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Letter From The Editor

Are you tired of and even confused by the politics that are being played out as we approach the presidential election. I know that I am!!!

We all count on the politics in an election year to bring out what was accomplished and what was not by those vying for our vote, but politics as usual never gives us the full story. We’ve got to get the story ourselves!

Getting Informed

In researching a recent radio show, I came across a website: www.factcheck.org Check it out! FactCheck.org “aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.” They monitor the factual accuracy of what our politicians say in TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. They do not accept any funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals. It is funded primarily by a private foundation.

From FactCheck.org you can see what is true and what isn’t true and make decisions for yourself based upon truth… not half-truths or the twisting of words.

As long as you are getting factual information, I don’t care what sources you use to learn about the issues; I simply care that you know what the issues are, what is true and what isn’t true, and you stand up for what you believe the next step should be!

When we as citizens are fully informed: We can choose whom to support, and we can hold our leaders accountable for their actions, their words, and the results they do or do not obtain!

Taking on Accountability

We look at the faults in how the political machine in Washington D.C. works and wonder what we as mere individuals can do about it. Yet the answer isn’t about taking on a Goliath… it is about taking on You, Me, and every citizen of the United States!

Consider this: What if every single one of us REALLY took on accountability for our own lives? Do you see how that kind of responsibility would breed responsibility everywhere… even in Washington D.C.?

If we are going to hold our leaders responsible for the messes we as a country get into, we’ve got to hold our own feet to the fire too! No more double-standards… No more finger pointing. We’ve all got to stand up and be responsible; responsible for overspending; for borrowing more than we should; for not paying the bills we said we were going to pay!

The Point

Accountability in Washington D.C., accountability in our schools, accountability in our homes starts with us!! We cannot expect our leaders or anyone else to do what they say they are going to do if we don’t stand up and do what we say we are going to do!!

So my challenge to you is to stop the vicious blame game, and look inward. Get your own house in order and then find out what your congressional leaders are standing for and against. Contact them. Remind them of their promises, and make your voice be heard!

Note: To find out who your congressional leaders are and how to contact them go to: www.congress.org.

And when it comes to casting your ballot on November 4th, do your homework! Don’t allow politics to confuse and frustrate you. Use resources such as www.factcheck.org to find out what is real and is not real about what is being said and decide which candidate you believe will make a difference where YOU believe a difference needs to be made most!

Also remember: there is plenty of blame to go around in the current global economic crisis. Finger-pointing won’t create solutions, but accountability for all of us and an honest willingness to sit down and do what’s right will.

Check out the following written by Joe Miller and Brooks Jackson as posted on www.factcheck.org:

The Real Deal

"So who is to blame? There's plenty of blame to go around, and it doesn't fasten only on one party or even mainly on what Washington did or didn't do. As The Economist magazine noted recently, the problem is one of "layered irresponsibility ... with hard-working homeowners and billionaire villains each playing a role." Here's a partial list of those alleged to be at fault:

• The Federal Reserve, which slashed interest rates after the dot-com bubble burst, making credit cheap.
• Home buyers, who took advantage of easy credit to bid up the prices of homes excessively.
• Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses.
• Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling more expensive homes.
• The Clinton administration, which pushed for less stringent credit and down payment requirements for working- and middle-class families.
• Mortgage brokers, who offered less-credit-worthy home buyers subprime, adjustable rate loans with low initial payments, but exploding interest rates.
• Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who in 2004, near the peak of the housing bubble, encouraged Americans to take out adjustable rate mortgages.
• Wall Street firms, who paid too little attention to the quality of the risky loans that they bundled into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), and issued bonds using those securities as collateral.
• The Bush administration, which failed to provide needed government oversight of the increasingly dicey mortgage-backed securities market.
• An obscure accounting rule called mark-to-market, which can have the paradoxical result of making assets be worth less on paper than they are in reality during times of panic.
• Collective delusion, or a belief on the part of all parties that home prices would keep rising forever, no matter how high or how fast they had already gone up.

The U.S. economy is enormously complicated. Screwing it up takes a great deal of cooperation. Claiming that a single piece of legislation was responsible for (or could have averted) the crisis is just political grandstanding. We have no advice to offer on how best to solve the financial crisis. But these sorts of partisan caricatures can only make the task more difficult.”

What Joe Miller and Brooks Jackson gave us here is a pretty harsh, but accurate, view of reality. We all have a part to play. My question is: what are you willing to do about it?

Getting on the Road to Recovery

Living in a cave, hoping the whole problem will blow over isn’t going to solve anything, nor will fear, anxiety, sleeplessness, or blame. What will help is responsibility and accountability in Washington D.C. and in our own lives and checkbooks.

Now is not the time to panic. Now IS the time to get our houses in order and keep them that way! I’m doing my part. How about you?

It’s just a thought, but one worth acting on!!

Best Regards,

Clay S. Nelson

P.S. You can listen to my radio show on this topic by going my radio show download page. From there you can scroll down and choose to download the audio or watch video of the show “Being Accountable… for Being Responsible” on YouTube.

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Do You Want To Be Successful?
Give Up “How?”

We have all been in one or more of these places before… You desire your business to reach “X” amount of dollars this year and not just survive, but thrive in today’s challenging market; you want to move from being the head honcho of your business to the retired figure-head; you want to coach your son’s little league team and/or your daughter’s soccer team; you want to contribute to your community and associations whose cause is important to you; you want to loose “X” amount of weight; you want to make a difference in the world, have a life and have a successful business. And in all likelihood, the first thing that occurred to you when wanting “X” was “but how?”

But what if getting what you say you want—accomplishing a personal or business goal, meeting a tight project deadline, pushing through life’s stops—is simply about your commitment to do so no matter what, and nothing more? You see, in order to accomplish anything you’ve got to first be fully committed to it, and then willingly give up the inevitable question of “how?”!

“ But how?” is the first stop most people encounter in getting what they want. It is a mental roadblock that produces negative thoughts of “I can’t do it because I don’t have this.” Or “I tried accomplishing this before and failed.” So what would it be like to give up “how?” and commit to whatever your goal, no matter the circumstance or the journey’s foreseen roadblocks?

In my own experience of giving up “how”, I have found an energy, excitement, passion, and creativity that helped in propelling me toward the goal. So with all that said: What are the keys to giving up “how?”

You have to really want what you want

Unless you clearly want what you want, you will never get past “how?” and why should you? Any time spent forging toward a ho-hum, less than heart-felt goal is a waste of time, and assuming in this circumstance you managed through the stops, how satisfied will you be in the end?

Tame the Control Monster lurking within

Admit it. We all have a Control Monster of some magnitude lurking inside, and the control monster portion of your being loves “how?” because “how?” seeks security and knowing; it also drains your passion, stops you for fear of failing and not looking good, limits your playground, and stifles your creativity. Gee that sounds fun… Not!

In order to give up “how?” you have got to get present to the Control Monster lurking inside and what he is costing you, and the others around you, and rein him in!

Build your team

You know the old saying, “Two heads are better than one.” Reaching your goals and objectives takes a team of people who not only encourage you in your journey but also assist you along the way. We have all lived different lives and bring to the table a wealth of knowledge based upon our experiences. The “how?” that stops you will not necessarily stop another. Tap the resources of your team, ask for help, and go for it!

Ask and allow others to hold you accountable

Okay. No matter how driven you are, stops always come up. Therefore, you have to ask and allow others to hold you accountable for getting what you say you want. Without this support, the stops will bury you every time.

And finally, Be unstoppable

Being unstoppable actually encompasses all of the previously mentioned keys to giving up “how?” And in the end, it is all about keeping your passion alive and being driven to accomplish whatever your goals are, even in the face of fear, not knowing how, and life’s circumstances.

Being unstoppable is fed by your heart-felt desires, your commitment to your commitment, and being present to giving up “how?” It is where freedom, aliveness, security, creativity, and fun dwell and if you can “be” there, you can have anything you say you want without knowing for sure how you are going to get it!

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