Author Archives: mindpersuasion

Awaken Your Natural Learner

Your Brain Is The Same As It Was

Your Brain Is The Same

I remember a long while ago my company was merging with another company.

A lot of us were getting the boot, so we were pretty worried.

The good news was that we got to take any “approved” training to make it easier to find a new job.

I thought that was kind of cool, but I was also kind of worried.

I’d been working in the same lab for the last ten years, and my knowledge was VERY specialized.

I was afraid of stepping into a classroom and learning something new.

After all, I’d heard all those stories about how the older you get, the harder it is to learn, etc.

But what I found was totally the opposite.

At least it can be.

When you think about it, it makes total sense. It’s not like our brain structure, biology and chemistry suddenly changes as we get older. It’s the same brain in your head now that was in there however many years ago you were born. Just a bit bigger, and just a LOT more stuff in there.

Which turns out, is the problem.

When we go through school, we learn a lot of stuff. But we also learn that learning is hard. Difficult. Frustrating. Scary even.

I don’t know about you, but I had some pretty scary teachers in elementary school!

The truth is that you ARE a natural learner. You were when you were born, you are now, and you will be right up until you take your very last breath.

All you’ve got to do is ditch all those “unhelpful” things you learned going through the meat grinder they call an educational system.

Things like “failure is bad,” or “if you don’t get it right the first time, you’re wrong,” or “if you mess up everybody’s going to think less of you.”

All that is total crap. You used to know it. You used to not care if you messed up, or did the wrong thing, or called attention to yourself.

In fact, you thought it was pretty fun.

And you can discover that it still can be pretty fun.

Just learn how to get rid of all that useless junk.

Get Started:

Emotional Freedom

How Many Limitations Have You Accepted?

Don't Accept Limitations

Don’t Let Them Tell What You Can’t Do!

One thing that can really motivate us is when somebody tells us we can’t do it.

When I was in high school, I’d decided to run a marathon. A friend of mine (who happened to be a semi-pro soccer player, and therefore in MUCH better shape than me) had seen me out jogging.

He suggested we run the upcoming marathon (about a week away). And like a dumb high school kid, I said “Sure!”

I told a close friend of mine and he told me with absolute sincerity that I shouldn’t run, because I’d never finish, and I might injure myself. While he was only trying to help, he gave me a surprising dose of motivation.

After about ten miles, I started to REALLY feel like I’d had enough. But I kept focusing on his voice, telling me I couldn’t do it.

I imagined finishing, and telling him so. That was pretty much the ONLY thing keeping me going. And believe me, it was very hard. I never been (before or since) as tired as I’d been from about mile 15 onward.

And for a couple of weeks afterwards, my legs were on fire every time I even stood up.

But I finished.

Now, as a high school kid, this was purely a matter of pride. I didn’t get any medals or money or any extra affection from my girlfriend.

But is sure felt good.

The truth is that ALL of us have heads that have been filled in with all kinds of ideas, statements and beliefs by well-meaning adults. They were trying to protect us, like my friend was.

But since they’ve told us about our supposed “limitations” over and over, and during a time when we were VERY dependent on their approval, we were much more likely to accept their “limitations” on what we can do as fact.

But they are not. Not even close.

What’s more, maybe they WERE right. But that was when you were a kid. Ten years old, or younger.

You’re not a kid any more. And those things aren’t true any more.

Isn’t it time you rejected them, once and for all?

When you do, you’ll be flabbergasted by what you can REALLY do.

Get Started:

Emotional Freedom

Break The Rules And Have Fun

Can You Do Better?

Can You Do Better?

I love haggling for prices.

Especially when there’s an expectation to haggle.

Now, most of the time, there’s a price tag and people just pay the asking price.

But you’d be surprised how much wiggle room there is.

Many places the sales person simply doesn’t have the authority to haggle, and they might feel put on the spot. 

But just to have some fun, try this out.

Next time you’re shopping for something, and there’s a salesperson standing nearby, look at the price tag, look at them, and ask, “Can you do any better?”

Chances are they’ll look confused.

This works really great if you’re in smaller shops that are staffed by the proprietor themselves.

Although there are some places this will clearly backfire. Like standing in line at your favorite fast food place at lunchtime.

But for the vast majority of things, nothing’s REALLY set in stone.

Which means if you simply ask, you may be surprised what you can get.

But if you never ask, you’ll never get.

Of course, you can give yourself a lot better chance if you ask “correctly.” If you just walked up to people on the street and asked them for money, you wouldn’t likely be successful.

But if you get to know the person, just a little bit, to find out what they wanted, it you might make your “request” a lot more “acceptable.”

Like before asking the department store salesperson if they can “do any better,” you might ask if they work on commission. Or how sales have been. Or any other benefit TO THEM for making a sale. 

Now, the point is not to get out there be a super ninja haggler, and always be asking everybody what they can give you.

But it is kind of fun to see almost every single relationship as something “to be determined” compared to something listed on a price tag, or somebody’s expectations.

Truth is most people are pretty bored. They see themselves, and everybody else fulfilling some “role” of what they are supposed to say and do.

So when you come up and “change the rules,” they’ll see you as somebody that’s more interesting than everybody else. Somebody who doesn’t necessarily need to play by the rules.

Once you start seeing your reality around you as a work in progress, one you can fully participate in and mold as you move through it, life can be a LOT more fun.

Of course, this requires you leave behind some of those old fear of “looking silly” or “calling attention to yourself.”

But that’s pretty easy to do.

See for yourself:

Emotional Freedom

Float Like A Butterfly

Float Like A Butterfly

Lighten Your Load

Many people crave a step by step method of doing something.

Just tell me how to make money and I’ll do it.

Just tell me what to say to him/her to make them like me and I’ll do it.

Just tell me what to say in an interview and I’ll do it.

Just tell me how to lose weight and I’ll do it.

The problem with this thinking is twofold. One is that humans are incredibly complex. WAY more than anybody even realizes.

Meaning that even if you were to go back in time, and follow Bill Gates around since he was a little kid, you still might not be able to reproduce his behaviors and results.

Unless you WERE him, and could see the world the way he did, and respond to opportunities that way he did, you wouldn’t get the same results.

Everybody is different. Everybody has their own unique set of skills, learning styles, and desires.

For example, many rich people only got rich because they were always DESPERATELY afraid of being poor.

I don’t know about you, but imagining some scary poverty monster chasing me my whole life doesn’t sound like a lot of fun!

Another reason is that hoping to be told “what to do” is not such a great idea is because it’s not really the best question.

The truth about you is that you came into this world ALREADY preprogrammed to LEARN ANYTHING you need to learn.

Which means you don’t need to do more stuff in order to get whatever you want, you’ve got to do less stuff.

What stuff?

Stuff like listening to and believing those self doubts every time you’ve got a good idea.

Stuff like actually believing those memories where somebody told you you COULDN’T do something.

Stuff like that silly idea the failure is bad, or giving the wrong answer means you’re stupid, or asking “stupid” questions means you’re not as smart as everybody else.

I saw a goofy commercial once where a guy pulled into a service station, and wanted to know why he was getting such poor gas mileage. The attendant looked in his trunk and saw about 300 pounds of exercise weights. 

“There’s your problem!” He said.

Eject all that junk you’ve been lugging around all this time, and you’ll feel fantastic.

Learn How:

Emotional Freedom

Are You Hoarding Tons Of Junk?

Throw Your Junk To The Dump!

In The Dumpster!

When I was a kid, my mom would always yell at my dad for being such a packrat.

He’d had this irrational belief that he needed to save every box that came with every thing he bought, just in case.

In the garage were TONS of empty boxes, carefully stacked.

Once I moved from a place I’d been living at for a while, to a place across town. I’d decided I was going to use the opportunity to “streamline” all my possessions.

Leading up to it, I was kind of stressed. Even a little sad. After all, I’d had all kind of junk stored up (that I hadn’t really looked at in years).

But when I started pitching it all in the garbage, it felt really, really good.

Pretty soon I was asking myself, “Why the heck did I keep all this stuff?”

I’ve always been amazed at all the people who migrate (for good) to other countries. Especially the ones who do so in a hurry. They’ve got to quickly decide what to take, and what to leave.

Unless you are forced to do this, from either moving across town or moving across the world, it’s very EASY to store up junk.

They’ve got those TV shows about “hoarders” who have TONS of stuff in their houses. So much there’s only a few trails moving from the kitchen to the toilet to their bed.

There’s that one story of the two Buddhists who were walking down some country road. They came across this gorgeous girl, stranded on one side of the river. One of them picks her up and carries her across.

About an hour later, the other (younger) guy says, “We aren’t supposed to have any contact with women.”

To which the older guy says, “Wow. I put her down way back there but you’re still carrying her!”

All of us are carrying an ENORMOUS amount of junk.

Junk that keeps us from getting what we want, doing what we want, and being who we want.

And it seems like it might be scary or sad to get rid of it.

But once you start pitching it all in the dumpster, it’s pretty fun.

Try it, you’ll see:

Emotional Freedom

Are You Sitting On A Hidden Minefield?

Ditch The Hidden Traps

Stop Tip Toeing Around

How do you respond when you hear or see a child cry, other than your own?

Many perceive it as a nuisance, especially if you’re in church or at the movies.

One interesting thing to do is when you’re out “watching people” in public, check out the reaction of others when a kid starts crying.

Most of the men will look quickly with a slight bit of annoyance.

Some of the women will look at the parent, depending on their own experience.

Maybe both.

There’s a technique called “dark energy” or “shadow energy” whereby we assume that the things about others that bother us are really because they remind us about parts of us we are unwilling or afraid to face.

A way to dig into your own negative energy is to wait until somebody bothers you.

And then instead of getting angry at them, or wishing they’d go away, ask yourself, “What is it about me that they might remind me of?”

And then pay attention to the answer. If you find a part of yourself that don’t particularly like, or aren’t very proud if, simply accept it.

Just sit with it for a while, and accept it. Don’t ignore it or change it.

Many places in the world that have seen plenty of warfare have live mines.

Meaning there’s big fields where farmers can’t farm, kids can’t play, and people can’t take shortcuts.

Since they are so expensive and time consuming to find and remove, they just put up a big fence around it with plenty of warnings.

We also have hidden “mines” within us. Things that suddenly “go off” with you least expect them.

Somebody says something, somebody looks you a certain way, and it might remind you of something far, far back in your past.

Maybe something you’d rather not face. Something you did, or something that was done to you.

The good news is that there is an easy way to get rid of those land mines from your past.

Which will give you a lot more space to play, grow and take shortcuts.

And the process can be a lot of fun.

Learn More:

Emotional Freedom

How To Expand Your Comfort Zone

Break Out Of Your Rut

Become The Explorer

I love to go exploring. 

When I was a kid in boy scouts, we used to go hiking. Getting to the campsite was pretty hard. Walking up steep hills in the hot sun for hours and hours.  But for some reason, when we’d make camp, me and my buddies would get a sudden burst of energy.

Throw off our packs and go running around, checking the place out.

As an adult, I have done a bit of traveling. Once I get to a new city, get settled into a hotel, I like to go out and explore.

Once, after about a 16 hour flight, I arrived at my destination about 7 PM local time. I had the intention of heading out for something to eat, and then hit the sack early.

But once I lost myself in the wonder if a big and strange foreign city, once again I felt that surge of energy. I didn’t make it back to my hotel until dawn.

Humans are natural explorers. We aren’t content to live boring lives filled with easy and safe routines.

To be sure, sometimes having a safe routine for a spell can be JUST what the doctor ordered. Retreat and regroup, mentally, physically, spiritually.

And it can certainly be easy to fall into a rut. Same day different stuff. Work, home, TV, eat, sleep work, etc.

The good news is you don’t have to hike some huge mountain or travel to a foreign country to break up your routine (although it would certainly help!)

All you’ve really got to do is change things up a bit. Even going out to eat once in a while, when you’re used to be eating at home can be enough.

Once you start to shake things up a bit, you’ll start to reawaken your natural, creative, explorer self.

The one that sees life as an adventure, instead of a chore.

Of course, this requires that you’re willing to take some small risks. Go places you’ve never gone before. Meet people you’ve never met before. Talk to strangers, if only to experience the pleasure of meeting new people.

This can absolutely be scary and uncomfortable. But it can also be exhilarating, and lead to some pretty amazing discoveries.

Not only about the world, but about yourself.

No matter WHO you are, or WHAT you’ve already accomplished, making a decision to slowly but consistently expand your comfort zone can pay MASSIVE dividends.

But you’ll never know unless you try.

This will make it easier:

Create Instant Rapport With Everybody

Create Instant Rapport

Release Internal Resistance

It’s pretty easy to spot a couple on their first date.

At the very least, you can tell something’s a bit different.

But since you know about these things, and can dig deeper, and notice things certain people don’t.

Like how their posture is a bit less relaxed. Their facial expressions and body language show a bit more politeness.

Maybe their laughter is a bit less natural, a bit more forced. If they’re eating they pick up their food and chew it carefully.

On the other hand, when you see two people who have clearly known each other for a long time, their behavior is pretty easy to spot as well.

Eating off each other’s plates. Interrupting each other while talking. Open scowls and rolled eyes whenever appropriate.

Most people take a while to “feel comfortable” with other people.

Even if they’re not a potential client or romantic interest, we tend to “stiffen up” a bit when we’re around strangers.

Some rare people, have a gift of making EVERYBODY relaxed around them.

They walk up, and you don’t feel the need to guard your emotions, or feel any worry about offending them or pleasing them.

Something about them, their body language, facial expressions, voice tone, movements, make you feel relaxed, and at ease.

Maybe because they fully accept the world, and themselves, exactly how it is.

Maybe they’re not worried about needing to impress anybody or try to prove anything to anybody.

They know that no matter what happens, they’ll be fine.

They give off a vibe of “The only time and place I’d like to be is right here, right now.”

And they ALWAYS tend to give off that vibe. Stuck in traffic, sitting in a business meeting, on a first date, on a fiftieth date, anywhere. Everywhere.

How can YOU be that person?

The first step is to get rid of all that emotional junk that most of us have. Those secret sore spots you may be worried about hitting on accident.

Like when you’re talking to somebody, and they bring up some “taboo” subject, (at least in your mind) and suddenly you’re on full alert. 

You may have decided that these “sore spots” are there to stay, and there’s nothing you can do.

You might not even be ready to admit they’re there.

We’ve ALL got them. They are not because you’re broken, or dysfunctional. It’s merely a result of the “growing up process.”

Luckily, when you find out how easy they are to get rid of, you can let out that deep, charismatic you.

That person EVERYBODY looks forward to being around.

Get Started:

Emotional Freedom

Create A Seduction Mastermind Group

How To Leverage Competition

How To Leverage Competition

Napoleon Hill is famous for writing a book on how to get rich. This wasn’t some philosophical mumbo jumbo like a lot of “law of attraction” books, this was based on reverse engineering people who already WERE rich.

Hill basically took what was already working, and synthesized it into a “how to guide.” He wrote it at a time when there were a lot of metaphysical ideas and books floating around. As somebody who wasn’t just delivering a set of skills to learn and put into practice, he himself was also trying to get paid.

So he wrote it in a kind of style he hoped would make it very popular. And it did. It is still being read today. However, thinking of it in terms of any kind of metaphysical hooey is a mistake. It has real ideas, that when applied in real ways, WILL generate real results.

One technique is the “mastermind” group. Now, if you’ve got a problem, no matter how smart you are, you won’t likely think of a solution. If you asks somebody else, they won’t likely have a solution either.

But when you’ve got a group of guys and gals together, all bringing their collective experience to the table, somebody’s going to come up with an idea. And that idea will be bounced around and transformed into a solution that NOBODY would have thought up on their own.

This is why many people form “mastermind” groups for this purpose. Unfortunately, they often turn into to a “law of attraction” contest where everybody tries to impress everybody else with their own nonsense.

Which is why oftentimes these mastermind groups are great in theory, but in practice they don’t end up being more than an ego stroking waste of time.

Except when you create your own super covert mastermind group, and use it to learn how to pick up girls.

How’s that?

One of the best things to come out of NLP is modeling. Meaning you watch somebody do something, and if it works you copy it. If it doesn’t work, you do something else.

Normally this is how any skill is learned and mastered. But when everybody’s trying and learning from each other, EVERYBODY can boos their skills in a hurry.

How do you do this with social skills?

First, you’ve got to get a group of guys that will commit to getting together once every week or so, JUST TO INCREASE THEIR SKILLS.

This is pretty difficult. You get a group of guys together, they’ll end up competing, which means there’re winners or losers.

This won’t help anybody.

Which is why you’ve got to choose your mastermind very carefully.

But if you make a rule that ONLY FOR YOUR GROUP PRACTICE SESSIONS, nobody goes further than number closing, you can do pretty well.

That’s when competition will motivate everybody to up their game.

Try it, and see.

Girlfriend Generator

Super Sonic Skill Learning

How To Model Anything

How To Model Others

One powerful way to learn something is to reverse engineer somebody who’s already doing it.

Ever since the first caveman picked up a rock and threw it at a zebra, we’ve been copying each other, and improving on it ever since.

Somebody opens a cheeseburger restaurant and does well.

Somebody else opens up a bacon-cheeseburger restaurant and does better.

Then some crazy entrepreneur shows up and opens a bacon-cheeseburger-avocado restaurant and the town goes nuts!

No matter what you’d like to do, there’s probably plenty of people who are already doing it.

To take this reverse engineering skill to a completely new level, you can take certain aspects of what people are doing, and combine them into your own, unique super skill.

This is what happened when societies reached a “tipping point.” There were so many ideas swirling around that they finally started to take on a mind of their own, and innovation and technology took off.

But this skill is very powerful on a personal level. For example, let’s say you see somebody giving a speech about the importance of flossing after every meal. Now, you might think the content is boring, but they could be a really charismatic speaker. You could copy their delivery method, and come up with your own content.

Or in the cheeseburger examples above, you could copy the structure, ordering system, even layout of the place, but sell pies instead.

One powerful way to do this is when you are around somebody who is behaving the way you’d like to behave.

And as you’re watching them, simply copy their movements and gestures, in your mind. Imagine you are mirroring them exactly. This is easy if you are seated and they are standing. Really easy if you’re watching somebody give a speech, even on TV.

Then you imagine that you’re watching yourself up there, talking about something different, but using their same delivery style.

Many people do this unconsciously when watching movies or TV. It gives us that catharsis the Greeks talked about so much way back when.

By taking it up to the conscious level, you’ll go beyond mere entertainment, and start to use movies as learning tools.

What’s even better is that no matter WHAT you want to learn, you can find somebody doing it on YouTube. Watch them, copy them in your mind, or in person if you’re alone, and then watch them while imagining it’s you instead of them.

This technique works not only in learning new skills, but changing your own history as well.

For example, what would happen if you could rewrite your own history so you’ve ALWAYS been a natural speaker, or you’ve ALWAYS believed making money was easy?

The possibilities are endless.

Learn More:

Emotional Freedom