Or am I?

My stuff is gone. A laptop. A passport. Cards and ID’s. A notebook full of great ideas. My beloved Saddleback Leather Backpack. Even a stuffed monkey that’s traveled all over the country with me.

It hurts and I’ve got a lot of work to do now that this stuff is gone. But it’s just stuff, even the emotional items that can’t be covered by insurance. Looking back now, I’m thankful that I wasn’t robbed at gunpoint. I wasn’t hurt physically at all. It’s just an inconvenience.

I’m thankful that I’m a seasoned traveler and it didn’t send me spinning out of control emotionally. I just called the cops, Hertz (why must they flag their cars with bar codes?), my bank and headed to get a new car after the cops were done taking my report and finger prints (really good prints, too!).

No, I’m not really a victim here. I’m not going to act like one at least.

The real victim is the person who stole my stuff. They will have to live with themselves for having done it (and they will have to explain it one day). Maybe they were desperate. Maybe they’re just scum. I’ll pray for them and still hope they get caught. Because they are the victim of their own actions and getting caught may be the only thing that turns their life around.

The truth is we are all a victim of our actions–the product of what we do.

What are you becoming because of what you’re doing? Make it something good!

Time to tell a little story of integrity.

My family and I recently moved into a new home. Well, it isn’t brand new, but it’s new to us. Somehow we ended up closing just 10 days before Christmas. The holidays were full of chaos and excitement.

My daughter spent a few days in the hospital. Our new furniture was delayed and delivered on the afternoon of December 24th. Many of our possessions are still in storage as we enjoy the new home and settle into our new surroundings. Waking up in our new beds for the first time to Christmas morning was quite an event.

Now it was also a hard time for the sellers. They had to pack all of their belongings just before Christmas and stay with family for a few weeks before they could move into their new home.

In their rush they left behind a lot of little things—nothing of great value and nothing they said they wanted any more—just some cleaning supplies and nick-knacks.

So this is the story of two families in a bit of positive chaos, one coming and one going. But there’s a really interesting intersection that happened on Monday.

As I was packing the car for a business trip, I reached into an upper cabinet to pull down a water bottle. It was by itself on the high top shelf, one that I can barely reach and that my wife certainly cannot without a chair. I grabbed the bottle and noticed something else tucked up against the side of the cabinet.

It was a wad of cash folded in half. All I could see was a $20 bill on the outside of the stack, and my first thought was that my wife had hidden away some Christmas money so the kids wouldn’t get it.

Not wanting to blow her secret stash while my kids were watching, I asked her if she’d put anything up in the cabinet. She said no.

I asked again slowly if she put any money up there. Again she said no.

So I pulled it down and we were all surprised. I opened the folded bills to find Benjamin Franklin looking back at me…eight times. Andrew Jackson was there eight times, too. I was holding a total of $960 in cold, hard cash. Though as Zig Ziglar says, it wasn’t cold or hard…it was warm and soft!

My son’s eyes were huge, reacting exactly the way you’d expect from a seven year old. My eleven year old daughter had a wide smile on her face, no doubt imagining the pre-teen shopping spree she could go on.

But I knew in an instant where the money had come from (so did my wife). The prior owners had built the house. They were the only ones who’d ever lived here. The money wasn’t ours. It belonged to them. And I quickly told my kids just that.

Now I’m not telling this story to brag about myself or present myself as perfect. I’m telling it because I believe it’s a powerful lesson for my kids.

Remember when you were a kid? Remember how $960 was an almost infinite amount of money? And here was boring old Dad throwing it away. My son actually believed our family trip to Disney would be cancelled, even though I told him the vacation money is already in our savings account!

I want my kids to behave. I want to be able to instill values in them. I want them to know right from wrong and to make the right choices in life.

I can talk to them about it. I can tell them great stories from the Bible and popular history and even my own stories. And while those discussions are good, I don’t think anything will stick in their minds as well as seeing their parents return someone else’s lost treasure. They didn’t hear a story…they saw it play before their eyes.

I’ve been asked if there was any temptation to keep it. No, not really. And it would have been easy to justify: Finders keepers! They sold the house “as-is”. They told us we could keep anything they left behind. It would have been so easy!

But it would have been wrong and it would have been the wrong example. I wouldn’t be able to rest well.

So we gave it back. They heard us say it. They heard me call the prior owners to tell them. And they know the money is gone.

In appreciation, the prior homeowners gave us a gift card for a local restaurant.

Know this: when we go to dinner there, we will retell this story and remind them. Because I want them to remember every time they see that restaurant. I want them to remember every time they open a kitchen cabinet. I want them to remember when they see their parents. And most of all, I want them to do the same thing one day. To act with integrity and to act with appreciation when it is shown to them.

PS – I’ve been a liar and a thief and a cheat in my 38 years on Earth, too. This story describes the high expectation I have of myself and sets that expectation for my children. Thank God for His grace and mercy as we try and do the right thing…and sometimes fail.

Dan Miller on His Tractor

We were talking about Dan’s plans for next year and the goals he had set for this year. He told me that he’d had a goal to create 12 new products in 2011, a product each month.

Sadly, he failed to meet his goal and only produced 10 new products. He is a miserable failure, right?

Well, how many products did you create this year?

Dan went on to relate that he’s disappointed in himself if he doesn’t fail to meet his annual goals because it means he was thinking too small.

Are you ready to create some goals to fail at for next year, and end up succeeding because of it? Any you’d like to share with me?

I’m a horrific procrastinator (but I work well under pressure). I’m a perfectionist to the point of OCD. And I see every little mistake or thing that’s out of place (eventually).

To me, I’m not very organized. I love things to be organized, but perfection is an elusive master and I am her slave.

Still, the world goes on and one day slams into the next. Somehow, it’s a matter of just putting it out there and seeing what happens.

I dreaded finals week in college. The stress was thick and I would panic at the lessons I hadn’t studied for (I rarely studied) and assignments I hadn’t completed (see procrastinator above). But one finals week I realized that in just seven days it would be over. School would be out for the summer and finals would be done.

Somehow that thought was comforting to me. There was nothing I could do to delay it, so just roll with it.

Sorry that’s not a more profound post, but it’s real. It’s how life works for me, though I struggle with it all the time.

On Tuesday night, November 29th 2011 I’m hosting a free teleseminar to help offer more insight on planning and mainly why people don’t plan well. There are four key lessons I want to share, and I invite you to listen in. There’s wisdom here, even if I still fall into these traps myself from time to time.

Please join me — details are at http://www.woosleycoaching.com/2012-roadmap-teleseminar

I’m quitting blogging. I’m not a blogger and don’t write consistently. There are more important things in my life right now. I’d rather finish my book.

Maybe one day I’ll do it consistently. Maybe one day it will be important enough for me to do it consistently. I can do it if I want to. But right now I don’t want to and I don’t need to. So I quit.

I’m quitting some other stuff as well:

• Beating myself up
• Not believing in myself
• Feeling unworthy
• Doubting my skills, talents and abilities
• Trying to be perfect
• Being stuck instead of executing
• Making excuses
• Not accepting friendship or praise
• Not accepting grace and mercy
• Not granting grace and mercy

I don’t really like my website much either, but it’ll do for now. I’m spending too much time working on it instead of building my business and making money.

I have big expectations for myself. I’m going to start living up to them.

The world had better hang on.

That is all.

For now…

Today I set off for Colorado from my home near Mobile, Alabama. It’s nearly 1500 miles one way. About 24 hours of drive time (breaking around Springfield, Missouri to visit family).

Where am I going? To help lead an event for the Free Agent Academy. Check it out at http://woosleycoaching.com/faa. If you’ve ever wanted to be self-employed, or just find a better sense of your calling and gifts, FAA is the place to figure it out.

In fact, I’m the Roadmap Professor at FAA. Maybe now I’ll earn that nickname of Roadmap Warrior!

What will happen along the way? Who knows! But it’ll be fun and I’ll post along the way. Follow my Twitter stream: http://www.twitter.com/jameswoosley (@jameswoosley).

I’m an Apple fan myself, from starting out on Macintosh computers in high school more than twenty years ago. And while it’s been fifteen years since my primary computer was a Mac, I still have my Classic II (black and white screen with a whopping 80MB hard drive!) at home, waiting for the time when I can display it in my office as a conversation starter.

It’s a shame that Steve is ill, and I sincerely hope he gets well again. But the world is wondering if Apple will be the same now that he’s not at the helm any longer.

The financial pundits are quick to tell us that Apple’s product pipeline is all about Steve for the next 18-24 months. Assuming that’s true, does that mean that Apple won’t start falling apart until then?

I hope not. Yet I wonder if Apple, the company Steve loves, has his DNA in it or not. In spite of all of his innovation, will Apple be the same company post-Steve?

I certainly hope both Steve and Apple survive. I know for sure that one day (a long time from now I hope) Steve won’t. The question is, how long will Apple survive without Steve?

There will always be superstar CEOs. Sometimes they just have what it takes to run a company while wooing the world. But is that the best business strategy?

Should CEOs be such a vital part of a company that their companies cannot exist without them? At what point is the line crossed?

Several weeks ago I taught a course called “Show Me the Money” with FAA co-founder Chuck Bowen. It was a powerful class…much more than I even thought as I was preparing to do it.

Two days later I listened to the call again and took 10 pages of notes. Those notes were the basis of a new 80 page e-book.

I want to give it to you. Free. No charge at all!

“Show Me the Money” is a practical financial strategy for starting, growing and sustaining your business. In it we discuss what you need to be doing with your money as you go from struggling to earn that first dollar to making enough to launch full time and eventually truly thriving financially.

To get the e-book (PDF download), just sign up for my newsletter.

UPDATE: The audio version of “Show Me the Money” is now available for just $10 (a 50% savings) — CLICK HERE TO ORDER NOW

Enjoy it! Check out the links at the end to see how you can contribute to the book.

This past week has been incredible. I haven’t been writing here as much as I had hoped this year. I’ve been working on some new ideas and new initiatives in the background, plus taking care of some family things that needed my attention. Then all of a sudden everything seemed to hit this week.

As soon as the ceremony was over, I rushed back to my office to prepare for the Free Agent Underground show/podcast. I was helping Kevin Miller host the show and interview NASCAR racer Kenny Wallace. In spite of all the technological problems that could have happened with me in Alabama, Kenny in North Carolina and Kevin in Colorado, the show was perfectly produced. But even if we’d had a glitch, I don’t think it would have made a dent in the awesomeness of the interview.

Not only did I get to talk to one of my favorite drivers, but he shared things with us that he’d never shared before (early jobs, business and life advice, the importance of loving your spouse). If you want to hear it, go to the FAU blog or subscribe to the show in iTunes.

[As a side note, I also signed up to sponsor Kenny's race car at the Charlotte Nationwide race in October. You too can have your name on his car for just $20. Details at http://www.KennyWallace.com.]

It was the mayor of Satsuma, Bill Stewart, calling to congratulate me on having been selected to be a member of the Satsuma Board of Education! I felt that my chances were good based on my interviews, and I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t been chosen. But I was surprised at how surprised I felt! My exhaustion faded in a wave of adrenaline.

After calling my Heather (she was out with a friend who had just moved into her new Habitat for Humanity home that day), her mom and my parents, I posted the good news on Facebook and Twitter. My iPhone buzzed for the next two hours with congratulatory messages and encouragement. It was amazing!

Then I crashed for the night and woke up renewed to face the day Friday.

The kids were a bit better by Friday night so we went to see the Mobile BayBears with Heather’s mom (who got free tickets for being a teacher!). Ian won a slice of pizza in a dance contest between innings (the song was Cotton Eye Joe, Rednex version), we watched the fireworks after the BayBears lost to the Generals 4-2, and trudged home once again exhausted.

So it’s been quite a week. Lots of good stuff happening, which is the way I like it! Still, I’m hoping for a quiet Sunday so I can vegetate (recuperate) in front of the TV watching Formula One from Monaco, the Indy 500 and the Coke 600 from Charlotte. Lots and lots of laps…and a Memorial Day Monday to recover from my recovery day!

More news to come…June could be very interesting indeed!

Oh how I wish Free Agent Academy had existed ten years ago!

But it does exist today, and I’m not only a member but a professor. I’m teaching people how to build simple but strategic plans to accomplish their free agent dreams.

I’m still a big racing fan and tomorrow I get to mix the chocolate (NASCAR) with the peanut butter (free agency)!

Tomorrow on the Free Agent Underground show, I’ll be interviewing NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace with my friend/FAA founder Kevin Miller.

What do NASCAR and free agency have to do with each other? Find out on the show!

Join us live at 1 PM ET/12 PM CT or listen to the replay (which I’ll link to soon after the interview). Learn more by clicking here!

Who is Kenny Wallace? Kenny is a veteran driver of all three of NASCAR’s top series. A nine time winner in the Nationwide Series, Kenny recently make his 500th start in the series (2nd all time). Kenny also races his own dirt car at tracks across the country and is a host on Speed TV. Always entertaining on TV, Kenny is a race car driver who is serious behind the wheel. He’s also a dedicated husband and father.

A special thanks for my friend Dale Johnson for making the interview happen. Dale runs KennyWallace.com, and we became friends back in my PP.com days. Note: Photo is from Kenny’s Facebook Fan Page.