Share This

Well… not really. There are two major problems I can think of. Anything that is scientifically proven has just gone through a sometimes expensive and exhaustic experiment where it tries to use statistics to make conclcusions. It helps us gain an understanding, but you have to remember that it is also prone to error and false conclusions. The second major problem is that most scientific experiments are conducted with funding from a biased source. For example, Lays, the potato chip company, conducts thousands of experiements in their labs, and do they ever release information about the harmful effects of their snacks. No way. What about government funded ones? I agree many are done in good faith, but you’d be surprised.

Anyway, that was just a primer for you. Now watch this video.

Holy shit right? Yeah…

I remember when I first watched this and it was hard to swallow. Being the open minded person I am, I sucked it all in. Then I began to think about it a little harder.

I don’t know if it’s my mistrust of leaders or my understanding of human nature, but I don’t ignore any information that isn’t mainstream. You never know right? If the world is going to end soon, I wanna know!

So… this video introduces Planet X or Nibiru. It’s supposed to be this 10th planet that has this huge orbit. It comes close every several or more thousand years and messes everything up on earth. The people who believe this stuff combine all sorts of connections from articles that were published and withdrawn, surpressed UFO videos, ancient mayan and sumarian texts, and even religions.

Their ability to make connections to all of these things are outstanding. It reminds of those 9/11 conspiracy videos that somehow connects everything so well. I’m always impressed with how they do it.

I wonder if it’s easier than you think to prove something happens. Even in scientific experiements, beliefs usually comes before the proof or else the scientist wouldn’t work so hard to prove it.

Anyway, did you see those UFO videos? What the hell. Are they fake? The comments in the YouTube video seems to support the video… maybe the comments are being filterd… or maybe the masses are too busy watching Paris Hilton.

This is really too much for me to handle. I’m not ready to believe it all just yet, but I’m going to be looking out for a red planet in the sky when it’s 2009. They say you can already see it if you’re in like the south pole I believe. When I do see it, I’m hauling my ass off to one of those crop circles that are supposed to be safe zones, which are away from the coasts.

For some of you, I hope I don’t mess up your weekend. For the others, I’m sure you got a good laugh. I’ll delve more into this crazy world later. Personally, it’s quite entertaining at the least and terribly life changing at the best.

Personally, I can’t wait for 2012 to come around. This will prove to me once and for all to believe or not believe crack pots.

Share This

I have decided to change directions for this site. I was not comfortable with the dark vibe of the site, as the posts had become much more positive.

Hence, I am going to move in a slightly different direction. There are absolutely fascinating topics that go under the radar in most people’s lives. These are “paranormal” topics such as hypnosis, ghosts, conspiracies, magic, and what not. Although I’m not a firm believer in all of these subjects, I think they are still very interesting and at least show our human nature.

I would not approach the blog as a fanatic of all of these subjects, but more of an observer. I’ll explain the topic at hand and then give my comments from an outside perspective. Typically, these types of sites try to scare the crap out of you to make you believe them.

Anyway, I will have my first post up tonight.

I will also have a more positive and down to the earth blog. I am currently converting my personal blog, www.typecarl.com to be this site. So if that is what you are looking for, please go over there. I also will working on a new layout and design.

I appreciate your patience.

Carl Zetterlund

Share This

Every successful person I have come across has an amazing story to tell. These stories are reference experiences that motivate us to take action in our owns lives. The following story was passed on to me by the great motivator, Tony Robbins.

Sylvester Stallone is an international icon. Through his movies, he has symbolized the power of having a sheer determination to work towards your goals. However, many people do not know about how Stallone got to where he is today. Before I tell you the three lessons, sit back and enjoy the story.

It all started at a young age. He had a strong desire to become a movie star. His motivation was that he wanted to let people escape reality for just a moment as well as inspire people to fulfill their potential.

Stallone did the natural thing and started to apply for roles in movies. He was constantly rejected for various reasons. The most common reason pertained to his dopey look and his tendency to talk out of the side of his mouth.

He was quite a persistent fellow as he claims he had been kicked out of acting agencies over 1,500 times. You’re probably thinking they aren’t that many agencies in New York, and you’re right. He was kicked out of each one 5 to 10 times.

He finally landed a gig after spending the night at an agency. The problem was that all of his roles were based on him being a beaten up thug. After three or so movies, these small opportunities came to an end.

He kept trying and trying and trying, but things weren’t working. He couldn’t pay for heating in the apartment. He was starving and his wife would constantly yell at him about getting a job. He refused each time, but why?

He refused to get a job because he thought his hunger for success would wither away. To Stallone, his hunger was the only thing he had going for himself. Unfortunately, his wife did not understand and pretty much wanted to end the relationship.

Then one cold day, he went to a public library. He didn’t go there to read a book, but he wanted to find a warm place. To pass time, he stumbled on a book by Edgar Allen Poe. He had an epiphany and decided to start writing.

He created the movie script, Paradise Alley, and managed to sell it for $100, but it did not lead to anywhere. Finally, he was so broke that he sold his wife’s jewelry. This was basically the end of their relationship. They had no food and no money. There was only thing he had left, and he loved him more than anything. It was his dog and the unconditional love it offered.

He was then forced to sell his dog. He waited in front of a liquor store to sell his dog for $50. He finally met a man to buy it, but he haggled him down to $25. This ended up being the lowest point of his life.

Then 2 weeks later, he watches a Muhammad Ali fight and gets an idea. He writes for 20 hours straight. He was in the zone and had created a script that would eventually be known as Rocky. Now, all he had to do was find somebody to buy it.

After a series of rejections, he finally found a couple of people who wanted to buy it. They offered him $125,000 for the script. Even though this was an unbelievable amount of money, Stallone said he would only accept it if he starred in the movie. As a no name, he was rejected, and he turned down the money because he refused to compromise. A couple of weeks later, the same guys offered him 250k and 325k. He rejected both offers.

They finally offered him the chance to star in his own movie, but they didn’t want to pay him much as it was a risk to them. They ended up paying Stallone $35,000, which included a share of the profits.

The first thing he did was go back to the liquor store to find the man who bought his dog. He waited three days before he finally did find him with the dog. He told the man he would do anything to get the dog back. He offered $100, $500, and $1000, but the man refused to sell the dog back. He changed his approach and finally got his dog back.

What did he do? He paid the man $15,000 of the $35,000 he received from the movie script.

The movie, Rocky, ended up costing $1 million to make, and it grossed over $200 million. Not a bad investment, eh?

So what are the top 3 lessons we learn from Sylvester Stallone?

1. Find purpose

Stallone knew what he wanted, and it helped him focus his actions. Despite many failures, he was able to make the right adjustments that led him just one step closer to success.

2. Fuel desire

Stallone understood what motivated him. He knew that if he got a regular job. The fire that drove him would fizzle. I’m not saying you should starve, but you should not be afraid to take massive action for your goals. Know what motivates you and execute.

3. Compromise never

Stallone faced many opportunities to settle on his dream to become a movie star. This was his purpose, and he would not accept anything less. With his determination, he was finally able to get exactly what he wanted. Keep in mind that there are situations where compromise is acceptable. Just do not compromise on your purpose in life.

Stories are a wonderful way to convey many ideas in a way that is memorable. Every successful person has amazing stories of how they overcame their challenges. They love telling these stories as they understand something very important: The journey is the reward.

Think Sly.

Carl Zetterlund

Share This

This tip can be found from most body language books. I specifically recommend The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease.

When we see something we like, our pupils dilate to let more of the lovely sight reach our brains. You can’t control this reaction as it is involuntary.

In a famous psychology test, duplicate photographs of a woman’s face were shown to men. The men were asked which photograph they preferred. It turns out that more than 90 percent of the men selected the picture that had the pupils airbrushed to be slightly larger. The interesting part is that they asked the men if they could tell a difference between the photographs, and they couldn’t.

So what can the power of the pupil do for you? (more…)

Share This

This is a continuation of a series of posts about NLP. For proper understanding, please read Part 1 and Part 2.

I’m going to be giving you the theories behind NLP. Now don’t be alarmed! This isn’t quite like school. It’ll actually be quite interesting. I will offer insights to how our mind operates. If it does not make sense immediately, take a break, come back, and read it again later.

It is important that we understand how we respond to words as well as how we use words to express our thoughts. We experience through our senses. We feel, hear, touch and see the world around us. Then we try to use words to express what we have experienced.

So what does language do? It lets us convey experience to others and lets us reflect on it ourselves.

Selectivity
The interesting thing is that we do not give equal weight to what we sense in our world. We don’t just sit back and take all the experiences in without doing something to it. We actually ignore a lot. (more…)

Share This

This tip is from Robert Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition).

Reciprocation is the good old give and take. When given something, people have this powerful feeling that they are indebted. Since it’s not a positive feeling, they look to get rid of it as fast as possible. The best solution is to just give something back.

It’s so simple, but yet so powerful. The secret is that there is not a perfect correlation between the size of the gift and the feeling of indebtedness. This means you can offer something of relatively little value and have a much easier chance of getting your request fulfilled by the person.

Think of the possibilities!

Carl

P.S. I’ll go into further detail in a full length post. Until then, check out Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition). It’s a classic. Buy it now from Amazon or B&N.

Share This

Power Profiles showcase successful people who you can learn from. If there is any golden rule to follow, take advice from people who already there.

Albert Einstein if one of those rare breed of scientists that was managed to jump into main stream pop culture. “Einstein” is commonly used to call someone a genius. This isn’t even a phenomum just in the United State. It’s around the world. He has published more than 50 scientific papers. The most famous of these is the general theory of relativity. He has also written non-scientific books. He was voted as the Time person of the century beating out Gandhi. A poll of prominent physicists named him the greatest physicist of all time. Now that’s quite an accomplishment.

So why should you care? I mean… he could have had a gifted mind from birth. It’s not like you can get one of those online. Some people even say he was autistic. However, there was one quality of Einstein that is learnable.

He always persevered despite of the world. (more…)

Share This

This is part 2 of the introduction to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). It offers some background of NLP and leads up to the meta-model. Please read the Introduction to NLP Part 1: The First Bite to build a proper lead-in to this post.

It all started at the University of California at Santa Cruz. It was there that a student of psychology, Richard Bandler, and an assistant professor of linguistics, John Grinder, met to lay the foundations of NLP. Both were interested in understanding why people do what they do.

Both were also fascinated with modeling, which is taking a skill and finding out how it is done so it can be taught to others. They believed that modeling successful performance leads to high achievement. If one can learn how to be great, then it is possible to model that person and use it to teach others to be great as well.

They agreed that modeling would be deemed successful if they could help others achieve similar results by following the model.

Initially, Bandler and Grinder were largely influenced by three people. (more…)

Share This

Power Memes are powerful ideas written by other bloggers and writers. A meme is defined as a unit of cultural transmission. By sharing other great articles, I am transmitting a unit of culture. The question is how far will my transmission go? Also keep in mind that everything I write is a meme.

My first Power Meme goes to Tim Ferriss’ post about Networking Tips from the White House. You may know Tim for writing his recent #1 New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. It’s an absolutely amazing book and has been an inspiration for me.

Anyway, the post features an interview with Christine Comaford-Lynch. To give her some social proof, she has started 5 successful companies, been called “super high-bandwidth” by Bill Gates, and consulted with the Clinton and Bush administrations. To top it off, she never graduated from high school. I already like her.

In the interview, she basically talks about networking from a character perspective. She says that people who build powerful networks are genuinely charismatic people. No matter how unimportant you may seem, they will give you a feeling that they care when you first meet them. For example, she mentions that Bill Clinton is very focused yet also has the softer southern charm as well as always following up with people he meets. Although, I bet he has assistants to help him.

This reminds me that I really need to read (more…)

Share This