, a personality profiling tool.
Friends and guests have come from all over the world to support me, from France, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Ghana, Mauritius and a large contingent from the USA….just to see and hear from us!! OMG!
What I failed to mention is, just as I am being welcomed to the stage to introduce Paul, Heather comes up to me…..yes, Heather and all her family came all the way from Florida to be there,…….Heather comes up to me and shows me her phone.
Heather shows me the Turning Point post from May 25th 2018, the post incidentally that I had totally forgotten all about.
The post is from me and it says, “Day 6/90 – I’m teaching from the front of the room with PAUL MARTINELLI!
You see, ‘whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve’- Napoleon Hill
Everything in the universe is created twice, firstly with an idea and then in its physical form!
However, not only must you believe it, you must have a plan and you must take action. It takes persistence and you need support from people around you who believe in you.
If I can do it, so can you!
Whatever the Mind can Conceive and Believe, it can Achieve.
Everything begins with an idea! Everything you see around you is created twice, first in your mind in the form of an idea then in its physical equivalent. Look around…