Helter Skelter

I used to love riding my mountain bike up and down hills in my old neighborhood.

Believe it or not, I used to really enjoy going up hill. Getting into a rhythm, putting my bike in the lowest gear possible, and just slowly cranking up the hill.

A combination of breathing, sweating, working and an expectation of FLYING back down the hill once I got to the top was a pretty cool feeling.

The combination of endorphins, which comes with heavy exercise, and flying down a hill faster than it would be safe to stop in a hurry on a bicycle is a powerful mix.

Perfect Slope

There was one really big, long hill was ideal. It was steep, it was long, and there were NO traffic lights, until it flattened out considerably at the bottom. Meaning I could just let loose, and not worry about having to stop in a hurry. I would routinely get over 50 MPH on my mountain bike just coasting downhill.

Going up, though, I sometimes ran into problems. Especially if I was going up some hills in an area I’d never been before.

I would be going up this long hill that LOOKED like I was coming up to a top, but then when I’d gotten to the top, I was faced with another long hill.

Now, when I KNOW how long the hill is, I can mentally prepare. But when I THINK the end is near, and it’s really not, that becomes a problem.

Powers of Self Deception

That’s when I learned to “trick” myself. Instead of thinking the top was near, I just saw it as a point to reevaluate where I was. If it WAS a top, great, I’d ride down and have some fun. If it WASN’T a top, I’d rest, look back at how far I’d come, drink some water, and then keep on moving up.

The same thing happens with self improvement. We can delude ourselves into thinking that ALL WE NEED is one more product, one more seminar, one more “thing” and our lives will be set.

But the truth is that our lives are on a continuous path that NEVER peaks. We just keep getting better and better.

Once I stopped imagining that I was almost done, and just figured I’d accept whatever was ahead, I had a LOT more energy.

You’re Never Done

See, if you THINK you’re almost done, but you’re really not, it’s pretty tough to keep going.

But when you see every step, every process, every discovery, every experience as something as BOTH an end, AND a means, you’ll have TONS more energy to just keep on going.

The more you learn, the more you get. The more you get, the more you’ll want to learn. A fantastic cycle of continuous improvement that you can carry with you your entire life.

Here’s another POWERFUL tool you can use:

Sucker Born Every Minute

Most people are easy to con.

This is an unfortunate aspect of human nature. In fact, according to most evolutionary scientists, one of the BIGGEST problems facing human society (ever since human society was invented) was how easy it was to con others, and to be conned ourselves.

See, in a small band of hunters and gatherers, everybody knew everybody. So if somebody screwed you over, EVERYBODY would know about it. Because of this, everybody was honest and up front.

But as soon as we started living in societies of over 1000 people or so, we suddenly had a problem.

What To Do?

Some guy is standing in front of us, telling some story, but we aren’t sure if we believe him. If we DO believe him, and he’s telling us the truth, we can benefit. But if he’s lying, we are going to get screwed.

Quite a dilemma!

Scientists tell us that we humans developed the ability to “sniff out the con” as quickly as con artists got better and better at it.

One powerful method that con artists (with the help of the ever present Mother Nature) was self deception.

See, if you believe the story yourself, it’s MUCH easier to get others to believe it.

Of course, this presents problems all on its own. Having super powers of self deception is pretty good, as it helps you moving forward looking for better and better stuff.

But it can also make you vulnerable. It can also make it VERY DIFFICULT to overcome your own shortcomings, which is necessary for real and lasting success.

Easy To Point The Finger

Believing it’s somebody else’s fault is the often the biggest con of all. Most people go to great lengths to “keep” their victim status. So long as they can blame somebody else, they don’t feel bad for failing.

But if you REALLY want to achieve MASSIVE success, in any field, you’ve got to ditch the victim thinking. You’ve got to own your life, own your actions, and own your choices.

This can be the hardest thing you’ll EVER do. And it is not one simple switch you flip in your blame. It requires effort to get there, and it requires effort to stay there.

Own your choices. Own your decisions. Own your outcomes.

Own your life.

Gain the skills now to jettison your success to the next level:

Magic Brain Juice

They say that knowledge is power.

But you know as well as I do that knowledge by itself is as useless as an unread book in an unknown library.

As Mark Twain famously said, “What’s the difference between somebody who can’t read, and somebody who doesn’t read? Nothing.”

Meaning if you have knowledge and don’t use it, there’s no difference between you and somebody who doesn’t have any knowledge.

Don’t Be Scared!

I remember once I was in grade school. I was in love with my teacher. We were doing some kind of Sudoku puzzle, she had us “race” to see who could solve the puzzle first. I finished before anybody else, but I was too scared to stand up.

What if I was wrong? What if my teacher (my crush) rejected me in front of everybody. I had knowledge, but I was afraid to use it.

My buddy stood up, and received MASSIVE praise from my teacher. All I could think was, “That should have been me!”

Wisdom From Sages

As Led Zeppelin famously said, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.”

It’s one to have knowledge. It’s something else entirely to actually put it to use.

But even then you’re at a disadvantage. Having knowledge and putting it to use is NOTHING compared to somebody who knows how to CREATE knowledge.

Sure, it’s one thing to read a recipe off the internet, make some cookies, and impress your friends.

It’s something else completely to whip up a new recipe from scratch, based ONLY on your imagination and experience.

The Stumble Upon Theory

When you get down to it, this is where ALL Knowledge comes from. Everything that we “know” is true, every bit of science, every law of chemistry, was once completely unknown.

Then once upon a time, some clueless but adventurous person said, “Hmm, what happens if I try this?”

And BAM!

Instant knowledge.

Most people don’t have any knowledge. They are content to live passively and let others do all the heavy thinking.

A few people have knowledge, and like to second guess, and armchair quarterback.

An even smaller group knows a thing or two, and consistently puts that stuff to use.

Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before

But a very tiny minority are the REAL HEROES. They create knowledge. They take risks, see what happens, and reformulate their beliefs and ideas based on their experience.

Their lives are an ever present journey forward into the unknown, where everybody else on Earth simply follows them.

If you want to be a creator, a explorer of ideas, not just a follower, check this out: