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Shift Your Luck Filter

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When all you have is a hammer, all you see is nails.

This is a very basic description of human perception.

How we perceive the world around us is directly related to our own filters.

Some of these filters are pretty hard wired. These are throwbacks from evolution and kept us safe when we were running around in the jungle chasing dinner.

Since cavemen weren’t famous for their intellectual reasoning, Mother Nature had to make certain things automatic.

So when they saw something out of the corner of their eye that was a potential threat, that flight or fight response AUTOMATICALLY kicked in. They’d take off running before they knew what was what.

We’ve still got those filters today, which is pretty funny whenever we jump at shadows!

Other filters are based on our recent experience. Things that we’ve been thinking about a lot lately will start showing up.

Others are kind of in between, and they are not set in stone, but they take some effort to change.

They are also structurally based, rather than content based.

In NLP, these are called “Meta Programs.”

Like if you are more motivated by fear or pleasure. Or if you see a new situation, do you automatically find things you are familiar with, or things you are unfamiliar with? 

Or when you make a decision, does it come from the inside, or do you need to hear validation from the outside?

One thing that’s crucial is how open you are to seeing opportunities.

You can have the attitude of “nothing good ever happens to me,” or “why doesn’t anything happen to me.”

Many people have these thought patterns running through their heads.

And guess what? Nothing ever happens to them!

Others have the idea of “Something fantastic is going to happen,” or even “I wonder what cool thing is going to happen?”

And guess what? Those people usually find some pretty good things. Some may say they are extraordinary lucky.

Imagine if you saw an interesting person across the room. Instead of thinking, “I’d like to talk to them, but I might get rejected,” you thought, “I wonder what cool things I can find out about that person?”

Imagine going into a job interview and instead of thinking, “I hope I don’t mess up,” you think, “Hmm, I wonder if this is the right opportunity for me?”

Now, this wouldn’t magically change your life. It wouldn’t rain money.

But you would create a LOT more positive events.

All it takes is a shift inside, and you’ll see a shift outside.

See The Structure Of Reality

See The Structure of Reality

Behind The Curtains

One of the biggest lessons from NLP and hypnosis is content vs. structure.

Structure is what moves us, but we tend to focus on content.

There are plenty of instinctive triggers that drive our behavior, like social proof, authority, scarcity, etc.

But we tend to ignore those, and focus on the content.

If you were to walk down the street, and saw a huge crowd in front of a restaurant, you’d assume the food was pretty good.

But if you were to walk down on a different day, and saw no people, you’d assume the place was lousy.

All without tasting the food, or the content.

Advertisers have known for years that a very good marketing campaign can sell a mediocre product.

While a really, really good product will sit on the shelf gathering dust, if it’s not promoted right.

Many years ago people were buying rocks. But since they were called “pet rocks,” and were marketed pretty cleverly, everybody HAD to have one.

One of the greatest skills you can develop is to easily switch between content and structure.

It’s like having x-ray vision into reality, seeing things most people miss.

You can start seeing the real drivers of not only human behavior, but larger events as well.

It’s been said that there are three types of people in the world.

Those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that say, “What happened?”

With most people in the last group, it’s no wonder why most people seem to never catch any breaks, and when they do it’s usually thought to be once in a long while type of thing.

But when you shift your thinking into structure view, you’ll be in that small minority that can see things unfolding, and then position yourself to take advantage of them.

Everybody will think you’ve become incredibly lucky, but you’ll know what’s up.

It does take some practice. It’s kind of like paying attention to the grammatical structure of your speech WHILE you’re talking.

But once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty amazing.

Are You Ignoring The Goddess Of Luck?

Dreams Are All Around You

Dreams are Everywhere

One of the most common ways people (in this case guys) use “luck” is in seduction.

Meaning if a guy “gets lucky” then he gets the girl.

However, if we dive just a little beyond internet mythology, it’s clear there’s much more “choice” going on than luck.

If he’s confident, for example, he’ll radiate a much different energy, which will attract a much different energy from others.

Studies have shown, that both for guys and girls, simply changing their posture (an indicator of confidence) will change how people “rate” them on that 1-10 scale. As much as two points in some cases.

Meaning if you’re normally a “6,” simply by changing your posture, you’ll be perceived as an “8.”

Or from an 8 to 10.

Of course, there’s also how well you can “interpret” your reality. Any girl will tell you that sending signals to a guy who simply doesn’t respond is about as common as sunshine.

And in most cases, the guy’s just too dense to pick up on them.

So from a guy’s standpoint, simply by changing their internal belief system a bit (more confidence) and changing how they perceive their reality (picking up on those signals) our metaphorical guy will suddenly get a lot “luckier.”

And even his friends will wonder why he’s always getting so “lucky.”

Luckily (lol), this doesn’t happen only for guys who are after girls.

This works for pretty much anybody who is after anything. Relationships, money, jobs, friendships, pretty much anything.

One of my favorite lines is from the Talking Heads song, “Burning Down The House”:

“…Dreams walking in broad daylight…”

Another variation of this comes from an old tagline from Investors Business Daily, (which has a FINE system for finding winning stocks, AND how to buy and sell them properly):

“With Investors Business Daily, the opportunity of a lifetime happens every couple weeks.”

In truth, many people wait their ENTIRE LIVES to “get lucky.”

When it doesn’t happen to them, they curse the gods of luck, as if luck is some kind of one way gift, like Halloween candy, or birthday presents.

Most people are sitting around waiting for the Goddess of Luck to come knocking, interrupting them in the middle of their favorite reality show.

Well, if you aren’t “open to luck,” she ain’t coming.

She may indeed pass by your house every week or so, but she peeks in and sees you busily checking Facebook or worrying about the latest mainstream media gossip.

So she passes you by.

But just like changing our posture and noticing those signals can get a guy “lucky,” changing your internal mindset and noticing reality a little bit differently can get YOU lucky.

In any way you desire.

Purely Expressed Desires

The Euphoria Factor

Release Inhibitions

The best run of luck I ever had in Vegas was when I was under the influence.

Not of alcohol, but painkillers.

I had really bad tendonitis, so bad I was on crutches.

I also had a nice bottle of drugs to ease the pain. But they also significantly improved my mood.

I sat at the roulette table with a buddy for almost an hour. Because of my crutches, I could only “toss” the chips onto the table, instead of lean over.

The dealer didn’t seem to have a problem with it. She just put them on the closest number they landed on.

And I kept winning. For an hour.

Statistically, this was nearly impossible.

Once or twice? Sure. But for an hour? No way. At least not mathematically.

(But then again, scientists tell us that bumblebees aren’t supposed to be able to fly!)

Now, I’m not advocating taking drugs or purposely going under the influence of ANY substance. I fully believe it wasn’t the pain killing effects of the drugs, but the secondary feeling of “euphoria.”

I had zero fears. I didn’t care if I won or lost. I just enjoyed playing.

And I kept winning.

A year or so later, my buddies and I tried to “reverse engineer” that same effect.

We discussed on the way out that we would ONLY “think positive.”

Meaning we wouldn’t rip on each other, or laugh at each other when we lost, like we normally do.

Only mutual support. Only positive statements to each other.

I know, sounds pretty lame. Pretty new-agey.

But guess what?

On that trip, we ALL won. Consistently. The ONLY TIME the three of us (who’d been to Vegas before and since MANY times) came back with pockets stuffed with MORE CASH than on the way out.

Even AFTER paying for expenses (including, ahem, “entertainment.”)

Something else pretty cool happened on that first trip.

We were playing blackjack, and our cocktail waitress was GORGEOUS.

Once when she was walking away, on the spur of the moment, I shouted out, “I love you!”

My friends, (and the dealer) were shocked.

Maybe they were waiting for her to call the cops or at least give me a dirty look.

She just turned around, no big deal, big smile on her face.

“I love you too!”

Now, sure she was a cocktail waitress looking to get tips. Yea, she was hit on all the time.

But the flow of the moment was so incredibly natural. No hesitation on my part. No hesitation on her part.

Now, I didn’t “fall in love with her,” as I was just being playful, and so was she.

But this is what’s possible if you simply release inhibitions and not just live in the moment, but fully ENJOY the moment.

The risks you take will succeed. The expressions of your desires will be reciprocated. Normally closed doors will be open.

It’s incredibly simple, and at the same time magically complicated.

See Through The Noise

See Through The Noise

Don’t Be Blindsided

There’s a concept in investing called a “Black Swan.”

It basically means a completely unforeseen event that sets of a chain reaction.

A chain reaction that sends markets plummeting, and the economy reeling.

It’s also used to describe things that set off revolutions, or great wars. Like the assassination that allegedly started WWI.

One small, seemingly unrelated event that sets of a huge chain reaction that literally changes the world.

Of course, looking back in retrospect (as hindsight is ALWAYS 20-20) it seems pretty obvious. We usually ask, “Why didn’t they know what was happening?”

For example, during the financial crisis of 2008, nobody really knew what was happening at the time. But a few years later, it was pretty clear. So much that everybody asks, “What were they thinking?”

This doesn’t only apply to negative things.

They happen EXACTLY the same way with positive things.

Looking from the outside in, it seems that one “lucky” event made somebody rich, or led them to meet the right person at the right time.

An those who are struggling tend to look at those “lucky” people and say, “How come that never happens to me?”

But if you look closely, you’ll see that “lucky” people are living on the same planet as the rest of us.

Moving through the same world we are moving through. Meeting the same people we are meeting. Living within the same 24 hours every day that we are living through.

It’s just that they see things a little differently. They see opportunity where others see noise. They see people as potential answers to their prayers, rather than people to simply obstacles to not bump into.

They look at the world with curiosity, wonder and positive expectation, instead of worry and fear.

They say that luck is merely preparation meeting opportunity.

But when you “prepare” your mind, opportunity is suddenly EVERYWHERE.

And it’s waiting to meet you.

As the famous saying goes, when you see a fork in the road, take it.

Most people want to be told which path is better.

Most people want to be reassured they are doing the right thing.

Most people want to see somebody else go first, so they know it’s safe.

But most people rarely get lucky.

How about you?

When you see that fork in the road (which happens MANY times per day), do you take it?

Or do you hesitate?

Fortune favors the brave.

Simply shift your mind, and you’ll see opportunities.

Can You Mold Reality With Your Mind?

Mold Reality With Your Mind

It’s Never Like You Think It Is

One of my biggest “aha” moments in my life came back when I studied physics.

It wasn’t really an “aha” moment, more like a “WTF?” moment.

When I started to understand how the nature of reality was NOT like most people understand.

Now, I’m not for a second going to tell you how it DOES work, I only know enough (which ain’t much lol!) about how it’s WAY more complicated that humans can understand.

Anyhow, when you pop a balloon, or squeeze the top of a can of whipped cream, why does all the stuff come out so fast?

Most people would say because of the pressure.

And why would pressure make stuff come out?

Most people would say because all the air molecules (or whipped cream molecules) are so crammed in there, bouncing around off each other, they CAN’T WAIT to get out.

So when you open a little hole, they push and shove all over each other to run for the exit.

At least that’s the way the “person on the street” would describe it.

Only that’s NOT what’s going on.

See, there are two types of statistics that describe the motion of a whole slew of particles.

And these two types are based on two assumptions.

One of these assumptions is that the particles interact with each other.

The other branch of particle statistics is that they DON’T interact with each other. Meaning each particle “thinks” it’s the only one around.

And guess which branch of statistics PERFECTLY describes how gas rushes out of a tight container, especially when under pressure?

That’s right. The one branch that is based on the assumption that EVERY SINGLE PARTICLE in that balloon or can of whipped cream THINKS IT’S THE ONLY ONE.

Let that sink in for a while.

So if all those particles thinks they are the only one, why do they ALL rush for the exit?

Because, as my physics professor explained, it’s simply not statistically probable that all those particles would be in there at the same time.

(Wait… What?)

Meaning that nature has some kind of secret tendency to REVERT back to what is statistically probable.

Now, who determines what is statistically probable? Was all of this stuff statistically probable before humans came along and started measuring it?

Another MASSIVE discovery in physics was that humans CHANGE the system simply be being involved. Simply by observing it. Now, this is a WHOLE different topic, that I’ll maybe write about later. (For those of you who know, it’s Heisenberg’s Principle of Uncertainty).

So is it possible simply by OBSERVING reality in a certain way, that we can actually ALTER reality?

Perhaps we can.

How To Hack Reality

How To Find Luck

Find Things Others Can’t

When I was a kid, we would go down to the corner ice cream shop and play video games.

They were the old kind. Very simple graphics, like Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac Man.

One kid had figured out some kind of “cheat.” Meaning if you moved your character around in a specific way, you would easily move from level to level without being eaten.

At first, we thought he was just “lucky,” but later we learned what was up.

I used to have this job where we would use company cars when visiting clients.

Often times, these clients would all be in the same office building, working for different departments in this large company.

We would leave at the same time, but one of my colleagues would ALWAYS get there about five minutes ahead of me.

I’d always thought he was “lucky” and got green lights while I got red lights. But he’d just figured out a faster way, through many side streets, where there were NO lights.

Often times being “lucky” just means knowing how to work the system the most efficiently to get what you want.

Once a scientist even did a study to find out the difference between “lucky” people and “unlucky” people.

He put them both through the exact same environment, but the “lucky” people did MUCH BETTER than the unlucky people.

So much that it was statistically significant. Meaning it wasn’t really “luck” that was making the “lucky people” so much better. It was something else.

He later determined it was how they view the world. They expect to see opportunities, so they do. When they see them, they aren’t afraid to take action.

They look at the world with an attitude of a child, wondering what cool thing is going to happen next.

It’s been said that what the thinker thinks, the prover proves. Meaning if you think you’re unlucky, you will be.

But if you believe you are lucky, you will be.

Now, some of this goes WAY BEYOND what rational human science can understand.

However, when you realize that your subconscious mind sees WAY MORE stuff than you’ll ever know, it kind of makes sense.

Imagine reaching into a box, filled with ping pong balls. There’s a hundred white balls, and one red ball.

Ten people reach in a grab a ball. If anybody is “lucky” they’ll put out the red ball and win a stack of cash.

Being “lucky” really means fine tuning your mind-body system, and opening up to the intuition of the subconscious, so luck just happens to you naturally.

As within, so without.

Are You Waiting For Proof?

Get In The Game

Get In The Game

The difference between subconscious and conscious perception is astounding.

Some studies indicate there’s about a 25,000:1 ratio.

Meaning for every one “thing” our conscious minds are aware of, there’s 25,000 “things” our subconscious is aware of.

The basic theory is like this. We are always being bombarded by massive amounts of information hitting our eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue.

But from all of that “noise” our subconscious has to figure out what’s important, and what’s not.

Think of the last time you saw something out of the corner of your eye, spun your head around and saw something good. Maybe an attractive person, maybe some money lying on the ground, maybe an interesting advertisement about something you’ve been thinking about.

Think about it this way. While your conscious mind is busy trying to keep those few things in mind, your subconscious is ALWAYS on the lookout. And when you “see” something out of the corner of your eye, it’s like your subconscious is saying, “DUDE! Over here!”

How does your subconscious know what’s important and what’s not? If you don’t do anything, it will rely on it’s factory programming. Money. Sexy people. Snakes. 

Or if you’ve been keen on anything lately, like you’ve been shopping for a new phone or something, you’ll start noticing phones every where.

But there’s a cool way to go “meta.”

This can take some practice, but it’s pretty powerful.

Normally, you see what you’ve been thinking about. Phones, red cars, cruise advertisements if you’ve been thinking about a vacation.

But when you go “meta” you’ll start noticing things that can LEAD TO what you’re after. 

Now, this is when it gets weird. You won’t see any clear conscious proof, but you’ll get a “feeling.” And if you follow that “feeling,” you’ll end up with what you want.

Some people naturally listen to those “feelings” when they get them. Most of us don’t. Most of us need to see proof, or see some step by step, easy to understand path from where we are to what we want.

But if you learn to trust your intuition, you’ll see many, many more opportunities to get what you want.

You can kick start this process by assuming that those “things that lead to other things” are out there.

Meaning you’ll follow your intuition with an ASSUMPTION that you’ll eventually find something good.

This will fire up your senses to be hypersensitive to many, many more potential opportunities than most people realize even exist.

To an outside observer, you’ll seem incredibly “lucky.” 

But you’ll know the difference.

The Most Powerful Part Of Your Brain

Sort The World For What You Want

The Sorter

I’ve always been fascinated by those people who work on assembly lines.

The people who watch the finished product go by, and make sure they all meet quality standards.

Whatever it is, cans of beans or chocolate covered cherries, they go zooming by, and they are somehow supposed to make a visual inspection of what’s OK and what’s not OK.

Clearly, not the most exciting job, but still important. If any company starts to be known for producing less than quality goods, their reputation and sales will plummet.

Certain companies are so worried about brand image that they make significant efforts to destroy all products with even the slightest defect. Otherwise, some worker might take it home, people might see it. A world famous brand, with some kind of flaw.

In all levels of production, from receiving the raw materials to the finished goods, sorting is crucial.

Without sorting you’d have junk mixed in with the good stuff.

On a personal level, sorting is also one of the most important skills to learn. The quicker you can do it, the better. 

It’s so important that part of your brain’s function is to sort. The FASTEST part of your brain is the sorter.

Think of it this way. Your conscious brain can perceive up to 40 bits per second, according to scientific research.

Your subconscious can perceive up to 1,000,000 bits per second, according to the same research.

Your SORTER (technically called your preconscious processor) has to sift through the MILLION bits of information hitting your senses every single second, and then decide what’s important, and what’s not.

How does it know?

If you don’t do ANYTHING, it will be stuff that’s hard wired into the system. Scary things, sexy things, anything that represents money. Anything that’s been on your mind lately.

Like if you’ve got a speech coming up, you may see or hear PLENTY of things that remind you of public speaking.

If you’re in love, you’ll see plenty of things that remind you of your crush.

Your sorter can also find opportunities as well. Things that will lead to the things you want.

Since your brain is hard wired to be more aware of danger than pleasure (since danger can end you), it’s naturally easier to notice scary stuff.

But if you learn to “train” your sorter to find opportunities, it will find them.

Instead of relying on ancient programming, you’ll start seeing things in a completely new way.

Your friends will all think you’ve just started getting lucky.

But YOU’LL understand what’s REALLY happening.

How To Create Rapport With Everybody

The Magic Bubble

The Magic Bubble

Here’s an interesting experiment to do next time you’re walking down the street.

You’ll need to be walking one way, with another person coming toward you, with relatively few other people on the street.

Situation one is to pick something out on the horizon, and focus on that. ONLY look at the other person, as you approach them, as a kind of blur in your peripheral vision. 

Situation two is to look at them, off and on, in the eyes as you walk toward them.

If you do this a few times, you’ll notice a pretty clear difference between the two situations.

In situation one, even though you’re not looking at the person, the both of you will automatically and subconsciously move out of each other’s way.

In situation two, when you keep making eye contact, it will be hard NOT to bump right into the other person. As you move, so will they, mirroring your movements.

This is one of the reasons why people can walk down the street staring at their phones and rarely crash into things. Sure, there’s a few funny vids with people falling into fountains and walking into glass doors, but these are FAR from the norm.

Humans have kind of a “sixth sense” both in avoiding others, AND in creating instant and deep rapport with one another.

That’s what’s happening when you make even the briefest eye contact. You suddenly fall into rapport, and if you know anything about rapport, you know it’s all about mirroring and matching. Which is EXACTLY why you always crash into each other. Even doing that uncomfortable but funny little “dance” the closer you get. Both moving the same way at the same time.

When you create rapport with somebody, you transform from two people trying to avoid each other to two people magnetic for each other.

It’s also pretty fun when you do this in a social setting, when everybody is pretty stationary. This is kind of an “out there” exercise, but it also works pretty well.

Next time you’re at a social gathering, whether it’s friends at a party or down at the local pub, try this out.

Sit or stand somewhere where you can get a good view of the room.

Then imagine that YOU and the CROWD are in deep rapport. 

Use whatever mental image you can conjure. For some, this means visualizing chords of light connecting everybody in a big energy lattice structure.

For others, they imagine a big bubble of positive energy emanating from you, and surrounding and protecting everybody else.

Do this long enough, and people will start to notice you.

In a GOOD way.