The Instruction Manual for the Mind

The Secret to the Quality of Your Life

2009-09-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what causes one to live a life of joy and success, and another to struggle and suffer constantly? I think I figured it out.

A unique capacity all humans have is the ability to make decisions. In nearly every moment of our existence we are making decisions. We decide what we are going to wear, what to have for breakfast, which way we are going to drive to work, and on and on. Although it is out of our awareness we are also constantly deciding what to focus on, what to think, how to respond and how to feel.

In order to make decisions we engage in a mental process that runs through a number of steps until the decision is made and action is taken. For each of us this sequence or decision making strategy is mostly out of our awareness- it goes on behind the scenes and under the radar. Also, for each of us this process is highly individual- we each make decisions in our own unique way.

But besides decisions in the now, we have been making decisions all our lives. As soon as our mental and intellectual capacities begin to develop, the unconscious decision making process gets underway. Without even being aware of it, at a very young age we begin to decide what we want, what to value, what things mean to us, what to believe, what to think and feel and how to respond to various circumstances. These early decisions become set and when we are older we find ourselves thinking and behaving in preset ways and wondering why. Even the way in which we make decisions was set with a decision.

The quality of our lives is a direct result of our decision making strategy. Some people live extraordinary lives filled with love, abundance and happiness while others struggle for these things day in and day out. I believe that the difference that makes the difference in the quality of people’s lives is the quality of the decision making strategy that has guided each one of us through every day of our lives.

Here’s why. Throughout life, whenever we are faced with new circumstances or challenges, the mind runs a process to decide how to respond. The mind begins to shuffle through possible responses until it settles on one that is appropriate. Your mind has done this ever since you were extremely young. Once it settles on a response it thinks it appropriate, it puts it into practice. The responses it chooses become habituated- we end up with habitual ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. So what makes the difference in the quality of life?

Some people have excellent decision making strategies. When this process runs, the end result is empowering and enables the individual to respond to situations and circumstances in a way that enhances life. But there are those whose decision making strategy is flawed. The responses chosen at the end of the sequence leave them disempowered and at the mercy of their thoughts, their emotions and their life circumstances.

Today, many in the field of psychology and personal development agree that whatever we experience is, on some level, a choice, whether conscious or unconscious. If someone experiences depression, for example, this was likely an unconscious choice of how to respond to a given set of circumstances. The person’s mind ran through the possibilities of how to respond to challenges and the best possibility it found was the one it implemented. When the decision making process ends with such a disempowering result, I would say the strategy is flawed.

So what makes the difference between someone who ends up with resilience and empowerment and someone who ends up with the opposite?

There are two vital factors. The first is creativity. As the mind shuffles through possibilities, how creative is it in generating options? Does it just consider old default options that didn’t work in the past or does it generate new possibilities that might work better in the future?

Imagine going through life constantly making decisions with no access to your creative resources. You will constantly react out of old patterns and end up with the same results you have always ended up with. As you go through life you gain wisdom and experience, you learn from others around you and even have options and possibilities presented to you from books, television and movies. All these things can be drawn on to increase your creative potential for responding to different circumstances.

The most important aspect of the decision making strategy is what I call anti-virus software. When a decision is made and an appropriate response is settled upon, does the mind run a quality control check to make sure this is really the best response? In strategies that lead to disempowerment it does not and there are negative consequences. If the strategy ends with, “Ya, this will do” without a bit of “Hm, what might be wrong with this? Is there anything better?” life will be pretty rocky. This final step weeds out responses that disempower like depression, worry, anxiety, frustration, stress, overwhelm etc.

I realized one day as I looked back on the past on how I had become who I had become that in my own decision making strategy all throughout life there was both a lack of creativity and a lack of quality control. This left with responses to the challenges of life that were less empowering. I had to update my internal software and program in a new strategy that would enhance the quality of my life from that point on.
If your life isn’t the way you want it, take a look at how you have been making decisions about how to respond to life. You can always choose new and better ways of responding to what life sends your way.

Hypnotic Influence with the Instruction Manual for the Mind

2009-07-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

Find a “born” salesperson, a top performer or a sales superstar and ask them how they do it. Their answer? You’ll hear it every time. “I don’t know,” they say. It never surprises me. But the truth is, they’re right. They don’t know, consciously. They have mastered the art of influence to such an extent that they do what they do with effortless ease, naturally and automatically. For years, researchers sought to reveal the keys to masterful influence and persuasion with little success...until now.

The world’s top sellers, sales superstars and masters of persuasion have a secret. What is it? It’s simple; their communication is... hypnotic.

Masters of sales and influence use the subtle powers of hypnosis to captivate and hold the attention and interest of prospects and clients, stir their listener’s emotions and win their hearts, minds and wallets. They are able to garner instantaneous trust and command immediate respect and confidence. They are able to melt resistance with ease, overcome objections with grace and close sales effortlessly. Best of all, their clients are delighted! Why? Because those who use the secrets of hypnotic selling are able to understand their clients at the deepest level, communicate with them in a way that is maximally effective and create win-win situations that keep them coming back for more.

Masters of sales hypnosis are able to use their voice, gestures and words in a way that is, well, hypnotic! Their charisma is contagious, their communication compelling and their presence is mesmerizing.

It wasn’t too long ago and I had done everything perfectly to make the sale. Yet, he gave the famous objection. "I'll have to think about it." I looked at him and told him three things. Then I repeated his words, "Now you need to think about it." His answer? "No, I'm ready to do it." I can’ tell you how many times I have repeated that same scenario.

How about this one: She wanted thousands of dollars up front, or she wouldn’t give speak at their event. It was a nightmare, because they really needed her and she was the only one for the job. She was asking for too much, and she wouldn’t budge unless she had what she wanted. I got a call in desperation, begging me to help. I picked up the phone, called her and asked her one question. She immediately replied, "I'm in." One well-crafted sentence saved us thousands of dollars and got us what we wanted.

Recently one of my business partners looked at me with an inquisitive eye and said “David, you speak and people throw money at you. How do you do it?” And so I taught him everything I know. The result beginning just 2 months later? He now outsells and outperforms me every month with a 90% close rate and gets referral after referral.

The subtitle of Dr. Frank Luntz’s book Words that Work says it all: “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.” He’s right. Unless your communication is masterful, what people hear won’t be what you intended and influence will be far from effortless.

The hypnotic salesperson’s most important skill is mastery of language. Top sellers recognize the magic inherent in language and their words cast a spell on their listeners. “Words were originally magic and to this day words have retained much of their ancient magical power,” said Sigmund Freud a hundred years ago. He knew that words can and do mean the difference between success and failure.

The hypnotic salesperson uses artfully crafted and powerfully effective language to influence a client’s thinking, feelings and actions. To really grasp how they accomplish incredible feats of effortless influence, you need to understand how the mind works. As a salesperson, entrepreneur or leader, how would your life change if you understood the workings of the mind?

Most would presume that the mind is infinitely complex, but it’s actually incredibly simple, as you are about to find out.

The brain is an information processing unit. We take in information through our five senses and process it through various filters; beliefs, expectations, memories and values. Once processed, the information is transformed into thoughts - ideas, perceptions and images in the mind.
Our thoughts then lead to feelings and emotions. What we think determines how we feel. Our feelings and emotions then lead to actions. How we feel determines what we do.
Thoughts –» Feelings –» Actions

Understanding this model of the mind can absolutely transform your sales results. As you speak to a client or prospect, everything you say is being processed through their perceptual filters and translated into thoughts. Those thoughts lead to feelings and eventually their decision to buy or not to buy.

When communicating, most people have no idea what perceptual filters may stand in the way of a buying decision. But when you know what your clients’ filters are, when you know their core beliefs, values and thinking styles, you can adjust your communication so it has the desired effect. Without this information, you can only hope to make the sale.

As you present your product and service to your client, you can adjust your communication to put the right pictures and perceptions in their mind. You can communicate in a way that changes the way they feel, putting them in state of trust, excitement and motivation. In order to make the sale, you have to change their state.

What happens when you have a deep understanding of your clients and how their mind works? Your communication becomes hypnotic. You speak to their deepest interests, their highest values and you use their most deeply held beliefs to show them how your product or service can give them what they want.

Most sales people are far from hypnotic. They bore the client with a canned approach and little understanding of their client’s true wants and needs. When you can uncover what you client really wants, needs and values, you can make your selling hypnotic. When they feel you understand them at the deepest level, have their well-being at heart and know what they want and need, you will have their trust.

Most of the time when I go to buy something, the sales person fails miserably at winning my trust and helping me solve my problem. And trust me, I make it so easy for them! I tell them what I want and what my concerns are right up front. But somehow they don’t seem to be able to tune into what I want and what I need help with. I only wish more sales people would be hypnotic! If they understood my deepest wants, communicated with me in a way that really got through, my life would be so much easier, and theirs as well!

Why do we choose to buy from someone? Because they win our trust, they are tuned in to our wants and needs and they speak to our interests and values. When you can do this for the people you serve, and when you can do it hypnotically, prospects and clients will buy from you time and time again, and they’ll send their friends too!

Does sales hypnosis give you an unfair advantage? Absolutely! And it’s an advantage that you need if you’re going to make it in a business world that is more and more competitive and a tough economy.
In the future, it’s not those with technical qualifications that will make it in business. Those who are masters of communication and influence, who can motivate, inspire and win the hearts of listeners will succeed while others are left only wishing.

Attend my workshop
Hypnotic Selling: How to Seduce and Persuade with Only Your Words.
Visit www.e2connect.net for details or to register.

The Magic Minute of Sales: Mind Reading Your Clients and Prospects

2009-07-18T15:04:00.001-07:00

What if you could listen to someone speak for just one minute and know so much about them that you could match your presentation to the way their mind works? What if you could give them information in their own language, so it really gets through? What if you could tell them exactly what they need to hear so they do what you want to do? Well, you can… if you know how.

We all have a different ways of receiving and processing information. We each have an individual thinking style, our own perceptual filters and different belief and values. We have a unique way of making decisions and we each have our own “hot buttons.”

As a result, we each have our own mental language. We have different ways of expressing ourselves, use different types of words, different sentence structures, we focus on different things and we each prefer to be communicated with in a certain way. Sometimes we hear things that resonate and we feel motivated to act because we what we heard was said in just the way we needed to hear it- it was in our language.
What happens when you can speak the mental language of your clients? The answer? They do what you want them to do.

Imagine two friends having lunch. They are in rapport, speaking the same language and they feel deeply connected to one another. When a salesperson speaks to a prospect, this kind of rapport is absent… unless he can read the client quickly and enter into their world.

In order to really read someone, you have to know the building blocks of human experience. What is thinking made of? How do people process information and make decisions? What are the elements of the human mind? When you have this information and you can fill in the blanks when it comes to your clients, persuasion becomes easy.

According to studies, 7% of face-to-face communication is made up of words, yet we try to persuade with words alone. The other 93% of communication is non-verbal; tonality, volume, body language and sentence structure. A person will reveal everything you need to know about them in just minutes through the other 93% of communication. If you fine tune your senses, it will be as if you can read their mind.

For example, people think in terms of the senses. Some people are highly visual while others are more auditory or kinesthetic. This is revealed in language. If someone is in the market for a new stereo and tells you he wants one that “looks good” and you focus on how it sounds, he will tune you out. If someone tells you what you are saying doesn’t feel right, you haven’t said what they need to hear to have a good feeling about what you have to offer. The ability to notice one’s preferred sense and use it transforms the communication.

There are salespeople who have a 97% close rate. Yes, 97%! How do they do it? They have honed their perceptual skills to be able to read their clients, understand the way they think and communicate with them better than someone who has known them for years. In fact, when you do this, they will feel like you have known them for years! Is that how your clients and prospects feel with you?

When you speak to clients in a way that matches their thinking they light up! They feel you understand them and in turn, they will begin to like you and trust you. And soon the sale is made.

There is something absent from sales… and it’s called listening. So many sales people skip this step. They fail to gather information and jump right into a canned approach. How many times have you gone to a salesperson who gave you all kinds of information you didn’t care about or want to know? And what did you do? You bought from someone else!

All too often when I go to buy something, the salesperson proceeds to tell me about the product. They tell me all about what they think is important… without taking a moment to ask me what is important to me. If they took just a moment to do this they could match the presentation to my values, hot buttons and decision making strategy. They could frame what they have in a way that makes me see why I need it.

I recently bought a new computer. I told the salesman what my concerns were and he immediately began to give me the specs on a computer. He didn’t listen to a word I had said. I couldn’t believe it. I am sure that all the computers they have are far more powerful than I need. I don’t care about the specs. So I went elsewhere where someone paid attention to my concerns.

Salespeople are decision engineers. Your job as a salesperson is to help people make the right decision and make their lives better. People are paying you to help them make a decision. When you are talking to a prospect, they want to be sold to, otherwise they wouldn’t let you talk to them in the first place. If you help them make the right decision, you provide a win/win situation and you get satisfaction instead of buyer’s remorse. People come back to you and they bring their friends. Because they know you can help them make good decisions.

Recently when doing one on one sales coaching, I taught my client how to listen for a prospects perceptual filters and understand how they think. Once he could notice the way his prospect was processing information, he could speak to them in their language. The difference in his sales conversations was drastic! All of a sudden his clients felt understood, and they bought far more frequently. After all, who wants to buy from a salesman who doesn’t understand them and can’t speak to them in a way that they understand?

If and when salespeople take the time to gather information, they miss most of the information they are getting. When your prospect speaks, they will reveal all kind of things about themselves through their gestures, tonality, and eye movements and their language. Language accounts for only 7% of face-to-face communication and yet, people reveal their secrets through the language they choose. Through the words they use and the structure of their phrases they will reveal how they think and how you need to speak to them. They will tell you everything you need to know to help them make a decision.

Consumers want to be sold to but they want someone to care about them, to understand them and they want to deal with someone they feel they can trust. When you can read your customer and piece together how they process information, they will feel understood and come to like you and trust you. How much more effectively will you be able to produce results in your own profession when you can make use of all the information your clients and prospects are giving you instead of letting it slip by the wayside?

Attend my workshop Hypnotic Selling: How to Seduce and Persuade with Only Your Words on August 4th. Visit www.e2connect.net for details or to register.

Leadership Redefined and Leaders Redesigned

2009-07-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

In changing times, questions of the future of leadership and management seem to be at the top of the list. Inspired by the latest edition of the Harvard Business Reviewa, a special issue dedicated to "Managing in the New World," I have begun exploring questions of leadership and management more thoroughly. In the process I stumbled upon the story of Paul Fireman, an individual whose accomplishments prove him to be what I call an Englightened Leader.

Paul Fireman was looking for a business opportunity. It was 1979 when he discovered a product that intrigued him and that had enormous potential: a handmade track and field show. At that time, Reebok was making 400 pairs a year. Fireman bought Reebok out in 1984.

But shortly after, the company slid towards bankruptcy. Fireman borrowed $75,000 and redesigned the company. Just years later, Reebok had won 43% of market share, business doubling every six months, and surpassing Nike in 1987.

Not long after, Fireman left Reebok in the hands of professional managers. The result was that the empire that Fireman created began to crumble. But Fireman was able to “put the bounce back in Reebok.” Guided by a new vision of leadership, a sense of the need to involve others in the company at various levels and to empower employees with accountability and ownership, Fireman rewrote the future of Reebok. In 2005 Reebok was sold to Adidas for $3.78 billion.

Take a look around and you will see that the world has transformed. The rise of instant communication technologies made possible through use of the internet, such as email, texting and IM, sites like YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have transformed the world. People are more informed and more sceptical than ever and they trust corporations less and less. People are more connected and more empowered that ever before. A customer’s experience with your business can be on Youtube and broadcast to millions across the planet in just seconds. Traditional marketing and advertising methods no longer work – today marketing has to be interactive, experiential and brilliantly innovative.

The composition of the workforce has dramatically changed. Generation Y is eagerly moving up the professional ranks bringing along the search for instant gratification and a sense of entitlement. They have high expectations from the workplace and want to make their jobs fit their lives rather than adapt their lives to the workplace. Gen Y wants more: more feedback, more responsibility, more involvement desire to make a difference.

Juxtaposed to them are the Baby boomers, the largest growing segment of the workforce. Many refuse to retire or businesses want to delay retirement. Their knowledge and expertise is needed to keep companies alive, but can they adapt to the rapidly changing economy? How will business deal with the generation gap between boomers and Gen Y?

Add the recession- the worst global recession since World War II. Businesses around the world have disappeared from the landscape, hundreds of thousands have lost jobs and millions have been lost in investments and revenues. As we emerge from the economic downturn, the only certainty is that there will be no return to normalcy. In the post-crisis world there will be what the Harvard Business Review has called “a restructuring of the economic order.” The world of business will be redefined and redesigned. The economy will be reconceived and reinvented and in the process, our lives will continue to transform.

The only constant in this world is change. To survive the rough waters ahead, organizations will have to adapt. But to thrive, they will have to do much more. The altered business landscape will leave both consumers and employees behaving differently, and organizations will have to follow suit. In a world where what once worked is now proven to fail and what was once proven to fail may be the only thing that works, what will make the difference between companies that perform and those that plummet?

In the new economic order consumers and employees behave differently and organizations will have to adapt, adjust and transform. To survive and to thrive, organizations will have to reinvent themselves and to take on the challenge, a new model of leadership will be required.

The new future of organizations rests in the hands of leaders, but the skills of leaders won’t be sufficient to handle the challenges of this new economic order. The leaders of the future will need far more than leadership skills. The leaders in the new world will require the power to rewrite the future of a group, company or perhaps even a country. In the future, a leader will be one who inspires, awakens and empowers, one who can win the hearts of employees, stakeholders and clients. Leaders will not only have to lead, but they will have to lead others to greatness.

In the past, leaders were leaders because they had risen up the ranks and earned the right to direct others. Their job was to guide and direct employees, to establish policies and procedures and have them followed. In the new world, seniority won’t be enough. To lead in the future, leaders will need to empower others to participate and share in decision making and in creating the organization’s future. The new model of leadership will be one that has everyone talking, giving ideas, suggestions, proposals and sharing concerns. Creating a vision and trying to get buy-in will be a thing of the past as leaders empower other will the power of ownership and authorship. Leader in the future will create and strengthen communities that work together to invent futures that didn’t previously exist.

What is it that makes a Barak Obama, a Winston Churchill, a Martin Luther King Jr. or a Mahatma Ghandi? “Cicero talks, and people marvel; Ceasar talks and people march,” said Warren Bennis, a pioneer in the field of Leadership Studies. In The Three Laws of Performance; Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life, a groundbreaking work that reveals powerful principles for leadership in a changing world, the authors place the above quote to demonstrate the most powerful tool of a leader: language. Leaders of the future will be masters of language. Like the Obamas, Churchills and Ghandis of our world, their words will move others to action. When they speak, they will touch others, transform their perceptions and guide listeners to living a someday future in the now.

Transforming an organization begins from the top down. To have a self-actualizing organization first and foremost requires self-actualizing leaders. The leadership of the future will need to be what I call Enlightened Leadership. Guided by values such as integrity, authenticity, contribution and a deeper understanding of human behaviour, organizations will move beyond simply aiming to profit. To survive in the new future, organizations will require leaders that lead them to contributing to society on a deeper level, helping employees be their best and tap into their potential. Since employees want more, leaders will have to be more.

Emotional, social and ecological intelligence will outrank technical skills and education as the new leadership emerges. New ways of thinking will lead corporations, companies and governments into the new future. Think in the ways of the past and your organization will fall behind. Move to the future and if you write a future worth living, people will follow.

How can the leaders of the future produce extraordinary results when faced with what is seemingly impossible? To meet the challenge, Enlightened Leadership is the only way.

Attend The Empowered Entrepreneur Event July 14th in Montreal to hear my presentation, The Instruction Manual for the Entrepreneur’s Mind. Visit www.e2connect.net for details and tickets.

The Instruction Manual for the Entrepreneur’s Mind

2009-06-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

Paul Graham is the perfect example of an Empowered Entrepreneur. The acquisition of his earlier company, Viaweb, by Yahoo for $49 million and 145 start-ups since have made him somewhat of a hero to techies and entrepreneurs who dream of translating their ideas into some of the red-hot Web 2.0 companies Graham has helped launch.

In a suffering economy, few would think it possible to create bundles of wealth, but according to Graham there is opportunity everywhere in the world of software. His new company, Y Combinator, advices and funds 40 start-ups per year. His idea was to create a start-up machine by innovating the start-up process. His guiding principle is smaller, cheaper, faster, precisely those factors that lead to the innovation that fuels successful entrepreneurship. Graham has proved that even the process of innovation can be innovated.

According to Inc. Magazine, which features him on the cover of its June issue, “Graham’s system generates scores of ideas, churns out dozens of new companies, and creates hundreds of jobs – for a lot less than you might think.” Graham’s accomplishments prove that even when the economy is in decline, there is room for innovation and that innovation can be highly profitable.

What about the story of Millennium Music. With sweeping changes to the music industry and the sale of online music, Millennium music’s profit had declined by double digits each year. Kent Wagner and his partner Clayton Woodson did what any great business mind would do: adapt. Instead of folding up the business, they decided to transform it completely.

Although the focus of Millennium Music was around record and CD sales, the store also featured a used music section which allowed customers to trade used CDs for store credit. Wagner and Woodson used this as the basis for the company’s future and in 2006 launched FeedYourPlayer.com

By 2007, the site has brought in almost one quarter of the company’s total revenue. And the entrepreneurial pursuits of the two don’t end there.

What is it that enables Graham, Wagner, Woodson and others like them to turn even the most difficult challenges into opportunities for profit? Few would claim that the phenomenal success of these three is due to chance. There is a secret to success, and that secret is in the mind.

Behind the entrepreneurial results individuals like Graham have produced is the mind of an entrepreneur. Hiding behind the scenes are beliefs, perceptions and mental strategies, the very mental strategies that lead to extraordinary results.
If so, just what is hiding behind the scenes?

I define performance as the behavioral manifestation of aspects of cognitive functioning. Put more simply, the results we achieve in life are a product of what we have in the mind- our internal programming. How we get from the stuff of mind to results in life functions based on a simple formula: Thoughts lead to feelings which lead to actions which lead to results. You can try to do what Graham did, but without his beliefs, mental strategies and perceptual filters, you will quickly fall short.

What are the beliefs of an empowered entrepreneur? In working with and studying the mind’s of successful entrepreneurs, I’ve found a common theme, an idea they swear by that gets them up in the morning and inspires them to do what they do with unrelenting focus. What is it? Opportunity is everywhere.

They run this idea like software of the mind. The program acts like a driving force, pushing them to seek out and uncover hidden opportunities in the most unlikely situations. While opportunity passes by all those who believe that times are tough, the economy is in a slump, and now is not the time to be investing or taking risks, some entrepreneurs are seizing up opportunities and delighting in the returns.

Despite all the risks and difficulties involved, what is it that leads individuals like Graham to devote all their time and energy to starting a business (or 145 of them)? The belief that founding a company is the most efficient way to create wealth. Average individuals think that if you need money, you get a job. And that’s precisely how the successful entrepreneur sees it: If you need money get a job… if you want wealth, build a company.

But beliefs aren’t the only secret to success. In the back of the mind of the empowered entrepreneur are mental strategies that lead to success. To produce any result in life, whether its poor performance or impressive results, there is a strategy operating in the mind – a sequence of thoughts, perceptions and ideas that lead to decisions and actions. A strategy is like a recipe- when you combine all the ingredients in the right amount and in the right order, you get the desired result. What are the ingredients of a mental strategy? Thoughts, ideas, perceptions, and feelings.

The mind of the stunningly successful entrepreneur is filled with great questions. Bright questions lead to bright results, and questions are the first step in the mental strategy of the world’s most impressive performers. Questions direct thinking. Most people ask themselves poor quality questions. “Why do I always fail?” “What’s wrong with me?”

The interesting thing about the mind is that it will search for and find an answer to whatever question you ask it. If you ask poor quality questions you will get poor quality answers and poor quality results.

Running behind the scenes in the mind, individuals like Graham ask themselves first-rate questions, questions that lead to superior results. What’s the secret question that fuels the innovation behind successful entrepreneurship? How can I make this better, faster, cheaper? Brilliant business minds like Graham ask themselves this question as if it held the key to life. They might not come up with an answer right away, but it doesn’t matter. They plant the question like a seed and water it with continued focus. They ask and ask and ask as if they were chanting the question like a mantra until the seeds begin to germinate and answers begin to arrive.

The right questions lead to a flood of creativity that can lead to innovation. When you ask the right question, the mind becomes filled with images, snapshots and movies of ideas, possibilities and opportunities. Bright questions lead to bright ideas.

And the mind of the entrepreneur is filled with many more secrets. July 14th at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel is The Empowered Entrepreneur Event. Some of Montreal’s brightest business minds have teamed up with local Entrepreneurial groups to connect, share and learn with the aim of fueling the economy by empowering entrepreneurs. I will be kicking off the day by giving the secrets to running your brain like a Paul Graham, Warren Buffet or a Donald Trump. What could you do with The Instruction Manual for the Entrepreneur’s Mind?

Become an Empowered Entrepreneur at The Empowered Entrepreneur Event July 14 at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Visit www.E2connect.net for details and tickets.

Breaking the Recession Illusion to Become an Empowered Entrepreneur

2009-06-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

More people became millionaires during the great depression in America than at any other time in history.

The stock market crashed in 1929 and hit its lowest point in 1932. The depression continued, but those who invested in 1932 became millionaires when the stock market exploded.

Sir John Templeton borrowed $10,000 and invested it when Hitler was invading Europe and there was a global sense of fear. His investment exploded and made him a multi-billionaire. He did the same thing in Japan after the war and in South America when inflation was exploding.

More people became millionaires during the great depression in America than at any other time in history and more people get rich when the economy is down than at any other time. “How can that be?” you wonder. Well, it’s easy to explain.

When the media reports that a recession has hit, most people fall into a perceptual trap. They believe that times are going to be tough, no investment will be secure and they will have to hold onto their money. They act out of fear and insecurity and eliminate risk-taking. It’s common knowledge that in a recession you save your money and you don’t take risks. Many fall into the trap of believing that the recession affects everyone everywhere and no one in safe. I call it “The Recession Illusion.”

Want some evidence of The Recession Illusion? The Economist magazine has an index to gauge an economic downturn, by counting the number of times the word "recession" appears within stories in the New York Times and Washington Post. That means the more it is talked about in the media, the more we think we are in one. The more we think we are in one, the more we cut back and save. The more we cut back and save, the more companies decrease production, and the more layoffs are reported. So we save more and cut back more and companies cut back more and lay off more employees. It's the notorious self-fulfilling prophecy.

But not everyone falls into this trap. A select few don’t see it this way at all, and when the economy declines, they profit.

The Canada Government website defines recession as “a significant drop in economic activity, lasting more than a few months, as measured by employment rate and real gross domestic product (GDP). They are undesirable, but in a market economy such as Canada’s cycles of recession and prosperity are recurrent features of long-term economic growth.”

There is a natural cycle for everything. Nature, human beings and history all exist in a flow from season to season. What this means is that nothing ever stays the same. The economy too flows through seasons and cycles. It is never static, but in constant flux. Winter comes every year, but so do spring and then summer. The same is true of the economy; recessions comes, but they pass.

Those who profit during a recession recognize merely that winter has come. They see it as a time to plan, to strategize and to look for hidden opportunities. They see that there is opportunity in any challenge and in any season- they just need to discover it. They are able to take advantage of any season and thrive no matter what circumstances are thrown their way.

The season doesn’t determine your experience. What does is how you respond to the season that will determine your results.

What so many fail to realize is that even now, in one of the worst recessions in Canadian history, not everyone has been affected. I know many business owners whose business has improved in the past six months. While some are worrying about the economy, they are celebrating. I know others whose jobs have been unaffected and while many worry, they are out shopping. And then there are those who realize this. They are rolling in the cash because they looked for ways to capitalize on all the markets waiting to be tapped into in this economy.

When the recession first hit, Warren Buffet was quotes as saying he was “on the lookout for opportunities.” While he scouts out possibilities, everyone else buries their heads in the sand. Why should we leave all the profit to him? Right now, many are becoming millionaires.

Empowered Entrepreneurs model someone with a proven track record. They study the Trumps and the Rockerfellers and the Buffets and they adopt their beliefs and strategies. When everyone else is excited, I’m fearful. When everyone else is fearful, I’m excited,” said Warren Buffet. Take his advice and you will get pretty excited!

Consider the impact of your beliefs about the current economic situation. If you believe that the economy is suffering, that customers won’t buy and that there is nothing you can do, what effect will this have on your business? What actions will you take?

And what if you believe that there are hidden opportunities to profit? What if you believe that there are plenty of markets just waiting to be tapped into and that the recession is filled with opportunity? What impact will such perceptions have on your business?

The truth is that perceptions lead to actions. Limited and limiting perceptions lead to limited action and limited results. Empowering perceptions lead to impressive results. The difference between those who profit in the recession and those who do not comes down to perception. How they perceive the economy determines their results.

The recession is all about perception. How do you perceive it? In fact, if you tell me how you perceive the recession, I will predict your financial future for the next year. It’s that simple.

If it weren’t for the media, would any of us even know that the economy is in a recession? Read the newspaper, check the web or watch the news and you will find plenty of reports of declining profits, layoffs and an increasing rate of unemployment. But walk down some of Montreal’s streets and you see crowded restaurants, bars and people merely going about their lives. Some have firsthand experience of the recession; those who have lost their investments or their jobs have lives a real and true effect. But most people would be completely in the dark if it weren’t for the media.

Our perceptions of the economy determine our actions and our actions determine our results. What perceptions are you choosing?

More than ever before, having the right mindset and tools is key to financial success. While economy continues to suffer, many people are rubbing their hands together with anticipation and excitement at the opportunities available to them. If you're prepared for difficult economic times and have the right beliefs, attitudes and mindset, there is no reason to worry about your financial future. You can create your own micro-economy and thrive.

Attend The Empowered Entrepreneur Event July 14th in Montreal. Visit www.E2Connect.net for details and tickets.

Health Mind, Healthy Body: Tapping into our Potential for Health

2009-05-16T08:43:00.001-07:00

In a world of constant and never-ending technological and medical advancement, why is the world of health still such a mystery?

Up until just over a hundred years ago, bloodletting was a common treatment for a number of medical conditions. We look back on this now and scoff because medicine has come a long way since then. But where will we be 100 years from now? Will we once again look back on today’s medical practices with disdain?

Traditional medicine dictates that the mind and body are separate, that illness is purely physical and that to cure disease we must treat the body through medication and other medical procedures. Yet despite the dominance of this approach, a new paradigm of medicine is emerging. Advances in the areas of quantum physics, psychoneuroimmunology and mind-body medicine have led many to rethink the mind-body connection.

As a result of the advancements of modern medicine, diseases which were once fatal can now be cured and injuries that were once critical can now be treated. We are living longer and many are living healthier... yet many are not. Despite a life in seeming health and well-being, illness can strike without warning. Pain, discomfort and other medical problems with no explanation are all too common and conditions for which there is still no treatment are not as rare as we would hope.

In a world of technological and scientific advancement there are still many unanswered questions. How do we explain sudden cases of cancer? What causes spontaneous remission, even when chances are slim? How is it possible that some societies certain diseases do not occur? How can a smoker who has smoked for years have healthy lungs while a non-smoker is suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer? There is no shortage of questions and here is one more: Is there more to our health than we have chosen to believe?

What if our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotions can affect our physical health and well-being?

Medicine is not a closed science and it is clear that there is still a great deal we do not know. If we truly value science we can no longer adhere to an outdated model of medicine that does not have all the facts. We can no longer ignore the psychological side of health.

Most of us know of the placebo effect: give a number of patients a pill with no medicinal content and tell them it will have a certain effect. In the majority of cases they get what they expected – their beliefs and expectations produce a physical result. Research has clearly demonstrated that factors such as stress and depression worsen health conditions and it is known that beliefs and attitude can reduce the length of hospital stays. Most importantly, we all know of stories of miraculous recoveries from terminal illness, spontaneous remissions from cancer and other incredible feats of health. I was surprised to read about a study in the December 2007 issue of Men's Health in which participants were asked to visualize themselves doing bicep curls. They did no real weight lifting whatsoever and their bicep size increased by an average of 13%!

The body is enormously complex. Every moment, trillions of cells each carry out their functions in perfect harmony and with incredible precision. They work to digest your food, pump your blood, keep you breathing and produce an endless array of other effects that occur practically unnoticed in your body every day. At all times, our immune system protects us from millions of viruses and bacteria and our body heals cuts, burns and broken bones automatically. The body even knows precisely when to end the complex symphony of internal working that comprises healing. It is clear that our mind and body have amazing capacities and an extraordinary ability to heal. Healing is natural, but what goes wrong that allows illness to occur?

We know that illness can occur as a result of a number of factors; genetic background, exposure to toxins, bacteria and viruses, nutrition or lifestyle. But it is rare that any one of these factors is 100% responsible – each of these elements leads to a predisposition to develop a certain illness, not a certainty. And if psychological conditions such as depression and stress can worsen health, what effect will mental and emotional health have on the body?

I became interested in health when I stumbled upon an interesting case. While getting to know Jason, a neighbour of mine, I learned that he had been given 3 months to live when diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. Despite the news, he was determined to participate in a retreat that year and so he decided that his doctors were wrong. He couldn’t die, he had things to do! He began to use various methods of non-traditional healing such as meditation and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). That was nine years ago. He now lives happily and healthily in NDG.

Although we do not yet know to what extent our thoughts and emotions can affect our health, one thing is certain: our thoughts, perceptions and feelings lead behaviours that either enhance or impair our health. In our supersize me society health often takes second place. In a fast-paced world in which chronic dissatisfaction is the norm we find it easy to put health second to money, achievement and many other things. On an endless quest for more, more and more we choose convenience over health and we succumb so easily to the temptation of instant gratification. The quick fix is king and because long-term happiness is out of site, it’s out of mind too. After a day of work, work and work reminiscent of the Grand Prix, we choose to relax in front of the tube, twinky in hand, instead of getting some much needed exercise. Even though we know exercise it’s vital for our health, the tube and the twinky win.

Behind habits and behaviours are thoughts, perceptions and emotions. Our values, beliefs, thoughts and states of mind lead to actions in the world. What is behind the scenes in your mind translates into behaviours, habits and choices; choices that will help or hinder your health.

Throughout history and around the world countless cultures have believed that the mind and body are inherently connected. Why is our society so different? The reason is that according to the scientific model, we don’t believe anything until it has been proven. Why believe it if you haven’t seen it? It seems perfectly logical, but there is one problem; since we don’t believe it unless it has been proven, when it hasn’t been proven or studied (yet), we don’t believe it is true. To believe that modern medicine knows everything is foolish. There are constantly new procedures, treatments and discoveries being made every day. Clearly there is more exploration to be done.

Today, mind-body medicine combines ancient and modern practices to provide a more integral approach to health and healing. According to this paradigm, within each of us is a perfect blueprint of health, a wellspring of healing, which we can tap into to overcome disease, or rather, dis-ease. More and more people are turning to alternative practices to tap into their potential for health. Acupuncunture, meditation, yoga, and EFT are in vogue. The advocates of this approach do not claim, however, that traditional medicine is to be ignored. Mind-body medicine is not a substitute for medical attention. If you are ill, you want to make use of all the resources available. Medical attention is often both necessary and helpful in treating disease- it can improve the quality of your life or even save it. Your doctor will treat the physical aspects of your condition. It is up to you to ensure that the mental and emotional components of any illness are treated as well to support and encourage healing... or prevent health problems in the first place.

If the body is equipped with a perfect blueprint of health, how can we tap into it?

A step in the right direction may not be far away. This May in Montreal, a world expert in the workings of the mind and body will be in Montreal to help us actualize our health potentials. In a three day workshop entitled “Actualizing your Health Potentials: Neuro-Semantic Patterns for Wellness, Energy, Health, and Vitality,” Dr. L. Michael Hall, PhD in psychology, world renowned trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming and author of over 40 books, will guide participants in exploring the effects of beliefs, perceptions and attitudes on our health through a new model of the mind-body connection. Far from an ordinary workshop, this seminar promises an interactive experience like no other. Replete with techniques and exercises from NLP and Neuro-Semantics to transform and empower, participants will explore the Neuro-Semantics of their own health and begin to choose new attitudes and perceptions that enhance health and well-being and lead naturally to healthy behaviours and choices. Through the experience of Neuro-Semantics participants will even be given the opportunity to resolve inner conflicts and negative emotions that may be causing physical symptoms.

Hall is the co-creator of Neuro Semantics, a system of psychology known as The New Psychology of Self-Actualization that combines the best of cognitive therapy, NLP and coaching methodologies with years of research into self-actualization psychology, mental health, resilience and excellence. Now Hall brings Neuro Semantics to health to help take control of health and live at our best. In Hall’s own words “health is still a mystery,” but with the tools of NLP and Neuro-Semantics we can tap into the potentials within all of us.

As the field of medicine evolves and new advances in neuroscience, psychology and mind-body medicine emerge, it is up to us to explore the possibilities for our own health. We don’t need to believe everything we hear, but we do need to explore for ourselves and find what works and what doesn’t. Scepticism is useful if it leads us to put things to the test and find out for ourselves, but doubt may keep us imprisoned in modes of thinking that hinder us from living fully. We don’t need to wait to tap into our potential for health and well-being. The secret may be in the mind.

For more information on Hall’s work visit www.neuro-semantics.com. For information about the upcoming seminars in Montreal contact IDCOM International at 514-815-5457
or visit www.idcominter.com.

Our Changing Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of the Mind

2009-04-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

I got a call the other night from my friend Charles in Virginia.

"Dave, The brain is plastic."

Charles has a few PhDs so I tend to listen to what he has to say.

"Neuroscience is proving that the brain is not fixed, it's not hardwired like we once thought. We've found that the brain is constantly rewiring itself. The brain is like clay, and we can mould it how we want."

"What?" I asked. "Clay?"

Charles went on: "The brain is malleable, it's flexible, it's constantly changing, which means we have an even greater capacity to change than we ever thought."

I couldn't wait to start to explore what Neuroscience is calling "neuroplasticity," the capacity of the brain to change and form new neural pathways.

What I discovered is fascinating. The brain is likely the most complex structure in the world, and it is one of the greatest mysteries waiting to be unraveled by modern science. Despite endless research, we are far from fully understanding it secrets.

Yet now we may be closer than ever. The discovery of neuroplasticity may revolutionize the fields of medicine, psychology and countless others.

Traditionally the human brain has been seen as relatively hardwired and fixed, an immutable structure that is, for the most part, unchangeable. This perception led to the belief that our most common psychological problems were irremediable. Common issues such as anxiety or bi-polar disorder were deemed incurable, life-long conditions that one would have to learn to live with. The effects of accidents, strokes and other medical problems were seen as untreatable, conditions one would have to manage but could never resolve.

But the discovery of neuroplasticity has raised the question: Are we prisoners of our hard wiring and doomed to suffer because of the structure of our brain or can untreatable condition actually be treated?

Named “one of the most extraordinary discoveries of the twentieth century” by Canadian psychiatrist Norman Doidge, neuroplasticity refers to ability of the brain’s to alter its structure in response to experience. Neuroscience demonstrates that the brain is constantly forming new neural pathways, removing old ones, and altering the strength of existing connections. This means that the brain is able to adjust and adapt physically at any age to compensate for an injury or illness and to adapt to new situations or changes in the environment. The brain is not fixed, but rather, it’s like clay – a malleable structure that moulds itself in response to information and experience.

In the past, it was believed that if one had a stroke and lost movement of an arm for example, they would never be able to regain motion. No efforts for treatment were made because it was believed that the brain was irreparably damaged in a certain area. Yet now we know that if someone has a stroke and is rehabilitated, the damaged area may forever remain damaged, but another part of the brain will change and adapt to take over the functioning for the affected limb. The brain adapts!

It is now known that through repetition and practice of behaviours the brain changes. New neurons grow or connections between existing neurons are strengthened. If you practice a new skill, the area of the brain responsible will change. For practice to make perfect, the brain actually alters its physical structure. Even into old age, learning a new skill changes the structure and function of the brain.

But we don’t actually have to “do” anything to rewire the brain. Through decades of work treating patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), Jeffrey Schwarz, author of “The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force,” made an extraordinary finding while using the therapy he developed. Schwartz discovered that his patients were effecting significant and lasting changes in their own neural pathways. It was a scientific first: by actively focusing their attention away from negative behaviours and toward more positive ones, Schwartz's patients were using their minds to reshape their brains. They used their mind to change their brain.

One of the main tenets of neuroplasticity is that the brain can be rewired through stimuli that is either external or internal. Experience, learning and behaviour can cause changes in the brain, but so can thought and imagination. The implications of this are striking: if your brain changes due to thought and imagination, you can use your mind to rewire it for positive change. It’s not just the brain that controls the mind – it’s the mind that controls the brain.

In his bestselling book, “The Brain the Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science,” Normad Doidge details countless examples of extraordinary feats of brain rewiring. The New York Times made the following comment: “The power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility. Mind-bending, miracle-making, reality-busting stuff...with implications for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history.”

Want an example of the power of the mind? The December 2007 issue of Men’s Health detailed a study in which participants were asked to visualize themselves doing bicep curls. They did no weightlifting whatsoever, yet their average bicep size grew by 13%!

To make it to the Olympics athletes often spend just as much as or more time visualizing their performance as they do practicing. They know that we can train the body through the mind, but why have we limited this extraordinary human ability to the world of sports?

Imagine: every time you learn or experience something new, your brain is being rewired. New connections are forming and old ones are withering away. Recent connections are strengthening and ones you no longer need are disappearing. In every moment you have the capacity to reinvent yourself. If you choose what to put in your mind you can decide what to reinforce and what patterns and habits of thinking, emotion and behaviour you will no longer nurture.

As a personal trainer for the mind, each day I help clients rewire their brains to remove the neural pathways that lead to anxiety, depression, fear and form new connections that automatically leads to peace, joy, passion, wealth and success. Through an active and dynamic process of “mind coaching” we provide the brain with new stimuli – new experience and information that translate into new mental programming. We literally train the brain. Even in my free coaching session for those who want to have the experience, clients feel what it is like to rewire their brain.

As a result of neuroplasticity, people recover from strokes, overcome learning disabilities, free themselves of emotional conditions and train their minds for greater success. Neuroplasticity reveals that we have the power to rewire our brain by providing it with the right information and experience.

Curing Anxiety: From Total Panic to Perfect Zen

2009-03-28T10:29:00.001-07:00

According to Statistics Canada Anxiety is the most common mental health problem in Canada. The Statistics Canada Community Health Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing revealed that hundreds of thousands of Canadians suffer from anxiety disorders the same survey reported that Canadians struggle to find adequate treatment for their anxiety.

Unbeknownst to many, anxiety can be cured.

Like any human experience, anxiety and panic have a structure. Anxiety is not a thing – you will never trip over a pile of anxiety in the street and it’s not something you can put in a wheelbarrow. Anxiety is a process – a dynamic mental process. You could say anxiety is all in the mind, but this wouldn’t be completely true. Anxiety and panic begin in the mind, but show up in the body. The physical symptoms are undeniable, but those symptoms have a cause. Anxiety is not something you have, it is something you do with your mind. Anxiety doesn’t happen to you, it takes your participation. When a sufferer of anxiety realizes this fully, half the battle is won.

Instead of spending time finding why you have anxiety and digging deep into your past as some traditional approaches to therapy would have you do, we need to determine how you do anxiety. When we find the sequence and structure of thinking, the mental syntax that leads to the result of anxiety or panic, we can change it.
To produce any emotion or behaviour, specific things need to happen in the mind. To produce a specific result, there is an order and sequence of internal events (thoughts, perceptions and emotions) the operates to lead to that result. It’s like a recipe. If you change the ingredients, the amounts or the order in which you mix everything together, you get a different result.

What are the ingredients of mind? The mind takes in information from the world through the senses; we see, hear, touch, smell and taste. Since the mind takes in information in these forms, it also processes information in these forms. We see things in the world and we have images in our mind. We hear things with our ears and we have sounds and voices in our mind. We can touch things and imagine the sensation or feeling. We can smell a rose and imagine smelling a rose and we can taste a lemon and imagine tasting a lemon. To the five senses we can add internal dialogue or internal self-talk. No thought or perception can occur without being in one of these sensory forms.

How does this relate to anxiety? As I mentioned, anxiety and panic have a structure. Every time I work with a client suffering from anxiety, I can predict exactly what that client will do and say even before we have begun.

The strategy for anxiety works like this; first the sufferer asks him or herself, “What if” and fill in the blank. “What if I get sick?” “What if there is an accident?” “What if I have a panic attack?” All these questions are asked in a worried tonality of course. No anxiety sufferer would panic after speaking to himself with a voice of total calm or a comical tonality. Tonality is important and to panic, you have to do it right!

These worrisome what if questions direct the mind which takes its cue to begin to generate images of the scenarios mentioned. The anxiety sufferer will then run movies in his mind of awful scenarios – it is as if he is sitting right there in an Imax theatre with Dolby digital surround sound experiencing those scary events. The mind is so powerful that it is easy to forget that they are just thoughts.
While seeing these images, vivid and real, the sufferer feels the feelings of anxiety as if those scenarios were actually occurring.

As a strategy this really works. If you want to have a panic attack all you have to do is follow these three easy steps. Those who suffer from anxiety have achieved an amazing feat of the mind. They have developed the ability to consistently slip into a panic and they do it regularly and methodically. It rarely happens that they forget to panic. They have mastered the skill of anxiety... and if they have mastered the skill of anxiety, they can master the skill of calm.

Beyond the sequence of anxiety, there is more structure to reveal. Every single sufferer of anxiety I have worked with says, “I have fears in the back of my mind.” I always find this phrase very interesting. “Where are they?” “In the back of my mind.”

Our inner pictures have a location. It is as if the mind is a giant projector, giving all of our thoughts a location in our personal space, hanging them like paintings on the wall of our mind. “When you think of that fear, you have a picture, don’t you?” I ask. “If you were to reach out and touch that picture or if I could see it to, where would it be? Each time, my client takes a moment to think and touches the back of his head saying, “Right here.”

The fear is literally in the back of the mind. If you hang a painting up somewhere and it doesn’t look good, what do you do? You take it down and hang it somewhere else. With the most recent sufferer of anxiety, I invited him to take that picture and put it out in front of him. He laughed and said, “Oh, now it’s just a thought.” How interesting that in seconds a terrorizing fear can become merely a thought.
Yet there is more. An anxiety sufferers description of the feeling of panic is often accompanied by the same gesture. When they speak of the feeling they place their hand out in front of their body, index finger outstretched and move it in a circular motion. They say something like, “I get this feeling,” and they make a circular gesture.

Indeed, it’s called an emotion for a reason; e-motion.

“Where does that feeling start,” I ask. The response is often the stomach. “Where does it go?” “Up here” (pointing to the chest). “So it spins like this (using same gesture)”? “Yes!”

Feeling begin in the pit of the stomach and spread upward through the body until they overwhelm the individual. The feeling spins in one direction and at a certain speed. The feeling has a structure... and that structure can be changed.
If the feeling is spinning at a certain speed, speeding it up will increase the feeling whereas slowing it down will decrease the feeling. We can also reverse the direction of the feeling. What happens when we do this with anxiety? Anxiety turns into instant calm!

I recently worked with a case of severe anxiety here in Montreal. The first time this individual called me, he was in tears; the fear was overwhelming. After just six hours of coaching here is a brief summary of what he said:

“When I came to Dave I felt paralyzed by fear and anxiety. After just three sessions with Dave, I have learned how to control my unconscious mind, how to relax, how to channel all my negative thoughts gained from bad experiences while keeping the positive learnings I have witnessed. To be able to balance the good thoughts with the bad, making up a stable mind, a mind at ease, a mind full of nothingness, no bad feelings, no good feelings, just a feeling of Zen.”

If you or someone you know suffers from anxiety, perfect Zen can be yours as well.

www.mindworkscoaching.net

How the Mind Works: Program Your Mind for Success

2009-03-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

When we hear the term “mind” we often think of the brain, but the mind is much more than the brain. The brain is the hardware while the mind is the software it runs. When you are dead, your brain will still be there (for a while), but your mind will not.

So just what is the mind? If we are going to get any use out of the mind, we need a definition that is useful. Although the word “mind” leads us to believe the mind is a thing, it is not. The mind is label we have given to an active and dynamic process of thinking, perceiving and experiencing. The term “mind” refers to a never-ending flow of information processing. The mind is never static. It is a constant stream of sensory input, thoughts, ideas and perceptions. It’s a continuous dance of information, a ceaseless stream of awareness in which almost anything can be swept up.

What exactly goes on in this stream of awareness? From moment to moment you receive vast amounts of information from the outside world through your senses. Your awareness jumps from point to point in your external experience, sorting for what is important to you as your minds engages in the process of interpreting and evaluating the incoming data. External information is filtered through beliefs, attitudes and memories and associations are activated. Emotions arise and generate responses; speech, actions and behaviour.

On the screen of your mind you flash images, snapshots and run movies. You hear sounds and voices and often narrate the film with your own voice. The pictures and sounds of your mind occur all in sequence, one after the other, which results in an ever changing flux of experience which changes from moment to moment.

Directing and guiding this stream of awareness is a system. We can think of the mind as system that directs our information processing. This system is made up of numerous elements, all interacting and influencing one another to generate our experience. The way we experience the world is through the process of representing, sequencing and ordering the information we acquire from the outside world.

The system of information processing we call “the mind” can also be called our internal reality. We each have an external reality- the environment we live in, the circumstances of our lives – and we each have our own unique internal reality. It is this internal reality that lies behind emotions, behaviour and results.

During the free coaching session I offer to new clients, I show each individual how their mind (system) is working to produce the results they are experiencing in their lives. They are intrigued when they understand just how things have been working behind the scenes, and everyone tells me, "That makes so much sense! I can't believe I didn't realize that before!"

Our inner reality is far from a random mess of mental chaos. Human subjective experience has a structure. Knowing the specific elements that make up the structure of our internal reality enables us to alter the structure so that it serves us better.

For thousands of years we have believed that the mind was complicated and elusive; a mystery waiting to be unravelled, a cipher waiting to be cracked. We now know that the mind is much simpler than we once thought. When we know the building blocks of human subjective experience, the elements that make up what we call “mind,” we can change them.

The components of a system can be reorganized. The processes we use to encode information and the sequence data can be optimized to produce desired results. When we know the elements of a system we can change the system so it functions more effectively and efficiently. When we know what is going on behind the scenes of behaviour and emotion, we can change it and transform our experience.

For hundreds of years the field of psychology tried to find a way to change emotions and behaviour. The methods devised made great theories, but never really resulted in much change. Some of the theories made a lot of sense, but practice didn’t seem to yield any results. The advocates of different psychological theories over the past hundred years spent more time arguing over theories than trying to find something that really worked. It took up until the late 1970s before a model that was actually useful and practical was devised.

Throughout our lives we have fought with our emotions and struggled to change habits and behaviours with little or no success. We have been attempting to change the symptom of some cause without getting to the source. Trying to change with willpower alone is like trying to weed a garden without getting at the roots and wondering why the weeds keep growing back. We wonder why change is so difficult, but it’s not that change is difficult, it’s that we’ve been going about it the wrong way. Trying to shovel the snow of your driveway with a rake isn’t going to work very well, so why not trying something else? To change emotions and behaviours we need to step behind the scenes and peek into our internal experience to see what is going on behind our emotions and behaviours. We need to look beyond the surface and find the source.

Emotions and behaviours don’t come out of nowhere. They result naturally from our internal programming. For whatever emotions you feel and whatever behaviours you produce, your programming must be perfectly optimized to produce that result. If you are depressed, your mind has been programmed to produce depression. If anxiety is your constant companion, your mind has been programmed to produce anxiety. If you find yourself lacking confidence, or giving into to self-sabotage, it’s because your mental software permits it. And if you live a life of joy and success, it’s because your internal programming has been optimized to generate that result. Problems are learned, and if they can be learned, they can be unlearned. Change your programming and you change the result.

Although you never go anywhere without your mind, most of what goes on in the mind remains a mystery to you. Why? Because much of what occurs in your mind is out of awareness. Our mental programs operate behind the scenes, out of consciousness, and it is those aspects of our functioning that operate out of awareness that lead to emotions and behaviours. To put on a great show and produce the results we need to navigate in the world, there is a whole crew of things going on backstage. All we see is the final performance.

If you open the task manager on a computer you can see all of the applications running. When you look at this list you see precisely the programs that you know are operating. In your mind, these would correspond to the things you are aware of at any given moment. However, click on the list of processes and you get a whole array of programs running behind the scenes. There are far more in this list than in the list of applications running and when you look at this list of processes, you can’t even identify what most of them are. They are operating in the background, out of awareness, permitting you to think, feel, act and react to your experience of life.
In order to reprogram our minds and upgrade our mental software to produce superior results, we must begin by bringing those hidden programs to the surface. Once we know what is operating in the mind we can run some antivirus software, uninstall outdated programs and upgrade where possible. Most of us race to have the latest cell phone and the newest gadget, but why do we keep running obsolete mental software?

Don’t worry, when you begin to explore your mind you won’t find inner demons waiting to be freed or terrible things wanting to bubble up as Freud would have you believe. You will, however, very likely find some old programs that you may no longer want. Remember, they are just programs and if you installed them, you can uninstall them.

www.mindworkscoaching.net

Recession Proof Your Mind: Part 2

2009-03-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

How is it possible to profit, even when the economy is down?

Right now while many lose their jobs, their savings, their investments and their peace of mind, others are getting rich.

A friend of mind recently told me a story about the US recession in the early 90s. She was working in a sales position when the recession hit and as soon as the news came, one of her colleagues began to lament: “We’re in a recession, it’s going to be a terrible month. This is awful.” He continued to grumble about the situation until the end of the month.

Yet my friend didn’t see things this way. She believed that what the company was offering was really of value and all she needed to do was show people why they needed what she had in the current economy. At the end of the month the two were together when they received their paycheques. My friend’s colleague opened up his paycheque and with a grunt, turned it over to my friend and said, “See.” My friend opened up her paycheque with a smile and her colleague gasped. “How did you make so much?”

What this really demonstrates is how powerful the mind is at directing your focus and producing results. With the choice of our focus we literally program out minds for success... or failure. What software have you installed in your mind?

More than ever before, having the right mindset and tools is key to financial success. While the markets continue to shift, many people are rubbing their hands together with anticipation and excitement at the opportunities available to them. If you're prepared for difficult economic times and have the right beliefs, attitudes and mindset, there is no reason to worry about your financial future. You can create your own micro-economy and thrive.

There is as short clip that is often shown in seminars to demonstrate a powerful principle. In it there are six youth passing basket balls, three wearing white and three wearing black. Each team of three is passing a ball to others wearing the same colour. The presenter asks the crowd to watch the film and count how many times the ball is passed between them. At the end of the clip (which lasts about 2 minutes) he asks for the answer and people begin to shout out numbers. Then he plays the same clip again. In the middle of the clip, audience members gasp when they see someone in a gorilla suit walk right in the middle of the scene, stop, and pound on his chest before walking off.

It’s not the same movie” people cry out. Yet it is. A few of us saw the gorilla the first time (especially if we have seen this demonstration before). How is it that we can miss a gorilla right in the middle of the scene when it is so obvious?

This demonstrates a powerful principle of human psychology: we find what we look for. According to Polish thinker Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in every second we take in 2 million bits of information through our senses, yet we can only consciously process 126. 126 out of 2 million? That’s a lot to miss! What happens with all that information? To avoid being overwhelmed by some much data, we delete it; we ignore what is not important. If we were to process all that information, we would go insane, so we only take in and pay attention to what they brain thinks is immediately relevant.

What does this mean? This means that what we take in from the outside world depends on what we have inside. Carl Jung taught that perception is projection. Instead of seeing reality as it is, we usually use what we find in reality to confirm what we already think and believe.

If you believe the economy is barely breathing and only surviving due to life support, succeeding now will be like pulling teeth. If you believe this is a time to hide behind closed doors and hang onto your dollars, times will be rough. When you believe the economy is bad you will delete opportunities for prosperity. With this mindset a prosperity gorilla will come right by and bang on its chest and you won’t even know. Every second you tell yourself what to focus on. What are you focusing on now?

One of the main principles of cybernetics says that the element with the most flexibility in a system governs the system. The same is true in unstable economic times. With enough flexibility you can adapt to the changes and adjust what you have so it matches the needs of the market.

Want a perfect example of flexibility? In downtown Toronto Virgin mobile has placed some attention-grabbing ads. A billboard reads, “Screw the Recession! Take charge with plans from $10/mo. Not only is it unique and funny, but it’s giving people just what they want right now: to save money. Help people save money and you will make money. The same billboard reads: “smartphones for the savvy recessionista.” What happens when a company can so effectively meet us where we are and offer us precisely what we want?

Both businesses and self-employed professionals need to rethink what they offer. How do you think about what you offer? Do you consider it a luxury or is it just what people need in these times? If you consider it a luxury and your target market seems to suddenly have deep pockets with short hands you better find a way to adjust your offer and show people why they need it now. A recession is a time to add value to what you offer. People’s needs and wants shift when the economy shifts. If you can find out what your clients really want and give it to them, you will profit. How can you modify what you have to offer to fit the times and shifts in wants and needs of your clients?

Individuals need to rethink what they have to contribute to their employer. Economic shifts are the perfect opportunity to learn to separate yourself from others, invest in yourself and increase your knowledge and skills. In times like this you need to make yourself indispensible. It’s those who don’t who get bitten by the recession bug. Making yourself someone people can’t do without is not such a bad thing. The economic downturn might be the best thing that ever happened if you do.

How will you stand out? As prices drop, courses and training become cheaper so you can get more bang for your buck. When the economy comes back you will have a whole new set of skills that you got for less.

The same reality that is available to those who are thriving now is available to you. The key is to grab the most useful and empowering 126 bits. Which 126 bits do you want to be grabbing?

The question is this: What will you put in your mind so you can respond to it optimally and create the life you want?

www.mindworkscoaching.net

Recession Proof Your Mind: Part 1

2009-02-21T05:53:00.001-08:00

Each day there is more doom and gloom in the media about the economy. Our fears and worries are growing as we look out to the uncertain economic future and the situation that doesn’t seem to be getting any better. The dreaded R-word is mentioned more and more frequently and reports of layoffs, cutbacks and stress on Wall Street are piling up. My bet is that recessiphobia will soon be added to the DSM-IV, the manual used by mental health professionals to classify and diagnose mental disorders.

Most people are certain they will suffer the backlash of the recession and so they tighten their grip on their wallet and hold back from taking risks. They do everything they can to not get poorer, and do little to try to get richer because it’s too risky in a volatile market.
But is the news we are getting about the current economic situation slanted? Are we getting the whole story?

In a recent news article I read that right here at home restaurant sales are down. People are going to restaurants less and when they do, the spend less and tip less. Yet just last night I was looking for a restaurant in downtown Montreal and had to keep going from place to place because each restaurant I tried had a line-up and a 20-45 minute wait. Tough times indeed!

There are many who are getting rich right now despite the current “economic instability.” While the rest of us wake up in the morning with a grumble, pull the covers over our heads and putting our spare change into the piggy bank instead of splurging on that lattes, others are out there turning obstacles into opportunities... and $$$$$.

While many have developed R-word phobia, others jump for joy when they hear about the economic changes. What about you?

The Economist magazine has an index to gauge an economic downturn, by counting the number of times the word "recession" appears within stories in the New York Times and Washington Post. That means the more it is talked about in the media, the more we think we are in one. The more we think we are in one, the more we cut back and save. The more we cut back and save, the more companies decrease production, and the more layoffs are reported. So we save more and cut back more and companies cut back more and lay off more employees. It’s the notorious self-fulfilling prophecy.
Shakespeare said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Could this be true of the recession as well?

When the economy shifts, we respond. Often, however, we do not just respond to the economy, we respond to media reports about the economy. The more the media dramatizes the situation and the more they report on it, the more fearful we become. The more fear we feel, the less we take economic risks- those same risks that fuel a capitalist economy. Are we feeding the recession by starving the economy with our mindset?

Is it true that a recession means trouble? For something to be true, it has to be true for everyone. Since in uncertain economic times some get rich, a recession is neither good nor bad- it’s just a situation. The manager of a company I worked with gives the following suggestion: “Instead of overreacting to problems, react to situations.” That advice is warranted here.

Do those who prosper in a recession prosper by chance? Hardly. Why can some be successful in these times while others not? Many think, consider and reflect on what they want to do. They have great ideas that they ponder, waiting and waiting and waiting for the right moment. What happens? They end up waiting until the right moment has passed.

Many of us want to play the blame game. We ask, “why me?” We focus on all the reasons why we can’t be successful. We’ve fallen into this trap because we don’t want to be at fault, but by letting ourselves get sucked into this game we choose reasons (excuses) over results.

Those who prosper in a recession do so because of the response they choose to events in the world. Instead of catastrophizing, blaming, worrying and complaining, they determine precisely how think to get what they want. They strategize and decide what to do. They are the CEO of their minds.

In these times, many are looking for simple advice as to what to do to keep their heads above the water or if they are optimistic, what to do to climb onto dry land. We want the “3 easy steps to making money in real-estate” or “3 keys to starting your own business in tough times,” but before we start barrelling down with steps we need something much more important. The key to prosperity is not to find the right steps, it’s about what’s behind the steps.

To prosper now we need to improve our thinking and focus. We need to master our thoughts and emotions and respond to life in a way that is aligned with our objectives. Worry and fear don’t lead to success. Penny pinching and risk avoidance don’t make us winners in tougher times. Those who prosper now see the current situation as the perfect time to do things. To them, opportunities abound!

No, positive thinking is just not enough. Saying “The economy is good, the economy is good, the economy is good” is not the way to do it. If you want to come out on top you need to think about the economy in a way that enables you to achieve what you want. According to Forbes magazine, Warren Buffett, the second-wealthiest American (with a fortune of $52 billion) is “sniffing out opportunities created by the recent financial market turmoil.” With $52 billion, Buffet might be just the role model we need. Why leave all the opportunities for him to find?

www.mindworkscoaching.net

Taking the SAD out of Seasonal Affective Disorder

2009-02-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

Can we now cure SAD and other emotional disorder more easily and quickly than ever?

In the depths of the winter season, when it’s colder than ever and the days are at their shortest, when we are inundated with snow, snow and more snow and daylight is at a minimum, the winter blues are most likely to set in.

Many who enjoy mental health during the summer months find themselves with a case of the blues, feeling down, or in more serious cases, with a condition as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), otherwise known as winter depression. The symptoms are a drop in mood, lower energy levels, increased sleepiness and decreased interest in work and social activities. Suicide rates go up at this time of year and pharmaceutical companies celebrate increased sales of anti-depressants.

To some it’s a medically recognized fact that the lack of natural light in winter has an impact on our emotions. Exposure to light causes the production of a hormone called melatonin, which helps regulate several biological functions, so when there is less light in winter melatonin production increases (leading to increased sleepiness, lack of motivation and other symptoms characteristic of depression).

According to an article from Canada.com, SAD is a condition that seems to be related to sunlight exposure (keyword “seems”). Indeed, there are some doubts.
To treat SAD, phototherapy comes highly recommended. If it’s caused by reduced exposure to natural light, then exposure to the right type of light will boost moods. Doctors may prescribe anti-depressants and psychotherapy can also have an impact.

Yet while some sink into the depths of despair during the winter months, there are those who spend the icy months in high spirits, enjoying the holiday season, taking part in winter activities and untouched by the diminished levels of light. Why aren’t they depressed too?

According to Cognitive-Behavioural Psychology, our emotions are the result of our thoughts. How we feel stems from how we think. In “Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy,” a book which clearly explains the cognitive model of psychology, Dr. David D. Burns, an eminent psychiatrist and expert in mood disorders explains; “The first principle of cognitive therapy is that all your moods are created by your ‘cognitions’ or thoughts. A cognition refers to the way you look at things –your perceptions, mental attitudes, and beliefs. It includes the way you interpret things- what you say about someone or something to yourself. You feel the way you do right now because of the thoughts you are thinking at this moment.”

How this works is simple: when we think, neurochemicals are released from the brain and bathe every cell in the body. The type of thoughts will determine the type of chemicals that flow throughout the body and thus, our emotions. The best example of this is stress; when we think stressful thoughts, cortisol, a hormone that increases blood pressure and blood sugar, floods the body. Think calming thoughts and the production of cortisol decreases.

According to the cognitive model, how we feel in winter is a result of our perceptions, attitudes and thoughts during winter and about winter. Have you ever heard a snowboarder say, “I absolutely love to snowboard, but I have Seasonal Affective Disorder. When winter comes I get really depressed out on the slopes”? Of course not! Snowboarders, skiers and all those who are passionate about winter sports love winter. To them, winter means excitement and joy. Their thoughts and perceptions about winter do not allow them to become depressed.

While the happiest among us are out skating, skiing and perhaps even making snow angels, the depressed are focused on the darkness and the cold. They see winter as a time of gloom and misery and gloomy thoughts lead to gloomy emotions.

We each have the power to experience gloom, despair and misery just as equally as we have the power to experience joy, passion and excitement.

In one-on-one coaching, my clients often tap into powerful states that they didn’t know they had access to. Recently I worked with an individual to help him overcome anxiety. He accessed a deep state of “Zen,” as he called it, which he never knew could be possible. In recent sessions I have helped clients experience “strength,” “empowerment,” “connectedness” and even “love.” Most of us are extremely skilled at feeling bad, but are just as capable of feeling good. How much are you tapping into your potential to feel good?

Back on the topic of SAD, the most common intervention is phototherapy. You can get all the phototherapy you want, but if you are thinking about how horrible and gloomy winter is and when will it end, you won’t be any happier. You can take all the pills you want while you fill your mind with pessimism and negativity and your moods won’t change. Or you can begin to notice how you are thinking and begin to replace unhelpful thoughts, perceptions and beliefs with more supportive ones.

For most of us our emotions are on automatic. We feel what we feel in response to certain stimuli mostly out habit. You may have noticed that you are more skilled with certain emotions that others! What would your life would be like if you could choose your states and emotions consciously and deliberately? What emotions would you choose?

State management, which is also known as Emotional Intelligence, is a learned skill. If you haven’t learned it yet, it might be time!

The Dance of the Mind: The Key to Superior Performance

2009-02-06T06:44:00.000-08:00

In the quest for health, wealth and happiness, there seem to be a few obstacles. Some of us make it and enjoy abundance, love and success... while others don’t. What’s the deal? What is it that causes one to produce mediocre results while another achieves massive success? What is it that lies behind excellence? What is the key to making it? Is it due to luck and chance? Being born into the right family? Having the right genes? The economy?

If you don’t subscribe to the belief that success is the result of chance, it seems evident that the results you produce in life arise from your behaviour: if you make the right decisions and do the right things, you get the results you want. Logically we can then deduce that if you want the right results, all you have to do is do the right things.

Many approaches to coaching and mentoring rely on this principle. A mentor is someone who has done what you have done and can tell you what to do to achieve the same. In the past, coaching in businesses was performance-based, meaning that organizations tried to squeeze more performance out of employees by getting them to engage in the right behaviours. In essence, according to this approach, to produce superior results, people simply need to be told what to do. Hopefully they will be able to do what they are told and with a bit of luck they actually will do what they have been told to do.

The results with such approaches are often mediocre. If someone told you exactly what to do to make a million dollars, how easy do you think it would be to make it? It’s not always easy to make the right choices and engage in the right behaviours. How often has it occurred that you knew exactly what to do but you didn’t do it? How often do you know exactly what not to do, but you do it anyway? We want to boost our income, but we put important things off until later and enjoy the temporary relief of watching TV. We want to lose weight but we just can’t resist the chocolate cake. And I am sure you have countless personal examples you can add.

It’s common knowledge that it’s tough to change behaviour. Ever tried to kick a habit or change your emotions? It’s hard because emotions and behaviour don’t just come out of nowhere. They are the effect of some cause. To change emotions and behaviour you have to get to the source.
But what is that source? What is it that lies behind behaviour? What lies behind superior performance and success? What makes the difference between star performers and the rest?

The answer is in the mind. Performance is the behavioural manifestation of aspects of cognitive functioning. Your behaviour and the quality of your life are a result of what’s going on in your mind, the factors underlying behaviour: drives, thinking, attitudes, emotions, values, beliefs, assumptions and perceptions.

If you plant a tree and are not happy with the fruit it is producing, do you climb up the tree to see what’s going on and try to change the fruit, or do you go down to the roots? Most of us spend our lives climbing up the tree, pulling on the fruit, yelling at it and wondering why nothing changes. This is not exactly a strategy for success.

Our thoughts, values, perceptions, beliefs and drives lead to emotions and behaviours. It is what is behind the scenes, those aspects of who we are that are out of awareness, that lead to feelings and actions. For you to experience any emotion or produce any behaviour, what is going on behind the scenes must be perfectly aligned with that result. Take a moment to imagine what was going on in the back of Bill Gates’ mind that enabled him to produce one of the largest and most influential companies in the world? What beliefs, assumptions, values and perceptions were hiding in the background? What mindset and attitude were driving him? What emotions did he experience most that led him to do what he did? Now compare that to the inner world of Mother Theresa. What was in the back of her mind that led her to accomplish what she did? These are two very different people with different minds who produced very different results. If the difference is not in the mind, where is it?

The mind is a system, each aspect influencing the others. Change your thoughts and you change your emotions. Change your values, beliefs and perceptions and your feelings and behaviours change. Alter just one aspect of the system and the entire system changes; different beliefs, thoughts, perceptions and drives lead to different emotions and behaviours. Different behaviours lead to different results.

The key to superior performance is in the mind, but what is the mind? Although it sounds like a “thing,” the word “mind” really refers to a dynamic process of thinking, experiencing and feeling. The mind is never static. It is a constant flow of thoughts, images, words, ideas, perceptions and emotions. Mind is an unending dance of information. The question is, is it an expertly choreographed dance in which the dancers move in perfect harmony, or is it a mess of utter chaos and disorder?

The secret to producing results is to have the right things in your mind so you produce the behaviours and results you want effortlessly. Since performance is the behavioural manifestation of a person’s drives, values, beliefs, mindset, and emotions, by optimizing and aligning elements of cognitive functioning, we can program our mind for desired behaviour and results. When what’s in the mind is optimized and aligned, desired behaviours and results come naturally.

Trying to change behaviours and emotions without determining what is causing them is like trying to fill a leaky bucket. You can put in all the effort you want, but you won’t accomplish much until you get to the root of the problem.

When we know what behaviours or results we want to produce, we can backtrack. If you have a certain objective, we can ask: What beliefs would you need to have to produce that result? What drives and intentions would you need? What attitude or mindset would enable you to produce that behaviour? What would you need to value or hold as important to attain that objective? Since mind is in a state of constant flux, it’s easy to make changes to the dance of information. The first step is to take on your role as choreographer.

More and more, companies are realizing that performance-based coaching is not producing the desired results. The newest approaches to coaching facilitate the development of the mindset, attitudes, beliefs and practices for superior results and performance. More and more individuals are realizing that if they want to live the lives they want, they need to change their minds, literally.

What have you got in your mind?

Beliefs: The Software of the Mind

2008-11-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

With every passing day I am more and more aware of the profound effects our beliefs have on our experience of life and the results we produce.

What is it that causes one to spend life on the streets and another who grew up in complete poverty to go on to make millions? What is it that leads someone to strap himself with explosives and walk into a crowded market place? Why do average people to join cults and end their lives in communal suicide? What is it that causes an athlete to persist despite massive obstacles and win the gold?

The answer is beliefs. Our beliefs function as the map we use to navigate reality, guiding and directing our choices and actions and directly affecting the results we produce in life. They make up the fibre of our experience running behind the scenes like the software of the mind. Without them we would be like a ship without a crew, aimlessly floating in the water with no direction at all.

Where do beliefs come from? We acquired most when we were children. At that time we had limited understanding, awareness and knowledge and formed beliefs based on limited information and evidence. We inherited many from parents, teachers and friends and adopted others from the religious and cultural influences. We also acquired beliefs from our own personal experiences and it was those negative and traumatic experiences that were most likely to help us form our most deeply held convictions. Unfortunately we have never taken the time to update our old programming, most of which is now obsolete.

A belief is formed when we generalize from an experience. We make conclusions about what things mean to us or what is true about reality and then use those as a compass to find our way in the world. A belief is more than just a thought or idea. It is a decision about what we think is true. Often we simply take on the interpretations and opinions of others or our culture at large. We accept what parents and teachers say without questioning their input and adopt ideas from society and religion without considering the consequences. When we are young it’s only natural. Although we think our beliefs are true, they are really just perceptions based on limited information and evidence. Once upon a time you believed that Santa Claus was real and that the tooth fairy paid you visits during the night. Luckily beliefs change with time and experience.

Most of our core beliefs formed as we attempted to make sense of important events that occurred long ago. With our limited knowledge and ability to reason we would analyze and interpret, trying to determine what they could mean. The ideas and meanings we came up with were merely thoughts. For them to become beliefs we would have to confirm them by saying, “Yes, that is true.” Those ideas and meanings we didn’t confirm were discarded and those we confirmed were added to our internal programming.

Why are beliefs so important? A belief functions as a command to the nervous system. When we believe something is true we give a signal to our mind and body about how to feel and behave. Our beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies; we search for evidence to confirm our beliefs and discount evidence to the contrary. People used to believe the world was flat. That had so much faith in this belief and how did they act as a result? Like them, each of us goes through life with many such erroneous beliefs.

As we go through life, we interpret experience seeking to understand reality and discover what is true. We make decisions about what is about the world, but based on limited experience and through the limitations of our own sensory apparatus. No matter what we decide, our beliefs will always remain mere interpretations. They will only be true in a certain time and place and in certain circumstances. A belief is a generalization and no generalization is true 100% of the time. We may never really know what is true.

Instead of trying to find what is true, we need to choose beliefs that are useful. If our beliefs function as a command to the nervous system, we need beliefs that will give the right commands and help us produce the results we want. Beliefs can either be limiting or empowering. They can either prevent us from tapping into our capabilities or enable us to access our full potential to produce results.

If we want a greater quality of life, we need to update our internal software and choose programming that will serve us instead of hold us back. Most of our beliefs are out of awareness and as a result we have never questioned them. They guide our behaviour from behind the scenes and often we are unaware of the effect they are having on our life and the results we produce. To update our programming we need to bring them into awareness and run some anti-virus software. We need to weed out those that are toxic and replace them with new and empowering programs.

How do we bring our hidden programming to the surface? To uncover limiting beliefs, begin to look at the areas of your life that do not seem to be working the way you want. There will almost always be limiting beliefs that you were not aware of contributing to the problem. Once these beliefs are brought into consciousness you can begin to clear them out.

To update your programming take a belief that you feel is limiting you. First, ask yourself whether or not it is really true. Often you will find it is not and this realization will blow it out of the water. Next you can ask yourself, “How would I know if this were not true” or “Has there ever been a time when the opposite were true?” When we reassess old information many of our limiting beliefs cannot hold up.

If you want to produce specific results in any area of your life, once you have set your objective you need to align your beliefs with the result you want. You can backtrack from the result and choose beliefs that will propel you forward by asking yourself, “What do I need to believe to make this happen?”

What did Columbus need to believe to discover America? He let go of his flat world beliefs and chose ones that would lead him to greatness. If someone else is producing the results you would like for yourself, find out what they belief and install it in your own mind. When you have the right software and you are running the right program, you will find it much easier to produce the results you want.

www.mindworkscoaching.net

The Wealth Mindset: How to Profit from a Recession in Canada

2008-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

As world markets slump and worries of a global financial crisis deepen, the Bank of Canada warns that we’re on the edge of a recession. Even though we are in better shape than most other world economies to deal with it, the recession mentality has begun to settle in. Driven by fears, worries and the need for security, Canadians are already cutting spending and looking for ways to ensure their financial future.

What happens during a recession? The economy dwindles, business suffers and profits drop. We must cut corners and save our pennies because we don’t know what lies ahead.

But is it really so? Many businesses continue to thrive during a recession, so what’s the difference between those who profit from m a recession and those who suffer?

The secret is in the mind. When the economy faces a downturn and we say to ourselves, “Customers won’t buy anymore,” and “These will be tough times,” we are setting ourselves up for defeat.

Those who profit from a recession, and those who profit from a recession even more than they were profiting before believe that even during tough times their business can flourish. They believe that even during tough times people need what they have to offer and all they have to do is demonstrate the value their product or a service has, even in an uncertain economy. Even better, those businesses that thrive during such times believe that their clients need what they have even more than ever. They choose a mindset that sets them up for success instead of shooting themselves in the foot. To master the outer game of wealth and success, you have to master the inner game first.

There are numerous examples of individuals and companies who achieved greatness during tough times. During the oil embargo of the 80’s, Microsoft and Apple were born. I guarantee you that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were not sitting around thinking, “The economy is rough, this will never work.”

It’s possible to thrive whether the economy is up or down. Those who do have literally programmed their minds for success. Instead of focusing on all the reasons why they won’t be successful, they uncover all the reasons for which they will. They develop a wealth mindset by backtracking from the result they want; they set a goal and ask themselves, “If this is my goal, how to I need to think to get their?” It’s called thinking strategically and if you want to succeed, it’s much more effective than worrying.

I have a good friend who is in the advertising industry. When the economy suffers, his sales go up! He tells his client that the best time to advertise is when the economy is uncertain, and gives them example after example as to why it’s true. As he explained to me, people stop buying advertising during such times, so prices go down. If you buy an ad at a cheaper price, you can make even greater profit when the economy improves. Also, because less ads are being bought, there is less competition so your ad is more likely to be seen. As a business you can attract and gain the loyalty of your competitor’s clientele.

He has a mindset that will lead him to success, no matter what the economy is like.

Even with the threat of a recession, we need to remember that Canada has one of the best economies in the world. With the right mindset, you can unleash your creativity and find ways to profit from the situation at hand. And herein lies the key: those who make it during tougher times are flexible. Instead of continuing to do what they have always done, they have the ability to respond to the environment. They adapt to circumstances and find ways to transform obstacles into opportunities.

Your mindset will drive your thoughts, emotions and behaviours, and your behaviours will lead to the results you produce in life. Any of the results you have produced in your life can be traced back to your mindset, the underlying thoughts, beliefs and intentions that lead to behaviours. If you don’t like the results you are producing, you first need to get back to the source of it all.

Imagine a fruit-bearing tree. This tree is your life. If you look at the fruit and you don’t like what you see, do climb up and try to change the fruit? No! You have to look to the roots. You have to make sure that what is underneath the surface is just right so that what comes out is the way you want it. So many people spend years fighting with life instead of getting to the root of what is causing problems.

I recently worked with a client (www.mindworkscoaching.net) from Boston who is self-employed. He told me that he was earning far below his worth and something was stopping him from making the kind of money he knows he is capable of. We worked at clearing out negative influences and programming in the right mindset and in only three months he increased his income by 40%... and in an economy in recession!

We cannot always control external circumstances, but we can always control our response to them, and it is our response that will determine the results we produce. How will you respond to the economic uncertainty we are facing? Will you devote your time to worrying and saving pennies, or will you find a way to benefit? Even during “tough times” people still have wants and needs. Most interesting is that peoples wants and needs change and new wants and needs develop. This is fertile ground for the seeds of opportunity.

Faith: Your New Religion

2008-09-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

Faith. Almost every person on the planet lives everyday in complete faith. We believe, and we believe in our beliefs. Faith is a powerful force. With every ounce of conviction we can muster we devote ourselves to our beliefs. We commit to upholding them, protecting them, defending them and proving them right.

Problem is most of us put all of our faith in our limitations. We bow down before our “can’ts”... and there are so many of them. “I can’t have what I want.” “ I can’t be who I want to be.” “I can’t do what I want to do.” We live a life that is way below our standards because we have become evangelists of the religion of limitations. We work jobs we hate, struggle to get buy on a measly income, wish for the perfect partner while we sit around alone (watching TV). We don’t have the social life, professional life experiences or freedom we want. We don’t have the power we want, the emotions we want and we are nowhere near having the life we want.

We believe we don’t deserve to have everything we want. We decide we aren’t good enough, lucky enough, worthy enough. And so nothing we have is enough.

But what if the foundations of that religion were to come tumbling down to make way for a new religion?

Each of us has made agreements with reality. Most people signed a pact long ago that they will never be, have or do everything they want. Everyday they live out their limitations wondering why they aren’t fulfilled. But some agreements are meant to be broken.

What if today, right now, you were to make a new agreement with reality? Tear up that old contract and write a new one. In this new agreement you can have anything you want, be anyone you want and do anything, absolutely anything you want to do. As part of this new agreement you put every ounce of your faith in your potential instead of your limitations. You become a disciple of your dreams and an evangelist of the perfect future instead of being a slave to all that you thought was holding you back (which was really just an outdated agreement you made).

Let all of those limitations, the “I can’ts” “I’m nots” and “I won’ts” well up inside of you and begin to dissolve. Make the decision to put your faith in a new religion and watch how your life changes.

From Idea to Reality: The Neuro-Semantics of the Montreal Riots

2008-08-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Humans are conceptual creatures. We think and reflect, we ponder and imagine, we analyze and conceptualize. We interpret and make meaning out of the world around us. We are meaning makers. We give meaning to events, experiences, circumstances and out of events and circumstances we form beliefs, attitudes and frames of reference. It is these higher conceptual levels of the mind that drive our thinking, feeling and behaviour. Our thoughts, emotions and actions are a product of our beliefs and conceptions of the world and our place in it. What is hiding behind the scenes in our minds, the higher levels of abstraction, meaning and interpretation, take form and manifest in the real world through our behaviour.

When I consider the Montreal riots that have left the city stunned, I cannot help but think of the meanings, ideas and beliefs that drove young Montrealers to take to the streets in a rampage that required calling in the Montreal riot squad and caused damage estimated at $500000.

After a Montreal teen was killed when shot by a police officer, and two other youth wounded, rioters took to the streets. It was not the events themselves that drove them to riot, but their interpretations of what the events mean. The death of a teen is a sad event, enough to shake up the city and leave a whole community in mourning. But why a rampage of violence and vandalism? What conceptions, frames and beliefs were behind their actions? What do these youth believe about, police and authority? The violence and vandalism are the enactment of behaviours and perceptions; behaviour doesn't come out of nowhere and doesn't happen for no reason.

To these youth, the police are their enemy and losing one of their own at the hand of the enemy meant war. In their world, the authorities are against them. The world is against them, and it is a fight for survival. A police officer is an intruder, a threat, and when officer approach, they are reacting to the threat, and not someone they believe is on their side. Life is a battle, a struggle, and they are the victims. Of course these are my beliefs about what they have to believe for an event like this to take place and they may not be the gospel truth, so we can all ask ourselves:

What do these youth have to believe that causes them to refuse to cooperate with police (referring to the initial event that led to one death)
What do they need to believe to take to the streets and destroy a whole community?
How do they need to perceive police?
What do they need to think about the world and others?
What meaning do they need to give to authority?
What beliefs do they need to have about life?

Reality is a question of perception and the majority of people have never taken control of the meanings and interpretations given to events. We live out of our perceptions believing they are reality.

What would happen if we helped our youth take control of their meaning making powers and choose more empowering meanings and beliefs so that youth and police could be allies in making the world a better place? If youth were taught to take back their power to think, to feel, to express and to act, to choose the most empowering and life-enhancing response to events, would things like this happen?

But in school, we didn't learn to take control of our thoughts. We weren't taught how to deal with our emotions. There was never a class on how to respond to challenges and problems, communicate effectively, consider the consequences of our actions, think, feel and act strategically to get what we want. Instead we learned about osmosis and quadratic equations. We learned the history of China and how to make PowerPoint presentations. School is supposed to educate, but we leave everything important out. In school, I learned nothing that helped me be happy, successful or empowered.

I am not saying that our school system is responsible for these events, but I am saying that changes to the way we educate youth could make a big difference and prevent things like this. If kids were empowered, would they resort to violence?

What the youth in Montreal want is revenge... but not really. Instinctively they act out to get revenge, but what they really want is a better world. They don't want to be victims. They don't want to live a life of struggle and hardship. But no one has ever empowered them to make changes. No one has ever awakened them to their own power to create change. And so they turn to violence. If they were taught to run their own brains, quality control their thinking and their actions, they could find a much better way of getting what they want than destroying a neighbourhood, looting businesses and ruining a community.

People are meaning makers and the meanings we give things shape our inner world, which lead to behaviours that lead to results in the outer world. Our world is a product of our thoughts, emotions and beliefs. The ancient adage "as above, so below" rings true.

What will happen to our society when everyone learns to take control of their mind, when everyone learns how the mind works and how to more life-enhancing and empowering thoughts, emotions and behaviours?

The Legacy of Randy Pausch

2008-07-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and with my morning coffee, set out to check out the news online. I was shocked by what I found.

Just a few days ago an acquaintance told me about Randy Pausch. A university professor whose last lecture made him world famous, Randy is witty and whimsical and frankly his last lecture is inspiring. In it he speaks of zero gravity and captain Kirk, among other things, helps listeners reconnect with their childhood dreams, and learn how to make them reality.

This talk got him coverage in the Wall Street Journal, which made him an internet sensation. And with good reason. In just the first few minutes of hearing his lecture, I wanted to hear more. Despite being diagnosed with a short time to live due to pancreatic cancer, Randy spoke with energy, enthusiasm and levity. His attitude with regard to his fatal condition is surprising - in the talk he gleefully asks the audience to excuse him if he is not depressed and morose about his plight and apologizes if that disappoints anyone. Randy is proof that losing your health doesn't have to mean losing your happiness.

When it comes to achieving your dreams, the topic of Pausch's last lecture, Randy had some good advice. We all come up against brick walls and according to Randy, those walls aren't there to keep us out, but rather to stop "the other people." They are there so we can prove how badly we want things. I was glad to find out that all those walls will be stopping the others because I will be scaling them.

Randy's unique wisdom is evident in his talk, his book, and even on the Wikiquote page, a page dedicated to his most ingenious remarks.

I found out today that on July 25, Randy succumbed to his condition. When I heard him speak with such lightheartedness, he seemed invincible. Indeed, I think he was in spirit.

The name Randy Pausch will live on and so will his legacy. His empowered response to a debilitating condition and his time spent awakening others to their potential will continue to captivate people around the world and his inspiration will continue to spread as more and more people check out his last lecture on YouTube and buy his book, The Last Lecture.

Here's to Randy.

No More Positive Thinking!

2008-07-25T06:40:00.001-07:00

What's with our society's obsession with positive thinking? Everywhere you turn there are articles, blogs, websites all touting the benefits of "positive thinking." What the heck does that mean anywa? Ask ten people and you'll get ten different definitions. Don't forget to think positive about that!

Positive thinking is the rave in the world of personal development. Those leading the masses to happiness and success have concluded that if we have two choices, namely to think positive or negative, we might as well pick the more positive one! That's positive thinking at its best. But there are not just two choices. There are so many more ways to think... an infinity of ways!

Personally, I don't think positive thinking ever got me anywhere. I rose from the depths of depression when I was younger, to being described by Chris Barry in the Montreal Mirror as "happy, happy." And it's true, I am happy. Sure I have my short bouts of other emotions and that's great, because feeling happy happy all the time isn't what happiness is all about. Happy people are happy to feel a whole range of emotions and to express them. It's part of the joy of being human.

Sure, I agree, there are lots of emotions we don't like to feel. We sink back into the positive/negative dichotomy and we talk about "negative" emotions and think that since we have those we need to think positive... But there is nothing negative about negative emotions at all. Most often, "negative" emotions are an important signal. Anger lets us know when our standards have been violated. Sadness lets us know when we have lost something of importance to us. Guilt signals us that we have made a mistake and cues us to be sure not to repeat it. Fear warns us of danger and keeps us from being careless or taking unnecessary risks. And where would we be without these emotions? Would we be happy happy in some kind of utopia?

And yes, there are limits. There is a different between appropriate emotional responses and reactions that just don't fit or that seem to sweep us away and that we can't seem to get out of.

What does this have to do with positive thinking? Thinking positive won't help you respond appropriately to events and situations. It might help you get unstuck when things are rough, but most often it just seems like a way to lie to yourself. When things suck, how well do you respond when someone tells you to "Think positive!"

What we need to do is rethink our thinking. To respond to life and the world with in ways that enhance our lives and empower us, we need to think in ways that are useful. To "think positive" doesn't really give us any specific information and might not always be appropriate. But each of us can determine what is the most useful and empowering way to think in a given situation. If you are where you are and you want to be somewhere else, how do you need to think to get you there?

When I learned this principle a number of years ago, it seemed to have a domino effect in my world. Instead of thinking on automatic and responding to things in habitual ways (which led me to depression and gloom) I began to see new ways of perceiving and reacting. All of a sudden the cause-effect equation was broken. Instead of all kinds of events causing pain and hurt, events and circumstances suddenly had a wide range of implications. I had the choice of how to respond and my respond was dependent on the meaning I gave to the event. With this new program running in my mind, interpreting things in a way that brought me down just seemed silly. It gave me the opportunity to update my internal programming... which most of us have never done. The software of our mind today was installed years ago, when we had less wisdom, less experience and fewer resources, and it has stuck with us ever since. What wondrous things will happen in your life when you run some anti-virus software on your internal computer?

Each time I hear self-help gurus sing the benefits of positive thinking, I wonder how useful it is. Useful thinking seems more positive in the end and gets you further.

So how do you need to think so you can live a better life?

ADD/ADHD: The Way to Success?

2008-06-29T14:02:00.001-07:00

What's great about having ADHD?

The answer is, "Lots!" According to Mark Norris, ADHD coach of Rhema Coaching, when we demystify ADHD, the benefits spring forth. We tend to pathologize difference. When people are different we label and categorize and decide something is wrong with them. But what would the world be like if everyone was the same?

The 7 Benefits of Having ADHD

1. Curiosity. Those with ADHD are extremely curious. They have an insatiable thirst for exploration and are constantly seeking new stimulation.

2. Power of observation. They are excellent observers and scanners. They pick up on what is going on around them and always have a global perspective of things. They seem to know more than others about what is going on around them. Because of this they are quick to grasp essentials.

3. Spontaneity. They are spontaneous. They don't get caught up in routine and so they are flexible. They can easily adapt to changes around them.

4. Sensitivity. They have a high emotional intensity and so are sensitive to their own needs and those of others. When interest is there, listening skills are exceptional.

5. Ability to hyperfocus. When interest and passion is there, they can immerse themselves in something with energy and enthusiam. They can puruse a passion with such devotion to master a certain subject or complete a project.

6. Willing to take risks. ADHD'ers are not afraid to take risks. This is part of their exploratory mindset. They are always seeking new stimulation so they make excellent entrpreneurs and artists.

7. Autonomy. They are highly autonomous. They can exploit their creativity on their own with no need for feedback or support.

If you want to go far in life, being just like everyone else isn't the way to do it. Take the world's most eccentric and highly successful people and you will surely find some ADHD. Einstein flunked out of school and changed the world with his thought experiments: he capitalized on his ability to daydream. Jim Carey, Whoopi Goldberg, Mariette Hartley & Robin Williams are all reported as "suffering" from ADHD. Without their eccentricity, would they have enjoyed such stunning success?

Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Benjamin Franklin are cited as ADHD'ers. Where would the world be without the contributions of these regarded people? And Mozart? He was known as restless, eager, easily distracted, imaginative, inventive, stimulating, mocking, and a nonconformist.

If you have ADHD, will it be a limitation or the cause of your success?

Making Problems Disappear: Oprah and Regression Therapy in Montreal

2008-06-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

I tuned in to today's episode of Oprah on past life regression. On the show, a number of individuals with fears and other stuck issues opted to try past life regression, a type of hypnosis that takes one back to past lives, despite their skepticism. And the results were pretty impressive.

Fears and phobias were eliminated in 30 minutes and other emotional issues resolved just as fast. After the process, the participants reported a greater sense of ease and meaning to life. Oprah and her guests on the show urged us all to "keep an open mind." One of her guests, Dr. Oz stated that we should be comfortable feeling uncomfortable about what is out there and we should be open to doing whatever it takes to make our lives better.

I am not sure I believe in past lives, but I do know that the unconscious mind (meaning the rest of us, everything besides our limited conscious awareness) likes to communicate in metaphors and symbols. If the mind creates a metaphor for a problem and the metaphor comes to some sort of resolution, the problem disappears. When doing Timelime therapy, which can be considered a form of past life regression, with my own clients, some clients go back to pas lives, and their current lives change as a result.

Timeline therapy has also taken me back to past lives... I don't know if what I found was real, but I do know the problem disappeared.

I discussed the topic with a friend and colleague, Patrick Luce, certified hypnotherapist and practitioner of regression therapy in Montreal. In his opinion, regression therapy isn't limited to use for serious problems, but can also be used for more common issues such as uncontrollable anger, relationship issues, bad habits and trouble sleeping.

He also told me (and I think this makes a lot of sense) that regression therapy is especially ideal for issues, the causes of which remain unexplained. Regression therapy takes you back to a cause, real or metaphorical, which brings the problem to resolution.

Like I always say; change is possible when you know how.

If you're afraid of hypnosis and regression therapy, you can get regressed to deal with that too!

A Cure for Allergies: Reprogramming the Immune System

2008-06-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was in my office today working with a client who I had left in the control room of his mind to make some changes and adjustments (because when you consciously and deliberately optimize your own mind, you come out with something much better than you would have ended up with by chance). As he was doing that I looked out the window to see a hoard of white fluffy things floating through the air (not quite sure what exactly they are).

I couldn't help but think of all the people whose allergies must be in full swing... and all of those people who don't know there is an allergy cure... an allergy cure that only takes ten minutes.

Yes, it's hard to believe... unless you know how an allergy works.

An allergy is essentially a phobia of the immune system. When the immune system is functioning properly, it identifies harmful substances and responds appropriately. In the case of an allergy, the immune system has made a mistake. (Read the full article here.)

Due to new advancements and research, the immune system can be retrained to respond appropriately. It's not about weeks or months... it can be done in a matter of minutes.

Visit www.mindworkscoaching.net to find out more.

Change Your Physiology - Change Your State

2008-06-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

We all know that our emotions are reflected in our physiology. When you are depressed you slump your shoulders, your breathing becomes shallow, and you usually look toward the ground. When you are excited you stand up tall, breath quickly and smile.

But just as state affects physiology, our physiology affects our state. If you change your physiology, how you feel will change in accordance. Actually, using your physiology is the fastest way to change your state.

Often we get stuck in certain states... perhaps something goes wrong and we get stuck feeling blue, or we get angry and can't shake it, or we feel anxious for far too long. You can use your physiology to shift out of these states at will.

I was working with a company yesterday to coach one of their sales agents. He's a vibrant guy with lots of energy and a pleasure to talk to... yet when he gets on the phone to make a sales call, that powerful and confident persona gets put on pause. He's "business persona" was not nearly as powerful and persuasive as his natural self. This makes a bit of sense - we think that in a business setting we need to be "professional," yet if being professional means restricting our behaviour and sounding serious and stuffy, it's not going to get results, especially not in sales.

I could hear that he needed to shift his state when he got on the phone. I asked him to show me his physiology when he got on the call. His was leaning forward with a serious expression on his face. Just taking on the physiology brings on the state.

I then asked him to show me the physiology he normally had when speaking to friends or colleagues. He leaned back and relaxed, opening up his arms and chest. I had him make a call with this new physiology and the change was stunning. Now he was a vibrant and confidence executive on the phone... and all it took was a change in physiology.

You can use your physiology to change your state anytime. If you are feeling down, stand up straight, look upward and breathe deeply. If you are feeling anxious, take on the physiology of calm.

You can actually compare the physiology of two emotional states to notice the differences and make the shift. If there is certain state you would like to access, ask yourself what is the physiology you adopt when in that state . Then shift your posture, breathing and facial expression to match... and notice the change.

Change That's Now

2008-05-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Why is it that so many people believe that change is not possible? Everyday I speak to people who feel stuck, powerless and unable to make the changes they want. They tell me all the reasons why they cannot change and no matter what I say, they answer it with another reason why things can't be changed....

Until I help them shift their thinking. Just the other day I was having the "I can't change" conversation with someone. Heres's what I said: "Pause your thinking, and step back and take a look at what you're doing. You are looking for all the reasons why you cannot change. What would happen if you looked for all the reasons why you can?"

His thinking did a 180 degree turn and he responded, "It could be a challenge!" All of a sudden the change became possible for him.

The idea that change is difficult and it must be slow and painful is so prevalent, but it's simply not true. In reality we change all the time... (more on that in my article, All You Are is Change)

A belief is essentially a command to the nervous system. If you believe you cann't, you won't even try. When you believe you can, you act in accordance with that belief and work to make what you want happen. A belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When I help people shift to thinking that change is possible, their whole paradigm is transformed. The obstacles they face take on a whole new meaning and possibilities open up. And suddenly they find themselves able to make all kinds of changes in their lives and acting on what they want.

Throughout history, humans have achieved incredible things... and when you think of the things you want to change, do they not pale in comparison to all the unbelievable feats and exploits that individuals have accomplished?

When you see things as they are change becomes easy... because all you are is change.