YOU (& your) TUBE

It's official, there are more people in the U.S.A. -- the number of obese American adults outweighs the number of those who are merely overweight, according to the latest statistics from the federal government. One of the common statistics often cited by video game industry trade groups is that the average age of a gamer nowadays is around 30 years old. What you might not know, however, is that among game players between the ages of 25 and 34, women far outnumber men, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (as reported in The New York Times).

I've worked one-on-one with hundreds of people of the last few years and it always surprises me to see the most beautiful, "LARGER THAN LIFE" plasma-screen TVs in the most modest houses. However, happy people don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds. The study relied primarily on the responses of 45,000 Americans collected over 35 years by the University of Chicago’s General Social Survey, and on published “time diary” studies recording the daily activities of participants. Speaking of the Roman Colosseum one expert said: "Entertainment has always played in important part in human history. People go to great lengths to escape their mundane lives..." And as most of the lower and middle class lead lives of quiet desperation, they've learned to escape from other areas of life:

--4 in 5 of us will be married at least once

--1 in 3 will be divorced at least once

Stop watching in prime time and start living in prime time. Prime time is 7-11 p.m. EST, when all of America is watching other people making money and having fun in their professions. So if you want to watch other people making money, having fun in their professions, which gets their ratings up so they make more money, go ahead and do things that are tension relieving, instead of goal achieving. But if you truly want to live YOUR life in prime time, then write in prime time, have intimacy in prime time, talk with your children in prime time, live and do in prime time instead of unhooking and engaging in tension relieving activities. So stop watching and use the television set as an appliance. It has doors on it. Close the doors and use it like an iron. When you need to iron your clothes, bring out the TV set. Regarding the television, there was a guy who wasn't doing too well in my industry and he asked for some advice from his friend. He had a television set and watched a lot of it, so he was asked, "How much did that television cost you?" He said, "About $400." The friend responded, "No, you're mistaken." He said, "No, this television set cost me $400." The friend said, "Well, that's to buy it. To watch it, I am sure it is costing you about $40,000 a year to watch." He finally got the message and he called his brother-in-law, who had a pickup, and he and his brother-in-law hauled his television out of the house. His brother-in-law did say, "Well, you can just shut it off."And he said, "No, for now I don't trust myself, my friend is right. I'm not going to let this television set cost me $40,000 a year anymore."

What does your tube cost you? T.V. could cost you: money, an opportunity serve, health, or relationships. Count the cost, and if you have to, call me -- my father-in-law has a pick up truck for your T.V.

CAP

Kung Fu Fondue Principle: Begin...

Kung Fu Fondue Principle: Begin by "Eating That Bug."

Many of you may know that I ate a bug (a few of them) during our annual fondue party on New Year's Eve. I had 2.5" black crickets and bamboo caterpillars to munch. From that experience, I have discovered a truth that perhaps could benefit you in your journey of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The night that I ate bug(s), my first impulse was to wait to eat the bugs. But, my bug-eating cohort prompted me to eat the bug first - as a kick off to the evening. Looking back, this approach, to eat the bug first, was as wise as a wushu champion, because I really didn't want to eat the bug. However, I went through the trouble of searching for the bugs, I bought the bugs and I committed to people that I would eat the bugs. It's like those things in your life that you've committed to doing, you've told people around you that you are going to do the (fill in the blank), you know you should do them, but you delay, delay and don't do them. Sometimes doubt begins to creep in and you don't do the deed. Most of the time, the "thing" is something you should do, but is simply not fun, easy or entertaining -- so it doesn't get done (at least by you).

The Begin by "Eating that Bug" Principle basically says that if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a bug, then you will have the satisfaction of knowing it is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. And your "bug" is your most important task. Now there's two issues to address. The first one is if you have two bugs to eat, eat the ugliest one first and the second issue to that is if you have to eat a bug at all, it doesn't pay to sit and look at it very long. In my case, the cricket won the ugliest of them all contest. So, the cricket was downed first. I also, didn't spend a great deal of time staring at the creepy critter. So a key to Kung Fu (Excellence) in what you do is to plan every day the night before, in advance, and set priorities. And then say, "If I can only complete one task on this list before I was to be called out of town for a month to visit the Wudang Mountains, which one task would it be?" And whatever that is, it becomes your "bug" -- the next morning discipline yourself to start in on that task, the most important thing on your list, and do only that until it is complete. Let me know if you can develop that habit, and if it helps you. I hope this principle will play a small role (perhaps bug-like) in your attempt to take full control of your life, and gives you a personal feeling of pride, accomplishment, discipline and achievement. It is one of the most important of all lessons to learn, and one of the hardest things to implement if anybody has tried to do it.

CAP

What's Your Haka Chant?

Over the last year or so, I learned about the power of confessions in my life. Every day, at least that's the goal, I have confessions that I speak over my family, myself, my business partners, etc. I have some of the confessions handy on my cell phone ready to access throughout the day. Have the confessions posted on my wall in my home office too. The confessions get my mind right; last night Rhoda, my wife, saw that I was dipping a bit and reminded me of the confessions we have for '09. As my day starts, the power of confessions gets me going - ready to take on the day. I'm ready to take authority over my life. I'm ready to step on the head of my enemy. I'm ready to conquer fear. I'm ready to win. I'm ready. It turns out that when you speak, you hear yourself with your "inner ear", which sounds different than listening to someone else speak. There's a benefit, a clear confirmation to yourself, if you will, when you tell yourself what God says about you. Sometimes you're the only one around you that will tell you who you are in God - so you should tell yourself more often. When you listen to someone else speak, you do so with your "outer ear". Don't believe me? Try recording voice. When you play back the recording of yourself talking, you'll notice it always sounds a bit different to you. Preachers often say that they don't like to watch themselves on DVD or listen to their audio recordings, because they don't like the way their voice sounds. Anyway, the power of confessions are used all the time, especially in sports. You'll see teams and more importantly players chant. One of my favorite examples is The All Blacks, the international rugby union team of New Zealand. The All Blacks perform a haka (kind of a chant) (Māori traditional dance) immediately prior to international matches. Some say, the chant is a bit of an intimidation factor for the opponent - even more reason to like it! Interestingly, chant, in the dictionary can also mean slogan, phrase or even psalm. What are you getting ready for today? What's your psalm, chant - whatever you want to call it? If you don't have one - get one. Eph. says, to keep on being filled with the Spirit. And you will recite to one another psalms... What's your confession, psalm, chant - whatever you want to call it? You tell'in the opposition that you're bigger, better, stronger and faster and that you've already won - so don't even try it?! Confessions: If you don't have some - get some. Watch the Haka Chant here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4LNjNXt1yM CAP *All Blacks Haka details found on wikipedia