My Blog is moving!

Big News Everyone! This is my last BLOG...here on blogger. I've just launched a new and improved

Frankkitchen.com 

Part of the improvements to the site include having my blog attached to the site. You'll still get information on me and my adventures. You'll just in the information in a new place. You'll also get to learn more about my speaking, see my calendar, download great information to improve your personal and professional life, you'll even find videos and audio clips.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog here at blogger and I look forward to seeing all of you at the new "FreshfromtheKitchen"

I can and I will!

Eliminate This Word!

Stop thinking you can't do things and start thinking you can. It's important to eliminate negatives from  your vocabulary, especially the word "can't." When you begin to think positively, you'll find yourself attempting and succeeding at more things. Remember,  by eliminating the negatives you'll let the positives come through.

Hello Blog readers, it's been awhile! July was a crazy month. I was with the family in Nevada, Minnesota and New Mexico. 20 days on the road out of 33! I was working hard to make our vision and dreams come true. I was keeping a positive mindset and thinking about all of the things I can do.

I want to share something I've experienced over the last month.

Many of us talk about what we want to happen in our lives. Many of us will make the comment, "I can't do that!" We'll give a thousand reasons why we "can't" do something. It's not that we "can't" do something. It's that we choose "not" to do something. We don't take action.

Last month I heard the words "I can't" or "We can't" from a lot of people including myself. He's an example of what I heard.  I heard several people say they want to get healthier. Then someone suggested things they could do to get healthier.  Each person responded, "I can't do that!" That leads to the question, "Do they really want to get healthy?" Ladies and Gentlemen,  life isn't like Burger King, we can't have everything our way. We have to stop being mental roadblocks to ourselves.

They're are sacrifices that have to be made to make our visions and dreams a reality. Failing to act turns our dreams and visions into nightmares. Nightmares we constantly complain about or say we can't change. I recently agreed to run another half-marathon to help raise money for digging wells to provide clean drinking water for villages in Africa. When I was first asked to participate, my first thoughts were..."I can't do that again!" "I can't afford to run." "I can't train for a race." "I can't....." Those were the wrong thoughts. My thoughts quickly turned into, "I want to help people", "I want to give back", "I want to be healthy." This morning I completed my second week of training. Guess what, I'm not dead! I'm actually feeling really good. I've been running without my knee brace...something I thought I couldn't do.

Everything in life is a choice. It's about the attitude we choose. We can choose a positive attitude or a negative attitude. If you really want something to happen in life, then you need to take the necessary action to make it happen. It you say "I can't," then you're really saying "I don't want to."  When you're saying you do want to do something, you're really saying your dream or vision really is not that important you.

Life is about making things happen. There is no easy button. They are sacrifices we have to make. I really didn't want to get up at 5:30 this morning to go run and work out. The next 4 months or training will be worth it when I hear about the kids in Africa who have clean drinking water; when my doctor says I have a clean bill of health at my next physcial; and when I look in the mirror and don't see the spare tire around my gut that many men in their 40's have.

There are A LOT of things we don't want to do in life. The funny thing is, we have to do many of those things to be rewarded the way we want to. To have a great body, you have to eat a certain way and work out a certain way. To be a great musician you have to practice often. To have been finances we have to stop buy stuff. To be a good parent you have to spend time with your kids, even when they're not being great.  We live in a world that says we can have it all and they're are easy not effort ways to do things. That not true!

Saying, "I can't" is the easy way out! Just remember when you say "I can't" you're saying "I don't want to." Success is the accomplishment of a dream or vision. When that dream or vision is really important to you, you will find every way possible to make it happen.

I leave everyone with this fortune I read in a cookie recently.....

"Action is the pathway to success."

I can't is the roadblock on your pathway to success.

June was busy!

June and July have been crazy! Too crazy to blog. So far the adventures have included trips to New Mexico, Florida, Nevada Minnesota and New Mexico.

Here are few pictures from the adventures. I'll start posting stories again later this week.

Have a great week everyone!

Inspiration for the weekend

I was working with a gentleman on improving his speaking skills this week. He told me how nervous he gets before he talks. I asked him what he thinks about before he starts and a long list of negatives came out of his mouth. I let him know that was is problem. He was psyching  himself out before he began speaking. Most of the negatives were comparing himself to others.

My advice...be the best you, you can be. Do what you do best, not what someone else does. That's I do when I speak and perform and when I live life. Am I being the best "me" that I can be. I can never be someone else, but I can be a great me!

Don't beat yourself up comparing yourself to them. They are a lot of people in the world who envy certain things about you too.  I love the quote my friend's dad told me one time..."One eyed man is king in blind man country." The moral? The one eyed man can feel terrible that he only has vision in one eye and get down on himself, but people lacking vision will envy him because of his gift of site. Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy this quote I found today while researching information for a speech.

Who have you worked with part 2

I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with a variety of organizations and companies as a model, actor, entertainer, mc and speaker.

I was recently asked for a list of groups I worked with. I started to go through my list. People are very visual so, I put together this photo of some of the groups I've worked with. I shared the photo on Facebook first. Over course my mom and several friends chimed in about the groups I missed.

For now, here's the photo of some of the groups I've worked with and some extra photos of others I need to add.

Morale of this story.  Never doubt yourself, if you do, take time to reflect on what you've done in the past to motivate yourself to do great things in the future.

Old School is New School?

Happy  June 1st!

I have been reading a lot lately! 3.5 books last month! I have the goal of reading one book a month this year! I've read studies that say the average person reads one book a year! A friend told me about a story where the most successful people in the world read 12 books a year. I want to be successful!

Here is a great article I found on reading and success:
Success and Reading More (CLICK HERE)

I recently began reading the book "4 Hour Work Week." I'm about 1/4 of the way through the book. It's been on the best sellers list for years. It talks about how to make ourselves more productive and how to create more free time to do what we enjoy. People around the world are going crazy of this book. The more I read, I recognize that the philosophies being taught are the ones I was taught a long time ago and I've used at different points of my life to be successful.

When I was a little kid, my mom would always say, "Finish your work and then you can play!" I loved going outside to play, so I finished my work as quickly as possible so I could have more time outside.  Get your work done, get rewarded. As I grew I became the same way. In college, I'd take as many morning classes as possible so I could do whatever I wanted to in the afternoons. I could work, I could spend time with friends or I could participate in clubs.

When I joined the workforce. I would often tell my employees. "Unpack and Merchandise 100 boxes, when you do you can product test an item." I was the manager of a toy store. I'd also let them leave early with pay if the work was completed before we were scheduled to leave. That was a great motivator instead of staying in the store until 9:30 PM, we'd often leave at 9:10PM. Do your work and get rewarded.

We are very much in a play first society. Play than work or Play and don't work. This just piles up more work. I like the comment I read by John Maxwell, "In life, you will always pay, you can pay now or pay later." I would like to pay as quickly as possible so I can enjoy more free time. Why work 8 hours if  you can get everything done in 4?

I'm really starting to work on how I spend my time. They're are some many things that can distract us...TV, Internet, FB, Shinny objects. They all take away from our work time and time we want to spend doing our thing (family, friends, traveling, calling our own shots.) The key is to focus, be productive and finish your work so you can play.

Thanks Mom! I'm enjoying the book, but it's reminding me that I didn't need the book to learn the philosophy,  I just needed to remember what I was taught a long time ago.

Our Accidental Garden

 A few years ago, Kelly and I went out to purchase some potted plants to grow fruits and vegetables on our patio. We failed!

After that we tried buying seeds and trying from scratch. Once again we failed. Too hot in Arizona we thought.

We decided that it was good thing that we didn't have to grow our own food, because we wouldn't last a week. We managed to grow 3 cherry tomatoes during our experiments and 2 got eaten by birds. Our other non-producing plants we're doing good and we wanted them to flourish, so we decided to compost our "store bought" fruit and veggie scraps. We'd use the compost to give our plants rich soil to grow in.

Funny thing happened. After we put the compost down, plants started to grow. And they kept growing. We couldn't figure out what they we're, so we just kept watering them. What grew you ask? We are the proud parents of several bell pepper plants (green, yellow and red), chilli pepper plants,  a huge tomato plant, the beginnings of some sort of squash plant and a few other plants we're still trying to figure out.

That's the story of our accidental garden. As long as you provide a rich environment of growth, magic will happen! We're now on the look out for a strawberry-watermelon plant.

 Here's a photo of our first pickings of the year.

"The Drop"

Several years ago, I got to watch a speaker named Marcus Engel speak at a college conference in Spokane, Washington. Rodger Campbell and I were speaking at the same conference. All of us were represented by the same agent at the time. Marcus was speaking on how to overcome difficult situations in life. His sense of humor was amazing. I really appreciated the jokes he mad at the expense of Rodger and myself. Marcus knew we were around based off the music he heard us playing.

Ooops, I forgot to mention...Marcus is Blind. After you spend time with him, you really forget that Marcus is blind, because Marcus is just Marcus. Marcus lost his vision when he was 18, when he and his friends were hit by a drunk driver. We struck up a friendship with Marcus and his wife Marvelyne. 

Over the years we've kept in touch via e-mail and Facebook. Marvelyne has given me book writing advice and helped edit Rodger's book.

Last month while speaking in Florida, Marcus and Marvelyne came out to visit with us. They even treated us to breakfast. THANK YOU! We got to meet their son and they got a chance to meet Kelly and Elijah. We had a lot of fun. While hanging out, we exchanged books. 

This past week, I finished reading Marcus's Book "Everyday Inspiration." I'm definitely inspired to do more in my life after reading it. 

Rodger and I with Marcus

If you would like to learn more about Marcus and his story, click on one of the links below:

Marcu's Engel Website
Marcus Engel Movie - "The Drop" Watch for Free!

Twitter?

You probably saw my recent post about Instagram. This post is similar. Some of you know what Twitter is some of you don't. This post is for both of you. For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, it's a microblogging site that allows you to post your thoughts and ideas in 140 characters or less.

I like posting ideas, pictures and links to fun websites and stories on my Twitter page. Writing my blogs can take me some time, but tweeting only takes me a few seconds. If you're looking read a little more from me or just see what my thoughts of the day are, be sure to click HERE.

Change your Heart

I was at church this past Sunday (ok, I'm at church almost every Sunday). As the pastor as usual made some great points about life. This week he said something that really got me thinking, not only about myself but others too. Here's what he said:

"Jesus wants to change your heart not your circumstances."

Religious or not religious, almost everyone I know prays. They usually pray for a change of circumstance, situation or something. They pray when not so good things happen, but rarely pray when good things are happening. Many people just pray for stuff (house, money, care, health, etc) I normally pray for focus, energy, follow through and drive.

"Change your heart"....This is so true. We all watch reality TV and you see people with major problems in their life...financial, emotional, spiritual, relational, etc...you know what I'm talking about. They go to some specialist or guru to have their life or situation changed. The best results are seen by the people who change their heart or their way of thinking. Changing their heart changes their circumstances.

The people who only change their circumstances but don't change their heart more often than not end up back in the same circumstances. I watched a documentary called "Broke" last week. It's about professional athletes who made millions of dollars and end up broke after their career is over. The common story was the athletes financial circumstances changed over night, but their hearts and minds didn't. They're hearts really changed when the saw how much money they lost. Several former athletes were now mentoring younger athletes on how to better take care of their finances to prepare themselves for life after sports.

Many of us go through tough times in our lives. Trust me I've had my fair share. I prayed for things to change, but what I needed to pray for was for me to change. We have to look at the circumstances we're in. If it's a good circumstance, you have to be thankful of the situation and really appreciate where you are. Be sure to wake up every morning and say, "thank you" and "please keep my heart and my mind in the right place."

If you're circumstances aren't the way you like them, then you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself, what do I need to change about myself or the people, places or things I surround myself. Many times our circumstance change and we think everything will be good, then we get hit like a freight train when the not so good circumstance shows its ugly head again.

It's not about changing the circumstance, it's about changing our heart, our attitude and our actions. It's like the people on the weight loss surgery shows. They have this surgery that's supposed to change their lives. They have their surgery and loose lots of weight. A few years later the weight is back plus more. Why? They never addresses what was in their heart that caused the weight issue in the first place.

You see people who win the lottery then loose all the money only years later. Why? Their circumstance changed but not their hearts. They never addressed their spending or financial problems.

Why am I blogging about this? We are about 1/3 of the way through 2014. We started the year with big goals on how we we're going to make this "The Year." Now many of those goals aren't looking possible. We're getting down. We're starting to settle back into our old ways. Our circumstances aren't changing the way we dreamed they would or at the rate we wanted them too. Many of your goals are still possible. Your circumstances can change, but first you have to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself..."Do I have it in my heart to change?" My faith has changed my heart. What will help you change your heart? Once your heart changes, your circumstances will change.

Have a GREAT week everyone!

Instagram

A lot of people like it when I post pictures of my family and adventures. To be honest, I've been lazy with posting pictures lately because they're are some many places on the internet to post pictures. You have Facebook, Twitter, blogs, e-mail, sending text messages and Instagram.

Instagram is a fun site to post pictures and share them with the world. Many of you probably don't know that I have this page. Well, now you do! "I have a Instagram page." It's easy for me to post pictures from my phone for you to keep up with me and my amazing wife and son.

Don't believe me click HERE to see!

Happy Mother's Day

We're celebrating our 2nd Mother's Day this year! To my wife Kelly and my mom Edie, thank you for everything you do as mom's!

Need some inspiration?

in·spi·ra·tion

noun \ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən, -(ˌ)spi-\
 
: something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create : a force or influence that inspires someone

: a person, place, experience, etc., that makes someone want to do or create something

Many of us need the inspiration to live life and be positive during that not so good time. I have a friend from High School. She's been battling breast cancer and seeing her posts on Facebook and reading her blog will inspire you to be positive and not let life's challenges get you down. When you have time, click the link below to read her blog, you'll be inspired.

Ann's Blog 

Eating Healthy

I was looking at a friends Facebook post recently and it said...

"Food is healthcare and Drugs are deathcare."

That comment really hit me. Over the last few years, Kelly and I have been learning more and more about what we put into our bodies. We really started to learn more when our son was born. We read what was good for him and what wasn't. We were amazed to learn how much is sold in stores that are terrible for you.

I remembered going to a golf tournament with my friend Scott. Smuckers was there handing out free samples of their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches call "Crustables." Wanting to be healthy I asked for their Peanut Butter and honey sandwich. Before I opened it, I read the ingredients. I was amazed to find no peanuts or honey listed in the ingredients. How is that possible?

We started reading articles and books. We watched every documentary we could on food and eating healthy. The consensus? The Standard American Diet (SAD) is really sad. Our foods are so processed and full of chemicals, we are killing ourselves every time we take a bite.

We started eating cleaner. We started cooking from scratch more. We now eat very little processed foods, we buy organic as much as possible and we've cut our meat consumption. Guess what, we feel a lot better. It was kind of crazy to think that we would eat foods that our son couldn't eat. As parents we want him to have a bright future. We learned that the foods we eat have a better effect on our health and how we feel compared to drugs and vitamins. If you eat right you'll feel right.

The problem is society has so programed us to buy whats convenient or cheap, we sacrifice our overall and long term well being. Food has become a profit item, so companies are cutting corners and producing crappy food full or products that are unhealthy or even disease causing. It's almost like the drug companies, medical world and food companies are working together. Eat crappy food and you need to see the doctor more and take more drugs. Which means they make more money. As I told Kelly, doctors and companies don't recommend that you eat better because they can't make any money off of healthy people. The worse you feel the more money companies and the government make. Remember, companies put lawmakers into office and the government is run on tax money. So they want you to spend more. Why do you think crappy foods cost so little? So you can buy more.  It's something how when our food quality got worse in the late 60's and early 70's the quality of our health got worse.

I read another comment from John Maxwell it said...

"In life you always pay, you either pay now or your pay later."

People make fun of us or question how we can spend so much money on organic and fresh foods. We here jokes about how empty our fridge is. But it's refreshing when the same people make comments about how much energy we have, how we look good for our age, how our son eats his fruits and veggies etc. Why do we do this, we would rather pay to eat good quality food now then to be drugged up and in hospitals as we getter older.  So, we're paying now to have a brighter future.

Why am I blogging about this? I want people and my readers to open their eyes and take more control of what they put into their bodies. You may think that the places selling you food and drinks care about you, but many don't. You wouldn't eat poison knowledgeably, so pay more attention to how they take care of their possessions than they take care of their body.

There is scientific proof that almost every major health problem can be prevented just by watching what we eat. I think it's funny that the people making many of the popular food and beverage items in this country won't eat it themselves or are fighting states like California and Vermont to prevent them from labeling what is really in the ingredients.

As my one friend says...

"We take better care of the items we have temporarily than the one item we have our entire life...our body/health."

Take care of yourself mind, BODY and soul!

What is success?

I've recently been talking with people about achieving their dreams, being happy, being successful and not feeling like a looser. The sad thing is, our society, culture and media seemed more focused on making people feel worse about themselves than feeling good about themselves. We find more ways to tear someone down, than to build someone up.

I recently made a post on twitter where I stated the following:

"Success is the achievement of a dream or dreams...not the dreams of someone else, your dreams."

It's a simple statement but true. Success isn't about how much money you make, what type of car you have or what type of house you live in. It's about you doing what you say. It's about you putting a plan with your dream to make it a goal. It's about you following your plan to make your dream a reality. The reality...living your dream.

Right now, we have people, magazines, television, shows, movies, the internet, etc. telling us what success is. There all lies. All there trying to do is sell you something. Making you feel worse about yourself because you don't have what you see.

True success means we open our eyes to see the stories of the person who learns how to read, the child who learns how to take his or her first steps, a student walking the stage at graduation, finishing a project you've always talked about, solving a level on a video game, helping someone achieve their dream and making a positive impact on your community.

It's easy to focus on all the negative in life. It's easy for negative comments from people to bring us down, but to be happy, we need to remember on the successes we've already had in life and focus on the next success we plan to have. Not the success others are telling us we need to have.  No you need to focus on the dreams and passions you want to come true. The dreams and passions you want to live. That is success!

"Do as I say, not as I do!"

How many times have you heard people say, "Do as I say, not as I do?" I know I've said it a few times. Now that I'm a parent, I realize that comment makes no sense what so over.

My son, watches everything I do! He tries to imitate me and do it the way I do. I am his role model. I need to model the behaviors I want him imitate. I can have a positive or negative effect on the behaviors he displays and the life he will have. The other day, I was cleaning some pots.  He came over to see what I was doing. I was using a rag to clean the dirt had collected at the bottom. When I put the rag down, he grabbed it and attempted to wipe out the second pot. He looked just like me. My sister saw this and took these pictures. "She calls them, anything you can do, I can do better."

My mom (she's a teacher) told me that 80% of what you learn in life is learned by the time your turn 4! You spend the rest of  your life perfecting what you've learned. My one year old learns something new everyday. It could be how to pet a dog,  how to walk on a moving walkway at the airport, how to use a fork, how to turn on a faucet and how to treat people. Most of his learning comes from watching what others do and say. If he sees you doing it, it must be right, so he does the same thing.

The phrase "Do as I say, not what I do," should be "Do as I say and as I do."You have to model the behaviors and actions you want others to replicate. You have to be the role model. If you are going to give advice to others, you have to model the advice you're giving. If you don't model what you communicate you confuse the person you are communicating with, which will lead to the question, "Why?"...."Why don't you do what you what you say?"...."If you don't have to do it, why do I?" Your actions can have a negative or positive effect on others...how they feel about themselves and how they feel about and treat you. You can build their trust in you or you can loose their trust.

So, remember "Do as you say," be a role model and others will attempt do the same too.

Speaking is my dream and speaking full-time is my goal!

 Before the show in Orlando

 During the show in Orlando...3,000+ student leaders ready to learn and be entertained

I read a great fortune cookie statement the other day. It said...

"A Goal is a Dream with a plan."

It really opened my eyes. I have lots of dreams, but how often do I really put a plan to paper to make them happen. The ones I do generally do happen, the ones I don't,  I keep dreaming about.

I made up a statement I shared with a young entrepreneur I recently began working with:

"The more you dream about something happening, the farther away from happening the dream becomes."

It's true, we can talk about what we want to happen or we can talk about the plan we have to make things happen.

My dream is to be a full-time professional speaker.  My plan is for my speaking to provide the resources I need to provide for my family. My plan is to work with a variety of youth leadership groups around the world to provide them with the inspiration to build and develop their dreams in creative ways.

I have spent a lot time this years "living my dream" and not just talking about it. The results are starting to show. I just returned from speaking job in Florida. While I was there, I was turned down for a few speaking opportunities, but I was also asked to accept several. I have a lot of hard work left to do, but by this time next year, I'll be posting more blogs about living my dreams and how I'm helping others live their dreams too.

Here's a list of where I've been so far this year and some of the places where I'll be.

March 3 - Phoenix, AZ - Ventricle Hiking Tours Team Building Hike
April 3&4 - Orlando, FL - Florida HOSA State Leadership Conference
May 17 - Phoenix, AZ - Best Buddies Arizona Awards Luncheon
May 28 - Chandler, AZ - Arizona Correctional Education (ACE) Conference
June 27-29 - Orlando, FL - National Association of Student Councils (NASC) Conference
July 5 - Las Vegas, NV - Lambda Theta Alpha National Convention
Sept. 12-14 - Chicago, IL - Lewis University Leadership Retreat
TBA - Best Buddies AZ Leadership Training

I'm waiting to finalize deals in OH, PA, NY and NM. Great things are going to happen just have to work my plan for the plan to work!

Dreams do come true!

I have a list that I call my "Grocery List." It's a list of all the things I feel I need to do in life and all of the things I want to do in life. I cross things off as I do them and I add things to the list when I get inspired.

It's a pretty long list. I've shared the list with people near me. The amazing thing is, when I share my list with people, many times they help me make things on the list become reality.

Recently a huge dream came true. I went to a practice round of "The Masters" Golf Tournament. My grocery list has the comment, "go to the Masters with your Best Friend Scott." Well, after 15 years of trying to get tickets, Scott won the ticket lottery. I was excited when he called me to ask if I could join him.

Going to the Masters is a once in a lifetime experience for many people. Words can't describe the experience of the sounds, smells and feeling or being at one of golfs most sacred places. And I got to go because of a GREAT friend.

Never fear sharing your dreams with people, you never know what might happen.

Enjoy the pictures and stories from my Masters experience. THANK YOU SCOTT!

 Me and my Practice round Ticket

 Clubhouse at the practice range.

 Enjoying a non-alcoholic beverage. Food costs are amazing at Augusta National. We ate like kings for less than $10!

 Practice rounds are amazing because you can bring your camera and get close to the players. 

Sergio Garcia

 Famous Hole 12 "Golden Bell"

 Scott and I infront of Hole 12

 Scott really enjoying his seat.

 Hole 13 "Azalea"

More Hole 13

 More Hole 13

 Golf great Arnold Palmer...he drank a lemonade not an Arnold Palmer

 Amazing moment...touching an actual Masters Flag on an actual Masters Green

 Amazing moment...my hand in an actual Masters Cup on an actual Masters Green

Scott with one of his favorite golfers...Miguel Jimenez