Summary: Podcast Note: Podcast name has changed to The Successful Life Mindset. Passion and Long Term Goals Our podcast is all about encouraging people to obtain their goals and dreams. Cliff conducts podcast training classes (Podcasting A to Z) that train people to go from nothing to successfully creating their own podcast. One of the most asked questions he gets from students is how do I choose what I’m going to use as the subject of my podcast. As an example, Cliff shared an email from a man that was trying to decide between Small Business Fundamentals and Personal Finances. He supplied a lengthy list of reasons he could do either. Cliff responded that he saw many good reasons, but the word passion was not on the reasons list. The man wrote back and said if he chose his passion; it would be wooden boats or bicycling. He decided, going on pure passion for the subject, wooden boats. He shared his mission statement, podcast content list and a 5-year plan for success! Amazing that once his passion entered into his decision, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Cliff has been reading the book “Tribes” by Seth Godin. He feels in a few years, the student will connect with a niche group of wooden boat enthusiasts that are followers in search of a leader. What Would You Do For Free? Tracy agreed saying the man had something he wanted to communicate, to share with an audience and that his passion will help him through the hard times while getting his podcast going. Passion is the thing that will get you through. If it’s only a job, when things are tough you often leave it. Jim Stovall’s quote shared in the last podcast “Tough times never last. Tough people do.” – Robert H. Schuller, is very true. A quote from Oprah Winfrey that Tracy likes is “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” Take the one thing you would do for free, build a business from it if you’re passionate enough and believe you can. Like the student, you must first believe you can, write it down, and then talk about it with others. No matter how remote the thing you’re passionate about is, take it and make it an experience for others. People pay for being given an experience, whether that is experiencing a movie, or Disneyland or something else. We all want to experience things in our lives. Like the movie “Field of Dreams”, “If you build it, they will come.” He used the Slinky as an example of something weird that was someone’s idea, something they were passionate enough about to take to the next level and the next and eventually get it manufactured and marketed. Create it and the market will develop for it. You don’t have to be the only one, simply the best, or you can be unique like the Slinky. Cliff said the man that wrote the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” had his manuscript turned down by many, many publishers, but he was passionate enough about the message he wanted to share with others that he decided to become self-published. Since then the book series has become one of the best sellers. Another favorite of Tracy’s quotes is by Tony Robbins, “Passion is the Genesis of genius.” Passion is the thing you will apply yourself to and bring success. Cliff told about David H. Lawrence, a man with a highly successful nighttime talk-radio show about electronics. It had a large following, but one day the passion was gone. He left that talk show and became an actor, working actor, even in a field where thousands try, but aren’t passionate enough to make it work. He now acts and does podcasts. Think About Tomorrow Tracy introduced the need for everyone to understand the difference between short and long-term thinking. Many people have what he calls the “microwave mentality”. They focus on now convinced they don’t have the patience or time to wait for something to happen. About three to five years ago, he developed a real hunger for wisdom.
