The Strangest Secret

I’d like you tell you about the strangest secret in the world. Some years ago, the late Nobel prize-winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer was being interviewed in London and the reporter asked him, “Doctor, what’s wrong with men today?” The great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, “Men simply don’t think.”

It’s about this that I want to talk with you. We live today in a golden age. This is an era that that man has looked forward, dreamed of and worked toward for thousands of years. But since it’s here, we pretty well take it for granted. We in America are particularly fortunate to live in the richest land that ever existed on the face of the earth, a land of abundant opportunity for everyone. But, do you know what happens?

Let’s take 100 men who start even at the age of 25. Do you have any idea what will happen to those men by the time they are 65? These 100 men who all start even at the age of 25 believe they’re going to be successful. If you asked any one of these men if he wanted to be a success, he’d tell you that he did, and you’d notice that he was eager toward life; that there was a certain sparkle to his eye, an erectness to his carriage, and life seemed like a pretty interesting adventure to him. But by the time they’re 65, one will be rich. Four will be financially independent, five will still be working, 54 will be broke.

Now, think a moment. Out of the 100, only five make the grade. Why do so many fail? What has happened to the sparkle that was there when they were 25? What’s become of the dreams, the hopes, the plans? And why is there such a large disparity between what these men intended to do, and what they actually accomplished?

When we say about 5% achieve success, we have to define success. And here’s the definition I’ve ever been able to find: Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. If a man is working toward a pre-determined goal and knows where he’s going, that man is a success. If he’s not doing that, he’s a failure. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.

Rolo May, the distinguished psychiatrist wrote a wonderful book called “Man’s Search for Himself.” In this book, he shows the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice. It is conformity.

And there you have the trouble today. It’s conformity – people acting like everyone else without knowing why, without knowing where they’re going.

Think of it. In America right now, there are over 18 million people 65 years of age and older, and most of them are broke. They’re dependent on someone else for life’s necessities.

We learn to read by the time we’re seven. We learn to make a living by the time we’re 25. Usually, by that time, now that we’re making a living we’re supporting a family. And yet, by the time we’re 65, we haven’t learned how to become financially independent in the richest land that has ever been known.

Why? We conform. The trouble is that we’re acting like the wrong percentage group – the 95 who don’t succeed.

Why do these people conform? Well, they really don’t know. These people believed that their lives are shaped by circumstances, by things that happen to them by exterior forces, they’re outer-directed people. They are outer-directed people.

A survey was made one time that covered a lot of men, working men, and these men were asked, “Why do you work?” “Why do you get up in the morning?” 19 out of 20 had no idea.

If you ask them they will say, “Well, everyone goes to work in the morning,” and that’s the reason they do it – because everyone else is doing it.

Now, let’s get back to our definition of success. Who succeeds?

The only person who succeeds is the person who is progressively realizing a worthy ideal. It is the person who says, “I am going to become this,” and then begins to work towards that goal.

I’ll tell you who the successful people are. A success is the school teacher who is teaching school because that’s what he or she wants to do. A success is the woman who is a wife and mother because she wanted to become a wife and mother and is doing a good job of it. A success is the man who runs the corner gas station because that was his dream. That’s what he wanted to do.

A success is the successful salesman who wants to become a top-notch salesman and grow and build with in his organization. A success is anyone who is doing deliberately a pre-determined job because that’s what he decided to do deliberately. But only 1 out of 20 does that.

That’s why today there isn’t really any competition unless we make it four ourselves. Instead of competing, all we have to do is create. For 20 years, I looked for the key which would determine what would happen to a human being.

Was there a key, I wanted to know, which would make the future a promise that we could foretell to a large extent. Was there a key that would guarantee a person’s becoming successful if he only knew about it and knew how to use it?

Well, there is such a key. And I found it.

Have you ever wondered why so many men work so hard and honestly without ever achieving anything in particular, and others don’t seem to work hard and yet seem to get everything? They seem to have a magic touch.

You’ve heard them say that about someone. “Everything he touches turns to gold.” Have you ever noticed that a man who becomes successful tends to continue to become successful?

On the other hand, have you noticed how a man who’s a failure tends to continue to fail? Well, it’s because of goals. Some of us have goals; some don’t. People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going. It’s that simple.

Think of a ship leaving a harbor and think of it with a complete voyage mapped out and planned. The captain and crew know exactly where it’s going and how long it will take. It has a definite goal. 9,999 times out of 10,000 it will get to where it started out to get.
Now let’s take another ship, just like the first, only let’s not put a crew on it, or a captain at the helm. Let’s give it no aiming point, no goal, and no destination. We just start the engines and let it go.

I think you’ll agree with me that if it gets out of the harbor at all, it will either sink or wind up on some deserted beach, a derelict. It can’t go any place because it has no destination and no guidance.

It’s the same with a human being. Take the salesman for example. There is no other person in the world today with the future of a good salesman. Selling is the world’s highest paid profession, if we’re good at it and if we know where we’re going.

Every company needs top-notch salesmen, and they reward those men. The sky is the limit for them. But how many can you find?
Someone once said the human race is fixed. Not to prevent the strong from winning, but to prevent the weak from losing.

The American economy today can be likened to a convoy in time of war. The entire economy is slowed down to protect its weakest link, just as the convoy had to go at the speed that will permit its slowest vessel to remain in formation.

That’s why it’s so easy to make a living today. It takes no particular brains or talent to make a living and support a family today. We have a plateau on so-called security, if that’s what person is looking for.  But we do have to decide how high above this plateau we want to aim.

Now let’s get back to the Strangest Secret in the World, the story I wanted to tell you today.

Why do men with goals succeed in life, and men without them fail? Well, let me tell you something which, if you really understand it, will alter your life immediately. If you understand completely what I’m going to tell you from this moment on, your life will never be the same again.

You will suddenly find that good luck just seems to be attracted to you, the things you want just seem to fall in line, and from now on you won’t have the problems, the worries, the gnawing lump of anxiety that perhaps you’ve experienced before. Doubt and fear will now be things of the past.

Throughout history, the great wise men and teachers, philosophers, and prophets have disagreed with one another on many different things. It’s only on this one point that they are in complete and unanimous agreement.

Listen to what Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman Emperor said: “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.”

Disraeli said this: “Everything comes if a man will only wait. I’ve brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence for its fulfillment.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson said this: “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”

William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”
And he also said, “We need only in cold blood act as if the thing in question were real, and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real. It will become so knit with habit and emotion that our interests in it will be those which characterize belief.”

He also said, “If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly obtain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. If you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them exclusively, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.”

In the Bible you will read in Mark 9-23: “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

My old friend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale put it this way: “This is one of the greatest laws in the universe. Fervently do I wish I had discovered it as a very young man. It dawned upon me much later in life, and I found it to be the greatest discovery, if not my greatest discovery, outside my relationship to God. The great law briefly and simply stated is if you think in negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results.”

“That is the simple fact,” he went on to say, “Which is of the basis of an astonishing law of prosperity and success. In three words: Believe and Succeed.”

William Shakespeare put it this way: “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”
George Bernard Shaw said: “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? And every person who discovered this, for a while, believed that they were the first to work it out. We become what we think about.

It stands to reason that a person who is thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that’s what he’s thinking about. And we become what we think about.

Conversely, the man who has no goal, who doesn’t know where they are going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety, fear, and worry becomes what they think about. His life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety, and worry. And if he thinks about nothing, he becomes nothing.

Now how does it work? Why do we become what we think about?

Well, I’ll tell you how it works as far as we know. To do this, I want to talk about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land and it’s good, fertile land. Now, the land gives the farmer a choice. He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision.

Remember, we’re comparing the human mind with the land because, the mind, like the land, doesn’t care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn’t care what you plant.

Now let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand – one a seed of corn; the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds; one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters, and takes care of the land.
What will happen? Invariably, the land will return what’s planted. As it’s written in the Bible, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Remember, the land doesn’t care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants – one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn’t care what we plant – success, failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But what we plant, it must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant. So you may say, if that is true, why don’t people use their minds more?

Well, I think they’ve figured out an answer to that one too. Our mind comes as standard equipment at birth. It’s free. And things that are given to us for nothing, we place little value on. Things that we pay money for, we value.

The paradox is that exactly the reverse is true. Everything that’s really worthwhile in life came to us free: our minds, our souls, our bodies, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our intelligence, our love of family and children and friends and country. All these priceless possessions are free.

But the things that cost us money are actually very cheap and can be replaced at any time. A good man can be completely wiped out and make another fortune. He can do that several times. Even if our home burns down, we can rebuild it. But the things we got for nothing, we can never replace.

The human mind is not used because we take it for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt. It can do any kind of job we assign to it, but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big important ones. Universities have proved that most of us are operating on about ten percent or less of our abilities.

So decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind. It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make in your entire life.
What is it you want? Do you want to be an outstanding salesman, a better worker at your particular job?

Do you want to go places in your company, in your community? Do you want to get rich?

All you have got to do is plant that seed in your mind, care for it, work steadily towards your goal, and it will become a reality. It not only will, there’s no way that it cannot.

You see, that’s a law, like the laws of Sir Isaac Newton, the laws of gravity. If you get on top of a building and jump off, you’ll always go down. You’ll never go up.

And it’s the same with all the other laws of nature. They always work. They’re inflexible.

Think about your goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you have reached your goal.

Ours has been called a Phenobarbitol Age, the age of ulcers and nervous breakdowns and tranquilizers. At a time when medical research has raised us to a new plateau of good health and longevity, far too many of us worry ourselves into an early grave trying to cope with things in our own little personal ways, without learning a few great laws that will take care of everything for us.

These things we bring on ourselves through our habitual way of thinking. Every one of us is the sum total of our own thoughts. He is where he is because that’s exactly where we really want or feel we deserve to be, whether we’ll admit that or not.

Each of us must live off the fruit of his thoughts in the future, because what you think today and tomorrow, next month and next year, will mold your life and determine your future. You’re guided by your mind.

I remember one time I was driving through eastern Arizona and I saw one of those giant earth-moving machines roaring along the road at about 35 miles an hour with what looked like 30 tons of dirt in it – a tremendous, incredible machine – and there was a little man perched way up on top with the wheel in his hands, guiding it.

As I drove along, I was struck by the similarity of that machine with the human mind. Just suppose you are sitting at the controls of such a vast source of energy. Are you going to sit back and fold your arms and let it run itself into a ditch or are you going to keep both hands firmly on the wheel and control and direct this power to a specific, worthwhile purpose?

It’s up to you. You’re in the driver’s seat.

You see, the very law that gives us success is a two-edged sword. We must control our thinking. The same rule that can lead a man to a life of success, wealth, happiness, and all the things they ever dreamed of for themselves and his family, that very same law can lead them into the gutter. It’s all in how he uses it – for good or for bad.

This is The Strangest Secret in the world. Why do I say it’s strange, and why do I call it a secret?

Actually, it isn’t a secret at all. It was first promulgated by some of the earliest wise men, and it appears again and again throughout the Bible. But very few people have learned it or understand it. That’s why it’s strange, and why for some equally strange reason it virtually remains a secret.

I believe you could go out and walk down the main street of your town and ask one person after another what the secret of success is and you probably wouldn’t run into one person in a month that could tell you.

This information is enormously valuable to us if we really understand it and apply it. It’s valuable to us not only for our own lives, but the lives of those around us, our families, employees, associates, and friends.

Life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be a bore. A man should work fully, be alive. He should be glad to get out of bed in the morning. He should be doing a job he likes to do because he does it well.

One time I heard Grove Patterson, the great late editor-in-chief of the Toledo Daily Blade make a speech and as he concluded his speech he said something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “My years in the newspaper business have convinced me of several things. Among them, that people are basically good, and that we came from someplace and we are going someplace. So we should make our time here an exciting adventure. The architect of the universe didn’t build a stairway leading nowhere. The greatest teacher of all, the carpenter from the Plains of Galilee of all gave us the secret time and time again: As ye believe, so shall it be done – unto you.”

By V. C. Jordan

Why do some people move from one level of success to the next in life while others seem to be stuck in the same place they were five years ago?

Successful people have tapped into a law that not many are either aware of or are willing to apply to their lives.

It is the Law of Suggestion, and when used correctly and consistently, it has the power to turn your life around on a dime.

Henry Ford said, ‘If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you are right!” Jesus, Himself said, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”.

Who you are today and the level of failure or success you have achieved is in direct proportion to who you think you are and what you think you can achieve. You may be stuck right now; stuck in the same old job you hate, stuck in the bitterness of another’s betrayal to you, stuck in a body that is 50 pounds overweight; I don’t care how stuck you are and for how long you have been stuck, you can walk out of it in the amount of time it takes you to think your next thought. Yes, it’s the truth! There is a giant of success within you just waiting to be aroused and awakened by the power of your own suggestion!

Someone once asked this question, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. You can walk out of your failure in any and every area of your life beginning with your very next thought. You must take captive the stinkin’ thinkin’ that has been allowed to run unchallenged in your mind. Negativity, self-doubt, procrastination, the lie that tells you, “This is the hand life dealt you and there is really nothing you can do about it, the lie that there are successful people, failures and mediocre people and they are born that way”; Hogwash! You are equipped to be anyone and anything you choose to be! The only difference between the successful and the failure is this, successful people engage themselves in positive self-talk and positive affirmations (both consciously and sub-consciously) daily. They are willing to fight for what they want to be and achieve, to sacrifice the momentary pleasure to live the enduring life they envision for themselves.

Are you ready to walk out of the muck and mire of defeat and failure and into the life you have always dreamed of? Then do it! Do it right now! It all begins with your very next thought. Refuse to think like a failure, replace every negative lie with a positive affirmation and remember this…”It’s not what you do, it’s what you keep on doing!” It takes 21 days to form any habit in your life, so be ready to fight the good fight of faith against negativity and before you know it, you will have formed a habit that will begin to direct your sub-conscience thoughts step by step right into the life you’ve always wished for but didn’t know you could live. It’s sort of like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, Glenda, told her, “You’ve always had the power to be where you wanted to be”, Dorothy says, “Why didn’t anyone tell me it was as simple as clicking my heels three times and SAYING THE RIGHT WORDS?” Because you wouldn’t have believed it before now!

The power of the spoken word and the spoken thought may seem too simple to be the answer to your getting un-stuck in life, but sometimes people stumble over the answer only because it seems too simple. We want a magic pill or some kind of epiphany but I’m telling you, at the end of the yellow brick road, you will discover you had the power within you all along!

If this article has encouraged you in some way, please leave me a quick comment. Thanks in advance! Vickie Jordan

I am Vickie Jordan. Author of the soon to be released fantasy novel, The Chronicles of Cambrlon. I am a wife, and mother of 2 beautiful daughters. I love writing and reading what others have to say. I am an avid reader, ever learning and love sharing what I learn with others.

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By Staci Gauny

By adding a Facebook FBML page(s) into your Fan Page, you are able to have your own website page(s) right in Facebook. This is actually quite a simple process. This Facebook FBML tutorial will walk you through the process step by step.

1. You will need to log onto your profile in Facebook, and then go to your Account tab. Under your Account tab, click on Manage Pages.
2. Under your Fan Page image or logo, click on Edit Page.
3. By scrolling down, you should see the Static FBML application. You will find it under More Applications. Note: If you do not see it right away, you can search by clicking Browse More.
4. Next you will want to click Add to My Page. You will find this in the left-hand corner, up at the top, on the Static FBML page.
5. A box will come up. Go ahead and add the Static FBML tab. You do this by simply clicking Add to Page.
6. Now we go ahead and go back to your Fan Page (just like in Step 2) and start by clicking on the Edit Page again. Now under your Applications, you will see your FBML page. Click on Edit.
7. In the Box Title area, enter the title you want to appear in your tab. Paste any HTML code in the FBML Box. Now click Save Changes. Note: If you need HTML code, you can make a page in your WordPress blog. Then while in your editor, hit the HTML tab and copy the code to put into your Facebook FBML page. You can use the raw HTML code if you get your optin box HTML code from your autoresponder.
8. Once more, as in Step 2, go to your Fan Page and click on Edit Page. Now scroll down until you see Wall Settings. Click Edit.
9. Now we will change the Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else via the drop-down menu. Your FBML tab that you named should be in there. Once you choose your Facebook FBML tab, new visitors will land there when coming to your Fan Page.

For images to walk you through this FBML Tutorial head over to my blog. While you are there you can also get your free gift, your WordPress Blogging Blueprint course, filled with over 21 tutorial videos to walk you step by step through how to make a blog.

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By Maureen Stewart

They may be absorbed in their own little world of toys and playmates right now but years from now, as they brush with maturity, your kids are going to be interested in the life you have led. They will want to know how your upbringing and the stories therein compare to theirs. They will want a closer look at the real you. As they discover themselves and their abilities they will begin to look closer to home for the answers. These are some of the main questions you are likely to be asked.

1. Where were you born? The US is a nation of diverse cultures and peoples from all over the world. Your kids are going to want to know where their roots lie. Are they part Irish, part German? It’s interesting to know where you came from and if you still have family there. It gives your kids a sense of identity and the information needed to start researching their family tree.

2. What were you like as a kid? Your kids want to look into the window of your childhood. They want to see how your childhood compares to theirs. By discovering how you were as a child, teenager and young adult they can get a better understanding of who you are today and perhaps who they are.

3. Where did you live growing up? They will want to know where you lived and how you lived. Were you born in the US or did you come from another country as an immigrant? Share with them the details of your childhood home, the neighborhood, the room you had as a child and what your backyard was like. It’s sure to be quite different to what they have been used to.

4. What were your parents like? Where did your parents take you and how was your relationship with them? What they know about your parents, so far, has been dictated by the roles they have i.e. Grandma or Grandpa. Let them see a different side to their grandparents through your stories of your life with them.

5. Did you go on many dates? Not only will they get a sense of how strict your parents were with you concerning dating but it will give them an idea of how it was done when you were younger. Cultural and social differences can be quite intriguing from generation to generation.

6. What were your hobbies/passions/pastimes? Depending on where you lived growing up your hobbies as a youngster may be wildly different to what your kids do today. You might even spark their interest in trying something new to them perhaps something you were good at as a youngster.

7. Where and how did you meet my dad? What your kids really want to hear is a fairytale love story and if this fits your experience then all the better. For most of us, however, this is not quite the reality. You will be able to judge for yourself what is appropriate to tell them and still give them a good story.

8. How did you choose my name? Normally when we pick a name for a baby it’s because we just loved the name or we are naming the child after someone we love and respect. Your kids will want to know who picked their name and why so they can establish pride in their own identity.

9. What was I like as a baby/child/teenager etc? It’s OK to tell them the good and the bad things about themselves growing up as long as there is a healthy measure of both. Some of your stories of them growing up will surprise them especially those very early memories they are unlikely to remember themselves.

10. What would you do differently with your life looking back? No child wants to see their parents unhappy and full of regret but at the same time they will be interested in your dreams and whether they were fulfilled. Share with them your dreams and how these perhaps changed as you grew older.

There are probably many more questions they are likely to ask. Writing an Autobiography is the one of the best ways to capture these stories in a more permanent way. It will give you something solid to present to your family.

What is an Autobiography & why should I write one?

An Autobiography is quite simply a historical record of a persons life; the thoughts, feelings, events, people and places of an individuals past in detail. It’s your very unique and personal contribution to your Family’s History and on a greater scale your contribution to the history of the world we live in. There are many reasons to write an Autobiography/Personal History. The main reason should be because you want to. Perhaps to share the experiences of your life with others; as a gift for your family; a desire to write; to try and understand your life and the forces that have shaped you; to gain a new insight into yourself; so that you are not forgotten or simply to have a story to go with those dozens of old photos you have kept in a box for years.

Even Oprah has said ‘I urge you to pursue preserving your personal history to allow your children and grandchildren to know who you were as a child and what your hopes and dreams were’.

What’s interesting about my life?

Many people wonder who would be interested in reading their Life Story. Quite simply, you’re Family. They love to hear these stories because it allows them to peer into a place in time ‘in your life’ which they don’t know. Your time in history is different to theirs. The younger members of your family don’t know what you were like as a kid, teenager, young adult, etc. They just know you as parent or grandparent. Some of them don’t imagine you were anything else but the age you are now. So when you share stories of your life with them they begin to realize that you were a kid too; you made mistakes, had fun, got into trouble with your parents, etc. They feel like they can relate to you better, they feel like they know you better and this brings you closer together as a family.

How do I begin to write my Life Story?

The task of starting such a project may also be daunting for some. You don’t have to be a great writer to write your Autobiography. Your words written naturally are more important. In fact ‘your words’ in ‘your handwriting’ are more precious to your loved ones than any printed document. They will really feel like they have a piece of you forever. It is, however, advisable to structure your writing into Life Stages; Childhood, Teenage Years, marriage, etc but you can start at whichever life stage is most comfortable for you. There are no set rules.

What if I have forgotten?

Many people also feel like they have forgotten the details of their childhood. Not so, they are still in there and just need a gentle push to the surface. Try looking through old photos and memorabilia you may have kept over the years. Take some quite time to reflect.

How long will it take to complete?

An Autobiography should never be rushed or run to a schedule. This is your project, you set the time scale. While I’m sure your loved ones are eager to get a glimpse of the ‘real you’ don’t be pressured into finishing quickly, you don’t want to miss out important parts of your story.

And Finally….

Writing and sharing the stories of your life should be a positive experience, so enjoy it. Have fun reliving those old memories. Laugh at the funny ones, cry at the sad ones but most of all don’t ever let yourself forget them again.

Maureen Stewart is the author of The Personal History Book and The Tribute Book. E-Mail her at info@treasurechestproducts.com or visit http://www.treasurechestproducts.com

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By Mike Brozda

Once a luxury of the rich and famous, technology has, for the first time in history, made it possible for anyone to capture, share and preserve their most precious life stories. With the advent of computers, the Internet, digital photography, video, and audio, anyone can capture the richness and texture of their life stories. These personal histories will be appreciated by family, friends, and future generations.

Today it is possible to easily blend the art of traditional biography and memoir with powerful new technologies into a new form of individual life storytelling: the personal life history. Personal life histories are satisfying to create. And, because of the interactive multimedia possibilities inherent in computers and the web, a well-done personal life history can be rich and fully rounded in ways that are impossible to achieve in text-only memoir or biography. But most importantly, personal life histories preserve vital individual and family stories. And, when properly done, they will last for generations.

In this article you will discover how to use time-honored life story writing techniques along with the latest technologies to create a story that is uniquely “you.”

The Art of Traditional Life-Story Formats

For anyone interested in creating their own autobiography, memoir or personal life history, it is important to understand the distinctions between these forms of telling one’s own life story. To over-generalize for a moment, an autobiography is more fact-based, while a memoir is more emotion-based.

Autobiographies are written by the subject, sometimes with the collaboration of another writer. Autobiographical works take many forms, from intimate writings made during life that are not necessarily intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to the formal autobiography. Interestingly, the autobiography format does not necessarily have to be true. It may also be a literary fictional tale.

Memoirs are a form of personal recollection that has grown enormously in popularity in recent times. Memoirs often focus on more subjective recollections such as memories, feelings, and emotions and are generally written from the first-person viewpoint. The memoir is often focused on capturing certain meaningful highlights or moments.

In his own Memoir, Palimpest, Gore Vidal writes that “a memoir is how one remembers one’s own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked.”

Memoirs usually focus on a brief period of time or a series of connected events (an autobiography covers a longer time period). In a memoir, the writer is usually retrospective, and contemplating past events. Memoirs may incorporate the techniques of storytelling such as setting, plot, conflict, character development, foreshadowing, flashback, irony or symbolism. And lastly, writing one’s memoir often has a therapeutic effect for the writer.

Oral History Recordings

An oral history is a verbatim transcription of an interview, left in the narrator’s exact words. These are usually left in a question-and-answer style and are an economical way to preserve family stories. A recording system with a good-quality microphone and a quiet spot free from interruptions are all that is really needed to capture an oral history. It helps to have questions prepared in advance of the interview.

Oral histories are usually recorded using analog tape or digital recording equipment, but it is also possible to record directly into a personal computer. Oral histories are often transcribed (typed or word processed) into a document format. The conversational style is appealing for its easygoing informality.

Caveats: Recording formats and standards are constantly evolving and could become difficult or impossible to play back if the equipment becomes obsolete. Taped recordings decay over time.

Video History Recordings

Do-it-Yourself: At the basic level, it’s easy and fun to create a basic video history. Camcorders are relatively inexpensive, and many computers today come with basic editing software. Capturing a good video history shares all of the same prerequisites as an audio recording: a quiet spot, with questions prepared in advance. Plus, you will want an uncluttered background, flattering lighting, and right clothing to improve the quality of the end product. White shirts, pants or dresses, for example don’t show up well on video. Likewise, busy patterns can be distracting. Solid light-colored neutrals or pastels are usually safe.

Professional videographers: A large number of professional video companies specialize in the creation of life story productions. Productions may range from a 10 or 15 minute short to an hour or longer mini-movie, complete with titles, music, and other Hollywood-style effects. Naturally, you’ll pay more for a professional production than a homegrown effort.

When selecting a professional use all the usual smart-consumer tips. Ask for references. Ask to see samples of prior work. Get all costs, production timetables and commitments in writing. It’s delightful to have movies of an individual or family. When well-executed they often have entertainment value and are great for special occasions.

Caveat: As with audio recordings, formats change over time, and media can degrade, even with proper storage methods

The Integration of Art and Technology: Web-Based Personal Life Histories

Just in the last few years, the Web has emerged as a powerful new medium for creating and sharing life stories. On the web it is not only possible, it is enjoyable and easy to create a rich multimedia story with text, photos, audio and video. This is the new format of the personal life history.

Web-based personal life histories enjoy several advantages over paper-based publishing, audio, video, or even CD life stories. Specifically, Web-based publication is updateable-one can add new information at any time. It is easily shareable among friends or family. The most advanced sites offer choices of privacy and security protection. The web is also multimedia, meaning you can add text, photos, audio, and video. Photos, audio, video are never lost, damaged destroyed. An finally, many sites offer print-on-demand, allowing you to create instant books. The books may be printed on your home printer, or sent out to small-run publishers. If you choose the small-run option, be sure to specify archival quality paper.

One of the biggest advantages of web publishing is the ability to build community around similar interests, occupations, backgrounds or life events. For example, a WWII veteran pilot who posts his story to the Web and makes it available to the public may be contacted by long-lost friends, other veterans, students, historians, museum personnel, or others interested in this pivotal chapter in American history.

Why Create Your Personal Life History?

Mark Twain once said: “There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is impossibility. Inside everyone, there is a drama, a comedy, a tragedy.”

A personal life history can be as short as a few pages, or several volumes in length. Whatever the length or medium, it requires thoughtfulness and sometimes quite a bit of work to accomplish. But the work is worthwhile because it has the ability to influence generations ahead. Your personal life history may leave a legacy for your children and grandchildren. As with memoir, writing a personal history allows you to examine and reflect on your life up to the present day. It lets you add your story to the larger historical record of your family, city, and country. And lastly, if you don’t do it, who will?

Start with a Timeline of Life Chapters

How does one start to tell the story of a life that may cover 60, 70, 80 years or more? Often it’s helpful to create a chronological timeline of major events in your life. It helps to jot down a few notes around key phases in your life. In fact, you may already be thinking of your life as a book, with separate, distinct chapters built around important life episodes.

Of course, not everyone’s life follows an identical chronological sequence, but here are a few ideas for chapter headings for your book or story. GreatLifeStories.com uses the following “chapters” to organize life stories:

o Your Beginnings

o In Your Neighborhood

o School Days

o Off to Work

o Romance and Marriage

o War and Peace

o Triumphs and Tragedies

o Words of Wisdom

o Humor

o Words of Gratitude

The chapter system is very flexible. For example, you don’t have to start your life story with the days of your birth and youth. Perhaps you had a fascinating experience during the war. As with a movie, you might open your life story with that “scene,” then tell the story how you got there.

Once you’ve got an idea for the “flow,” of your story, here are some more specific guidelines to help add color, texture, and authenticity:

1. Just start writing! Do a mind dump. Get it out of your head and down on paper, the computer, the tape recorder, wherever. Don’t worry about how it sounds. Just write. Resist the temptation to edit yourself; there will be time for editing later.
2. Be yourself. Don’t worry if your grammar or spelling isn’t perfect. Write it as you would say it.
3. Honesty is everything. The best writing tells it like it happened.
4. Include humor. Favorite jokes, stories, anecdotes
5. Detail, detail, detail. What kind of floor did the kitchen have? What color was the scarf she wore when you first met?
6. Go at a comfortable pace. Don’t try to capture an entire lifetime in a single session of furious writing. Write, allow time to reflect, and return again to writing.
7. Consult others. Family members and friends can be invaluable sources of facts and interpretation.
8. Use photos to jog your memory. Tip: Set out photos in a timeline of your life, starting from your very youngest days, and moving through current times. Write or record to your visual storyboard
9. Look for themes in your life. Themes are broad ideas that are central to your life. Did you always want to be a pilot? A preacher? Own a restaurant? Be a farmer? Tell the story of how you met your goal, or how the goal changed to something else totally unexpected.

Here are just a few other thematic life story possibilities: a. The Spiritual quest b. The Confession c. The Travelogue d. The Portrait e. The Complaint f. Humor g. The Family history h. The Road to Recovery i. War Story j. Romance

Another Option: Hire a Professional

Most of this article has been focused on creating the do-it-yourself personal life history. There is, of course, the option of working with a professional. The right professional writer or videographer is a highly skilled interviewer and has the proper tools and equipment. And, believe it or not, it is sometimes easier for someone to open up in front of a stranger rather than in front of a family member.

There are many approaches to working with writers or videographers. However, there are a number of similarities in common. The writer/videographer often:

1) Meets with you to determine the scope and cost of the project.

2) Usually sets up taped interview sessions. Depending on your objectives, these may be an hour or two, or 10, 20 hours or more.

3) The recording is transcribed and edited with your input and guidance

4) Once a final manuscript/movie is agreed upon, it may be sent out for printing or duplication.

5) For books, personal history professionals recommend archival bindings and acid-free paper for longevity

6) You receive the number of books/movies agreed upon in your contract.

7) Be sure to discuss services, fees and end products in advance, and get all agreements in writing.

Thanks to high technology, the art of capturing and preserving the stories from one’s own life is now open to more people and easier than ever before. A new genre of personal storytelling is emerging that draws on the literary traditions of the autobiography and memoir, while adding audio, video, and web technology to create personal life histories. On the Web, these personal stories personal life histories are multimedia, collaborative, shareable, and instantly updateable.

Enjoy capturing your life story!

References and Further Reading

Web Sites:

http://www.greatlifestories.com

Associations:

The Association of Personal Historians is a 600+ member organization of professional personal historians who create life stories in all formats: text, audio, video. http://www.personalhistorians.org

How-to Books:

There are many good books filled with different approaches and tips for writing a personal life history. Here are just a few:

Daniel, Lios, How to Write Your Own Life Story

Rainer, Tristine, Your Life as Story Books

Roorbach, Bill, Writing Life Stories

Mike Brozda is one of the founding members of the GreatLifeStories team. A veteran journalist, he has more than 30 years experience writing for national and international publications. He has also created more than 150 personal life histories for people across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Contact him at mike.brozda@yahoo.com

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By Sean R Mize

For a few years now, we hear people talk about chatting or just leaving messages for their friends on Facebook. Even with our childhood friends or old friends which we happen to come across with at the mall or in any of our travels, we never fail to ask them if they have a Facebook account and what name they are using now (since most married women don’t use their maiden names anymore).

It’s really exciting to see old friends and meet people through Facebook. Since there is no limit to the countries you can reach, you can meet people from different parts of the world! This is also the best part to being an Internet marketer. You can use Facebook and other social media sites like Twitter for the growth of your online business. One of the greatest advantages is the fact that you can use it in your list building project.

It is for this reason that Facebook is already noted as a public asset and a Social Media Legend. With only a small effort on your part, you can see big results. What’s more, Facebook is a free site so you can advertise and market your products or services to a limitless scope and not worry about incurring fees. With these in mind, what is not great about that?

The only thing you will most probably invest on would be your time. What you also need to know about Facebook is that it can be addictive. For most people, they lose track of the time they consume using Facebook. This is not a problem for those who are serious in building up a large list at the soonest possible time but make sure it does not defeat your purpose for choosing to become an Internet marketer – to spend more time with your family.

If you are a newbie in the Facebook world, don’t worry – you are not the last man standing. There are still people who have not considered it as one of their Internet marketing strategies so they are still groping in the dark. Here is a step by step process to starting your own Facebook account:

Go to facebook.com and sign up for a personal account. When you see the page, you will notice a sign saying “sign up it’s free, and always will be” – answer the questions and click sign up.

Experiment on your page. Familiarize yourself with it. Send friend requests, search for people you know, post your thoughts and post on the walls of your friends. Learn the terrain and become Facebook-savvy.

Find people or groups and connect with them. Join them and ask members to add you or join you (if you set up a fan page). You can also visit company and brand pages. Check them out, become a fan and have an idea for your own fan page.

Set up your own fan page and build your own group.

Promote your products! Use a system that can notify your clients, prospects and customers. Provide them with a link to your site. Put the link on your articles, blog posts and sales letters.

Use Facebook to search for potential partners and prospects.

Continue investing your time into your Facebook account and fan page to ensure continues returns.

Facebook marketing is currently the key trend to succeeding in list building, email marketing, affiliate marketing and in whatever Internet marketing you are into. It is different from other social media and marketing methods because of the tremendous momentum it features. With the fun and easy to use tools in communicating with people, Facebook will remain the best option for Internet-savvy marketers.

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

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By Sean R Mize

According to successful Internet marketers, one of the best ways to put social media to good use is to employ them in your list building project. Since the most popular social media site these days is Facebook, it is high time to learn how you can maximize its popularity to your advantage.

Creating a Facebook fan page is a great marketing strategy because it is the easiest way to build a much targeted and highly responsive list. However, you still need to learn a few tricks in order to optimize your desired fan page. You can try creating a customized landing page for your FB fan page by mimicking an HTML squeeze page. Confused? Don’t be – this is doable and achievable. You can even build one that comes complete with the autoresponder Aweber opt-in form. You simply need to be familiar with FBML or the “Facebook Mark-up Language”.

Facebook Mark-up Language is just icing on the cake. There are so many other things you can do with your Facebook fan page. Another way to succeed in FB marketing is known as “crowd conversion”.

Crowd conversion is a no-cost method where you can generate massive traffic. As a matter of fact, according to famous Internet marketer Alex Mandossian, the method pulled-in more than one thousand opt-ins for him in a span of 24 hours. Does this sound like a scam to you? No, it’s not – it’s as real as it gets. Furthermore, the conversions are much higher as compared to traditional web pages.

Back to Facebook. After successfully creating your fan page and granted that you want to do things the traditional way and not through new generation list building software, it is time to do some serious work. You need to get people to add your fan page.

How do you do this? Just try to add as many people as you can. You can start with the people you know and then work your way with the people they know and so on. With Facebook having millions of subscribers, there is no limit to the number of people you can get to subscribe in your list. Of course, there is also a limit to the number of people you can add so you may need to create more than one FB fan page.

Facebook is one of the best social media sites to consider when it comes to list building. It is a great site to generate more quality traffic to your website or web page.

Do you want to learn how to build a big online subscriber list fast? Click here: Secrets of List Building

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This year’s winter solstice — an event that will occur next Tuesday — will coincide with a full lunar eclipse in a union that hasn’t been seen in 456 years. File photo.

Photograph by: Bruce Edwards,The Journal, file, CanWest News Service

OTTAWA — This year’s winter solstice — an event that will occur next Tuesday — will coincide with a full lunar eclipse in a union that hasn’t been seen in 456 years.

The celestial eccentricity holds special significance for spiritualities that tap into the energy of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and a time that is associated with the rebirth of the sun.

“It’s a ritual of transformation from darkness into light,” says Nicole Cooper, a high priestess at Toronto’s Wiccan Church of Canada. “It’s the idea that when things seem really bleak, (it) is often our biggest opportunity for personal transformation.

“The idea that the sun and the moon are almost at their darkest at this point in time really only further goes to hammer that home.”

Cooper said Wiccans also see great significance in the unique coupling of the masculine energy of the sun and the feminine energy of the moon — transformative energies that she plans to incorporate into the church’s winter-solstice rituals.

Since the last time an eclipse and the winter solstice happened simultaneously was just under five centuries years ago, Cooper said she wasn’t familiar with any superstitions or mythologies associated with it.

Instead, she said, they can only be interpreted personally.

“Wiccans don’t think of things as being good or evil — they just are. Our experience of them makes them positive or negative for us.”

The winter solstice also played an important role in Greco-Roman rituals.

“It’s seen as a time of rebirth or renewal because, astrologically, it’s a time where the light comes back,” said Shane Hawkins, a professor of Greek and Roman studies at Carleton University in Ottawa.

For the ancient Romans, it was also a time of great feasting and debauchery.

“If (the eclipse) happened on the 21st, they might well have been drunk,” he said.

A lunar eclipse taking place during the solstice is not an event Hawkins has seen in research, but he said it would have been viewed as something special.

“Eclipses could be taken either way,” he said. “Certainly it would have been an omen, but it would have been up to the interpretation of specialists of whether it was good or bad.”

And that interpretation would likely be based on whatever was happening at the time.

The last time the two celestial events happened at the same time was in AD 1554, according to NASA.

An otherwise seemingly unexceptionable year in recorded history, the darkened moon happened during a bleak year for Tudor England.

Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for treason that year, while Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Mary of Guise — the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots — became regent of Scotland.

Scientifically, however, it’s just a coincidence of natural cycles.

“It’s quite rare, but there’s no profound significance. It’s luck of the draw; you got dealt four aces,” said Robert Dick, an astronomy instructor at Carleton.

The eclipse will start just after midnight Eastern Time on Tuesday, with the main event starting at 1:30 a.m. ET and lasting until 5:30 a.m., when the moon reappears.

rlindell@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/rebeccalindell

by Daniel Levis

In this issue:

• How to use interviews to improve your copy …
• How to dig for ultimate benefits and emotional hot buttons …
• A case study in possibilities: 1 feature, 7 ultimate benefits …
• And more!

Dear Web Business Builder,

Human nature is universal. In many ways it’s as predictable as the hands of a clock. People buy things for two reasons, and two reasons only: To obtain pleasure or avoid pain.

Every product and service under the sun is bought with the anticipation that it will yield increased pleasure, or decreased pain.

Now I’m not necessarily talking about pleasure and pain in the literal sense, although sometimes that is the case. I am referring to pleasurable and painful emotions. I am talking about buying as a means of pursuing emotional satisfaction (pleasure), and avoiding emotional stress (pain).

Everything significant about your product can and must be mapped to one or both of these two outcomes if you want to maximize your conversion.

So your first step is to accurately identify the nature of the particular emotional pains your prospects are feeling and the emotional pleasures they wish to obtain.

How do you do that?

How to use interviews
to improve your copy …

One of the best ways is to interview your existing customers. Ask them: Why did you buy?

They’re likely to tell you they bought your product, or your client’s product if you are a professional copywriter, because it had some unique feature they liked. For example, they might say,

“I bought from you because you had guaranteed delivery times.”

That’s a great start, but you need to dig deeper. Remember, people only buy for two reasons, to obtain pleasure or avoid pain.

So you ask them, “Why was it important for you to get guaranteed delivery?”

And they might say, “because I was working against a deadline, and I would have missed it if I didn’t have the information I needed.”

And you ask, “and why was it important to meet that deadline?” And they say, “Because if I missed my deadline, it would have killed the whole project. I would have had to go back to the drawing board and renegotiate everything. It would have cost our company thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of extra dollars.”

We’re still not to where I want to be, so I push on …

“What about you personally, how would having to push the project back a month due to the missed deadline have reflected on you?”

“Well it would have been a source of humiliation. The CEO was counting on this project to meet the quarterly sales numbers. It would have been a real disaster. I would have looked totally incompetent. Maybe even been fired. You guys really saved my ass!”

Now we’re getting somewhere, and so I continue …

“And as things turned out, how did the project reflect on you professionally?”

“Very well, very well indeed. In fact I’ve been promised a raise, and the CEO mentioned my role in a company memo. It felt great to be recognized for my contribution.”

Bingo! Now that’s what I was digging for. When you’re talking to these people, you need to dig deep for the real buying motives. And they are? The pain avoided, or the pleasure obtained.

How to dig for ultimate benefits
and emotional hot buttons …

In the above exchange, you can see how probing questions were used to drill deeper into the initial response. What you’re looking for is emotional content. To be even more specific, you’re looking for things that protect or enhance the prospect’s self image.

Guaranteed delivery dates on their own don’t mean much, but when they’re tied to the prospect of avoiding humiliation, gaining personal recognition, or both … they become incredibly significant.

The key is to dig out those emotional benefits that reflect on the prospect’s self image, and articulate them in your copy. Those are the hot buttons that inspire action.

When you’re interviewing your clients and prospects, it’s never enough to take their answers about why they bought the product at face value. You’ve got to get into rapport and get them to open up to you. They need to feel comfortable enough to give you the deeper information you’re looking for.

You’ll know you’ve got it when you get to juicy tidbits that reflect on their self-image. That’s where emotional pain and pleasure are felt.

Now obviously you have to interview more than one customer.

And if you’re a copywriter writing for someone else, you’re going to want to interview your client as well. Even more importantly, you’re going to want to interview their employees on the front lines, who are actively dealing with the customers and prospects you’ll be targeting.

You’re looking for recurring themes that are likely to resonate with as wide an audience as possible. These recurring themes will guide you to the ultimate benefit(s) you will promise in your copy.

And while you don’t want to put words in your interviewee’s mouths, it helps to have an understanding of the different kinds of pain and pleasure that all humans feel. This is important, because you want to know how deep to dig.

If you don’t dig to the ultimate benefit, you’re going to miss out on a potentially rich vein of emotional expression and phrasing that will come from your interviewees. Content that will prove invaluable to you when you write your copy.

A case study in possibilities:
1 feature, 7 ultimate benefits …

So what are the different kinds of emotional pleasures and pains that course through our collective veins?

Well, in the above situation, our friend’s story could have taken a number of different twists, couldn’t it? He was thinking about a promotion, but a promotion can mean different things to different people.

Some people associate pleasure with power and influence. They take joy in imposing their will on others and the environment. A promotion leads to wider responsibility and power within the organization.

Others associate pleasure with acceptance … A job well done, and recognized as such, makes them feel like they’re an important part of the team.

Increased status, as a result of the promotion, could be another way for this prospect to obtain pleasure from the transaction. For some people, tittles are incredibly important. Society conditions us all to identify very strongly with our role in the workplace.

Romance might even find its way into the story. If the prospect envisions a raise as a result of a successful implementation, the extra money makes him a hero in the home. The thought of being seen as a good provider by his wife – a powerful aphrodisiac – may well be another source of pleasure that maps back to your product.

And believe it or not, many business decisions are motivated by vengeance. There’s no sweeter emotional pleasure than showing somebody else up by coming through in a clutch when they thought you couldn’t … or pulling something off that they derided you for even considering.

As you can see, a single product feature can map to many different kinds of emotional pleasure for your prospect. The same holds true for pain avoidance …

Perhaps the attractiveness of guaranteed delivery dates had something to do with the prospect’s desire to maintain order in his life. Predictability gives people a sense of stability and control. Its absence can be upsetting (emotionally painful) because it implies uncertainty.

Stress avoidance could also be a factor. Guaranteed delivery dates mean one less thing for the prospect to worry about. Less anxiety and fear of having the project go awry could be a highly motivating factor.

And on and on …

Without understanding prime human motivations first, and then taking the time to find out which ones are dominant in the target market, it’s very difficult to create compelling, genuine sounding copy that resonates emotionally with the target market.

The interview process is essential.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
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