Author Archives: mindpersuasion

Eject That Pesky Monkey!

Free Your Mind

A lot of times we use metaphors without really knowing what they mean.

Well, that’s not really true. We know what they mean, but we don’t know WHY they mean that.

Linguist Stephen Pinker has documented several cases where once a metaphor passes a generation or two, it’s original connection is lost. The metaphor, in the brain of the new users, is a direct representation of the meaning.

Take “kick the bucket” for example. Sure, we know it means to “die.” That’s what the term “bucket list” comes from. Things you do before you “kick the bucket.” Now, why in the world kicking a bucket means dying is anybody’s guess. Sure, plenty of people have their theories, but nobody really knows for sure.

Another one is “buy the farm,” which also means dying. Sure, plenty of people have ideas why this means dying, but they’re really just guesses that sound good.

One of my favorites is “raining cats and dogs.” Why in the world “cats and dogs?” I actually did some research to try and find out, and there is one “best guess” that sounds pretty cool.

Back in the old days of England, people were pretty dirty. They just threw their garbage out the window, onto the street. So when it rained really heavy, it would wash all the garbage down the street. Including the dead animals. So people would say it was “raining cats and dogs” because as they watched the water rush down the street, it was carrying dead animals along with the rest of the garbage.

Again, this is only a “best guess.” When it comes to the original of language, phrases, words, etc, it’s really hard to trace back the original location.

But some things are easy to understand. Some metaphors are pretty clear why they mean what they do.

Like having a “monkey on your back.” Some creature hanging on keeping you limited and inhibited. Screaming in your ear.

Some problem you can’t get rid of, because it keeps on hanging on.

It’s an appropriate metaphor because a “monkey” in and of itself is a good metaphor for a primitive human.

So saying you’ve got a “monkey on your back” is like saying you’re being constantly harangued by your primitive self.

That primitive self who wants to stay safe at all costs. Your enlightened, rational self has an idea. An idea that may help you fall in love, make a ton of cash, or get yourself into a much better career.

But that monkey on your back whispers negative voices in your ear. Makes you afraid. Makes you hesitate. Forces you to reconsider.

The good news is there IS a way to get that monkey off your back.

For good.

Learn How:

Subliminal Programming

Do The Thing Get The Confidence

Fortune Favors The Brave

I remember once in fourth grade, we had this contest.

Some firefighters were coming to talk to us about fire safety. We had to draw some kind of poster about fire safety, and the firefighters were going to choose a winner.

I came up with a goofy rhyme and made up some goofy pictures to go along with it.

I came in second place.

When they held my poster up, and were reading the back to see whose it was, my friend got excited before I did.

I guess I thought it was some kind of mistake or something.

Then when I heard my name, I finally believed it.

When I made the poster, I didn’t think I’d win. I didn’t even believe when I saw it. I had to see it AND hear it before I believed it.

I once had a friend from Missouri. The “Show Me” state.

I asked him why it was called the “Show Me” state.

He said people from there are like that. They won’t believe anything unless you “show them.”

(Apologies if you’re from Missouri!)

Most of us live our lives like that. We won’t believe anything unless we see proof. Unless we see it researched and proven and written about in official scientific journals.

When we hear something we don’t like, that makes us feel “uncomfortable,” we ask, “Is there any proof?”

Yet we live our whole lives with all kinds of false beliefs in our minds. Yet we NEVER ask for proof about those.

You know which beliefs I’m talking about.

The beliefs standing between where you are, and where you want to be.

If you’re waiting for PROOF that those beliefs are false, you’ll be waiting long time.

One movie I particularly liked is “Three Kings.” It’s about some soldiers in Iraq who conspired to steal a bunch of gold.

They were about to make some important move, and one of the younger soldiers was nervous.

He said, “If I were more confident I’d be able to do this.”

The older soldier was played by George Clooney. He said it doesn’t work like that.

He said, “First you do the thing, THEN you get the confidence.”

Beliefs are kind of the same way. You take action to get what you want, THEN you’ll believe you can get it.

The only person who needs to “prove it” is you.

The only person who CAN “prove it,” is you.

However, it doesn’t have to be scary.

You can reach inside your mind, and slowly change those beliefs.

So that taking action is MUCH easier. And once you DO, then you’ll believe you can do ANYTHING.

Get Started:

Subliminal Programming

How To Resonate

Lick Your Finger and Try Again

When I was a kid we’d have a few formal dinners per year.

Nothing fancy, just Thanksgiving and X-mas. My mom would get out the fancy silverware and the plates, which I thought was a pain in the arse.

The fun part was rubbing our fingers across the rim of the wine goblets.

If you got it just right, you could make the glass sing.

From a physics standpoint, the frequency of the micro jumps of friction across the surface are the same as the resonance frequency of the glass.

It sucks when everybody else is making their glass hum, but you can’t.

It’s when you are out of sync with the natural resonance frequency of the system.

This plays out in many different areas of life, as you can imagine.

When you’re “resonating” you’re basically in sync without everybody around you.

Everybody laughs at your jokes, all the lights are green, right when you show up to the front of the supermarket with your basket full of a groceries a brand new line opens up.

Easy Peasy!

Other times, it sucks. It seems that nothing works. All the lights are red. All the lines are long. Everybody just rolls their eyes and shakes their heads when you try a joke.

What then?

Same thing with the wine glass. Stop, take a deep breath, lick your finger, and try again.

Or maybe try a different finger.

Or maybe try a different glass.

The bottom line is if nothing’s working, all that means is you’ve got to do something different.

After all, you are a human with a BILLION variables all going at once. Operating within a reality that’s got BILLIONS of BILLIONS of variables. You just have to keep tweaking things until they match up.

One thing that will ALWAYS help is to make sure you are not trying to fight your nature.

Meaning if you are doing something contrary to your purpose, you’ll know. Even when you’re successful, it feels like work. You keep checking the clock to see when it’s time to leave.

But when you’re ON purpose, when you KNOW you’re busily on the path to fulfilling your life’s mission, then it’s much easier to get everything to click.

You might even say that the whole point of the first half of your life is to FIND your purpose.

The point of the second half is to LIVE your purpose.

If you haven’t found it yet, don’t worry.

You will.

These will help:

Subliminal Programming

Are You Stealing From Your Future?

Which One Of You Benefits?

Some of the most helpful questions come from the field of economics.

Now, most people imagine that economics is some kind of advanced mathematical study.

And if you listen to the economists who work for the government, they sure try and make it seem like this.

I even read an article (written by an economist) who tried to get another article published in some of the mainstream economic journals, with no success. He’d written the article in very simple terms, so that anybody could understand it.

And it was rejected by all the publications.

Then he took the SAME article, the SAME ideas, and made them sound incredibly complicated and used a bunch of unneeded mathematical formulae.

And it was ACCEPTED by the same publications.

To understand why, here’s a joke:

A hiring manager interviewed three people, a mathematician, an engineer, and an economist. He asked each one what “one plus one” was.

The mathematician looked at him like he was crazy and said, “two.”

The Engineer stroked his chin and said, “Hmm, well that depends on the constraints of the system and various other unknown variables.”

The economist smiled, looked at him and said, “Well, what do you WANT it to be equal to?”

The joke being, of course, that economists can use all kind of mumbo jumbo to make up a bunch of intelligent sounding bullcrap.

But back to the original questions.

Or the original idea. That REAL economics is always based on human action.

And human action is ALWAYS subjective, and ALWAYS involves choice.

And one of those questions is, “At what cost?”

Politicians HATE this question.

But as individuals intending on creating the best life we can, we MUST ask ourselves this question, if we want keep ourselves honest.

Sure, it’s fun to sit on the couch, watch TV, and eat ice cream. But at what cost?

What are you missing out on? What OTHER things could you be doing? How would THEY benefit you? Would they benefit you MORE (in the long or short run) than sitting on the couch?

And famous economic question is, “Who benefits?”

If there’s any funny stuff going on, a good way to find out what’s REALLY going on is to ask, “Who benefits?”

How can you apply this to yourself?

Imagine yourself today, or over the next week.

Imagine yourself a year from now. Five years from now. Ten years from now.

Imagine all of your selves, now and in the future.

Next time you are thinking of doing something (sitting on the couch or building your empire), ask yourself:

“Who benefits?”

The NOW you, or the FUTURE you?

Few people make an effort to plan their future with any conscious or rational thought.

But those that DO, generally have MUCH better lives.

Get Yours:

Subliminal Programming

Go Out On A Limb

Use The Right Tools

Once I had to take apart this small mechanical thing on my bicycle.

I’d lost the key to the lock, which was part of the bike, so I needed to disassemble the lock mechanism.

I didn’t have the right size screwdriver, so instead of walking to the hardware store, (since I couldn’t use my bicycle) I used a butter knife.

Kind of clumsy, but it worked.

Another time, WAY back in 3rd grade, I was giving a demonstration on how to make peanut butter. The Grand Finale was to give everybody a cracker with some homemade peanut butter on it, but I’d forgotten a knife.

So I used a spoon instead. My teacher was impressed with my on-the-spot thinking.

Clearly, it’s important to have the right tools. However, having something that’s “good enough” is usually just as effective. Sure it may look silly, and you may FEEL silly, but so long as you’re focused on getting your outcome, it’s usually all good.

Sometimes, though, the “wrong” tools are the things we’re carrying around in our heads.

For example, we’ve still got a lot of instincts left over from our hunter-gatherer days that don’t serve us so well today.

Back then, it was a REALLY good idea to eat as much as you could any time you had a chance.

Today, not so much.

Back then, it was a good idea to follow the crowd without thinking, and be VERY risk averse.

However, in today’s fast changing world and economy, if you wait around for enough “social proof” so you’ll feel comfortable making a move, you’ll miss out.

Obviously, this isn’t easy. Not any easier than sitting in front of a delicious pile of nachos (or your favorite fast food) and NOT eating.

But guess what? Those that create huge empires and fortunes and world changing inventions learn to ignore their primitive urges. They know that part of genius is doing something completely DIFFERENT than everybody else, especially while others are talking smack behind their back.

Nobody every created greatness by playing it safe!

Often times, great ideas that moved the Earth got people killed!

Now, I’m saying you need to go out and be persecuted to death for your great ideas, but you’ve GOT to be willing to experience just a LITTLE bit of discomfort.

Think of whatever you’d like to have, right now. The biggest, most amazing thing you can conjure up.

If getting THAT was easy and comfortable, then EVERYBODY would have it, RIGHT NOW.

But you KNOW it’s not. You KNOW it will take some effort.

Some of THESE may help you get going:

Subliminal Programming

The REAL Golden Rule

Unlimited Opportunities

I used to have this friend that was an on-purpose polarity responder.

Meaning he would always say and do the opposite of what was socially expected.

If a sign said “Do Not Enter,” he would enter.

If somebody told to “wait here,” he would wait over there.

Now, sometimes it was cool to hang around this guy, but most of the time it was kind of annoying.

It was like he couldn’t shut it off. You’d try and have a normal conversation, and he would always say the opposite of what you would expect most normal people to do.

On the other hand, most people are the opposite of “opposite-man,” meaning they ONLY do what is socially expected.

To be sure, this is definitely a safe choice in most situations. Most of us don’t like calling attention to ourselves when we don’t need to.

The trick is knowing WHEN to break the rules, and WHY to break the rules.

Sure, most rules are set up to keep everybody safe and happy. But plenty of rules are set up to protect “some” people at the expense of others.

When you encounter THESE rules, the REAL rule is to “not get caught.”

When I was a kid, we were all taught the “Golden Rule” in school.

“Do Unto Others As You Would Have Done Unto You.”

I had a buddy who had a beach towel that said, “Do Unto Others…Then Split!”

Meaning do what you want, then get the heck out of town before the cops show up!

The other day, however, I read an interesting article regarding the secrets of charisma.

It said the Golden Rule is bogus.

Because if we treat others the way we want to be treated, that’s actually pretty selfish.

Instead, we should treat others the way THEY WANT to be treated.

Problem is, most people don’t ask. They just “do unto others” and assume it’s OK.

Often times it’s not.

Now do you know how to treat others?

Ask them!

(I know, stunning realization!)

Funny thing is that even though this is pretty obvious, most people walk around talking about themselves.

Next time you’re in a group of friends, turn off your yap for a little bit, and listen to the flow of conversation.

Chances are it will be everybody taking turns talking about themselves. Their wants, their needs, their opinions.

At first glance, this seems pretty selfish of them.

But it gives YOU a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY.

Since they’re saying pretty much EXACTLY what they want, you know EXACTLY how to talk to them, in order to get what you want.

Just take whatever you want, and put it in their terms, and they’ll be glad to give it to you.

What’s more, they’ll think it was their idea!

Learn How:

Interpersonal Resonance

Love The Rough Parts

Ups and Downs

Many people start off with a strong goal, and then lose motivation later on.

For example, if you go to your local gym a week after New Year’s, you’ll see that it’s packed with people.

But if you show up a month or two later, you’ll see far fewer.

If you can recall many of the projects you’ve started off in the past, you may notice a similar pattern.

One of the reasons for this may your particular Meta-Program when it comes to motivation.

Some people are motivated to move away from pain. Some people are motivated to move towards pleasure. Most are a mixture of both.

So anytime you start off a project without understanding and addressing both ends of the spectrum, it’s easy to lose motivation.

For example, if you looked at yourself in the mirror and didn’t like what you saw, you’d be motivated.

But as soon as you made a little progress, that negative feeling would have less of an effect. You’re replacing that negative feeling with positive action.

In this case, it’s best to acknowledge that the INITIAL motivation is to move away from something negative, but to keep going, you’ll need to create something positive to pull you forward.

It’s also common to be in a good rhythm, and then get stuck in a rut. Or even take a few steps back.

You’re jamming along, getting small success after small success, seeing that big goal getting closer and closer and BAM!

Something happens, and it seems as though everything’s falling apart.

During these periods, it’s really easy to get discouraged.

However, it’s important to understand that this is part of the process.

One of the tests of “randomness” in any system is whether or not there are “runs.”

Meaning if you flip a coin a thousand times, you’re going to get times when you get ten heads in a row, or ten tails in a row.

This is a statistical requirement. In fact, if you DON’T have runs, then something’s wrong.

So on your way to your goal, you should fully EXPECT to have rough patches. You should only start to worry if you NEVER have any rough patches.

Even in the movies, when things are too easy, the hero or heroine realizes something must be wrong.

Because it’s NEVER easy.

Remember this next time you hit a rough patch. It’s perfectly natural. It’s expected. It’s nature’s way of FORCING you to dig deep and reevaluate your strategy, so you can come up with something even BETTER than what you’ve been doing.

As the founder of Sony famously said, if you want to double your success rate, all you’ve got to do is double your failure rate.

Get Started:

Mind Persuasion

Do You Feel Trapped?

Keep Wanting More

The other day I watched a movie at my local theater.

Pretty funny, but because I showed up a little late, I had to sit in the front row.

Got used to it after a few minutes, but at first it was pretty strange.

I remember when I was in high school I got a “hand me down” pickup truck from my brother.

I was kind of hard to park, but my friend said, “don’t worry, you’ll get used to it after a while.”

If you’ve ever moved into a new place, you know the first couple nights are pretty weird. If you wake up, you’re a little disoriented. You don’t know where anything is. But after a week or so, it starts to feel like “home.”

It’s been said that the older we get, the harder it is to change our routine. Several marketing studies have shown that people in older age groups are much less likely to switch brands unless something drastic happens.

Young kids, on the other hand, are much more willing to try new things.

No matter who you are, or where you are in life, there are things that you still want, need and desire.

Programmed into your DNA is the desire for more. Even just sitting in a chair, you won’t be comfortable for very long.

Our subconscious minds are always looking out into the future in order to try and improve our “state.”

Sometimes this means a small shift in posture. Sometimes this means a dramatic change.

One thing that can trap is oscillating between states of comfort.

It feels like you’re “improving” but all you’re really doing is shifting back and forth.

Sometimes it’s a good idea just to do something different, just for the sake of being different.

One way to avoid the trap of falling into complacency is always reviewing your goals. Make sure you’ve got at least ONE big goal that is AT LEAST a year out. And make sure you’ve got a few “milestones” in between where you are now, and where you’ll be in a year.

So you can actually look at each day as an opportunity to get a little bit closer.

Anything will work. So long you are doing SOMETHING to move closer, you’ll avoid the complacency trap.

Taking a walk, writing a few words in your journal, talking to one new person a day, ANYTHING is better than sitting around waiting for something to happen.

Once you start taking daily ACTION, then your subconscious will know you’re serious, and start showing you many more opportunities. THAT is when life becomes exciting again.

If you don’t have a goal, choose one. Any one. And get started.

These will help:

Mind Persuasion

Seek and Destroy Limiting Beliefs

Flip Your Beliefs

I learned this cool thing about light when I was in college.

When light comes from the sun, it’s in all different directions.

Meaning a beam of light has these oscillations, positive and negative.

But they are in all different degrees. It has a pure vertical component, and a pure horizontal component, and everything in between.

To see this in action, get a couple of sunglasses that are “polarized.” The polarization of the sunglasses is to reduce the glare. It does that by ONLY letting through the vertical component of the light.

Since glare is usually horizontal, as it’s reflected off flat surfaces, having a vertical only filter will eliminate those.

So if you take two glasses that are polarized, and rotate them, you can get it so NO light is passed through.

This is precisely how our beliefs work. As you know, the conscious mind can ONLY perceive of about 1/25,000 of what’s really going on. Everything else is filtered out. Filtered out by our beliefs.

So all you’ve got to do is identify your self-limiting beliefs, remove them, and you’ll see all kinds of stuff that didn’t seem like it was there before.

This is one way the Law of Attraction works. You start to BELIEVE, then you’ll start to see.

Stuff isn’t magically showing up, it was there all along. But you didn’t see it before.

Kind of like a magic trick. That magician isn’t REALLY pulling a rabbit out of some magical doorway into the space-time continuum, you just don’t see it, then you see it.

Poof! Magic!

So, how do you find and eliminate your limiting beliefs?

One way is to take a look at your life now. The way it REALLY is. Take a good, hard, honest look.

Then write down what beliefs MUST be true in order to support this reality you’ve created for yourself?

I must warn you, this won’t feel good. Because ANY method that uncovers limiting beliefs is NOT going to feel good. You’re going to have to find really CRAPPY things you believe about yourself, and elevate them up to the conscious level. (Kind of like vomiting up some gross moldy cheese you ate by accident!)

But once you flip it around, and let the new, POSITIVE believe sink back in, you’re life will change.

How do you do that? Take whatever NEGATIVE belief you’ve found, and just flip it around to it’s grammatical opposite. OR change it however you like.

For example, if you find one of your beliefs, based on your REALITY is that “I’m only worth $10.25 per hour,” then simply rewrite it:

“I’m worth $500 per hour!”

Then get busy programming THAT belief into your subconscious.

Like This:

Money Love

Beliefs and Tools and Rocks

It’s Easier Than You Think

Long time ago I used to go rock climbing with a buddy of mine.

He was MUCH better at it than I was, so he would always “lead.”

This meant he went first, put in the pieces of protection that the rope would go through as he climbed up.

My job as the “follower” was to slowly lead the rope up as he climbed. If he fell, he’d fall past the last piece of “protection” he’d placed in the rock. If that happened, I’d catch him.

Then when I went up, I had to “clean.” Meaning I had to take each piece of protection out of the rock, and put it on a sling. By the time we’d get to the top, all the pieces of “protection” would have slowly moved from his sling to my sling.

The pieces of “protection,” or “pro” were works of art in and of themselves. All different kinds, designed to fit in small cracks, wedges, and ledges. Some were pretty hard to get out, so I had to carry a “cleaning tool” which was kind like a long flat piece of metal with a small hook on the end.

I’d use it to reach into cracks to pry loose the pieces of pro.

Once, we’d done a bunch of short climbs, and we had about two hours left. He wanted to try this “face” climb. Face climbs are particularly difficult, because there’s not a lot of ledges or cracks to hold onto.

Just small smooth protrusions in the rock. You have to see them, and balance on them, and move fairly quickly.

Compared to big cracks or ledges, where you can get a good hold and hang there all day if you wanted to.

Faces, on the other hand, you had to keep moving. You always had to look a few moves ahead, see the small hand holds and foot holds, and just keep on climbing. If you stopped, you’d slip, and if you slipped, it was easy to lose your nerve.

So he tells me that this particular face was pretty easy. Much easier than the climbs I’d already done that day.

So he led, and I followed. When I followed, I walked right up, no problem. It was easy like he said it was.

Only he kind of tricked me. It was much harder than he’d told me. He figured if he told me the REAL rating, I’d chicken out, or take too long climbing up. So he said it was a lot easier than it really was.

Since I believed him, it was.

Funny how that works. Once you change your beliefs, and trust yourself, you’re good to go.

Grab yourself some tools, and make a pretty good life for yourself.

Learn How:

Money Love