Troy's Times - January 2008


www.TroyEvans.com

Troy@TroyEvans.com

 

Hi Friend!


Welcome to Troy’s free monthly electronic newsletter, developed for people interested in overcoming adversity, adapting to change and pushing oneself to realize their full potential.

(Some ch^racters in th1s newsletter have been altered to keep it from being filtered out as spam)

IN THIS ISSUE


“It is not important How we come to the events in our lives, but how we Deal with those events”- Troy


Feel free to forw^rd this issue to friends, family and associates!


This Month's Featured Article:

I’m on the Path. Now What Do I Do?

“If there be any truer message of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives.”
Robert South

Never quit growing and use what you’ve learned to help others.
Once you have found success in one area of your life, you will be amazed at how quickly the rest of your life can come into order. It is simply a change of attitude. When you take charge of your life and realize that the only thing that can truly hold you back is yourself, you will find that overcoming obstacles is no longer daunting and overwhelming, but simply an everyday exercise that you learn to take in stride. In fact, you might even find that the seemingly unreachable goal that you started out with, didn’t reach far enough and has merely become a stepping stone on the way to the successes that you were always too scared to even dream of.
Take my life for example. I never set out to take on the role or goals that I have set today. I wanted to get off drugs, get the education that I had passed by, be the best prison dad that I could be, and try to find honest employment once I was released.
First item on my list—get off drugs. That was the easy part. As I had learned in the past, the tough part was staying off of them. On the outside, everyday life had proven too stressful for me to quit using drugs, so you can’t even imagine how much I craved that release from inside the walls of FCI Englewood. But, soon the withdrawals were over and the cravings seemed to ebb. I found that I did in fact, have the strength to live life without being high, and I was able to gain a momentum of success that helped to carry me through my darkest hours, when drugs started creeping back into my mind.
Now, I can honestly say that I don’t even think of doing drugs anymore. In fact, I’ve built such a successful lifestyle around being drug free, that it is difficult to imagine that they ever held enough appeal to lure me away from the victories of living a clean life. Better still, I now have the opportunity to be something that I hadn’t dreamed of since junior high—a role model.
Get off drugs and become a role model for those seeking to do the same—Check!
Number two—Get the education that I had passed by. This goal was off track before I even started it. With the lack of support for educating convicts beyond the level of obtaining a GED, I was in uncharted territory before I even began my travels. My studies and my education started long before I was awarded my first scholarship. I had to pour over books itemizing scholarship opportunities, hone my writing skills for my applications, and discipline myself to put in the hours writing one application after another, knowing that they would most likely be denied.
Once I received my first scholarship check, however, I was off and running. Not only did I earn the degree that I coveted, but I went on to gain two of them with straight As and positions on the Dean’s and President’s List. That was a great success, but even more so was the fact that I had paved the way for other inmates to do the same. By the time that I was transferred out of FCI Englewood, there were several other inmates that I had shared my secret with, and as I mentioned earlier, one of them not only obtained his degree, but his masters using the information that I had uncovered during my scholarship funding research.
Obtain degree and help increase the future opportunities for my fellow inmates—Check!
Number three—Be the best Prison Dad I could be. I found out something very important the day that Eric and I had our conversation about my prison sentence. My son loved his dad. It may sound strange to hear that. I think a lot of people take the love of a child that young for granted. I have to say, at that point, I felt like he really just didn’t know any better. After all, I was a grown man and much more capable of taking my own tally as a parent than he was. Eric simply had nothing to compare it to at that point. I on the other hand, in my newly sober state lay awake night after night thinking about all of the times I had put that poor kid in harm’s way. All of the days of his life that I hadn’t forced myself to put him before my addiction, all of the broken promises, all of the indiscriminant bad parenting decisions I had ever made came back to me. I had plenty of time to think about them.
While I was on the outside, I knew that I was a terrible father. I had always loved him, but the drugs and my own insecurities about my parenting abilities always got in the way of making the right decisions. What it boiled down to is that I was scared of the little guy. He barely came past my waist at that point, and he was terrifying to me. The summers that he spent with me were a constant battle of trying to buy him things so he might love me in spite of myself. And every night, I fell into bed thinking that I had tricked him for one more day of his life. He hadn’t caught on yet.
I suppose that’s the amazing thing about a child’s love at that age. When I went to prison, I realized for the first time that it never had been about the gifts and the Disneyland Dad act. That little boy truly loved me for being his father. I hadn’t earned that right yet, but I was going to.
From the moment I was incarcerated, he had my full attention whenever I was with him. I managed to fly him out several times to see me and he had my full attention on any topic that he chose. I became invested in his schooling and could actually lead by example for once in my life. I wrote him every single day of the seven and a half years that I was inside.
I set out to be the best prison dad that I could be, but in the end, I was a far better father than I ever had been to him when I was on the outside. Now, I look around me at the dads who go through their lives obsessed with the “have to” mentalities of their everyday existence and I wonder how often they actually pause to know what a gift it is to have a child. In the end, it’s not the money that you make, the toys you provide, the hours you work. None of those things are what earn you the points in their eyes. Those are the things that we as adults have assigned importance to. None of that is as valuable to them as ten minutes playing catch with their Daddy. Remember to put that role first. There is nothing more special in this world.
Being a father for the first time in my boy’s young life and finding out what a gift that truly was—Check!
Number four—Try to find honest employment upon my release. I did it. Through placement agencies and accounting positions at first and then as a speaker once I honed my skills in that arena. This is the one that I feel truly went beyond anything that I ever dreamed of.
I literally wake up every day thankful that I have had the opportunity to become the instrument of change for so many people. I had hoped for a job, but this is so much more. It is a calling.
Gain honest employment in an occupation that lets me make a difference in the world every day of my life.—Check!
Each of my four goals seemed daunting to me when I first started out. I didn’t know how I was going to achieve them and in the end, the how wasn’t as important as the fact that I made it to what I had perceived to be the finish line in each and then kept right on going.
To date, speaking and writing books will be my greatest achievements so far, because it is giving me the opportunity to reach even more people. It has helped me to change my perception once again and I want to share my new goal with you.
My goal is to touch as many lives as I can with my message of encouragement. I am hoping that by this point you are all well on your way to taking your first steps down your own individual path to becoming the person that you want to be. As you do that and find that you can be successful and that you are only limited by the heights to which you can dream, I want to ask you that you join me in bringing this hope to others along the way.
Imagine for just one second if everyone who read this article or heard me speak, used it to make a difference in their own lives. And then, they in turn, used their own momentum to share encouragement and the possibility of success with their friends, coworkers and loved ones.
I originally set out to help change lives, to help others in whatever way that I could. I thought that if I could help just a small fraction of the people who hear me speak or read my book to make positive changes in their lives that I would have done my job. Now, like all of my other goals that I laid out before me when I went to prison, my original intention has merely become a stepping-stone along the way. To change the life of a few is an admirable goal, but if I keep spreading my message, and you in turn use it to help others, we could truly touch every soul on the planet.
Imagine what it would be like if there wasn’t a single person in the United States or on Earth for that matter who was serving dead time. What could we accomplish then?


“I may not be the man I want to be;
I may not be the man I ought to be;
I may not be the man I could be;
I may not be the man I can be;
but praise God, I'm not the man I once was.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.

Read a letter from a recent client - Click hear to read!


I am approached hundreds of times a year either immediately following one of my keynote speeches or through my website by p^rents, aunts, uncles, brother and sisters who are concerned about a young person in their lives who is either using drugs or is about to enter that age where drugs will become accessible.

I often had a hopeless feeling knowing that all I could offer were words of encouragement and support and the sharing of my own downfall....that was until I became partners with a company called DrugTALK.

DrugTALK is a v1rtual life coach dedicated to helping families, parents and young people overcome the threat and dangers of drugs through the privacy of their home. They do this by delivering the insight, tools and activities needed for parents to protect their children by putting vital protection principles into practice, often without parents even realizing it.

Their programs and tools are based on decades of research and supported by a dynamic team of communication experts, family intervention specialists, treatment professionals, narcotics intelligence officers, life coaches, parents and---most importantly---teens who have faced the world of drugs first-hand.

The CEO of DrugTALK happened to attend one of my speaking engagements and after talking I skeptically took one of his Drug Reference Guides and a DVD. Having lived through the hell of drug abuse I had my whole adult life been conv1nced that nothing short of expensive in-patient treatment centers could break the hold that drugs have on our young people. After thoroughly studying what DrugTalk has to offer I was blown away- I can honestly say that h^d these tools been available to me during my teenage years that I most likely would have avoided the hell I put myself and family through.

I have agreed to partner with DrugTalk and encourage anyone who knows of an individual that is either us1ng drugs or is reaching that critical age where drugs c^n be a lure to visit their site at www.drugtalk.org Please also pass this on to anyone who may benefit from this unique program.

One of the stipulations I made in agreeing to partner with DrugTALK was that they needed to make what they offer afford^ble to anyone- drug use does not discriminate by class and it is important to me that these tools are available to anyone...therefore if you enter the promotional code TEG123 when ordering you will receive a 10% discount. This d1scount is only offered to those who I refer to DrugTALK.

Thanks as always for your time and let us as a community and nation finally make a dent in this plague that effects us all.

 

Featured product for this issue!

NEW HARDBACK BOOK -

"FROM DESPERATION TO DEDICATION:
AN EX-CON'S LESSONS ON TURNING FAILURE INTO SUCCESS "…Click here to order

Other Products:

If you live in or near one of the following cit1es where Troy will be speaking over the next few months, please contact The Ev^ns Groups for details on an opportunity that does not come around often- see Troy present for free!
  • Scottsdale, AZ
  • Oklahoma City, OK
  • Bethesda, MD,
  • Hilton Head, SC
  • Miami, FL
  • Baltimore, MD
  • Kearney, NE
  • Idaho Falls, ID
  • Appleton, WI
  • Portland, OR
  • Buffalo, NY
  • Denver, CO
  • Cincinnati, OH
  • Birmingham, AL
  • El Campo, TX
  • Huron, OH
  • San Antonio, TX
  • Springfield, MO
  • Galveston, TX
  • Missoula, MT
  • Baton Rouge, LA
  • Woodlands, TX
  • Oklahoma City, OK
  • Springfield, IL
  • Fort Myers, FL
  • Lake of the Ozarks, MO
  • Delta, CO
  • Austin, TX
  • Milwaukee, WI
  • Houston, TX
  • Fort Wayne, IN
  • Grand Rapids, MI
  • Atlantic City, NJ
  • Seattle, WA
  • St. Petersburg, FL
  • Lake Geneva, WI
  • New York City, NY
  • Newark, NJ
  • Dallas, TX
  • Chicago, IL
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • Columbia, MO
  • Green Bay, WI
  • Indianapolis, IN
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • Cleveland, OH
  • Nashville, TN
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Columbus, OH
  • Mesa, AZ
  • Chicago, IL

Commission for booking me - I offer a comm1ssion of 10%-20% ($750.00-$1,500.00) for anyone who refers me for speaking engagements and/or bulk product sales. Please contact The Evans Group for details.

Subscriber opinions and impressions of this electronic newsletter: I invite subscribers to write me with their quest1ons as well and I will answer them in the next issue. Also readers, I invite you to send in profiles of yourself and how you have used the inform^tion from my electronic newsletter, products or speech in your personal and/or professional lives. Once a month I will feature one individual for all others to read about!

FREE STUFF:


Click here to sign up for this electronic newsletter- Sign up Here

Note: You are free to reprint any portion of this electronic newsletter as long as the portion remains complete and unaltered, and the “About the Author” section is included.

About the Author- Troy Evans is a profess1onal speaker and author who resides in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Pam and his dog Archibald. Troy travels the country delivering keynote presentations, and since his release from prison has taken the corporate and association pl^tforms by storm. Overcoming adversity, adapting to change and pushing yourself to realize your full potential- other speaker’s talk about these issues, Troy has walked them.


For information on booking Troy or for a listing of available products, please contact:

The Evans Group
3104 E. Camelback Road, #436
Phoenix, AZ 85016
602-265-6855
Fax: 602-285-1474
Troy@troyevans.com
http://www.troyevans.com