Tell Me What Makes You Come Alive!

www.tellmewhatmakesyoucomealive.com

Recently, I have been asking people the question “What makes you come alive?”

I have a growing awareness that this is a very important question.

I have discovered that some people can answer this question and some people can’t.

I have also discovered that some people answer the question and their answer just rings hollow. Their answer sounds like they are saying what they think they are supposed to say, however, the answer has no passion or depth or vibrancy.

I do not know what is sadder; people who can’t answer this question or people who give an answer that does not seem to even inspire them.

Yep – This is a Basic Question

To my way of thinking this is a such a basic question, it did not even occur to me that people would need to be encouraged spend time figuring out what makes them come alive.

I have run into too many people who seem to live a life based on “duty” for lack of a better word, people who seem out of touch with what makes them come alive.

It reminds me of an article I recently wrote for my Marriage website - Battle For a Great Marriage entitled Spend Time With Your Wife.  www.spendtimewithyourwife.com

There was a time that I would never thought that I would need to tell husbands that they need to spend time with their wives. In the past few years, I  have discovered that many husbands need to be told to spend time with their wives.

In the same way, I have run across people who need to be encouraged to figure out what makes them come alive.

Why?

The movie poster for Braveheart had 8 haunting words on it – “Every man dies, not every man really lives;”

To Live Life To The Full

If you do not know what makes you come alive, you will never be able to live life to the full, or as the Braveheart poster puts it – you will not really live.

To Succeed As a Leader

If you are in a leadership position, and if you do not know what makes you come alive, you will be a failure as a leader. No one worth having as a follower wants to follow someone who is living a life devoid of passion and vibrancy.

You Can’t Hide It

If you do not know what makes you come alive, or if you know and if you are not somehow experiencing or pursuing what makes you come alive, it will leak out of you and eventually people will know. www.itleaksout.com

First Discover the Answer

If you do not know what makes you come alive, your first step is to discover the answer that resonates with you. I suggest that journaling with a blue pen and a yellow pad is a great way to learn about yourself. www.journalforlifechange.com 

Once You Know The Answer

Once you can authentically answer the question “what makes you come alive?”, start experiencing the things that makes you come alive!

If some miserable set of circumstances dictate that you can’t start right now experiencing what makes you come alive, set your sights on being able to do that within the next 6 months.  At least that way, you will leak that you are someone in the hunt for what makes you came alive.

Even a Little Helps

Maybe travel makes you come alive and right now, today, finances dictate that you can’t get on that plane and head off to the places that beckons to you.

Go to a book store and get a couple of travel guides related to the first place that you want to go. Look at the magazine section and see if there is a magazine about  the place that you first want to visit.

Read the travel guides, subscribe to the magazine. Then work out a game plan to start traveling.

Passion and Vibrancy

People who know what makes them come alive who make it a point to live a life that includes what makes them come alive have a passion and vibrancy about them that is appealing and noticeable.

I hope that you leak that kind of passion and vibrancy. If you don’t, please know that with hard work and intentionality, you can.

If you would like to easily share this article, it can be found at www.tellmewhatmakesyoucomealive.com  as well as on www.stevenshomler.com.

That’s it

Steven Shomler

Everybody Has Time

www.everybodyhastime.com

“I don’t have time for that.”

“I don’t have time to battle for my dream.”

“I don’t have time to work on my marriage.”

“I don’t have to time read.”

“I don’t have time to journal.”

It is amazing how often I hear people tell me that they can’t do something because they don’t have time.

You Do Have Time

Like it or not you have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has. You have 168  hours in a week. You have 8,736 hours in a year.

How you use your time is up to you. Really as hard as that is too hear, how you use your time is up to you.

The Man With the Microphone

Years ago I heard a flamboyant motivational speaker tell an outlandish mythical story about a man who was speaking onstage with a microphone and a man with a gun came up on stage and told the man with the microphone to put down the microphone.

The speaker then asked the question “who is in change of the man with microphone?” The audience quickly and loudly responded “The man with the gun.” The speaker said “NO. The man with the gun cannot take away the man with the microphone’s right to choose.”

Sometimes The Consequences Are Tough.

It is easy to say that you have a choice about how you use your time. I know that sometimes people can feel like that don’t really a choice, or that they don’t really have a viable choice, or that the consequences are very, very high.

I have a friend who pours his life into young people and he makes a real difference in the lives of those he serves. He has become aware of other ways he could serve people. Perhaps even more people.

However as the case with most of us, his current schedule is full. If he is going to say “yes” to some of these other projects, he is going to have to say “no” to some of the things he is currently investing in.

Say No to Say Yes

If you are going to start investing your time into Battling For Your Dream, or into improving your broken marriage it is likely that you will have to stop doing something that you are currently doing.

Maybe you will have to watch less TV. Or maybe watch less sports. Or maybe give up some sleep. Or maybe trade your full time job for a part time job (and less pay), so that you have time for something that matters more than the career you currently have.

I very much understand that changing how you use your time is likely to cost you something.

However not changing how you use your time is likely to also cost you something well.

I have seen people who are unwilling to adjust how they use their 24 hours a day and end up losing their marriage or their dream. Don’t let that be you.

It pains me when people tell me that they don’t have time to improve the quality of their life and invest in the things that either matter to them or that they know will get them where they want to go.

Don’t be that guy. Don’t be that gal.

These days, when people tell me that they don’t have time, I think to myself “everybody has time, even you.”

Everybody Has Time. and So Do You. 

It is time to choose. Be proactive. Don’t simply let your time slip away. You have time, but you only have so much.

How you use your time is up to you.

It is up to you what you do with your time. You have a choice in how you use your time. You are not a victim.

Once you own that you can choose how you use your time, your life will change…For the better.

I am Pulling For You!

That’s it,

Steven Shomler

Work Like They Won’t

www.workliketheywont.com

Work like they won’t, so someday you can live like they can’t.

The two pictures above were taken from a room in the Tresor Tower at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach.  www.fontainebleau.com

Yep. I was there staying in that room for 4 wonderful nights, and I took those pictures. Mark my words – I am going back.

The first I time got there by working like “they” won’t, and the same thing is happening again.

It is Sunday night and already today I have put in 6 hours working toward my dream, and now it is 6 PM and I have started writing, and I will be likely be sitting here working until about midnight.

Expect Opposition 

The first time I went to the Fontainbleau Resort, I was working in the Wholesale Mortgage business as an AE (Account Executive i.e. salesperson).

I started in January of 2007 with no clients, no funded loan volume and no wholesale experience, and in 2009, I funded 998 home loans for $256 million in funded home loan volume. I was as the #4 Account Executive in the country.

Early in my wholesale mortgage journey – mid 2007, I was told many times that I “did not ‘AE’ correctly.”

In March of 2010, I was the only one from my office who attended the Chairman’s Circle Dinner. The people who repeatedly told me that I “did not ‘AE’ correctly” can still bite me.

Whenever you are battling for a dream, THEY will tell you one or all of the following – “you aren’t doing right,”  ”you won’t make it,” “you are working too hard,” or here is a doozy I was actually told once while standing near the main fax area in the Lake Oswego Wholesale office – “I care about my family too much to work like you do.”

I made it as an AE, and now I am battling in another arena.  Mark my words, I will win this battle as well.

Just recently I had someone tell that I was not doing “it” right.

I have to tell you that that criticism FIRED ME UP!  It let me know that I am on the right track. Late at night when I am tired and I want to quit working, I think about those words and I press on.

As a saying on a hat I once saw puts it – Haters Motivate!

Work Like They Won’t, So Someday You Can Live Like They Can’t.

If you have a dream, battle to make it come true. You won’t regret it!

I am Pulling For You!

Steven Shomler

Good Life Sage

Have a Battle Winning Calendar 

www.BattleWinningCalendar.com

If you are going to win the battle for your dream, you are going to have to have a Battle Winning Calendar.

For more on battling for your dream go to www.BattleForYourDream.com.

A Battle Winning Calendar is one that tells you that you are winning the battle for your dream.

Here is how this works.

Step #1 Go get yourself a monthly calendar and a red pen.

Step # 2 Figure out what your Battle Winning Tasks are. For more on Battle Winning Tasks go to –  www.BattleWinningTasks.com

Step 3 Every day that you actually do your battle Winning tasks, open up that calendar and put a red check mark in the day!

Step 4 When the month is over, look at your calendar.

If you have at least 20 days with red check marks, you have a Battle Winning Calendar!

Listen to your Calendar – It Will Speak  To You!

If at the end of the month your calendar has less than 20 days with red check marks, your calendar is telling you that you need to step it up. Listen to your calendar. It does not lie.

Most People Do Not Actually Pay the Price

The powerful thing about this Battle Winning Practice is that most people do not actually  do what it takes to see their dreams come true, and using a calendar like I am suggesting will help you to not lie to yourself.

Thinking about what you need to do to make your dreams come true will not help them come true.

Making To do lists and filling yellow pads with plans about and strategies for making your dreams come true is not enough.

It is sickeningly easy to feel very busy and not actually be making any progress toward your dream. Don’t kid yourself.  Your dream is too precious and life is too short.

Every day that passes is a day that you never get back. Make sure that every month you are battling at least 20 days for your dream.

Pay The Price – Live The Dream

If you want your dreams to come true, you will have to pay the price.

A Battle Winning Calendar will help you see that you are actually paying the price.

Credit Where Credit is Due

More than 25 years ago, when I was still in High School, it was my friend Al Gallo (www.breakthroughwisdom.com) who first taught me the importance of letting your calendar speak to you.

I am Pulling For You!

If you have a dream that you are battling for, I know how hard that can be. I hope that you have encouraging people pulling for you. Please know that I am pulling for you. If I can be of any assistance or encouragement, my email address is sshomler@GoodLifeSage.com

If you would like to easily share this article, it can be found at www.BattleWinningCalendar.com  as well as on www.stevenshomler.com.

That’s it!

Steven Shomler

Good Life Sage

If One Advances  - A Battle For Your Dream Post

www.ifoneadvances.com

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours”.          Henry David Thoreau 1854

29 Words

Such wisdom in those 29 words.

Do they move you? Do you feel pain when you read them? Do you have the embers of an unfulfilled dream burning in your heart?

Do you read those 29 words and desperately hope that they are true?

Are you willing to live as if those 29 words are true?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, join me as we take a more in-depth look  at those life changing words.

You are closer to victory than you realize.

So let’s work backward from the end –  ”…he will meet with success unexpected in common hours”

The secret is to advance toward your dream…Even when your dream seems to be far out of your reach.

Often those of us with dreams that burn in our hearts, feel like we are a very long ways from our dream. Sadly, that perceived distance can quench our hope and hinder us from moving ahead in the direction that calls to us.

Whether you are near or far from seeing your dreams come true, the ache you have in your heart about your unfulfilled dreams won’t go away. Trust me, I have the same ache now, that I had many years ago.

The answer to the pain in your heart is to move out and starting advancing toward your dream.

If you long for relief from the pain of your unfulfilled dreams, start advancing toward them. There is nothing like knowing that you are finally in the hunt for your dream.

Head out – start battling for your dream. You might discover that you are closer to your dreams than you ever thought possible.

I Know That You Have Seen It

“…and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined…”

I know that you have seen in your mind’s eye, what your life would look like if your dream came true.

You have imagined it. You have seen it. At least once. Most likely more that once.

That image is priceless. Hold onto it. Let it inspire you. Let it speak to your heart.

This image is crucial because your dreams have to come true in your imagination first.

Which Path Takes You To Your Dreams?

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams…”

In order to head out in the direction of your dreams you have know what your dreams are and you have to know to which direction to set out on.

Here is the amazing thing – All you need to do is get started.

If you are not clear what direction you need to head out on, simply GO!

Get out and get on the move and as you advance it will eventually become clear to you which direction you need to take.

In fact, sometimes the only way you can know what direction you to need take, is to get out on the move. You may not be able to see the path you need to take, until you have headed down the trail a ways.

 Confidently

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams…”

Sometimes the idea of advance confidently feels absolutely impossible. Here is one thing that you can be confident in – you can be confident that you will stay in the hunt.

If you do not think that you can be confident in your persistence, get the book The Greatest Salesman In The Wold by Og Mandino and read scroll III, out loud, with conviction, everyday for 30 days. That chapter has assisted me through many tough times.

What Most People Do Not Do

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams…”

When it comes dreams, most people do not “advance” toward them. Most people never actually get into the hunt for their dream.

You have to get into the hunt for your dreams and then simply stay in the hunt.

Believe it or not it’s that simple – Get in the hunt and then stay in the hunt.

Pay The Price – Live The Dream

It is common for people to assume that those who talk about their dreams, are actively pursing them.

Trust me, most people do not actually do anything to make their dreams come true.

If you are one of the rare few, who are actually Paying The Price, know that most people never do that.

I have a son who wants to play QB in college. That will only happen if he works really, really hard. Since football ended in October, he has been in training for next year’s football season. He works out at the school gym, he does the crazy 1000 rep workout at home, he attends a QB skills camp, he studies defensives schemes like Cover 1 and Cover 2, etc, etc.

Initially I watched with fascination, wondering if he would continue to fervently pursue his dream. Now I watch with admiration as he continues to do what he can to improve his chances of seeing his dream come true. It is one thing to want your dream to come true, it is another thing to work hard in the “off season” for your dream.

My son may not end up playing QB in college, however what he is learning about leadership, and persistence and character,  as he battles for his dream – is priceless.

I can tell you this, I won’t be betting against him succeeding. The more work he does, the better his odds become.

One of my projects is Portland Food Cart Adventures

website - www.portlandfoodcartadventures.com  Facebook - www.facebook.com/PortlandFoodCartAdventures and on Twitter www,twitter.com/#!/Gr8FoodCartsPDX

This project is an integral part of my Battle Winning Battle Plan. Many times this wet Portland Winter, I have been out in the pouring rain, visiting Food Carts. I have had people tell me that I should wait until summer when the weather will be better. I can’t wait, I have a fire in my heart and I need to pay the price and see my dreams come true.

If you are waiting until the circumstances are more pleasant for you to pay the price for your dream, you will likely never get started.

As my friend Kim from St Cloud, MN tells me ” Do now, what others won’t, so someday, you can live like others can’t.

If you have a dream, advance toward it.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours”.          Henry David Thoreau 1854

If you would like to share this article with someone, it can be found at www.ifoneadvances.com as well as on www.StevensGoodLifeBlog.com

That’s It,

Steven Shomler.

Go See This Movie With Me! John Carter March 11th 4:00 PM

www.goseethismoviewithme.com

I love going to the movies!

In fact, movies are one of my Vitality Pursuits. www.vitalitypursuits.com

For me the only thing better than seeing a movie, is seeing a movie with a bunch of friends!

Back in 1990 was the first time I saw a movie with a bunch of friends. About 50 of us went and saw The Hunt For Red October at the Capitol Mall theater in Olympia, WA.

In January of this year (2012) a group of my friends and I picked out a few movies that we were going to see this year.  In February I talked with them about inviting others and they said “what the heck – go for it!”

The first movie that we are going to see this year is John Carter. www.disney.go.com/johncarter/splash-page

We are going this Sunday, March 11th at 4:00 PM to the Century Clackamas Town Center Theater, here in Portland, OR.

We are going to see John Carter in 3D. If you want to join us, I advise you to buy your ticket(s) at Fandango.com  www.fandango.com

I know that many of you who read this blog, live in places other than Portland, OR. Perhaps sometime, I can see a movie close to where you call home. For now, events like this will be taking place here in Portland.

If you live somewhere other than Portland, and if you want to take part in this adventure, one option for you is to see John Carter this weekend and then we could compare notes.

On Monday, March 12, I will post my review of John Carter both at this website (www.stevenshomler.com)and my movie review website www.goodlifemoviereviews.com.

*For more information about why I had to quit putting regular focused effort into reviewing movies see below.

John Carter and Comic Books!

As far as John Carter goes, one of the reasons that I am excited to see this movie is because I already know and like the story. In the late 70′s I read the Marvel comic book series – John Carter Warlord of Mars. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter,_Warlord_of_Mars

From that 70′s comic book series I learned that Edgar Rice Burroughs was the writer/author who created both Tarzan and John Carter. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs

I am hoping that I will enjoy seeing on the big screen, what I saw in a comic book more than 30 years ago!

Come with me to see John Carter!

Go watch a trailer or two for John Carter, if what you see, resonates with you, take a chance and go see this movie this weekend! If you live in Portland and if you are free Sunday afternoon, join us, we would love to have you!

The Avengers Sunday May 6!

If you can’t make Sunday March 11 to see John Carter, plan now to see The Avengers which opens Friday May 4th. I will be going with a group of friends to this movie on Sunday May 6th. It would be great to have you join us!

* a Movie Review Website?  

Sometimes you Have to Edit Your Battle Winning Battle Plan

Many of you may not even know that I have (had?) a movie review website. Given that I love movies, and given that back in 2010 I felt compelled to write and use a blog as a starting point, having a movie review website made perfect sense. That was in 2010.

I have continued to innovate and refine my Battle Winning Battle Plan. Last summer (2011) I realized that seeing 1,2 or sometimes 3 movies in a week and reviewing them was not helpful to my goal of being a speaker and an author.

I only have so much time in a week and given where I want to go, investing that much time into movies did not make sense.  This realization was very painful for me. I really enjoy regularly seeing movies and writing movie reviews.

The last time I posted a movie review was back in July 2011 (www.goseethismovie.com/2011/07/01/transformers-dark-of-the-moon-movie-review) and as I mentioned, letting that part of my plan go was very painful to me.

The good news is that from July 2011 through December 2011, I invested that time into building the foundation for Portland Food Cart Adventures. If I had not let go of regularly reviewing movies, I would have not have been able to launch that much more important project in Jan 2012.

Grieving 

While I knew last summer that my time regularly reviewing movies had come to an end, I kept foolishly hoping that it would somehow magically work out for me get back to  both seeing movies and reviewing them on a weekly basis.

It was not until this January (2012) that finally – in my heart, I accepted that to go where I want to go, I had to let go of my hope to regularly review movies on a weekly basis.

It was then that I started grieving this loss. Between July 2011 and Jan 2012 I simply ignored my need to grieve this loss.

Of course once I finally let go and did a month or so of grieving work, I discovered that while it was not appropriate for me to reviews movies on a weekly basis, it does make sense for me to review 6 – 12 movies a year, and that is what I am going to do.

I am also thinking about morphing my movie review website into more of a “Hey I really liked this movie website.” I do own the domain www.goseethismovie.com…

Besides, the movie reviews I have written get read quite a bit. For example – my review of the movie Secretariat has been read thousands of times. www.stevenshomler.com/2010/10/08/secretariat-movie-review.                                   People seem to like my movie reviews and I do enjoy writing them.

Update – I did just (today) change over www.GoodlifeMovieReviews.com to www.GoSeeThisMovie.com. It was such good idea that I had while writing this post, I figured why wait?

You can even like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/GoSeeThisMovie and follow on Twitter www.twitter.comGoSeeThisMovie

Speaker and an Author

My goal is to become a speaker and an author and earn the income needed to see my dreams come true. www.battleforyourdream.com

At this point in my journey, most of my creative energy gets used writing and creating content for my Food Cart site Portland Food Cart Adventures www.portlandfoodcartadventures.com, my Marriage site Battle For a Great Marriage www.battleforagreatmarriage.com and for Steven’s Good Life Blog www.stevenshomler.com.

On stevenshomler.com I am regularly writing articles about Battling for your Dream and next week I am going to begin a series of articles on Grieving. In April, I will start posting a series of articles with a business theme entitled How To Kill Business.

So there you go, to move ahead – I had to let go. While it was painful for me to give up on the idea of being a regular movie reviewer, I am excited that every so often I can tell others about a movie I really enjoyed.

If you have a Dream, Start Pursuing It, RIGHT NOW!

If you are battling for a dream, you are likely to encounter the same kind of adjustments and changes to your journey as you move ahead that I have.

For me, the trick is not to get a perfect Battle Winning Battle Plan, but head out and pursue your dream and then edit your Battle Winning Battle Plan as needed, as you go.

People who wait for the perfect plan often never get started. If you have a dream, start pursuing it right now!

That’s it!

Steven Shomler

Battle Winning Tasks

www.BattleWinningTasks.com

Some of us are both blessed and cursed by the presence of a dream that burns in our heart.

If you want to see your dream come true, you are going to have to Battle For Your Dream.

If you want to see you dream come true you need to focus on your Battle Winning Tasks.

What are Battle Winning Tasks?

Battle Winning Tasks are the crucial, mission critical tasks that you have to get to, if your dream is going to come true.

It is easy to spend time doing activities that may feel important, that are not actually going to help you get to where you want to go.

It is also easy to come up with any number of reasons that now is not the right time to work on your Battle Winning Tasks.

You Can Get To The Important Stuff Later….

In early 2007, When I was first starting out as an Wholesale Mortgage Account Executive (AE), I quickly discovered that going out and actually seeing potential clients was the most important thing I could do to get my client base established. However there were a number of other things I was encouraged to do that while important, would not actually help me succeed.

In addition to that, I had fellow AE’s who would say (in jest?) that there a number of days and times that we should not go see our clients.

I was told that Monday was a bad day to go see Loan Officers, because they were busy returning calls from the weekend. Fridays were a bad day to go see Loan Officers because they were distracted thinking about the weekend and they left early on Fridays. Mornings in general were not good a time to go see Loan Officers, because they did not come into the office until midday. The last week of the month  was not a good time to go see Loan Officers because they were busy getting their loans closed. The first week of the month was not a good time to see Loan Officers because they recovering from the stress of trying to get their month end loans closed, and they were dealing with the problem loans that for various reasons did not fund.

As you can see it really only made sense to see potential clients the second Wednesday of the month from 1:00 – 3:00 PM.  The other 29 days of the month were better spent in your home office…

There was some wisdom in what I was told. Often Loan Officers did not work on Fridays, However they would find my business card on their desk Monday Morning when they came in and they would call me. They wanted to know what kind of AE worked on Fridays…

First Figure Out What your Battle Winning Tasks Are

If you want to see your dreams come true, It is imperative that you figure what it is that have to make sure that you get to.

When I was an AE, I was told to just go get loans. The problem was that I only got paid on loans that funded. I was told to just go bring potential loans in. However I  did not get paid for bringing in potential loans. I only got paid on bringing in loans that actually  funded.

I quickly discovered that those who told me to just go get loans were ignorant of what I really needed to do to feed my family. I needed to go get loans that could actually fund, and then I had to make sure that they funded. I was told many times that I worried about the wrong things and that I did things that were not my responsibility. More than once, I was told that I did my job the “wrong” way.

The flaw in that criticism was that every year for 3 years my volume doubled and in 2010 I was only person from my office attending the Chairmans’ Circle dinner at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach. www.fontainebleau.com (Only the top 6 wholesale AE’s in the country qualified for this event that followed Presidents’ Club). By the way, I loved it there and I am once again regularly working after midnight so that I will once again stay there and enjoy an afternoon at La Cote. (In 2008 and 2009, I worked very hard to make it happen and, I am once again back in the hunt)

I figured out what my Battle Winning Tasks were and I did them, even when other people told me that I did not know want I was doing.

Next – Make Sure That You Actually Do Your Battle Winning Tasks

One of my current projects is www.PortlandFoodCartAdventures.com

I eat at Portland area Food Carts, take pictures of what I eat, write down some notes, and then once I have sampled enough of particular Food Cart’s menu , I write up a review. In the process of working this project, I update the Facebook Page for Portland Food Cart Adventures www.facebook.com/PortlandFoodCartAdventures  and I manage (update and read) my Food Cart Twitter feed. twitter.com/Gr8FoodCartsPDX

Twitter and Facebook are very important to this project. However, going to actual food carts and eating food cart food, taking pictures and taking notes, are much more important tasks. In fact, as far as this project goes, those are Battle Winning Tasks.  Furthermore, I am only doing those things so that I can write articles for the Portland Food Cart Adventures website.

Right now, at this stage of this project, regularly having new articles up on the Portland Food Cart Adventures website, is my #1 Battle Winning Task. I visit food carts, enjoy amazing food, take pictures and take notes so that later I can write an article for the website.

It is easy to be busy and delude yourself into thinking that your busy work will pay off. Rise above busy work, focus on your Battle Winning Tasks.

Ask yourself – “If I am to see my dreams come true, what are the most important 2-3 things that we have to regularly make sure get done,  i.e. – What are my Battle Winning Tasks?”

Battle For Your Dreams! They can come true.

I am pulling for you!

Steven Shomler

Speculoos Cookie Butter

This past December (12/2011), some friends blessed Gayla (my lovely wife) and me with a weekend away, just the two of us.

Included with the 2 nights at a hotel and meals was a beautiful basket filled with all kinds of amazing goodies.

In this basket were a variety of wonderful treats: cookies, specialty popcorn, crackers, cheeses etc. So many delightful things to eat! A number of the items were delicious things that I had never had before. Things like Humboldt Fog Cheese.  It is an amazing cheese.

www.cypressgrovechevre.com/cheeses/ripened-cheeses/humboldt-fog

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Fog 

Cookie Butter?

The thing that I liked the most out of that gift basket, was this crazy Cookie Butter. We saw the jar, briefly read the front label and wondered what this stuff was. Was it “butter?”, or “Was it some kind of peanut butter?”

We opened it, tasted it, and we were blown away. It was then that we read the back of the label.

“All you you have to do is taste it to understand.” So true.

This a spread (no peanuts) that vaguely reminds me of a very mild gingerbread. It also kind of reminds me of a cracker that I had as a very young child.

You can get it at Trader Joe’s. www.traderjoes.com

Go get some and see for yourself.

So How Do I Eat it?

I have tried Cookie Butter with a number of different things. Here are my suggestions-

#1 Put it on waffles,

#2 Eat it with a spoon, right out of the jar,

#3 Put it on a crispy tasteless boring cracker like Kavli Crispy Thins.  www.kavli.com/en/Pages/KavliGroup        www.internaturalfoods.com/brands/kavli

Alone, these crackers are pretty tasteless and bland. Nasty actually.

However…spread a little Cookie Butter on them and wow!, these crackers become a wonderful delivery vehicle for the Cookie Butter.

I tried a number of crackers and cookies with the Cookie Butter, Including Nilla Wafers. Most crackers and cookies had too much flavor of their own and that flavor would overwhelm the Cookie Butter.

The boring Kavli Crispy Thins worked perfectly. Having a mostly tasteless crunch to go with the Cookie Butter is nice. As an added bonus my wife Gayla thinks that the Kavli Crispy Thins are healthy, and she likes seeing them in the cupboard. FYI – I keep the Cookie Butter in my desk drawer – left hand side.

Please do not tell anyone in my family where I keep the Cookie Butter. Since they don’t follow me on Facebook and don’t generally read my blogs, if they find out that I still have that jar of Cookie Butter, I will know that you told them! I am still trying figure out how to turn Family into Fans!

I would keep the Cookie Butter in the cupboard. However… I have two teenage boys and things like Nutella disappear overnight when I buy it and, bring it home. I keep the Cookie Butter hidden and once in a while, I enjoy a little bit of it, with some Earl Grey Creme tea.

That’s it,

Hold the phone! That’s not it!

A friend of mine, Katrina Emery, has a wonderful blog entitled The Penny Farthing .

Until recently Katrina lived in Portland, Oregon. Currently she is living in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Guess what they have in the Netherlands?

Katrina recently put up a blog post about the “speculaas” she enjoys in Amsterdam. Check it out, it is a great read!  www.katriniella.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/i-love-speculaas

Okay, Now that is it!!

Steven Shomler

If The Mayans Are Wrong… 12–21–12 

Happy 2012! As we entered the new year I realized that if the Mayan Prophecy is correct, 2012 is our last year. According to a book that I received as a Christmas present The Mayan Prophecy 2012 by David Douglas, our last day is December 21, 2012.

Wait a minute the author’s name is David Douglas…? A shout out to my friend Andy and his Scarlet and Gray Illuminati Brotherhood.

If that prophecy is correct, the world will come to an end on 12–21–12 and you will only have 8 days to see The Hobbit—An Unexpected Journey. www.thehobbitblog.com   www.imdb.com/TheHobbit/videogallery

The Mayans had a well developed civilization covering quite a vast area.   www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization

They left a number of amazing ruins in places like Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. They also left an unfinished calendar. It is that calendar that seems to be the basis of the December 2012 end-of-the-world prophecy.

If that prophecy is correct on December 21, 2012 you should party like there is no tomorrow.

If however, that prophecy is wrong, the world will not end 12–21–2012 and on 12–31–2012 we will usher in 2013.

What Will Your 2012 Calendar Reveal?

Years ago, my friend Al Gallo ( www.breakthroughwisdom.com ) taught me that looking at your past year’s calendar is one of the ways that you can know where you are headed.

If the world does not end at the end of 2012, your 2013 will be determined by what you do or do not do this year—2012.

What are your Battle Winning Tasks?

This year—2012, you can work to make next year—2013, better for you and your family. The trick is to identify what Battle Winning Tasks you need to do every day or every week. It is easy to be busy doing important things and miss the most important things that you need to get if you are going actually improve your situation.

For example, right now I have over 1200 pictures I personally took from Nov. 15 through Jan. 1 that I just imported from my iPhone into iPhoto. I have pictures of food carts, meals that I had at great Portland restaurants, etc. Most of those pictures are related to important projects on which I am working.

It would great to go through those pictures and sort them into albums based on which the projects for which they are intended. That is an important task. However if I do that at the expense of  getting my writing in each week, I am a fool. For me, writing is a Battle Winning Task. It is hard to be an author and a speaker if you do not get your writing done.

Do You Want To Show Al Your Calendar? 

If you spend time each day or each week actually getting to your Battle Winning Tasks, get a calendar and a red pen and put a check mark on each day or week that you got to your Battle Winning Tasks. The more red ink you see, the closer you are getting to your dream.

If you end up with a calendar that has lots of red ink in it,  you will be fired up to show it to others. Plus that is a great way to track your progress. My hope is that by the end of 2012 I will be excited to show Al my calendar.

December 2012 is coming and the world is not going to end on 12–21–12. Start working now to make your 2013 what you want it to be.

For more on battling for your dream see –  www.battleforyourdream.com.

If you have a dream that you are battling for, I know how hard that can be. I hope that you have encouraging people pulling for you. Please know that I am pulling for you. If I can be of any assistance or encouragement my email address is sshomler@GoodLifeSage.com

That’s it!

Steven Shomler

Good Life Sage

How To Make Great Turkey!  How To Cook Great Turkey!

www.howtomakegreatturkey.com        www.howtocookgreatturkey.com

I make great turkey! I cook great turkey!

My approach is easy and effective.

My turkey browns nicely and it is always moist and tender and delicious.

I can help you learn how to cook great turkey for Thanksgiving, Christmas – anytime.

Please note – I do NOT ever baste my turkey.

So how do I make my great turkey and avoid the misery that is turkey basting?

I will tell you my turkey secrets! Forthwith!

My first secret is that I use a Flavor Injector ( www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-flavor-injector.htm)

A Flavor Injector is a wonderful cooking tool. It is a syringe with a long metal needle that you can use to inject melted butter directly into your turkey. Let me say that again – you can inject melted butter directly into your turkey. Is that fantastic or what!

Here is how you go about making/cooking Great Turkey.

Get your turkey out on a large cookie sheet.

Take one or 2 cubes of butter and put the butter on the stove in  small pan on med low heat to melt. Add 1/8 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper per cube to your melting butter. Yes, I said Cayenne pepper! It will give your bird a wonderful flavor.

Run a glass 1 cup measuring cup under hot water.

Get out a small bowl and fill it with ice cubes.

Once your butter melts and starts to brown, pour it into the warmed measuring cup.

The reason you use a 1 cup measuring cup is because it is narrow enough to allow you to easily get the butter into the syringe and sturdy enough to work with. Do not use a plastic measuring cup. Bad things can happen when you put hot butter into a plastic container.

Time to shoot up the turkey!

Load the syringe up with the melted cayenne butter and start injecting the bird. Point the syringe straight down and carefully pull out the needle. Often when I do that, the butter starts running out of the hole I just made into my bird. That is what the bowl of ice is for. Apply an ice cube to the hole and the butter bleed will stop as the butter chills and hardens. Inject the bird all over.  Just go for it.

Stuffing

If you are going to stuff the bird, now is the time. Don’t be shy – cram your stuffing in.

To see my one of my stuffing recipes go to www.stevenshomler.com/2011/01/20/christmas-feast-2010-part-3-sourdough-stuffing-am-yukon-gold-mashed-potatoes-with-hazelnut-butter

Put your turkey in a bag!

My final turkey secret is that is really easy and convenient to use an oven bag for a turkey.

If you use a Reynolds oven bag, you do not have to baste your bird, and it will be moist and delicious. www.reynoldsovenbags.com. Why Reynolds? Heck – they make a plasticbag that you put a turkey in and put into the oven. That technology amazes me! Why doesn’t the bag melt? or explode? I don’t know, they probably use special gamma ray irradiated polymers in it. If the Reynolds people want to fly me out to to learn more about their amazing bag, I would be delighted to go!

I have found that it can be tough to get the bird into the bag. While your turkey is still on the cookie sheet , open up your bag, and slide it under and over the bird. I advise against picking up the bird and trying to put it into the bag. Speaking from ugly experience you might drop the bird.

Getting the bird into the bag always reminds me of Jack Daughery’s line – “watching certain women put on panty hose can like be watching someone stuff a marshmallow into a piggy bank.”

While the amazing plastic oven bag does not melt, you want to take out the racks in the oven above the bird and make sure that your turkey is on a lower rack. When heated the bag does inflate, and you do not want the bag to hit the top of the oven while it is cooking. The 4 pics immediately  above show my turkey as it first goes into the oven, after about 1 hour in the oven, after about 2 hours, and just before I took it out of the oven.

Let me close with this – In the past I have received grief  from other cooks about using a cooking bag for a turkey. It used to bother me. I have since learned to let it go. I love the Food Network, and Throwdown with Bobby Flay and Iron Chef America are two of my favortite shows. I in 2010 I watched a Thanksgiving Throwdown that had Bobby Flay vs Ree Drummond.  www.foodnetwork.com/throwdown-with-bobby-flay/thanksgiving-feast www.thepioneerwoman.com.

I loved that Throwdown episode, however, I felt sorry for both of them as they kept having to baste thier turkeys. I like how I do it. It works for me and my turkey always is moist and delicious. What more could you want?

So – if you want to make/cook great turkey – simply follow the instructions above!

I do hope that my turkey bag confession does not prevent me from some day being a judge on Iron Chef… Chairman – Please consider a turkey bag a poor man’s Sous Vide / Immersion Circulator.

If you would like to easily share this article with someone it can be found at www.howtomakegreatturkey.com  or  www.howtocookgreatturkey.com as well as on www.stevenshomler.com

That’s it,

Steven Shomler