Specifically this is if you need to apologize to someone else:

1. Acknowledge the broken agreement.

2. Accept Responsibility for having broken the agreement.

3. Account for why you broke the agreement (this can be tough!)

4. Apologize

5. Amend – what are you going to do to make it up to someone?

The 5 As in action

Here’s an example:

Hi Steve, I want to apologize for something.  We had an agreement that I would meet you at 1100am.  I arrived at 1110am, which is 10 minutes late. acknowledge

I gave myself 20 minutes to make the 20 minute drive.  I encountered delays on the road – first a construction zone, then an accident. account

Because I didn’t leave early enough, I didn’t have any buffer time in case unexpected things popped up on the road. It’s my responsibility to be here on time, regardless of what happens on the road, so I accept responsibility for not leaving early enough. accept responsibility

I apologize for this, and want to make it up to you. apologize

To make it up to you, I am willing to stay late today to complete the new work that we choose in our meeting today. amend

Steve, what do you think?

Making the 5As work in day-to-day life

1. This may seem like a lot to do or remember or say. It’s only about 30 seconds of talking, and can make a world of difference, even if you miss parts of it.

2. Driving is a pretty huge responsibility where mistakes can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and lives are literally on the line every time we get behind the wheel. Yet we find a way to make it second nature – so much in fact, that we can have a conversation with a passenger and listen to music at the same time. The 5 As is not that tough…. use it a few times and it can also become second nature.

3. You don’t need to use absolutely all of the 5 elements every single time.

4. The 5 elements can be done in any order; you don’t have to keep them in the order I’ve outlined above.

5. It can be super tough at times;  It takes courage to be totally honest; recently I was late for something because I allowed myself to be distracted by a news story about a football game, then I saw a long-time family friend on the street.  When it was time for me to own up to my broken agreement, it was tough to say essentially: “I chose to read the article and talk to someone else instead of honouring my agreement with you.”  Yet I still did it, and it helped fix things, as embarrassing as it might have been.

I still miss parts of the 5 As from time-to-time, although the more I practice, the better I get.  (Having lots of practice – is that a good sign or a bad sign?!?)

Happy apologizing,

TF

YOURSELF.

Not your job title, not your income level, not the house you live in, not the car you drive, but your true, unmasked, unfiltered, clear, clean conscious self…. exactly as you are, free of the “stuff” of life… nothing more, nothing less.

(And I know that exactly who you are – in all of your strengths and weaknesses, bright and dull spots – is totally adequate…. yes you ARE “enough”.)

Not backing down, not cowering away, not shrinking down, not hiding behind a job title or accomplishment, but rather standing assertively and powerfully in the brightest possible spotlight for everyone to see you exactly for who you are.

How might that affect those around me?

To be in relationships of all kind – personal, business, spiritual, work, familial, romantic, and other – with 100% responsibility and accountability. Knowing fully that you aren’t in that relationship to make the other person mad, nor to make them happy, but rather to honour your TRUE goals, wishes, desires, values, in such a way that allows them (and others) to maximize their opportunity to do the same.

What would it do for your family, your workplace, your romantic relationship, your identity, in fact your ENTIRE life’s experience if everyone around you was 100% accountable, 100% true, and 100% honest to you? And what about you being the same way for them? What about you being the same way with yourself?

(and even if you never did achieve 100% of any of that, what if it was only 10% better? 20% better? 50% better? …do you think that would dramatically improve EVERYTHING? In my life it sure has.)

Sounds great, but where could I possibly go to get this?

Where can you turn to gain the insights, education, exerpience, to begin building this more and more in your life?

Where do you find the coaching, skills, mindset, and community of people that believe wholeheartedly in this?

Where do you begin your journey in achieving your true authentic self, to begin revealing the full potential in your entire life’s experience?

The Answer: The Satvatove Institute and Community

Having now participated in extensive Satvatove training (Foundational Course ['09, '10], Advanced Course ['09], Coaching ['09, '10]), I fully assert with 100% clarity and conviction that participating in this organization and fully committing yourself to these principles can truly be the greatest gift that you ever give your family, your co-workers, your business partners, your significant other, and most importantly…. yourself.

For more information on Satvatove, Dr. David Wolf, complimentary articles, free access to the Satvatove Radio Show, and information on the Satvatove community, you can visit the Satvatove website.

For even more specific information on the unforgettable 3-day Satvatove Foundational Course coming to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on April 15, 16, 17, 2010, contact course organizer Kyle McNeil here: Kyle(at)KyleMcNeil.com

I look forward to seeing you there,

TF

P.S. And – for the record – I also assert that I am personally far, FAR from being 100% perfect from this (far from it!)… from what I HAVE built and improved in my life, the impact has been so profound and so far-reaching that I will forever credit Dr. Wolf and the Satvatove team as being some of the more important people in my entire life. And that isn’t hyperbole or hype…. it’s just what’s true for me.

And – like those other relationships – the relationship can have ups and downs, challenges and successes, disagreements and upsets.

As such, it typically comes down to simply treating my relationship with money as a living, growing, ever-evolving and expanding relationship. I endeavour to have an ever-deepening bond and insightful experience… one of understanding, respect, and clean, clear conscious awareness.

Enjoy!

TF

= = = = = =

My Rich Dad told me a simple story when I was 12 years old that has guided me to great wealth and financial freedom. It was Rich Dad’s way of explaining the difference between the left side of the CASHFLOW Quadrant, the “E” and “S” quadrants, from the right side of the “B” and “I” quadrants.

It goes: “Once upon a time there was this quaint little village. It was a great place to live except for one problem. The village had no water unless it rained.

To solve this problem once and for all, the village elders decided to put out to bid the contract to have water delivered to the village on a daily basis.

Two people volunteered to take on the task and the elders awarded the contract to both of them. They felt that a little competition would keep prices low and ensure a back-up supply of water.

“The first of the two people who won the contract, Ed, immediately ran out, bought two galvanized steel buckets and began running back and forth along the trail to the lake which was a mile away. He immediately began making money as he labored morning to dusk hauling water from the lake with his two buckets. He would empty them into the large concrete holding tank the village had built.

Each morning he had to get up before the rest of the village awoke to make sure there was enough water for the village when it wanted it. It was hard work, but he was very happy to be making money and for having one of the two exclusive contracts for this business.

“The second winning contractor, Bill, disappeared for a while. He was not seen for months, which made Ed very happy since he had no competition. Ed was making all the money.

“Instead of buying two buckets to compete with Ed, Bill had written a business plan, created a corporation, found four investors, employed a president to do the work and returned six months later with a construction crew. Within a year his team had built a large volume stainless steel pipeline which connected the village to the lake.

At the grand opening celebration, Bill announced that his water was cleaner than Ed’s water. Bill knew that there had been complaints about dirt in Ed’s water. Bill also announced that he could supply the village with water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ed could only deliver water on the weekdays–he did not work on weekends.

Then Bill announced that he would charge 75% less than Ed did for this higher quality and more reliable source of water. The village cheered and ran immediately for the faucet at the end of Bill’s pipeline.

“In order to compete, Ed immediately lowered his rates by 75%, bought two more buckets, added covers to his buckets and began hauling four buckets each trip. In order to provide better service, he hired his two sons to give him a hand for the night shift and on weekends. When his boys went off to college, he said to them, “Hurry back because someday this business will belong to you.”

“For some reason, after college, his two sons never returned. Eventually Ed had employees and union problems. The union was demanding higher wages, better benefits and wanted its members to only haul one bucket at a time.

“Bill, on the other hand, realized that if this village needed water then other villages must need water too. He rewrote his business plan and went off to sell his high speed, high volume, low cost and clean water delivery system to villages throughout the world.

“He only makes a penny per bucket of water delivered, but he delivers billions of buckets of water everyday. Regardless of if he works or not, billions of people consume billions of buckets of water, and all that money pours into his bank account. Bill had developed a pipeline to deliver money to himself as well as water to the villages.

“Bill lived happily ever after and Ed worked hard for the rest of his life and had financial problems forever after. The end.”

That story about Bill and Ed has guided me for years. It has assisted me in my life’s decision making process. I often ask myself,
“Am I building a pipeline or hauling buckets?”
“Am I working hard or am I working smart?”
And the answers to those questions have made me financially free.

>The CASHFLOW Quadrant is about the four different types of people who make up the world of business, who they are and what makes individuals in each quadrant unique. It will help you define where you are in the Quadrant today and help you chart a course for where you want to be in the future as you choose your own path to financial freedom.

While financial freedom can be found in all four of the quadrants, the skills of a “B” or “I” will help you reach your financial goals more quickly. A successful “E” should also become a successful “I”.

As someone who may be interested in real estate investing, you may be asking, “How high will mortgage interest rates go?” “Is there really a real estate bubble?” “Will I be able to qualify for a mortgage?” “Where can I turn to for real answers … not just fluff?” In shaky times like these it is far too common to have more questions than answers and that is exactly what this note is about – getting you the answers you need to keep moving forward.

Check out the event below….

TF

= = = = =

One of Canada’s leading Real Estate Experts (one trusted by Canadians to provide unbiased education and research for the past 18 years) is Don R. Campbell. You’ve probably heard him on the radio or seen him on the news, or you may have read one of his Canadian Best-Selling books. He has always been the voice of reason in times of confusion and chaos. He is the guy who the national media goes to for the unbiased truth about the real estate market. The good news is he is coming to Vancouver on June 12th & 13th and I wanted to send you an exclusive invitation to this event.

I am personally inviting you as my guest to this life changing event and not to worry, I have negotiated a great deal for you.

The recent real estate market changes will make winners and losers, the difference being unbiased knowledge. Choose to WIN by attending the following ‘Insider’s Event’.

Click here to read all the details of this exclusive event:

http://www.realestateinvestingincanada.com

These are interesting times and the age old saying “knowledge is power” has never been more true. Take control of your financial future, get away from the hype and get the answers you need today. Click here to discover more, and find out how the changes taking place in the real estate industry will affect you, your family and your bottom line.

www.realestateinvestingincanada.com

TF

Kyle McNeil featured in the U of A's "Active Alumni" magazine

The magazine cover…

The story on Kyle…

The full story on Kyle by the U of A "Active Alumni" magazine

To download the PDF version of the magazine – including the full story on Kyle – click here: U of A – “Active Alumni” magazine – May 2010 (pdf)

To learn more about Kyle, visit his Blog here: www.KyleMcNeil.com

Congrats, Kyle

TF

It is better to be alone than in the wrong company.

Tell me who your best friends are, and I will tell you who you are.

If you associate with eagles, you will learn to soar to great heights.

A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.

You become like those with whom you closely associate – good or bad.

The less you associate with some people (even family), the more your life will improve.

Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your own mediocrity.

An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.

As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will stay where they are. Friends that don’t help you climb will want you to crawl.

Your friends will either stretch your vision or choke your dream.

Those that don’t increase you will eventually decrease you.

Never receive council from unproductive people.

Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always the first to tell you how.

Not everyone has the right to speak into your life.

You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person.

Don’t follow anyone who’s not going anywhere.

Beware of those whose goals are much smaller than yours.

With some people you spend an evening; with others you invest it.

Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.

Find people smarter, richer, more successful, and more motivated than you are to associate with.

When my enemies become your friends, you, too, become my enemy. Loyalty is very important.

Alone, it is hard, but together, we can accomplish amazing things.

Robin J. Elliott
www.DollarMakers.com

People often ask: “What is a ‘Hot Button’”?

Examples of “Hot Buttons”… the motivators that people emphatically act upon… often times for less money than the cash equivalent…

A+++

– PETS: How many people lose their brains over a $20 toy for their dog?  Robin tells a story of how this dentist had hired Robin for $1000/hr, and every time Robin went over Robin brought a squeeze toy for the dentist’s dog, and the dentist would spend half the hour talking and playing with the dog and the $20 squeeze toy from “Uncle Robin”.  This dentist was fixated on spending $500 to play for 30 mins with a $20 toy and his dog.  Doesn’t seem to make sense, but that was the dentist’s hot button.  And when it’s a hot button, it often doesn’t make sense!

– KIDS: ANYTHING to support or show consideration to a person’s child.  Sometimes that’s tickets to the kid’s favourite sports team.  The parent could never justify spending the money themselves (even if it’s only $200 or something), yet to receive them as a gift is a whole different ballgame.  Buy the box of almonds, sponsor the skate-a-thon, whatever.

– WIFE: Self-explanatory.

OTHERS…

- CHARITY: not as pervasively effective as kids and pets, but for those that it does, the river can run deep.  Talk to someone who had a parent die of breast cancer, and they will literally shed tears when you tell them that you just donated $500, on their behalf, to the breast cancer society.

List of ideas…

- trips or vacations
- paying for a babysitter to give mom and dad a night out
- tickets to the ballet
- book from a specific author
- introduction to a specific person
- memorabilia
- movie passes
- event tickets

…the list literally goes on and on.

GUILT

People often feel guilt when they think about spending money on themselves.  For example, if you offered a person $1000 they would probably (with guilt) say that they would pay down debt or something “smart” with the money.  99% of the time, this is not a hot button.

To get to the REAL hot button, keep this question in mind:

Dear (prospect):

If I could give you $1,000 and you had to blow it on something thoughtful, inspiring, fun, cool, or meaningful… i.e. can’t be paying off your credit cards or mortgage… what would that be?

More Real-life examples

I gifted a copy of Never Eat Alone to a Centre of Influence.  Cost me $25 on iTunes.  He featured me in his newsletter – GREAT for my resume – and he is now considering putting me on his stage at a very influential event, which could be worth tens of thousands in CBMS fees.

This past December I sent Robin and Rika an “anniversary” card… celebrating their anniversary of immigrating to Canada.  If you know South Africa, you know that leaving is an exceptionally long, expensive, and potentially dangerous proposition.  And for them, leaving home to come here with nothing but four suitcases and money was scary and disorienting – as it would be for ANYONE.  But they did it, and now they say it was one of the best moves of their lives.  My card now sits on their mantle.  It cost me $1.10 (postage included) and the ROI is infinite.

If you would have told me that you could get me to see Robert Kiyosaki live, I probably would have done pretty serious stuff to make it happen.  Did you know that you could get tickets for only $500 if you knew the right people?

The person I most want to meet and spend a day with?  Timothy Ferriss.

Last example for now…

If someone REALLY wants a new $35,000 car – for themselves, their spouse, a child, or other family member – but they just can’t justify buying it, what if you offered to get the car FOR them?

Probably sounds far fetched, right?  Well, a $35,000 car can be had for only $675.45/mo.  If someone is doing a deal with me that will add $5,000/mo to my bottom line, could I afford to cover the payments for them as long as the partnership is going strong?

When you *actually* look at the numbers, it’s amazing what the Hot Button can do ….

TF

TF

What the heck is “Satvatove”?

Find out this Thursday at 700pm

Good day to you!

As you may know there’s a growing community in Edmonton & Alberta that has taken Satvatove & integrated it into their life. From a place of wanting to share this – this week you’re invited to join a special call with Dr David Wolf (founder of Satvatove). If you want an idea of what will be covered, read below

David will cover these topics this Thursday night, May 13th @ 7pm MST:

1) The “Be-Do-Have” paradigm, what this means & how you can apply it to life.

* Have you ever imagined, what you’re capable of? The power to create your life, living everyday for what you want. This power comes from “Be-Do-Have”. The problem is society teaches us to run around like maniacs to “Do-Have-Be” (tons of action, leading to lack of inspiration & feeling worn out) or “Have-Do-Be” (the belief that once you accumulate all the “stuff”: houses, life partner, etc. you can start living life).

Well what about today? Why not start today … David will talk about the essence of “Be-Do-Have” & why this is important to your life.

2) Blocks in Communication – There’s More to Listening … we aren’t taught this though …

* As Paul Tillick says “the first duty of love is to listen” … but who’s ACTUALLY listening?

Do you know someone that gives endless advice to you when you have a problem? Do you want advice or just to be understood? There’s various ways people create communication blocks (over 20 of them). We aren’t taught any of this in school.

** On the call we’ll cover a number of these blocks, so you can create awareness around them & become even better!

—

* Satvatove Conference Call Information *

w/ David Wolf from Satvatove
Date: May 13, 2010
Time: 7-8pm MST
Where: your phone wherever you are – see below for call in #

Here’s how to connect with the call:
Conference Dial-in Number: (218) 862-1000
Participant Access Code: 793909#

——————–

See you on the call!

Kyle

PS – if you need more info (b/c you’re a detailed person), scroll down below.