Category Archives: Risk

How To Maximize Your Risk

Look Silly For Maximum Success

Isaac Newton once made the remark that he could only do what he’d done because he was standing on the shoulders of giants.

Meaning his scientific discoveries were only as good as those that came before him.

And those that came before him were just as largely based on those that came before them.

The study of human advancement over the centuries is pretty amazing.

Sure, there are plenty of dark spots, but the long trend is generally upward.

Collectively, we seem to have this drive to keep advancing.

I saw a pretty cool video the other day of the first rocket that blasted off, flew around in the upper atmosphere, and then landed, but in the reverse of how took off.

Right back down on the launch pad. Like watching a lift-off in reverse.

For a long time, a few people have been trying to create a business of tourist space flight.

Yeah, it would only be for rich people, but it’s always that way at first.

Long, long time ago, travel by rail was only for rich people.

Now regular folks can fly all over the world.

It’s possible to live your own life like this, but it’s not guaranteed.

It’s all based on the habits you cultivate.

If you have some really big, really specific goals, way out there, and you make it a habit to do SOMETHING on a daily basis, you can build a pretty impressive life.

On the other hand, if you just hope you get there “somehow,” you might get lucky, but then again you might not.

Most people are terrified of risk. Which is why they are afraid to take action.

Many people want some kind of guarantee that what they are trying will eventually pan out.

Unless they are SURE, they don’t budge.

But in reality, they are ignoring the biggest risk of all.

And that is to get to the end of your life, look back, and say, “Wow, what happened?”

The great paradox is that the more consistently you take small risks, they less likely you’ll end up with nothing.

Meaning the most effective way to make sure the BIGGEST risk of all doesn’t happen is to take a bunch of small risks.

Imagine if you were on a golf course. And you could wait and take one HUGE swing, or you could take a lot of little swings.

But you were so embarrassed to look goofy taking a bunch of little swings, you waited until the last moment to take that one big swing.

If the ball goes in the hole, you’d look pretty good. But if your ball flies off into the lake, well, game over.

But if you take small shots, ten or fifteen yards apiece, you’d almost be guaranteed to get into the hole eventually.

Of course, in golf, the number of strokes is important.

But not in life.

In life, it’s the final result that counts.

And all the intermediary results in between.

Small actions daily build up.

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Scientifically Created Desire

Are You Waiting For Proof?

Are You Waiting For Proof

​When I was a kid I loved science. 

I loved taking things apart to see how they worked. (And not being able to put things back together).

I remember sitting spellbound as my brother told me all about molecules, atoms and subatomic particles.

The unseen beyond the reality we think is complete.

Later, while other kids were reading comic books, I was reading science books.

I’ll admit, science is great. But it does have SEVERE limitations.

Often times, people will use it as an excuse to keep from doing something risky.

Or even believing in something that may make them look foolish.

They proudly call themselves “skeptics” as if they are on some higher intellectual plane.

They say things like, “Well, do you have any proof?” “Have there been any studies done?”

Problem with statements like this is by the time there’s sufficient proof, everybody knows about it and it’s no big deal.

It’s the people who charge ahead WITHOUT proof that are the hero’s. Not the skeptics hiding in the laboratory of the mind.

Strangely enough, even when there IS proof, people tend to avoid believing stuff. Some things make us comfortable, even when there is plenty of evidence showing us we are wrong.

This is one of the driving factors behind “cognitive dissonance.” We literally CAN’T SEE something that PROVES we are wrong. We are somehow wired to protect our ego at all costs.

Sometimes though, you’ll find some study or a piece of evidence that proves what you already know. Something that can give you a decided edge in the dog eat dog world out there.

Back in the seventies, a guy wrote a couple of books. One was called “Dress for Success,” and the other was called “Live for Success.”

The thing about both of these books is that they were based on DATA, not theory.

He actually had guys and girls go out into the world, and specifically dress and act certain ways in order to see how people responded to them.

The results were very, very interesting. 

One thing that turned people off the MOST was incongruence. Meaning when somebody was saying something that was in direct contradiction to their body language.

That tends to send out a very “icky” vibe.

On the other hand, people who were the opposite, totally congruent, were more attractive than anybody. Despite the clothes they were wearing, and even despite the actual words they were using. So long as the “content” of their words weren’t aggressive, people couldn’t get enough of them.

Being congruent is something that will make EVERYTHING you are doing much, much easier.

How do you get more congruent?

That’s ONE of the many benefits of the Interpersonal Resonance course.

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Are You Wasting Crucial Seconds?

Jump Right In

Force Yourself To Action

I had a friend once with a swimming pool.

Once I was over hanging out, and he was trying to coax his 8 year old nephew to jump in.

The kid could wade in and swim, he was just scared to jump in straight from the side.

Finally my friend grew a little impatient, picked up his nephew, and sort of held him/dropped him into the pool.

After crying for a bit, the kid started jumping in over and over again on his own.

Once I was at the mall, going to a movie. I was getting ready to go up the escalator. In front of me was a mom with her kid, who was terrified of the escalator. She was trying to convince him it was safe, then saw me waiting. So she picked him up and carried him. 

I noticed that right when she did that, the looked of terror on his face suddenly changed to happy relief.

Once I bought a new truck, much bigger than my old car. I was complaining to my friend that parking it was much different. He just said, “Don’t worry, it’s weird at first, but pretty soon you won’t even notice.”

There’s plenty of ways to ease into something you don’t want to ease into, but you KNOW you’ve got to ease into.

You can wait for somebody to push you, or wait for somebody to pick you up, or take your time until it gets comfortable.

The first two aren’t really good strategies, as they depend on other people. People that are always depending on others to get them going tend to wait.

Usually their whole lives.

On the other hand, self starters tend to ALWAYS get the good stuff.

But here’s the thing. Self starters aren’t the super human warriors we imagine they are.

Every single moment of their lives is them choosing to act, rather than wait around.

From the outside, they look the same as the rest of us.

Only they get all the breaks, meet all the right people, and seem to be much happier.

Are they lucky? Or do they just lean forward into uncertainty a little bit more than most?

That’s the real secret. Not being a super hero. Just having the mindset of always going forward, even in tiny, baby little steps.

Even if somebody is right there to push you in, waiting for them to do so may cost you a fortune.

Or a crucial few seconds while you watch some other goof go over and talk to the person of your dreams.

It’s up to you.

Are you going to take action? Or wait for somebody to FORCE you go take action?

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Break All The Rules

Have Fun Trying New Things

Have Fun Winging It

Most everything can be thought of as being along some kind of continuum.

Taking cooking for example. I’ve taken a total of two cooking classes in my life. Both were on opposite ends.

One was taught by a lady who was very STRICT. Exactly one cup of this. Precisely sixteen grams of that. Cook on medium heat for only 40 seconds. No more, no less.

The second class was the opposite. A handful of this, a dash of that, cook on regular heat for a bit, and Bob’s your uncle. 

Another example is how people travel. On the one side, there’s those that are super control freaks. Everything has to be planned down to the last minute. Every ticket must be purchased ahead of time. Every hotel room is booked, every restaurant is chosen.

On the other side, you’ve got goofs like me. I’ve traveled a lot, and I book my plane ticket, and the first night in a hotel. After that, I wing it.

Often times, I’ve been in some bar, struggling through my basic understanding of the local language, and asking people what’s good to see. 

Of course, this gets me in trouble sometimes. I’m a sore thumb for scammers. Once I thought I was on my way to see some ancient relic, and I ended up in some back ally with some lady showing me a flier for hookers!

Another time I actually saw some pretty cool stuff, but ended up at an underground jewelry shop filled with fake goods.

When you plan everything, you don’t get conned. But you often don’t have much fun either.

The trick is to find a balance. Plan a little bit, and leave plenty of room for spontaneity. And have enough faith in yourself to avoid trouble as it comes up. As it will ALWAYS come up. In fact, if you DON’T run into trouble from time to time, you’re probably not doing it right!

Many people describe life as a journey. A visit through this planet. Maybe we only get one pass through, maybe a million. Who knows.

Maybe each pass through is a chance to do better than we did last time.

Maybe this is our ONLY shot. Either way, don’t you owe it to yourself to make the most of it?

You were given GREAT gifts. Are you using them? Have you even discovered them?

It’s easy to be scared, and stay safe. Secure in your bubble of comfort. 

But there’s no fun in that.

Open your mind. Expand your skills. Get on those side streets and explore.

Small Risks Are Essential

Income Stream Generator

Embrace The Unknown

When I was a kid one of my favorite old movies was Trapeze, with Tony Curtis.

He had struggled to complete the triple flip throughout the movie. In the final scene, he had finally gotten up the courage to try, just as they were removing the safety net, thinking the act was over.

He did it anyway, and it went off perfectly.

I also remember watching a REAL act, only the lady fell. She had spotters, but they didn’t catch her in time, and she broke her wrist.

I remember the VERY uncomfortable feeling that suddenly fell over the crowd when that happened.

The truth about human life on Earth is that it is dangerous. We can try to avoid risk at all costs, but it’s always there. The insurance industry has been around for centuries because of this. 

Nobody knows what’s going to happen when they try something unfamiliar. Even the old days Western Imperialism, many of the ships wouldn’t have sailed unless they knew they were covered against loss.

On the other hand, if you never take any risks, you’ll never have any fun. The trick is to know which risks are smart, and which aren’t.

The biggest risk you can take is not to take any risks at all. Then you’ll be at the end of your life wondering why it was so frikking boring!

Obviously, risks involving physical or financial danger should be undertaken with MASSIVE caution.

On the other hand, risks involving social safety are usually not risky at all. We only think they are, since we’re still carrying around those hunter-gatherer instincts from when we were surrounded by the SAME people our entire lives.

Sure, back then, if you looked like a goof in front of your peers, it may have cost you.

But today? You can just laugh it off and try again.

Even financial risks don’t have to be life or death. Sure, a lot of people want to make a LOT of money in a SHORT amount of time, but this either involves MASSIVE luck, or MASSIVE risk.

Luckily, the best way to get rich is to slowly grow your wealth.

Take small risks you can afford. See what happens. If it pays off, take a little bigger one. If it doesn’t, learn the valuable lesson, and take some time to digest it.

This is PRECISELY the mindset that has turned even the simplest business ideas into MASSIVE fortunes.

Sure, it didn’t happen overnight. But it happened.

Patience, SMALL risks, and persistence.

Any idea you have now could be worth millions.

How A Rich Dancer Handled Risk

Dance Your Way To Riches

Don’t Wait Too Long!

Many people have all kinds of negative voices swirling around in our heads.

You think of doing something, and then that doubt pops up.

“What if it doesn’t work? What if you look stupid?”

One of the reasons that voice is so hard to ignore is we convince ourselves it’s trying to “help” us.

“Well, it’s better I didn’t. I wouldn’t have liked it anyway.”

“Wow, I guess I dodged a bullet!”

Many people retreat into the world of the “enlightened skeptic.” They find comfort in the philosophical notion of pointing out how “wrong” everybody is.

“Well, there’s no conclusive evidence that’s going to work, so I’ll sit back here on my throne and let everybody else make those foolish mistakes. I know better.”

Problem with that is since these types are ALWAYS waiting for proof, any time they find proof it’s MUCH too late.

There was an old stock market trader who made a couple million over a couple years. He was a dancer, and traveled the world. He only used telegrams to get updates. (He wrote a book called “How I Made $2 Million in the Stock Market.”)

Once a guy asked him for as stock tip, and he gave him the one he was looking at.

The guy that received the stock tip wanted to “make sure.” He did some research, studied the company, studied the economy, etc.

Finally, he contacted the dancer, and said he was ready to buy some of that stock.

The dancer said, “Well, if you would have bought it when I told you, you would have made 200% already. I don’t think it’s going to go up any more!”

As Dale Carnegie was found of saying, “The sure thing boat never gets too far from shore.”

Meaning if you ONLY take action when you feel it’s safe, you won’t ever get much more than most anybody else.

Which ain’t much!

Does this mean you need to put EVERYTHING on the line, every single time? Not at all. Take that stock market dancer guy. He would buy a stock, but ALWAYS sell IMMEDIATELY if it went down just a little bit.

Meaning he knew how risky it was, and he would GET OUT if there is any danger. 

Sure, you need to take risks. But not jump off cliffs without parachutes, or jump into the shark tank at the zoo.

Small risks. Talking to strangers. Expanding your comfort zone. Spending an hour or so a week looking into what kind of business you might start.

Hanging out with more like-minded folks who are ALSO doing things to improve themselves, rather than forget themselves.

Do this, keep moving forward, and success is certain.

You Are An Entrepreneur

Embrace Your Inherent Risk Taker

Risk Is Your Middle Name

A common misconception is that an “entrepreneur” is a special kind of person.

Meaning most would rather get a job they like, a safe salary, and not take too much risk.

Being an “entrepreneur” is something only those risk-loving swashbucklers do, right?

Not really.

The truth is that EVERYBODY is an entrepreneur.

But we don’t tend to see it that way.

Consider any action you could take, from going on a trip to a foreign land to getting up to make something to eat.

We NEVER know the future, so there’s ALWAYS some kind of uncertainty.

Sure, making a sandwich isn’t risky, it’s not like you’re going to open up the fridge and find yourself in the center of a mythical journey.

But every single action we take, both conscious and unconscious, requires a bit of uncertainty, and some imagination.

We imagine our current state, and we imagine a potential future state.

Then we quickly measure the risk between our current state and our imagined future state.

If, all things considered, our future state has a high probability of being BETTER than our current state, we’ll take action.

It doesn’t matter of you’re putting a frozen burrito in the microwave, or setting out to build a billion dollar business, this model is EXACTLY the same process.

It only differs by degree.

And the more complex the outcome, the more steps are involved, and the more dependent we are to feedback.

Take somebody who starts several businesses, has a few failures, before hitting it big.

She starts, gets feedback, tries again, gets more feedback, and finally strikes it rich.

Compare this to somebody fumbling for a light switch in the middle of the night.

Same exact process.

Action, feedback, action, feedback, success.

Being an entrepreneur, taking risk, measuring feedback, and taking another risk, is built in to your DNA.

In fact, it is impossible to be a living, breathing human and NOT be an entrepreneur.

Since you already ARE an entrepreneur, you may as well get paid!

How?

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.

Are You Missing Opportunities?

Mange Risk But Don't Avoid It

Balance Risk and Reward

There was this big, outdoor mall where I used to live.

Me and my girlfriend would go there quite a bit, and they had this big climbing wall.

Vertical, with lots of fake rocks to grab on to. They had you in a big harness, and a rope that looped up through the top, and back down to a guy on the bottom.

As you climbed up, he’d pull in the rope.

If you’ve never been climbing, it’s a good feeling to feel that the rope is tight. It is a constant reminder that if you slip, you won’t slip very fall, since somebody’s got your back.

But sometimes, that rope can get in the way. In the world of rock climbing, there’s two basic signals, both communicated through tugs on the rope. 

One tug means “slack.” 

Meaning you don’t want the rope too tight, as it constricts your movement. 

Two tugs means “up rope.” 

Meaning you want the rope to be tighter, as you are coming up to a difficult part.

But on this mall wall, with most of the people never having climbed before, they almost ALWAYS want the rope to be tight.

This keeps them safe, but it restricts their movement.

Life has always been a balance between safety and risk. Ever since the dawn of time, people have had to decide which path to choose, pretty much with every choice.

In some societies that still live a very primitive lifestyle, the hunters go after big game, rather than small game.

At first, the scientists studying them didn’t understand why. If they went after smaller game, it would be safer, and more successful. They would average more meat per hunting trip.

Then they saw what happened when they brought home the big kill.

Instant hero. Guys worshipped them, women loved them.

It seems when there’s a big potential reward, people are much more likely to take risks.

However, if you’re always playing it too safe, you’ll never sense there are a LOT more rewards out there, just waiting.

What’s more, most “risks” aren’t really risks at all, since the downsides only involved social safety, which is ALWAYS in flux.

Which means not only are most people NOT SEEING the rewards that are there, they ARE SEEING risks which aren’t there.

If you flip things around, you’ll see a lot more rewards, and a lot less risks.

Get rid of some of those emotional blind spots, and you’ll see.

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Emotional Freedom