Category Archives: Uncategorized

Prove To Yourself What You Can Do

Slow Down

The Wisdom Of Slow and Steady

Whenever you want to make big changes in your life, it’s tempting to go full steam ahead.

I know from experience that this is usually unsustainable. Meaning you get burned out, and instead of dialing it back, you end up quitting altogether.

You might convince yourself you’re doing to do an hours worth of work every day. Maybe practice some kind of skill, or maybe do some meditation. You go all out for a couple days. Then it suddenly becomes a chore.

The motivation is there. But motivation tends to wear off. Usually what kicks off the motivation in the beginning only lasts a few days.

Unless you have a deep, burning desire, it’s tough to overcome this natural tendency.

One way is to start VERY slowly. Instead of jumping in and doing an hour a day (of whatever you want to do) do only five minutes. So easy you can do it real quick after you wake up, or right when you get home.

The trick is to develop the space in your mind, and your day, to do this kind of practice. Once it’s established, then simply expand it by a couple minutes a week. Yes, only two minutes or so a week.

After all, you’re building a great new habit or skill or belief system FOR LIFE. Shouldn’t you take some time to make sure it REALLY becomes part of you who you are, rather than some super energetic short term motivation?

Long time ago I read that one POWERFUL way to train your brain to REALLY BELIEVE that you can set and achieve any goal is by jogging every day for one hundred days.

I started, and for the first few weeks, I only jogged about five or ten minutes. But after that, once I built in the habit, I actually looked forward to it. Pretty soon I was running 3-4 miles every morning.

Many people find that before doing ANY kind of mental self development, doing some kind of exercise program is extremely helpful. You’re proving to yourself that you can set and achieve goals. You’ll get REAL FEEDBACK (time spent outside, etc.). 

You’ll feel better, sleep better, naturally eat healthier.

All things that add up to a better mental state anyway.

And when I was going on those morning runs (nowadays I go on morning walks for an hour or so) I do my BEST thinking. Ideas I NEVER would have thought of in front of the TV or sleeping in an extra hour.

If you aren’t doing something physical daily, at least five minutes worth, you should.

You’ll DEFINITELY see an improvement pretty much everywhere.

How To Maximize Your Travels

The Road and the Inn Are Both Essential

The Road Is Essential

When I was a kid I loved building things.

Well, not really. I love nailing boards together. I ended up with a bunch of weird looking shapes that didn’t do much.

Once I got the bright idea to make a HUGE kite, so I found the biggest boards in the garage.

I nailed them together in a big cross (bigger than me) and found an old bed sheet, and nailed it to the boards.

Then I got some string and tried to fly it. My brother looked at me on the way to the park, and did the classic facepalm.

Building it was fun, but flying it was another story.

Long time ago I had a situation where I had long spans of time with nothing to do. This was back in the day before MP3s became popular. I had a regular tape player in my car. I would go to this store that rented books on tape. 

Great for learning.

I’d rent these self-help tapes, and just listen to them as I drove around. Sometimes while walking around.

I’d tried a couple of times to listen while sitting and taking notes, but it just didn’t work. My mind would wander too much.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “The Road is better than the Inn,” right?

Well sometimes you don’t even need an Inn! Just a decent road and something to do along the way.

Only if you live your life like that, you might not end up anywhere good.

See, the problem with not having an end is you end up just running around in circles.

Which is fine, if you’re just killing time or having fun nailing stuff together.

But the real progress comes in the unexpected places when you HAVE a destination.

Especially if it’s a BIG goal, that’s a LONG way off.

If you’ve got kids, or if you remember being a kid, going on a road trip was half the fun. Staying at the cheap motels, eating in the crap diners. 

Sure, you had fun at the destination, but you were expecting that.

It’s those unexpected stops along the way that make those moments you’ll remember forever.

Where are you going in your life? Have you chosen your destination yet?

Is it BIG enough?

Does it make your eyes go wide with anticipation? Does it cause you to stop and daydream about it when you’re sitting in traffic?

It should.

Once you’ve chosen, then get moving.

These will help:

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.

Rearrange Your Brain

Rearrange Your Brain

You Don’t Have To Keep The Default Settings

Some of the simplest things can have the greatest impact.

It’s easy to get into a rhythm. If you’ve ever gone on a diet or started an exercise program, you know what I mean.

Getting started is the hardest part. But once you’ve got enough momentum, it’s part of who you are.

Pretty soon the hour or so you spend at the gym is part of your daily routine. 

But the first week or so, it sucks.

On the other hand, when you get stuck into some kind of negative loop, it can be hard to get out of.

Even if it’s so bad in and of itself, it can be deceptively defeating. If you spend an hour or two in front of the TV, that’s not exactly considered self destructive behavior.

But think of the time you could be spending on other things. What if you took one hour per night, and learned an instrument? After a year or two, you’d have a skill most people don’t.

Even if you mindlessly change channels during the commercials, you’re eating up valuable time. Imagine if you were to spend just the time during commercial breaks learning something, or reading something, or doing some kind of mental exercise, like Image Streaming.

Every hour of TV has about 20 minutes of commercials. If you did image streaming, for example, for 20 minutes a day, you’d increase your IQ by a point or two a week!

Of course, humans aren’t hard wired to always be on the lookout for increases in efficiency.

We aren’t robots!

But the secret is not to be a robot all the time. It’s to simply “take inventory” of how you spend you day. Maybe once every few months.

Once you build in the habit of spending ten minutes per hour of TV time doing something productive, then you can go back to automatic human behavior. 

Only now, that automatic human behavior will be building up some skills or abilities, instead of just wasting time. (Or worse, having your brain programmed with more needless junk you don’t need to buy with money you don’t have!)

They say an unexamined life isn’t worth living. This doesn’t mean that you have to always be a super hyper meta thinker who’s questioning every single step through life.

Just take a look at your daily activities from time to time, and see where you can find room for improvement.

This is a great place to start:

Lead The Hero’s Journey

Always Go First

Go First

Long time ago I was reading a book on human behavior.

The author was describing a lot of our “learned” behaviors look instinctive, since we all do the same things.

But in reality, we all have the same structure as children, so we learn the same behaviors.

The example given was shaking our heads back and forth to say “no.”

When we’re very, very young, we can’t move our neck muscles very much. Only slightly to the side.

When we want something, we open our mouths and make a noise. Hopefully we’ll get some milk. But then when we’re full, the idea of “no” pops into our head. And the only thing we can do when we think that thought, is turn our heads slightly to the side.

This is the same reasoning Joseph Campbell gave for explaining why most mythology shares the same structure. Young boy or girl in a safe but boring place. Something pulls them into some wild “hero’s journey,” where they learn new skills make new friends.

He explained (in one of his books) this is precisely what we go through when we are born. Womb to birth canal to the world.

Our lives start out as a hero’s journey. And if you’re honest with yourself, every new experience, every new situation, every new phase of life is yet another hero’s journey.

We also have a lot of the same shortcomings and fears. Public speaking, walking across the room to talk to an interesting person, suddenly being the focus of social attention.

All these were “learned” in childhood. 

If we keep stumbling through life on auto pilot, we’ll never know. We’ll just think “we” are broken, or something’s wrong with us.

But when you realize that we are ALL in the same boat, we ALL have the same fears, it’s not so bad.

Especially when you consider that person you want to talk to is scared of the same things you are.

Those people in that social scenario who are all staring at you are GLAD it’s you and not them.

When you stand up to give a speech, people are imagining it’s them and are nervous.

The EASIEST way to blast through all those irrational fears is to simply go first. Set an example. Show everybody it’s not so bad.

This isn’t so difficult when you remember that everybody around you has the same fears, uncertainties and anxieties as you.

Show them how easy it is.

These tools will help:

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.

Blast Away Fear With Pots and Pans

Blast Your Way To Wealth

Take A Leap Of Faith

I remember the first time I went bungee jumping.

It was on this tall structure, about 20 stories high. Just a stairwell, and a platform on top. 

Walking up the stairs was horrible. I remember a sinking feeling in my stomach, the closer I got to the top. My friend who was watching (we’d decided that I’d go first) was laughing his ass off.

As soon as I leaned forward, the fear suddenly vanished, and turned into the one of most powerful feelings exhilaration I’d felt.

Biologists tell us that when we are gearing up for something scary, our fight or flight system starts to prime up. But once the event kicks off, all that conscious thinking goes out the window and that’s when instinct takes over.

If you’ve ever given a speech, the best way to get over your jitters is to start off strong. A loud voice, a strange comment, anything other than a shaky introduction to a boring topic.

It’s kind of like taking all the nervous energy you imagine coming at you from the crowd, sucking it up and throwing it right back at them. This gives you an enormous amount of power.

Common advice given to kids being bullied is as soon as you stand up to them, they vanish. If you realize that a bully is just aggressive behavior covering up fear, it HAS TO vanish when it’s presented with an assertive defense of your boundaries.

When I used to go backpacking, a few places would have bears. Before we’d go off into the woods, the rangers would give us a checklist of how to deal with the bears. Always keep some pots and pans next to you when you slept. If any bears came close to your camp, just start banging and yelling away and the bears would split.

Unless you are about to getting eaten by a bear (and in many cases, even if you are!) your fears are false.

All you’ve got to do is blast through them, and see what’s on the other side.

Exhilaration. Admiration. Respect.

No matter what you want, it’s out there. 

Money, love, health.

The only thing keeping you from getting it is in your imagination.

And that is EXACTLY where your strengths lie as well.

Use one to vanquish the other, and you’re good to go.

How To Manifest Faster

Double Your Failure Rate

Double Your Failure Rate

A common question people have is how to manifest things faster.

They’ve got a goal, they’ve created a visualization, and they’ve been doing all the meditations and the affirmations, yet nothing seems to be working.

I’m sure you’ve heard the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, right?

I had a boss once that use to get under our skin. He would ask us to call a vendor, and try to get some information about certain supplies we needed. We’d call, they’d give us the information, but the boss didn’t like it.

So he’d tell us to call again, and ask again. Same question. I guess he figured maybe the first time the guy who answered the phone didn’t feel like telling us the whole story.

Once I was driving somewhere with my girlfriend, and we’d taken a wrong turn. This was back before GPS, so all we had were the AAA maps. Clearly marked, with big yellow lines. There was no question where we were, she was just upset that we were behind schedule.

She wanted to pull over and ask for directions, even though the map showed where we were. “Do you want me to ask them if the map is correct?” She laughed and we kept driving, finally getting to where we were going.

The CEO of Sony once said that if you want to double your success rate, all you’ve got to do is double your failure rate.

This is the missing piece of the puzzle when creating any kind of success.

Failure, or getting what you didn’t expect, is JUST as important as success.

Think of a guided missile. It rarely goes straight to its target. It’s got built in sensors and auto correct functions because the engineers EXPECT it to always be going off course.

If they just aimed it and shot it like a big bullet, it would always miss.

Any outcome is the same. Before you get there, you have to EXPECT to go off course.

Then you’ve got to pay attention to feedback, both good and bad, to keep refining the right path.

How can you manifest faster?

Try more things. Get more feedback. Every piece of feedback you get will make it happen faster.

If you don’t like the feedback you ARE getting, doing something different will get you different feedback.

The more feedback you get, the quicker you’ll get there.

How To Get Guardian Angel Advice

Advice From Your Friend

Get In Touch With Your Best Side

When I was in Junior High school, we had these dances.

Us kids talked all kinds of smack before, (at least the guys), but at the actual dance, it was a different story.

All the guys on one side of the gym, all the girls on the other.

Making that LONG walk across to find a girl and ask her to dance was TERRIFYING.

Funny thing was that once you got the hang of it, it was pretty easy. Since few girls said, “no,” we dudes all realized that all we had to do was ask.

Of course, that first long walk is the hardest. This is one of the main reasons so many people stay stuck.

For some reason, we all imagine we can get the goods without making the effort. Money, relationships, love, careers, anything you can think of.

But unless you’re willing to get out in the mix, it ain’t gonna happen.

Not what a lot of people like to hear, but there it is.

Look at ANY successful person, and they spent a LOT of time in the trenches.

But they know a secret most don’t.

And that is the road to success is most always MUCH BETTER than the success itself.

That ever present feeling of growth, of expanding comfort zones, of going to sleep proud of what you DID that day (compared to what you “received”).

Trouble is, most people are waiting for somebody to show them the way.

That’s kind of like junior high school boys waiting for the girls to come over and tell them that it’s ok to ask them to dance.

Sure, it happens, but not very often.

The bottom line HARSH truth of any goal is that if you want to get the goods, you’ve got to PUT YOURSELF in the game.

You won’t be ASKED to join the game. You won’t be PUSHED to join the game. You’ve got to stand up on your own, and get in the mix. Join the fun. Take a risk, and see what happens.

One way is to imagine your higher self, (or your guardian angel) who lives outside time and already KNOWS of your impending success. Imagine him or her standing behind you, giving you gentle encouragement.

Imagine them whispering in your ear, “Get out there and have some fun! It’s safe! You’ll be OK!”

You can conjure up your angel any time you like. See something you want, but are afraid to try.

Imagine them saying that, just the way you’d like.

And then get out there!

Turn Fear Into Power

Let Loose Your Juice

Tap Your Hidden Reservoirs

There’s a theory of human energy that we always have a hidden reservoir.

This is that energy mothers get when they move cars to save their kids.

It’s also the energy we have when it comes time to flee an escaped tiger.

The theory goes that if we were ever consciously aware of this energy, we’d use it.

And if all of a sudden, there was an avalanche, or some sort of catastrophe happened, we’d be screwed.

So nature kept his reserve hidden from us, so when we REALLY needed it, it would always be there.

Kind of like our greatest powers. They say our greatest powers are right behind our greatest fears.

Kind of like an axe that’s stuck behind a big plate of glass. If there’s a fire, we HAVE to break the glass to get the axe.

If we are in desperate NEED of our greatest powers, that need to push us through our greatest fears.

And BAM, we have a sudden burst of power.

But this power goes beyond strength, or speed, or resilience.

It also includes creativity, genius level problem solving, massive persuasion skills.

Now, this is how we are programmed.

Which means if we understand it, we can tweak it in our favor.

For example, we don’t have to wait around for some horrific situation to force us through our deepest fears, so we can dig deep and come up with our biggest powers.

Nor do we have to force ourselves through our biggest fears, just to get to the good stuff we KNOW is on the other side.

(As an aside, that IS a pretty good strategy to achieve maximum and IMMEDIATE greatness: ALWYAS look for chances to DO THINGS YOU FEAR.)

We CAN approach this hidden power slowly.

If our maximum fear has maximum power hidden behind it, then small fear will have small power hidden behind it.

And just any good entrepreneur, you can use your “profits” (in this case the powers behind your fears) and plow them back into your business.

Meaning you can take small steps to expand your comfort zone. Get the power that yields. Then USE THAT POWER to help you expand your comfort zone even more.

Giving you even more power, creativity, interpersonal skills and genius level thinking.

You’ll find that pretty much everything you want in life follows this “entrepreneurial model.”