Anything is Possible! It truly is! Find Your Passion and Make a Ton of Mistakes

"Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

-- Helen Keller, Author/Lecturer

What an amazing quote...Helen Keller is one of America's most inspirational figures. She managed to overcome being deaf and blind to go on to become an influential author and activist.

What would be a daring adventure in your life? I just had to get my experience down on paper, so hopefully you can learn from my failures and my mistakes. After writing this I realized that I learned three extremely valuable lessons that have shaped my life. Lesson one... Get around positive people and avoid negative people like the plague. Lesson two... Read and listen to lots of inspirational books/audio books to eliminate some of our ingrained stinking thinking. And lesson number three...Sometimes those devastating events in our lives that seem like we will never recover from, are the best thing for us to provide a wake up call to change direction.

It's amazing what can be accomplished by just thinking something is possible. The problem lies in our thoughts. If you have ever said "I wish I could do that" or "I wish I could just..." at least you are still dreaming. The problem with saying "I wish..." is there is no reason why you CAN'T do what you desire or wish for. If that concept makes you a little uncomfortable, take note. One of your stinking thoughts just jumped to your mind and said something that is going to limit your success. Pay attention to your thoughts. Most of the time, we are not aware that multiple stinking thoughts have popped into our head. Pay attention and crush those thoughts.

How do you crush those stinking, limiting, subconscious thoughts? Well for one, seek out and hang out with people who are positive. I seek out people who make me better by being around them. Don't get me wrong, they get something positive from hanging out with me, otherwise they wouldn't waste their time. One of my mentors has been very influential in shaping the direction of my life.

I met Scott C. in college. I didn't like him when I first met him. He had a quiet confidence, which I mistook as being too good for anybody around him. Well I'm glad I didn't let my prejudice last long. I learned that Scott was one of those people I needed to get to know better. As far as I know, Scott has never let those limiting thoughts get in his way. He was a punter for a major college program, he later became the mascot, was president of his fraternity pledge class, and later President of the Fraternity. When he graduated college, he traveled constantly, and always seemed to have plenty of money. I seriously don't think he had a job. I'm not sure Scott has ever had a job. I know what you are thinking... "Daddy probably gave him all his money." I don't think that was the case. When I say he has never had a job, I mean he is an entrepreneur. He finds ways to capitalize on markets and create business. Come to think of it, I worked for him in one of his businesses.

My journey to fight off my limiting thoughts has taken me a little longer, but at least that is behind me now. (That's not completely true. To be successful, we have to constantly fight those limiting beliefs that have been drilled into our heads since we were in the womb) I have learned from so many of my mistakes. It took me six years to graduate for a four year degree. Kind of like the movie Tommy Boy. "... Most people who go to school for seven years are called DOCTORS!" Half way through my college career I got kicked out of school. I don't know how that happened. I guess drinking every night and skipping class during the day will do that. I spent a whole year cooking at Crunchy's Bar on the Michigan State Campus. I had the grunge long hair like Kurt Cobain that the ladies loved. I was still partying like crazy, but I was on the path to looser-dom and I knew it. I knew I didn't want to go home smelling like french fry grease for the rest of my life. I reset my priorities, changed my thinking and set some goals. I got back into school and graduated with pretty good grades. The best thing I got out of college to be honest with you, was not the degree. My degree is practically useless. I have a Bachelor's in Psychology. Wooptie Do! The most valuable thing I got out of college was the contacts I met. That has turned out to be HUGE in my life. Back to that in a minute.

I moved to Colorado with my college girlfriend and as you may predict, that did not turn out very well. That experienced seemed to be devastating at the time but it worked out for the best for both of us. We are friends today. That painful experience was a huge turning point in my life. When I moved out of our apartment, I moved into my own apartment. I had absolutely no furniture. The night I moved in, it was one of those beautiful spring evenings. I spent the night with a 40oz of something cheap and a belly full of Taco Bell. I had a complete and total melt down that night. I don't know if it was a nervous breakdown or what. I should know considering my prestigious Psychology degree. To give you some idea, I was actually having hallucinations that were not drug induced. That scared the hell out of me.

I woke up the next day early and said NEVER AGAIN! I got on my running shoes and went for a long run. That day I mentioned what happened to my dad. He of course was worried about me and being thousands of miles away felt helpless. He sent me an Anthony Robbins tape cassette series. Since I had no furniture and no TV, I had nothing better to do than to devour that cassette series. That nervous breakdown was a blessing.

Within that Anthony Robbins series was a goal setting workshop. Anthony walks you through writing down your goals without thinking. I specifically remember sitting in the Westminster, CO. Chili's parking lot listening to the goal setting workshop. I wasn't there to eat, I was using my Psychology Degree to it's fullest as a superstar waiter. But anyway, I remember Anthony assisting the listener by prompting them with ideas. One of things he said was..." have you ever wanted to fly a helicopter?" Well Yes, Yes I have wanted to fly a helicopter. I have always wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Always! But of course I could never do that... Do you know how expensive it is to fly a helicopter? I wrote it down anyway. Thank God I did. It planted a seed that would mature several years later.

Fast forward about 10 jobs later, (I hate that word! "JOB"...which is code for "Just Over Broke" "Journey of the Broke") fast forward to my journey as a Mortgage Broker. I made a lot of money, but the stress was not worth it. Every Sunday around 4 in the afternoon I would get in the fetal position and numb my mind with Sunday evening TV, because I would dread going into work the next day. Can you relate? I hope not.

One day that helicopter thing was nagging at me. I started doing some research. Those stupid limiting thoughts kept ringing in my head. "You can't afford that!", "Who do you think you are?" etc. Even though I had these thoughts, Anthony Robbins magic kept ringing in my ears. At this point, I didn't seek council from someone that was not going to be supportive of my dreams. Why would I do that? I sought out an inspirational friend. Someone who has had a record of success, and I knew would give me good advice. I called Scott C. He is a contrarian. He does not think like 95% of the people out there. Scott is a 5 percenter.

(What is a 5 percenter?) http://dnaforwealthreport.com

That is why he is so successful. He told me to just drop everything and go for it. I thought, "Drop everything and go for it! Are you nuts?" He convinced me to start thinking like a contrarian. I learned to have the attitude of an entrepreneur. I started realizing that I would make plenty of money. Once I took that first step, all else would be revealed along my journey. I sold everything, eliminated a good portion of my monthly expenses, and told my girlfriend (who I knew was the love of my life), that I was moving halfway across the country to pursue my dreams.

Needless to say, Shannon was not very happy with my decision, but she supported me 100% once she realized I was dead set on finally going after what I wanted in life. Bonus lesson number four... hang onto those people who support your dreams, especially if she is the love of your life. Shannon and I are happily married today. Yay!!

My journey as a helicopter pilot was not without mistakes and struggles. The internet was pretty new when I did my research, so I chose a school based on the best internet site. That was my first mistake, but remember if I did not start the journey, if I let my limiting thoughts control me, I wouldn't be where I am today. Lesson! Make lots of mistakes. That in itself is a contrarian view, don't you think? The most successful people make more mistakes than anyone else. I ended up leaving that school after they stole a bunch of money from me and gave me very few lessons. That school is no longer in existence today because of their shady tactics.

So I went on the internet again and I found a school that was in Chandler AZ. For some reason, that town sounded familiar. Turns out that Shannon's parents lived in Chandler AZ. I chose that school because I knew if Shannon was going to leave Colorado, I would have a better chance convincing her to move where she had family. We live there now and we love it. If anybody is thinking of becoming a helicopter pilot I will give Quantum Helicopters a little plug. http://www.quantumhelicopters.com/ Quantum Helicopters is one of the BEST schools in the country if not the world. I know the owner and the Chief Pilot personally and their first priority is training the most competent and safe pilots, period. So the mistakes I made along my journey have led to my success.

I was very serious about my career as a pilot. I waited tables at night and during the day I was either studying or flying. I treated it like a full time job. After a lot of work and thousands of emergency procedures, I was asked to become an instructor pilot for Quantum Helicopters. The path of the up-in-coming helicopter pilot is to get your licenses, become and instructor, and then after about thousand hours you can get one of those "real jobs". I got my private license, which allows you to fly solo and take passengers if it's not for hire. You then go onto get your instrument ticket. That training has literally saved my life on more than one occasion, especially when dealing with the weather in The Gulf of Mexico Oil fields. Next, you go on to get you Commercial license, which allows you to be paid for your services. The problem with that scenario is nobody is going to hire you with less than 200 hours. You then go on to get your instructor rating which allows you to teach VFR students. (Visual Flight Rules) I got my instructor rating and my Instrument instructor rating. This allows you to teach students to receive their instrument ratings. There are very few jobs that will hire you at this point. At about 200 hours your options are pretty much limited to becoming an instructor pilot.

I was hired by Quantum Helicopters and that is when the real learning begins. You no longer have an experienced training pilot to save your butt if anything goes wrong. It's a pretty powerful and scary feeling when you look over with your first student and you realize that YOU ARE the "experienced" pilot who not only needs to save the butts of yourself and the student, but you also learn real fast that your job entails prevented the new student from killing you. Most people leave the instructor ranks at about one thousand hours. I stayed on as the Lead Pilot until about thirteen hundred hours. All that time I could not wait to get that "real" job.

Looking back, the instructor job is the most fun you will ever have as a helicopter pilot. Think about it...you spend your days constantly doing the fun things that helicopters can do. Auto-rotations, hovering auto's, quick-stops, landing on mountain pinnacles, landing on slopes. There is nothing funnier and more rewarding than teaching a student how to hover.

I heard a military instructor explain teaching hovering as "teaching a monkey how to juggle on top of a unicycle, on top of a basketball". That is actually pretty accurate. It takes most people about 10 flight hours to learn how to hover. It took me about 20 hours. I almost quit when I first started because I am used to being competent at anything I try. Not hovering. You would laugh your butt off if you saw me trying to hover that dang helicopter. 100 feet left, 100 feet right, nose low facing the asphalt, tail low, spinning around. I think you get the picture.

After about 1000 hours, you have pretty much two options that I'm aware of. You can go do tours in Alaska and Vegas, or you can go to the Gulf of Mexico and work with the workers in the oil fields. I chose the Gulf of Mexico. Great job, but I will never do it again. Let's just say that instrument ticket came in real handy.

That was an amazing experience. It was really cool seeing how Americans come together in a time of need. So many of my friends and family donated a ton of money to help out with some of the people in need down there. That was not unique to my contacts. It was truly inspiring. You would not believe the devastation that Mother Nature can wield, even if you saw it with your own eyes.

The next step in the helicopter world tends to be at the 2000 hour level. More jobs open up at this point. I chose to get into the EMS (Emergency Medical Service) world of helicopters. I could go on all day about some of the experiences with that world. Look for a blog soon about the EMS environment. That sounds like an interesting concept. I should do that soon.

So how did I manage to pay for such an expensive school, make it through the lean times, and move on to be one of the top Internet Entrepreneurs with http://twitter.com/nicklogantv

It's simple, but not easy. When we think thoughts of lack and limitation, guess what we get in our life. When we think thoughts of abundance, guess what we get? That's right, we get an abundant life.

Start by being grateful. "I'm so happy and grateful for..." Think about all that we have in the world at our fingertips. It gets pretty hot in Arizona in the summer. My wife laughs at me when I walk in from outside and grab a bottle of water, because she knows exactly what I'm going to say. "WATER IS SO GOOD!" It truly is the best thing in the world depending on the situation. I am so happy and grateful for clean water to drink. Sounds simple, but think of all the people in the world who have never had clean water to drink. If you really look for things to be grateful for, you WILL find them. I can't say for sure, but I would bet my house on the fact Helen Keller found things to be appreciative of, despite her limitations of communication.

The Second habit I follow is to surround myself with people who are free thinkers, contrarians, and more successful than me. If you haven't read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, run out and get it right now. It is a classic. Napoleon Hill was charged with studying the most successful people in the world and one of the concepts he talks about is The Master Mind Principal. The idea is that when you put two creative minds together, the creativity, knowledge, and energy is exponentially better than one single mind. Be careful with this concept. If you surround yourself with nagging, complaining, limited people, guess what you are bringing into your life.

Reading and listening to successful, inspirational people is my biggest secret to success. I have read or listened to thousands of books since college. When I graduated I had a sense of urgency. I was a waiter with a college education and nobody was going to hand me the keys to my new 10,000 square foot house, or my helicopter. Some of the most influential books are "Think and Grow Rich" - Napoleon Hill, "How to win Friends and Influence People" - Dale Carnegie, "Purple Cow" - Seth Godin (Brilliant marketer with the 11^th most popular blog out of zillions on the web the last time I checked), "Awaken The Giant Within" - Anthony Robbins... and many more. The hard truth is, in order to change the way we think we have to constantly feed our brain with the right stuff. This has worked for me. I now fly for fun, and enjoy freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want, and I appreciate every single day of our short time here on this earth. What else is life for? I feel sorry for the people who are like I used to be, sitting on their couch on Sunday afternoon in the fetal position dreading the coming week at work. That is not the purpose of life. Do you agree?

Now Go MAKE A TON OF MISTAKES. TO YOUR SUCCESS!

Nick Logan

Great Tips on Turning Your Business Into an ATM