Summary: Podcast Note: Podcast name has changed to The Successful Life Mindset. Movie Pick and Movie Flop Cliff shared a movie pick and movie flop today. He does NOT recommend the movie “Machine Gun Preacher” for several reasons. The movie does have some valuable points; it helps you understand what’s going on in other parts of the world. In some cases, such as the people in this movie, there is great oppression. If nobody helps, those people are left with little help and total oppression; however, overall what is the role; what part can we play in their relief? The movie is based on a true story of one man that believes he is called by God to take matters into his own hands and defend the people’s cause. The issue Cliff has is that he not only defends, but also goes on the offensive and becomes more or less a mercenary in the name of God. The movie, in Cliff’s opinion, does the Christian image more harm than good. The man also abandons his family to fight this cause. Tracy’s thought is that if you are following a calling from God that requires you to abandon family, it may actually be that you are feeling so strongly about an issue that you feel called, when reality is simply your heart wants to become involved to find the solution. Cliff DOES recommend the movie “Real Steele” about boxing robots. He took his children and both they and he enjoyed it very much. There is a young boy in the movie that uses light cursing, but still Cliff recommends the movie for its entertainment value and its message. The story is a man that has a hard time keeping his business profitable. He risks a lot and loses a lot, he risks again and loses everything again, but he never gives up. Finally, he learns from his mistakes and stops making every decision based on the question of how money will be generated, the profit comes. His heart change saved his dream. Risk vs Reward Tracy said our rewards are only as great as our risks. He told the story of the Spanish conqueror, Hernando Cortez, who when faced with a battle with the Aztecs in Mexico, burned his boats, effectively stopping any thoughts of escape to safety for his men. They fought valiantly, even though outnumbered 300 to 1 because there was no means of retreat. Cliff experienced this same experience in his own career. When he left the insurance business he kept his licenses and bond current for a year, but when it came time to renew, he “burn his boat” and let them lapse. His business profits rose dramatically. Tracy told a story about him and his young daughter, about three at the time, walking along the shore. She would pick up stones as they walked along. After a while she had a lot of pebbles and was carrying them in the hem of her top. When they came to a big beautiful blue rock, she wanted the rock. Her top was full and each time she bend over to pick up the rock a few stones would fall and she would put the rock down and pick the stones back up. She looked at him as to say help me, but he told she would have to let go of the stones if she wanted the rock. Finally, she put down her stones, things she thought she wanted, for the big blue rock. She continued walking along, happy with her rock. When he thought about it, he realized she had taught him a valuable life lesson. We need to let go of the little things to achieve what we really want. Sometimes its relationships, but often it’s our beliefs we need to let go of to move forward toward our dream. Let Go of the Little Pebbles Cliff has a podcast where he discussed his business life with listeners. One day he was talking about how busy he was with his equipment sales part of the business. He spent hours and hours procuring the orders, processing the orders, fulfilling the orders, and on and on. He got feedback from one listener saying his advice was to stop selling equipment. Cliff was shocked because that was about 50% of his monthly profit.
