Is Success Out There Somewhere?

Let’s face it . . .

In addition to books like Think and Grow Rich there have been hundreds – nay, thousands – of books, tapes, programs and seminars on how to succeed in finding wealth and happiness from the same number of very successful entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, athletes, and others who know how to be successful, and teach these success courses.

The problem is – they don’t necessarily know the best way to get you there. With so many personal issues, hidden decisions, lack of early role models, and a feeling of hopelessness pervasive among the vast majority of the human population, its a statistical miracle, really, that any of us should be able to emerge as success stories.

But we do . . . at least some of us!  The rest of us believe we can’t make it because we don’t have enough motivation, education, encouragement, persistence, or resources.  But we are told to believe otherwise, and many of us go along with this suggestion from successful speakers and motivators.

If you are one of those among us, here’s the real scoop . . .

Let’s say you buy all their books, take their seminars, listen to their tapes and use their programs. This is what I call a “feel good” exercise because we really feel like we are “doing something for me!”

But then the work begins and we get wimpy.  The motivation lags.  The affirmations don’t work.  The Law of Attraction starts attracting neighbors with pit bulls and late-night parties.  So when the courses don’t work, it becomes YOUR fault that you failed. (If you don’t believe me, read their legal disclaimers to get the full scope of your responsibility.)

This, however, is a win-win. They get to win because they obviously showed you the right way to commit to your goals and succeed. You, on the other hand, get to win because you proved once again to yourself “This won’t work for me.”  Your hidden decision to “succeed by failing” has too firm a grasp on your consciousness – with little reason for your subconscious to change.

Now, think about that for a minute. At any given moment you decide on a goal, you either believe
a) I can do it or
b) I can’t do it.

YOUR BODY – that fine-tuned instrument of actual truth – will instantly decide if (a) you can do this or (b) leave it alone, you can’t do it, you’re not going to do it… or some other reason that may be hidden from your conscious mind.

So when you set your goals and affirmations,

• Wouldn’t it be nice to have your left AND right brains on board?

• Wouldn’t it be nice to have the body on board?

• Wouldn’t it be nice to have the emotions on board?

• Wouldn’t it be nice to have intuition come into play effortlessly, and

• Wouldn’t it be nice if the memory of ancestors, family, friends, and everything that’s ever happened in your life would not hold you back whenever you make a decision?

You can do this. But you must be able to get what is called “cybernetic feedback” from your body and subconscious in order to navigate through this “soul logic” that exists inside you – out of the reach of your conscious understanding and control.

This is where muscle testing comes in.  More on this in the next article.

Hot off the presses!

The BOOK is ready!  Actually, the second – or “official” – edition, but who’s counting . . .

By early next week, GIH Publishing will have rolled out several dozen copies of The Logical Soul(tm): Eliminate Self-Sabotage in 30 Minutes or Less for Success, Wealth, Love & Happiness.  This edition features roughly sixty more pages, a Foreword by Dr. Brenda Wade, many pages of testimonials, and a complete Index section. 

It retails for $24.95 plus shipping, and will soon be available through Amazon and other retail outlets.  (You can also avoid shipping charges by purchasing yours at the monthly Meetup Group in Atlanta.)  Order your copy today, and learn why therapists, psychologists, motivational speakers, success coaches and others are touting this work as the next great advancement in human transformation!

I am fulfilling the early orders, so I will personally autograph the first 25 copies of what is sure to become a collectors item.  Do it now!

What Me Worry?

Somehow, the amount of “stuff” I have to do almost always exceeds the time and resources alloted to do them.  But it wasn’t always like that. 

I remember – as a hippie musician in the early 70’s – that life took on a more existential hue.  Life was new and fresh . . . stressful to be sure, but not overwhelming.  I was young, full of hope, although I understood that the older adults I knew seldom shared these feelings.  There was stuff to do, but no real urgency to do them.  Responsibilities were still a distant idea. 

These days – as an older adult myself – I understand how their anger and pessimism crept in.  I,  too, feel the burden of responsibility and share their growing fear that maybe the world will eventually succumb to the weight of  the media angst and drama  that gets more blatant every day. 

Of course, things change.  People change.  Nations and cultures rise and fall.  What else is new?  Meanwhile, I’m occupying this little spot on a virtual reality called Now-on-Earth-Current-Time-Space and  often forget that this whole dizzying pace of change will eventually come to a halt . . . when the Big Bang decides to call the troops home!  

So I’ll give you the advice I’ll probably forget to take myself . . . Relax.  Chill out.  Learn from guys who know how to relax AND get stuff done.  Or drink a beer and watch the game.  Do what you can and leave the rest.  Like Scarlett, worry about that tomorrow. 

Then watch all those OTHER workaholics freaking out because they thing all this stuff’s serious, and you are being irresponsible!  Imagine that.  It seems like overwhelm is a mandatory participation sport called “life.” 

Peace and love.  Dude.

I won’t lie to you:

I buried my Mom in Tennessee, income was practically non-existent, and goals were really tough to accomplish.  Despite the Herculean effort and time spent, nothing appeared to happen easily.

Hey, Mama said there’d be times like this!  I guess my personal loss knocked the steam out of me much more than I realized.

Next month, however,  is already shaping up to be much more productive.  Barring too many unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to accomplish my goals. Just the same, I’d like to be on record with them, so here are my goals for February:

• Finish repairs and finally close the deal on our former house,
• Officially publish my book,
• Hold the first Logical Soul Meetup Group session,
• Negotiate for office space to do private sessions,
• Set up the Logical Soul membership program,
• Get my website shopping cart up and running,  and
• Contact relatives regarding a family reunion in March.

For purposes of the Monthly Mentor program, I broke each of the above goals into lesser ones that I can accomplish easier.  Even so, these are ambitious goals, but ones I feel I can complete by March 1st (hopefully with a little help).

Hey, y’all have a super February too, Superstars!!

Overwhelmed?

Starting 2010, I’m getting organized!!

How many of us made THAT resolution?  Probably more than a few.  But how many actually accomplished this task? (I only hear crickets . . .)

For once in a long time, I can actually say I cleaned up my desk, organized my files, and even got stuff done I’ve been putting off in my business for years . . . from just doing the steps outlined in Raymond Aarons’ program, The Monthly Mentor. It is a phenomenal program where he takes you from zero to happy in about 18 months! Right now he’s even offering his book for free – for just the cost of postage and handling.  Check it out.

Also – FYI – I recently ran across a program by Lance Tamashiro and Robert Plank, a couple of Internet marketing geniuses who also offer a structured program to dramatically increase your productivity and reduce overwhelm.  While I have not taken their program, I’ve heard Lance and Robert speak on occasion, and was duly impressed.  I’ve also heard other small business people who say they swear by these guys.

Their course – IM Productivity Secrets – is geared mostly to Internet Marketers, but can be extremely helpful for you if you own a small business.

You probably have heard your favorite success or Internet Marketing guru tell you to take “massive action” or some variation of that advice.

They tell you to have written goals, clear goals, then take massive action along the path to getting there.  And they are right: it still amazes me that most people stumble through life with little self-direction, preferring instead that life throw a bunch of problems at them…

So, if you are anything like me (i.e., goal-directed), you do everything you can to follow their advice and TAKE that “massive action . . . because, after all, they ARE successful, right?

Information Overload?

The problem is that most of us are VERY UNSKILLED at taking massive action.  Trying then leads to confusion, loss of productivity, lack of focus and LOTS of stress and self-sabotage.  While its great to have specific goals, too many at once can lead to instant burnout.

I found it pays to just take ONE STEP at a time!

I make a small list everyday of items that I can accomplish.  Even if it is a single item.  I write it down in my Day-Timer (yes, I still use them) and do my best to get it done.  If I don’t, I write it again on the next day’s page – or whenever I feel I can best get to it.

Even if you do only 4 small,  tangible action items each day, you can accomplish miracles.  By tracking your progress weekly and monthly, you will be excited about your goal and what you have accomplished.

The strange thing about this simple technique is that it “quiets” my mind.  When I am working on a task, I don’t worry about all of the other things that need to get done. I can put all of my focus into that one task and be positive that whatever I am doing is something that will move my business one step closer to my goal.

Something that is often overlooked (I know I did) is the importance of time management skills for entrepreneurs.

Remember, Self-sabotage can be disastrous if you are the only “self” in the company! Learn to minimize it, and live your success!

I’ll be the first to admit, however, that I find the concept of budgeting time like some bean counter in an accounting office frustratingly absurd.  I mean, whose time is it anyway?!!  If I want to waste a ton of it, so be it!!  Meetings?  Appointments?  Being prompt?  Forget it . . . I mean really…!

. . . Slam!

That was the sound of my customers, friends, and everyone else I come in contact with, leaving. Did I just sabotage my chances with doing business with them?  Getting to know them better?  Being of service to them – and them to me? You betcha.

Time Management Self-Sabotage

Like it or not, time coordinates our activities and relationships on this planet.  While the dreaded timepiece (watch, clock, PDA, cell phone) is a constant reminder that we are “running out” of it, time also gives us the ability to rendezvous with friends and lovers, and create structure in our lives. Even our cavemen ancestors used it to measure the nights and days, seasons, and lifetimes. It was their connection to survival and to the gods.

Today we have that lovely invention – the computer - that thinks for us, remembers things for us, and does tons of work for us.  It also manages our time for us, right?

Wrong! While we may FEEL like we’re getting more done, our computers keep giving us more to do . . . consequently they WASTE more time than they save.

If you’re anything like me, you love your computer because it gives you the illusion that you can get a lot of things done at one time. It makes you feel powerful.  Productive.  All-seeing, all-knowing, and omnipresent, right?

The truth is your computer can only complete one task at a time . . . it just does it much faster than you can.

Don’t believe me?  Try this…

Open up as many programs as you can on your computer. What happens? It will come to a grinding halt and you will probably end up re-booting it and wondering what happened.

What happened is you proved that your computer sucks at multi-talking. The truth is it can only process a single instruction at a time.  It is an illusion to believe otherwise.

The same thing happens when you try to do too many projects at once. Like your all-knowing computer you, too, will crash and burn.

In the past, if you were to ask me what project I am working on, I would hem, haw, and throw out a laundry list of activities.   Recently, however, I have learned to focus and tell people the EXACT project I’m in.

I’ve also found that about 90% of people I come in contact with ALSO have that laundry list of projects they are working on.  This makes me a bit sad because I know the chances of them finishing any single one of those is almost non-existent.

Just as your computer comes to a grinding halt when you make it work on too many things, so will you.  You will simply end up frustrated, suffering from information overload and even worse… without a business that generates revenue. No product no revenue, right?

How much money are those TEN projects that are half finished making you? My guess is none.

Suggestion: Focus on ONE project that you can finish and create income or a cash flow.  Simply obliterate information overload TODAY and STOP the self-sabotage!!

If the time-wasting persists, you may have underlying hidden decisions that are dividing your priorities and causing the logjam.  Its easy enough to find out what these are, change the decisions, and get some focus back into your life.

Whatever you do, put the blinders on and decide in the next 5 minutes to take ONE course of action for the next 2-3 hours.  Then choose again.  Then again, etc.

Then rest. Your day is successfully completed.

You wanted to lose that 20 pounds, get the ideal job, find the perfect life mate, and get out of debt.  But somehow progress is slow or nonexistent, and before you know it, Thanksgiving arrives and you have nothing to show for your (by now) forgotten resolutions.

Why is this?  Why do we sabotage ourselves? Why does self-sabotage slowly ruin our best-laid plans?? Is it laziness?  Partly.  Lack of willpower?  Might be.  Forces beyond our control?  Could be.

The main culprit, however, is far more subtle and powerful than we could imagine.   This culprit?  . . . . a second “self.”

That’s right.  There is another “self” in there with you! While your so-called ego self is the one who speaks and makes logical decisions (and resolutions), it is powerless without its twin, the inner self.

This inner self (or force) was even given a name by the ancients:  Ka by the Egyptians, Chi by the Chinese, Ki by Japanese, and Ku or Unihipili by the Hawaiian Kahunas. They speak of this self as one who does not speak, but embodies the senses, memory, and driving force required to accomplish anything.

Even modern brain scientists understand the profound impact of this  silent self.  Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD wrote in her book My Stroke of Insight how her own stroke experience revealed the power of her right brain, and that this entity exhibited, in her words, “different values” than those of her left brain self.

I’ve discovered that we can apply Newton’s Third Law of Motion to relationships with other people . . . and with our hidden self!  This Law states that  for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

By ignoring the integrity of this being, i.e., NOT treating this being as a separate and distinct self,  we westerners are missing half (or more) of our ability to accomplish our goals and dreams.  So long as we try to program, hypnotize, manipulate, or otherwise control “our subconscious,” it will just fight back.

This self knows ALL our tricks, remember?   The “equal and opposite reaction” is this:  the more we ignore this being and try to reach our goals without his or her support, the less certain we will succeed.

So long as we see ourselves as “individuals,” i.e., undivided beings, we will continue to buy into the illusion that this hidden self is really only a part of what we consider “us,” and has no abilities outside of what we “program” it to do!

Begin to speak the language of your hidden self and you can begin to influence its behavior.  Find out what he/she needs, then act to give that.  Otherwise, you will always be a “victim” of self-sabotage since this hidden self is not on board with your wishes!

This time the problem surfaced because – of all things – good news!

We just received another offer from some people to buy our former home.  Great!  But with this news comes the moment of decision – how and where to actually put this windfall?   Predictably,  Brigitte started in on me about what I said before (but don’t remember) about where we should put the funds, while I fretted and fumed, and alternated between victim and tyrant.

I suddenly knew we had another “teaching moment” to get clear on what it was we actually wanted.  so we cleared our energy using muscle testing, then were able to talk with one another like adults.   Together we decided that we would need to bring in a third party to tell us what to do.  Obviously, we didn’t know how to get out of debt – and STAY out of debt – or we would have already done it!

I mentioned wanting to attend classes based on the book Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey.  Brigitte wanted us to go to Debtors Anonymous meetings.  Maybe we’ll do both; we are committed to getting this 600-pound gorilla off our shoulders and becoming of one mind about money and finances.

New Years’ resolution? You might say so.  These resolutions become truly powerful when you can learn to let go of the emotional “stuff,” connect with the other person, and resolve to work together.  The Logical Soul ™ makes this much easier.

We plan on attacking this problem head-on . . . and may your 2010 be equally as potent!  Now if we can only get the Federal Government to do this . . . !!

Before the Big Apple dropped (or Big Peach if you’re in Atlanta), the 31st of December was memorable for its final Hurrah:  the full Moon – a Blue Moon - crowds gathered at Pigeon Forge, TN and Gatlinburg for the fireworks, and all sorts of stuff happening around the world that I had no clue about.

It was the last day on Earth for my mother, Barbara Weatherly.

My sister Page and I are still working through the end-of-life details, with help from our spouses and other family and friends.  Although I still attempt to put my thoughts in this blog, my other work has essentially ground to a halt.  Somehow it doesn’t matter right now – the emails, phone calls, publishing my book, and creating courses.  So please forgive me if I’m a bit slow on the uptake…

(L-R) Page, "Baboo," Brigitte and Michael

Barbara Weatherly’s funeral will be 11 am, Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at Farrar Funeral Home in Dandridge, Tennessee. Obituary notices will be placed in newspapers in Dandridge and Savannah (her birthplace and home town).

After the funeral, Brigitte and I are headed back to Atlanta, and back to “normal” life.  It will not, however, be business as usual.

During the time I spent with my mother, I got real clear about my purpose on this planet:  to write and teach what I know.  And what I know is the Logical Soul(tm) and how to share that with others.

I also received the gift of a deep motivation to carry out this purpose, no matter what. Apparently I had a hidden decision to never put traction to my goals and dreams.  Consequently, no matter how hard I worked, the results were not forthcoming.

Thanks to Mom, my life is again transformed.

Flippantly (and drunkenly) making just another New year’s resolution is usually a waste of time.  Most of these resolutions are merely wishes.  Unless you are able to tap into and use deep emotional experiences like birth or death, hidden decisions will not change.

Use your so-called tragedies (or celebration in the case of a new birth).  I used the event of my Mom’s death to visualize and commit to a life I wanted for myself and others but have not been able to thus far materialize.

A commitment to a dying loved one is powerful.  The combined force of deep yearning and sadness coupled with a new commitment (i.e., decision) gives anyone an ability to bore a hole through all obstacles.

So thanks again Mom; I won’t let you down.  Stay tuned for some exciting energy coming from yours truly!