Tyler Jorgenson

Gone skydiving? Traveled to Hong Kong? Been on Safari? Helped a stranger for the better?
My beautiful wife rented The Bucket List for us to watch. I’m not much for writing movie reviews, but all in all it was a good flick. It made me think a little bit about my life’s goals and aspirations. In the movie Morgan Freeman’s character has a nice family life (but a stale marriage), a modest job and a traditional home. Somehow he ends up sharing a hospital room with Jack Nicholson’s character (sorry about the Lakers in Game 4 Jack) who is an extremely wealthy man, but with no family ties to speak of. Both characters get to impart a bit of their views to the other through the movie and end up better people in the end.

The first thing I thought of was my amazing family. I have three ridiculously amazing children and a super star wife. If I were left desolate in a shack in Tulsa (the Paris of Oklahoma) but I had my family then life would be alright. The next thing I thought about is that I want to see some stuff while I’m on this earth. I’ve been lucky to chase giraffe in Africa and I am very grateful for my time there… but I want to see Machu Picchu, sing to my wife in Italy, tour the Holy Land and climb Kilimanjaro.

While I was in South Africa I read some words in Afrikaans that have stuck with me.

Many of you know it’s Latin counterpart, Carpe Diem. Both say the same thing so both are obviously good but Gryp Die Dag, said in a gluteral and milataristic voice full denotes expedient and forceful action. Carpe Diem is so much more poetic and light.

That being said, two questions to think about?

1. What is one thing you feel you MUST do before you kick the bucket?

2. What is the most rewarding thing you can do TODAY?

My thoughts after watching the movie are in line with Baird’s poem:

Time flies on wings of lightning;
We cannot call it back;
It comes, then passes forward
Along its onward track;
And if we are not mindful,
The chance will fade away;
For life is quick in passing.
‘Tis as a single day.

Life your life with a sense of determined urgency. Reap while the sun shines.

Entertain me and leave a comment with your answer to question #1. Maybe there’s a prize for whoever leaves a comment with the most original answer.

I saw this quote hanging on an office wall today:

”We Cannot govern the length of our lives, but we can control the depth and breadth of our lives. We cannot control the weather, but we can control the atmosphere that surrounds us. There is a raise in your future. It becomes effective when you do.” Hank Trisler

I really enjoyed the concepts put forth in this quote. I have long believed that we are the sum of the people we surround ourselves with. The atmosphere around us relates to the people with which we associate, the way in which we communicate, the attitudes we exhibit et cetera. So much of our lives are wasted in the wrong local weather of doubt and fear. We empower ourselves when we create a positive forward thinking, problem solving environment in which to dwell.

Recently I’ve been wanting a ‘raise’. To hear it put that it is there ready for me, as soon as I am effective enough to obtain it was humbling. Today I am empowering myself to be more effective in my goals.
p.s. I included this comic because I found it humorous… not because I think this young lad was being more effective… I mean, I could handle $250 a glass but $500 is just crazy.

So some guys ‘stole’ my law, named it the law of attraction and made a killing marketing the concept that the things we dwell upon become bigger in our lives. The Law of Expectation that I began formulating in 1999 while living in Africa is a little different, and I plan on expounding on it in a post shortly.

I have been waiting on some pretty big deals to close recently. Three big ones and a couple little ones, but they’re all big to me right now. With the real estate market in turmoil none of these deals have gone remotely close to as planned and this has been the source of a small *cough* amount of stress in my life. But today things begin to change in my favor. There may not be one specific thing that will change today, but I believe that the momentum will finally be picking up and moving in my direction. I’m ready to unload these three so I can focus on new projects and spend some quality time with the family that has been so patient with me.

So if you woke up this morning and smelled something in the air, it was the winds of change and it smells GREAT!

Recently I have been devouring self-help books, psychology texts and biographies of people I admire. I am on a bit of a self development kick and am loving the revelations that are coming from trying to better myself. One of the books I am reading is an old copy (1980) of Tom Hopkins How To Master The Art Of Selling. Here are a couple of quotes:

“People always choose the economic level they’ll accept – it’s never thrust on them.”

This got me thinking. When I was going through college I remember thinking that if I could get a job making $100,000 a year then my life would be amazing. I would be living in a land of milk and honey and money would be so plentiful life would be blissful. My first ‘real’ job was working for Washington Mutual as a loan consultant (I don’t count owning a little restaurant before that as a real job, nor the dozens of part time jobs either). The day that I got hired was the same day as an awards ceremony for the previous year. I was invited to the party and my wife and I sat there as the annual production awards were handed out. The top achiever for the year, and the man assigned to be my mentor for the next 6 months, had funded close to $200,000,000 in home loans resulting in a annual pay of over $1,000,000! All of a sudden $100,000 seemed paltry. I watched the attitudes and the resulting production of the different loan consultants that I worked with for the next couple of years and noticed that each of their production was limited to what they felt they could attain. The built their own glass ceilings. This leads to the next quote:

“You’re choosing a level of life that’s poor compared to what you could have with the extra exertion you are capable of.
It’s all on your shoulders, and there’s no way you can shift a bit of the responsibility to anyone else.”

I believe that I have limited my level of life in recent years and that my goals and attitudes need to reflect a higher focus. This leads me to a challenge and a question that I hope to get some feedback on:

Challenge: Raise the bar as to what you thought was possible in your work, relationships and personal achievements. Believe that you can attain greater job titles, production numbers, income; believe that you can have more meaningful relationships; believe that you can achieve great things. Then start out today to do so.

Question: Has there ever been a time in your life when you have had a similar paradigm shift? A time when you went from thinking that one level of life was acceptable to aspiring for something greater? If so, how did you make the change?

I leave you with an example of a different paradigm. I recently purchased a copy of Robb Report and read about a cell phone that cost $6,000, private jets, a yacht that costs $250,000,000, and cars that made my mouth water. An old friend of mine blogged about a family he is working with on a project to develop the private island they bought into fractional ownership luxury properties. That family obviously doesn’t accept the 9-5, 3% annual raise, get your pension paradigm.