LIVE from Odessa Ukraine it’s Rick Butts!

Notice the American Christmas music playing in the background of the video. Why is this particularly interesting? Because it’s January 5th. Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 7th (their big holiday is New Years – a lot more like our Christmas traditions with family, gifts, and warm seasons wishes. Then at midnight they go out and get crazy drunk and burn the GDP of the entire country in gunpowder in excessive fireworks EVERYWHERE until dawn.

In this video I give you a bit of an update on what I’ve been up to Ukraine as the last two weeks before I have to either get on the return flight to Denver or stay in the country illegally.

American’s can stay in the country 3 months on a passport here, no visa needed. But, if you don’t leave they are very unlikely to hunt you down and deport you, but they pretty much will notice when you go go to LEAVE the country and you get a hefty $200 fine. (Hefty is humorous)

Making the film has been an amazing experience, and we’ve decided to deploy it in a very unusual way to leverage multiple streams of income from the content. I’ll be talking about that more in The Stardust Factor for members.

I’ve avoided doing live video stuff using the Youtube Webcam recording function, mostly because I think it is a bit intimidating for most of you to actually see a real male model up close like that, but I overcame my congenital shyness and gave it a go. Do you like the live off the cuff thing. (As if I ever prepare anything ON the cuff!)

Please leave your comments and/or questions about Ukraine or the film below and I’ll try to get back to you pretty quickly.

We are running a live webcam for LivingInUkraine.com and I thought you may want to see what we are up to.

I can’t predict what you’ll see at any given time as we are both running live cam footedge from the street outside the window, to meetings we have in cafes in Ukraine.

Today we’ll run a cam behind the scenes as we do some interviews for the film. If the audio is sketchy well, oops. The primary purpose is to give a look at some of these amazing scenes that you have probably never seen from a country that is much understood and profoundly fascinating.

Remember that Ukraine is 7 hours later than EST NY time zone, and 10 hours later than PST California time, so if you get up in the middle of the night and take a look we could be having lunch, and if you are taking a look in the middle of the work day we may be in a rockin’ nightclub!

Of course, I look forward to your comments here and will reply. I’m really interested to see what goes up here (who knows?) and what you think about this international maneuver! Post to Facebook if you like or find this interesting – or weird!

For more video clips and recordings of past cams go to Living in Ukraine Ustream Channel.

Part 2

“People feel happy to the degree we feel in control of our lives – but we give away our happiness by blaming circumstances we cannot control.” Rick Butts

The “Feeling of Control” concept was the centerpiece of my Control – Clarity – Courage triad of points for my keynote speech. The idea about blaming circumstances that are out of our control was aimed at helping people see how we can be the source of our own self-induced stress.

The last month has been a roller coaster for me as I’ve grappled with the maximum loss of control to cancer. Remember the scene where the Coyote in those Road Runner cartoons flings an anvil off a high desert cliff only to realize that the rope uncoiling and following it down is attached to his leg? It’s like that.

So, do I get a pass on this? Do I get to cry and whine my way into total abdication of responsibility for the choices I can still make? I have to tell you – it’s a great big temptation. My daughter Rachael Butts saw me do a total meltdown pity party last week and run down the list of all the stuff I can’t control as a reason for me not dealing with the other stuff I could.

Stages of Change – Thanks Kubler-Ross

Look, I won’t pretend to be an expert at cancer psychology. I’ve spent my life being wildly hospital-phobic and a known chicken-shit about the infirmities of others. After spending nearly 3 years in seminary I got a gig as the pastor of a non-denominational church only to find that while I was a dandy speaker/preacher, I was constitutionally incapable of going to the hospital and seeing folks suffering. I left the ministry for motivational speaking.

Now it’s me in the gown, feeling a little pinch, dragging an IV to the bathroom, and the whole “freedom thing” I’ve cultivated is now shot to hell and my calendar is filled with appointments I dread and I can’t resign this one.

So, I’m going through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, and depression, yet the world still turns and Comcast still wants money for the cable. So, my little a-ha on this one is that there is something I can control.

Do The Dishes

I took this divorce recover workshop back in 2003 while I was recovering from divorce so badly, and learned that when your emotions are blown out, you can find the handle on life by doing the simple things. Doing the dishes was my key activity. Make the bed. Do the basics and stop the world as Carlos Castaneda said. Some of the rest will follow and you can carve out a few moment of peace. And, your house starts looking a lot better, too.

That’s all I got. Hope this helps.

Freedom

http://GoalSettingRocket.com

Click here for the Goal Setting Rocket video.

Clarity

In a world of too many choices, we need to boil our lives down to the things that matter most.

Are you are overcommitted to the wrong priorities?

Why is it that we fail to use what works so very well in business, in our personal lives?
When adults fail to pursue their big goals, we go out and create substitutes that lull us into complacency.

Then these preoccupations come to life, like little baby birds, begging for the sustenance of our time, talent, and treasure.

Then the momentum of mediocrity takes us away from our dreams.

This video is part of a series to get you to leave the 95% of people with no written goals, and join the 5% who make their lives happen on purpose, instead of by accident.

Discover the Goal Setting Rocket…

How To Set And Achieve Your Most Important Goals

My daughter was a champion barrel racer when we lived in Texas. I found this video and came up with the idea to merge it with her skateboarding.

The announcer, noticing how fierce she was as a competitor said that after she got dropped from competition accidentally last week she had been “riding with a vengeance.”

That’s my baby! So I put up a picture of her in a kids race when she was in AWANAS – and I realized she has ALWAYS ridden with a vengeance.

Could I love her more?

Here’s a link to Rachael’s website. Rachael Butts .com She is a graphic designer and creates cool custom wordpress sites for cool people.

LOL – I know sometimes I exceed my own maximum of cheeseballness. But, honestly friends, I get these ideas. They come to me like fun little friends and invite me to play.

So, today I started humming happy birthday to me, and then I thought how it could be a metal song, then I started itching to play it, then I thought well I ought to for sure make a video, then the pure pimp in my thought “hey bud – you just put out that ebook – and you shouldn’t annoy your readers with 2 emails today – so let’s combine them!”

And That Is The Anatomy of A Quark

I put my amp on the desk, turned on the isight cam in my mac and fired it up directly into the laptop with one “oops” take.

Perhaps, what has been missing from my O/S is a dialogue with you?

The confusion about what to publish here – or where to put things – has cleared up while discovering the WordPressMU new with Maria Reyes McDavis aka WebSuccessDiva – and through the fantastic support of Felicia Slattery to just be me.

Here is me. For you. For me.