"The Happiest Moment of My Life"

Have you ever caught yourself taking life for granted?  Have you ever heard a story that shakes you back into reality?  Or you say to yourself, “Wow, I’m glad I’m not living there right now…”

Why is it, that sometimes, it takes a death, a terrorist act, or losing our income for us to help us remember what matters most?

I was a sitting passenger, in a green Honda Caravan minivan, driving to the Calgary Airport this morning, the weather a frigid -15oC, frost on the windshield, cold enough to make your bare hands burn if you’re outside for more than 5 minutes without proper winter gear.  

I was with my Father-in-law, or my Oi Fu (in Cantonese), recently retired, a finishing carpenter, still working, who was kind enough to drive me.  As is our tradition, we started chatting about life and what’s made the difference for us.

He relayed a transformational moment in his life, part of his story escaping Communist China some 40 years ago, with only a small inflatable raft, an unrelenting determination, roped to two of his other friends rafts, the three of them swimming across the channel by nightfall.  His goal, swim the channel, bypass patrolling communist ships, and escape to Hong Kong.  If he did, it would offer a life of limitless promise and opportunity.

He said to me while driving, “I think people are foolish when they complain,”

“Why do you say that?” I asked

“People don’t realize that they can open up a newspaper, look at the classifieds, and find any job they want, I still remember that finding a job wasn’t even a choice.  Can you imagine?  When I finished high school, there was no future.  The government eliminated so many choices.  That’s why I decided to leave.  Even now, some people are literally running for their lives, and there’s still people in prosperity who complain about how their life isn’t good enough.”

“It’s true, I do that still and it accomplishes very little…” I admitted.

“I still remember the happiest moment of my life,” he said to me, moving on.

“What was the most happiest moment of your life?”  I asked, the most curious I’ve ever been amongst his stories.

“It was the morning after attempting to escape, swimming the whole night.  My friends and I were floating in the water exhausted.  I saw a boat approaching us, I thought it might be a communist ship and we might be sent back home to prison.  But I wasn’t sure.  Then, I saw the english letters on it.  I knew the ship was from Hong Kong.  It wasn’t a communist ship!  The boat slowed beside each of us, they lowered a rope to us.”

“Did they pull you up or did you have to climb up?”

“They didn’t pull, I climbed, I wasn’t going to stay in the water after coming so far, I had to do it.”

“The happiest moment of my life…” he continued, “Is when I landed in that Hong Kong Fisherman’s boat.  Because I knew at that point, it was the beginning of My New Life.  I knew I could begin to design my life the way I wanted.”

He paused, and I looked into his eyes, I could see he felt some reverence in that moment.  And I took it in.

Two lessons thundered in my mind at that moment:

“Agency (the ability to choose) is a gift, but Freedom is earned.” - Brandon Broadwater

"The person with the most choices, wins." - Blair Dunkley

Frank then finished, “And ever since then, I have never complained in my life.  Never.”

I paused for a moment, and admired him, I knew he wasn’t trying to be superior.  I understood that he chose to be grateful no matter what his circumstances were.

What’s the point of all this?

What do we do with the freedom that is ours to enjoy?  

What will we do with each minute of every day that is freely ours to build, inspire, create, love, cherish, excel, share, and uplift?

Using the knowledge I’ve learned from incredible mentors, has allowed me to enjoy freedom right now without getting myself stranded in the past or worrying about the future.  It’s like having the keys to the car so I can enjoy the ride and the journey to my desired destination.  People can’t make choices they know they don’t have.

Just like how my Oi Fu was offered a rope to a life of freedom, each us live in an environment where we can reject the rope offered us, or climb and design the life we desire.

Keep fighting.  It’s a gift to live in such prosperity.  And thank you to friends for empowering me with even more choices than I ever knew existed.  I wouldn't be here without you.

If you need a friend to talk to about whatever challenge you're working on right now.  Feel free to talk with me.  I'm happy to make time for you. 

If you’d like to learn more about what Higher Laws Training is like click here

If you’d like to contact me and connect you can email me at rcjhoch@gmail.com

If you’re local to Calgary, AB area and want to attend a Meetup Group I run click here

3 Questions To Lovingly Disrupt Your Time Belief Limits

Have you ever made a rule about how long it would take you to achieve something?

I know I did.  And I was right.  It did take me that long.

But then, I watched someone my age, make a different rule, and they, like me were right.   They made a rule about how long they wanted to become financially independent, and they did.  I still wanted what they had, but now I wasn't content waiting 10 more years for it!

What time beliefs did they have that I didn't?

One of the best stories I love about disrupting time limiting beliefs is the story of the 4 Minute Mile record shattered by Sir Roger Bannister.  More people had climbed Mount Everest than running the mile under 4 minutes.  Determined beyond the Professional Naysayers with credentials indicating that such a feat was "Impossible", Bannister went to work with his legs while his antagonists intellectualized in their heads.

Bannister said,


"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."

When I want a result, and feel like it's going to take forever, I like to disrupt my time limiting beliefs towards desired result depends on two key questions:


1) "What if I could achieve this result in ______ (fill-in-the-blank with the time period), what is the best way I could do that?


2) "What gaps are holding me back from achieving this result in X amount of time?"


3) "What tools might I leverage to get this result even faster?" (If you could choose between a Do you a bicycle, horse, car, or jet plane, which would you want?)


Don't be fooled that you'll achieve this on your first try!

This may not mean you achieve it on the first try - but I remember creating one tool that took a task 5 minutes down to 5 seconds.  That's 295 extra seconds of productivity!

Some people see the gaps that hold them back, while others create the gap to where they want to be.  Both will leverage you forward.

Darren Hardy, founder of Success Magazine said it like this:

"Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE" - The Compound Effect

What do you do to disrupt time limiting beliefs?

What do you do when someone says to achieve a result will take forever?

Enjoy a fabulous weekend everyone!

If you’d like to learn more about some of the trainings I’ve attended click here

If you’d like to contact me and connect you can email me at rcjhoch@gmail.com

If you’re local to Calgary, AB area and want to attend a Meetup Group I run click here

1 Skill That Is Worth a Lifetime to Master

Have you ever been in an environment where you felt fear, inadequacy, or overwhelm?  Or do you performs awesome in multiple areas of life but when it comes to another area they freeze and hold back?

For five years I had a goal, something that I not only wanted to do, but that I loved to do.  I wanted to improve my nutrition and grow incredibly nutritious microgreen sunflower sprouts.  

During those five years however, there was a little voice in my head that said:

"Are you kidding me, you've never done this before.  It's not going to work."

"Sounds like way too much work with the stuff you've got going on right now.  Maybe later"

Not surprisingly, 5 years passed by, and nothing.  I only the other side of me that said, "I wonder what life would be like if I had done... ?"  

Have you ever had that voice before?

After a couple months of no progress, that result became a distant memory and I forgot about it.  Isn’t that kind of scary?  Being in a position where something was so exciting, something I wanted so bad, only weeks later to have forgotten it?     

But because of this one skill, all that transformed.  And the amazing part as well, it gave people hope, desire, and excitement that maybe, just maybe, they could do it too.  And at the same time I was like "This is awesome!! I've wanted to do this for 5 years and now it happened!"  Here's some pictures of the final results.

What did I do differently to manifest that seed and remain diligent to help it become a sprout?

The Key is I created a plan.

One of my mentors taught me that anytime there is a gap between where we're at right now versus the results we want is that there's not a process or a plan in place.  

One of the cool definitions of plan is that it is influenced by the late 17th century Italian definition of “plan” which means to “plan of building.”  This coincides with another mean - “design”.  This suggest we must create something intangibly before it is create tangibly.  

What is the value of a plan?  What do people’s lives look like that operate without a plan?

Can you imagine working with a construction company, intent on helping you build your dream home, you knew exactly what you wanted, and they said to you, “We don’t use blueprints, we’ve always done best winging it.”?

What makes the difference between an rock solid plan vs a plan held together with masking tape? 

You’ll know your plan is ready by how you feel about it - do you feel excited?  Does the plan give you energy?  Does it give you confidence that the result is within reach?  If it does, you’re ready.

Here’s the 7 elements that work for me:

Write it down

Review it daily (must be easily accessible)

Specify the Tools needed (bring them in proximity to each other)

Identify and the list the Skills necessary

Identify the Relationships You Need to Excel (experts in the process)

Write out the Process To achieve the goal (step-by-step, phase-by-phase)

Follow-through - for help in getting momentum with the baby steps - review Derek Doepker’s Blog “3 Magic Words to Overcome Overwhelm”

I know this works - I’ve created tens of plans in the last couple months and the results are unending and the momentum is exciting.   I’m excited to hear your results.  

What do you think is the value of a plan?   I would love to hear to hear your comments.  Please post below.  Good luck!  

If you’d like to learn more about some of the trainings I’ve attended click here

If you’d like to contact me and connect you can email me at rcjhoch@gmail.com

If you’re local to Calgary, AB area and want to attend a Meetup Group I run click here

1 Underestimated Attribute That Only Winners Understand

Have you ever had a moment where you wanted something so bad but it seemed like it took forever?

I remember thinking to myself at times, "If I just had a million dollars then life would be perfect!"

Of course, the million never came, and I was left with either the choice of giving up on a path that was tremendously difficult both financially and emotionally.  But I didn't, a little voice saying to me, "How you do one thing is how you do everything."  Now there definitely is times to appropriately quit and find different environments, but with this one I evaluated myself,

"If I stay on this path will this draw my true potential or diminish it?"

The answer was clear, but immensely uncomfortable.

However, because I stuck with it, something magical happened.

The magic happened when I was at my apex of frustration, the height of desperation, and I shouted to myself inside "For things to get better, I must get better!!!"  And I was hungry, hunting for any information that would turn the tide in my entrepreneurial and life endeavours.

I did find trainings and education that has flipped my world upside down, 180 degrees, and are giving me results I wouldn't have ever imagined in my fondest dreams.

The attribute that I need that allowed me to get to that place?

Patience.

But I misunderstood patience for the longest time - it's not simply hoping and wishing for things to get better when circumstances are hard or problems seem unending.  Patient people have a plan - a real effective plan brings hope.  A true plan brings inspired vision and exciting possibility.  If you're not feeling confident or excited about your plan, work it until you do.

When Michael Jordan was cut from a basketball team, he didn't give up, he dug deep, practiced harder and longer than anyone else, and went onto to lead his team into multiple NBA championships.

When our family went through a house fire, I remember my Dad saying to my anxious, worried Mom on the phone "Things are going to be just fine, we've been through storms, we know how to get them, storms don't last forever.  This too will pass."

When Thomas Edison failed for the 9,997 time, he simply said, "This doesn't work.  What might I do differently to make this work even better?"

Patient people don't just wait, watching youtube videos or scrolling Facebook newsfeeds while the plan is ignored.  Patient has many family members that make it the Underestimated attribute that it is.

Work is an integral part of patience.  If there is no work, you're not being patient, you're just waiting for something that's not being worked on.

I ask myself, "Am I nurturing this plan every day or in the frequency it requires?"

A seed that is neglected its nurturement but being waited, will never grow.

A relationship that is not blossoming in passion or progression but the other partner wishes that partner would change is setting themselves up for failure.

Wanting even more money without even giving a thought of how to serve or working that plan to serve will bring pitiful results.

There's one more component that if left ignored, the whole goal won't even matter, you'll be resentful about it, and done completely out of obligation.  But if it is there, there will be the motivation and momentum to go for it.

My friend Brandon Broadwater with Higher Laws said this, "Nothing we do matters, unless we do it with love."

Have you ever done business with someone who loved what they did?  Or they just loved to be there?  Or they just loved to meet and be with you?  Isn't that the best way to experience relationships?

How do we generate that love we need for something if we don't feel like it?

This is the process I use (but you can modify it to what might work even better for you)

1)  Listen Uplifting Music
2) Express Gratitude "What am I grateful for right now?  What would me life be like without this?"
3) Remember the People That Believed in me enough to love me
4) Ask myself, "What would make them smile today?"
5) Ask myself, "Can I just ______" (fill in an action step super easy) - see a blog by Derek Doepker -incredible! - 3 Magic Words To Overcome Overwhelm
6) Go and do it

You're guaranteed to enjoy the confidence of patience if you add in the elements of work, an effective plan, and love.  These have shifted my thoughts from "Will this ever happen for me?" to "I know this will happen, it will just need some time."

And you can enjoy those thoughts just as easily.

If you’d like to learn more about some of the trainings I’ve attended click here

If you’d like to contact me and connect you can email me at rcjhoch@gmail.com

If you’re local to Calgary, AB area and want to attend a Meetup Group I run click here

Leave No Man Behind

“Leave No Man Behind” - My Lessons In Success Language Patterns

Performance Matters.

I learned this very quickly entering into the entrepreneurial world see zeros in sales, as a husband forgetting important details, and definitely as a parent neglecting at times my children.  Feedback can sometimes comes quick and clear.  Remembering Jim Rohn's advice, "For things to change, I must change, for things to get better, I must get better," I looked for ways I could improve.  I look for those who perform at an elite, world-class level and study what are their belief, language, and question patterns and see if I can replicate them.

One group that I've studied that requires some of most intense training in the world mentally, physically, and emotionally is the Navy SEALs.

I recently watched a documentary of BUDs (Basic Underwater Demolotion/Seals Training) Class 234 of the training program young men go through to become some of the elite warriors of North America.  The average dropout rate in Navy Seals camp is 80%.  Training from Bootcamp until actual deployment averages about 2 years.  Out of the hundreds of millions of people in the United States, the team of Navy Seals is 2,500.

Beyond the excitement of guns blazing, detonating explosives, and underwater diving, I was most interested in their thought and speech patterns.

I expected to get entertained, but instead, I got educated.

I remember one of my mentors sharing with me two attributes that separates good business from great businesses.  The great businesses embrace these two attributes and remain fiercely competitive and passionate about their value.  When circumstances arise, they leverage them to their advantage to serve even more effectively.  Without these two attributes, good companies eventually plateau, and then decline, and then disappear.

Those two attributes are “Flexible and Adaptable”

Watching different documentaries I noticed a pattern, and wrote down (paraphrasing) some of the language patterns out of that group.

“‘I can’t’ isn’t part of our vocabulary”

“What sets us apart from other units is our ability to adapt to any given situation.”

“It doesn’t matter if we lost communication with our main unit, we’ll do whatever it takes to get the mission done.”

“There is no top dog in our group, the minute you think you’re something special you’re out, we get things done only because we work together as one unit, one team.”

“When bullets are flying I’m not thinking about me, I’m thinking about the guy beside me, I want more than anything to make sure he’s safe and protected.”

I wanted to dig a little bit more into some of the philosophy about how the Navy Seal group defines themselves.  What I found was their formal Team Code.  I was inspired from it.  It made me retrain how I think about success and how some of the common principles of perseverance, persistance, and endurance play into success.  Especially one of my favourite lines:  

“A common man with uncommon desire to succeed.”

“By wearing the Trident I accept the responsibility of my chosen profession and way of life. It is a privilege that I must earn every day.”

Here is their Team Code:

“In times of war or uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our Nation’s call. A common man with uncommon desire to succeed.

Forged by adversity, he stands alongside America’s finest special operations forces to serve his country, the American people, and protect their way of life.

I am that man.

My Trident is a symbol of honor and heritage. Bestowed upon me by the heroes that have gone before, it embodies the trust of those I have sworn to protect. By wearing the Trident I accept the responsibility of my chosen profession and way of life. It is a privilege that I must earn every day.

My loyalty to Country and Team is beyond reproach. I humbly serve as a guardian to my fellow Americans always ready to defend those who are unable to defend themselves. I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions. I voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and security of others before my own.

I serve with honor on and off the battlefield. The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from other men.

Uncompromising integrity is my standard. My character and honor are steadfast. My word is my bond.

We expect to lead and be led. In the absence of orders I will take charge, lead my teammates and accomplish the mission. I lead by example in all situations.

I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.

We demand discipline. We expect innovation. The lives of my teammates and the success of our mission depend on me – my technical skill, tactical proficiency, and attention to detail. My training is never complete.

We train for war and fight to win. I stand ready to bring the full spectrum of combat power to bear in order to achieve my mission and the goals established by my country. The execution of my duties will be swift and violent when required yet guided by the very principles that I serve to defend.

Brave men have fought and died building the proud tradition and feared reputation that I am bound to uphold. In the worst of conditions, the legacy of my teammates steadies my resolve and silently guides my every deed. I will not fail.”  (Source: http://navyseals.com/nsw/seal-code-warrior-creed/)

I said this Team Code out loud and it inspired new questions and thoughts for me to consider as I work and enjoy my relationships.  

A story that helps capture the simplicity of this is of a News Reporter visiting Apple Computers Headquarters, he casually approached an employe at a cubicle and noticed that the employee was writing an email.  The news reporter introduced himself, explained what he was doing and asked the employee:

“What are you writing in your email?”

“You don’t understand, I’m not writing an email.  I’m changing the world.” 

What would your business, partnership, or family look like if each member exhibited enthusiasm, motivation, discipline, and drive to succeed embodied in the Navy SEALs code or like the Apple Computers Employee?  How would that look in 1 year?  How about 5 years?  What would that cost your relationships if mediocre energy stayed the same for those same increments of time?  How much is passion and energy of value to you?

One of my friends told me how critical it is to create, live, and maintain high standards, because not only does it filter out those who don’t want your association, but it filters in those who are inspired, motivated, and want to experience life with you at peak performance.  I know this is real because I’m part of a group where I know that my team members will fight for me (they’ll go the extra mile to make sure that I’m doing well when I’m struggling).  What is the value of that kind of relationship?  I can’t put a price tag on it.  I can’t be offered more money for it.

Here’s a question I ask myself to replicate thought pattern success:

“On a scale of 1-10, how much do I believe in what I’m doing right now?”

“Knowing what I know right now, what’s one easy, little thing I might do differently to turn that belief into a 10?”

I invite you to expand your passion and belief in what you do.  Good luck!  

If you’d like to learn more about some of the trainings I’ve attended click here

If you’d like to contact me and connect you can email me at rcjhoch@gmail.com

If you’re local to Calgary, AB area and want to attend a Meetup Group I run click here