Review of “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us” by Seth Godin
January 3rd, 2011 // 11:58 am @ Josh Nuttall
“You can choose to lead, or not. You can choose to have faith, or not. You can choose to contribute to the tribe, or not.
“Are there thousands of reasons why you, of all people, aren’t the right one to lead? Why you don’t have the resources or the authority or the genes or the momentum to lead? Probably. So what? You still get to make the choice.”
—Seth Godin, “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us,” p. 146
Are you looking for a good leadership book to read to start the New Year? This is a good one; better than I thought it would be. If you have ever attended one of the Prosperity Summits co-sponsored by REIC, you may remember how many times Garrett White said the word “tribe.” When I attended my first Prosperity Summit, Garrett probably said the word “tribe” at last twenty times. Because he said it so many times, I became curious about 1) what a tribe is, 2) how to create one myself, 3) how to become a tribe member, and 4) what the big deal is.
Garrett read this book and began to understand the power of a tribe. I read this book and began to understand the power of a tribe. You will, too.
What do tribes have to do with real estate? In a word, nothing. But that’s not important. The way tribes tie into what we do here at REIC is this: when you have extra income produced by real estate, you have extra time; if you have extra time you can help the world by living your soul purpose. Those you affect, help, work with, lead, etc. while living your soul purpose are your tribe. Real estate is the tool used to finance your soul purpose so you can build a tribe.
Make the choice to read this book this year. It can change your perspective on many different topics. The year is fresh; opportunities to lead a tribe abound. Don’t let the year slip by without doing something great!
If you are interested in reading my full book review, click here.
Category : Blog &Book Reviews &Education &REIC &Real Estate &Wealth
The Week of Gratitude
November 22nd, 2010 // 2:57 pm @ Josh Nuttall
“Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief. We have seen our beaches, our parks, our forests littered with ugly refuse by those who evidently have no appreciation for their beauty. I have driven through thousands of acres of blackened land scourged by a fire evidently set by a careless smoker whose only concern had been the selfish pleasure gained from a cigarette.
“Where there is appreciation, there is courtesy, there is concern for the rights and property of others. Without appreciation, there is arrogance and evil.
“Where there is gratitude, there is humility, as opposed to pride.
“How magnificently we are blessed! How thankful we ought to be!”
—Gordon B. Hinckley, “‘With All Thy Getting Get Understanding’,” Ensign, Aug 1988, 2–5
Last year, I wrote an article titled “Thanksgiving Day – The Forgotten Holiday” to pay homage to a holiday that is about more than good food, family, friends, and a post-turkey nap. The very foundation of the Thanksgiving Day holiday is to feel and show gratitude for what and whom we have in our lives. It is not an accident or a coincidence that Thanksgiving Day is celebrated after the years bounty is brought into storehouses. It is at this time of year especially that our ancestors were able to take a step back and actually see a physical manifestation of not only the fruit of their labor, but physical, quantifiable proof of their abundance. I hope that as you read this post, you will think about the things and the people that you are most grateful for and express your gratitude for those blessings.
What are you Grateful For?
Start with a surface-level list of items you use every day that makes modern life great. Your list may look something like this:
- House(s)
- Car(s)
- Cell phone
- Laptop or desktop computer (or both)
- High-speed internet
- Wireless internet access
- Post-It notes
- Cable TV
- NetFlix
- The latest Harry Potter movie
- Josh Groban’s new album
I encourage you to use the above list to get yourself thinking of all of the gadgets, tools, and entertainment sources that make your daily life better.
Next, create a list of ten (10) people in your life that make getting through the day-to-day bearable. Include family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances to get started. Feel free to add more lines yourself.
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
- __________________________________________
Next to the person’s name, identify why you are grateful for them. What have they done for you in the past year that allowed them to show up on your gratitude list? If there are multiple reasons, list all of them.
This is when this exercise will get fun—for you and for those people on your list.
By the end of Thanksgiving Day, contact the people on your list, tell them about what you did, and express the gratitude you feel towards them. I would be extremely surprised that the opportunities you create to show gratitude will end badly. On the contrary, these opportunities will likely be among the most memorable of the year, for you and those you are grateful for.
Share your experiences with us! Add a comment about your experience on the comment form below.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Category : Blog &Featured Content &Wealth
Awesome Video – Pass It On
November 9th, 2010 // 5:25 pm @ Josh Nuttall
I was surfing on YouTube today and found this video. I thought it was pretty cool and gave a good message, so I am passing it on to you. If you like it, pass it on to your friends and family.
Category : Blog &Featured Content
Jerusalem Trip – Last Update
November 1st, 2010 // 12:11 pm @ Josh Nuttall
Hello again family and friends!
The night I emailed last, we went on a sailboat ride on the Nile River and watched the sunset. It was peaceful and relaxing, with bulrushes along the riverbank. We were imagining baby Moses traveling along the bank. The next day, we went to the Valley of the Kings, which is along the west side of the bank of the Nile. It is a valley in the desert where ancient Pharos buried their tombs deep beneath the ground. Among those were King Tut, Seti I and Ramses II, to name a few. King Tut has one of his four coffins on display, and Tut himself is displayed as well. The halls to the tombs are decorated in detail, and we enjoyed walking through them. We went over to the Valley of the Queens where Queen Hatshepsut has a funeral memorial. We also went to the Ramesseum, an old palace area where the largest statue of Ramses II was found. It is fallen over in pieces, but it is still impressive. After touring, we did a little shopping, and we caught the evening flight from Luxor back to Cairo.
The next day in Cairo, we left early and drove out to Giza to see the Pyramids. We went inside the Great Pyramid, the biggest one, which has one long, narrow, squat tunnel that inclines steeply upward. You have to climb up this tunnel for about 10 to 15 minutes, and then it ends in a tomb near the top. There is an empty sarcophagus there, but not much else. Then we climbed back down. We walked around taking pictures and then drove a short distance away to take a panoramic picture of all of the pyramids. We then went on a camel ride! These camels were very docile and sweet and Kris got to go on a little gallop on his. We had a heyday taking pictures. That day, we also saw the remains of the ancient capital of Memphis, with a few ruins. After that, we drove to Sakkara, which is the location of a Step Pyramid: the oldest stone structure in EXISTANCE. Before then, around 2,700 B.C., they used mud bricks to build buildings, and those aren’t around anymore. The Step Pyramid is 4,700 years old! We also saw a few tombs in Sakkara, which date to the same period, and are beautifully preserved; the engravings showing everyday life in color! I am amazed that paint can last so long! We came home with tired feet that day and were happy to get a good night rest.
This morning, we took a trip to the Cairo Egyptian Museum. We saw most of the King Tut display, which is massive and extensive. It was hard to imagine that all his stuff fit into the small, empty tomb that we saw a few days before. We saw tons and tons of very old and very cool things. Kris and I went to the Mummy room and paid our respects to the great Pharaohs themselves, including Seti I and Ramses II. That was very interesting.
After the museum, we did a little more shopping. We are done with all of our touring, and are done packing our bags. Now we are just waiting for our flight. We miss our kids so much and can’t stop thinking about them. We are ready to come home! Our amazing travels feel complete! Thank you to all of you who helped out while we have been gone. We can’t wait to see all of you!
Love,
Kalenn and Kris
Category : Blog
Update from Cairo, Egypt
October 29th, 2010 // 11:32 am @ Josh Nuttall
Hello family and friends!
Well, we have survived our first experiences in Egypt! WOW. That’s all I have to say…just kidding.
Egypt is VERY different from anywhere we have ever been. We flew into Cairo yesterday around lunchtime and took off to see the Tomb of the Forgotten Soldier—the place where President Mohamed Anwar Sadat was assassinated while promoting peace with Israel. We then went to the Muhammad Ali Mosque, which is very beautiful and very old, and it was the first time we got to take off our shoes and go into a Mosque. We learned a lot about the beliefs of Islam on that visit. What was interesting was that there were many Egyptian children there on field trips, and all of them they kept STARING at us and giggling and coming up to us to practice a little English (taking English is mandatory in Egyptian schools). They were very bold and wanted pictures with us. Our guide says it’s because they love Americans, and they also LOVE strait and blonde hair, since Egyptian hair is curly and black. Our friend, Vickey, has strait, blonde hair all the way past her bottom, and the kids loved that! We had a security guard with us who kept shooing them away from us.
We past miles and miles of “city of the dead,” which are graveyards that extend forever and ever in tombs that look like buildings. A few living people live there rent free, in exchange for guarding these dead cities from grave robbers who steal and sell body parts.
The poverty in Egypt is horrendous. In a city with over 22 million people, a baby is born every 28 seconds, and one million new people come into the city every 9 months. This equates to absolute squalor.
Driving through Cairo is an EXPERIENCE. The city boasts 24-hour traffic, and indeed, when we left the hotel this morning at 4:30 am, there was traffic. DRIVING HERE IS EXTREMELY SCARY. There are few rules. Road lanes are merely SUGGESTIONS. There are sometimes 5 cars stretched across a 3-lane road, all fighting to get ahead of each other. Also, there is no such thing as a crosswalk. People are always walking in the street, and crossing wherever and whenever they feel like it—even when the vehicles around them are moving at 50 mph. We saw horses and carts galloping through traffic with the cars! Children have no car seats, and 15-passenger vans cram 30 people in them. We drove through the city with eyes as big as dinner plates as we watched this all unfold before us. I would NEVER, EVER, EVER rent a car here! Hire only an experienced, local driver to drive you though Cairo.
We made it safe and sound to our hotel and ate carefully. Only bottled water for us, and Brother Judd says, “only eat what has been cooked or what can be peeled.” No eating fresh veggies that have been washed by the water here, and no dairy. All of the water here comes from the Nile, which is not safe for foreigners to ingest.
Today, we left at 4:30 am to catch a 6:20 am flight to Luxor, in “upper” Egypt, which is in the south. We visited the temples of Luxor and Karnak. They are amazing! We found very fascinating Egyptian pictures all over them that are related to our temples. The entire Karnak Temple was a project over 1000 years and many different dynasties. This was a place Abraham visited. Joseph of Egypt and Moses both lived here, too!
We had some free time this afternoon and took a horse and buggy ride around town and took a nap. Tomorrow we are going to visit King Tut’s tomb and the Valley of the King. Then we will fly back to Cairo tomorrow night. We are safe and happy and enjoying this new place.
Love,
Kalenn and Kris
Category : Blog
