Letter to my partner

September 4th, 2007 Sarano Kelley

Mitchell, sorry I have been sporadic in my contact but believe it or not just the contact and conversations we have had make a serious difference for me.  I am shooting you this quick email to let you know that I am headed to the hospital today at 4pm to begin the process of inducing and delivering the baby.  Mom is well, the baby is good and Dad is pumped!!!  Interestingly, today is exactly 45 days from my birthday on October 23rd when I turn 45!  I consider this the “true” midpoint to my game…coincidence…unlikely. 

  

RELATIONSHIP My wife Brooke has given me high marks as both a soon to be new father and husband.  While I see much room for improve, she is the umpire and there’s no arguing with the referee.  I would also add that my daughter Georgia and I are the closest we have ever been and that she is excited for the birth of her new sister, doing well having completed her first year of college by age 17 and is in a great relationship herself.  Also, my ex wife (who is like a sister to me) Chris and my wife Brooke had an incredible breakthrough in their relationship and that the two of them are forming their own relationship outside of me.  I can’t take any credit for this and honest to God I believe I have the best ex wife in the world (I hate the word ex but I have yet to come up with another).  At the same time my ex wife has made one of the biggest contributions I have ever seen anyone make to my current wife.  I must say that I am surrounded by amazing women!  

WORK I put my head down to get a number of things done before the baby was born and one of them is attached for your review Mitchell.  After spending countless hours on the train to Vermont (to present for Sentinel Investments), writing my Foundation and business plans in the preseason preparation, then putting together the Boards of my companies, I then realized I needed a new management team…bad.  The new CEO and CFO are both firmly in place and I have a call with them later today.  I have set up a critical meeting of all of the people involved in the business (listed in the attached document that details the ”Organizational Structure and Key Players”) driving the business for October 26th so that you can meet them.  I am officially no longer the sole decision maker, manager or driver of the business.  This cuts my workload down easily by 50%…this is the reward I get for no longer being a control freak, I get a life! I have the best mentors a man could ask for in George and John who run The Edison Foundation and Chris and Paul who have done over $100 billion dollars in deals.  With Mark Victor Hansen (”Chicken Soup for the Soul co author) as my publisher and mentor the only person I do not have as a mentor in business is Oprah.  Chris is going to introduce me to his business partner and friend Mike Milken and I have agreed to do some speaking for them I still have no particular access to seeing if Oprah would mentor me.  Then again, I got most of the goals in my game done in just 45 days so there is still time, just no real plan or approach. 

  

BODY I woke up this morning and I am officially at my weight goal of 176lbs (actually I am 175) this is down from being 206lbs at the start of the year.  The last 5lbs were a pain to lose but I got it done.  Now I just need to cut my body fat down from 18% to 9% without gaining weight putting me in the best shape of my life at age 45.  I also no longer suffer from crippling back pain and have reduced my stress levels dramatically despite still only sleeping 3-6 hours a night.    

HOBBIES I am delaying the start of the final production of the movie on “The Game” but this is an “uptick” not a problem.  It gives me more time to work on the script, work with the director who is coaching me (Drew Heriot the director of “The Secret”), and a lot more time for the two most challenging parts of this project fundraising and interviewing top athletes, celebrities and scientist.  The project is one of a kind since I am donating all of my profits to our Foundation for children, giving away a technology we have been paid millions for and pulling together some of the best talent in the world from Hollywood, Wall Street and academia.   

SPIRITUALITY I am working hard to not make myself wrong for my lack of progress in what is the most important category.  I ”pulled” a ”sacrifice play” and front loaded my game with my work initiatives so that I would be mentally and physically free to be focused on bonding with baby Grace.  I have not traveled since I did the Senior Market Advisor Expo on August 22nd and will not be traveling currently till mid October.  I have increased my Bikram Yoga practice significantly and doing yoga in 105 degree heated room for two hours when it has been 106 degrees outside here is not exactly a lack of commitment.  Rather than ”flogging” myself I am taking on some additional commitments in this area.   

THE SECOND HALF    I can see now that I have to admit that I have not taken your coaching as my partner nor my mentor’s coaching.  Both of you have told me that you agree with my desire to have a therapist who truly inspires me to work further on my own emotional development.  I have avoided getting this handled…I have ”tried”… which to me “worries” me; I consider it a danger sign when someone is unwilling to examine themselves or be examined.  I had a great therapist for many years, we stopped working together after 9/11 and I have not had a serious therapeutic relationship since.   This leads me to my second issue.  My teacher (affectionately referred to as “Sir”) died well over 10 years ago, his teacher died a few years later.  Since that time I have been mostly “self taught” and have taken various courses here and there but it is not even close to “working under attention” and working under attention can only be achieve through direct contact and relationship.  I can see now that this is a therapeutic issue not a spiritual issue…that I am avoiding something, that I am somewhere in myself sabotaging myself…I do not know why and since this has been largely unconscious I have no idea what it has or is costing me. While it is great to have a happy wife, prayerfully a happy baby, be at the best weight of my life, my company in the most harmonious shape it has ever been in, my workload and travel schedule becoming the “lightest” they have ever been, I can’t help but hear my fathers voice (Rev. Benjamin Kelley) saying to me “for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul…”.  While my practices of meditation, prayer, scripture, service and study in “good company” continue unabated I can not go beyond myself…I can not take myself to the next level…I need a coach.  

  

First, I will start by locating a therapist so that I can isolate “why have I been avoiding or resisting having a spiritual mentor in my life?” as I go about the process of EARNESTLY seeking that spiritual mentor.  Ultimately, this is likely tied to the biggest challenge I have with “The Game” technology, I can produce the results but why can I not remember it is all just a game.  Why must I be up when things go well and be down when things seemingly do not, why do I still believe on some level that results are the measure of a man, why is my love for myself still based on external things, why is my happiness tied to anything other than the joy of playing and serving…the Goal being…to be able to walk off the field of life knowing that I can look the Big Coach in the eyes and honestly say “Coach I  gave it my all”. 

  

I designed the larger game curriculum to give people with a purpose the ability to create financial freedom and spiritual freedom, few people leave the planet having achieved those two goals. As my teacher said to me “only a man beyond the need of help can be of any real help”.  I seem to be excelling at one and losing ground in the other…I MUST COURSE CORRECT THIS NOW! 

  

Mitchell, thanks for putting up with me, you have been one of the best partners I have ever had.  Don’t be put off by my occasional resistance or stubbornness and continue to push me, continue to question me, continue to be the example you are for me and so many others. 

  

I go to the hospital now and will spend any moment that I am not with looking after my wife in meditation and prayer, depending on how long we are there I will take on doing the longest single meditation of my life while I am there, perhaps I can replace 8 hours of sleep with 8 hours of none stop meditation…we will see said the blind man. 

  

Peace, 

  

Sarano 

  

 

 

Entry Filed under: Game 36