Are you hoping and wishing and wanting something to come true, or come through for you right now? Stop.

Care enough to care less about the end result, and start to care more about the steps of the journey necessary to get there. Not obsessing about outcomes is not the same as not wanting, or not working toward them. Emotionally detaching from the outcome of your endeavors ironically enhances the likelihood that they’ll be realized.

Care less about what you think others think about you. They’re not thinking about you nearly as much as you think they are. Most of them are nobodies from nowhere and are much more worried about themselves than you.

Few ever thought the no-name drummer from the prog-rock band Genesis could successfully replace Peter Gabriel as the lead singer of the band. Even fewer would have bet on the balding and bearded time-keeper would go on to a mega-successful career as a singer/songwriter, solo artist. Phil Collins beat the odds by having the balls and the talent to move into his new role despite the plethora of naysayers.

“I don’t care what you say | I don’t play the same games you play” ~ Phil Collins

When free from the worry and wonder if you’re doing the right things at the right times, the right answers and necessary actions begin to come naturally. Appropriate reactions and effective responses to what happens to you are the key elements that actually foster future success.

So regardless of where you’re at right now… the message is: “It ‘aint over.” There’s going to be another day with opportunities and challenges just on the horizon.

The question is:

Are you ready?

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2012 Tom Leu

A groove is hard to explain but easy to understand when you’re feeling it. To groove is positive. But to really learn how to “groove” takes practice.

“Music, oh music, such a funky thing | The closer you get, the deeper it means” ~ King’s X

Our thought processes and habits of thinking are made up of grooves as well. We all have well-traveled roads, deep ruts, trenches, and tracks in our minds that guide not only our thinking, but our behavior. These well-worn paths and patterns of thinking affect every aspect of our lives. 

Our minds are like machines and our thoughts are things that have energy.

It’s not superstition, it’s science. It’s not just philosophy, it’s fact.

So monitor your thoughts and manage your emotions to maintain a healthy outlook on your life. Always look for, and get into a groove that gives more than it takes. Remember… what you think about you become.

Welcome to the Groove Machine!

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2012 Tom Leu

It’s happening more and more…

Recently, I found myself turning up (just a little) a Wham song playing on the “we play everything” radio station. That’s right, Wham… (there goes all my ”street cred”…!)

I know what you’re thinking… freaking Wham?? Believe me, that’s exactly what I was thinking while humming along with the “wake me up before you go-go…” chorus.

Pathetic you say? Perhaps, but there’s always something to learn when something happens that gets my attention…

Now, pay attention: It’s not really about the artist or the song… it’s about the nostalgia. It’s the memories of the past places and times that the artist and the song bring you back to in the present.

“Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.” ~ Robert Morgan

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2012 Tom Leu

This moody tune has a great arrangement, great musicianship, and a great overall feel that’s haunting and inspiring at the same time. It’s a brilliant piece with exceptional guitar work by the vastly underrated Mick Taylor. I’ve heard it called ‘the best Stones song nobody ever talks about.’

Arguably better than the music is the tune’s bittersweet message. Time’s a vapor; it moves quickly. We have to move with it because it won’t wait. It’s called change. Time is everyone’s most valuable commodity that cannot be recovered once spent.

“Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman’s face | Hours are like diamonds, don’t let them waste” ~ Rolling Stones

The hours are ours individually. Spend them wisely.

If you’re a creator of content, keep moving forward, keep planning, and keep producing your passions. You never know who or when someone will find you. Take comfort in knowing that being ahead of your time is better than being behind the times… even if your “success” comes some 40 years later.

“I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” ~ Jonathan Winters

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2012 Tom Leu

The willingness to wait is worth a lot. To wait through the uncertaintly of wondering if you’ll ever ”make it.” Enduring the inevitable doubt and despair that plagues anyone who has designs on achieving something significant. 

Your single greatest asset is your willingness and ability to wait through the lean times, the unpredictable times, the uncertain times and not quit.

If you want what most others don’t have, you have to do what most others won’t do. This includes the actions you take as well as the times you wait.

RE: ‘The Waiting’… ”That song took a long time to write. It’s about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true. I’ve always felt it was an optimistic song.” – Tom Petty

But even when opportunities do present themselves, it’s still wise to wait, or at least pause sometimes. Don’t let earnestness eclipse good sense. Waiting today can pay big dividends tomorrow.

As procrastination prepares you for nothing; haste can propel you into something you’re unprepared for.

I’ve heard it said that the key is to wait actively. Always be planning, preparing, and producing while waiting actively to take the best next steps at the best times.

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band! 

©2011 Tom Leu

What about when things don’t come easy?  When minimal progress is made despite tons of time and effort invested? Are these things “not supposed to be?” Is this fate? Is their difficulty supposed to be telling you something?

It may not be sexy or scientific, but the answers to these questions are often found in your gut. When something “feels right” and your motives are good, a message is being sent.

Most worthwhile things don’t come easy. They require ongoing effort and sacrifice.

“If you desire ease, forsake learning.” ~ Nagarjuna

People persevere that which they are passionate about. And we don’t abandon what we truly love. The relative degree of difficulty is not the issue, but rather if you’re willing to endure the highs and lows during the journey.

“I couldn’t put my finger on one reason why we broke up. It was time, and we were spreading out. They were spreading out more than I was. I would’ve stayed with the band.” ~ Ringo Starr

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2011 Tom Leu

“I was doing superficial comedy entertaining people who didn’t really care… And I had been doing that for the better part of 10 years when it finally dawned on me that I was in the wrong places doing the wrong things for the wrong people.” ~ George Carlin on evolving his comedy act in the early 1970′s

Sometimes it’s necessary to make changes to things that may have long been apart of who you are, but are now no longer serving you and holding you back. Success is directly proportional to your ability to endure and embrace change.

Whether it’s tweaking your act, adjusting your business approach, or revamping how you manage your relationships… the key is awareness followed by immediate action.

Truly look at yourself inside out. Pay attention to what has, and hasn’t been working in your life up to this point. Then decide if you really want to make some changes. If your motivation for change is more about wanting to, rather than needing to, your results will be much greater.

“Turn and face the strange | Just gonna have to be a different man” ~ David Bowie

If you’re honestly in the right place, doing the right things, with the right people, for the right reasons, then commit to doing everything you can now not to screw it up. Look in the mirror, make the tough decisions, and continue making the necessary changes as needed. You really can’t afford not to.

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2011 Tom Leu

Answer: The pressure inside goes up.

The smaller the space = the greater the pressure.

For many, their world (view) is very, very small.

Pressure impacts performance. Those who handle pressure the best, have the best outcomes.

Too little pressure is unmotivating and uninspiring. It ushers in mediocrity.

Too much pressure can produce stiffness, artificiality, and uncertainty.

“Insanity laughs under pressure we’re cracking” ~ Queen & David Bowie

The problem = we often cannot control the amount of pressure we’re under.

The solution = preparation.

The very best antidote to pressure is preparation. This is the ongoing sharpening of the saw  = skill enhancement specific to your techniques, education, communication, and perpetual motivation… on your best, and worst days.

Pressure (regardless of its source, amount, or timing), skillfully managed, ushers in peak performance and excellence. This is the difference between the good and the great.

The great have the ability to consistently deliver stellar performances in the moments that count the most.

“There is no such thing as talent. There is pressure.” ~ Alfred Adler

I believe the greatest accomplishments call for the emergence of talent under pressure.

Be proactive. Prepare. Perform. Produce.

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2011 Tom Leu

It stopped me dead in my tracks with no choice but to just feel it… and then negotiate the pending tears.

Perhaps it was the moving piano, or the husky and soulful vocal, or the poignant and universal story of love lost and found.

Mostly, it’s all of it fused into a 4 minute mini-movie of any of our lives…

“Never mind; I’ll find someone like you; I wish nothing but the best for you…” ~ Adele

It turns out there might be scientific and physiological reasons the song is such a tear-jerker…

Whatever the cause, this is art worth pursuing.

That which is so real, so honest, and so instantly emotional that few who experience it can deny its power.

This is THE way to truly communicate for impact - with authenticity and transparency.

It’s shocking to the system because it’s so true.

This is the type of content and output I’m impelled and aspire to produce.

Come what may… for someone just like you.

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2011 Tom Leu

This piece is the beginning of ”how” you can move toward being a “rock star” right here, right now.

So here are 3 actions you can take today to “rock” in your real-world:

1. Lend someone a helping hand. Give a little bit of your time doing something for somebody else. Maybe it’s some manual labor, or maybe it’s just to listen. It doesn’t really matter what it is. Getting out of yourself and focusing your attention on someone else is the key.

2. Spend some time really reading, reviewing, or looking into someone else’s endeavors, work, or projects. Then contact them directly and tell them what you liked about what they’re doing. Tell them that all of their efforts and hard work haven’t gone unnoticed. Give them that pat on the back that you so often desire.

3. Apologize to someone that deserves it. You know who they are. Stop avoiding it. The weight that you’re carrying around by not doing it is far heavier than the weight of just doing it.

So there they are, short and sweet: Help someone. Encourage someone. Apologize to someone. *Oh, and do it all without expectation of reciprocation… Simple, but not easy.

“Right now | It’s your tomorrow | It means everything” ~ Van Halen

You’ll notice that all of these acts aren’t about yourself. They’re about your selflessness.

That’s the beauty of the program; right here, right now.

Stay tuned-in…

Tom Leu, M.S. is a writer, speaker, photographer, and musician from Rockford, IL. The RockStarWay™ brand delivers success psychology and Lifestyle Initiative Training resources to rock your business, brand, or band!

©2011 Tom Leu