Thursday, July 30, 2009

Unhook Yourself from the Matrix

Posted by: Darren Hardy in: SUCCESS

Do you ever get…?

  • Joint pain

  • Stiff back

  • Dry eyes

  • Runny nose

  • Restless legs

  • Tired in the afternoon

  • Angry while sitting in traffic

  • A craving for chocolate

  • Unruly hair


If you experience any of these symptoms, consult your doctor. You may be suffering from—BEING HUMAN!

Last night I walked into the kitchen where my wife was preparing dinner and the TV was on in the background with one of those pharmaceutical companies pitching a newly invented drug to cure a newly invented disease. I was so appalled I looked them up—they have already sold BILLIONS of dollars of their “enlightenment in a bottle.”
I think it is time for us all to wake up and cut the strings to the puppet master that is commercialism.

Quick lesson in commercial marketing:

Step 1: Make people feel inadequate, inferior, ugly, stupid or weak.

Step 2: Reinforce this by pointing out what they lack (something you didn’t even know you lacked until they pointed it out).

Step 3: Then show an artificial contrast—the handsome guy with three makeup artists and painted-on six-pack abs or the airbrushed professional bulimic, I mean model.

Now here is the most delusional and damaging part:
Step 4: They get you to believe that your success will come from their magic potion, new golf club, fully loaded sports car or eye cream; then there is always that “little blue pill” for guys, or my favorite—the new KY Jelly Intense for girls (see ad below).

I’d love it if I could buy my success, fame, self-esteem, good relationships, health and well-being in a nicely clam-shelled package at the local Wal-Mart. But, that’s not how it works.

There is no quick fix, way to lose 30 pounds in 3 days, rub 10 years off your face, make money while you sleep, or too good and still true get-rich-quick schemes.

Stop buying into it; better yet, stop even listening. When you pull back the curtain to the wizardry of commercial Oz, there is just a greasy, overweight, (probably way too hairy) bearded bald guy in a way-too-small leisure suit giggling with delight as he rings the bell and the rest of respond by salivating.

Rouse yourself from your hypnotic stupor and unhook yourself from the mind-melding Matrix. Realize your only path to success is through a continuum of mundane, unsexy, unexciting and sometimes difficult daily disciplines compounded over time, leading to the results, life, and lifestyle of your dreams and desires. But that doesn’t make for alluring book titles, spellbinding infomercials, or direct mail with high response rates.

Source: http://darrenhardy.success.com/2009/07/matrix/#more-1051

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

How to know yourself

Swiss Psychiatrist Paul Tournier claims:

No one comes to know himself through interospection.... Rather, it is in dialog, in his meeting with other persons. It is only by expressing his convictions to others that he becomes really conscious of them. He who would see himself clearly must open up to a confidant freely chosen and worthy of such trust. It may be a friend just as easily as a doctor; it may also be one's marital partner.

-Page 22 of "The art of talking so that people will Listen" by Paul W. Swets foreword by Norman Vincent Peale

FAILURE

F - Fear
A - Assumptions
I - Insensitivity
L - Labeling
U - Uncertainty
R - Resentment
E- Egotism

-Page 14 of "The art of talking so that people will Listen" by Paul W. Swets foreword by Norman Vincent Peale

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Make your dreams come true

You've got seven ways to apply the slight edge to everything you do:

  • The little things you do matter.

  • Your attitude is everything.

  • The present moment is all you have.

  • It takes small steps to get where you're going.

  • Failure is your best friend.

  • Good habits are your next best friend.

  • You're always learning.



-Page 117 of "Success for TEENS " by the editors of the SUCCESS Foundation.

Help us get SUCCESS for TEENS book in the hand of Youth www.successfoundation.org

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Thomas Watson Sr.'s Philosophy

"Would you like me to give you the formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failures. You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because that's where you'll find succes: on the other side of failure."

-Page 111 of "Success for TEENS " by the editors of the SUCCESS Foundation.

Help us get SUCCESS for TEENS book in the hand of Youth www.successfoundation.org

You need a team on your side

In order to continuously learn, you need help. We've got this "do-it-yourself, I-don't-need-anyone" idea in America, like it's somehow cooler, tougher, smarter, or better to do things on your own (and only for yourself).
But doing it all by yourself is not only unnecessary but impossible. You can't do it on your own. So how do you get the help you need?
Everyone needs someone they can confide in, someone they can talk to about whatever mountains they happen to be facing at the time. "Someone you can talk to" might mean a professional counselor, but not necessarily. It might be an uncle, a grandparent, a teacher, a school counselor, or a coach.

-Page 108 of "Success for TEENS " by the editors of the SUCCESS Foundation.

Help us get SUCCESS for TEENS book in the hand of Youth www.successfoundation.org

Monday, July 6, 2009

The Choice

A wealthy man was about to die. so he called his twin sons to his bedside. The boys began to cry as they heard their father speak about his approaching death, but with a wave of his hand the father silenced them.

"I am leaving you both with a gift," he told his boys, "I want you to enjoy the same happiness I had during my long life. Which gift you choose is up to you."
The man reached into a beautiful box on his bedside table and held out two gifts. One gift was a thousand $1000-dollar bills-a million dollars in cash. The other gift was a single, shiny copper penny.
"You both have the same choice-either one million or one penny. If you choose the million, it will be deposited in my bank in town and you can use it however you want. If you choose the penny, I will double the pennies you have everyday for the next thirty-one days. Now, go rest and think. Come back tomorrow morning and tell me your choices."

He kissed them both and sent them on their way.

Late that night the first boy lay in bed thinking, "Why is our father giving us this choice? Which should I take?" He was unable to sleep. But the more he thought about his father's choices, the more he was sure about taking the penny.
The second son didn't lose any sleep. He had made his decision the moment his father had held out that sheaf of thousand-dollar bills. He was going to take the million dollars and he was already making big plans about what he was going to do with the money.

The next day the two boys went to see their father. The first son took the penny, and the second son took the million dollars.
A few days later, the boy decided to visit his brother, to see what he was doing with his penny.
"As father promised," the first son said, "my pennies have been doubling every day. On the second day, I had two pennies. On the third day I had four pennies. On the fourth day, there were eight." The second son wasn't impressed. After all, he already had a million dollars and was sure to make a lot more.
Over the next weeks, the second son visited his brother every day and listened to him describe how his pennies were piling up. On Day 5, he had sixteen pennies; on Day 6, thirty-two; by week's end the boy had 64 cents. And by the end of the second week, had had $81.92.

A few days into the third week, the first son's pennies had grown to $655.35. But the second son was still not impressed. On Day 28, the first boy's pennies had passed the million-dollar mark. On Day 29, he passed the two-and-a-half-million mark. On Day 30, his pennies totaled five million. And on Day 31, he had $10,737,418.24.

The boy who chose the penny had discovered the extraordinary power of compound interest-how money, even a very small amount of money-can grow over time.
The first son also understood that their father was giving them more than money.

The true gift was wisdom in knowing how to respect and use money.

The boy who chose the million had his $1 million. But the boy who chose the penny was worth more than ten million dollars. Because he wasn't greedy, because he was careful with his money, and because he understood how money can grow over time, he achieved true wealth. The choice the wealthy man offered his two sons is the same choice the world offers you every day:

Small actions compound over time into big results.

The actions you take today, whether it's about money, friendships, or your health, can have a huge impact on you life over time.

-Page 99 of "Success for TEENS " by the editors of the SUCCESS Foundation.

Help us get SUCCESS for TEENS book in the hand of Youth www.successfoundation.org

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The earlier you invest, the greater the reward

Your teen and young adult years are the time when you can begin molding yourself into the person you want to be, and let time work for you and be on your side. It's not that much different from the principle of compound interest, or how money grows over time.
The world of money is one of the easiest places to see the power of investing early. As we'll show you soon, the earlier you invest, the greater your reward. One of your goals should be to put in place a financial plan for yourself so you are consistently, automatically building your savings. All this takes is choosing some simple action that is easy to do, which you repeat automaticcaly, either daily, weekly, or monthly, and that will, over time, lead to financial success.
But financial success is not only about making money, but also about understanding how to make it and how to use it.

-Page 98 of "Success for TEENS " by the editors of the SUCCESS Foundation.

Help us get SUCCESS for TEENS book in the hand of Youth www.successfoundation.org
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