The way it’s animated is really quite awesome. I love this video and I hope you enjoy it too!

♦  ♦  ♦

If you’re going to utilize the T.V. (the box that becomes the Electronic Income Reducer if it’s used too much) for enjoyment this week, be sure to tune into NBC starting Tuesday, July 27 at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST).

You may have a similar experience as one of the families he’s going to help break through their self-imposed limiting blocks, beliefs, and errant ways in thinking.

See the trailer here…

Ignorant people aren’t stupid but merely uninformed; a marvelous advantage when you need a perspective from “outside the box.”

The truly naïve are so thoroughly “outside” they’re not even sure what you mean by “the box.”

When you consult specialists within your industry, you’re talking to the builders of the box, the guardians of the box, the faithful defenders of THE BOX.

So when specialists fail to provide the innovative thinking you need, ask the opinions of intelligent people who have no experience in your industry. This is the second quickest shortcut to successful innovation. (I’ll tell you the quickest shortcut later.)

Each suggestion you hear will tempt you to say,

“But you don’t understand…”

Bite your tongue. Don’t say it. The goal of this exercise isn’t to drag people into your box but to get a fresh perspective from outside it, remember? So just listen and ponder all that would have to change if you were to implement the suggestion made by your naïve friend.

The naïve suggestion won’t be workable. What you make from it will be.

Frank Kern is senior vice-president of IBM Global Business Services. On May 19, 2010, he released a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value. Are you ready for this? According to that survey, today’s CEOs identify “creativity” as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.

“That’s creativity—not operational effectiveness, influence, or even dedication. Coming out of th e worst economic downturn in their professional lifetimes, when managerial discipline and rigor ruled the day, this indicates a remarkable shift in attitude.” – Frank Kern, IBM Global Business Services

BUT we’re not getting more creative. As our society moves deeper into this Civic cycle (2003-2023) we’re becoming more deeply committed to following the rules. We’re becoming more regulatory, less tolerant of divergent thought. Under the guise of “working together for the common good,” our young men and women are choosing to become guardians of the status quo, especially when it comes to problem solving. In short, we’re “playing it safe.”

When it comes to advertising and marketing, “playing it safe” is the least safe thing you can do.

A report just released from M.I.T. reveals a surprising connection between progress and “playing it safe.”

When bonuses were given for increased performance, the bigger the bonus, the better the performance when only mechanical skills were required. No surprise here, right?

But when bonuses were offered for cognitive skills, even rudimentary ones, higher incentives led to poorer performance. I swear I’m not making this up.

“These findings have been replicated over and over and over again by psychologists, by sociologists, and by economists.” – Prof. Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink speculates that we respond most strongly to offers of 1. autonomy, 2. mastery and 3. purpose.

Watch this video:

♦  ♦ ♦

I agree with Pink but I interpret the M.I.T. data with a slightly different twist; it seems to me that the higher the reward, the greater the tendency of respondents to second-guess their creative right-brain impulses.

In other words, they over-thunk it and “played it safe.”

Fear is a terrible master.

It is by attempting the ridiculous that we accomplish the miraculous.

“If you will expand your world, you must crawl on your hands and knees, get on your belly and squirm under the fence that surrounds your insulated life.” – Inside the Outside, Wizard Academy Press

Rita Mae Brown says it more colorfully. “As a woman, I find it very embarrassing to be in a meeting and realize I’m the only one in the room with balls.”

— — —

To learn about Roy and what he and his staff have cooking up at the Wizard Academy, click here…

♦  ♦  ♦

Tony doesn’t pretend to be anybody other than who he is — brash, intensely passionate, and irreverently real — in this video:

(If you’re the kind of person who feels cuss words are the equivalent of black mold or two-day-old baby diapers — things to be avoided at all costs — don’t watch this video)

♦  ♦  ♦

After watching the video,  look into this:

Speaking of “real”, Brad Wajnman, our Managing Editor for The Wealth Vault,  has come across something unlike anything we’ve seen in quite awhile. It combines the elements of LEVERAGE through automatic purchases from customers, ASSET ACCRUAL, and WEALTH PRESERVATION; elements that anybody who’s on a path to legitimate financial freedom MUST HAVE. Learn more…

♦  ♦  ♦

Barry came across this new blog post written by John Mylant, a trading coach that he follows. When we both read it, we felt that it highly resonated with the way we think, and what we teach (or, some would say, preach).

Yes, we’re big on congruency. We’ve dissolved business partnerships, and personal partnerships, based almost solely on this concept.

Why is it so important? Read on for John’s take… and our commentary.

One Bite At A Time
by John Mylant, Private Stock Trader and Options Trading Coach

When with your friends, you often hear yourself saying stuff like, “Of course I care about my health!  I take good care of myself!” Yet alone, in the middle of temptation, you convince yourself that just one more bacon-double-cheeseburger (with fries) won’t hurt. After all, it’s not like you do it EVERY day!

Look, we admit to eating junk every now and then too. But we don’t label ourselves “health nuts”. We just say that we eat “pretty good” most of the time, and we work out as often as we can.

The lesson here is, don’t apply labels or give attributes to yourself — whether that be “health coach” or “light worker” — unless you truly keep up the lifestyle all, or nearly all, of the time (in our experience, most don’t).

You are diligent in telling your eleven-year-old daughter not to ever tell lies… not ever.  The phone rings…she answers.  It’s ANOTHER telemarketer.  “Tell them I’m not here!” you silently mouth from the other room.

We all know that telling little white lies every now and then is okay — for instance, if you’re complimenting someone to make them feel good, even though you don’t think they look quite as “ravishing” as you say. After all, you don’t want your 11-year-old daughter telling her friend that a scar on her face makes her look ugly, either, even if that’s what automatically pops into her mind at first.

But the core of what you say needs to be honest. Teach your kids to look for the good in everyone, and that way they’ll always be able to give an honest compliment.

And for yourself… “not here” is an obvious lie, but you can certainly say you’re “not available” to speak to a telemarketer if you’re busy. Even better, how about being completely honest here?… “not interested!”

“It’s only twenty minutes!” you convincingly encourage yourself as you round your time sheet up to the next even hour.  After all, why do they make you fill these silly things out, anyway?

Ever find yourself in a similar scenario?  You know… where your actions and your words don’t exactly jive?  Where you tell yourself, your family, your friends or your boss one thing, but inside you know something different?  Ever?

Have you ever heard the term “congruence?”  It’s been a big deal in management training circles for some time now.  Indeed, it is a very important idea.  Defined by Webster, it means, “an exact coinciding.”  To use a (very) worn out phrase, it means, “walking your talk”.  My definition?  Do what you say… say what you do.

We like this definition. We truly didn’t know that the corporate world was as big on the concept as we are, but it makes sense… and the world would be a lot better off if more people did what they said, and said what they do.

Out of the grey…

There’s no grey here.  It’s actually quite a simple concept. And you know what?  Such virtue paves the difference between excellence and something much less in every one of your relationships.  With your employer, customers, co-workers, friends, children, significant other, and even… with yourself. Such uprightness creates the quantity of respect you’re given, and in reality, the quantity of respect you deserve.

On a very personal level, it’s called… integrity.

You’ve most likely heard the phrase, “Your actions are shouting so loudly, I can’t hear a word you’re saying!”  You can probably think of someone to whom this phrase fits… perfectly.  But, have you ever considered how it might apply to you?  Sure, most of us are pretty honest when it comes to the big stuff.  We don’t steal.  We don’t blatantly lie.  We don’t cheat our friends. But what about those “little” things?  It’s been said that the way to eat an elephant is… one bite at a time!

We encourage you to take a look at the little things in your life that might not be so congruent. Figure out where you can better practice (live) what you preach (know)… and then do it. Why wait for a New Year’s resolution? The road to improvement can start any time you want to take that first step.

Your Partners In The Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

P.S. By the way… we’re opening the doors back up to our private “alternative investments” club on December 15th. The Wealth Vault is an ONLINE members-only club whose focus is to sift-out some of the most unconventional, and super-fast, cash-flow and wealth-generation programs available.

We’ve ADDED many new IV’s (Investment Vehicles) since we first lauched at the end of September and it’s, without question, one of the most instantly-usable and valuable products under our LWL umbrella.

If you’re not yet a member, get on the R.S.V.P List here.

As you know by now, we do our part (it’s a pleasure, really) to provoke thought… often, more by sharing the absurdities of life rather than the gloss-covered mind-tricks and media-fed ideologies that you’re exposed to every day.

Our stance is simple: the more honest, open, and accepting you are to what IS happening, regardless of its taste, look, or smell, the more empowered you are to do something about it.

Lucille Ball once said that knowing what you can NOT do is more important than knowing what you can do.

And, the reason she said it is because she also recognized that self-awareness is rare. Or, its counterpart big sister, “denial,” isn’t!

When we ask coaching clients of ours why they keep believing something about themselves (as in, “I know I’m a good networker,” or “Hey, no doubt, I’m one of the best at asking good questions?”) that isn’t true (the ‘results’ or ‘evidence’ they produce lets us know that), it’s usually for one of two reasons:

( Click the “continue reading” link to see what those reasons are )

– Cont’d –

#1) Somebody once told them they ARE what they say they ARE, so they latched onto an “identity” that is bigger than themselves. Think about it… how many people do you know who continue to do what they do, even in a very ho-hum, monotonous way, because the self-importance of what they do over-shadows the results they actually produce… either for themselves or others?

#2) They take a cliquish phrase like, “Believe and You Will Achieve” and butcher the hell out of it, by actually living in a “dream world,” crafted out of a feel-good movement that says “nothing can stop you if you want it bad enough.” And ya know what, that’s true, very true… to a point. Yet, at some conscious, cognitive level, the person needs to rip off his/her rose-colored glasses and quit pretending. They need to give themselves a timeframe to “accomplish” something, then stop, be okay with not achieving it (temporary failure), and move the hell on.

Novelist Iris Murdock says we live in a fantasy world of illusion, and that the great task in life is to find reality.

Yes, Dear Iris, at the risk of sounding jaded or mean, it is indeed time to put a lid on the whole self-absorbed I create my reality BS and turn our attention to something much bigger:

 ( The punchline to come after this short sponsor advertisement )

 

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 How we relate, sync-up, and harmonize with “outside things” — as in the world-at-large around us. We either really make solid connections with people of substance, or we don’t. And, the secret to that (the one most won’t recognize) is that you’ve gotta know what the ‘standards’ are for yourself in the first place.

We either strip away labels that keep a leash around our ability to discover new things and break free from normalcy, or we don’t.

It’s not about being a democrat or republican. It’s not about just being a life coach, a raw foods expert, a marketer, or a namaste-yielding crusader of love and peace.

Heck, it’s not about being identified as a “mother-in-law” either. Unless, of course, you’re so insecure that you think you ARE the person who ‘fits the bill’ and therefore can’t even take a joke.

A New York comedian is being sued by her mother-in-law for telling mother-in-law jokes. Ruth Zafrin says comic Sunda Croonquist’s stand-up routine is “malicious, intentional, and based on her hatred towards her.” Croonquist often jokes that Zafrin finds her mixed-race background alarming.

See, it’s about thickening up your skin, not taking your self-imposed identity or societal label too seriously.

It’s about common sense!

Recently, fellow contrarian-thinker Doug Casey was saying how he thinks it’s a pity that the average guy or gal (the non-professional comedian that’s not on stage) has to “outsource” his sense of humor. Meaning, about the only people who can say politically incorrect things today are comedians.

A Minnesota man is facing up to 90 days in jail for swearing in public. Lucas Wilcox, 19, cursed at police officers who had just ticketed him for underage drinking at a party, and was promptly found in violation of an 1887 ordinance that prohibits the use of “any obscene language”’ in public places.

Folks, it was just words… if you can’t swear at an over-zealous police officer, spending more time prowling college parties than on the street chasing down hard-core criminals, then who the @#$% can you swear at, without being put in jail for 90 days?

Doug adds:

“And… where does this lead us? Will you need to get a license to say funny things? (not that cursing is funny. Yet, I bet it was for the frat brothers listening to it). It’s part of the increasingly corrosive atmosphere in America that you have to watch not only what you say, but whom you say it to, and who might overhear what you are saying. We really are entering the era of Thought Crime and Double-Think.”

A Missouri high school has banned the school’s marching band from wearing T-shirts that depict brass instruments evolving into one another. The “Brass Evolutions” shirt, based on the classic ascent-of-man image, drew complaints from religious conservative parents. “If the shirts had said ‘Brass Resurrections‚’ and had a picture of Jesus on the cross, we would have done the same thing,” said a school official.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! So, the point of banning the shirts was what, then?

Yup, only in America!

One of the few places on earth the sheeple (the masses) praise and identify with medocrity and struggle, and condemn excellence and over-achievement…

For a some more head-shaking evidence, read Heather’s post:

“Boomhauer Goes To Vegas”

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

Last summer, Barry and I were looking for a couple of room dividers for the house we were about to move into, because the living room was one big open space, and we wanted to section off a corner. We saw a pair we liked, but the price was a little steep, so we figured we’d see what else we could find first.

“Alright, we might be back,” Barry said to the salesman who was hovering around.

The salesman, with a desperate look on his face, reached out to shake Barry’s hand, and with the other hand produced a business card. “Think of me when you need any kind of furniture,” he said. “This is how I feed my family, you know.”  The statement was said with dejected sincerity, not out of friendly jest.

Barry and I both almost gagged as we exchanged looks and hightailed it to the exit. “What da hell… ya gotta be kidding me,” he said as soon as we were outside.

“This is how I feed my family? Buy from me, not for the quality of what I offer, but because you feel sorry for me?” I scoffed.

“What complete and utter victimitis thinking,” Barry added. “A total turn-off to a potential customer. It’s just one step above standing on the street corner with a sign and a tin cup, begging for spare change.”

You might be thinking, “Well, that’s a rare example of someone with a sales job who just doesn’t understand the concept of value-for-value, or quid pro quo.”

The sad thing is, we’ve seen a lot more of it than you’d expect lately.

== Cont’d = =

Alright, yeah, I understand. Times are tough, and some people are feeling desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that stuff, right?

The thing is, universal laws don’t change based on the economy. Value is always given for value received, no matter what. Thinking, feeling and acting like a victim will always make you a victim, no matter what. And hanging in your comfort zone will always make you uncomfortably comfortable (read “stuck in a rut”), no matter what.

Right off the top of my head, I can think of two people that we used to work with pretty closely who figure playing it safe, or even playing the pity card, is the way to go.

One recently wrote a blog post where he claimed he was going to be bold and daring, and write things he’d never written before. What he ended up doing was complaining about how his life is really in the dumps, despite having always told people how great he’s doing. He wrote about his health problems, and his money problems, and his family problems, and mentioned how he needed to sell some of his products to pay the rent.

Yikes. That wasn’t bold and daring, it was pitiful. If he needed to sell some stuff to pay the rent, he should have focused on the amazing value he offered the customer, not the incredible lack he was experiencing. Apparently he, like the salesman at the furniture store, figured people would buy from him because they felt sorry for him.

The other person feels a need to constantly be cranking out feel-good quotes and snippets of universal lessons. He figures it inspires people — and he may be right — but it’s a hollow, temporary inspiration.

See, inspiration is not the same as motivation. Being inspired can motivate people… but a good swift kick in the rear end can, too.

And that takes us back to the comfort zone. Inspirational words keep many people sitting on their big plush comfort-zone couch. Some get inspired enough to get up and do something, but most don’t. However, if you dump that person off the couch and tell him what he’s doing to keep his butt glued in place — and how he can break free — you’re more likely to see some real results.

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If you watch America’s Got Talent, you’ll understand this analogy. Nine times out of ten, Piers Morgan will have something constructive to say to the performers. He’ll tell them what he liked, what he didn’t like, and why. He’ll point them in right direction to improve their act, and often they’ll come back with something way better than they ever could have come up with on their own.

It’s the equivalent of dumping them off their comfort-zone couch and telling them how to move ahead and achieve greatness.

David Hasselhoff, on the other hand, rarely has anything constructive to say, unless he’s parroting what the other judges have already commented on. The rest of the time, it’s “That was fantastic!” “You were terrific!” and “That’s what this show is all about!”

It’s the equivalent of reading them hollow, Pollyanna-ish inspirational quotes that do nothing but make them feel better in the moment… and give them validation to stay in their comfort zone.

Sharon Osborne kind of floats between the two, sometimes offering feedback of value, and sometimes gushing like David, depending on how “harsh” (read “right on”) Piers has already been.

It’s kind of like she’s operating a safety net… she’ll be honest if she’s the first to give feedback, but she’ll over-praise if she’s not, just so nobody feels too bad. If they do, they might decide to “jump” (figuratively) off the stage, and she’d be there to catch them.

This safety-net mentality is holding many people back, every day. One of my in-laws has no ambition, and staggers along at the level of status quo, because she figures there will always be a government program or family member to lend her a hand and hold out the safety net for her.

Another in-law is a tall, young, beautiful girl who had the opportunity a decade ago to go to New York and be a model and actor. She loves show biz — she directs and stars in community theater plays all the time — but she chose to turn her back on an exciting career she would have adored because her family convinced her to play it safe, and stay small… snuggled up on her comfort-zone couch.

And the very show I just mentioned — America’s Got Talent — proves again and again that people are fascinated with the underdog.

Even Piers turns to mush when it happens. First it was Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent. Yes, she had a beautiful singing voice. But people loved her because she looked frumpy, and even started an uproar when she got a makeover. They wanted to feel that she was as “ordinary” as them, so they could, on the one hand, live vicariously through her… but on the other hand, keep her on her comfort-zone couch.

It’s like they’re saying, “Hey, lady, you show the world what you’ve got… but don’t become unattainable. We want to see you singing karaoke at the pub again next week!”

When all the attention caused her to have a nervous breakdown, I swear I heard some people quietly cheering that she would, in fact, stay just like them for awhile longer… suffering, but staying curled up nicely on that couch.

Now it’s all about Grandma Lee. She’s a 75-year-old comedian who has a few snicker-worthy jokes, but she’s just not laugh-out-loud funny. She’s in the finals of America’s Got Talent, not because of her talent — it doesn’t come close to any of the other finalists, or even a lot of the people who didn’t make it — but because she’s another underdog.

And nobody — not Piers, not Sharon, not the media, not anybody else I’ve heard — will give her constructive criticism. They just tell her she’s great… because, after all, she’s a grandmother who looks like Moe from The Three Stooges. How can you, or anyone for that matter, possibly say anything “bad” about her?

Just like everyone was afraid to say anything “bad” about Susan Boyle, as long as she didn’t stop being an underdog who was afraid of success (which is what kept her on that darned couch for so long in the first place).

It’s probably what the victimitis salesman and marketer at the top of this article were trying to do. “I’m an underdog, so you’ll help me, right?” Except that people support underdogs emotionally, not necessarily financially.

As far as offering them some advice goes… contrary to popular belief, constructive criticism is not “bad”. If done right, it’s constructive — hence the name. And constructive is helpful.

Unfortunately, most people see “criticism” of any sort as “confrontational”. And most people think confrontation is “bad” because it ruffles feathers.

Here’s what personal development writer Robert Ringer, whose tagline is A Voice of Sanity in an Insane World™, has to say about that:

I’ve always felt that the saddest way to go through life would be to never even make a ripple. Whether it’s Al Gore or George Bush, Michael Moore or Jerry Falwell, the Dalai Lama or Rupert Murdoch, they all have one thing in common:

They make ripples. In fact, they make big ripples.

And so should you if you want to live life as opposed to just passing through on your way to the grave. When you get up every morning, the first thing you should do is ask yourself if you did anything yesterday to make a ripple. Even more important, ask yourself what you can do to make a ripple today.

All great achievements begin in the mind. Thinking about ripples leads to making ripples. Don’t fear being different. Don’t fear offending people who get their noses out of joint because they don’t like what you say or do. Don’t fear downside consequences to the point where you can’t bring yourself to take action.

Above all, don’t fear making big ripples. Do things that no one has ever done before. Shock your competitors. Leapfrog over the pack.

Making ripples, or ruffling feathers, is a great way to make sure that not everybody will be pleased by what you do.

But so what? That’s why they say, “You can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

Ruffling feathers doesn’t mean going out and seeing who you can upset or make angry. It means being straight, direct, and doing it for all the right reasons: to teach what you know, and help those who can’t see the forest, because they’re stuck sitting in their comfortable little nest, looking at their own little tree.

Ruffling feathers allows you to fly to great heights, because it means you’re adding value to the world.

So go ahead and fly.

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

It’s easy to say you want something… but much harder to follow through.

And as a goalsetting expert we once interviewed said, “Behavior doesn’t lie.”

Too many people say they want to lose weight, but eat junk while they sit on the couch. They say they want to make more money, but shy away from every opportunity to do so. They say they want to follow a passion, but put it on the back burner to pursue “someday”.

Ask them why, and they’ll always have a reason. Or… should we say “an excuse”? Because no matter how reasonable a reason seems to be, if it prevents someone from doing what they say they want to do, it just means they’re not walking their talk.

Yeah, sure, talk is cheap… and action is gold.

It takes a lot of personal investment to do something that inspires others. And many people just don’t want to put any skin in the game, in case it gets hurt.

But that’s like refusing to love in case it one day dwindles, refusing to create in case it gets critiqued, or refusing to laugh if someday tears will come instead.

We especially paid attention to a local boy, from Grants Pass, Oregon, who recently wowed the crowd at AGT. His name is Hairo Torres, and he says, “if you don’t try, you’ll never know.”

Here he is performing in the quarter-finals, with an act that got him put through to the next round:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNTKbHn8Yl0[/youtube]

He reminds us of another local guy, who’s just as talented… with one big difference.

He refuses to try, because it might mean getting out of his comfort zone. He can entertain his friends till the cows come home, but not a bigger audience.

He focuses on what could go wrong, rather than what can go right.

What about you? Which would you rather be?

The one who reaches for the stars… and might hit the moon?

Or the one who stays in your comfort zone… digging deeper and deeper ruts?

You can shine, or be covered in dirt. It’s all up to you.

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

The program used real-world experiments in social psychology as the source of its humorous scenarios.

The resulting programs were not only entertaining, but also instructive.

For example, how independent is the average person when confronted with the all-powerful “consensus of the group?”

Not very.

This is the very reason (one main reason, anyway) that the warm and fuzzy side of personal and spiritual development continues to be perpetuated by NEW marketers entering this area!

Not only do they think it’s the cool, hip, in-crowd thing to do, they actually think (without a lot of authentic, honest self-talk and contemplation, by the way) that their recycled, surface-level, me-too content actually serves a purpose beyond spoon-feeding the masses the very “fix” that treats the symptoms and NOT the cause.

World-famous copywriter, Bob Bly, recently commented on how this phenomenon — of being enamored with fluff, fads, and molding your personality to “crowd mentality” — applies to marketing:

“…blogging, social networking sites, bulletin boards, forums — all that is well and good. But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to sell something or you’re just wasting your time.”

Yup, we hear ya, Bob… it’s a crazy thing, isn’t it? As we’ve been saying in a hard and heavy way over the past year on this blog:

When it’s your belief (your self-identity) that you’re always or mostly one way (i.e., loving, caring, enlightened); that you’re put here to be a messenger for something profoundly intangible (i.e., like bliss, happiness or love); that you’re supposed to always socialize or give away things BEFORE you can sell something you have of value… you go into cognitive dissonance when your behavior doesn’t fit the self-identity.

Yet, the majority, regardless of how personally unfruitful or non-productive it is, will always protect their self-identity at all costs.

Several days ago, we started our first post about “happiness” — how when you use your common-sense and ground your fluffy emotions, you’ll realize that not only can you not strive to find it around you, but it’s really something else you’re after. Many “Thank You’s” for everybody in our community who participated.

However, there’s one community member,  Azam Khan , who we feel said it best, as it applies to what THIS post is about:

Being transparent, holding yourself accountable for what you experience (or don’t experience), and not pretending to be something you’re really not.

In response to the I Don’t Want To be Happy post, Azam adds:

“It is refreshing to hear a clearly defined distinction between superficial happiness and true fulfillment. I have known many people who go through life wearing fake plastic smiles to make themselves appear more pleasant or personable, but are emotional wrecks inside, or totally numb.

“I believe the whole spectrum of the human emotional experience needs to be felt and acknowledged in order to be genuinely whole. And that is to never repress the shadow of our anger, resentment or negativity, but to truly feel and acknowledge them, and in some cases where appropriate, express them.

“It is true that the pursuit of happiness is something that can cause unhappiness. We live in a world which can generally be an awesome place too… but we are also subject to an infrastructure of forced social adaptation that is governed by advertising and collective trends. As human animals with an inherent need to belong and be part of a collective, it is easy to fall prey to socio-cultural definitions of happiness and success, and aimlessly pursue them to maintain appearances and status.”

And, this is a perfect transition to the event I’m leading off on June 6th. Kinda like Bill Hicks (we’ll talk about him soon) warming up for George Carlin, I’ll be starting off some rants and giving my direct, let’s-keep-it-real commentary to a “Personal Development Raw” event.

= = = = =

Personal Development Raw is only being offered, at this time, to a private, somewhat select group of students who have progressed through some no-nonsense, hard-core training by a friend of mine who is doing some pretty snazzy habit-busting things for his people.

Ya know the ol’ saying: “Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.”

Well, my friend, who shall go unnamed until I get my hands on the recording and/or can direct you to the Personal Development Raw series he’s putting together, is ensuring his students don’t go insane.

Like Heather and I, he completely understands how the self-improvement, spiritual growth, manifestation / LOA niche attracts a lot of people (the majority) who are in a constant state of delusion (yep, a strong assertion… yet, we’ve dived deep enough to be able to say that).

In our friend’s words:

“The truth of the matter is, you are NOT willing to realize your faults, your mistakes or how you are constantly lying to yourself. Please don’t stop reading; if I have offended you, I’m sorry. But, I really think it’s time that a personal development professional begins to tell you what you need to hear, instead of hyping it up with philosophy and what you THINK you need to hear.”

So, my request of you is this:

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO COVER ?

I mean, come on, I can obviously sit, talk, and elaborate on everything we’ve been revealing, exposing, and being critically direct about on this blog…

… like self-help teachers who have an  identity crisis with “marketing” and “teaching.”

… like how some of the most fragile, neurotic egos come out of the woodwork when we confront their hazy, cryptic, single-minded, over-analytical views of what The Secret means (or should mean) to them.

… like how certain marketers/publishers claim they’re trying to dig deeply and be intelligent researchers, impartial reporters, or scientists, yet when they get an expert on the phone turn the whole thing into an adoring gush-fest.

So, you get the drift:  What RAW things — things that you wouldn’t want your grandma to hear — do you want me to talk about?

Name it (by commenting on this post)… nothing is out of bounds for this call I’ll be conducting on June 6th.

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And, yes, by the way, I WILL be strong-arming (aggressively cajoling) my friend to create a book out of the Personal Development Raw series he’s creating.

Why?

Simply because, in an age where the MASSES fool themselves every day by believing in mainstream propaganda (or at least, not questioning it or turning over the rock) and striving to perfect their game (the game called “personal accomplishment”) from hollow, lame, and Utopian practices, it’s NEEDED!

And, least I not forget!

I can’t begin to tell you how many of our readers have submitted tickets about wanting to write a book or make comments here on our LWL blog about “one day” being an author.

TRULY, if that’s you, there’s no damn excuse.

Have a dream of writing your own book?

Yeah, well, we do (did) too — we’re in the process of writing three of them, actually.

We got off our ass and are doing it. So can you.

Research tells us that 82% of people believe they have a book inside them. However, sadly 99.9% of people will go to their grave with their book still inside them. But don’t despair.

Don’t let that be you!

By accessing this FREE 68 Minute Audio and 43–page Publishing Guide, valued at over $147, you’ll discover a proven way to become a best-selling author…

Yup, watch out J.K. Rowling… Dale Beaumont, the publisher of this AMAZING publishing guide, has published 15 books over the past three years – selling over a quarter of a million copies. As he keeps up the pace, he’ll be right on your tail

Hey, Dear Reader, what can you learn from Dale ?

Some might say we’re pretty opinionated about HOW we “think” others — our readers, seekers, self-improvement proponents — should take that journey. We’re not immune to some “Gawwwwd, get off my back… let me just @#$% smell the roses already” comments (heck, nor would we want to be).

So, we respond with: smell ‘em, baaaaaaby, smeeell all you like, but ensure you’re not ONLY smelling the rose-colored roses ’cause that’s all you SEE (get it?)

If you are, and/or you haven’t read the last blog post, skippedy-do-da right on over to the previous blog post for some Wizard of Oz Wisdom.

If you’re actually going to one day EXPERIENCE (as in, like before you’re floating back around the ethers) what you think, imagine, and keep saying you’re going do or have, we’d venture to say there are a few things yas gotta come to grips with.

= = = = = Continued = = = = =

As we elaborated on in Sunday’s post:

FIRST MIND GRIPPER: The more you focus on pushing aside (repressing) your own feelings of fear, anger, or anxiety; the more you spend too much energy trying to shield yourself from (ignore) anything “outside of you” that is controversial, negative, or emotionally/mentally shocking, the more likely you’ll be constantly hanging out in Munchkinland.

Like Dorothy, you have to admit you feel bad (scared) before you can feel better (at ease). And you have to be okay with facing those feelings head-on, whether it takes the form of flying monkeys, or witches, or just plain old raw emotions.

NOTE: if you ALREADY commented on the last post, high-five to you for your contributions. If you have some insight or just want to share your experience with our “the struggle is worth it” philosophy, scroll to the end of Sunday’s post and write away.

Okay, so now that you KNOW, without question, that life is a series of complimentary opposites put in place for you to experience contrast (again, if you don’t, read Sunday’s post)…

You can trot along NOT always:

* Playing it Safe;
* Having Unrealistic Expectations;
* Feeling Sorry for Yourself;
* Quitting Too Soon;
* Pretending You’re Fine When You’re Not;
* etc, etc.

Now, here’s the coolest part about owning up to (i.e., admitting it’s gonna happen) the struggles of your life:

You don’t waste your days majoring in minor crap!

In another words, when you’re NOT fretting about how to be (or appear) perfect, living up to some label you’ve mentally tattooed to yourself, or worrying about trivial stuff, you have more energy (and time) to FOCUS on what you DO wanna experience.

But, stop the presses for a second!

It sure the hell doesn’t mean that, like Dorothy, you won’t be surprised with an “apple-throwing tree” every now and then — i.e., just because you’ve found this new approach to focus on what you want, it doesn’t mean this power will magically put a force field around you that protects you from ALL of  life’s hurdles and pot holes.

It seems counter-intuitive, we know, to take the “I’ll-just-let-life-come-to-me” approach while FOCUSING on items in your day that you think and/or feel will give you fulfillment, joy, and a sense of accomplishment.

Yet, truth is always stranger the fiction, when it comes to the mindset and actions super-achievers take too.

They get things done — progress through their projects, and end up where they wanted, regardless of the opposing things around them — NOT so much by focusing directly on the thing (the item, desire, goal, etc.), but on the process instead.

A funny thing happens, we’ve found, when us humans focus directly on achieving (having / experiencing) something:

We start ignoring the beauty of the journey for the destination.

We start worrying that we’ll make mistakes. We start getting nervous about failure and rejection. We start feeling guilty about success!

All that’s just too distracting.

Most people end up round-filing their desires, their wishes, and their dreams, because their fear and guilt causes them to just spin their wheels. Or worse yet, freeze into inaction.

So, at the end of the day, how can you feel good about your accomplishment from the previous 24 hours?

Every day, you either have or don’t have results to show for burning through another 24 hours of your life… How can you get things done, without feeling like you’ve wasted that time ?

SECOND MIND GRIPPER: When you focus on the process — the journey from where you are to where you want to be — of achieving any outcome, you don’t think of it as a chore. People who seemingly have the Midas touch when it comes to accomplishing stuff look at it as a game. And, by golly, it’s a game they’re gonna enjoy while playing it!

The magnitude of what you want doesn’t matter. Simply because, no matter how big or small your goal, the process of making it happen remains the same.

End-result thinking gets you attached to one goal, stifles creativity and keeps you from letting unforeseen angles become positive possibilities.

However, with task or process-oriented thinking, you can easily open up new horizons. You can let your imagination soar.

And you can accept the infinite possibilities that are available to you.

And no, that doesn’t mean focusing on the “how” — as in “How am I going to get there?” “How am I going to achieve that?” and so forth — because that stops people in their tracks too.

At least, it doesn’t mean focusing on the “how” of the big-picture “forest goal”, but it may mean looking at the step-by-step “hows” of each small-picture “tree goal” along the forest journey.

But like they say, the “hows” will get revealed to you as you go… and if they don’t, you just do some research, and then they certainly will get revealed!

Let’s take the case of a person going on a diet.

He tries all kinds of diet plans, ingests all kinds of “miracle” pills, attempts all kinds of exercise routines. He reviews books and tapes. He attends courses and workshops. But the results are nowhere in sight.

Why?

Because the fundamental issue for success with dieting is: “the habit of maintaining self-control.”

But the average dieter completely bypasses this very basic issue. Instead, he focuses directly on the result he is seeking… “losing pounds of fat soon!”

(Focusing on the wrong “how” often means coming up with the wrong game plan… and then giving up in defeat!)

So he falls easy prey to the “quick!” and “overnight!” scams. He pursues the exotic powders and the trendy diet books… all of which are useless without self-control.

As you can see, his chances of success are somewhere between nil and zero!

Don’t kid yourself!

We’ve learned the hard way that almost every life situation has parallels to this dieting example. We humans aim for a specific result. But that result remains elusive because we’ve failed to address the essential fundamentals.

It’s a much too common trap. Common because more often than not, the only way to learn about these essential fundamentals is to understand the process.

Think about it!

And once you do, let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

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For some GUIDES to help you through the process in key areas of life, we’ve put these on our TO RECOMMEND LIST:

For Dieting:
http://www.lwlurl.com/snapp

For Getting Things Done & Time Management:
http://www.lwlurl.com/get-things-done

For Making a Marriage Thrive:
http://www.lwlurl.com/collins

Your Partners in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

(( Life Design Consultants,
Agents of Higher Learning &
Catalysts For Change ))

The best investment you can make is in YOURSELF!

Yet unlike a car, when tuning up YOU, it isn’t just about oiling, tweaking, or replacing one thing. Nope, true inside-out transformation isn’t just about ONE genre of growth (for instance:  bliss, enlightenment, gratitude enhancement, etc. ).

Instead, getting your own mind-body-spirit vehicle humming, and roaring down the road like a Bentley or Jag just off the showroom floor, requires you to work on multiple things.

Things like:

* Staying Focused
* Eliminating Self-Sabotage
* Overcoming Isolation
* Harnessing Energy
* Sleeping Deep and Awakening Recharged

And, one of the most credible, seasoned, and knowledgeable “mind mechanics” around is Dr. Patrick Porter.

He has devoted his professional career to developing successful motivational and coaching methods to empower people and create lasting positive change in their lives.

The foundation of Dr. Porter’s methods include creative visualizations and guided imagery MP3 Audio “Processes”, and are based upon scientifically proven modalities for behavior modification, self-improvement, and personal growth (by adding in some soothing music and mixing it all up with NLP, brainwave entrainment and more) . And now — you can apply these very same techniques to SUPERCHARGE your entrepreneurial endeavors… any endeavor, actually.

Your Partners in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

(( Life Design Consultants,
Agents of Higher Learning &
Catalysts For Change ))