Tag Archives: Influence

Hallucinate Your Way Rich

Think Your Way Out Of Trouble

A long time ago, they used to think that negative numbers were evil.

This was back when math was still in its infancy.

Since the idea of a “negative thing” (how can you have negative six apples?) didn’t seem to exist, the idea was considered heretical.

Slowly but surely (and luckily) people started to accept the idea of negative numbers.

Same kind of thing happened when they invented “imaginary” numbers.

But ask any mathematician, and they’ll tell you that “imaginary” is not really accurate.

But the name stuck, and here we are.

These “imaginary” numbers are necessary to calculate anything that has to do with sinusoidal fluctuations (like electronic circuits).

One of the famous scenes from the Bible is when Jesus threw out the “money changers.”

Why were they called money “changers”?

Isn’t that like going down to the bank and exchanging dollars for Euros?

Why would those people be bad?

The reason is that way back in the day, lending money at interest was considered a sin.

So the clever money lenders changed their names to money changers.

They would lend money in one currency, and collect in another.

And they collected their “interest” in the form of a “currency exchange fee.”

This is how they got around the ban against charging interest.

This isn’t to say money lenders today (or back then) are good or bad.

But if you are clever enough, and you can think abstractly enough, you can work your way around any limitation.

If you can’t think very cleverly, abstractly, or laterally, when you come up against an obstacle, you’re stuck.

You look around for somebody to tell you what to do.

This is the way most people run their lives.

But if you can think differently, think abstractly, think creatively, any problem is really just another opportunity in disguise.

To all the other simple thinking folks, it’s just a problem.

But to you, it’s an opportunity.

Seeing the world this way requires practice.

Consistent mental practice.

It’s not based on any magic switch in your brain.

If you are, however, willing to put in the few minutes per day of mental practice, you’ll soon see a world FILLED with opportunities that others only recognize as obstacles.

Learn How:

NLP Mind Magic

Trippy Trees

Which Metaphor Do You Prefer?

An old Chinese proverb says that if you wait by the river long enough, you’ll see the bodies of your enemies floating by.

Meaning with enough patience, you can conquer all enemies.

On the other hand, Keynes, a famous economist, said that on a long enough timeline, we’re all dead.

Meaning if you need to wait longer than a normal life span for something to happen, you might never see it.

Waiting patiently is fine if you are the Grand Canyon.

It’s been there forever, and it will be there forever.

From the Grand Canyon’s perspective, the time in which us silly humans came to look at it is really only a small blip over the course of its life.

Of course, this is just a metaphor, as canyons don’t really have a perspective.

They just sit there while the relentless trickle of water consistently wears down billions of tons of rock.

Patience is important to humans, but only under the right context.

Often times we pretend we are “waiting” when in reality we are just too afraid to act.

We even give ourselves things we are waiting FOR.

I’ll wait until I lose a few pounds until I start dating again.

I’ll wait until my next raise before I start to learn about investing.

I’ll wait until summer before I start my exercise program.

Of course, most people are very patient with how well they convince themselves they are being patient.

The real secret is that making big changes is a BAD idea.

It’s much easier to make very, very TINY changes.

And do them consistently.

Just like a relentless trickle of water can build a huge canyon, with small daily exercise, you can build some MASSIVE changes.

Ideally, you can start with thinking exercises.

Since you can do them while just sitting there.

If you learn a few NLP procedures, and practice them daily, pretty soon you’ll have a much more RESOURCEFUL outlook.

You’ll slowly whittle down fears, and slowly build up confidence.

Just a little bit a day is all you need.

Learn More:

NLP Mind Magic

Yeah Baby!

Why Junk Food Tastes Good

If you were a highly skilled chemist, where would you work?

Assuming you weren’t going to break bad like Walter White.

I had a friend once in that situation, being a skilled chemist and looking for work, and he took a job at a major cosmetics company.

Another place where chemists work is in food companies.

The kind that are responsible for food that is nearly addictive.

That is specifically designed to trick our taste buds.

If you’ve ever tried to eat healthy, you know how hard it is.

It takes a LONG TIME to “acquire” a taste for healthy food.

Or “re-acquire” since that’s the stuff we are SUPPOSED to eat.

Even fruit is a Frankenstein creation.

If you took a time machine back a couple thousand years, you’d find “natural” fruit that was nowhere near as big and sugary as modern fruit.

In some respects, it’s GOOD that we can trick our instincts.

That’s precisely why we enjoy movies so much.

We get to feel “non-normal” emotions (fear of death, love, loss, etc.) without having to actually deal with the consequences those emotions would normally produce.

In other areas, our instincts, especially our social instincts, are purposely being jacked all over the place.

Look in any crowded area, and check how many people are STARING at their devices.

Chances are they aren’t reading an in depth article about the economic and social implications of modern life.

Chances are they ARE getting their “fast food hit” from social media.

That “likes” and attention that feel good for about a second, but really only want them crave more.

Very much like those advanced chemists to carefully synthesize supermarket food to make us want more with each and every bite.

Luckily, training (or rather re-training) your social instincts is much easier than re-training your hunger.

Because social health food FEELS much better than social junk food.

And once you re-calibrate your social instincts, you’ll feel much better as well.

Learn How:

Ego Taming

Beware Of False Prophets

The Danger Of Fake Validation

One time I went to this goofy seminar.

One of the exercises we did is a pretty popular one among goofy seminars.

They shut the lights out completely, and you aren’t allowed to talk.

You’re supposed to only use your sense of touch to “get to know” the other people.

Lots of people use it for different things.

As I learned it, it’s kind of a metaphor for how we live.

Not unlike Plato’s cave idea.

Where we don’t really see “reality.”

We only see a poor shadow.

A reflection.

The idea being that we are really just feeling around in the dark.

There are a lot of metaphors to describe the complexities of life.

But they all agree that life is pretty complicated.

At least modern life is.

Recently a few scientists have actually admitted that social media is bad for you.

It’s very much like junk food for your ego.

Fake approval, fake likes, fake friends, fake validation.

Just for a second, imagine the REAL version of all the fake attention you might get on social media.

Real people would walk up to you, look you in the eye, shake your hand, and say, “I like you.”

And they meant it.

Or imagine if a group of people came to your house.

Imagine they said:

“We really respect your ideas and the work you are doing. We’d like to be kept in the loop, if possible. We would very much like to follow you.”

Imagine how REAL social approval would feel, compared to how fake social approval feels.

Imagine getting ten thousand, or even a million “likes” for RE-POSTING some clever meme you found online.

Now imagine getting a standing ovation from a speech you just finished.

Imagine the looks on people’s faces when they really “get” your message.

The looks of REAL recognition and approval.

These are the REAL THINGS we crave.

For the longest time, they kept our society humming.

We ONLY got positive social recognition for things that actually HELPED OTHERS.

This is the danger of fake social recognition.

It’s junk food for your soul.

How long would you last if you only ate bowls of sugar?

This is the modern equivalent of feeding on a diet of social media.

Luckily, you can RE-CALIBRATE your social instincts.

So you only seek REAL validation for REAL benefit that you provide to others.

Learn How:

Ego Taming

Sugar Can Be Too Sweet

Are You Eating Social Sugar?

Imagine if you were in Mother Nature’s shoes way back when She made us.

Since we were going to be the “smartest” of the primates, She had to think long and hard.

She probably contemplated giving us TOTAL free will, and giving a list of “best practices.”

When she finished laughing, she decided it might be better to give us a combination of free will and these internal programs that would FORCE us to do the things we needed to survive.

Things that we would do without needing to think.

Like run away from tigers, eat stuff when we were hungry, and sleep when we were tired.

We’ve all had to battle these instincts.

Many of us are afraid of things we wish we weren’t afraid of.

Many of us eat things we wish we didn’t want to.

But consider how it would be otherwise.

How difficult it would be if we had to remember to be scared, or remember to eat, or drink, or sleep.

Just without getting tired, many of us would NEVER sleep.

But then we’d be dead in a few days or weeks.

Luckily, we DO have all of these instincts that keep us alive and safe and within our strict range of operating conditions.

However, many of these instincts aren’t working so well.

At least not as well as they used to.

Imagine if you could re-calibrate your hunger.

So carrots, broccoli and boiled chicken breasts tasted absolutely delicious.

And junk food or anything with sugar tasted like crap.

Losing weight would be easy.

Unfortunately, that’s not possible.

What IS possible is to recalibrate our social instincts.

Because what FEELS GOOD to our social instincts is actually WAY healthier than the social “signals” we seek today.

Most of these are very fake, and very shallow.

Kind of like sugar.

Feels good for a little bit, but then you feel like crap later on.

When you feed your social instincts HEALTHY food, it will feel much better.

So much it will naturally shun all that fake shallow stuff that runs people’s lives.

In that regard, it’s much EASIER to re-calibrate than hunger.

Once you do, you’ll notice a HUGE difference.

Learn More:

Ego Taming

Brains

How To Train Your Inner Self

Money and body fat are the same thing.

When bears gear up to hibernate, they store as much energy as they can.

Way back in the days when governments and bankers messed up our financial system, people kind of did the same thing.

The saying of “Go out and make your fortune” was create during that time.

Back then it was actually possible for a normal human to leave home at the age of 18 or so, work their ass for ten or twenty years, and have enough saved to live the rest of their lives in relative comfort.

Structurally speaking, a human saving up money is the same as a bear building up body fat.

Today, both are misunderstood.

Human body fat is a very necessary part of our biology.

Without the ability to turn consumed energy into stored energy, we never would have survived.

And without our ability to turn work into stored money-energy, our societies never would have gotten very large.

Today if we look in the mirror and see some body fat, we get angry at ourselves.

Sure, if you have a couple hundred extra pounds, you might want to live a little healthier.

But the process of turning consumed calories into fat is a life-enhancing process on a personal level.

This might sound a bit silly, but consider the message you are giving to your inner self when you get angry at your hips or your belly.

Even sillier, consider pinching a couple of inches of fat and thanking your body for always looking out for your interests.

Money is the same way.

We get angry at ourselves for NOT having enough money.

Or we get angry at the world, or at others.

Consider that your inner self is like a dumb caveman, only capable of following his or her instincts.

Getting angry at your fat or your lack of money could be similar to getting angry at a dog who hasn’t been trained.

How can you train your inner caveman?

If you know anything about training animals, positive reinforcement works MUCH BETTER than negative reinforcement.

If you thank and genuinely appreciate your body’s ability to turn consumed energy into fat (so you don’t die later on) it might be easier to go the other direction.

To convert some of that body fat back into energy (if you want).

Similarly, consider giving your inner caveman or woman some positive reinforcement when it comes to money.

Physically take out some money, hold it in your hand, and appreciate it.

What does the word “appreciate” mean?

To make larger.

When YOU appreciate money, you’ll be directing your inner self to “appreciate” money as well.

Learn How:

Wealth Tuning

Genius Ideas Baby

The Birdhouse Strategy

Humans feel best when we are on purpose.

When we’ve got a reason to get up.

When we are in the process of building or creating or moving towards something.

Going on roadtrips is fun for this reason.

Part of the fun of going on a trip is the time it takes to get there.

If we could transport ourselves, like on Star Trek, from our living room to a faraway beach, it wouldn’t be nearly the same.

Maybe because the time it takes to get to our vacation spot (wherever it is) helps us to slowly shift from everyday mindset into vacation mindset.

Sitting in a car or a plane for a few hours literally feels like we are “leaving behind” our normal selves, and moving toward our vacation selves.

Which puts a HUGE barrier to insulate our vacation experience.

But you don’t have to go on vacation to feel on purpose.

Just doing a project which takes a lot of work gives you the same feeling.

Slow growth toward a better future.

Even building a birdhouse (if you’re into birdhouses) is a pleasant experience.

Taking something in your mind, doing the daily tasks to slowly turn your idea into a physical thing.

And once you put it in your backyard, (and see the birds using it) you can remember the process of turning thought into thing.

For a birdhouse or a road trip, it’s easy to measure your progress.

If you’re doing something and you don’t have a way to measure your progress, it’s easy to pretend you’re improving but you’re really not.

One of the “meta” ways to measure your progress is how much money you make.

On one level, this sounds very selfish and almost evil.

But on another level, it makes perfect sense.

So long as you aren’t a bank robber, the money you GET represents the value you’ve PROVIDED to others.

To be sure, there are a LOT of ways you can provide value to others without expecting to get paid.

But if you look at the money you make as directly related to how much you provide to others, it’s a fantastic way to keep score.

It’s very easy to focus on.

Do whatever it takes to EARN more money, and use that as your gauge.

For many people, however, this is VERY frustrating.

It shouldn’t be.

It should feel just like going on vacation or building a birdhouse.

Some people are lucky, and they are born with this mindset.

For them, making money is natural, fun and easy.

And it can be for you as well.

Learn How:
Wealth Tuning

Buy Baby Buy!

Are You A One-Banana Monkey?

One thing we humans are good at is efficiency.

We do it naturally without thinking.

We have to.

We need to put in effort to get calories (energy).

Meaning we need to spend energy to get energy.

Long long ago, way before we were humans, those inefficient animals were slowly weeded out of the gene pool.

Imagine, for example, there existed a species of monkeys that liked climbing trees.

And let’s say each time they climbed a tree it cost them 500 calories of energy.

At the top of these trees were a bunch of bananas.

Each banana gave them 300 calories.

Since these monkeys LOVED climbing trees, they only grabbed one banana each time.

So each trip they LOST 200 calories.

They SPENT 500 calories climbing the tree, but they RECEIVED only 300 calories.

That had a negative monkey ROI (return on investment).

These monkeys, needless to say, wouldn’t last very long.

On the other hand, monkeys with a built in efficiency instinct did.

They would spend the same 500 calories to climb the tree, but they would grab as many bananas as they could.

This is the same instinct that we use when clearing the table after dinner.

We don’t even think about it.

We just stack up as many dishes as we can, so we don’t have to make a hundred trips from the dining room to the kitchen.

(If you want to have some fun, have a dinner party and then clear the table by taking only ONE item to the kitchen on each trip. People will think you’re crazy!)

Many, many of our human functions are based on efficiency.

Especially our thinking patterns.

Our big brains take a TON of energy.

So anywhere we can find shortcuts, we’ll take them.

Sometimes, though, this works against us.

And it does in VERY insidious ways.

We humans think a bit differently about spending energy and getting energy.

We think in terms of money.

The money we make, and the money we spend.

And unfortunately, our thoughts on money are about as helpful as those goofy “one-banana” monkeys.

Why?

Because our money beliefs kill two birds with one stone.

Our leaders (political, religious, etc.) tell us money is “bad.”

But they don’t really believe it, since they have tons of money.

It’s just a clever idea so they can STAY “elite.”

Those that don’t have money tell us it’s “bad” as well.

Because if WE get money, and they don’t, they’ll feel bad.

WE believe money is “bad” because we don’t like thinking about.

So we’ve got TONS of people (including us) that think money is “bad.”

But before we humans invented money, life sucked.

No doctors, no air conditioning, no air travel, and no “anything else.”

But AFTER money was invented, BOOM!

All the cool stuff came.

And it’s still coming.

Money isn’t bad, money is FANTASTIC.

Get Some:

Wealth Tuning

Scary Times Up Ahead

Destroy Fear Before It Exists

Way back in the day, Teddy Roosevelt had an interesting foreign policy.

“Speak softly, and carry a big stick.”

Which basically means be as nice as possible, but when somebody crosses a line, you respond as quickly and viciously as possible.

Imagine two different guys, trained as martial artists.

To one guy, it’s important everybody knows he’s a martial artist.

He always acts as tough as possible.

Then there’s another guy, who wants to project as kind a personality as he can.

Which guy do you think is more confident?

Clearly, the first guy has issues.

He is perhaps so worried about getting into a fight, in his mind, he probably feels like there are enemies around every corner.

While the second guy is so confident in his skills, he only worries if somebody is actually in his face and getting ready to punch him.

But even then he knows he can easily defend himself.

The more confident you are with your skills, the less you’ll think about using them.

This is where that stereotypical movie line comes from:

“You learn martial arts so you don’t have to get into fights.”

One of the strange paradoxes of human behavior is we tend to attract what we fear most.

People who are always worried about getting mugged walk around with closed off body language, walking while staring at the ground.

Project the EXACT body language muggers, pickpockets and purse snatchers look for.

The people least likely to fight back, give chase, or even call the cops.

Or the stereotypical guy who secretly think the world hates him.

So he walks around with a scowl on his face.

Which causes everybody to keep their distance.

His fears create his reality.

But when you plan for the worst, the opposite happens.

The more daily action you take to prepare for the worst, the more confident you’ll be able to handle it.

And the less likely it will actually happen, since you’ll be projecting more confident energy.

One of the biggest things that cause people anxiety is what to say when dealing with strangers.

Especially when it comes to asking for what we want.

We imagine all the potential responses, imagine our worst fears coming true, so we don’t ask.

Or if we do ask, we do through fearful and protective body language which virtually guarantees we get what we most fear.

But by practicing all the different ways to ask, and handle any objections, you’ll be asking with much different energy.

Very much like sales objections.

The more you practice handling them, the less likely they ever come up.

The more confident you are with your language skills, the less likely you’ll need them.

Start Practicing:

Weaponized Hypnosis

Behold The Mighty Language

How The Ends Can Justify The Means

Ends and means are easy to confuse.

I never really quite understood the problem with “the ends justify the means.”

It’s something you talk about in high school.

It’s generally frowned up to accept that any ends is justified by any means.

But I was never one to go along with how we were “supposed” to think about things.

Our teacher would say, “suppose you have an end to get money. Does robbing a bank justify getting money? No, it does not, therefore, the end doesn’t always justify the means.”

I would always argue.

I would say that the “end” was poorly defined.

That having a well defined end is justified by any means.

In the above example, you just re-define your “end” as “legally getting money.”

Of course, I was never one for blindly obeying authority.

When you tell somebody that the ends doesn’t always justify the means, it also presupposes that there is some entity that is capable of which “means” are acceptable, and which are unacceptable.

Even in my high school days, I was arguing against authority any way I could.

My idea then, and my idea now is that if you create a well enough defined end, which precludes any immoral, unethical or otherwise negative behavior, then any means you use is perfectly fine.

And perfectly justified.

In fact, you might say our entire lives are based around satisfying our never ending “ends” with as simple and effective “means” as possible.

But people who like having any authority will sneak that authority in any way they can.

And unless you know how to linguistically stand your ground, it’s very easy to get taken advantage of.

Humans are goal setting machines.

We cannot NOT set goals.

Most of the time, these are unconscious and automatic.

Getting up to use the toilet.

Getting something to eat.

Talking to friends.

But that inner structure is always there. And it happens hundreds of times a day.

You feel a desire, and you satisfy that desire.

This is why people LOVE taking advantage of others.

They can very carefully and covertly take over your natural goal setting ability.

So you’re not getting outcomes for YOU, you’re getting them for them.

Usually this is fine.

This is the conscious and unconscious “tit for tat” that makes relationships work.

They become a problem when one person is benefiting at the expense of somebody else.

You don’t need to get defensive.

You don’t even need to be assertive.

Just learn how to ask some very simple questions.

Questions that will force them to rethink their strategy.

Very powerful.

Very subtle.

Very effective.

Learn How:

Weaponized Hypnosis