Are you alive?
Before you answer that… read these words. They’re unedited, live, straight from me to you today.
Five years ago, as I write this, I was on a Southwest flight to Dallas.
When I landed, the TV’s at the gates showed video of the first twin tower in flames. I was on my way to a meeting at Nortel and rushed past the folks watching the live coverage to a cab. While in the cab, I heard the story unfold on the radio and called my friend and asked him to arrange a rental car for me. The news at the time was talking of airports being closed for a few hours, but I didn’t buy it… I knew if I wanted to get back to my wife and family in Austin I’d need a car.
By the time I got to Nortel, the folks I was meeting (top Worldcom execs, folks from Nortel, and a client), all were standing in the hallway outside the meeting room watching the second plane hit on a really big (70") LCD TV.
You know what we saw… words really can’t describe it.
As the news came in that at least one of the flights was on it’s way to LA, a woman in the meeting turned ashen white, her daughter was flying to LA, and she was not able to reach her by cell phone. Others at Worldcom were worried about folks who worked at the Twin Towers, and generally there was a sense of ‘things will never be the same’ as we watched the horrible events of that day unfold. As we watched one tower and then another collapse and heard of other flights crashing into the Pentagon and PA, we really began to wonder if full scale war was breaking out.
Thankfully, amid all the senseless loss of life on that day, the woman’s daughter turned up and many others were reached out of harms way.
I was lucky. Not only was I on a flight that landed safely, but I was able to get a rental and return home to my family that evening.
In a few moments of inexplicable horror, thousands of others were not so lucky… and I want to take a moment to acknowledge and remember them.
I’m sure that with all the commentary today on the 5th anniversary of 911 you’ve thought about where you were and what you were doing that day. Those responsible stole collectively thousands of years of life from those who died, ending the lives instantly of any future generations that would have come from those lost. In that sense, we’ve literally witnessed the extermination of generations of people all in one horrible day.
I avoid politics and world commentary on this blog… so I won’t get into all the controversy over the events of 911 or the wars that have followed. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is how divided the world is in the years that followed, though I never have known a time when the country or the world was a whole lot more united, either.
But I will say this… the response to 911 need not be to fear the times we live in. We are not, in my opinion, living in times any more dangerous than any previous generation. You need only look at the breathtaking loss of lives during World War II, World War I, Vietnam, Cambodia, the crusades, the black plague, and I could, sadly, go on and on.
For those of us who are alive today, we have, collectively, a choice to make. We can either live in fear of the next attack or disaster or epidemic, or we can choose to live our every day full of life and joy.
I choose to focus on hope, dreams, and the next step I will take toward living the life I want for myself, my family and my friends. Conspiracy theories, political movements, and all the other ways in which people get caught up in forces and events which are larger than their sphere of influence, holds no interest for me… whether they are right or wrong.
Ultimately, if we all focus on making the world immediately around us better, the world will be a better place, without the need to follow anyone’s flag or marching orders.
I say that from the relative safety of my home in Austin, Texas, and I realize if I lived in Lebanon or Iraq, my greatest responsibility would be to protect my family by any means necessary. I’m not preaching here. I know, in certain situations, I would not ‘turn the other cheek’, nor would I fail to defend my country if attacked. I’m no saint.
We owe a great debt to the men and women who have given their lives to defend us, as does everyone around the world who have a standing or volunteer military forces that form a line of defense against attack.
Then again, we have men and women in the police, hospitals, fire departments, and 911 call centers who all battle daily to rescue us and keep us as safe as possible.
For each of us, ulitmately, the battle will end one day, that is unavoidable. Our days will be over and the next generation will have their day to shape the world.
The question you must ask yourself is how you will live in the days that you have.
Is each day a precious gift, or will you hide in the shadows hoping to remain ’safe’.
Twice in the last month I was again ‘lucky’ in situations that could have potentially led to my ‘last day’.
On the flight back from Ottawa where I enjoyed nearly a week celebrating Michel and Sylvie Fortin’s wedding, my plane had to make an emergency landing minutes after take off. Why? The cockpit filled with smoke and we had some equipment failure. Everything worked out… but what if it hadn’t?
I think about that today.
Then, a week later, I was swimming across a small bay in Canyon Lake with my fourteen year old son when he suddenly became fatigued and could not swim the remaining 50 feet without help from me. In ‘towing’ him, I became fatigued and could almost not breath… and I realized that we very nearly drowned. Somehow, we made it and I swear the distance somehow shrunk… and suddenly there was the shore.
Today, my loved and cherished friend, Sylvie Fortin goes in for surgery in her own battle with breast cancer.
(Here is a beautiful moment… Michel and Sylvie cutting the cake at their wedding)
So you see, the battle rages on every day from every angle to live.
And again, the question is, how are you living your life?
Too many, I’m afraid, live each day saying they’ll pursue their dreams ‘tomorrow’, a day which often never comes. They die, one day, realizing that their time on this earth was not well spent and they surrendered too early and never really lived at all.
Now, that realization is perhaps the cruelest moment of all… when it’s too late to go back and play the game of life over again.
I know I’ve wasted far too many days ‘living for tomorrow’ while languishing through days filled with far too much of what I didn’t want… and I’ve done a lot. I’ve got hundreds of ’stories’ about my days so far… but I know there are many I squandered.
I guess what I’m saying is, there is no tomorrow.
We all secretly hope to live forever, but that is a false hope. We avoid thinking about death at nearly all costs.
Even if it turns out in your case that you do live forever, what a tragedy it would be to sit around and squander time and life, knowing that you had ‘plenty of it’.
There is wisdom in the philosophy that says to ‘live as though today were your last day.’
Take inspiration from Sylvie Fortin, who is more alive today as she defeats her breast cancer than most who have ‘perfect health’.
She’s got a blog at http://www.breastcancervictory.com where she’s telling the story of her fight, and ultimate victory. I think it is an inspiration, and a lesson of unimaginable importance to realize she is declaring victory now… today… where most would ‘wait and see how it turns out’ to decide if the battle was one or lost.
Leaders, winners, and those who succeed ALL at some level fight with the belief that they have already won.
Those who lose over and over go into the battle undecided, uncomitted, and afraid.
Whether you lead the charge in your life and are the first one shot dead on the battle field or if you live to a ripe old age… go into the battle declaring victory and you will be right.
Think about that for a moment… you create your own reality, so choose what you want to create.
You may well not control your destiny… but you can choose how you will fight the battle.
I’ll tell you this, in the year that I’ve known Sylvie I’ve realized that whether she lives one more day or a hundred and one, she’s already immortal because of HOW she lives. Full of life and love for the fight and brimming with excitement for what she’ll do next.
That can be true for us all… you can be immortal if you truly live today.
So… don’t lull yourself to sleep with the distractions of daily life.
Create your life… the one you really want to live.
Don’t fear the end, embrace it as the ulitmate deadline that you WILL meet, and enjoy the heck out of the journey there.
And don’t forget those who have lived and died before you because it is they who not only remind us of how precious life is, but often how and why we should live to our greatest ability today.
Like Cory Rudl, who practically invented Internet Marketing and lived ‘pedal to the metal’ until he died doing what he loved in a fiery blaze at over 100mph in a beautiful Porsche.
Like Steve Irwin, who CRICKEY! was killed doing what he loved by a harmless Stingray, not one of the Crocodiles he famously wrestled.
Like Isaac Asimov, who wrote nearly 500 books on all topics from science fiction to the Bible to science itself… and I’m positive he was writing the last day of his life.
Are you living ‘pedal to the metal’? Are you playing with the animals? Are you writing your words… or doing whatever it is YOU are passionate about?
I’m not asking if you WILL, I’m asking if you ARE… today!
The other day I realized it had been months since I sat down and had one of the fine home brewed beers with my neighbor… we’ve both been so busy that our families have not gotten together since the spring.
Don’t confuse being ‘busy’ with living.
If you’re too busy doing 1001 things that don’t ultimately matter, slow down.
Focus on what you would love to do.
Remember, death is the ultimate deadline (lol) that you WILL meet.
Trust me, if I could sell you a ticket out of it, I would… because I’d be the richest man on the planet.
Instead, let me sell you on living your life instead.
I think the purchase will be infinitely more valuable to you.
See, I was in St. Louis this week with Armand Morin and Alex Mandossian along with the other Platinum coaching members… and Alex had us do an exercise that rocked me to the core.
No, it wasn’t push ups… though I should be doing more of those 
The exercise was this: Write down how old you will be (in years) when you die. Then, essentially, list out what you will have done, felt, lived, learned by the time you die.
There was more to the exercise… but that is it in a nutshell.
Wow. I realized a lot of the things on my ‘list’ were far from being ‘real’ and it was time to re-evaluate how I live each day.
The pace of life today, if left unchecked, will drag you along too fast to allow you to live. Step off the ‘fast track’ and take each step deliberately instead.
In the fight for your life, you are an army of one.
You can’t rely on anyone else to safeguard your experience so you get and give the most joy and love, that is YOUR fight.
Remember when you were a kid at school… when it was time for recess?
Did you go out and play full tilt until the bell to go inside (even when it rained… did you splash in the puddles?)
Or, did you stand on the edge of the playground, watching other kids whoop it up, fearing to get in, too?
Don’t be hard on yourself… most of us have sat out on the sidelines to one degree or another. But there is true wisdom in children who play with every minute they are given.
That is how you can and should live every day of your life.
Nothing prevents you from living every day from now on ‘on the playground’ with a big grin on your face till the ‘teacher’ calls you in.
The way I’m looking at it now, it doesn’t matter if you believe in the after life, reincarnation, or that you’ll simply die and rot in the ground, lights out, game over.
Every day is judgement day… and only you need to judge here and now whether you are living the life you truly want as your head hits the pillow at night.
Ask yourself then, for you may not awaken again, whether you truly lived.
I’m not suggesting you ‘burn out in a ball of flame’, squandering your health with all the chocolate and junk food and alcohol you can stuff down, blowing all your money in an orgy of consumption… by all means, plan to live another day. But don’t live in fear of living NOW, hoping that you won’t be afraid tomorrow.
Be afraid today… and do what you dream anyway. That’s what I believe is the key.
Do what you fear and your dreams will come true.
About a year ago our 14 year old Sam came up with the expression, "Life is too good to be dead" and was simply tickled at the play on words.
But I believe he is truly on to something. Most people live in a way that they might as well be dead already, shuffling through one day after another as if all hope is gone and all that remains is to endure life’s injustices.
Don’t believe it. No one else is to blame, there is no injustice bigger than the one you do to yourself by not holding yourself accountable for your own happiness.
If only those who kill themselves could grasp this… what great writing did Ernest Hemingway NOT write because of his suicide? What song would Michael Hutchins of INXS have sung had he lived another year? How about Hunter S. Thompson, now dead voluntarily, but who blessed us with some of the most original thoughts and words of this century?
Hey, the game isn’t over until THEY take you out of the game… you never quit.
Too many have died at the hands of war and disease and terrorists as on 911 for anyone to dare to kill themselves.
There have times I’ve nearly been there, I say nearly because I’m still here… but the point is, I’ve had low points that felt so low I couldn’t go on. So glad I did… otherwise Hayden and Ethan would not be my sons today… and who knows what will come yet in the tomorrows I have left?
Perhaps my greatest deeds have yet to be done.
I sure hope so
And if you are waiting for perfection to take action… give it up.
There are days I feel like one of the top 100 most flawed people on the planet.
The quest and desire for perfection is cruel… for we are all inherently flawed. Just as there is night, there is day. Just as there is up there is down. Just as there is good, there is bad… and just as you succeed, you will also fail.
Here’s the secret… fail a lot and you will succeed. Try not never fail, and you will surely do just that: fail through inaction and fear.
Do your best, aim for the highest value and quality… yes. But don’t kick yourself for not having yet achieved perfection (no one else has either).
Success is about the process and the journey, nothing else… and those who succeed are different from those who have given up simply by continuing to fight on in the face of disappointment.
Success, quite simply, is not quitting.
Chart the best course you know how… seek the best counsel and correct as necessary. But NEVER GIVE UP.
And here’s where marketing fits into all this.
Everyone wants something they don’t have now… whether that is an experience, and emotion, a new car or a new skill… they’d be happier if they had it. They’ll give you money to help them get whatever that is… and you, through marketing, can connect them with what you have.
Marketing is, at its core, at its best, is all about selling people the hope of a better life through the value that you deliver.
So I applaud you for learning Internet Marketing because there is no more cost effective way to reach more people that I know of… and we’re just getting started here. The industry is still young and immature.
Learn to love the process of marketing because it is your voice with your marketplace, your means to connect with those who want and need what you offer.
It goes without saying that if you are selling something that has no value… or steals value… yesterday should be the last day you try to pursue that business.
Further… I urge you to find your purpose, follow your passion and market something truly great, something people really want and will love to buy from you. Today should be the first day you do that… if you haven’t started already.
Contrary to what many (too many) believe, selling isn’t bad. It is the means by which we introduce people to something new, something of value.
And contrary to what Michael Douglass’s character Gordon Gecko declared in the 80’s movie "Wall Street", greed is NOT good.
But selling is.
Selling is an honor, a necessary gift to get people to take action when it is easier to procrastinate and put things off until tomorrow (you know, that day that never comes).
So sell the heck out of what you have… and sell it today.
If it’s valuable, somebody needs it to live their dreams TODAY… why rob them of that opportunity with half hearted promotions, or worse, sitting in silence?
Learn your trade… selling, marketing, and learn to love it if you don’t already. Those who produce value need you to sell that value to those who will buy.
With out selling, quite literally, there is less less life. Think about that.
And as you can see, I’ve been selling you here, in this salesletter for life, on the very most important call to action: to live.
I don’t have a product or an affiliate recommendation… I don’t want your money (at least not now, lol).
I want you to ‘buy’ what I’m selling, though, and live your life.
This is my tribute to all who were lost on 911…
In some ways, the very essence of life is a war of survival, service and self-determination.
I’m selling you to be inspired to fight to ‘take the next hill’ in your own battle against all that blocks you from your dreams.
It’s not about violence, it’s about living on your own terms, it’s about creation even in the face of destruction.
So ‘Buy NOW’…
Buy NOW… or you’ll forget to do it… and you know that is true.
You, me, and just about everyone forgets how precious every breath is.
Buy your life back and ‘wake up’ to the beauty of that reality… the more you can do this, the more alive you will be.
There are no bonuses, other than the fact that you will truly be alive till the end… and most importantly, there are NO REFUNDS.
Sure, you can get your money back if you buy stuff… but LIFE itself is a take it or leave it deal.
There are no guarantees. The reward you get will be in proportion to what you risk…
This is it, a one time offer to end all one time offers.
To place your order, act now, don’t delay…
But wait, there’s more.
It’s never to late to buy. Even if you don’t know what path to follow right now, get going instead of sitting there in uncertainty.
Don’t wait for fear to go away… it never will.
But I promise you this: you have a gift to give. To yourself, and to the rest of us and future generations, too.
What is your gift? Have you discovered it yet? Will you even know what it is before you die?
I don’t know.
And it doesn’t matter… just live and you will be giving your gift.
My words here today… if they inspire, if they help you in any way, are my gift to you and yours.
These words are my gift to those who died 5 years ago today…
These words are my gift to Sylvie, who today will have my prayers as she goes through perhaps her longest day… having surgery in her fight against breast cancer.
These words, however, are just words if we do not take them to heart and live by the lesson contained within them… a lesson I am grateful to be learning right along side you.
Well, today is the perfect day to reflect on what these words mean to you… both because it’s 9/11/2006, and because today is the first day of the rest of your life.
One thing you can count on… you’re alive because you’re reading these words.
What you do next is up to you and you alone (though whatever your beliefs… I know you are not alone, a higher power is with you every step of your journey. We don’t need to quibble about what to call that higher power…).
Here’s what I want you to do:
You fill out the order by deciding what it is that you want to receive.
Only YOU can know what that is and will be over the years.
Create your life beginning right now.
Write down everything you REALLY want, right now.
If you want to be rich… write down "I am rich".
If you want to be healthy and fit, write down "I am healthy and fit"
Describe what you want in vivid and passionate terms.
And then stop writing when you’ve exhausted your immediate inspiration. You can always add to your list.
Then… take action.
Do the next thing you need to do to start checking off as many of those items on your list as you can before your last breath… whether that is one more breath or infinity, enjoy every one as best as you can.
Here’s what you get:
Life. No promises. No guarantees. But you get to live your life to the fullest that you can.
That’s it… no more, no less. That’s what we all get.
One chance…. to live today.
Order NOW.
When will you get your order?
Instantly. It’s a ‘on demand’ in the truest sense of the term.
But here, today, I will share a secret with you. Perhaps the greatest secret. I didn’t invent it… but I learned it from a great friend and inspiration.
It’s the ultimate secret:
To life.
To getting all that you dream.
To living with NO regrets till your last breath… and
Tto serving yourself and those you touch to your highest ability.
To dying at peace knowing you truly lived when your time comes.
You get all that, and more the instant you…
CLICK HERE
This letter to you may in fact be a 911 call… an emergency of the highest order if you’ve been living in a stupor, depressed, lost, or without hope.
Today is the day.
- All the best,
Craig Perrine
P.S. If you haven’t already, go watch "The Secret", a movie that will challenge you, inspire you, and give you plenty of food for thought… http://www.thesecret.tv
Also… consider the following movies (in no particular order):
Elizabeth Town
Last Holiday
The Greatest Game Ever Played
Brian’s Song
Braveheart
Saving Private Ryan
Joe vs The Volcano
Shawshank Redemption
Lion King
Field of Dreams
Meet Joe Black
Aeon Flux
Glory Road
Miracle
Castaway
Mrs Doubtfire
Glory
Hoosiers
Rudy
October Sky
Dead Poet’s Society
Ray
… there are more, there may be better, but this list will get you thinking…
If you haven’t already…
CLICK HERE