Italian Tomato Garden

There is always a way isn't there?!

The Italian Tomato Garden:

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

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Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over... I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa
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A few days later he received a letter from his son.

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Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie
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At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

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Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie
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How to Be a Mensch - by Guy Kawasaki

And since yesterday's mention of being a Mensch by Dov Heller, here's the definition:

"A person of integrity and honor. Someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous."

Here's how to be one yourself - courtesy of Guy Kawasaki, tweeter extraordinaire.

Bobby

P.S. Watch out for wenches, they're not the same!!

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Here is my humble attempt to help you achieve menschdom.

1. Help people who cannot help you. A mensch helps people who cannot ever return the favor. He doesn't care if the recipient is rich, famous, or powerful. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't help rich, famous, or powerful people (indeed, they may need the most help), but you shouldn't help only rich, famous, and powerful people.
2. Help without the expectation of return. A mensch helps people without the expectation of return--at least in this life. What's the payoff? Not that there has to be a payoff, but the payoff is the pure satisfaction of helping others. Nothing more, nothing less.
3. Help many people. Menschdom is a numbers game: you should help many people, so you don't hide your generosity under a bushel. (Of course, not even a mensch can help everyone. To try to do so would mean failing to help anyone.)
4. Do the right thing the right way. A mensch always does the right thing the right way. She would never cop an attitude like, “We're not as bad as Enron.” There is a bright, clear line between right and wrong, and a mensch never crosses that line.
5. Pay back society. A mensch realizes that he's blessed. For example, entrepreneurs are blessed with vision and passion plus the ability to recruit, raise money, and change the world. These blessings come with the obligation to pay back society. The baseline is that we owe something to society--we're not a doing a favor by paying back society.

Exercise: It's the end of your life. What three things do you want people to remember you for?
1.
2.
3.

If you'd like to read more about this subject, I suggest Joshua Halberstam's book called Everyday Ethics: Inspired Solutions to Real-Life Dilemmas.

I hope this helps you become a mensch. No need to thank me if it does--helping you is reward enough--ie, “Don't menschion it.”

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Read more at Guy Kawasaki's Blog

Finding and Keeping A Life Partner by Dov Heller

Here's a great article brought to my attention by Jairek Robbins

Well worth a read for those in relationships or not. If you think about things up front you have much less to worry about later.

Bobby :-)

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Rule # 1 – MARRY THE RIGHT PERSON AND 90% OF YOUR PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED

The article below would be useful for both the married and unmarried ones,
please take some time to read.

FINDING AND KEEPING A LIFE PARTNER
by Dov Heller, M.A.

When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one
wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it
appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding
Mr./Miss. Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they’re getting married,
they’ll say: ‘We’re in love’; I believe this is the ..1 mistake people make
when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love.
Though this may sound ‘not politically correct’, there’s a profound truth
here.

Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a
good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will
come. Let me say it again: ‘You can’t build a lifetime relationship on love
alone’; You need a lot more!!! Here are five questions you must ask
yourself if you’re serious about finding and keeping a life partner.

QUESTION ..1: Do we share a common life purpose?

Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you’re married for 20
or 30 years, that’s a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to
do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to
share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose.

Two things can happen in a marriage: (1) You can grow together, or (2)you
can grow apart. 50% of the people out there are growing apart. To make a
marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life! Bottom line;
marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION ..2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this
person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling
safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having
good communication is trust i.e. trust that I won’t get ‘punished’; or hurt
for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings. A colleague of mine defines
an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your
thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you
feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry.

QUESTION ..3: Is he/she a mensch?

A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you
test? Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a
regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of
mine defines a good person as ’someone who is always striving to be good
and do the right ‘;. So ask about your significant other: What do they do
with their time? Is this person materialistic? Usually a materialistic
person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement.

There are essentially two types of people in the world: (1) People who are
dedicated to personal growth and (2) people who are dedicated to seeking
comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal
comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before
walking down the aisle.

QUESTION ..4: How does he/she treat other people?

The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the
ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person
pleasure.

Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they
wrapped up in themselves and self absorbed? To measure this, think about
the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice
to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc.. How do they treat their
parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation? If they
don’t have gratitude for the people who have given them everything; can you
do nearly as much for them? You can be sure that someone, who treats others
poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well.

QUESTION ..5: Is there anything I’m hoping to change about this person
after we’re married?

Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of
trying to ‘improve’ them after they’re married. As a colleague of mine puts
it: ‘You can probably expect someone to change after marriage for the
worse’ If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then
you are not ready to marry them.

In conclusion, dating doesn’t have to be difficult and treacherous. The key
is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It
pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating; to be sure to ask
questions that will help you get to the key issues. Falling in love is a
great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on our finger, you don’t
want to find yourself trouble because you didn’t do your homework.

Another perspective…There are some people in your life that need to be
loved from a distance.. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let
go of or at
least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not going
anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay
attention…Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and
which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which
ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people do you feel better
or feel worse? Which ones don’t appreciate you? Which ones make you feel
good, praises you, boosts you with loving and caring words or annotations.

The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth
around you…the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in
the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

An African proverb states, ‘Before you get married, keep both eyes open,
and after you marry, close one eye’; Before you get involved and make a
commitment to someone, don’t let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance,
pressure from others or a low self-esteem make you blind to warning signs.
Keep your eyes open, and don’t fool yourself that you can change someone or
that what you see as faults isn’t really that important. Do you bring out
the best in each other? Do you compliment and compromise with each other,
or do you compete, compare and control? What do you bring to the
relationship? Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust,
past pain? You can’t take someone to the altar to alter them. You can’t
make someone love you or make someone stay. If you develop self-esteem,
spiritual discernment, and ‘a life’; you won’t find yourself making someone
else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain. Seeking
status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship.

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG IS:
1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes, etc.)
7. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
8. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
9.GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT
10. CONCERN AND CARE FOR YOUR LOVER IN YOUR OWN WAYS.

If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment
withdrawal, abuse, neglect, and dishonesty; and pain will replace.

By Dov Heller, M.A. www.ClarityTalk.com

"The more we understand our feelings, the more we understand ourselves"

London Internet & Property Seminar Events (incl. Free tickets!)

Just had a great weekend at Mark Anastasi's Traffic Generation Summit with some of the best speakers on Internet Marketing from around the world. The info being shared was brilliant, even to apply a couple of these techniques will have a great impact on your business. It was also a good chance to network, speak to like minded people about mutual interests and catch up with friends, who you already know and those from Facebook too :-)

That's the reason I go to as many events as possible to learn new stuff, meet people and find JV partners as well.
If you want to expand your current mindset and business I suggest you check out the following.

London
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Firstly there is the Global Internet Seminar in London, starting tomorrow, Thursday 2nd- Sunday 5th July 2009
with Internet Experts Stephen Pierce, Ewen Chia, Adam Ginsberg, Tom Hua and more... (Last chance to book your FREE tickets)
Thursday is an evening for beginners and the real meat is Friday to Sunday. If you're in London and haven't booked - what are you waiting for?
Free tickets here http://www.gis.networkbillionaire.com


Midlands
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Simon Zutshi, another property expert, has a BMV Quickstart event in Birmingham on Saturday 4th July 2009
BMV Quickstart with Simon Zutshi. A great way to start in property and be ready to go away and find deals straight away
http://www.pinbmv.networkbillionaire.com

Here is a review of what you can expect on the day:
http://bobby-gill.blogspot.com/2009/04/bmv-quickstart-with-simon-zutshi-and.html


Manchester
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Richard Shepherd is doing a Lease Options Masterclass in Manchester on Sunday 5th July 2009
Lease Options and Rent To Own are becoming big in the property business and you can get all the info at this workshop. With Lease Option Creative Solicitor Shimon Rudich from MS Law as well.
http://www.leaseoption.networkbillionaire.com


Yorkshire
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Richard Shepherd is also coming to speak at the Northern Property Network in Huddersfield on Tuesday 7th July 2009.
Also if you buy a ticket, you can bring a friend for free!!
Steve Foley will be giving guests the chance to WIN 10 Free tickets for his www.PropertyGiants.co.uk event coming up. How generous are we this month...
You have to be there to be in with a chance of winning. So book on now!
http://www.northernpropertynetwork.co.uk


Free UK Tool
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Did you download The Mastermind University's FREE Valuation Tool yet from Richard Shepherd? Still available here:
http://www.valuationtoolbar.networkbillionaire.com


International
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You can also find Simon Zutshi, Richard Shepherd and many of the other speakers on the property circuit all in one place!
Where is this I hear you ask? Check out Sonny Walia's High Flyers Network for a free trial:
http://www.highflyers.networkbillionaire.com


So wherever you are, there's something for you.
I'm going to be in London and at the Internet Seminar (Earls Court) Thursday and Friday am, before going across London to an event with Topher Morrison (tickets still available if you give me a shout today)

If you're around the area let's catch up, else I will see you soon.

Bobby :-)

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