Monday Morning MOJO 1/28/08

Good Morning MOJO,

Disconnected…

Your gut, heart and soul say one thing…your voice, body and mind say something different. You say…”life is great”…”I’m happy”…”I’m healthy”…”I love my life”…”I am dependable”…”I’m disciplined”…”you can count on me”, but down deep inside you know its BS…your not connected…your not in alignment. When your voice, mind, body, soul, heart and gut are not in alignment is when life sucks and has drag…and like an airplane that has too much drag, if you don’t watch it you will crash!!!!! Drag creates anxiety and stress…it creates a feeling of being disconnected…of not being in alignment…a feeling of just getting through life, not taking from it. Trust me, I know how it feels…I think in life no matter how much we try to live our life connected…in alignment and balance, we all have times when we struggle with this…when we are not honest with ourselves. Unfortunately, I think most are disconnected.

I was one of those who was mostly disconnected until about 10 years ago, until enough was enough and I just got fed up. Quite frankly, because of changing from someone disconnected and not honest with myself for so long to someone who I think is pretty honest with himself, and mostly connected today is one of the main motivators for me to write Monday Morning MOJO. I know the sense of relief and freedom that comes with being honest with myself…with being in alignment. If you are ready to make a radical breakthrough in your life and really “have a great life”…”be happy”…”be healthy”…and “just plain love your life”, you need be honest with yourself about who you are today, who you want to be, and the discipline, accountability and changes you are going to need to make to get there. When you make the commitment to do this, unlike New Years resolutions which never last, if you stick with it you will get connected. It won’t happen over night and quite frankly I think it is something we all have to work at for the rest of our lives. In the beginning, it will take months or perhaps years before you feel it…before you start to feel your soul, voice, body, mind…and your gut connected. Once you do, you will notice everything in your life start to get better. Your health, your relationships, you business, your life…

One of the books which had a huge impact on me years ago was The Power of Full Engagement written by Jim Loehr. Another one of his books which we all should be checking out is “The Power of Story”. What stories are we telling ourselves about ourselves? Check out this short clip then order the book: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LCxlORhwg80.

Make it a GREAT week!!!!!!

Happy New Year,

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 650.622.1225 or 408.342.3001
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Intero Story Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=yFK3cLS7U1g

Intero Foundation Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=o6q8B-MZSHw

Intero Resorts Video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=81xC-sE65Ho

Intero Locations: http://www.interoagent.com/accessible/viewDocument.aspx?documentID=905

Monday Morning MOJO 1/21/08

Good Morning MOJO,

Change or Die?!?!

What if a well-informed, trusted authority figure said you had to make difficult and enduring changes in the way you think and act? If you didn't, you would die soon…a lot sooner than it had to. Could you change when change really mattered?

Yes, you say?

Try again…you wouldn't change.

Don't believe it…you want the odds? Here are the odds: 9 to 1. That's 9 to 1 against you.

Do you realize a SMALL % of the population consumes the VAST majority of the health care budget for diseases that are very well known and by in large behavioral? That is, we are sick because of how we choose to live our lives, not because of any environmental or genetic factors beyond our control. They say it could be as much as 80% of our health care budget is consumed by these behavioral issues…smoking, eating, drinking, stress and lack of exercise.

Could it be the same way in other areas of our life? If other areas in our life are sick, could it be in large part due to behavioral issues that are in our control as opposed to conditions that are outside our control?

You want some more proof of the challenge we all face in change? There was a study done back in 1995 of people who went through bypass surgery…open heart surgery. Of those studied, within 2 years from surgery 90% went right back to their old unhealthy lifestyle. So, if the fear of DEATH doesn’t initiate change…where do we go from here? More importantly how do we get our stubborn brain to stop resisting change so tenaciously. Why do we fight it even when we KNOW if we don’t it will kill us?

Well, knowing that motivating people with the fear of death wasn’t the right approach because 90% went right back to where they were before, they tried a different approach. They changed their focus…have any idea to what? The joy of LIVING.

They took 300 patients and put a 100% daily effort into focusing their minds on all the daily things that make life great…and coached them on their mindset, their attitude, their daily habits, and surrounded them continually with the RIGHT influences. It was this change of focus...taking it away the fear of death and into the joy of living, that allowed 77% of the patients to sustain the lifestyle changes.

What changes do we need to make? Where is our focus…in fear or in joy?

It’s a New Year and its time to make some changes now!!!!!!!

Attached is the complete Change or Die Article…it is definitely worth taking the time to read.

Make is a GREAT week and a GREAT life!!!!!!

Happy New Year,

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 650.622.1225 or 408.342.3001
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Monday Morning MOJO 1/14/08

Good Morning MOJO,

Today’s MOJO is written by a good friend of mine and the manager of our Intero Silver Creek office, Chris Hawkins. Tomorrow he starts chemotherapy and his fight to beat stage 3 cancer. Attached is a link to the same video I sent last week in the event you did not get a chance to see it. I think’s appropriate again. LiveSTRONG!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi7sPSOTErY

By: CHRIS HAWKINS

In a couple of days I will start my first cycle of chemotherapy. I am a little nervous, dreading perhaps the idea of possibly being sick for four to six straight months. It bothers me also that I may not be able to give my all to those in my life who have given, and continue to give, their all for me. I want to wrestle with my kids and I’m not sure if I will be able to.

I had major surgery to remove a tumor in November. After my chemotherapy treatments, according to 2 different doctors, the chances of beating my cancer and surviving to live a “normal” life is somewhere between 60% and 70%, encouraging on the upside and, as you can imagine, a bit disheartening on the downside.

I remember the first two or three days after learning I had cancer in late October. It was hard to escape the notion I may not be around to grow up with my kids (4 and 2 ½ years old, plus a third due in March) and teach them how to live. I remember one tearful conversation with my wife Leah as I, barely able to speak, expressed my desire to one day walk my beautiful, four year old daughter Mia down the aisle on her wedding day. Occasionally, I would wonder, as if I wasn’t there, if my son Joe and his soon-to-be little brother would be good athletes and play on the school teams like I did. The mind is amazing.

Then it struck me. My chances for a long, relatively painless, life weren’t that much (if at all) different from anyone else’s. No one is 100% no matter who you are. Like the commercial says, “Life comes at you hard!”

Gaining this perspective hit me two ways. First, I could stop obsessing over myself because EVERYONE has challenges in their lives. It was liberating to focus on other people I care about, to help them bridge their gaps, to make them laugh.

Second, it became clear that I, all of us, ought to live life the way we want TODAY.

We live in a three bedroom home in a wonderful neighborhood. The house is not small, but by no means large. Recovering from surgery meant being at home for two straight weeks. I had never done that before. I looked around at what we had accumulated as the family grew (and continues to grow). It was piled around us. We viewed the situation as temporary. It would all go away after we made more money, remodeled the house, and/or when the kids got a little older and we could discard the “baby stuff”.

I came to the troubling realization that this was really how we live. “Someday” is not going to get here…for any of us.

In the past three weeks I emptied a big truckload of junk at the dump, dropped off two carloads of donations to the Goodwill, filled our garbage can beyond capacity every week, and helped my wife package up items she sold on E-bay and Craig’s List. I created more storage space in the kitchen. I added extra shelves in the garage cabinets and even swept out the entire garage to the point where you could practically eat off the floor. Two cars are parked comfortably in there as I write this. There is still a bit to do yet but the house is organized and uncluttered. This is how I want my home to be. This has brought me good health and energy.

In this changing market, are we so pre-occupied with our own (potentially unhealthy) business that we stopped supporting those around us? Have we tabled our ambitions to buy an investment property or accumulate wealth “until the market gets better”? How much “clutter” is in our minds, bodies, offices, homes, cars, etc.?

If there is one thing that sticks out from my experience these past three months, it’s this: The world is full of good people who care and wish to support you. My spirits are lifted daily by an amazing number of people. Evidently, I had to contract a life-threatening disease to fully recognize this.

So I will leave you with this while you are healthy: Dream big TODAY. Reach out and support each other TODAY. Have the life you want TODAY!

There is no “someday”.

Happy New Year,

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 650.622.1225 or 408.342.3001
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com

Monday Morning MOJO 1/7/08

Good Morning MOJO,

It’s the 2^nd week of the New Year and now is when it starts to get hard to keep those New Years Resolutions. When I went to the gym over the weekend, I was shocked by the number of cars in the parking lot. I’m not sure why…I shouldn’t have been…it was the same thing last year. There must have been 10 times the number of people there compared to last week. There where gyms all around the world with millions more people in them last week than the week before New Years. The unfortunate thing is, it’s the same millions more people who where in the gym the first week of January last year….and the year before that…and the year before that…and the year before that.... And by February 1^st it will be back to the old regulars. So, why can’t we keep it up? Whether it is going to the gym, spending more time with our kids and/or spouse, eating healthier, losing weight, whatever it is…what can we do to keep those resolutions and make them changes for a lifetime…not just a week. It is good old discipline and accountability. If we are truly committed to having a better life, we need to tell everyone we know about our resolutions and ask them to help hold us accountable…we have to burn the boats, so to speak, and don’ t give ourselves a way back to the old us who hits the snooze bar. Because if we don’t burn the boats so that there is no going back when the going gets tough, we are going to revert back to all our old bad habits.

Now, when you are too tired to keep your commitments…to tired to keep inspired…to tired to keep being discipline and accountable, play this video and ask yourself…what would Lance say?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi7sPSOTErY

Make it a GREAT week!!!!

Happy New Year,

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

Tom Tognoli
COO, Founder

Intero Real Estate Services
Direct: 650.622.1225 or 408.342.3001
Email: TTognoli@InteroRealEstate.com
Website: www.InteroRealEstate.com