Realizing that we were all given gifts whether we know it or not is very encouraging. Discovering your gift is the most rewarding and the best part of life.

Train your heart to be nice & kind and your actions and mind will follow.

The question I get asked the most is: “how did you start?” My usual answer sort of goes like this: “I just started!” It is in no way meant to sound cocky or condescending, it’s just the easiest way I can explain it without going into every single detail. A lot of people seem puzzled when I respond that way but if I had to break it down that’s really what it boils down to. I think for most people it is a lot easier to measure what you have or don’t have and try to draw a correlation to your personal success or failures. I don’t believe that is the truth and my pastor confirmed my beliefs this past Sunday with his sermon. The topic was about feeling limited, and how so many of us are just stuck in that mental slum which prevents    people from being limitless. He broke it down for us in a way that was extremely easy to digest and I wanted to share it with you guys.

1. Start where you are.
2. Use what you have.
3. Do what you can.

I think if you start seeing the world through these lenses, things won’t seem as complex when trying to figure what to do. Just start where you are!

Last night I was having a conversation on twitter about mentors and I decided to put together a list of the 10 Things to look for in mentor. I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to leave a comment.

1. Selfless – Your mentor has to be selfless, they have to be the kind of person who think about others first before they think about themselves.  (Hard to find I know)

2. Character – They want to see other people win, especially you. Your mentor should be someone you respect and admire.

3. Experience – They have knowledge beyond your years and have no issues sharing what they’ve learned with you. Your mentor can be older or even younger than you are. The point is that they can teach you and coach you.

4. Patient – They understand the value of patience and growth. They usually allow you to grow and learn at your own pace.

5. Present & Available – I believe a mentor should have the time to talk and interact with you. If your mentor is too busy for you it defeats the purpose. When you do interact with them, they must be mentally present and not occupied with their busy life or schedule.

6. Visionaries - They are considered visionaries. They see the world from a different angle and can articulate their vision properly. They also think differently than you do.

7. Trustworthy – I think trust is one of the most fundamental parts of the mentor/mentee relationship. There has to be a level of trust between both parties it strengthens the relationship

8. Positive – They live day to day as a positive person. They see the cup as half full. These characteristics will surely rub off on you.

9. Direction & Goals From my experience they should be a in different profession than you or at least have different goals in life. It is not the rule but works best in my opinion. They have absolutely no desire to compete with you.

10. Believes in You – They have no issues telling you things you never want to hear. They believe in your potential and help you win at your own pace.

These are my thoughts on what to look for in a mentor. Please feel free to add or subtract from my thoughts. These are not rules just thoughts and ideas based on my experiences and the people have talked to about this.

Yesterday I had a compelling conversation about STYLE & TASTE on twitter. My rant got a lot of love and a lot of support. I figured I would share it on here for those that missed it. Follow me on twitter if you want to stay up on the daily conversations.

- Style is not about the name brands you wear. Style is about how you put things together. Link

- Style is also about vision and a unique point of view in my opinion. Taking risk, being bold and confident in what you wear. Link

- Style has nothing to do with your body size or if you are “dressed up” You can be in kicks and a fitted and still have style. Link

- The importance of style blogs are for style queues, ideas & reference points. But true style comes from within. No blog can give you that. Link

- I’ve encountered so many ladies who have the biggest misconception about style. It’s not only about the purse & the shoes in my opinion. Link

- Style is also about having an eye (word to JLP) Knowing what works for you and what works for others. Style recognizes Style Link

- People try to imitate style or other peoples style and they look uncomfortable why? Because style comes from within.

- You can follow trends or even mimic trends but I don’t believe you can follow style… if you know what I mean.

- Style is different from fashion and fashion is different from trends and trends are different from trendsetters in my opinion.

- Just because everyone is “dressing up” now does not mean you have to give up the J’s or kicks. That’s following trends. (not trendsetter)

- Style is also about being versatile in my opinion. Knowing when to wear a suit, kicks, jeans, jogging pants, boat shoes etc.. that’s style.

- Style is also about knowing Time & Place and knowing your age in style. Just my opinion.

- Just to sum it all up… You can buy clothes but you can’t buy style. You can be trendy does not mean your a trendsetter. (In my opinion)

- As you age, your clothes will change but your sense of having style should stay the same.

- My opinion about “taste” I think having taste is about knowledge & reference points. Things are good BECAUSE… Knowing what makes things good

- I believe “taste” is also about era and time. What was tasteful in the 80′s might not be tasteful today. If you know what I mean.

- Some of my friends who have great taste usually know the history of things and where they come from and their relation to the world.

- “Taste” is also universal but so deep. You have to have a vaste understanding & knowledge about things to have taste. You get what I am saying?

- You know when you see something and it just feels and looks right but you can’t put your finger on it? That’s what Taste looks like IMO.

- You might not have taste or great style but your killer instincts might put you in a position where you know whats good and whats not.

Follow me on twitter as I break out in rants at times ha! twitter.com/marcustroy

A couple guys on my timeline have been raving about the Temple Run app for some time now so I decided to download it a few weeks ago and I have to admit I got hooked on it for a few days. I believe the point of the game is to run through a temple (constantly) without getting jumped by the scary birds, scorched by the fire or fall in the cracks all why trying to gather coins for points.

I felt this game was a crazy metaphor or at least an interesting parallel to most of our lives. Every time I chased the coins I found myself dying a lot faster but when I concentrated on the journey and the path of the game, I found myself lasting a lot longer. Don’t get me wrong I am sure there are some people who can accurately achieve both but I think it is a lot harder than we think. Sacrifices have to be made and you might miss out on winning because you want to grab those coins.

I started thinking about my own life and how I’ve been able to navigate through life on my journey without necessarily chasing the “COINS” but by staying focus on what it was I wanted to achieve. The “Coins” represented all the distraction and everything else that kept you off your track. For some people the “coins” are the money, women (men), fame or anything else that could be considered a distraction.

Why can’t we chase both? Can we successfully chase both? Should we be trying to chase both? Don’t you end up getting those things anyway? Aren’t those “coins” a result or a byproduct of successfully completing the journey? I believe that the “COINS” will always be there, you might not finish the game with the most amounts of coins but at least you survive the game and get the spoils of winning. Then a flash of Jay-Z lyrics ran across my brain:  “I ain’t tryin’ to survive I’m tryin’ to live it to the limit an’ love it a lot …”

While playing the game I saw the “coins” as our greedy nature to want the coins over everything else and as soon as you paid too much attention to the coins and not where you were running, oops you landed in the ditch an died.

{From my thoughts on my Iphone}

My parents used to read this to me:

Take it in!

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

The Seed

Come see my seed, the kids scream… “This is going to grow into the most beautiful flower”

I get these premature emails from eager and ambitious people with half-baked ideas. They want to pitch me on how we can work together and how we should meet up because they have this amazing thing or idea. After reading through the entire email all I end up with is just their seed that they have not even planted yet.

Hit me when you have a flower, a tree or even a garden. Seeds excite no one. Why? You might have the best seed in the world and you can even go as far as planting it, but what happens if you don’t take care of it? It won’t grow. A lot of times, our ideas are just seeds and are not worth sharing before we actually show personal discipline in making sure it grows.

There is value in taking your time before you release ideas or concepts into the universe. There is value in fully baking your ideas before you approach your mentor, investor, friend or idol. Seeds are never really attractive. You know what is attractive? A garden. Even if the garden needs work, nurturing and some help, people are more often willing to help you fix things that you have built rather than help you plant YOUR seed.

“Come see my beautiful seed” should transform into “come see my beautiful garden”.

Just my thoughts, about what I was feeling at the time.

Marcus Troy

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Daniel Ratcliff’s (harry potter

actor) salary since the 1st harry potter

Salary

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) $1,000,000 USD

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)  $3,000,000

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)        $14,000,000

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)     $20,000,000

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)     $33.000,000 USD

I believe there is reward in patience. A lot of people want the gifts and the rewards right away, but I believe if you put in the work and you are patience, the chances of the big rewards are greater.

Imagine embarking on a project (like harry Potter) and because of you and other factors the Project blows up out of the gate. Most people start feeling like I need more money, look how much money I made for you… Then the next project you only get a slight bump in salary…I think most people would quit. They want the instant gratification and they want it now. I am not sure of the specifics of Daniel’s deal but it looked like he stuck it out and the big pay off came this year with a salary of 33 million usd. All that in the span of 10 years. Would you stick around a project for 10 years for a possible big pay out?