Jon Bohm

Living your entire life always doing what you SHOULD can give you a safe predictable life that leaves you completely disappointed in the end because you never answered the honest and simple question of “What do I WANT?”- Jon Bohm

What do YOU want?

I mean really what do you want, not what you SHOULD want, but what do you really WANT?

Sometimes those things are the same. I should go to work today and I WANT to go to work today. Great! That is an important distinction. When you live your life the way you should instead of the way you want your heart, emotions, desires, and mind are sitting on the sideline as you live your dutiful existence moving through the motions without passion.

What are you doing in your life that you SHOULD be doing?

What are you NOT doing that you SHOULD be doing?

I should go to church. I did go to church because I SHOULD.

I should go home and hang with my family. I did go home and hang with the family because I SHOULD.

I should make that sales call. I made the call because I SHOULD.

I SHOULD take my spouse out. ETC. ETC.

What is it that you do without emotional passion and desire because you SHOULD?

Now, don’t take me wrong I’m not saying we all need to ignore whatever we SHOULD be doing.  Instead of ignoring, we have to make the mental and attitudinal shift to quit saying I SHOULD and change it to I WANT to do this.

Most of the time it’s as simple as catching your self in the middle of a SHOULD and simply replacing the word SHOULD with WANT.  It’s time to get YOUR passions and emotions off the bench and into the game of life.

The bottom line is you have an incredible life to live.  Start living it because you WANT to and stop living it because you SHOULD.  It’s time for YOU to get emotional involved in YOUR life.  If you need help making the switch, please contact me anytime!

May we hit the ground living the life we WANT to live today!

Enjoy Life!

Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Leadership, Motivation

“Everyone needs someone to help them take action on the simple things in life, because simple is not EASY.”- Jon Bohm

In high school I wore a baseball cap that had the name brand “SIMPLE” on the front.  SIMPLE is a great clothing and shoe manufacturer.  I had a boss that would always make fun of me for wearing that hat.  His jokes always themed around the idea that to be simple is to be slow… and basically a moron.

As you can imagine, I’m over it now- ok I still have a little resentment :).  As a matter of fact, I couldn’t disagree with that assumption (that “simple” means you can’t even tie your own shoes) more!  The mark of a brilliant person is to be able to take complicated ideas and make them simple enough to be useful and practical.

The greatest things in life are simple:

• Love
• Friendship
• Compassion
• Making Money
• Saving Money
• Starting a new healthy habit in the New Year
• Quitting an old unhealthy habit
• Staying active
• Eating Healthy
• Improving your quality of life
• Raising truly great kids
• Developing greatness in others
• Making the world, or at least your world, a better place

Maybe, as you were reading that list you started to disagree with me?  What do you think?  Simple?  Is it simple to love your spouse?  Is it simple to raise great kids?  Is it simple to make money?  To eat healthy, make the world a better place….etc?

Of course.  It is SIMPLE.  However, it is NOT EASY.  Somewhere a long the line I believe just about everything in our culture has confused simple with easy.  For example,  if you want to stop smoking it’s not complicated.  All  you have to do is not put another cigarette in your mouth, don’t light it, and don’t puff on it.  This is not rocket science.  If you want to eat healthy all you have to do is put healthy food into your mouth, chew, and swallow.  Again not rocket science.  But NOT easy either.

So, let me ask you.  If you could change anything in your life and improve on some things, what would you change?

Take a moment….ok got it?

Now, let’s be real honest, is it a simple change?

I would be willing to bet all 3 of those things could realistically change in the next 12 months.  Could they?  If so, than why haven’t you changed them already?  What is getting in your way?  What simple thing has become complicated or difficult and why?

Let me ask another question?  Are you becoming more and more, everyday, the person YOU WANT to be in the future?  Are you pulling your future into your present?  If you are stuck in a rut,  or if you know what simple things you need to change, than change them and don’t make it complicated.  Or, reach out for help.  I help people every single day accomplish SIMPLE but not EASY things that they never thought were possible!

If you need help, reach out…. to family, to friends, to a professional like myself, or all the above and get your life moving.  Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy, and it doesn’t give you an excuse to just keep saying that “someday I will be different, quit smoking, start a business, love my spouse better, make more money, etc.”

Enjoy your life and make changes NOW, because “Someday” never comes without changing things NOW.

Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Motivation

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Leadership, Motivation

Self-Fulfilling prophecy is a tough concept to understand. But if you can tap into your capabilities and then see and understand the potential you have. Then, remember the reasons you have to believe in yourself, you will in fact conquer your biggest fears and accomplish what you say you can.

But the opposite is true all the time. If you say you “Can’t” then you most definitely will not.

William Purkey tells a great little allegory concerning the value of feeling good about ourselves:

A mouse ran into the office of the Educational Testing Service and accidentally triggered a delicate point in the apparatus just as the College Entrance Examination Board’s data on one Henry Carson was being scored.
Henry was an average high-school student who was unsure of himself and his abilities. Had it not been for the mouse, Henry’s score would have been average or less, but the mouse changed all that, for the scores that emerged from the computer were amazing—800s in both the verbal and quantitative areas.

When the scores reached Henry’s school, the word of his giftedness spread like wildfire. Teachers began to re-evaluate their gross under-estimation of this fine lad, counselors trembled at the thought of neglecting such talent, and even college admissions officers began to recruit Henry for their schools.
New worlds opened for Henry, and as they opened he started to grow as a person and as a student. Once he became aware of his potentialities and began to be treated differently by the significant people in his life, a form of self-fulfilling prophecy took place. Henry began to put his mind in the way of great things. . . Henry became one of the best men of his generation.

We can apply this concept to our every day life and business in simple ways. When we have a week, a day, an hour, or a conversation that goes bad we will begin to “Self-talk” at an alarming rate and in that moment we have a tendency to say some negative things about ourselves, our abilities, our products, our ideas, or our companies. Of course none of these things are usually true but in that moment that couldn’t be more real.

Using a simple tool called “Affirmations” is an easy and simple way to combat the negative self talk that could arise during a work day.

Affirmations are an expression of the person you know you need to be to achieve the results you want.
An affirmation is a self-fulfiling prophecy that should be placed in a place you can read them daily- in the car- in the bathroom- at your desk - on the office wall- etc.

“I am a great sales person”
“I like to eat healthy”
“I make 500 k a year”
“LIfe is Good”
“Today is an awesome day”

Let me encourage you to write 3 and only 3 affirmations on a 3 x 5 card and read it 3 times a day.

Use the following criteria to write a great affirmation:
-Make it 1st person
-Present tense
-Positive
-Within your realm of belief

I know most of us automatically picture the Saturday night Live Skit and think this can sound a little hokus pokus, but it works. And in my world if it works and gets results then it has value.

I dare you to try it and watch your self talk, self image, and results change for the better!

After all life IS Good and it’s just getting better!

- Enjoy Life Today!
Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Motivation

“Leadership is doing what everyone else says they will do.”

What have you said you “will do?” Climb a peak, sky dive, forgive, love, settle down, build a company, chase a dream, travel the world, or something else?

Let me ask you, what are you waiting for? More money? More time? More courage?

Whatever it is, it’s probably just an excuse to put your real living off for another day, another year, or another lifetime.

Every year I take a group, of anyone who wants to go, Skydiving. My trip was this past Saturday (National Cancer Survivor’s Day). We had a great group and a great jump. It can be a life changing experience and everyone who goes loves it. Especially once they get to the ground.

But, if I went Skydiving with everyone who told me “I would love to do that!” “I’ve always wanted to go!” A thousand people would have jumped by now. My question to them is “what are you waiting for?”

What is your I’ve always wanted to ____________.?

• Take my dream vacation?
• Start my own business?
• Forgive that family member?
• Write a book?
• Get engaged?
• Learn to play the guitar, ride a motorcycle, etc?
• Go Skydiving?

What are you waiting for? Whatever it is, it’s very likely a poor reason to put your dreams on hold. It doesn’t matter if you are 23 or 73, you really don’t know how long you have to drink up every drop of life you can. Waiting is rarely a good idea. Waiting is the same thing as making the decision not to do it. Either way, you’re not doing it.

As a cancer survivor I’ve realized life is too short to be waiting for a better time. Your life…my life is now. Take that dream vacation every year. Put a plan in place to start that business, write that book, go skydiving. We only get one time around - one shot at this life- What are you doing with yours?

Enjoy Life now,

Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Leadership, Motivation, Uncategorized

Some things have to be believed to be seen. ~Ralph Hodgson, The Skylark and Other Poems

One of the greatest facts of human behavior I have seen in all the people I work with is that if you think you can…you can. And if you think you can’t…you are right about that too.

Working with athletes ranging from Pro- Golf to Basketball- it is true that if you can’t visualize and really believe that you can make that putt, hit the shot, or nail that drive you just won’t do it. Sometimes the greatest hurdle stopping us from achieving the life we say we want is simply our own ability to BELIEVE WE CAN.

What about you? What is a success you want in your life? Do you believe you can do it?

Sometimes we have habits of thoughts that stop us. Maybe from your family, an old coach, a past experience, something we made up out of thin air that stops us from believing we CAN.

Do any of these habits of thought stop you:

• You have to have money to make money
• Being wealthy is not Spiritual
• I don’t deserve it
• My family didn’t raise me to care about money
• I don’t have those talents
• Getting your Masters is a long hard road.
• I’m not smart enough

The list goes on. They are all lies, all roadblocks to keep you from the critical step of believing you can, should, or will do it.

Sometimes things have to be believed to be seen. Practice BELIEVING, have a lot of FAITH in God, in you, in your abilities. But believe it… and then you will see it.

May we BELIEVE we can and experience the abundant life you have available even if you can’t see it just yet.

- Enjoy Life Today! 

Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Motivation

“Being defeated is often only a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.” – MARILYN VOS SAVANT – Recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for the highest recorded IQ.

Do you ever wake up and just feel “defeated?”

We all have days that are “bad” days; we lose a deal, an employee or friend doesn’t make a crucial phone call, the bid goes to someone else, the news station says we will “never” recover, your phone is on the fritz, you feel sick, find out bad news, or get chewed out by the boss. Etc. etc.

This is the crucial moment where we have to make the decision to accept things the way they are at this moment and be “defeated.” Or we take the other option which is to accept the responsibility to change our circumstances.

In High School people would always tell me that I would never play in the NBA. I accepted that as truth and just let that dream die. As it turned out, 4 of the 5 of my High School starting team went on to play Division 1 college hoops and some went to the NBA.

I learned a valuable lesson, “don’t ever let someone, anyone, tell you what you can’t do.” Sure the odds can be stacked against you, sure it may not seem possible, and it doesn’t matter. You decide what you will accept as truth, you decide what you can and can’t do, you decide to accept responsibility for your life and circumstances and let everyone else “accept the way things are.”

You see, life is not made up out of whether bad things will happen or if bad days will come, because they will. Life is made out of those situations when someone decides to either be temporarily defeated or permanently destroyed. We kill our own dreams, nobody else can do that for us.

As for me, I will guard and protect my dreams and own the responsibility for making them happen. How about you?

-Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Motivation

“What we KNOW, and what we DO, can not be separated from WHO we are.”- Jon Bohm

So, do you have your dream list?

Are you clear about what you want in your future? If not, read the last few posts and build a list of the places, things, people, life you want to experience.

Once you have climbed the hill of building your dream list, then you have a clearer picture of where you want to go. But dreams, much like sand, have a tendency to slip through our fingers if we don’t hold onto them tightly.

A friend of mine spent years living what he thought was his dream to be a great Trial Lawyer, and indeed he was excellent. He had great knowledge, and he did everything need to be excellent in his lawyer role. But, it stressed him out everyday, he didn’t like who he was becoming each day. Instead of becoming more loving, understanding, and emotionally connected to those around him he became colder more distant and focused on the task at hand instead of the people at hand. It wasn’t WHO he wanted to be. I may even argue it wasn’t WHO He really was in the first place, but rather a dream, that somewhere along the line he allowed to separate himself from who he wanted to BECOME. Not just what he wanted to KNOW and DO.

I am convinced that KNOWING WHO we are is one of the biggest factors to achieving real success towards our dreams. What about you? Do you know WHO you are?

Here is a simple exercise to help you find out: take a dream, don’t pick a hazy dream, pick a crystal clear dream you can feel, touch, and almost taste it’s so clear.
Ok, got it?

Now ask yourself in order to achieve that Dream:

- Who do I have to BECOME?
- What do I have to KNOW?
- What do I have to DO?

Do you like what you see? Do you like who you have to BECOME? Achieving a dream can never just be about what we know or what we do, it has to be about becoming the person we really want to be.

What about you? Are you currently living out a path to a dream? Are you becoming the type of person you want to BE? If the answer is no, then I highly encourage you to take another look and begin chasing another dream. Don’t lose yourself in chasing dreams. Use dreams to find who you really are.

And if you need help, I can help you put all the pieces together and find your purpose, chase your dreams, and become who you REALLY want to be- maybe find WHO YOU REALLY are.

-Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Knowledge, Motivation

We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day, or in the red fire on a long winter’s evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nourish them through bad days until they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
— Woodrow Wilson

Have you ever felt like there was more to this life? Like you have something big coming but you you can’t really describe it? Do you have a Big Dream? Could you describe it? Or, maybe it’s deep in your subconscious and you feel it, you know it’s there.

After working with many people in a behind the scenes kind of way, I don’t think I have yet to meet a person who doesn’t have a dream, a big dream. Maybe you can’t describe it, maybe your not even aware enough to know what it’s about, but it’s there. Somewhere, but there.

What about you? What is your dream? What do you want to see, feel, travel too, touch, have, or experience. Everyone’s dream is different.

One of the most worthwhile things I have done is made a list of at least 100 dreams. I don’t need them anchored in reality, just dream and keep adding to it. In that list of dreams I begin to see patterns of things that I value. Family, sunshine, health, the basics. And then out of nowhere I have tapped into a part of myself that I don’t get to see everyday (and some never see.). The part of me that finds inspiration, a passion for life, a drive to be significant to myself, my family, and the world.

Often we play too small, don’t we? We are conditioned by our present circumstances, the news, things we have heard growing up, to stay inside the safe comfortable place that doesn’t dream about becoming President, writing a book, being a world changer. Our big dream is stifled by “reality.” And somewhere most people let there big dream die.

What about you? Did your big dreams die? Could you revive them today? There is something truly powerful about dreaming about the future, escaping present circumstances, with what could be. And then driving our life towards those dreams.

I am adding to my dream list today and encourage you to do the same:

• Make a list of at least 100 dreams or give it 30 minutes and add 25 to it every week until you reach 100.
• Then go back and see what really tugs at your soul, your passions, what drives you?
• If you had to narrow it down to your top 5 most important to you, what would they be?
• Write those dreams down, could they combine to one? Does it pull at that passion you have?

Can you turn it into a goal? Can you put a time table on it?

Now, the big question, will you be brave enough to in the words of Woodrow Wilson to

“..nourish and protect it through the good days and bad until you bring them to the sunshine and light which comes ALWAYS to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.”

Consider yourself warned, circumstances and people WILL mess with your head, but they can’t mess with your heart and your passions. Nourish that dream, we were not meant to stay comfortable and safe, we were meant to live, to dream, to make a difference.

The difference between success and failure in most lives is simply the difference between quitting and not giving up. Don’t give up on dreaming, dream BIG today. And be significant.

- Jon Bohm

Goals, Inspiration/Values, Motivation

Tom Landry, the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, once said something that may be true of nearly any motivator: “I have a job to do that is not very complicated, but it is difficult: to get a group of men to do what they don’t want to do so they can achieve the one thing they have wanted all of their lives.”

Did you know that more points are scored in the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter of a football game then in the other 3 quarters put together? This is often used to prove the point that all of us work better with a deadline. Which is a fact.

However, I think it is more than that. Have you ever felt like you had the time to accomplish something, but you didn’t have the energy? You lacked the physical energy, emotional energy, spiritual energy, mental energy, the motivation?

Energy in life is a resource that is often more valuable than time itself. You see, time is made of not only hours and minutes, but energy. So, whether you are playing football or working in your office you know you have to last a certain period of time mentally, physically, and emotionally.

A runner knows that if they only have to run 100 meters they can run 10 times faster than if they have to run 10 miles. The final 2 minutes of a game represent the last 100 meters. The time when you leave it all on the field. When you quit saving energy and let it all go. When results are all that matters and conserving energy doesn’t.

I have found it easier to be more productive, and turn out better quality work from a team by giving them short deadlines followed by a break. For example, if you are an author, try to write fast and focused for 5 minutes, then stop and break, before coming back for another 5 minute session.

I know a lady friend of mine who consistently runs under a 4 hour marathon by running for 5 minutes and walking for 2 minutes. I have seen this applied to concrete companies and insurance agents alike. If you pay people by the hour, it encourages them to work slower and longer. If you pay people based off productivity, it encourages them to work smarter and faster. Which is an asset to any team or organization.

I am convinced that hourly employees can work half the time and accomplish the same amount of work. Often higher quality work, if they are given a shorter deadline with twice the pay.

Still not convinced? Try this, tell your team one day that they can go home at lunch time and get paid for a full day if they complete the full day’s work by noon. See what happens. I would love to hear how it works out.

Of course, if you are a retail shop, a fast food restaurant, or any place where you have store hours, then sending them home at noon is not an option. But, what if they were rewarded with a break after taking so many orders, ringing up a certain number of customers, folding so many boxes or clothing, then would productivity increase? You bet it would.

It is time for our world to quit thinking hours and start thinking productivity. After all:

“You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”– Jim Rohn (American Business Philosopher, Author, and Speaker)

Article by Jon Bohm

Goals, Innovation, Leadership, Motivation