Thursday 22 December 2011

Jeremy Kyle and the Christmas Sell-Out

A new low was hit on the Jeremy Kyle show today.  That actually takes some doing when you have a TV program filled with pikies, diddycoys, social security scroungers, numptys, liars, cheats, prostitutes, drug addicts, wife beaters, psychopaths, sociopaths, delinquents, illegal immigrants and cowards.

I am a pretty haphazard viewer of the show.  If I am at home I watch it and laugh.  Like catchphrases, Kyle has a few things he has to say in every show like:
  • Put something on the end of it! (audience applauds)
  • You're a disgrace Madam.
  • You're the daddy.
  • Are you working?
  • How are you gonna pay for the child?
  • I and every other tax payer is paying for your drink/ drugs/ child (delete as applicable)
  • You need a size ten up the backside.
  • A real father would WALK those ten miles every day.
  • Get off your backside and get a damn job.
  • You should have thought about that before you slept together.
  • You are a really nasty person.
  • You shut up, you shut up, you shut up, you listen.
  • Be quiet, instantly.
  • Oh, your getting angry now are you?
  • Get this off my stage.
  • You want to have a go at me now do you?
One thing amazed me more than anything.  It was the fact that Kyle is angrier, ruder and more confrontational than his 'guests' yet he is affronted when anyone else gets angry.  One rule for Kyle, one rule for everyone else.  It's OK for him to behave like that but...not them.

The 'guests' have catch phrases too:
  • Basically.
  • Literally.
  • He/She/I turned around and said.
  • At the end of the day.
The belief here is that by sprinkling your sentences with 'literally' and 'basically' it gives the impression you have a large vocabulary or are more educated than you really are.  Saying things like 'I was literally on the phone' or 'basically it was not me' gives a rather different impression.  Basically, why would anyone, at the end of the day, turn around and literally say those things?

Or they repeat the question.
"Why did you send that text?"
"Why did I send that text?"
"YEEEEEESSSSSS!!!"

I know he is a reformed gambler.
I know he still has a fetish for licking his mobile phone.
I know he hates social networking.
But, what I didn't know about Kyle was how two faced he was!

Today, after a couple of days giving spa breaks to parents of disabled or ill children and toys to the children themselves he shot himself in the foot.

A few months ago there was a family on there, one of the many tattooed, pikie, inbred versions.  The mother was a hooker, the daughters had been told that the man they thought was their father wasn't their father, and he, having heard he was one of about 5 potentials, decided to leave and met a woman and had a family with her.  He had not had contact with the daughters for 15 years.

If people don't get in touch for 15 years, there is a reason.  Whatever that reason is, it's their reason and no one elses.  On the show they were arguing.  So much in fact that the 'father' sat outside with his wife rather than confront the daughters and their hooker mother.  At the end of the show, after Kyle had  discovered that there had been no contact, the hooker was not working and was claiming benefits, the 'father' was not working and claiming benefits, after much shouting, screaming and jumping up and down by Kyle, the DNA proved that the 'father' was the father of the two girls.

Today, Kyle got them back.  Not the hooker though.  She had probably dusted off the handbag and was taking advantage of the last minute Christmas rush.  The Father was back with the two daughters and they told the audience and Kyle how they were slowly rebuilding their lives and making up for time lost.

What happened next?

Kyle got two helpers out who brought on a child's scooter, thirty or so DVDs, a DVD player, a Nintendo Wii with games....WTF WTF WTF?

What happened to:
  • Are you working?
  • How are you gonna pay for that?
  • I and every other tax payer is paying for you
  • You need a size ten up the backside.
  • Get off your backside and get a damn job.
Jeremy Kyle you are a joke, the biggest joke of Christmas and every day of the year.  You have really lost the plot.

When you consider the people up and down the country who cannot afford to put a meal on the table, or buy their kids presents, or even pay their bills...you reward a scumbag family that you humiliated and made the audience laugh at on a previous show with over £1500.00 worth of freebies.

When Kyles assistants wheeled out the freebies, the three pikies smiled, they looked eagerly at the scooter, DVDs, Wii with games and controllers, DVD player and all the other stuff and I could see one thing flashing through their minds. It wasn't gratitude. It wasn't humility. It wasn't thankfulness.


What was it that was flashing through their minds? It was this:

Time for a taste of your own medicine.  You are a disgrace Kyle.  Leave the TV screen instantly!  Click!

Wednesday 21 December 2011

You can be who you want to be

Are you done with all of your holiday shopping yet? I’m taking off Friday for Switzerland again.  It has been a regular thing for a few years at Christmas. Wherever you’re going, I wish you a safe trip. And lots of great food, drink and good company!

What is on your Christmas list for Santa this year?  No matter what you ask for, the one thing you really need to ensure that next year you get exactly what you want will NOT come from Santa.  Nor will it come from anyone else!

 
It’s a gift you can only receive from yourself.

It’s something that none of us even think to put on a Gift List. How do you wrap a gift that makes it possible for you to be the person you want to be, so that you can do the things you want to do, that will let you live the life you want to live? Is there even such a gift? Is such a thing even possible?

 
YES. It does exist and it is possible. But it doesn’t come in the form of some program you get by attending a live event, an online webinar series, or from a product that has a bunch of CDs/ DVDs and a flashy workbook.

 
Thats the gift that “they” all want to give you.  It's not the gift you need.

All these events, teleclasses, home-study programs and the like, are about teaching you STRATEGIES, giving you some sort of plan that basically involves not doing what you’re doing now and instead, doing what they tell you to do.

 
And you know as well as I do, that there’s a lot of vigilance, discipline and will power that has to go along with it, or you aren’t going to be able to stick to it. How well has that worked for you in the past?

 
You need more than just a resolution to be successful

 
Only a relatively tiny number of people succeed with these programs and strategies over the long term, because they run out of discipline, will power and never-ending vigilance. They go back to doing what they were doing before, because that’s who they are and that’s what who they are does.

 
And this is why those plans, programs and strategies don’t work.

 
Great… so what does work?

 
What works is becoming a person who easily and effortlessly acts and behaves in a way that supports achieving your goals, because that’s who you are. Once you become a person who naturally makes choices
that are aligned with whatever goals you’re seeking to achieve, you don’t need willpower and discipline any more. You’ll make the most effective choices, because that’s what feels instinctively right to you.

 
What’s on your wish list?
  • An ipad?
  • A piece of jewellery?
  • A new kitchen? 
  • A new Car?
  • Maybe even a trip to some warm Caribbean island for a week!
  • A villa on a Greek island?
Or maybe you’re being more practical?
  • Lose 20 pounds.
  • Be more organized. 
  • Break through the six-figure barrier into making seven figures.

And perhaps you know exactly what you need to do, or perhaps you’re still at the vague idea stage.

 
There is no shortage of people who have foolproof plans they guarantee will help you lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks eating whatever you want.
You can find 20-step teleseminar series that will teach you how to organizeyour home, your office and your life.
There are a myriad of programs that promise they have the secret that will enable you to create the right mindset for success.
There are a number of programs that promise to show you how, just by thinking about it, you can manifest or attract all manner of stuff into your life.

 
Why Don't These Strategies Work?

 
They don’t work because they’re STRATEGIES, they’re a plan, they’re another way of doing something that will hopefully be more effective than what you’re doing now.

But they all have the same premise:
1. Take Behavior A
2. Substitute it with Behavior B
3. You’ll supposedly get a better result.

 
That could work IF you can muster up the willpower and discipline to stick to it. But once you’re past that first rush of anticipation and excitement, it usually turns into a struggle, especially if you’re more comfortable with the way you’re accustomed to doing things. And whoosh! There goes that resolution out the window!

 
Great… so what does work?

 
What works is becoming a person who easily and effortlessly acts and behaves in a way that supports achieving your goals, because that’s who you are. Once you become a person who naturally makes choices that are aligned with whatever goals you’re seeking to achieve, you don’t need willpower and discipline any more. You’ll want to do the “right” things, because that’s what feels instinctively right... to you.

The Real Secret - My gift to you for 2012

First of all, I am sorry that I haven't written on here for a while. I have been checking this blog and my Twitter and Facebook feeds and I have been following many of you on those platforms online and via friends and clients. It has been avery changeable, happy, difficult, rewarding and eye opening year.
I am SO ready to begin a new year. I can't wait. Big changes in my personal and business life. Relocation. Expansion of business....so much to do and so much energy to make it happen!

Now the good news for you.....

 It’s that time of year again!

 Have you noticed that beginning in November, your Inbox fills up with all kinds of programs the sender claims “will make 2012 your best year ever!” Some of the ones I’ve received involve three day live events where they help you dig through your past and release all the limiting beliefs and negative self-talk that’s holding you back; another offers a “once-in-a-lifetime, special deal that will disappear at midnight” on a 36 CD program, complete with transcript, workbook and two live group calls, blah, blah, blah, work, work, work; and my favorite, the people who guarantee they will reveal how The Secret really works and how to make it work for you (which leads me to believe that the real secret to The Secret is all the people who making a ton of money from telling other people how to get it to work)


What all these programs have in common, is they’re all about telling you things you can do and actions you can take, that will somehow magically turn you into “a money-making magnet.” But at the end of the day, all these live events, these “secrets”, these CDs and workbooks fundamentally are, are strategies, strategies that will supposedly “release negative patterns that are holding you back”, “rewire your brain for success”, or some equally bogus hype.

Why is it that all these claims, promises and allegations don’t work?

It’s very simple: what these programs are all about is teaching you a method, a strategy whereby you take something you’re doing, stop doing it, and instead do something else. Like the bright, glossy, shiny CD/DVD program they’re selling you.

I have news for you! Replacing one behavior with another behavior is not going to change your life or make a long-term difference on how successful you are in 2012. Substituting doing something with not doing something is a STRATEGY, and will only work as long as you maintain the willpower, vigilance and discipline to continue to do that strategy.

So, what's the real secret?

The real secret to lasting success is;
  • Become a person who naturally and instinctively does whatever needs to be done to be successful.
  • Become a person who easily and effortlessly acts and behaves in a certain way because that’s who you are.
  • Don't use a strategy to fix what you’re doing or not doing. This won’t work because you’re still the same person you’ve always been, you’re just forcing yourself to act in a different manner.
And, that’s why you, and everyone else, inevitably fails and reverts back to doing what you always do.
You go back to being who you really are.
I know, it can be confusing, you might want to go back and read what the Real Secret is again.
My gift to you...

It actually is possible to become the person who makes the choices you’d really like to make and does the things you’d really like to do, so that you can achieve the success you really want to have. And it doesn’t involve dredging up the past or listening to dozens of CDs and filling out workbooks or flying across the country and spending thousands of dollars on a live event. You don’t need to develop your willpower, walk on fire or glass, be relentlessly vigilant or subject yourself to strict discipline for the rest of your life either.

What you do have to do is be willing to keep an open mind, and allow yourself to consider that something that sounds like the 21st century version of snake oil could actually work,

In addition to catching you up with what’s been going on and why I “fell off the face of the earth”, we’re: closing in on the New Year, and you, too, are probably getting a lot of emails from people who have products, on-line courses, are holding live events, etc. that promise to “make 2012 your best year ever!!”
I’m sure they have the best intentions, but…

What none of them seem to understand is that replacing one behavior with another behavior is a STRATEGY, and strategies like this only work as long as you have the willpower and the discipline to do them on a consistent basis.

For example, a diet is a strategy, making and prioritizing the next day’s To Do list is a strategy, only checking Twitter/ Facebook and your email twice a day at a predetermined time is a strategy – you get the picture? As long as you can make yourself do it, it works. And we all know that pretty much nobody is able to keep doing it for very long.

Great… so what does work?

What works is becoming the person who instinctively makes the choices you know you need to make to get you the results you’re looking to get. In other words, doing what needs to be done because that’s who you are.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Bob Proctor - The Terror Barrier

I got this email from my mentor, Bob Proctor, and I wanted to share it with you.  Enjoy!


Hi Dave,


The first ten years of my life were spent in Owen Sound, Ontario. It's a small town a few hours north of Toronto. I can vividly remember spending the summer days with my family at Harrison Park where there was a really great swimming pool. I would watch as the older kids went up the ladder to either jump or dive off the high diving board. They were having a great time. Wanting to be accepted by the older kids, I too went up the ladder ... reluctantly, but I climbed it.

I will never forget the terror that gripped my mind and body when I looked down. Unfortunately, all the coaxing in the world wouldn't have been sufficient to get me to jump off that board! There was no way I could do it. Feeling defeated, I climbed back down the ladder trying desperately to hide my embarrassment.

That was the first time in my life that I can recall coming up against the Terror Barrier. Unfortunately, not only did I lose out on the excitement and thrill that would have been gained by jumping ... I also lost a little self-respect.

If you think back, you will probably be able to recall the first time you came face-to-face with the Terror Barrier. Did you step through it to freedom or back into safety, imprisoned by your own fears?

The Terror Barrier is a real entity

Now, I could waste a lot of breath telling you that the Terror Barrier is a figment as gauzy and hazy as the smoke from an extinguished campfire. But you'll tell me differently, because fear can feel like a very real entity. What you think in your head is often acted out in your body - when faced with their Terror Barrier, people will actually break out in a cold sweat, find themselves covered in sudden hives, and even feel their hearts palpitate. Your perception is your reality! That's how soundly your paradigms of "no" and "it can't be done" are grounded in your Mind. Your comfortable mind will do anything it can think of to back you away from the "danger" of the unknown, just as it had me backing down those diving-board stairs.

In James Allan's classic, "As A Man Thinketh," he mentioned that fear can kill a person faster than a speeding bullet. While coming up against your Terror Barrier might not kill you physically, it certainly kills something inside you - like it did that day I stood on the diving board.

How to be a wrecking ball on your own Terror Barrier

1. Bulldoze through it scared. That's right ... just keep marching, no matter how badly your feet want to stay rooted to the ground. Refuse to permit this negative demon to control you, your emotions ...your future.

2. Remember - the Terror Barrier rears its ugly head every time we attempt to make a major move in life into an area we have never traveled before. It's as natural as day and night. Where before you used to let it stop you cold, now you can simply shrug and tell yourself, "Oh, there it is again. Well! This must really mean something great to me!"

3. Then, further remind yourself that it might be an unknown, but the other side of that Terror Barrier will have you that much closer to your goal. I'd encourage you to fall in love with THAT feeling of accomplishment, get wrapped up in it! I often say that if your goal doesn't scare and excite you at the same time, you're going after the wrong goal!

Eleanor Roosevelt said, "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do." That is excellent advice. By following her advice you will liberate yourself from the crippling emotional state that the Terror Barrier causes.

Do it scared. Begin to visualize yourself successfully being a wrecking ball on that Terror Barrier of yours. Mentally see yourself winning. Remember, perception IS reality!



Monday 17 October 2011

The Movie In Your Mind

The Lion King is out in 3D.  I saw the movie when it came out in 1994. I saw the Video. And then the DVD. When I was in Disneyland in Florida in 1998 we went to see the live show in the Animal Kingdom. I then saw the Stage Show in London. I have seen enough of the Lion King so I won't be bothering with the 3D version.

Isn't it amazing how often children watch the same DVD over and over again and never complain? They only complain if you don't let them watch it.  How many times has the Lion King been in and out of your DVD player?

Now, I can watch a DVD again and again. Something like The Godfather, or the Hannibal Lecter movies or The Pink Panther movies. Perhaps your preference is Star Wars or Lord of the Rings? Whatever it is, we do it. And sometimes we see something, or understand something, that we didn't 'get' or that we missed the first or last time.

I am the same with books. They can be Clive Cussler thrillers or they can be books that are relevant to personal development, NLP, Hypnosis, Persuasion etc. Its just that SOMETIMES we read or see something that resonates more than before.

Unfortunately this is what some adults do with their days.  I say unfortunately because they don't do it in a GOOD way. The majority of men and women play a movie in their mind. And they do this day after day, relentlessly focusing on past events, most of which are unpleasant and disturbing experiences.  Arguments and fights.  Bad experiences.  Failures.

They get so good at it that they can remember entire arguments.  THEN they rewrite it and imagine themselves saying things they hadn't and WINNING an argument they may have lost, or saying things they hadn't thought of at the time.

At some point they realise that this is having a negative effect on them so they then allow impressions of their current surroundings and recent results to dominate their thoughts.

If they contemplate the future then it is usually by worrying about it, or wishing that something better might come along.

Then they wonder why bad things keep happening to them, or why they never rise above the issues and obstacles in their lives.

People are free to think anything they want but I know one thing for sure.  If you keep doing the same thing your results will never improve.

An image in your mind is the first stage of the creative process in life. From your imagination your visions and plans arise.

Napoleon Hill wrote, "You will never have a definite purpose in life; you will never have self confidence; you will never have initiative and leadership unless you first create these qualities in your imagination and see yourself in possession of them." He went on to say, "... imagination is the most marvelous, miraculous, inconceivably powerful force the world has ever known."

There is a concept called "Fantasy - Theory - Fact." The premise underlying this concept is that everything has its origination in the form of Fantasy, which some adventurous souls dare turn into a theory and then boldly turn into fact. Give this serious thought for a moment.

The idea of moon landings, communicating by email, traveling on jets, cellular phones or wearing synthetic garments was, a very short time ago, sheer fantasy. Today, they are considered commonplace.

Your marvelous mind has factors that you can, with little effort, develop to use to improve the quality of life, not just for yourself, but for anyone you choose. Imagination is one of those creative faculties. The individuals who were responsible for the conception and creation of the email, cell phones and any of the thousands of modern conveniences we enjoy today had a highly developed imagination.

Think of...
Walt Disney with animation.
Steve Jobs with Apple
Thomas Edison with Electricity.
Edmund Hilary with Mount Everest.

All of the above had one thing in common; Imagination.  They saw it, they achieved it. 

Fantasy - Theory - Fact.

Think of it.  Figure it out.  Do it.

They didn't listen to people who said they were mad, or wasting their time.  They took no notice of the people who poured scorn on their ideas.  They didn't listen to people who said 'that can't be done'.

Do you listen to people who are negative, energy vampire, MOOD HOOVERS??  Why?  They don't know what they are talking about.
Do you get involved in arguments with people? Why?  They don't know what they are talking about or what they are doing.
They have no positive interest in you so why do you assume that anything they say should make any difference to you?

These pioneers above; Disney, Jobs, Edison...they used their mental faculties to fantasize, to build wild and wonderful pictures in their mind. Then, holding their thought with their will, they watched their fantasy unfold into a theory and then into fact. They seemed to have an innate awareness that if they could visualize it, they could do it.

Use this power to let your mind play. Fantasize a much better life than you presently enjoy. Draft your future with imagination, ponder and calculate with intelligence and awareness, then knit it with care. Next, devise paths and find tools to help get you there.

Create a vision board.  Construct a board containing all of the things you want to buy, achieve and experience.  One by one, or in some cases all at once, you will be able to tick off each achievement.

Commit to reach those new goals. The only barrier separating you from your goal is ignorance - ignorance of how simple, and simply powerful, your mind really is.

Think those powerful things again and again.
Read the positive books again and again.
Watch the great stuff again and again.

Be a kid watching the Lion King again and again.  Who knows?  This time you may see something you missed last time ;-)

Guy Kawasaki - Lessons from Steve Jobs



What I Learned From Steve Jobs

Many people have explained what one can learn from Steve Jobs. But few, if any, of these people have been inside the tent and experienced first hand what it was like to work with him. I don’t want any lessons to be lost or forgotten, so here is my list of the top twelve lessons that I learned from Steve Jobs.

1.Experts are clueless.
Experts—journalists, analysts, consultants, bankers, and gurus can’t “do” so they “advise.” They can tell you what is wrong with your product, but they cannot make a great one. They can tell you how to sell something, but they cannot sell it themselves. They can tell you how to create great teams, but they only manage a secretary. For example, the experts told us that the two biggest shortcomings of Macintosh in the mid 1980s was the lack of a daisy-wheel printer driver and Lotus 1-2-3; another advice gem from the experts was to buy Compaq. Hear what experts say, but don’t always listen to them.

2.Customers cannot tell you what they need.
“Apple market research” is an oxymoron. The Apple focus group was the right hemisphere of Steve’s brain talking to the left one. If you ask customers what they want, they will tell you, “Better, faster, and cheaper”—that is, better sameness, not revolutionary change. They can only describe their desires in terms of what they are already using—around the time of the introduction of Macintosh, all people said they wanted was better, faster, and cheaper MS-DOS machines. The richest vein for tech startups is creating the product that you want to use—that’s what Steve and Woz did.

3.Jump to the next curve.
Big wins happen when you go beyond better sameness. The best daisy-wheel printer companies were introducing new fonts in more sizes. Apple introduced the next curve: laser printing. Think of ice harvesters, ice factories, and refrigerator companies. Ice 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Are you still harvesting ice during the winter from a frozen pond?

4.The biggest challenges beget best work.
I lived in fear that Steve would tell me that I, or my work, was crap. In public. This fear was a big challenge. Competing with IBM and then Microsoft was a big challenge. Changing the world was a big challenge. I, and Apple employees before me and after me, did their best work because we had to do our best work to meet the big challenges.

5.Design counts.
Steve drove people nuts with his design demands—some shades of black weren’t black enough. Mere mortals think that black is black, and that a trash can is a trash can. Steve was such a perfectionist—a perfectionist Beyond: Thunderdome—and lo and behold he was right: some people care about design and many people at least sense it. Maybe not everyone, but the important ones.

6.You can’t go wrong with big graphics and big fonts.
Take a look at Steve’s slides. The font is sixty points. There’s usually one big screenshot or graphic. Look at other tech speaker’s slides—even the ones who have seen Steve in action. The font is eight points, and there are no graphics. So many people say that Steve was the world’s greatest product introduction guy..don’t you wonder why more people don’t copy his style?

7.Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence.
When Apple first shipped the iPhone there was no such thing as apps. Apps, Steve decreed, were a bad thing because you never know what they could be doing to your phone. Safari web apps were the way to go until six months later when Steve decided, or someone convinced Steve, that apps were the way to go—but of course. Duh! Apple came a long way in a short time from Safari web apps to “there’s an app for that.”

8.“Value” is different from “price.”
Woe unto you if you decide everything based on price. Even more woe unto you if you compete solely on price. Price is not all that matters—what is important, at least to some people, is value. And value takes into account training, support, and the intrinsic joy of using the best tool that’s made. It’s pretty safe to say that no one buys Apple products because of their low price.

9.A players hire A+ players.
Actually, Steve believed that A players hire A players—that is people who are as good as they are. I refined this slightly—my theory is that A players hire people even better than themselves. It’s clear, though, that B players hire C players so they can feel superior to them, and C players hire D players. If you start hiring B players, expect what Steve called “the bozo explosion” to happen in your organization.

10.Real CEOs demo.
Steve Jobs could demo a pod, pad, phone, and Mac two to three times a year with millions of people watching, why is it that many CEOs call upon their vice-president of engineering to do a product demo? Maybe it’s to show that there’s a team effort in play. Maybe. It’s more likely that the CEO doesn’t understand what his/her company is making well enough to explain it. How pathetic is that?

11.Real CEOs ship.
For all his perfectionism, Steve could ship. Maybe the product wasn’t perfect every time, but it was almost always great enough to go. The lesson is that Steve wasn’t tinkering for the sake of tinkering—he had a goal: shipping and achieving worldwide domination of existing markets or creation of new markets. Apple is an engineering-centric company, not a research-centric one. Which would you rather be: Apple or Xerox PARC?

12.Marketing boils down to providing unique value.
Think of a 2 x 2 matrix. The vertical axis measures how your product differs from the competition. The horizontal axis measures the value of your product. Bottom right: valuable but not unique—you’ll have to compete on price. Top left: unique but not valuable—you’ll own a market that doesn’t exist. Bottom left: not unique and not value—you’re a bozo. Top right: unique and valuable—this is where you make margin, money, and history. For example, the iPod was unique and valuable because it was the only way to legally, inexpensively, and easily download music from the six biggest record labels.


Bonus: Some things need to be believed to be seen. When you are jumping curves, defying/ignoring the experts, facing off against big challenges, obsessing about design, and focusing on unique value, you will need to convince people to believe in what you are doing in order to see your efforts come to fruition. People needed to believe in Macintosh to see it become real. Ditto for iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Not everyone will believe—that’s okay. But the starting point of changing the world is changing a few minds. This is the greatest lesson of all that I learned from Steve.


Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2011/10/what-i-learned-from-steve-jobs.html#ixzz1ayJF4kpa

Spare Some Change!

"So how were the trains this morning?  Only ten minutes till we start work.  Do you want a coffee, oh by the way, did they land on the moon OK last night?"

I can imagine a conversation like that in any office around the world today if some country had sent a group of astronauts to the moon.  Even if it was for the first time.

Why?  Life has Changed.

Because there are no real surprises any more.  Everything is so easy and accessible in this day and age it takes a lot to surprise people.

In 1969 people stayed up all around the world to watch the landings live on TV. Now life has changed, they probably wouldn't bother to watch, or wait until it was trending on Twitter.

Today, we live in a society that is abundant.  I really don't care if you think; 'What's he talking about? We have a double dip recession!' 

Take a look around London. 
Take a look on the internet. 
Millions of people are spending millions of pounds, dollars, euros on millions of things.

Look at the carrier bags being carried around Westfield, Oxford Street, Covent Garden, Knightsbridge or your local area.  These people haven't been told we are in a recession. 

A recession is the only thing they don't buy!

Do you really care about the economy?  Why?  Care about your OWN economy!

Our society is one of abundance.  The money is out there.

Unfortunately, the knock on effect of all this is children.  One of the reasons we have a lack of respect in this country is that the majority of people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.  They go into debt because their children want top of the range electronic goods, from games stations to mobile phones.

Ten year olds with mobile phones?  What the Phuq?

I can remember aspiring to achieve something or saving to buy something, and getting a real buzz out of owning something I had taken a while to save up and buy.

Now we just go and get credit and buy it.

Some of the stores sell out of toys and luxury goods at the start of December because the demand is so great.

Life has changed from a time when people worked hard to get something, children were grateful, people were grateful and the average person aspired to achieve things so that they could have a better life.

Technology is supposed to make life easier.  We now find that automatic diallers make your life hell by making your phone ring with useless offers from automatons.
The computer says NO and you cant speak to a human being.
Everytime you call a company you have so many options to press and waiting time has grown that by the time you finally get through to a call center in India -  not only do they not speak English and cant help, you have forgotten what you were calling about!

Life has changed, but not necessarily for the better.

Saturday 15 October 2011

When Daleks Attack

This image sent to me by Helen Allen reminded me of some very good times. 

A fire extinguisher fired out of the Dalek gun makes it look like the real thing from Doctor Who. 

Who would believe it was the third floor of a serviced office building in Nottingham. 

What the other offices in the building thought we had no idea or interest. 
We had a good time.


Me and Black n Gold

Me and Dalek in Black


Bruce and Dalek in Black

Thursday 13 October 2011

A useless O2 and the BlackBerry Crumble


The last three days have been very interesting.  I was amazed at how many people had their lives SHATTERED by the failure of Research in Motion to put a lid on the problem affecting the BlackBerry.

I say shattered but in some instances it was akin to the Earth ending.  I can understand businesses being effected but it was a real eye-opener to see the dejected, jaded, and confused staring at the little black plastic block in their hands.

I was one of them, at the start.

The situation did uncover something that had been hidden from me though.  Just how stupid O2 customer service are.

They were 'unaware' of any problem up until Monday evening!

I had a remarkable exchange with 'Tony' at O2 on Monday afternoon when I called to enquire why I couldn't get Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.  It was unable to connect to the BlackBerry server! 

He gave me a staggering piece of advice...

"Have you taken the sim card out and rubbed it on your trousers?"

I had to admit, that hadn't been my FIRST idea.  I had assumed it was something a little more technical than that.

"No I haven't done that Tony and quite frankly I don't intend to!"

"Why not, it may work." He answered.

I then went on to ask how a quick rub on my jeans would 'free up' the BlackBerry service, which was the only function not operating on my phone.  Was the sim card THAT clever to only take what it needed from a rub on my jeans?

"Tony, I am not going to take the sim card out and rub it on my jeans for one simple reason.  When my Mac crashed, Apple didn't tell me to take the hard drive out and stick it up my Ass!"

"Er...."

"And another thing Tony, this is a problem with BlackBerry.  It's not the phone."

I hung up and checked Twitter.  There it was, BlackBerry was trending with various permutations of the name.  It was obvious that there was a major problem.  If only someone had told O2.

I tweeted the above exchange and copied the name @O2 into it. 

I got this reply from O2 on Tuesday. Remember, this is in the MIDDLE of all the BlackBerry problems as it travelled around the world wiping out millions of phone systems:

@O2 O2 in the UK @mooreconsortium Doesn't necessarily has to be your trousers, could be any clean cloth. Did it resolve the issue or still persisting?

Guess what Sherlock?  It IS still persiting!  Tell me; Do you actually KNOW what is going on? 

And what's with the grammar?  ("Doesn't necessarily HAS to be...")

Still persisting?  The problem was halfway to India at that point!!  And it carried on travelling to the USA.

If that was the normal advice dispensed to every BlackBerry customer that called O2 then the static electricity generated by the millions of people throughout the EMEA when they rubbed their sim cards furiously on all manner of fabrics would be enough to trigger off a change in the Earths Orbit and set light to Europe!

Hey O2!  Why not put a comment on the front page of your website informing that there is an issue or is it because it wasn't anything to do with you?  Even a message on your Customer Service answerphone would be cool. 

You know the one I mean.  Its the one that gives you hundreds of options, asks you to enter your number, press this button, is this correct, enter your number again, is this correct, press one of these 8 options, enter your number and then, when you finally get through to a carbon based life-form, they ask you for the number of your phone!!!

Heres a quick tip when calling O2.  When you hear that woman who sounds like she is smirking at you, press '0' and then again every time she says 'Sorry', THAT way you will go straight through to Customer Services...where your REAL problems will start!

After two days it was obvious that there was a major, MAJOR, problem at Research in Motion.  It only rectified itself at 4am on Thursday morning.  It was obvious as I was awoken by my Blackberry doing a very passable impersonation of R2D2 on speed.

I can't help thinking that if Steve Jobs had been alive he would have grasped the opportunity and sent a message to the thousands of people who were moaning on Twitter and all other networking sites about the loss of service, and made them a very quick offer for an iPhone.  I can't help but think that BlackBerry, or Research in Motion (should that be MotionLESS?), would have lost an awful lot of customers in the blink of an eye.

I hate to suggest it but having had no real answer for the problem, well not one that is understandable to anyone without a science degree, is it possible that this picture is closer to the truth than we wish to believe?

Sunday 9 October 2011

Chairman Jobs

Steve Jobs was not the most considerate individual at Apple, and he had lots of ways to demonstrate that. One of the most obvious was his habit of parking in the handicapped spot of the parking lot - he seemed to think that the blue wheelchair symbol meant that the spot was reserved for the chairman.


Whenever you saw a big Mercedes parked in a handicapped space, you could be sure that it was Steve's car (actually, it was hard to be sure otherwise, since he also had a habit of removing his license plates). This sometimes caused him trouble, since unknown parties would occasionally retaliate by scratching the car with their keys.

Anyway, the story is that one day Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee, who had recently transferred to Cupertino from Paris, had just parked his car and was walking toward the entrance of the main office at Apple when Steve buzzed by him in his silver Mercedes and pulled into the handicapped space near the front of the building.

As Steve walked brusquely past him, Jean-Louis was heard to declare, to no one in particular - "Oh, I never realized that those spaces were for the emotionally handicapped...".

One day in October 1983 I got a phone call at my desk at Apple from the Cupertino police department saying something like, "You reported that Mercedes parked in the handicapped space at your lot at Apple. Well, we sent a car out there but we can't really tow it away because the handicapped space is improperly designated."

I had no idea what he was talking about. A few hours later, I found out that Apple's other cofounder, Steve Wozniak, who was a prolific prankster, called up the Cupertino police and reported that a silver Mercedes was illegally parked in a handicapped space and told them the person reporting it was Andy Hertzfeld, giving them my phone number at work. I decided not to inform Apple's facilities department about the improperly marked space, just in case Woz decided to try it again.

Memories of Steve Jobs - Chris Taylor

It was a Saturday afternoon in Palo Alto, and I was having lunch with a friend in an Italian restaurant. Suddenly, Steve came in and ordered takeout. He was wearing a T-shirt and cut-off jeans, just another happy suburban dad.


He took his food and left, and as he walked down that beautiful leafy street, he stretched out his arms like an airplane — like he was flying into the sunshine.

For all the times I’ve seen him at the height of his powers on stage, and for all the sweat-inducing interviews, that is how I will remember Steve Jobs — completely confident and carefree, being just who he wanted to be, flying straight into the future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here’s how a typical press interview with Steve Jobs used to go in the early 2000s. You wouldn’t be immediately ushered into his presence; you would be passed from PR person to PR person, corridor to corridor, waiting at each step, until you reached the inner sanctum.

You would often pass a fellow journalist on his way out, looking white as a sheet and shaking his head like he’d gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson. You would mentally prepare your questions about the latest Apple product, knowing that Steve would bat them away like flies and say what he wanted to say.

And then there you were, with the man himself: black turtleneck, jeans, white trainers, spiky salt-and-pepper stubble, and those no-nonsense eyes that could look straight into your soul. You’d sputter out a question while he sipped from a bottle of Odwalla. Perhaps he would deign to answer politely, or perhaps he would interrupt: “that’s a stupid question. That’s not what we should be talking about.”

If you could survive twenty minutes of this without cracking, his demeanor would soften. If you were lucky, then just for a moment the mask would slip, and Steve would break into a broad smile. It was a grin that acknowledged the silliness of this interview game — and that you both loved playing your roles in it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Always Passionate

As a technology writer for Time magazine in the 1990s and 2000s, I went through this routine a dozen times. It’s easy to forget, but back then an Apple product launch was not a huge deal. The company was seen as struggling, a distant second to Microsoft, even years after Jobs had retaken the helm. I had to fight for a single page on the launch of the iPod in 2001, for instance, at a time when the headlines were all about war and terror.

But Jobs was always compelling. He was the news. His enormous passion for a product was unrivaled in any industry, before or since. As long as I could convey him on the page, Steve as he really was, Apple stories were an easy sell for my editors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Urgency of the Future

The more stories I did, the friendlier Steve got. He started calling me at home with story ideas and off-the-record information. He asked me to interview him on a video that would be broadcast at a Warner Music conference; this was when he was still trying to persuade the record labels to let him sell songs within iTunes.

I figured this meant we should start with a few softball questions about music in general, but Steve interrupted and got straight to the pitch: 99-cent MP3s would save the music industry. Of course, he was absolutely right, and of course, he got his way.

Here was a man who knew precisely what the future looked like, and had no patience for anyone or anything who got in the way. Not a second was to be wasted. The vision was too important. This is what he meant in that famous Stanford commencement speech: “your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Thursday 6 October 2011

iRIP - Steve Jobs

iRIP


I was very sad to hear of the death of Steve Jobs. It was inevitable, the writing was on the wall when he retired, when he started to look so very ill, when the rumours of his weight loss abounded but nothing prepares you for the shock when it finally happens.


It isn't often that the death of a CEO of a Company makes the Earth shake but this was one occasion.

I have read a lot about Steve Jobs. There have been numerous books about him and his Biography is published soon.

A friend of mine Cliff Mann, the CEO of Time4Change, http://www.t4c.org.uk/  posted a quote by Steve Jobs which struck me as one of the best pieces of advice you can give anyone in business.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." - Steve Jobs

Well, I dont think you have to be dying any time soon to take charge of your life but obviously Steve Jobs had other issues going on, his health was deteriorating rapidly through pancreatic cancer. 

I hate the phrase "Today is the first day of the rest of your life".  It's as if you have plenty of time to start again.  You dont. 

Consider my take on that.

What if today was the LAST day of your life?  What then?  I bet you could get a shed load of work done.  I bet you could talk to a lot of people.  I bet you could come up with so many plans and ideas you would have seen through IF ONLY...you had the time.  You HAVE the time.  Use it.

Steve Jobs changed the world.  Through hard work, innovation, business acumen, customer service/ experience, technology and by just being Steve Jobs.  How many other CEO's do you know of who do that?  There are a few, there should be more.

Every Apple product is an experience.  Just entering a store is an adventure.  He made technology fun.  From the technology itself right the way down to the packaging and how you open the box...it is an experience.

If you love Apple you know what I mean.  If you hate Apple, you have to admit they made their competitors 'up' their game.

Steve Jobs did it his way.  As he said once; "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life." ~ Steve Jobs

iRIP





Wednesday 5 October 2011

Bob Proctor Explains Paradigms

No more effort or energy is required in order to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty. You may even be aware of someone who has experienced a dramatic increase in their income, seeing them go from earning $25K or $30K a year … to $25K or $30K a month! I firmly believe that if you can earn $100,000, you can earn a million. The only difference between the two amounts lies in a person’s level of awareness. If and when quantum leaps of this nature take place, you can be assured that a serious paradigm shift that’s been made.

Paradigms – what are they?

Is it a buzzword for the information age? It very well may be a buzzword – but it’s one to be seriously considered. If you’re like most people, paradigms very likely are controlling every move you make. So, what are paradigms and why should we be concerned about how they affect our everyday lives? Well, paradigms are a multitude of habits. In most cases, these habits aren’t even originated by yourself, yet they guide every move you make. Paradigms affect the way you eat, the way you walk, even the way you talk. They govern your communication, your work habits, your successes and even your failures in life. It’s also important to know, that, for the most part, these paradigms are other people’s habits – yet they remain the guiding lights in your life.

In order to replace an old paradigm that doesn’t serve you (i.e., “I’ve never been able to make more than $40,000 a year), you must lay a new paradigm over that old one, ensuring that it’s sealed from “leaking through again. When you understand how to lay this floor, so to speak, you will expose yourself to a brand new world of power, possibility and promise.

Paradigms change you to the core

Organizational culture is founded on habits, work practices, attitudes, beliefs and expectations otherwise known as paradigms. Armed with paradigms, we approach and react to the world around us, interpreting what we see and experience according to our shared understandings and those culturally determined guidelines. A paradigm, in a sense, tells you that there is a game, what the game is, and how to play it successfully. A paradigm shift then, is a change to a new game, or a new set of rules. And when the rules change, your whole world can change.

Ideally, any changes to an organization should be implemented simultaneously with a change in attitude of the members. In other words, the people’s paradigms should be shifted at the same time the organization begins its transformation. It’s unfortunate that most of the organizations in the world are not preparing their people to make the personal paradigm shifts that are necessary. There are numerous individuals who lack the understanding required to adapt to the changes that are being forced upon them.

Think of how the world has changed. There are hundreds of thousands of people walking the street today who went to school, worked hard, studied long hours, graduated at the top of their class, secured employment with a major blue-chip company and bought into the promise that just about every major corporation offered: “If you give us loyalty, we will give you security.”

Twenty years later, as these loyal and misguided individuals stood proudly near the top of their corporate ladder, shouldering responsibility for big mortgages and small children, the corporate paradigm shifted. The ladder was yanked out from underneath them and they found themselves standing on the street, bruised, demoralized, unemployed and in a state of total shock.

Now, I know most people would say, “The problem is the corporation’s lack of loyalty” … but this is not the case. A job doesn’t owe you anything. People work at a job or for an employer in a mutual sort of relationship, but that doesn’t mean that one or the other party is utterly responsible for the other party’s livelihood. Ninety-some percent of the population keeps getting the same results—year in, year out!

This is as true for students in school as it is for the person in business. If there is an improvement in the performance of most people, it’s generally minimal—just a blip on the screen and not enough to make any substantial difference in a person’s life-style.

Is there a problem? An enormous problem! It’s called paradigms.

Paradigms can be likened to a program that has been installed in your brain. But you can change that software! The same infinite power flows to and through each one of us, and if we had been taught to develop our higher faculties in the first place, we would understand how and why all things are possible.

You are going to be delighted to learn that just changing a very small part of the old paradigm can make an enormous difference in the results you can enjoy in every area of your life.

Think of the areas in your life that money affects. Imagine shifting your paradigm there to substantially increase your income before year’s end. If you have difficulty meeting people and you alter the paradigm so that it’s easy and enjoyable to meet people, this could have quite an impact on your life.

These are just two examples of hundreds that could be done in YOUR life. Today!

There will be no permanent change in your life until the paradigm has been changed. Choose one or two limiting ideas that are part of your paradigm and replace them with ideas that represent freedom to you. Consciously keep those new thoughts in your head, and act as if those thoughts are already embedded in the foundation of your life. Before you know it – you life will begin to change – and dramatically!

Friday 30 September 2011

You Can't Take 'Now' For An Answer

What are you afraid of?

Why are you putting things off?

Why are you delaying decisions, delaying calls and delaying talking to that 'difficult' person?

The definition of a Procrastinator is; Someone who can't take NOW for an answer?

Are you one of those people who thinks "Why put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after?"

You're a Procrastinator!

Procrastination is a killer.  It can kill achievement, business, personal development, quality of life.  You name it, procrastination, or delaying your decision or action, can be the difference between success and failure.  No grey area.

This scenario is so common...

You get a parking ticket.  £60. Three weeks to pay.  You put it on a table in the hallway with the intention of pying it 'when I get around to it'!  

Three weeks later you remember the fine and realise that you have one day left to pay before it increases to £80.  You are busy next day, but not busy enough not to take time and pay the fine.  You decide that it is only another £20 so you will pay it 'when I get around to it'!.

The next thing you know you have a bill for £180 and a further £300 to get your car back from the carpound

What happened? What happened was that you were 'doing' procrastination.

You 'do' procrastination.  Just like you 'do' happy, sad, excited and confused.

Kick that procrastination into touch.

Why put off until tomorrow what you can do RIGHT NOW!

"The wealth you are seeking right now, the millions you are seeking, whatever wealth amount you are seeking: It's hiding under what you are afraid to do!" - Dr Joe Vitale http://www.mrfire.com/

Are You The Business? Bad Luck!

In the world of personal development most of the companies rely on the main person. 

Otherwise known as...

The face of the company.
The owner.
The person who writes the programs.
The person who delivers the training.
The person people want to see, hear or be trained by.

I have that challenge.

Many other companies have that challenge.

I know what you are thinking; "You say that like it's a bad thing!"

It is.

Not now...but in the future. 

If you have a company and you are considering selling it, retiring and hoping it will continue, or even considering floating it...bad news.

You are the Company.  People are buying you.

You need to take yourself out of your business.

You need to remove yourself from the daily running of your business.

Why?  Because otherwise you will remain a vital element of the company and you will never be able to sell it without you going along as part of the package.  You need to delegate all your tasks within the company to other people, so that the business can function effectively on its own without you being involved.

Your business will never be able to grow beyond what you can physically do yourself.

A buyer will only want to buy the business if you come along with it.  Your plan to spend your time on a yacht sipping champagne has been well and truly scuppered.  You are now an employee (albeit a very well paid one).

If you can teach what you do to a like minded person who works for you, do so.  You must ensure that the business is capable of continuing while you take time out.

If your business is like this, do it now; I am.

If it's a new business you are starting then look closely at your business model and make sure it is scalable.
In other words, can it grow without you being there?

If the answer is no, it's a non starter.  Think of a new idea.

Thursday 29 September 2011

The Thoughts of the Dragon



Firstly, a big thanks to my friend Steve Drake for jogging my memory of this fine book by a great man.


Steve is a top rate Martial Artist as you will find if you click HERE.


Bruce Lee was not only the most influential and greatest Martial Artist who ever lived but he studied Philosophy and Psychology and his writings have been published in a series of books and this one Striking Thoughts - Wisdom for Daily Living is my favourite of them all.

A post on Steve's Facebook page reminded me to flick through the pages again. I have read this book over ten times since I bought it two years ago. Each time I read something I have read before but because of my mindset I read into it differently and the meaning comes alive.

For example:

Bruce Lee on Motivation:.....


Your Mind Determines the Effect.
It is not what happens in our life that is important, it's how we react to what happens.

That quote is just one of thousands that hit home. It was written long before the well known NLP phrase, Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning you give it.
And again:.....
Become what you think.
What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become.

This is the sales mantra, Fake It until you Make It!

It is also very closely linked with the Positive Mental Atitude teachings of Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor etc....but this is Positive Mental Attitude training from Bruce Lee.

Wisdom like this is on every page:.....
•"Remember, I am no teacher; I can merely be a signpost for a traveler who is lost"
•"The ideal teacher - not 'what' to think, but 'how' to think.
•"Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing -  it is a path to success and truth"
•"Where method is, freedom is not"

Four superb lessons are these:.....
1.Take my words and do with them what you will. Your milage may vary..
2.Observe and explore my process, not my content.
3.Failure is not only to be expected, but welcomed and even celebrated.
4.If you didn't hear me the first time, reread 1, 2, & 3!!

I would recommend anyone in personal development to grab a copy of this fine book. And check out Steve Drakes website too. Click the link above or HERE.

It's A Definite Maybe!

I have done this on numerous occasions and it does work.  It just means having the nerve to do it.  If you do nothing you will get nothing and, you cannot lose a sale you haven't got so...

I sent an email proposal confirming a conversation and received this reply..




----- Original Message -----

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: DAVID MOORE
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 5:30 PM
Subject: RE: TMC Training

Hi David,

Thanks for coming to see us and presenting a keynote to some of our staff.  They found it very interesting and are still talking about it.  However, I’ve discussed this with our directors. Unfortunately we don’t have that kind of budget and are unable to pay for Training Programs of this stature. Please let me know if there is something that we can do together which doesn’t require payment.

Kind regards,

(Name)


How many would have filed that one in the bin?


This is my response…



From: DAVID MOORE
To: XXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 8:37 PM
Subject: RE: TMC Training

Hi XXXX,

It was good to meet you and the other Directors and your people really enjoyed our presentation from the feedback I received at the time.  In answer to your question...yes, there are many things that you can do which do not require payment.

Comb your hair
Walk around the streets
Sing
Watch TV (if it is paid for, otherwise use someone elses)
Perform the second act of Hamlet (or some other favourite) in the privacy of your home
Whistle
Jump up and down
Smile at strangers
Read a newspaper you have found
Stroke a dog
Kick a ball
Kick a dog
Play on the swings in the park
Wave at someone
Leap out in front of oncoming traffic
Sweep a floor
Listen to music
Point at random things
Do the hokey cokey
Rearrange the furniture (do not turn on the light)
Sweat
Receive a phone call
Hope
Open an umbrella
Close an umbrella
Admire a painting
Sniff a flower
Steal something
Swim
Trip over something
Make shapes out of clouds
Stand on one leg
Cut your own hair
Run
Listen to things
Blow your nose
Give up smoking
Give up drinking
Give up
Get undressed
Go to bed
Get up in the morning
Do it all again

The list is virtually endless. Please have a laugh and feel free to add your own ideas and pass it on.

Unfortunately...NONE of those things will increase the your business like a training program from my company will!

If your directors see that by speculating they will accumulate massive rewards, like many other companies have done, then let me know and we will see what we can do.

Best wishes

Dave


I then get this


From: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: DAVID MOORE
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2010 9:30 AM
Subject: RE: TMC Training

Hi David
Thanks for your email. It was funny and I showed it to my VP of Marketing. Now my Director thinks that we should be working with you!!

You are right, it is a question of spending money to get money back and I must admit that I didn’t see it that way. I have tried to call you but your lines are engaged. Please call me and so we can tie up the loose ends.

Kind regards
(Name)

Having the balls to tell it like it is...Priceless

Are You A Lone Ranger?




Who's the guy on the left of the picture? That's right. The Lone Ranger.


The LONE Ranger?

Who the hell's that on the right then?



Even the Lone Ranger didn't go it alone.




As Yoda would say..."In selling, TWO of you there are ".


It's a partnership. A sale is a partnership between you and the customer.

But never forget this...

"Who is the most important person in the sale, you or your customer?"

How many of you answer 'My customer' like you have been trained, told, brainwashed to do by people who should know better?

Let me ask the question in a different way. "You and your customer crash land on a desert island. One of you is going to die first. Who is it going to be?"


Yep, you got it, the customer.

What's that mean shylock?
It means you just got promoted to 'most important person in the sale'.

YOU are the most important person in the sale.

YOU are the most fundamental part of the whole thing.

The customer doesn't know what he wants.

He doesn't know how to get what he doesn't know that he wants.

And, he doesn't know what to do with, or how to use, what it is that he doesn't know that he wants when he gets it!

That's where you come in pal. You are the most important person in the whole situation.

You have control...always! You have the knowledge, the skill, the attitude and the technique. The customer doesn't have that. Do you know what else you have that the customer doesn't? The product!

Your job is to sell the product for as much as you can. The customers job is to get the product for as little as possible. If I rang your customer and said, "I am going to help you turn the saleperson over and rip him off" they would LOVE it.

Why should you feel guilty about being better at your job than the customer is at theirs?

Always be in control, always have the result and your own position in mind, and never EVER, forget how important you are.

Autopilot - Is There anyone At Home?

So many people walk around on Autopilot.  So many people have an Autopilot response to questions or situations. 

In the Seduction Community, STILL headed by it's creator Ross Jeffries, one of the main tenets is, 'Never take a first response as written in stone.  It's just an autopilot response and it is also something to play with.' 

It's just a response that emanates from where that person is right now.'

What do you say to a Big Issue seller?
What do you say to Jehovahs Witnesses?
What do you say to a clipboard carrying student grinning maniacally at you in a shopping center?

What do you say to yourself in day to day situations? 

How many times have you pitched a product or service only to hear, 'we are not interested!'  That's just a weak, pointless, gutless, cop-out of an autopilot response. 

All objections are state related.
Some of the state related objections are autopilot responses.

If you want examples of Autopilot responses ask for a regular size quarter pounder meal in McDonalds and you will be asked. 'Is that a large meal?'

Ask for a portion of fries and you will be asked, 'Do you want fries with that?'

I had builders working in my home and deciding to buy the 6 of them lunch, and being a very classy kind of guy, I drove to McDonalds.  Remember this...
1.It was empty.
2.The car park was empty.
3. Two staff behind the counter watched me get out of the MooreMobile and walk in alone.

"Hi, can I have three quarter pounder with cheese meals, all with Cokes.  Two Big-Mac meals with Fanta orange and a Chicken Sandwich meal with a Lemonade.  Also can I have 6 Apple Pies please."

And then auto pilot took over and the girl asked, "Is that to eat here?"

I considered a barrage of answers but settled for, "Do you REALLY think that would be possible for me?"

Coming to her senses she shook her head and laughed.

It's dangerous to think that sometimes people are walking around on this Autopilot setting.  Worse, are the ones who are driving!

How many times have you driven somewhere and not remembered the journey?
How many times have you driven your usual route to work only to realise that THAT was the day you were going somewhere else on the way to work first?

If you catch yourself responding to something in the same way you have always done, think for a second.  What would happen IF you did something different?

The lights may be on but...is anyone at home in your head?

Disengage it!

Monday 12 September 2011

The 9/11 Ten Year Tribute




These are photographs from the New York ten year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

These stunning images show a city with an indomitable spirit.





As you look at the photographs you will be moved, like I am, by the sheer determination and spirit of the people of New York.  Although this is a tribute to the 3000 or so lost souls of 9/11 the strength, spirit and determination of the people of New York is illuminated also.







It is clear to everyone that terrorists can never, ever, win.  The beauty of us, as a human and humane race, is that we will never bend against the force of the wind of terror.  It cannot destroy the hope, the dreams or the spirit that we carry within ourselves.  It will never extinguish the flame of hope, goodness and humanity that we carry in our hearts.





Blessings to my Family, Friends and Clients in the  USA and especially the people of New York and Washington.

If we look after each other,

If we care for each other,

If we support each other,

If we love each other,

We will be strong...

We will be united...

And We will NEVER be beaten.




You Never Stop Learning

You are responsible for your own education.

When you want to learn about a new subject, go to the library. Go to the bookshop and buy books and magazines. Log on to the Internet. Join a club or association. Find experts in the field. Ask questions and more questions. Take courses and ask your teacher questions.

Don't just sit there. Make the course YOUR course.


What do you want to know about something? All you can.

What do you want to know about the business? Everything you can.

Hunger for knowledge because knowledge is power. You don't need to attend famous universities. You don't need a lot of money for tuitions. By yourself, with your own free will, you can learn anything that you want to learn.

Learning is a gift that you give yourself. Knowledge is portable. You take it with you everywhere.

I see qualifications as limits.  They show that you have achieved something, of course, but that's it.  It's really a label.  I have a Ph.D.  I did it because I could.  And I use the knowledge it gave me every day.  But I have outgrown the Ph.D through self education.  If I sat with someone who had just completed my Ph.D in the same manner I did and then told them all I have learnt since passing it, I would blow the circuits in their head because many people believe that once you have the qualification, whatever it is, that's all you need to know.

The thing is, I know trainers and psychologists and hypnotherapists who have their qualifications on their wall.  Great.  Can they actually DO what they have the qualification for?  NO not anymore!

Why is that?  Because they don't use it, improve it, refine it or augment it with further information.

You need to continually learn and you also need to continually question what you know.  IS it the ONLY way to do something?  Does that STILL work?  You should never, ever, stop learning.  Attend seminars, buy books (and read them), buy CDs (and listen to them).

Don’t worry what the book or CD/DVD costs you either. One sentence or idea in a £30 book or $500 course could make you 50 times that amount in the years ahead or change your life or the life of someone around you or someone you are working with.

That’s a better investment than buying shares.....or a lottery ticket.  ;-)

Response Ability

Blaming others never works, it compromises your power and your strength.

When you are wrong, the most expedient form of action is to admit your mistake and move on.

How many people do you know who walk around, slumped over, moaning, whining and saying things like, "I could have been a success...BUT!"  "I could have sold to that guy...BUT!"  "I could have been a millionaire....BUT!"

Kick the 'buts' out of your life.

Accept the fact that life isn't always fair. You will not always be right. You are human and to trip, stumble and fall are all part of being human. What differentiates you from the herd is that you get up.

Mistakes are your teachers. By choosing to be a risk taker, you will face both peril and reward. You will make a lot of mistakes as all successful people have done and continue to do. It is not someone else's fault if your success involves persistence, failing and learning.

Accept this as your choice.  Take risks.  No great fortune or great endeavour or business was achieved without risk.  As Sir Richard Branson says in his book Reach For The Skies: "If you choose to live a quiet life you will never know what it feels like to win!"

This is the nature of the road to success. Let your ego go. Take risks.

Take responsibility.

Break that word down.  Responsibility.  In fact you should look at that word as two words.  Response and Ability.  You MUST have the ability to make your response a positive one.  You must cultivate a positive, powerful and empowering Response Ability.  It is your ability to make your responses more self empowering, strong and positive that will help you overcome all manner of challenges and 'failures' (I hate that word).

Worry more about what you can do rather than what others haven't done.

Never feel sorry for yourself. Blaming others will not make you feel better.
If you fail, look at what you did, dust yourself off and do it differently. 

Remember, don’t blame others for that failure. Because if you succeed even bigger because of that failure...are you going to credit them for that failure?  Or, shock horror, the success that came from it?

No, I didn’t think so.  ;-)

The most important thing to understand is this...There is no failure, only feedback!