Monthly Archives: November 2017

Believe In Yourself

Who Leads Your Life?

Back in the 1800’s a couple of genius scientists made a prediction.

Their prediction was that “science” had already more or less discovered everything.

Lucky for us, they were wrong.

This is pretty common.

Before they invented railroads, most “experts” scoffed at the idea that people could travel long distances in a short time.

Even physical accomplishments, like the four minute mile were thought to be impossible.

Until Roger Bannister ran a mile in under four minutes.

Once he showed it was possible, suddenly everybody could do it.

Well, not “everybody” but you get the idea.

But the question is, why did those folks who ran a sub-four minute mile AFTER Bannister did it need to wait?

Why did they did to SEE it to BELIEVE it?

Bannister did the opposite.

He BELIEVED it first, then he achieved it.

One way is easy.

That’s the way most people live their lives.

They won’t believe ANYTHING unless they see proof.

But here’s the thing.

If you wait for PROOF that something is “possible” (or safe or whatever else you want proof of) then EVERYBODY will have that same proof.

And since MOST people will wait for PROOF, that means MOST people will only be able to do what all the other “most people” do.

And if you can ONLY do what “most people” can do, then you’ll GET the same thing that most people get.

Which, by definition, is average.

Mediocrity.

Bannister didn’t want average.

Neither did all of the scientists and entrepreneurs who kept inventing stuff even though the “experts” said everything had already been invented.

Doing that takes courage.

Doing that takes belief in YOURSELF.

Doing that requires you are capable of moving forward into uncertainty, without somebody holding your hand and showing the way.

It requires you LEAD. Not necessarily others, but your own life.

Funny thing is, even if you don’t WANT to lead others, if you lead yourself, plenty of people will follow.

Learn How:

Entrepreneurial Mind

Jam Your Brain

Are You Close To A Breakthrough?

Some skills are highly specialized.

Others are very general.

Since our mind-body systems have to follow the laws of economics, we have to maximize our efficiency.

The most “expensive” part of our body is our brain.

By weight, it burns more calories than every other part.

So there a lot of “efficiencies” built in.

Thinking patterns that save on energy.

Sometimes these help, sometimes they don’t.

They help when we learn something enough so that we can do it without thinking.

Unconscious competence.

Other things, like leftover instincts, can get in the way.

Irrational fears, memories that don’t help is any more.

Just like on your computer, it can help to periodically go in and clean up the junk cluttering up your “hard drive.”

One of the weird things about human creativity is that things seem super easy in retrospect, but looking forward they can seem impossible.

Inventions, for example, seem totally blatant AFTER they are invented.

But for some reason, it took a LONG TIME for people to invent them.

For example, something like a stirrup seems totally obvious.

Little straps attached to the saddle of a horse, so you could keep your balance.

But people fought on horseback for over a thousand years before somebody thought to invent the stirrup.

But once they did, it changed everything.

Plenty of inventions are like that.

Dead simple, yet out of reach at the same time.

Those who “stumble” across these inventions can sometimes make billions.

But even if you don’t want to be an inventor, or even a business person, being able to train your brain to see things others can’t will be very helpful.

It can also make your life a lot easier.

There may be HUGE opportunities right in front of your nose that you can’t see.

Find Them:

Entrepreneurial Mind

Play The Long Game

How To Play The Long Game

Imagine if it were only possible to imagine two days into the future.

No matter what else was going on, whenever somebody started referencing more than two days out, their voice would sound like garbled nonsense.

If you read anything that referred to anything more than two days out, it would shift into unintelligible scribbles.

If your boss told you to about a meeting next week, it would seem like he was speaking Martian.

On the other hand, if he told you about a meeting tomorrow morning, it would make perfect sense.

Actually, you wouldn’t go to work unless you got paid every other day.

If boss said anything like, “work here for a week or two and then we’ll pay you,” it would sound like, “work here for blah blah blah blah….” and you wouldn’t take the job.

Imagine if all the food you had went bad after two days.

It just disappeared or something.

Obviously, life would be horrible. You’d have to be committed to a nuthouse, since taking care of yourself under those conditions while living in a modern world would be impossible.

This goofy metaphor DOES, however, point out a very necessary ingredient in being able to live a successful life.

The more you can FEEL the results of your actions today FAR out into the future, the more likely you’ll succeed.

Imagine something as simple as weight loss.

If ALL you could tell was how the food tasted RIGHT NOW, it would be tough to eat healthy.

On the other hand, what if every bite of junk food you took came with a VERY REAL image of the results in two, three, five or even ten years.

For example, imagine each time you took a bite of a Big Mac you had a vision of having a heart attack, along with the actual chest pains.

And each time you took a bit of something healthy, you got a vision of yourself with a chiseled body in mirror, along with actually hearing the voice of sexy people whispering, “Nice body, baby!” in your ear.

You might even say that when it comes to building a successful life, the ability to weigh the impact of your actions you consider today ON your distant future is the most important.

They say that this was the shift that made ancient humans shift from hunting to gathering.

After all, hunting is very dangerous. Farming not so much.

But if you’re a hunter, you can kill and eat something TODAY.

If you’re a farmer, it takes a LONG TIME to get going.

Luckily, building in this skill, of developing a LONG VISION, to help you choose the best actions to take, is easy.

And like any other skill, the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

Get Started:

Entrepreneurial Mind

Money Money Money

How Many Problems Can You Solve?

How do you get money?

There are only a few proven ways.

One is you could find it. Go out looking, and hope you get lucky.

This CAN work, but it’s not very sustainable.

You could get it as a gift. This strategy tends to work for little kids around their birthday.

Adults, not so much.

You could steal it, (or otherwise con people) but that’s not very sustainable either.

You could just walk up to people and ask for it, but people tend to be a little sketchy when strangers walk up to them on the street and ask them for money.

And supposed they asked, “OK, what do I get?”

Turns out, this is actually the most consistent way to get money.

Just figure out what people want, and figure a way to get it to them.

Everybody has problems they need solving.

The more effectively YOU can solve their problems, the more you can get paid.

It’s actually pretty simple.

Aside from government coercion and corruption (of which there is plenty, unfortunately) this same method is how most fortunes were made.

Old school railroad guys solve the problem of travel.

Before they railroads were made, travel was slow.

The problem was, “I want to visit grandma in Kentucky, but it will take us a week to get there.”

Railroad people who solved this problem made a ton of money.

They made it easy to get to Kentucky (or wherever) in a couple of hours instead of a couple of days.

What about JK Rowling, the Harry Potter lady.

What problem did she solve?

“I’m bored, there’s nothing on TV.”

That’s what!

Everybody has a collection of experiences, an imagination, and ideas on how to help others.

And everybody also has a collection of problems that need solving.

Combine those together in an information age, and you’ve got a MASSIVE global economy.

Get in the game, and get paid.

Learn How:

Entrepreneurial Mind

Who Ordered The Brains?

The Structure Of Success

When I was a kid I love science.

Still do.

So when it came time to choose a major, I chose physics.

For a while, everything was pretty cool.

Until I hit those upper division classes.

With really difficult math.

At first I freaked.

I didn’t know if I could handle it.

I almost changed my major.

But I finally decided to stick with it.

And by going really slowly, and spending a lot of time studying, I finally managed to escape with a degree.

And once I figured out the “trick” to learning difficult math, it was easy.

Not easy, easy, but easier than I thought.

Before, I would listen to lectures, do the homework, and that was it.

And them cram for a couple hours before the exams.

But with those upper division classed, I had to change my strategy.

I found myself spending a few hours each weekend.

I needed to in order to keep up.

But once I got the “rhythm” it was normal again.

Meaning I didn’t worry, I just had to “re-calibrate” my studying frequency and duration.

And every other class after that was the same.

Since I’d learned the “study structure” of one class, I could apply it to all classes.

I’ve found the same thing is true in a lot of areas.

Once you step back and look at the “structure” you can apply the same “structure” to other things.

Kind of how you learn to ride one bike, you can pretty much ride all other bikes, so long as they have the same structure.

This is how our brains are wired. This is why we can live anywhere on Earth, even back before electricity and even agriculture.

Finding food, shelter, and staying away from dangerous animals has a similar structure.

Do it near the equator, you can do it at the north pole.

Sure, the content is different (predators, food, shelter) but the structure is the same.

Learning anything, skills, subjects, communication strategies, once you get the structure down, you can repeat it as often as you like.

Learn How:

End Self Sabotage

Mountain Climbing Metaphor

Circles or Straight Lines?

They say you can’t step in the same river twice.

Meaning every second that passes by, the river is changing.

The fish, the rocks and sand on the bottom, the amount of water is always in flux.

So too are us humans.

Once in chemistry class, the professor told us to close our eyes and think of a deceased person we admire.

I thought of my grandfather.

Then he told us to take a slow breath, and then open our eyes.

He told us that we’d just inhaled at least one molecule, (the very same one) that the person we’d just thought of had inhaled in their lives.

Then he explained all about the volume of our atmosphere, how many breaths we take, etc, and why what he’d just told us was statistically likely.

Scientists tell us that every seven years or so, all the atoms and molecules in our body are replaced.

Kind of like on Star Trek, when they beam themselves around, only in slow motion.

All the thoughts in your mind that make up your personality are continuously being updated.

So even who you ARE (when you think of “I”) is always changing.

Life, and every part of it, is a never ending process.

Always changing.

If you could take all those endless changes, and line them up, what would you produce?

Something magnificent.

On the other hand, if you took all those changes, and arranged them in a circle, you might find yourselves in the same place a few years or even a decade from now.

Either way, it’s up to you.

But it takes courage, and dedication.

You have to take small actions on a daily basis that are just a hair outside of your comfort zone.

But if you take your time to plan those actions, you’ll be surprised how quickly things add up.

No matter where you are or who you are or what you have or haven’t accomplished, the best time to start is now.

Learn How:

Stop Self Sabotage

Nothing Is Real Keep Going Forward

The Illusion of Perfection

They say that practice makes perfect.

And like most “truisms” that we all tend to agree are more or less correct, this one, while well intentioned, is not entirely accurate.

As a motivational statement, it does just fine.

In that regard, it IS true. Whatever you want to get better at, the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

And all else equal, practicing something MORE is better than practicing something LESS.

If they had a violin playing competition, for example, whoever practiced the MOST would end up winning.

You’ll find this is true in all people with world class skills.

They are the ones who have practiced the most.

They say you can “master” anything, and be “world class” with 10,000 hours of practice.

At an hour day, that is a little over 27 YEARS.

Which, in a world of instant gratification, seems like an eternity.

But it’s well within a normal life span.

Meaning if you start in your mid twenties, you’ll be WORLD CLASS in your chosen skill by the time you’re fifty or so.

Or, if you don’t want to wait that long, you can be world class in 14 years (two hours of practice a day) or seven years (four hours of practice a day) or three or four years (eight hours of practice a day).

Of course, you’ll NEVER get to a point where you say, “OK, I’m done, now I can rest!”

Because the idea of being “perfect” doesn’t really apply in many areas.

Sure, you can make a “perfect” circle, but how the heck are you supposed to bake a “perfect” cake? Or paint the “perfect” picture?

Paradoxically, “mastering” something is not synonymous with perfecting any skill.

No matter WHAT you are practicing, so long as you are drawing breath, you can get better.

Whether you are the world master, or you’re just starting out.

So, what would YOU like to get better at?

Get Started:

End Self Sabotage

Build Your Own Roadmap

Re-Gain Your Childlike Excitement

Why are little kids so happy?

Well, obviously not all of the time. But when they ARE happy, why do they look MUCH happier than adults? (on those occasions when adults are happy)

Do they know something we don’t?

Or do they know something we’ve forgotten?

One reason might be that they are always discovering things.

Especially right after they learn to walk and run confidently.

Their brains are like sponges, desperate to be filled in.

Now, there are a lot of ideas that we somehow “stop” learning when we get to age seven or so.

But that can’t be true, otherwise the only inventions we would have would come from seven-year-olds.

Since many inventions (especially medical and scientific inventions) come from people WAY older than seven, there’s something else going on.

Why does it SEEM that we stop learning at seven? (or at least for many of us)

Because we fall into the trap of needing to BE TAUGHT by other people.

People that continue to invent things are always thinking, “what if…”

And then trying a bunch of stuff out.

Truth is we ALL have that capacity.

Only in most of us, once “school” is over, we shut our brains off.

But your learning capacity is still there.

Your capacity for discovery is still there.

How do you use it?

Just like a little kid does. Just like a scientist or entrepreneur does.

Ask “What if…” and try something.

And see what happens.

Obviously, you want to try something that will get you going in a direction you’d like to go.

Like making more money, or having better relationships, or getting healthier or smarter.

The tendency for many is to wait around and BE TOLD what to do.

But that isn’t any fun!

It’s more fun to discover on your own. To continuously INVENT your life, one small step at a time.

To RE-DISCOVER that thrill of having curiosity and excitement about your future.

Because it’s out there, waiting for you.

Make It:

End Self Sabotage

Monsters Are Coming

Epic Journeys and Monster Fights

Why do we humans love stories so much?

Anything that is ubiquitous across all time and all cultures usually has a LOT of reasons for being around.

Imagine what it was like in ancient hunter-gatherer tribes.

Before written language was invented.

What kind of stories would they have told and retold?

They would have to be entertaining.

Nobody likes boring stories.

But they also had to be inspirational.

After all, living back in those days wasn’t easy.

Imagine your typical hunter-gatherer, going to “work” every day.

They had to find an animal to kill and eat. Usually the bigger the better.

What kind of “story-memories” could be helpful to have when chasing down a big wooly mammoth?

Fairy princess stories?

Or the little guy kills the big monster story?

How about when the weather changed, and they had to migrate into unknown territory.

What stories would be useful to tell each night during those long journeys?

Frog into prince stories?

Or epic adventure stories?

When you watch a movie or read a book, what character do you imagine to be?

The good guy or the bad guy?

The main character or one of the supporting characters?

The Greeks knew long ago one of the reasons we love stories is it gives us a feeling of emotional release.

We get to feel the “tension-release” without having to actually go through the risky or painful “event.”

Books and movies that flop are usually because they don’t “move” us.

And when they say, “move,” that obviously means “move our emotions” around.

If you’ve studied hypnosis, you know that the “thing” that “moves” us when it comes to individual language is STRUCTURE much more than content.

And guess what?

All of those epic stories of adventure, killing the monster, etc., they have the SAME structure.

Joseph Campbell called it the “Hero’s Journey.”

The cool thing is that you don’t need to be Spielberg or Stephen King to create these same structures.

You can create them conversationally, and move people profoundly.

You’ll find it’s a pretty cool party trick.

But that’s just the beginning.

Because any time you’re “chit chatting” to somebody, and you drop in a few of these similar structures, you can have a lasting effect on whoever you’re speaking to.

Learn How:

Hypnotic Storytelling

Click With Anybody

How To Click With Nearly Anybody

The idea of resonance has always been a favorite of mine.

Even as a kid, when I didn’t know what it was.

Me and my friends learned how to shake street signs.

If you push it back and forth at the right frequency, you can get some pretty huge oscillations.

Much bigger than you’d be able to push on your own.

Being a kid and leveraging some principle of science to create an effect seemingly impossible is pretty cool.

The same happens when people “click” with one another.

Most of the time we stumble through life, just trying randomly.

So when that “click” does happen, it’s extra special.

Because it’s “scarce” it seems to be more valuable than it really is.

Scarcity does that.

But this presents a problem, one we really don’t realize.

Because we perceive those situations (where we “click” with others) as “scarce” we tend to hang onto them LONGER than we should.

Luckily, this won’t happen once we realize that feeling of “scarcity” is only in our mind.

Once you learn how to CREATE that “click” feeling, the scarcity goes away.

And will make those “click” situations MUCH BETTER.

Normally, when we start to “click” with somebody we are both worried and ecstatic at the same time.

Happy it’s happening, but worried because it’s scarce.

And scarce things tend to stay that way.

So not only do we hang on for dear life, we tend to do things not to ENHANCE that “click” feeling, but protect it.

We don’t want to ruin a good thing.

But once you learn how to create that click feeling in a majority of the people you interact with, a couple of things will happen.

One is because they won’t be scarce, you can relax and enjoy them.

Two is because you’ll be relaxing and enjoying the situation, the other person will “resonate” with you.

This is what people do.

We vibe with one another.

If YOU are nervous, so will the other person.

IF you are relaxed and enjoying yourself, so will the other person.

This requires that you stop HOPING it will happen, and learn how to MAKE it happen.

Once you do, you’ll have a skill few people even know exist.

Learn How:

Hypnotic Storytelling