BERT OLIVA’S BLOG

The New Year is just around the corner. And with it comes all new opportunities and fresh starts. This year, it is time for us to realize just how powerful a time we live in. We can connect with anyone anywhere through the power of social media and technology.

If there is someone out there – a celebrity, a fellow business person, even a classmate – that you want to connect with, but have been intimidated to do so, take the chance. Reach out through social media. You will be surprised at how often you will get a response.

Times have changed. We are no longer isolated from one another, but completely interconnected. Make this year about collaboration and partnerships. Take the chance and connect.

Happy New Year from the BOWA Team and myself. Thank you for all of your support, encouragement, and inspiration. I look forward to connecting and collaborating with more of you throughout 2016.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Today is going to be a great day. Today is already a great day.

Repeat those two phrases aloud to yourself. Tell your friends, your family, your coworkers.

Believe those phrases. Truly take them in and know that today is a great day.

Once you truly internalize those messages, you will be amazed at how truly great your day is.

We are all made out of energy. When we start our day with positive affirmations like the two first sentences and we truly believe those affirmations, our energy gets positively charged, and we share that energy to the world.

Try one or all of these PowerTools™:

• Play your favorite song to wake up each morning (please make sure the lyrics are not saying contradictory things, as your subconscious will pick up on it).
• Pick a saying of the week and every time you feel a negative thought coming say it out loud.
• Take your cell phone or smart device and program a positive affirmation with an alarm to notify you at least 6 times a day.

At the end of the week, review your week. Was it a much better week than last week? Did anything really change besides your attitude?

Your attitude equals your multitude. Have an abundant week.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Want daily motivation, empowerment, and tools? Join Crazy People Succeed.

How aware are you?

How often does it feel like things just “happen” to you?

How often do you feel like the victim?

How often do you feel out of control?

Remember, situations and circumstances are what build your character to get you ready for what is about to come.

However, you must take action. You must make decisions.

For the most part, things do not just “happen” to you. They happen as a result of your choices or lack of choices; your actions or lack of actions.

You are not a victim. The only one who can make you feel like a victim is you. Stop allowing that to happen.

Try one or all of these PowerTools™:

1) If you are having a difficult time with someone in your life, the next time you are upset with them, just step back and take notice. Were they being themselves or were they out to hurt you? Sometimes it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.

2) Next time something like a speeding ticket happens to you think, “Is this a bad day or did I make a wrong choice?” If it is a wrong choice, who controlled that situation?

You are in control. You are in the driver’s seat. Open your eyes and choose to start living your life your way.

Live Life,

Bert Oliva

We are all human beings on this planet and we all have equal needs. We all need food, water, shelter, and love. We all crave human contact and a deeper purpose. We all get sick. We all feel cold. We all feel hurt.

So why do we spend so much time separating ourselves from others? Why do we feel the need to make ourselves feel better than while making others feel less than? Why have we forgotten how to give common courtesy to our fellow humans?

This week I challenge you to be truly courteous with everyone you come into contact with. That includes the person who cuts you off in traffic (instead of getting angry and wishing them harm, give them the benefit of the doubt—perhaps they didn’t see you, perhaps they just left their home in a hurry because someone they love is in trouble, etc.). That also includes the telemarketer who calls you on your break and the person who runs into you in the hallway accidentally.

Try one or all of these PowerTools™:
1) Wave at everyone you see in your neighborhood and say good morning, good afternoon or good evening and smile.
2) Hold the door open for anyone you are walking with and let them go ahead of you.
3) If you stand in line this week just let the person behind you go ahead of you, smile and tell them to have a nice day.

This week, treat everyone kindly and with respect. Think of each person first before yourself. You will be amazed at how others will start to treat you and how much lighter and better you feel on a whole.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Stop making excuses for yourself.

Stop saying, “What if.”

Stop saying, “Yes, but…”

Own your choices. Own your successes. Own your failures.

Fully own yourself and who you are.

Respect yourself. Love yourself. Know yourself.

You are the only you that exists on this planet.

Your actions and choices have the ability to affect everyone and everything around you.

Start tapping into your power and make the changes in your life you want to see.

Stop waiting for things to happen.

Start making things happen.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Did you wake up this morning feeling lucky to be alive? You should. Over 183,000 people didn’t wake up this morning.

Did you feel lucky to have something to eat this morning? You should. Over 792 billion people in the world are undernourished today.

Do you feel lucky to have a roof over your head or a place to lay your head at night? You should. Over 3.5 million people in the U.S. experience homelessness each year.

Being alive, having food to eat, and having shelter are three very simple things that we take for granted all the time. Yet we are luckier than a lot of people. However, we still feel unlucky and hopeless. That we don’t have everything we want.

Take the mindset of hopelessness and lack out of your mind. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and focus on what you do have. When you change your mindset from scarcity to abundance we attract more abundance.

You have everything you need. And everything you want is coming to you, as soon as you change your mind and know it.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

How much of your life is spent in fear? Fear of disappointing others? Fear of being disappointed? Fear of not being good enough? Fear of missing out? The list goes on…

Our society seems to stress what we’re missing. Just look at TV commercials and you will see what I mean. You always have to look for the next big thing. The next new adventure. Now is never good enough. You are never good enough. You have to be thinner, happier, smarter. No wonder we all feel anxious and fearful.

Stop worrying about what others think of you. Stop thinking you may disappoint people. Stop. These negative thoughts become self-fulfilling. If we just stop putting ourselves in these negative states, then we will stop attracting the negative and there is no reason to live in fear.

Hate to break it to you—you are not perfect. None of us are. Accept yourself as you are. Make steps to change what you do not like, but do not beat yourself up over your imperfections. That is some of the most unproductive behavior you can participate in.

What do you have to be scared of? Anything may happen, but allowing ourselves to be paralyzed and driven by fear only leads to half-lived lives and resentment.

Stop living in fear and live in gratitude instead. You woke up this morning. You are alive and have another day to live, laugh, and make positive steps toward your goals.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Do you ever wonder what happened to the professional people?

Here are some characteristics of a TRUE PROFESSIONAL:

1) They call people back no matter what, even if it is to tell them they are not interested.

2) They keep neat and organized work environments.

3) They are conscious of time for themselves as well as others.

4) They produce results, not make excuses.

5) They do their homework or necessary research.

6) They turn in their projects or reports ON TIME.

7) They are self-driven.

8) They dress appropriately.

9) They are courteous and responsive to co-workers and clients.

10) They are reliable, responsible and competent.

11) They focus on the end result, FOCUS being the key word.

Professional people are the ones that succeed in life, whatever their industry is. Where do you honestly rate? Most people lie to themselves about these things but expect GREAT results in their lives. What you put out in life is exactly what you get back, no exceptions. Live to your true potential and reap the rewards.

Live Life,

Bert Oliva

The short answer, yes. Every time you meet someone you form your opinion of him or her, either consciously or subconsciously. The same is happening to them towards you. First encounters usually set the pace for the duration of a relationship.

Here are some tips on how to make a good first impression:

– Be on time.
– Be yourself; be at ease.
– Present yourself appropriately.
– Engage in the small talk.
– Be attentive.
– Have a winning smile!

The above tips will help you make a good first impression, but what about our first impressions of others? Though we may always subconsciously make judgments of others, it is important for us to make a conscious effort to not make a judgment on someone’s situation unless we have made a serious effort to discover all the facts. The phrase, “A little information can be a dangerous thing” is very appropriate when it comes to making judgments. Oftentimes what looks like one thing on our first impression can be discovered to be something else once we have more information.

Moreover, remember that life has quite a sense of humor. Many times a person who judges another for a situation they are in will find themselves in a very similar, and often worse, situation. Never look down on people. You could be next.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva

Are you a social lurker? Do you find yourself reading people’s posts on social media and never commenting? Perhaps you will hit a “like” or a “favorite” now and then, but for the most part, you stay quiet? This seems to have become a trend nowadays. We tend to watch everyone’s lives, but never actually interact.

The question is, why aren’t you interacting? Why aren’t you taking action and telling people what you think? And how much are your online actions a mirror of your real-life actions or inactions? Are you truly living your life or are you just a spectator?

Today, I challenge you get off the bleachers in your life and get into the game. Stop being a lurker, online or offline. Reach out, take action, connect. You will be surprised at how much these small actions have a ripple effect in your life.

Live Life,
Bert Oliva