Green Castle Group: Business, Sales, Communication, Enlightenment, by Angel Armendariz

Lessons of 2011...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:29:00 +0000

“Being truthful with ourselves means taking the responsibility of making the best use of what we have. And what do we have? We have our underutilized minds, our abilities, our talents, and time. These are our possessions. This is really an immense amount of wealth that belongs to each of us. And it’s the investment of our wealth that will determine our rate of return.” - Earl Nightingale

“Progress lies in moving forward from the given situation, and satisfying as well as may be the interests that exist. And if some initial demand has proved hopeless, there is the greater reason for cultivating other sources of satisfaction, possibly more abundant and lasting.” - George Santayana, The Life of Reason

“The darkness that sheds me, indestructible victim,

Unveils me rosy to newborn desires” - Paul Valery “The Young Fate”

“If you have tasted the sweets of existence, you should be satisfied; if the experience has been bitter, you should be glad that it comes to an end.” - George Santayana, The Life of Reason

Longing to reflect on a year as unique as any, as special as any, and blooming with lessons that will yield more robust fruit in 2012; I give you my vague yet compelling synopsis of what I learned. While this is not the sum of my yearly knowledge cycle, I feel these points stood out prominently in retrospect over 2011:

X.1 A change of environment can be a powerful stimulant. Sometimes sudden, sometimes planned, yet always providing us with unexpected richness...if we're open to "see."

X.2 Second lesson was said best by Nobel Laureate Economist, Daniel Kahneman: “...it is rarely easy to distinguish justified perseverance from irrational escalation of commitment.”

X.3 The most difficult thing to change in the world is a human being (oneself, and others)....true change...not temporary.

X.4 Each person possesses black swans. That is, "high-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events that are beyond the realm of normal expectations..." wiki/Black_swan_theory

X.5 The easiest way to consistently take action to reach your goals, no matter how far away or distant they may seem, is to see, feel, and taste the goal, as if it is right in front of you.

X.6 Hedging your position is not an option...it is a rule. You must also prove yourself worthy of swinging for the fences, by first being able to get on base consistently.

X.7 Simple models are often more robust than complex models; i.e. "TIT for TAT"

X.8 "I am human and need to be loved, just like everybody else does" - Morrissey....the bold letters apply to you towards others.

X.9 You rarely know which conversations and/or which words will have a meaningful impact on another. Thus we must mind our words.

X.10 You are exceptional. There is, and will only be, 1 you in all of eternity. Do not believe naysayers on this.

X.11 Someone who cares about what you value is a big deal and a rarity...treasure these people.
On the flip side, the values of those you love should be a big deal.

X.12 Exploit and build on your strengths; manage your weaknesses. Use a symbiont in form of delegation, crutch, or partner to manage weaknesses.

X.13 Every disciplined effort produces a multiple reward.

X.14 To be singularly captivated by a purpose - in love, work, study, exercise, etc...is an essential necessity in life.

Clearly 2011, was a blessing. The wealth of knowledge from a year gone lives in the form of self-realization. With greater insight, and commitment for excellence, 2012 will surely give us an opportunity to manifest something meaningful...Happy New Year!

Formative Foundations To Build On

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:04:00 +0000

“The loftiest edifices need the deepest foundations.” - George Santayana

“It is only by imitating the vices of others that I have earned my misfortunes.” - Marquis de Sade

Principles to live by are only as strong as the foundation that nurtures them. And if you don't live by principles than what do you live by? There is a doctrine that lies deeper than any manuscript or group orthodoxy. It is biology itself. Our physiological makeup is an engineering marvel that is still being unraveled. The first part of tweaking this apparatus of ours begins with our nervous system. More precisely, the habits imbedded within it. And still more precisely our awareness in configuring some specifications and programs to work in our favor.

I can go on and discuss some the processes and ideas behind configuration of our habits, will, self, volition, intentions, or what ever other modern word you prefer to use to imply self-governance. I will, however, reach into the archives of one of my heroes - William James.

From his book Psychological Foundations, famous for introducing his "stream of thought" analysis...this is James on habit:

“The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. It is to fund and capitalize our acquisitions, and live at ease upon the interest of the fund. For this we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague. The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their own proper work. There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subject of express volitional deliberation. Full half the time of such a man goes to the deciding, or regretting, of matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as practically not to exist for his consciousness at all. If there be such daily duties not yet ingrained in any one of my readers, let him begin this very hour to set the matter right.”

On discipline, action, and character:

“No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one’s sentiments may be, if one have not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one’s character may remain entirely unaffected for the better. With mere good intentions, hell is proverbially paved. And this is an obvious consequence of the principles we have laid down. A “character,” as J. S. Mill says, “is a completely fashioned will”; and a will, in the sense in which he means it, is an aggregate of tendencies to act in a firm and prompt and definite way upon all the principal emergencies of life. A tendency to act only becomes effectively ingrained in us in proportion to the uninterrupted frequency with which the actions actually occur, and the brain “grows” to their use. When a resolve or a fine glow of feeling is allowed to evaporate without bearing practical fruit it is worse than a chance lost; it works so as positively to hinder future resolutions and emotions from taking the normal path of discharge. There is no more contemptible type of human character than that of the nerveless sentimentalist and dreamer, who spends his life in a weltering sea of sensibility and emotion, but who never does a manly concrete deed.”

On testing oneself and self-denial:

“Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically ascetic or heroic in lettle unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may fund you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test. Asceticism of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house and goods. The tax does him on good at the time, and possibly may never bring him a return. But if the fire does come, his having paid it will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and when his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast.”

Well said Mr. James.

Reflections of a Humanistic Deflation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 04:58:00 +0000

"Liberty is illusory when behaviors take the same forms and seek to conform to the same images."- Tzvetan Todorov, The Imperfect Garden

“There is comfort in consensus; those in the majority gain confidence from their very number.” - Seth Klarman, Margin of Safety

The Renaissance humanistic movement, gave liberty to the principal that man himself is the cause of both his misfortunes and fortunes. Virtu was the name given to this principle that was the precursor to American self-reliance. Contra virtu was fortuna, or arbitrary fate; the whimsical earthly forces. Leon Battista Alberti, the classic Renaissance man, reasoned that virtu was synonymous with humanitas:

     "...a humane, prudent, wise and virtuous form of behavior, which, thoughtfully
      planned, can be adjusted by subtle intuition to fit into the play of all earthly forces..."

Leon Battista Alberti

Humanitas, or as we know it today humanities ultimately seeks to understand the human condition through the a historic, speculative, multicultural and self-detached look at modes and methods of societies. The importance of such understanding is the development of a maturity in reasoning, that allows us to self-direct our lives, and achieve the highest degree of self-autonomy through mutually evolving inter-dependence.

Such an understanding is not a secondary recreational charm. The basic understanding of civilized existence is fundamental to the use of science, to the policy of governments, to the trends in popular culture, and to the progressive collaboration of human cultures. Humanities gives us the answers and the questions that seek noble intentions, and helps us define what noble intentions consist of.

Most of us fight an internal battle between subjective longings and inflexible roots of inherited beliefs. The battle is one we must all have. The humanistic body of knowledge allows us to speculate, critique, and perhaps reform beliefs that no longer lead us to where and how we choose to live.

When in modern times our choices seem few...When the vast majority of thought goes either left or right into ancient buckets dogma...When we simply choose a team and follow the herd chanting and repeating the hand-me-down cheers of a group...their is reason for fear. Their is reason to believe that the humanities are needed more than ever, and that without them we will blindly lead ourselves into decadence.

Their is also reason for hope. Their is reason for hope, but a need for courage. Courage pollinates itself in many ways. The seeds of it can be laid at any moment. Only courage and its compatriot boldness can lead us towards pastures of green. They can lead us to personal fulfillment and collective progress.

The Twilight of Ideals

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 04:12:00 +0000

"...we cannot understand greatness by studying the average." - 'Soar With Your Strengths' Donald O. Clifton & Paula Nelson

“I sought to do my own thinking, confining it to only experientialy gained information, and with the products of my own thinking and intuition to articulate my own innate motivational integrity instead of trying to accommodate everyone else’s opinions, credos, educational theories, romances, and mores, as I had in my earlier life.” Buckminster Fuller (received forty-seven honorary degrees, held twenty-eight patents, was awaarded the Medal of Freedom, and was the author of 29 books

Ideals are the primordial seed of motivation. They are yearnings that impel action in humans. The proper judgment of an ideal is not whether it is reasonable or not, but whether it compels life-affirming action. Buckminster Fuller whose quote is above had the following ideal:

"...lastingly improve the physical protection and support of all human lives, at the same time removing undesirable restraints and improving individual initiatives of any and all humans aboard our planet Earth."

This was a written record in his "Chronofile," on ongoing journal he kept about his life and experiences since he was twelve. He made this entry at the age of 32; fresh out of a bankruptcy, which cost him monies that friends and family had lent him to start a business which went belly-up. In his own words he was a "throwaway"...having an "economically dependent wife and newborn child, starting without capital or any kind of wealth, cash savings, account monies, credit, or university degree" Hardly a 'realistic' ideal by someone in such a grave circumstance. Yet failure to accomplish his ideal still propelled him far enough to be named one of the most influential people of the 20th century. He even made it on to a U.S. stamp and had a molecule named after him (buckminsterfullerene or buckyball).

The beauty of ideals is not realism. The beauty of ideals is their power to compel you to work towards something when nobody is watching. It is establishment of a personal motivational integrity. Whence this fear of ideals as big as Bucky's?

The ideal of being the wealthiest man alive was hardly a realistic outlook for a novice book keeper, who left high school to find work in the up and coming Cleveland area in the mid 1800's. Yet from the very beginning John D. Rockefeller would say that he would one day be the richest man alive. He was by most estimates the richest man that ever lived.

Exceptions are no less ripe for study than common occurrences. It is customary to study the mean, or the common, or the deviation from such. We have a love affair with the Bell curve and feel that all should tend toward the norm in life.

One could argue that the progress of human civilization rests on the nurturing of 'unrealistic' life-affirming ideals. Begin with those personal ideals that, though they may be scoffed or laughed at by those less inclined to dream, are the very sustenance and faithful accomplices in your journey through life. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best "God will not have his work made manifest by cowards."

Social Spaces and Perfectly Increasing Returns

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 May 2011 22:25:00 +0000

" Information has perfectly increasing returns: spend the money to learn something once, and that knowledge can be reused at zero additional cost forever; double the number of uses and the cost per use halves." Philip Evans & Thomas Wurster, Blown to Bits

Sociology moves towards modeling a coherent structure of society. This means understanding interactions, establishments, relationships, and the overall inherent tendencies of societies to evolve. The fundamental unit of action is the individual. Although, true to categorical separation Psychology typically upends sociology when studying the behavior of the individual. They are not mutually exclusive however, and studying the individual only will lead to an incomplete picture of society, behavior, and the individual. After all, it is not the shiny carbon atom that gives a diamond its shine, but the structure and organization that creates the affect.

The next step in the evolution of the business of sociology involves the networking of social space. A networked social space captures discrete data bits. The wave of this phenomena is well underway. A smart networked social space knows who is there, why they are there, how long they have been there, and what behavior is likely to occur. For instance, when I go to the gym the "gym" does not "know" anything about me, other than I am there by the mere fact of me clicking in my key tag. What does the gym do with that information? Nothing! What could it do? Imagine....

A well networked health club would know that I am there, why I am there, how long I've been there, what i like to do, etc. This would allow a communication between me and the "gym" to precisely adapt and cater their offerings to my evolving needs. Every health club I know is a floating social space of data that floats away.

The first step is knowing that the data exists. Second, is to be able to conveniently capture this data. Cometh the smart phone to the rescue. The smart phone is missing link in evolving social space to capture meaningful data for productive communication between business and consumer.

The next businesses to realize and use these blue oceans of data will drive a competitive advantage. They will truly "know" their customers and be able to evolve offerings and meet needs almost intuitively. What more could a consumer and a business want?

In the context of sociology, this business model is an evolving thread of the human species. A next level communication in our inherent need to communicate. To be heard to be part of a group, or groups, that can lift each other up to new heights.

Natural Economic Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:20:00 +0000

"Never follow the crowd." - Bernard Baruch

If our behavior guides economics, and our behavior is guided by natural inherent tendencies, then, wouldn't it make sense to study nature and organisms to best underpin economic theory? "What Went Wrong With Economics," is the headline of a recent article in The Economist. What went wrong? Well part of it is the assumption that we have a complete knowledge. The second thing that went wrong is ignorance of behavior. The third thing that went wrong is lack of understanding history.

Complete knowledge doesn't exist in anything. Anyone that speaks with the pedantry of complete knowledge is severely blind to this reality. We don't know what we don't know. Every generation since written record has held assumptions as to having complete knowledge and understanding of many factors of existence. Science especially is a perfect example of how this assumption has always been wrong. And what is economics? At best an evolving science. At worst speculative guesswork.

The easiest way to see that bubbles in economy will probably always exist is to consider the most minute fundamental fractal of economy. In a capitalist system every movement in commerce stems from 'exploiting a profit.' Now, by exploiting i mean simply engaging in a transaction that will yield profit. That is all business is. Everyone one of us lives from this. Every act of profit will be replicated by almost any witness. This initiates a cascade of participants to engage in the same act. By this fact a widget that is being bought to hold for profit (say a stock) will ultimately be bought up to extremely high prices. Its a very natural process all individuals seek to profit. So the problem in economics is simply the fact vast number of economic participants can't self reflect and see this.

History chronicles tulip bubbles, stock bubbles, currency bubbles, gold bubbles, art bubbles, etc. Its almost like seasons. They are a reflection of human behavior. The fact that winter withers away much plant life is not bad; it is a natural cycle. It would seem foolish to us to wish to have a season of harvest perpetually. As it would seem foolish to wish to stay awake without having to rest or sleep. Economy accelerates and de-accelerates perpetually as well.

The lessons we learn is to harvest and build prudently, not exuberantly. To acknowledge length of cycles and bubbles. To save and to cultivate. To build value within ourselves and our businesses. To be adaptive. And, above all to learn from history, seek to understand, and be intellectually humble.

The Case for Boldness

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:24:00 +0000

"Let us seek, in the depths of our experience, the point where we feel ourselves most intimately within our own life." - Henri Bergson

Boldness is a semantically loaded word. It conveys a number of things. To the German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, boldness was said to have "genius, power, and magic." Boldness is specifically an action taken that is outside the typical realm of common experience, highly risky, and simultaneously highly profitable.

Boldness involves no inherent guarantee, only that of a new experience; which in and of itself is valuable. Boldness, however, I suggest is the one principle that has produced the highest reward in each of our lives.

In the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin he begins the story of his noble life with such a bold stroke:

"I sold my books to raise a little money, was taken on board the sloop privately, had a fair wind, and in three days found myself at New York, near three hundred miles from my home, at the age of seventeen, without the least recommendation or knowledge of any person in the place, and very little money in my pocket."

Peter Drucker, the 20th Century Management icon, boldly gave up a promising and lucrative career in finance to pursue his dream in management consulting, when such a practice was still in its infancy.

In a more personal commonplace scenario; through our surveying of our current life and personal history, we can probably locate an act of boldness that initiated a train of events to lead us to who we have become today.

To add to Goethe's description of boldness I would further suggest that boldness is absolute faith in oneself, an uncompromising desire for success, and that which breathes divinity into the present. Boldness expands our boundaries - whether mental or physical.

To boldly commit to acquiring a new competency opens a new dimension of experience. To boldly exert ourselves through rigorous exercise makes our bodies adapt to a higher level of function and performance. To boldly speak when shy, to boldly ask when afraid, to boldly do when unsure, and to boldly give when someone's in need...this is life - unapologetic and free.

Angel Armendariz

On The Passions

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 03:01:00 +0000

From Synchronicity - Carl Jung:

Albertus Magnus:

"I discovered an instructive account [of magic] in Avicenna's Liber sextus naturalium, which says that a certain power to alter things indwells in the human soul and subordinates the other things to her, particularly when she is swept into a great excess of love or hate or the like.

When therefore the soul of a man falls into a great excess of any passion, it can be proved by experiment that it [the excess] binds things [magically] and alters them in the way it wants, and for a long time I did not believe it, but after I had read the nigromantic books and others of the kind on signs and magic, I found that the emotionality of the human soul is the chief cause of all these things, whether because, on account of her great emotion, she alters her bodily substance and the other things towards which she strives, or because, on account of their dignity, the other, lower things are subject to her, or because the appropriate hour or astrological situation or another power coincides with so inordinate an emotion, and we [in consequence] believe that what this power does is then done by the soul....

Whoever would learn the secret of doing and undoing these things must know that everyone can influence everything magically if he falls into a great excess...and he must do it at that hour when the excess befalls him, and operate with the things which the soul prescribes. For the soul is then so desirous of the matter she would accomplish that of her own accord she seizes on the more significant and better astrological hour which also rules over the things suited to that matter....

Thus it is the soul who desires a thing more intensely, who makes things more effective and more like what comes forth....Such is the manner of production with everything the soul intensely desires. Everything she does with that aim in view possesses motive power and efficacy for what the soul desires."

The Sodden Routine Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:04:00 +0000

"An ideal...must be something intellectually conceived, something of which we are not unconscious....and it must carry with it that sort of outlook, uplift, and brightness that go with all intellectual facts. Secondly, there must be novelty in an ideal...Sodden routine is incompatible with ideality..." - William James

The pursuit of ideals is the central theme in every story. We pursue the ideal mate, ideal body, ideal family, ideal career goals, etc. The sustenance of every story, play, and endeavor is a certain ideal. The place we find ourselves versus where our ideal lies is the storyline of every living being.

C.G. Jung, the Swiss born psychologist once said, "Without psychic depth we can never be adequately related to the magnitude of our object." I believe that he referred to a relation that exists between our ideal and ourselves. This relation is ongoing until union with the ideal exists. It means that before our ideal becomes manifest we have to become greater than or equal to the task.

Our ideal exists in two points. First it is latent within us as a seed, potentially capable of fruition. Second it exists beyond us in the not yet manifest future. We further can conclude that an ideal is antagonistic to, as William James put it, "sodden routine." After all "sodden" or, a more common word, "habitual" routines actively stifle growth. And, by this fact we can figure that they will actively prevent us from creating or becoming our ideals.

The path to our ideals lie in novelty. Imagine a child habituated as an infant. An infant that doesn't become, an infant that stays within its own "sodden routine." The infant would be enslaved to babble cries and crawling. Novelty is embedded into our nature for a reason. That is to grow. Only by means of seeking new experience and new information is novelty alive within us. Only through this method can we be called alive and develop our ideals.

The embrace of sodden routine has all too many times led to a premature psychic death. Benjamin Franklin, once recalled, of a man who he had known of that died at the age of 25, but was not buried until the age of 75. Benjamin is referring here to dying by means of succumbing to a sodden routine that contradicts novelty.

Through novelty, the psychic depth that we develop, will breed the confidence within us to prepare and act on our ideals. Without the arduous pursuit of our ideals we simply become the spectators of our wishful thinking.

Angel Armendariz

Evolve Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:15:00 +0000

"Everything in life must be intentional, and the will constantly taught like a muscle." - Andre Gide

All life obeys a form of evolution. I use the term in the most liberal sense. To evolve involves a process of change towards fitness. Two broad points channel this process and act like feedback mechanisms. Extinction and creation are the two continuous end results of evolution. Although, there are no end results per se, we can agree that stable moments occur along this process of evolution.

Apparently, one of the best ways to achieve a "fit" species is to keep what works and eliminate what doesn't. This simple yet powerful principle is at work constantly in our own brains. Through a process called "parcellation" our neurons eliminate unused parts and further reinforce those neurons most in use, a process of consolidation. Basically it submits atrophied neurons to extinction and creates enhanced support for the active ones.

When we think about this process of extinction and creation most of us can see the benefits; and whether we like it or not it is the very process that has been built into us. It works. If it works so well, than does it not then follow that we should apply this principle to every aspect of our conscious lives?

When we apply this to a habit what happen? Well lets say we have a habit of unhealthy eating. Now if we submit this habit to extinction and create a new habit of healthy eating what is the result?...Exactly. Where we err sometimes, is that we consciously address what needs to happen, and what we want, but we are weak at elimination and extinction of that which holds us back. We like to carry old baggage around. Unsuccessful old baggage can include emotions, identities, thoughts, beliefs, actions, concepts...etc.

I decree we should be as bold as nature. Courage supposes that we have inherent power overcome limitations. Courage is executed by extinction and creation. By extinction of unsuccessful, inefficient processes, and creation of successful, and fit processes. We must continually scan ourselves for inefficient process and boldly cut binding ropes of inefficiency.

Is It A Downturn or Opportunity?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:46:00 +0000

"All our dreams come true - if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

The cyclical nature of things always seems to take us by surprise. Everything we learn from history to geology have cyclical natures. The rise of a civilization or empire is met by the fall to a worthier or better prepared new comer. We witness the rise of a business and its fall; the growth of an industry and its downturn. Farmers have harnessed the Tao of leveraging cycles. They are fully aware that reaping and sowing are cyclical, and any attempt to challenge this natural cycle is futile.

Our current state of financial affairs as a whole can be seen as a movement towards a downturn. We should perhaps borrow a word from agriculture and use the term "sowing" as opposed to downturn or recession. Sowing conveys a time of preparation, cultivation, of harnessing our capabilities and planting seeds that will later come to fruition.

Lao Tsu, who wrote the Tao Te Ching, promoted a philosophical method of embracing the flow of things, as opposed to battling the natural forces of life. We speak of embracing the flow, not becoming submissive, or complacent. The difference is in using what is given and maximizing the opportunity.

In our own private lives for example, many of us detest "loneliness." Those who embrace there situations however, call this "solitude," and maximize the moment by becoming more intimate with themselves, god, or refining their mental capacities.

Simply by re-naming, or re-framing our situations, we can transform lack into abundance, and failure into opportunity. Leaders must cultivate this. By doing so,
we work with the flow of nature so to speak. At the same time we become responsive, adaptable, and versatile. The moment is perfect to differentiate ourselves by asking questions of opportunity and their by sow the seeds of innovation.

Angel Armendariz

Imaginary Themes for Real Results

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:41:00 +0000

"Mentally rehearsing a new way that you might behave in the face of adversity activates the prefrontal cortex, and your imagined activities begin firing neurons and wiring them into brain patterns that can be activated whenever they're needed. Without attentive rehearsal, your brain will not mobilize in advance, and despite your best intentions you will act out old, counterproductive routines instead-or new counterproductive ones, fired not by calm effectiveness but by frustration, anger, and other emotions that can distract you from giving your best. When you prepare the prefrontal cortex to activate ahead of time, you will be better at calmly, effectively performing the right action." - Robert K. Cooper

Mental rehearsal, and visualization in general have a long history of use. During the pre-scientific period most visualization was tied to metaphysical, spiritual, and magical phenomenon. As far back as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which date back thousands of years before Christ various forms of visualization where practiced to enhance the development of consciousness.

Most recently visualization or mental rehearsal has made a leap into the realm of neuroscience. Modern technology allows us to observe neuronal function under varying circumstances. Although visualization and mental rehearsal have been in the daily regimens of people such as Einstein, Wolfgang Pauli, Carl G. Jung, and even Larry Bird, only recently has rigorous scientific study yielded detailed insight into the powerful effects of visualization.

The mere process of rehearsing movements such as exercises and performances has been shown do improve efficacy at near the levels of actual physical practice. Neuroscience shows that the very same neurons that partake in the actual physical movements are activated upon the mental rehearsal of the same movement. The question now becomes how can we use this information for self-development. Well, consider that any action that seems difficult, challenging, or warrants improvement can be dramatically improved through mental rehearsal. Here are some areas that can be improved by mentally rehearsing effective execution:

- public speaking
- sales pitches
- negotiations
- athletics
- interpersonal communication
- emotional management
- technical skills (engineering, programming, etc.)

This is simply a short list. Almost anything imaginable can improve dramatically by a consistent rehearsal. The key word here is consistent; like anything else consistency of purpose is the most essential ingredient for the utmost efficacy of any function.

Reality Check - Lets be Honest

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:35:00 +0000

"If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed." - Chinese Proverb

To get to where you want to go start where you're at. So where are you? Or, maybe a better question is what are you? The first step in any achievement at any level is to properly and accurately assess the current "state" of things. Individuals, businesses, and even governments are good at making generalized inaccurate assessments. Most of us can relate to this fact. It is very challenging to look at a part of us that holding us back, that is destroying our progress, or that is sabotaging our well-being. We like to use an elementary logic to justify or embellish areas of ourselves that we would like to change.

Businesses are similar to people in that regard. Many business managers and executives justify, excuse, or embellish results out of fear of exposing a weak point, or lack of efficacy in a certain department. Which leads us to the "choke-point" of the being honest theme. The fear of being exposed, and what it could mean.

There is a fear which overtakes some of us when we are forced to look at a limiting factor that could be in conflict with our identity. The interesting thing is that acknowledgment of a weakness or constraint does several wonderful things for us including the following:

- it allows us to search for precise solutions
- it conveys maturity to others (only capable and confident people will face a fear or limit and seek to overcome it)
- it opens opportunity to investigate how solving the problem/weakness will open doors of opportunity - thus indirectly feeding a compelling vision to see the solution through with optimism and expectation.

The danger of not properly assessing our current state are the following:

- we are thrown farther off track from our goals
- we become indecisive because of lack of accurate data
- we lack genuine confidence in our undertakings
- we lower our expectations, and stifle our most intimate desires

So how can we properly assess our state, and create a plan to fix what is wrong and strengthen what is right, and raise our vision? Several suggestions:

- What are your current results telling you? - results are accurate data, when properly interpreted.
- Feedback ( what do others tell me?) - seek input from others, both from your industry and outside of it to give the most compete info. possible.
- Actions (What actions do I habitually take? - actions are based on beliefs and give you insight as to what you really think of yourself and your business)
- Preparation (What am I preparing for? - complements beliefs: when something is wholeheartedly believed to occur in the near future, preparation happens.
- Comparison (How do I compare with others?) The best way to compare is not by guessing, but by probing, asking, and conversing with others to properly gauge our level of efficacy (we does this unconsciously anyway)- Even better is reading about others - biographies & autobiographies.

Fear not what might be exposed, but the consequences of not improving what should be exposed. The ultimate sign of maturity and competence is to observe with detachment. To allow your mind to analyze and execute a solution without being hemmed up by emotional flux.

Angel Armendariz

The Pleasures of Belief

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:25:00 +0000

"Men do not forego the pleasures of the moment to
say good-bye to all joy for evermore--no, this self-control is a
training, so that we may reap the fruits of a larger joy in the time
to come. A man will toil day and night to make himself an orator, yet
oratory is not the one aim of his existence: his hope is to influence
men by his eloquence and thus achieve some noble end." Xenophon, Cyropaedia

There exists a fundamental template that acts as a foundation for all action. As a business professional, knowing that their is a source, that when adjusted, changes the actions that are taken is of immense value. One of the variables of this template is what we call beliefs. Beliefs are not tangible things that we can hold, yet they have the ability to create life, to extinguish it; and to spur any action ever conceived. Beliefs are what tells us what is possible.

Most, if not all, businesses sell a vision of what is possible. They sell this vision to clients, employees, shareholders, communities, etc. If we connect the dots here we can see the correlation between beliefs and vision. What would happen if we don't believe in our vision? Would we be able to sell it? Well, not really. If beliefs tell us what is possible, and to sell we must believe the vision is possible, then businesses will not survive, much less thrive if belief is ignored. Frequently, what we call "unmotivated," "underachieving," or even "poor" employees are actually simply suffering from a lack of belief. Either of themselves, their company, their product/service, and usually a combination of some of these factors.

Beliefs are created by having experiences that tell us that something is possible. We need to experience a sense of certainty that if such and such is done, then x will be the result. If we have enough references that meet that criteria, then we effectively establish a belief. The majority of our beliefs are adopted from others, and built around our personal experiences.

With that in mind it becomes vital that we adopt beliefs from those individuals which we admire, or wish to model. It is also important to seek experiences which will help build and reinforce empowering ones. At the end of the day beliefs are under our control, and must be managed effectively to open the doors to the possibilities we seek to realize.

Interestingly enough we can read into someone's beliefs by their actions. We can tell if someone has a high self esteem or a low self esteem, simply by observing their actions. A person who believes that something grand is possible will forego immediate pleasures for future ones. Think about it. To say no to immediate pleasures requires a belief that the future rewards will outweigh the current offering. Those who don't believe they can have something better or do something better will try to get the quick fix.

Those who engage in discipline, even though to some it may seem like self-denial, are actually investing in future pleasure. These disciplined individuals have strong beliefs about what they want (vision) and have no doubt they will manifest, thus they more often than not produce the intended result. Management at all levels from self to business requires a continuous refinement and inspection of the beliefs structure to ensure that they are consciously driven to exceed expectations.

Angel Armendariz

How To Be Better Than Yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:03:00 +0000

"He only is a well-made man who has a good determination. And the end of culture is not to destroy this, God forbid! but to train away all impediment and mixture and leave nothing but pure power." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do you believe it's possible to be 1% better today than you were yesterday? Think about it. What would it mean to be 1% better? You might say sure, of course! Or you might believe its not possible. Suspend judgment for now, simply consider the possibility and what it would mean.

To be better by 1% is not a literal concept I employ here, but more of a practical theme. The essence of "being better" would mean that if I am at least 1% more effective today than I was yesterday, then the challenges I faced yesterday will seem easier today. For example, if yesterday I was flustered and overwhelmed by client demands and objections to my product or service, then today I will be less so. Essentially my task becomes easier because I have become greater. Compounded over a period of days, weeks, and months you can imagine how powerful this principle can be.

Additionally, to be 1% better would mean that you can now extend yourself and take on greater challenges or aim at loftier ambitions. Because, we are better today than yesterday we naturally will want to be challenged, and will have an affinity to take on greater projects. The effects of the 1% better creed would create a "steady state" (to borrow a term from biology) were we would teeter between be overly powerful at handling yesterdays task, and not yet fully competent at dealing with the increasing demands of our evolving goals. This 'growth tension' is the optimal path which professionals should seek to continually create value for themselves and their respective endeavors.

The 1% creed can and should become part of your daily due diligence. Some of the ways to guarantee investment into your 1% daily growth are as follows:

- improve your vocabulary
- improve the sound of your voice
- improve your ability to articulate what you think and feel
- focus on listening to how people say things, not just the content
- learn to read a new, previously ignored, non-verbal communication from people
- learn about properly managing a certain emotion
- learn 2 new questions that can help close a sale
- learn how to play a different interpersonal role
- make 1 new friend and learn something interesting about them
- learn to 1 new way to harmonize your body
- eat a healthy meal instead of a your usual non-healthy one
- do something that frightens you, but that you know is worth the effort
- give more of yourself to others
- learn 1 new thing about your profession
- learn 1 new thing about self-management...

This list can go on forever, but you get the point. Everyday you can even break it down to getting a 1% fix for your body, mind, and profession. Before retiring for the day ensure that the 1% marks are hit. The principle is so subtle, yet so powerful that it could ultimately be the biggest difference in success or failure. Think about the cost of not becoming better. If we don't become better, by default we become worse. In biology and science they call it entropy. A system that does not absorb new information will only lose information and decay into inert energy-less matter. What makes us different than a mere inanimate system is that we have a choice. The choices are 1) gather new information and grow; or 2) lose information and decay.

Angel Armendariz

The Powerful Influence of Velocity

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:53:00 +0000

"Speed...is not only a powerful influence on those on your side. Frederick the Great noted that an army that moves quickly has higher morale. Velocity creates a sense of vitality. Moving with speed means there is less time for you and your army to make mistakes." Robert Greene, 33 Strategies of War

There is something powerful about speed. It is valued at many different levels. Speed in and of itself gives a rush. Think about sports, cars, and even business. I find for instance, that when making business calls, going at an accelerated rate creates a sort of "flow." This flow was well documented in the book "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow is a transcendent property of execution. When one extends and challenges oneself for an extended duration a sense of well-being, union, and transcendence is experienced. It is as if we are partaking in our best execution, call it - 'spontaneous right action'.

To build our capacity to accelerate on call, preparation must be sought. The more well prepared we are in whatever activity we want to accelerate the easier and speedier we create this flow. If we are inadequately prepared for a task we wish to be fast in we will stumble and go slow. However, if we are well prepared by practice, training, and simulation; we will have a greater ability to use speed to our advantage.

One of the greatest military commanders of all time Fredrick The Great noted that speed was not only a strategy to win battle, but also helped boost morale of the soldiers. Speed has processional effects. It makes us feel good, it makes us perform good, and it makes us experience a result sooner. The paradox to becoming effective speedsters is the arduous underpinning of preparation. Preparation takes time. Preparation involves a large investment of time and rehearsal to simulate live action. The more we engage in time consuming preparation the more we will win come show time' and the faster we will be able to use speed as a leverage factor.

Succinctly we can say - slow down (prepare) to speed up!

Angel Armendariz

The Courtship of the Masses

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:01:00 +0000

"You can have brilliant idea, but if you can't get those ideas across, they don't do anybody any good." - Lee Iacocca

From the archives of psychological literature we further our understanding of human nature. Even though we know a tremendous amount about human behavior - how to change, how to influence, how to become; we seldom make complete use of such information. What's even more difficult is communicating the vast amount of knowledge we have of psychology to others for their practical use. This dilemma is the proverbial Gordian Knot that must be cut with effective communication.

Any idea, any information, and any solution for that matter is worthless unless properly communicated in an understandable format to our audience. Whether we're dealing with a client in business, or constituency as a politician, a teacher to a student, or a parent to a child; we must acknowledge and effectively deal with this problem. An effective communicator is first and foremost adaptable.

That is, he/she able to find common ground with whomever they communicate with. For example, the most effective way to build rapport and communicate with a child would not be to act professional and proper. The best way would be to play the games they play. The effective communicator can enter the child's world and play whatever a child plays.

From this example we can see that the limiting factor in being able to communicate effectively is one's ability to enter another's world. To learn the "reality" they inhabit, and to be curious and interested in learning more about it. Too often, our laziness forces us to try to impose our reality on others. This is by far the worst way to effectively communicate, and is a sign of a limited communicator.

By definition an effective communicator is versatile, and thus is supposed to be the most flexible in his/her ability to communicate. Legendary psychotherapists of modern times such as Fritz Perls, Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, Richard Bandler, John Grinder, and Anthony Robbins all share this flexibility in common. A common definition associated with "pathological" individuals is the inability to see outside their own reality. In essence, the extreme form of this inability to see other people's maps of reality is thought of as pathological. In fact, Timothy Leary's model of Interpersonal Dynamics is based on such a principle, and has been used widely as a psychometric.

A recent sales book I read dismissed the idea of trying to find commonality and to enter into the world of the buyer. Though it might work effectively for some, that does not mean it is the most effective. And based on boatloads of research from business schools, psychology departments, and optimal sales forces, the consensus stand on the value of increasing adaptability and using it to enter the world of our audience. I caution, however, that to enter does not mean to mislead, or to become a copycat. It means to surrender your rigid views for moments in time to expand your awareness of others, and thus be able to understand and provide value to those you wish to engage with. Ultimately the end result will be the ability to effectively sell your product, service, idea, reform, or what have you.

Angel Armendariz

What is a System of Profound Knowledge?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:48:00 +0000

"The first step is transformation of the individual. This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from understanding of the system of profound knowledge. The individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people." - W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming was an iconic figure in 20th century business management. I figurehead whom the Japanese regard as the symbol their industrial rebirth, and economic worldwide success. Deming advocated what he termed "A system of profound knowledge." His system of profound knowledge was broken down to the following 4 principles:

1) Appreciation of a System
2) Knowledge of variation
3) Theory of Knowledge
4) Knowledge of Psychology

Deming observed that an organization that is governed through a system of profound knowledge, purposefully and consistently, will thrive off of the continual improvement that is nurtured through such a system. He believed that an organization must begin with each individual and in a sense allow them to see their meaningful impact on the development of the whole organization. The opposite of which would be what most of us know as "compartmentalization" - that is, where we only see and know what we must do, and know nothing else of how we interrelate with the whole of the enterprise.

Deming insisted that employees where to a large extent constrained by the system they worked in. Management's role as such, must revolve around maximizing the development of the system, and the proper role of each employee for the proper functioning of the system. And, that each employee possessed a unique endowment that must be understood by management to properly engage the individual from his area of strength.

The thorough understanding of the intricacies of systems, control processes, and meaningful variables allowed Deming to contribute his theories not only to businesses, but also as a template for education and government reform.

One Deming's most famous dictum is that of "continuous improvement" or kaizen in Japanese. He advocated a purposeful consistency based on continuous improvement. The reasoning involved not only enhanced capacity and innovation, but accordingly costs would ultimately lower as a side-effect of a focus on quality and continuous improvement.

A debt of gratitude to an individual who took profound knowledge to a new level.

Angel Armendariz

Tuning Your Mind State For Ultra Communication

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:17:00 +0000

"Every enhancement of life enhances man's power of communication, as well as his power of understanding."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, Will To Power

Choose the most effective states of mind, as you awaken, as you go about your day, as you face challenges, as you go to bed. Your state of mind will decide what opportunities you seize. It will decide how resourceful you are and it will allow you to spot meaningful coincidences.

By having a list of questions to ask you actively choose to create the most powerful mind states to accomplish your moment-to-moment intentions. Your state of mind can be thought of as your intensity of mood plus your expectation or outlook. As you rehearse your list of questions on a daily basis, they will soon enough become habitual. After all we continually ask ourselves questions throughout the day that create a mood for us. The problem, is that we usually ask the same questions, and repeat the same moods, or worse, we ask dis-empowering questions that prevent effective action.

Choose questions that will allow you to experience the successes you've had
and what you're most happy about currently. You can ask, "What am I most proud about right now?", or "What possibility most excites me right now?" Once you have a powerful mind state you become open to bountiful possibilities.

An interesting metaphor to consider is a communication device, like a radio or cell phone. A communication device is a "receiver" and "transmitter." However, to properly "receive" or "transmit" the intended message the device needs to be properly tuned. That is, noise has to be eliminated, and the channels need to be open and calibrated. We naturally wish to communicate or transmit ourselves to others congruently. We also wish to be able to "receive" or understand the messages that are being sent to us.

The only way we can tune ourselves, is by first calibrating our mind state to a positive one. One that is receptive to receiving, and one that is capable of transmitting effective and efficient signals. A state of mind that expects success, that feels free, that extends love, that anticipates a win, is an example of a powerful empowering mind state. If our mind state is negative, then effective transmission of our signals is cut off, regardless of how much we desire to communicate the message. Additionally, if our mind state is negative, we become rigid and incapable of receiving a message, regardless of how beneficial or important it might have been for us. Our specific dependence on this continual communication implores us to master our mind state and habituate them to properly enhance the grandeur of our lives.

Angel Armendariz

Playing The Role - a Lesson from a French Emperor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:04:00 +0000

The effective use of your body is extremely extensive. Actors for instance learn the necessity of adjusting their bodies to convey or communicate roles and status. For instance wide stance with an elevated forward chin enhances status. It tells the audience that you're somebody. On the flip side by adjusting your feet to be pigeon-toed, keeping your head tilted down slightly, and collapsing your chest signifies lowered status.

These are two extreme forms of using your body to convey status, but the discrete use of such subtleties allows you to adjust your role accordingly. For instance if you are meeting with a high powered attorney to discuss tempered litigation, and you want to show dominance and status, then you can act in a more dominant matter by allowing your chin to be forward, head high and standing tall. Additionally you can take up more physical space; this is a signifier of status and importance, typically used in acting scenes to make the actor appear larger than himself.

If on the other hand, you want to play a submissive role strategically, then you can consciously close in your space a little. You can narrow your space and bring in your shoulders slightly. A leveled or slightly below level chin will suffice to show submissiveness. Acting submissively does not mean you are, or that you will allow yourself to be steamrolled. It is used as a strategy to engage the other party on their own terms, giving you the ability to position yourself in a more subtle fashion. Additionally, playing a slightly submissive or cooperative role is one of the best ways to disarm whomever you are dealing with.

Napoleon, the infamous French emperor, used such a strategy against the Austrian and Russian armies in the battle of Austerlitz. After having received intelligence that Napoleon appeared confused, and had assumed a defensive position, the Austrain/Russian forces descended for the kill. Napoleon had staged a perfect submissive role, and by making the enemies believe he was submitting, he made them fall right into his trap. The outcome was one of Napoleon's most impressive victories.

Keeping the Grand Strategy in mind, that is, by keeping the end in mind; you can choose the appropriate strategy to gain advance towards your preferred outcome.
(excerpt from upcoming book on Communication)

Angel Armendariz

The Result of Creating Patterns of Success

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:23:00 +0000

Confidence - the result of creating patterns of success over time.

Confidence is the state of mind necessary for effective action, courage, and execution. The degree of confidence someone has is directly proportional to the sum of successes one has had. The more successes the more confidence. Recency also plays a role; if we've had great success recently our immediate confidence skews high. If we've had recent failures our confidence skews low. Though we tend to let personal experiences and random circumstances decide our confidence, we must realize that confidence is a variable under our direct control.

I've seen first hand what the damage in personal confidence can do to individuals. I've witnessed top sales performers flipped into vulnerable incompetents because of the inability to properly refine their confidence. In relationships loss of confidence tends to lead us backwards and we may seek to rekindle half-hearted romances that were never really what we wanted. Confidence is a very real and very powerful quality that must be managed and developed as much as other crucial faculties for personal, business, and social efficacy.

There is a huge tool at our disposal that we rarely make use of. That tool is our minds. More accurately, our ability to experience a scenario in our minds. Countless studies, and anecdotal reports from high performers, has confirmed that actively experiencing a success in our minds is almost equivalent to actually having the experience. Neurological studies have confirmed that through active imagination the same areas of the brain become active that become active during a real experience.

The thing to realize is that we all have different ways of visualizing. Some of us "feel" experiences. Others "hear" or "see" experience. Usually it's a mixture of all three. To properly calibrate your most effective form of visualizing you can simply recall, as vividly as possible, a time when you experienced supreme confidence. Analyze the way your recall this experience, and re-experience it in detail. Use that template to craft new experiences of success in your mind.

Napoleon Bonaparte for example, visualized his goals in intense details. In the beginning of the campaign he could see its last battle clearly in his mind. He would point out the exact spot it would end, his predictions proved uncannily correct on an ongoing basis.

Create the patterns of success in your mind, repeat it, and perfect it in your mind as well as in reality.

Angel Armendariz

Beyond Good and Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:20:00 +0000

Beyond Good and Bad
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Experience is utility. Utility is the value of a thing to be used for certain ends - basically its usefulness. For example a set of tools are 'utilized' to perform certain mechanical tasks. Experience in and of itself has utility. What I mean by this is that every experience serves as a tool for use to expand our possibilities.

Often, we filter our experiences through a lens that tags circumstances and situations with a 'bad' label or 'good' label. This way of thinking is ancient. Ancient in the sense that it is obsolete and dangerous. To truly make utility out of experience we must create new filters through which we can 'see' reality through a pragmatic lens.

We can see value and utility in all experiences by asking questions that guide our awareness and focus. For example, instead of presupposing a situation is good or bad, you can ask "how is this situation useful.' Also, we can ask 'what opportunities does this situation present?'

By stopping yourself short of analyzing a situation as good or bad, it gives you a chance to apply a new filter and gradually acquire a habit that will increase your quality of life.

- Angel Armendariz

The Element That Hinders Accomplishment

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:53:00 +0000

The term 'reverse salient' is a term used in warfare that refers to a constraint or limiting process of an advancing military force. It refers to a point of weakness in an attack; or a lagging element that threatens a military force from accomplishing its mission. Inevitably, having components of any advancing system fall behind foreshadows impending doom.

A reverse salient can be broadened to encompass any system that evolves towards a goal. That is, personal growth, business development, even relationship growth. Without conscious awareness of reverse salients among these domains we risk sabotaging the whole enterprise.

A common reverse salient among individuals and groups is adaptability. Many groups and individuals become good at antiquated methods and procedures. Having become experts at old methods these groups and individuals struggle to "see" a different or better way of achieving their specified outcomes. When adaptability isn't actively nurtured, then it becomes a weak point. Being, a weak point, this reverse salient then becomes a blind spot that can leave the group or individual exposed to danger.

Almost every sales organization I have ever encountered is weak at this point. They are experts at old models that are only half-heartedly applied. Curiously enough, many organizations try to teach or coach best practices, but fail to understand that the message must be bought into and effectively sold to the sales force for the knowledge to become actionable.

To become aware and either cut or fix a reverse salient we must first become aware. To do this we must ask, what part of the process is hindering advancement of this particular enterprise? How would bringing this part of the system up to speed effect the results we are seeking? What can I do to strengthen this reverse salient and make it a strength.

Another insight into the use of the reverse salient concept has to do with zooming in. Most of us work from a strength position. That is we tend to work in things we are strong at. Being strong or effective in a profession for example would lead us to believe that a reverse salient isn't present. However, truthfully, a reverse salient is always present. To leverage this concept we need to zoom in to our specific profession. By doing so we can ask the questions previously mentioned, and inevitably surface a few reverse salients that could potentially lead to accelerated results, enhanced competence and effectiveness, if properly brought up to speed.

In a nutshell, reverse salients are sources of potential growth, and acceleration within systems that are made to advance and evolve.

- Angel Armendariz

Giving Away Today for Yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:15:00 +0000

What are the most pressing and urgent issues on your plate today? Are they perhaps similar to what they were yesterday? I think we can agree that we all have pressing issues that are so internal, that they seem to silently gnaw at our insides. So I ask this question now "How are you going to handle today's problems with yesterday's tools?"

It's interesting how even though we are given a new day full of potential, most of us sell it for yesterday's sentiments and yesterday's troubles. What is the cost of playing footsie with yesterday's issues for the next five years? Assessing a cost to our actions can many times clarify situations and expand our awareness.

To overcome yesterday's issues and pressing matters we must work on ourselves. More accurately, we must grow and be bigger than we were yesterday. Working on the same problem with the same tools in the same manner is futile. But, as Jean Gebser once said:

"All work, genuine work which we must achieve, is that which is most difficult and painful: the work on ourselves."

Work on oneself does not happen by accident, it must be methodically planned for, it doesn't act on you, you must act on it.

Overcoming our pressing issues requires work on some of the following:

- emotional intelligence (self awareness, self discipline, etc.)
- cognitive intelligence (mental know how, etc.)
- social intelligence (interpersonal effectiveness, building relationships, etc.)
- physiological intelligence (health, fitness, etc.)
- spiritual intelligence (faith, love, etc.)

If we fail to plan on developing ourselves through each of these dimensions, we will sacrifice our tomorrows for our yesterdays. Our freedoms to build a better future will be forsaken for yesterday's bittersweet sentiments.

- Angel Armendariz

Perfectly Increasing Returns and The Time Killer Cult

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Perfectly Increasing Returns and The Time Killer Cult
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Investing can be a tricky game. After all its partially gambling on anticipated outcomes. What if you knew with almost 100% certainty what the result of an investment would yield? What if you could invest in perfectly increasing returns?
You can! What is the most powerful non-renewable resource you have?...Time!

Time is the most valuable, precious, non-renewable resource available to us. It is continually being spent by each of us in some form. The big question is whether your time is being invested or wasted.

How can we invest our time? Naturally, an investment supposes that there will be a return on the investment (ROI). So ask yourself this - What are the returns I'm receiving on my daily investments of time? For some, they might invest in harnessing a skill necessary to evolve professionally. Still, others might invest in development of their children.

Here's were time management deserves its spoils. Time management is the equivalent to your financial advisor in investing. Exact, purposeful allocation of your time is necessary for accurate results, according to what we wish to have as our life's ROI. Brian Tracy, executive consultant, says for instance that time management is not an auxillary in our life, but should be the very structure about which we build our days from.

One of the biggest enemies of skillful time investing are time killers. Time killers are those "entities" that didn't receive the memo that time is running out. These time killers seek to waste not only their time, but voraciously eat up other people's time. The only way to stop these killers is using a fancy two letter word that can be hard to say - NO.

The most successful individuals in all avenues of life invest their time wisely, they know the value of these investments, and thus they easily decline or say no to time killers. Tiger Woods for example, after one of his most impressive victories of his career said no to celebrating, and to the astonishment of most people was eagerly back in the gym at 5am the very next morning. That's skillful time investing at its best.

- Angel Armendariz