Earl Nightingale started off his Lead the Field record series with a record called: “The Magic Word.”

What is the “magic word?” Well, I had always been taught that it was: “please” and “thank you.”

Though those aren’t just one word, they do point toward what Earl Nightingale was speaking about.

His “magic word” is “attitude.”

A good attitude will get anyone who was blessed by inherent disposition, upbringing, or cultivation through personal improvement far in life.

People naturally want to be around others who have a positive attitude.

The corollary, with the caveat that “misery enjoys company” is that people are repelled by those that have a bad attitude.

Now, setting aside nature and nurture, how does one go about cultivating a better attitude.

First, it’s important to recognize the attitude that one has now – one’s “starting point.”

Interestingly, there are a lot of people who are not even aware of the fact that their attitudes are sub-par.

This lack of self-awareness is really a shame!

Think of it this way. If you were walking down the street and you saw an individual approaching who was shabbily dressed, flailing his arms around, and screaming obscenities, what would you likely do?

Most people would step across the street and continue on so as not to have to cross paths with this “bum.”

Well, though that’s an extreme case of someone whose attitude has gone completely amok, the same thing happens – but just to a lesser degree – to people with a bad attitude.

Now, does this mean that their attitude might make them perfectly suited for certain environments?

Of course, so. Here, think of that litigator who though completely bereft of any social graces is absolutely excellent at her job.

Here my mind wanders to the use of “the gimp” in Quinton Tarintino’s Pulp Fiction.

Just put these types of folks in the box and only let them out when they have a specific “job to perform.”

For most of us though, we need to be able to “perform” with many different types of people over the course of our day.

Those that have a positive, “can do/will do” attitude are the one’s with whom other’s want to interact.

Returning to the question at hand: How do we cultivate a good attitude? Earl Nightingale says:

Act toward others and the world at large in exactly the same manner that you want the world, and others, to act toward you. For example, treat the members of your family as the persons they really are: the most important people in your life. Carry out into the world each morning the kind of attitude you’d have if you were the most successful person on earth. And notice how quickly it develops into a habit. Almost immediately, a change will be noticed.

Now, to prevent “a failure to communicate” know that acting as if you are “the most successful person on earth” is not going to be perceived of the same for someone with a bad attitude as one with a good one. So here’s another quote from Earl Nightingale:

Before you can achieve the kind of life you want, you must THINK, ACT, TALK AND CONDUCT YOURSELF IN ALL OF YOUR AFFAIRS as would the person you wish to become. (Emphasis added by his mentee and my mentor Bob Proctor)

Simple enough right? Well, like any habit, having a great attitude is going to take quite a bit of work upfront until its set.

Just keep at it! If I can do it, so can you.

Turn that frown upside down!

—

PS – My family just came down to the kitchen. I’ve got to run now to treat them as the people they really are. Have a great Saturday!

We’ve all made mistakes in the past. Some people more slight, others more grand.

But the reality is that we just aren’t going to get out of here alive, without making some mistakes.

This is a good thing!

Imagine having to live in a world in which any deviation from accuracy would be “game over!”

Talk about a hostile environment.

Every choice one makes would have to be carefully calculated before hand and then executed to perfection.

Fortunately, we don’t live in such a world.

We can take the chance; seize the opportunity; jump into the deep end of the pool; etc.

And this is how we learn. But for the ability to make mistakes and learn from them, we really wouldn’t accomplish anything with our lives at all.

Interestingly, many people live their lives in this manner even though making mistakes is an important part of growth.

And why should this be?

My late mentor Bob Proctor found a quote once in a Reader’s Digest that helps to answer the question why.

I am not who I think I am.

I am not who you think I am.

I am who I think you think I am.

So true and yet so misguided, many, most, virtually all people are not living for themselves, they are living for others.

That’s such an incredible shame. Who the hell cares about what others think! In fact, that was another of Bob Proctor’s quotes.

What you think of me is none of my business!

If we are going to get anything done in life, we are going to make mistakes. It’s as simple as that!

And those mistakes might be huge ones which not only discredit ourselves in our own eyes, but in the eyes of others as well.

So what!!!

That just means that you are living. And as long as you are always trying to do your best, when you make a mistake, just consider it a learning opportunity.

That’s why I say don’t erase the past, grow from it!

See, just as there are some people that can’t forgive themselves for past mistakes – something which I did for years – there are others that are not able to analyze and grow as a result of their errors.

I have observed that people who aren’t willing to live for fear of error often have the toughest lives.

But as the old quip about history goes: “Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.”

Basically, when you take note of your past and make adjustments to act differently to achieve better results, you get better … continuously better!

Each day is a new start. And what’s so cool according to James Clear’s Atomic Habits, if you can make a mere 1% improvement each day, over the course of a year, you will be 37 times better than you are now!

37 Times! That’s amazing!

So, just as long as your mistakes are not so egregious that you still have a new day, take just a little bit of time to consider what didn’t work as well the day before, make a change and act on it today.

If it should pass that the change was a mistake, well then that’s great feedback when you do your self review tomorrow.

We can’t erase the past, but we can use it to help inform our futures.

This allows you to move from what you may now perceive as a hostile world to one which is amicable and friendly.

It all comes down to perception … self perception!

 

Einstein is reported to have said that compound interest is: “the eighth wonder of the world.”

So it must be pretty smart to put the benefits of compound interest to good use.

But why is it so hard to do this? Answer: Patience grasshopper, patience.

Compound interest feels is a bit like the Warren Buffet quote that one shouldn’t “save up sex for old age.”

In other words, we want to enjoy the fruits of our labor while we are young – in our present self.

That said, the 3 – 5% of the population which really gets out in front of the curve of compound interest early and make it a unbreakable money habit can quite literally ‘have their cake and eat it too.’

Almost every book on personal finance that’s out there will indicate that we should put away 10% of our income.

In essence, we are told to “tithe” to our future selves – i.e. put 1/10th of our earnings away.

Now are we supposed to roll quarters and stick them in between the wall boards and crawl spaces where we live. Of course not!

We want to invest these savings so that the beauty of compounding can occur which of course is when we start to earn “interest on interest.”

At the beginning of this sort of endeavor the returns are minimal and so most people start to feel what’s the point.

The point of course is that the longer we continue this practice, the greater the upward slope becomes.

Basically, we normally can observe linear improvements at a given ratio, but geometric ratios? Now, that’s something completely different.

I believe it was Bill Gates who said: ‘We overestimate that which we can accomplish in a year, but vastly underestimate that which we can accomplish in ten.’

And that seems to be the biggest point. Compound interest requires time. So start early!

Here’s an example of why this is so important!

Let’s say Angel starts investing $100/month at age 20 and generates a 1% return each month for 40 years and stops at 60. Angel’s out of pocket investments over those 40 years is $48,000.

Now let’s say Dick starts investing $1000/month at age 50 and also generates a 1% return each month for the 10 years he invests until he’s 60 too. Dick’s out of pocket investments are $120,000.

But get this! According to Investopedia, at 60, Angel would have $1.17 million whereas Dick would have only $230,000…!

And think about it this way. Do you think a kid just coming out of college who has been  eating top ramen for the last 3 or 4 years when she gets her first job can stuff away a $100 a month out of their paycheck?

One Benji a month. That’s not too hard to ask, right?

Of course not. But, most folks don’t do that. I know because I’m a Dick!

And what that means of course is that at age 52, I am starting over and having to pay an enormous price to play catch up.

If that’s your situation too! Well, forgive your past and get started.

It’s just like the old Chinese saying that ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 (or here actually 30) years ago, and the second best time is today!

And of course the greatest thing about making mistakes is that it gives you experience.

Now, in this case. I am not going to be able to make a quick course correction for this mistake other than to get my income up and to save quite a bit more.

But, my children and perhaps the grandchildren that my wife and I would like to one day have can be benefactors of this mistake.

Will they learn it in time? I wish I could say, you bet! That’s something you can take to the bank.

But it really comes down to their financial habits and unless they are going to purposely try to do better than us, there is a high likelihood that they will fall into the same trap.

What then? Well, just like me their going to really have to learn how to make the highest return on investment to increase their income.

In other words, they are going to have to invest in themselves! And that is where compounding really takes off…!

 

 

As mentioned in a previous post, last year I was challenged, accepted, and completed Andy Frisella’s 75 Hard program.

This program on its face appears to be about losing weight, but as Frisella explains is really about helping to adapt one’s mindset.

Tasks include: 2 – 45 minute workouts each day one of which must be outside; adherence to a diet of one’s choice without cheating; refraining from any alcohol consumption; drinking a gallon of water each day; reading at least 10 pages each day of a non-fiction, self improvement book; and taking a progress picture each day over the course of 75 days.

Any day that you miss a step is a day that you go back and start from scratch.

I got to within a week of this program and came down with a nasty cold right around Christmas when they had that snowstorm that made Seattle look and feel like Minneapolis for a week.

Did I quit? Well, I certainly thought I was going to. But, I told my immediate report at LA Fitness – Tyler – that it was too bad that I had gotten sick.

And he told me: “You can’t quit!”

He was willing to allow me to take some time off to rest up instead of plowing through work (and potentially giving others COVID assuming that is what I actually had), but he encouraged me to keep going. And so, I did!

And I am happy that I did.

I’ve found that there are a lot of people that have gotten all jazzed up about this program, start it for awhile and then fall off.

Ok, so far so good. But, Frisella finds that this is only the beginning stage of his program.

The first 75 days are kind of a boot camp to get ready for the subsequent phases (for which I believe there are 4 in total.)

Well, during the holiday season I came down with gout – a very painful health issue that usually manifests as arthritic pain in the joints -particularly down at the joint just below one’s big toe(s).

Gout is caused by having elevated uric acid levels which “crystalize” in the joints. Believe me: It’s “ouchy!!!”

Since, I was recovering from my cold and now had an issue with my left foot too, I got out of the habit of going on my outdoor walk to fulfil the workout requirement.

So, it took me quite awhile to get going again on the first phase of 75 Hard.

And the tasks that we need to do at this phase are all of the past tasks plus a daily 10-minute visualization; completion of one’s “8 Power List Critical Tasks” (comprising tasks that one generally wants to habituate), and a 5 minute cold shower.

Now, I have found that it has been extremely tough to identify and complete these “8 Power List Critical Tasks.”

At first, I thought I needed to make a list of 8 things I wanted to accomplish in the day and then go ahead and do them.

And so, I put down a lot as a lot of tasks things that I wanted to do as a completed task like “write a blog post.”

Now, writing a blog post is great, but it does take some time. I’m finding that I am settling in to this as about a 40 minute task.

So think what happens when you have a list of things that each take at least a 1/2 hour?

That’s right! You can finish your list for the first few days, by depriving yourself of sleep.

But, after awhile it catches up and I was failing to perform.

The upshot is that I have had multiple “start-overs.”

Now, in that I take my showers in the morning and each day is a new day when I seek to succeed, I’ve had the opportunity to take quite a few cold showers.

And a 5 minute cold shower is certainly not a quicky!

I set my timer for 5 minutes and 10 seconds, tap it and pull the cold shower on right off the bat.

The water is cold, and as it goes it gets colder.

I first wash my hair and just leave the shampoo in and then grab the soap going from head to toe.

In fact, I try to spend some extra time clean between my toes because it’s good to have something to focus on besides the cold water.

Then I rinse off by putting my head under the stream for awhile coming out and brushing the suds down and again and again in an effort to “burn” a few more seconds and to keep my head from freezing.

Ultimately, I have nothing more to rinse off and I might still have up to 2 minutes to go.

So, what do I do? Breathing exercises while the cold water beats down on front before turning around and taking the cold on my neck and back.

Today, I was able to push this up to a slow count of 15!

When the timer goes off, I am over to it right away. I wouldn’t want my wife to get aggravated by its incessant noise right?

What I have found is that a cold shower helps a lot to get me up in the morning.

There are a number of other benefits that apparently are occurring too like aiding weight loss and boosting my immunity.

That is awesome!

But, one extra benefit is that this practice reduces one’s uric acid level.

And remember, a high uric acid levels are what caused that damnable gout!

So, 5 minutes of a “painful” cold shower can prevent an incredibly painful gout attack?

Well then, I don’t care if I fail my phase I of 75 Hard a thousand times…

I’m going to keep taking my cold showers!

 

Bob Proctor used to often explain that feelings are one’s conscious awareness of one’s vibrations.

Really think about that for awhile.

In yesterday’s post I talked about how ruminations are often painful, but that we can turn them on their head and make ruminations pleasurable as well.

For those that do the later, they are really tapping into their desire by creating a direct link between their intellectual and emotional minds by fixating on that which they want.

Specifically, want is intellectual whereas desire is emotional.

Now, what’s really interesting is that one’s emotional state is a reflection of one’s “vibrations.”

What the hell does that mean? Believe me, this was something that I asked myself repeatedly as well.

And because I am trained to follow the evidence – the evidence of my senses – it took me much longer to understand this than many of my Proctor Gallagher Institute colleagues who were able to just go ahead and accept the idea.

Me though? To come to an understanding of the truth, I wanted to build a logical proof – yes, a “proof” as in geometry – that was as strong as a “brick shit house.”

It is much easier to go on faith, but that’s just not how I roll. Think of me as not a “doubting Thomas” but rather an “unbelieving Robert.”

Now, continuing with all this bit about vibrations, Proctor would further indicate that everything is vibrations and that “we live in an ocean of motion.”

Ok, what is the evidence for this?

Well, we know that we have water waves and this is the whole piece about ocean. We also know that we are each comprised of more than 80% water. Ergo, we are in motion.

No, even though we are on to something here, this is a week proof.

But, Proctor does explain that even when our spirit has left our body, our body though appearing “stiff” is still vibrating. This – even if not exposed to bacteria – is why the body ultimately decomposes.

Ok, now we are getting a little closer.

Proctor also explained that a Russian photographer named Simian Kurlian developed a method of picturing the image of energy which is given off by the body which apparently has different hues depending on one’s emotional state. Ok, now if that is true, we are getting much more close here.

And when we think about the overall claim that everything vibrates.

Well, we know that at least our eyes and ears are able to discern slight differences in vibratory rates, right? We see this with a rainbow. And if we have ever gone to a rock concert, we know that there can be a cross-over from what we hear to what we feel if we get up and close to the speakers.

How about a dog whistle though? We can’t hear that, but the dog can right?

Or smell and taste? Well, our senses are not nearly as developed as a dog and most other animals, but there must be some sort of way that the “information” is passed. Does this come in through the airwaves.

Curiously, while thinking about smell and taste, think about the forked tongue of a snake. This would allow “stereoscopic” perception to allow a pinpointing of location, right?

How about the fact that we each now carry a smart phone in our pockets which somehow sends a “signal” to radio towers which are in turn beamed up to satellites and back down to ultimately find the person we are calling wherever they are in the world (barring some sort of “blockage”).

Going micro, look at the vibratory signal that comes from our heart.

Now going macro, look at the vibratory rate of the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, and decade long fluctuations in the stock markets.

So, I think this whole idea of vibrations being everywhere has the distinct possibility of being accurate.

But now then, what of this business that feeling is conscious awareness of one’s vibratory rate. That’s still kind of a leap of faith.

But if it is real and then add to it the fact that we can train ourselves to control our feelings.

Well, now we are getting into some really powerful materials.

Perhaps someone like Jesus was a man who was incredibly skilled at controlling his emotions so that he could literally turn water into wine.

I don’t believe I will ever get to that point and I don’t know if we will ever “witness” anyone else who can as well.

But, imagine if we get really emotionally involved with something and as a result start taking action on the physical plane – i.e. with the body that God gave each of us.

If that’s the case, it stands to reason that if we keep at it our goal. A goal that we can really believe in and pursue with all of our heart, that we should have a good chance of achieving it right?

Well to this Bob Proctor indicates that as soon as we nest that goal in our subconscious mind as a desire that turns into belief, we are already there and it will come into being – it’s preordained.

Ok, that’s “a bit” outside of the boundary of proof, but what if it is true??? Wouldn’t it be worth the gamble?

I feel good thinking that it is!

 

Ruminations have a couple of definitions. The original regards the action of a cow chewing its cud.

Currently, the word is used for the incessant thinking about something upon which one has become fixated.

Interesting application of a word and by knowing both definitions, it’s not that hard to recognize that the term is often used in psychological parlance for bad thoughts.

Our parents and cultural are generally ruminate on means by which to keep us safe which in reality means to live in fear.

Well, living in fear is no way to live. Here I am reminded of Clint Eastwood’s line in the The Outlaw Josey Whales where he says: “Dying ain’t much of a livin’ boy.”

But, what if we were able to use the “law of polarity” and instead of thinking horrible thoughts like: I’ll never amount to much; I can’t do anything right; I’m fat and ugly; nobody likes me; etc. etc…

We started to ruminate about our abilities to achieve our desires?

“Hell yeah, I can make this happen. I’m unstoppable. I just ate and I’m feeling great. I have friends – many whom I haven’t met yet – everywhere!”

Now the person with the jaundiced attitude would look at that and think what a load of bullocks! (Even though they may be much more expressive in their choice of words.)

But now think, really think about it. What is this business that Napoleon Hill talks about with regard to getting a “white, hot desire.”

As someone who has gone through plenty of negative ruminations, I recognize that it is really not much more than a bad loop in which thoughts run through the intellectual and emotional parts of the brain.

So, if ruminations can be used for self-afflicted, intellectual-emotional pain, doesn’t it stand to reason that they can also be used for self-abetted, intellectual-emotional pleasure?

Absolutely we can! It’s called developing a “magnificent obsession.”

So, repeat after me negative ruminations – BAD! Positive ruminations – GOOD!

Wouldn’t it be awesome to learn how to go from the doom-fulfilling cycle of the former to the upward spiral of positive manifestations which result from the later?

Well then check in with me, I’ll help you stop chewing your damnable cud so you can help your life be much better than a stick of bubble gum!

“Life’s a bitch and then you die.” – Unknown Masses

The closest book in the bible to exemplify this type of thought is Ecclesiastes.

For many years while I was a boundary dispute attorney, this was the book of the bible with which I found most resonance.

Intellectually fascinating, emotionally I was completely without life.

The fear of making a mistake in a legal arena in which the emotional stakes of error were tremendous, whereas the true value of error – no rather the whole project itself – was negligible, had brought me to a place of complete nihilism.

And in a state of nihilism, I drifted at times in and out of suicidal ideation.

No, kidding! On many occasions, I wanted to kill myself and my thoughts ran to and through a myriad of means by which I could achieve that aim.

Importantly, there was only one reason why I didn’t. That reason is: my kids.

While tragic, I knew that if I “offed myself,” my wife and parents would be able to take it in stride at least after the wobble caused by such an event wore off.

As to my siblings, they were going to have to be on their own. And as to friends, “what friends were there?” I had gone through life perhaps touching others, yet not allowing others to touch me.

But my kids? HELL NO!

I was NOT going to straddle them with the emotional consequences of having a father who had committed suicide. That I simply would not do!

I had to bear my own suffering; I was not going to pass it down to them.

There are many people that think that suicide is cowardly. I am not one of them!

I believe these people are judging suicide from a completely uninformed point of view.

Suicide happens when the pain is so great that complete nullification of it appears to be the best option.

Obviously, it’s no joke! But, it’s also not a character flaw for which to condemn others.

Perhaps the worse thing that occurs when people get into a state of suicidal nihilism is that they completely withdrawal.

They withdrawal into their own little abyss and fail to have interactions with others. They believe they aren’t worth it.

Of course hanging out with someone who is feeling like this isn’t a bag of laughs either, so not too many people are going to volunteer to put up with the nonsense either.

And that’s where all the horseshit really gets dumped on the pile of misery.

You’ll start to here something that sounds positive, but is worse than useless like: “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” or “Snap out of it!”

Low and behold, it finally becomes evident that nobody quite knows where those damn bootstraps were left and both right and left hands are now “snappily” calloused, it’s time to see the professionals.

Pro tip: Psychiatrists spend very little time with you, but give you access to drugs. Psychologists will spend years with you, but give you access to your tongue so you can yak it up.

I visited both for years and at best my results were to move from pain and misery, through painfully numb, to just plain numb.

Pink Floyd’s “comfortably numb?” No, that never really happened for me.

But this all started to change when I finally decided on October 21, 2018 that I was not going to put up with it any more.

I decided to pull everything out of my office that fateful Friday night and was done “unpacking” it all at my house by that next morning at 6:00.

I needed to do this to honor my commitment to return the U-Haul truck that was already booked out for that day. See, I had successfully begged and promised to return it by that time to secure its use despite the salesman’s better judgment.

Yes, I guess you could say that I had a ‘burning, white hot desire’ which I convinced the U-Haul salesman was not going to be denied me.

See, I had gotten to the point that I would go to three and sometimes four different churches on the Sunday before my work week would begin.

That’s a lot of “spiritual nourishment” just to be able to try to go to the “salt mine” which notably was my own company … a company of composed of that ‘divine trinity’ – me, myself, and I.

So now I am out of the office. But, I still have no idea what I am going to do with my life. And as someone who has done a number of things before, and either got bored and quit or outright failed, I didn’t want to make a false start.

I finally found something which looked positive and I grabbed at it immediately. I became the Proctor Gallagher Institute’s (“PGI”) first client of 2019 by signing on with Arash Vossoughi on January 2nd.

Two weeks later,  I decided I wanted to be a “PGI” consultant – i.e. salesman. The promise was tremendous. I finally had hope again!

What I didn’t have though was skill! I was absolutely horrible! See, I couldn’t sell shit to flies.

Well, actually that’s not entirely true. I did sell one program.

And selling people on personal training? Well, I envisioned that I must look like Dan Foley “down by the river, eating government cheese.”

So, I started to use the PGI materials damn near every waking hour I had for months, then quarters, and then it was a couple of years.

Did this endear me to my wife, my kids, or my parents? Absolutely not!

Each in their own ways helped me to learn how to bear my own cross which I was steadily whittling down to be less and less of a burden.

Was the journey back from hell worth it? Well, if you think of the alternative – suicide – well then yes, yes it was!

I have not made any attempts to sell the programs of PGI for almost a year. And that is unfortunate.

If I had maybe I would have had an opportunity to have a conversation with Bob Proctor.

With his passing this past week, so too has forever past that possibility.

The one possibility which has not passed is for me to help myself and others to achieve greatness.

See, with boundary dispute law, I was going willfully hard in what for me was a completely wrong direction.

I was enabling victims instead of encouraging victors.

Tomorrow, it will be exactly 7 months that I have been working at LA Fitness learning sales. I still have a lot to learn, but my progress has been phenomenal.

My financial remuneration has been pitiful, but to have finally have learned the most useful skill in the world – sales – at the ripe age of 52 has been a great blessing for me.

Where else can I learn about encouraging people to take better care of themselves and to pursue their goals?

Hmm? Now, let’s see. Oh right, the Proctor Gallagher Institute.

I think I am finally ready to start. To have a successful start. And to succeed.

I’m not jumping in blind this time. But, if you want to achieve what you currently perceive to be unbelievable results, believe me, with the materials that I have studied and my experience, I can definitely help you.

I can’t bear your cross!

But, I can teach you how to put it down and go after that which you really want out of life.

And when you are going after what you really want, your passion easily carries you through any temporary agony required to get to the results you want.

In fact, you will find the grind – that which for most is agony – is actually pleasure.

That is the cross that you then bear and with it your life will have meaning…!

If you want to get started, place a comment below and I’ll start you out  by giving you – without cost – unlimited access to Bob Proctor’s “Purpose, Vision, & Goals.”

Do it today! Your life is worth it! It’s the only one you’ve got!