Tag Archives: #Og Mandino

Og Mandino – Lessons from the Master

Og Mandino

Og Mandino Courtesy of Wikipedia

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
― Og Mandino

When Og Mandino touched my life

There are moments in our lives that are indelibly etched, that live with us forever. One such moment in my life is when Og Mandino first walked out on stage in front of me, sat down and began to speak.

It was a day in early 1987, at the old Boondall Entertainment Centre on the north side of Brisbane. There were half a dozen famous speakers on the schedule; I’d only heard of a couple. A friend and business associate at the time invited me along. He had a mobile mechanic business and credited much of his success to staying motivated by events such as this. That still holds true, we do need a regular injection of inspiration. I was then new to the corporate world and this was my first taste of it.

A couple of high energy, foot stomping, stand on the chair and chant speakers came on, one of whom has since mellowed and gained great popularity. When he spoke, there was a great energy in the hall, 17,000 people were up and chanting too, clapping and cheering.

Then Og Mandino took the stage.

The man had a presence I have rarely experienced. He spoke softly, invited us to sit, then he sat and began to speak. In contrast to the energy of the previous speaker, he hardly moved on his chair. The audience didn’t move, not even sure they breathed for the next hour as this man poured wisdom forth as though there was nothing else happening anywhere in the world. I don’t recall a single person coughing, not a chair creaking, not a sound for that hour, except the voice of Og Mandino reaching into my heart and changing my life around for me. If ever there was an audience with an angel, this was it.

I have no further recollection of any of the speakers of that day, although I still have the promo material and notes I made. Og Mandino had done his work. That was, I think, his last visit to Australia. He passed away in September of 1996, the world was saddened by his passing and his loss to humanity was incredible. However, the man left a legacy that I had begun to devour long before then. He was also an inspired author.

The Og Mandino Legacy

Og Mandino wrote many books, the most famous of all was “The Greatest Salesman in the World”. I read it many times, and followed up a number of times with the ‘workbook’ “The Greatest Secret”. It was while working through the exercises in this book that I gained the personal empowerment and inspiration that has me writing to you now.

Not only did #Og Mandino teach through the wisdom of his writing, he used strategies that if implemented, work brilliantly. Old but powerful concepts that the greatest teachers and philosophers down the ages have used to change the world. He made the suggestion that we record our successes daily, so that we could see at a glance, just how successful we were. He described a simple graph paper chart he used and I followed up on it.

First, I took a sheet of paper, ruled it up as I thought he meant, and went to work with it. Then I got my first computer, and created a spreadsheet in Excel. Each morning I would set my intention and goals for the day, and each night I would tick off my successes. My life turned on this program.

At the time, I was recovering both in health and from a business failure, and my goals for recovery from each went on this sheet. Month after month, I would check back and chart my progress. Some months I would see poor results, so I got out my diary and checked what I did that did not work – and saw how to change it for the better. Other months were a series of daily celebrations. On review, I could see what worked, so I incorporated more of those events and activities into my life. Simple although crude, but incredibly effective, daily doses of empowerment. Daily readings of Og Mandino books were a staple at this time in my life, consolidating my successes and carrying me through the dark times.

Og Mandino

Og Mandino Fundamentals Courtesy of pixpirations.com

After only a couple of years of rebuilding my health and my life, I restarted in a new career direction. I had undertaken the Entrepreneurs Program at University of Queensland, the Business Programs at Kedron Business College and numerous other courses, programs and seminars, when the share market crashed.

The 1987/1988 share market crash was a global catastrophe. Lives and businesses were ruined overnight. But I was ready. I found that people were coming to me in my new vocation of business adviser to get them back out of trouble, out of impending bankruptcy, business closures and persecution by the banks. I had made my own turn-around, and now armed with the tools of my recent experiences, I took on this challenge. The incredible part was that the empowerment strategies I had used on myself, combined with the business education I had obtained, were both the emotional and business support and advice that these ailing and failing business owners needed. We never lost one who came on board with us! We saved millions of dollars for companies that were within days and sometimes hours of closure, hundreds of jobs that would have vanished, ruining lives and families as they went. But we saved them all.

I thank Og Mandino for it. His teachings and wisdom enabled me to be in the right place at the right time, to make this contribution and Mr Og Mandino, I am eternally grateful to you Sir. Thank you.

The programs I created back then were followed by far more advanced programs in later years, seminars, workshops and advanced trainings in many fields, delving into the neuro-sciences and alternative thinking therapies and strategies way before they were popular or fashionable. Life has changed and evolved much for me since then, and the products and services I now deliver are far more advanced than anything I could have dreamed of back in the 1980’s. However, just like you can trace your DNA back hundreds or thousands of years, so you can trace the DNA of my programs and training back to the simple, fundamental philosophies and teachings of Og Mandino, and some of the other great mentors of my early years in business and training.

Whilst some people have said that “unless it’s created with the technology of the current day, it doesn’t work anymore”, I think about the other fundamental laws of nature and physics and the generalised principles that still make the world go round. Gravity is one such law. It’s still working incredibly well. Cause and effect. Very powerful also. Sayings like “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar” and so on, still relevant and absolutely true. The fundamentals will always work. Because they are the fundamentals of life and of very our existence on this planet. They are there for everyone to use, if only they knew about them and would access them to their benefit.

Please look at this link about OG MANDINO. His life story makes for powerful reading. Before becoming a best-selling author, Og Mandino was a bombardier and pilot in the US Air Force during World War 2. He flew with fellow pilot and later movie star, James Stewart. During his early life after the war, he, like so many other returned soldiers, contemplated ending it all, but found inspiration in a book, and his life changed also. His remarkable life story is well worth reading…

Og Mandino

Og Mandino Air Crew Courtesy of www.natickvets.org

If you would like to experience the benefits of the teachings of Og Mandino as they influenced my life, you can. I have packaged much of what I learned from Og Mandino into Life Change 90, the life change program that over a period of just 90 days, can transform the life of the person who truly commits to it. No matter what you do, you are here, on this planet, and you are likely to be here for the next ninety days. Make them count. Get Life Change 90!

If you know someone else whose life could benefit from exposure to the principles espoused and taught by Og Mandino, please send this blog article to them. I’m sure they will thank you.

Til next time, fair winds and full sails.

Ray

Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment

#Integrity

Integrity – it speaks for itself.
Courtesy of life-of-integrity.com

Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment

“I believe in integrity. Dogs have it. Humans are sometimes lacking it.”Cesar Millan

Spirituality came to me later in life.  Growing up in the bush, my exposure to topics other than beef cattle, crops and sheep was a little limited because of the isolation.  Although an avid reader, it was a subject that I didn’t know existed as a topic.

It was in my thirties, after a series of life changing events, losing my family, my farm and business and some health challenges, and I was laid low for a year.  I relocated to the city and because of my interest in business, became a member of the Institute of Management.  This gave me access to an amazing library!

I gravitated to a section I had never heard of, with authors whose names were totally unfamiliar, but who I grew to love and respect.  Og Mandino, Jim Rohn, Blair Singer, Robert Kiyosaki and many, many more.  I later had the good fortune to see, hear and work with many of these great people.

#Integrity

Og Mandino
Image from conqueryourlife.net

Og Mandino spoke in Brisbane just a couple of years before his passing.  He followed another speaker whose name ironically I do not recall, a high-powered, hard charging success coach type.  He marched about the stage and put on quite a theatrical performance. When he finished, the audience was abuzz with energy and chatter.

Then Og Mandino entered.  An elderly man, he sat on a chair just a little to one side of centre stage.  He spoke softly, quietly.  There was not another sound in the hall.  It was as though eighteen thousand people held their breath for an hour to be sure they never missed a word.  At the end of his talk, we stood as one and applauded.  The elderly man rose, bowed a number of times, and finally walked off stage.  We continued clapping.  Then the hall suddenly went quiet, as we understood we had been in the presence of greatness.

This quietly spoken man held the audience, not with his performance, but with his heart, his #integrity.

“Integrity has no need of rules.”Albert Camus

Jim Rohn was another who I had the privilege to meet and listen to a number of times.  I first found Jim in the audio cassette section of the business department of the AIM Library, and devoured everything I could find by him.  Jim was also a quietly spoken man, a small framed man but a giant among people.  I attended a weekend workshop with him and had the honour of meeting and speaking with him personally a number of times.  I told him my own story one lunchtime and how he had influenced my life.  Later he repeated my story on stage, to show how it is possible to influence someone to change their life and aim higher, with just your words and your integrity.  Sadly, Jim has also passed on.

#Integrity

Jim Rohn
Image from thatgirlamala.wordpress.com

Through Jim Rohn’s influence, I was encouraged to continue my personal development.  I met Blair Singer at a powerful spiritual seminar in Brisbane.  Blair was different again, a tiny man with a huge heart.  His words and presentations gave me the framework for the life I chose, after drifting without purpose for a number of years since losing the farm and my family.  There was never a question from that time, after seeing Blair’s presentation and how it moved people, as to what direction my life would take from then on.

#Integrity

Blair Singer
Image from www.erhardruettimann.com

My public speaking journey brought me into contact with other people who had also chosen the stage and limelight to spread their message to the world.  I was fortunate that I had learnt first about integrity in speaking from the masters of the stage, before I found the charlatans, and there are many of them.

“A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.”  ― Jacqueline Bisset

The title of this blog is Integrity, Spirituality and Empowerment. 

So many people preach spirituality and empowerment, yet their message is lost in the confusion of their energies.

I attended a seminar in Brisbane by a guy who has since been listed as having a wealth of over 200 million dollars, but at the time was facing bankruptcy.  At that seminar, people were leaving front row seats to stand at the back of the hall, to get away from his ego and energy, without actually leaving the room.  His presentation was about how we should pay him huge sums of money to attend his courses and buy a franchise from him, as they had made him so successful.  Because his presentation was so slick, many people did invest.  By investing the sale proceeds from his overpriced franchises, he was able to turn a bad situation into a personal fortune.  Yet, he has a trail of disenchanted clients all around the world.  He has been sued for sums of money the average person could only dream about, but has kept enough of his fortunes tied up in offshore havens away from the reach of the courts to live happily ever after.

#integrity

Not so sure about this guy…!
Image from oilersnation.com

Another very popular presenter is famous for his NLP workshops.  NLP is a great modality and has powerful applications and value for personal change.  However, hypnotism is also a branch of NLP studies.  Where are the ethics and integrity of getting 3,000 people in a conference room and applying Ericksonian hypnosis (hypnosis by voice modulation and conversational techniques) while promoting your range of “advanced workshops”, some costing thousands of dollars each!

“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity” Tom Peters

There are many charlatans masquerading as spiritual gurus.  Their message is supposedly about spirituality and empowerment.  They have a few nice talks they put together after reading people such as Jim Rohn and Og Mandino.  Their true focus is on taking money from your wallet, through expensive, slickly marketed seminars on idyllic island or luxury resorts, or seminars dressed up as business opportunities to become a life coach or invest in property with them.

It’s interesting that many of the big names in public speaking and the spiritual and financial gurus seem to have a public life that is very short, punctuated by lawsuits and claims of fraud.  Many have paid the price with time spent behind bars for their promotions, but many more still circulate and take easy pickings when they can.

Integrity is simple, but not easy.

Integrity is the province of people with a genuine focus on empowering others to be better at being themselves, and having better lives.  As soon as someone starts spruiking island resorts for their workshops and personal coaching at thousands of dollars per HOUR, or admittance to their “inner circle” of clients, I know that integrity has left the room, in disgust.

Yes, a nice hotel is great to present a workshop to a lot of people at once.  However, the workshop and message should be the focus.  If it is, it won’t need the added attraction of duty-free shopping to get people there.  Price it so that everyone can afford it, not just those with personal fortunes to draw on.

Empowering those who need it most, the people who did not get the great start in life, the people who still work on the minimum wage, the people whose lives have been visited by challenges and who could never aspire to spend thousands of dollars on a weekend listening to a guru, this is where spiritual integrity begins.

Those of us who have a message from Spirit do not own the message!

We are merely the conduit for the message.  Spirit doesn’t mind us charging a fee for it if we are making it our life’s work.  Claiming ownership and charging huge fees that lock away the message away from all but the most privileged is hardly in integrity.

How can you be spiritual, empowered and in integrity?

It’s a personal thing.  It’s about taking personal responsibility and being discerning with who you listen to, and what goes into your mind.  Filter the rubbish, embrace the wisdom.

It’s about picking up the lessons and habits that have been proven over decades, centuries even, to work and to always work.  It’s about integrating them into your life.

It’s about having your own daily personal empowerment program that instills the right success habits, the best subconscious programs and giving you the most powerful tools for personally improving your situation, at your own speed, and being with you all the way through.

It is about becoming personally empowered and building integrity into the environment around you and in your life, which will enable you to create your own success, wealth, and abundance, without making someone else wealthy at your expense.  It’s not about giving your power away to a guru you may never meet, or their disciples, centuries after their passing.  It’s certainly not about giving your power away to any religious leader or doctrine.

It IS about taking responsibility for becoming everything you COULD be, and sharing your own personal, spirit given gifts with the world.  If it becomes your calling to make a career out of your gift, whether it’s Reiki, readings or channelling, then spirit will guide you to where you need to be, and show you how to make that work for you with integrity and bring you the mentors you need – as long as you are willing to accept the challenge.  It’s not something you can half do.

Responsibility is total – you need to be personally prepared for it and a Personal Empowerment Program is what it will take, to lift your energy, intention and ability to where it needs to be.  And if you think you are already prepared, ask yourself why a butcher keeps sharpening his knife….  Yes.  You need to stay sharp too! Click this link to learn more.

Your personal empowerment program – your own pep talk every day!

If you feel this article has empowered and benefited you and you feel it could benefit the personal empowerment, integrity and spiritual development of other people you know, please reblog it, share it with your friends and associates.  It might be the day you changed someone’s life for the better!

Til next time, fair winds and full sails,

Ray Jamieson

#Integrity

Jim Rohn as I knew him
Image from mlmtraffictactics.com

 

Please also refer to my other posts on Empowerment:

Empowerment through Emotional Intelligence

Financial Empowerment

Empowerment

Empowerment for Men

Empowerment for Women

Empowerment for Teens

Empowerment for Children

Personal Empowerment

What would an empowered man do?

Empowered by love

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