I have built into what you are about to read a huge idea that you and I can do together… and believe me it will change your life as much as it has mine….Bob Proctor
“When we learn, teach. When we get, give.”
Those beautiful and powerful words come from the great Maya Angelou.
I love them. Don’t you?
Over 50 years ago, I decided that was how I wanted to live my life. I wanted to teach what I’d learned, and give what I’d received. And you know, for most of those years, I thought I completely understood how to do it.
I was to find out my understanding was not complete, an important part was missing…
Something happened a few years later that expanded my concept of giving, and ultimately changed my life in an unexpected and wonderful way.
Let me explain…
You see, until I was 26, I lived in darkness. Everything was a struggle. Then one day, I met a man named Ray Stanford, who took the time to show me a better way to live. My life turned on a dime and changed dramatically.
The first lesson Ray taught me was to decide what I wanted, write it on a card, and carry it in my pocket. As soon as I did that, I began to see progress.
In the beginning, all I really wanted was money. I wasn’t earning much and I was in serious debt. So, my goal was for a specific amount of money. I was fascinated by how quickly ideas of earning more money began to flow into my mind. And it kept getting better; I kept earning more.
The “better way” Ray had shown me really worked. From that point on, all I wanted to do was share what Ray had taught me with everyone I met.
I had learned, and like Maya Angelou said I wanted to teach. I had gotten, and I wanted to give.
I began enthusiastically teaching what I was learning to anyone who would listen. Occasionally, I’d encounter someone or some group who was in need of money, and frequently I would help out. But I certainly wasn’t giving money as freely as I was giving knowledge. After all, it wasn’t money that had transformed my life; it was the knowledge of how to earn money. THAT was the gift I felt compelled to share with the world.
My understanding was about to expand.
One day, I was sitting with a friend of mine, Cynthia Kersey. She began telling me how she wanted to raise money for people in need, and that she had just met with the founder of Habitat for Humanity, Millard Fuller. Cynthia was facing a big challenge in her life at this time, and it was causing her a lot of hurt. Millard suggested that she would have to find a challenge bigger than her hurt, if she wanted to move beyond it.
With that, she decided to raise money to build homes in Nepal. Her initial goal was to build 10 homes at a cost of $2,000 per home. But that really didn’t do much for her, so she changed the goal to building 100 homes. Now this actually scared her! She was going to have to raise $200,000, and she had absolutely no idea how to do it.
After hearing Cynthia’s story, I suggested she “reduce it to the ridiculous.” This is an exercise in which you take a large number and break it down into bite size pieces. I suggested she could find 200 people to donate $1,000 or 10 people to give her $20,000 and that it shouldn’t be very difficult to do.
Apparently, I was pretty convincing. She looked at me right in the eye and said, “Would you mind giving me $20,000?’’
I don’t ever remember feeling so uncomfortable. Talk about introspection at warp speed! My mind was spinning. It wasn’t a question of having the money available, I did. But agreeing to give her $20,000 to help build homes in Nepal was a very difficult thing to do, it was completely out of the box for me. That kind of giving wasn’t a part of my “giving plan.”
But I did. And suddenly, everything in my life started to shift. It was then I realized the validity of what Maya Angelou had shared. Maya’s advice doesn’t just deal with knowledge, it deals with everything in life, including money. In some cases, especially money.
In the end, Cynthia Kersey built her 100 homes—and something in her life shifted, too. That was the beginning of her philanthropic ventures, the origins of the remarkable, world-renowned Unstoppable Foundation.
Not long after that, Cynthia began building schools in Africa. I immediately decided I wanted to support her efforts, and decided that I would give her a respectable amount of money to this project. I discussed the idea with my business partner Sandy Gallagher and together, we decided to make it a company project. We’ve been involved with the Unstoppable Foundation ever since.
Three years ago, Sandy went to Africa with Cynthia to see, first hand, the work we were doing there. Last year, our Social Media Director, Cory Kelly, took her 15-year old daughter, Emma, with her to Africa. It not only changed Cory’s life, it changed Emma’s life forever, too.
This year, my colleagues Gina Hayden and Kim Klein are going to Africa. Both Gina and Kim have been with our company for many years and they’re very excited about our project in Africa.
You might be wondering why I’m telling you all of this.
Well, right now, I’m looking YOU in the eye. And I’m asking you to GIVE.
Sandy and I are sharing this message with individuals we consider serious students of our material—people like you, who really get it. We are looking for 200 of those individuals to commit to donating $50 a week to this school project in Africa for the next year. And we are pledging to match each one of those $50-a-week donations 100%.
If you calculate what I have just said, 200 individuals partnering with us each giving $50 a week for a year you’ll see that adds up to about $500,000, our company will match it with another $500,000.
Our goal is to present the Unstoppable Foundation with a check for $1,000,000, to support them in the work they will be doing over the coming year.
Each person who participates in this special campaign will have their name added to a PGI banner that will be presented to the children at the schools that we build.
They will also have the knowledge of having directly impacted those children in a way that will change their lives, transform their nation, and reverberate for generations to come.
When we learn, teach. When we get, give. If ever there was a doubt in my mind about the benefits of following Maya Angelou’s tremendous suggestion, it is long gone.
Click here and see for yourself the great work the Unstoppable Foundation is doing.
Then, decide that YOU are going to be a part of it. Expand your consciousness, open your heart, and GIVE of what you have gotten.
I can tell you, from my own experience, that you will receive more in return than you can possibly imagine.
Sincerely,
Bob Proctor
