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Your Necktop Computer

I’ve been staying in London for the past couple of weeks undertaking an intensive training course.

I was staying about three and a half miles away from the venue but the journey by bus or by tube was taking between 45 minutes and well over an hour, one trip was 90 minutes!

I didn’t measure it but the bus I travelled on was usually stationary for at least a third of that time other than stopping at designated stops.

The bus was full of people.

The tube was full of people.

The roads were full of people – in cars, vans, other buses, and on motorcycles and bicycles.

So many people all scurrying to get somewhere.

Even at the weekend, although the ‘traffic’ was a little lighter.

It brought something home to me.

Something that I’ve known for a while and have commented on before.

And it made me question.

What are we doing?

What are we as a society doing?

To ourselves – and to everyone else.

You see, an image came into my head as I was watching the cyclists streaming over Waterloo Bridge.

Little computers sitting on top of a body riding a bike.

Hundreds of them,

Necks with a computer on top instead of a head.

Surreal I know, but so true.

The thing is that the brain is far more powerful, far more adaptable, and far more effective than any manufactured computer.

Sure, IT can do lots of things, quicker and more effectively than humans – but computers cannot do everything that we can do.

When did your laptop last make you a cup of tea?

Go out and buy the milk because you’d run out?

Decide what you were going to wear today?

Sure, we can invent gadgets to do many of the things we do – but separately – a different gadget or program for each activity.

Instead of the massive set of programs and huge operating system together with the highly complex and dynamic ‘wiring’ that makes up our brain.

It just does everything.

It even decides which bits of technology we’re going to use to perform specific tasks.

Our brains have the capacity and innate ability to do all sorts of things.

But we’ve forgotten.

We’ve forgotten how it works, and there is no ‘manual’ to tell us how.

So instead of living lives of fulfillment and simply ‘being’ we do one of two things.

We rent out our necktop to someone else and do stuff for them – or

We hire other necktops to do stuff for us.

And maybe we do both of these at the same time.

You and I need to make sure that we’re using our ‘necktops’ wisely.

It’s all very well renting them out but make sure that those we rent them to don’t take them over or install software we don’t really want.

Make sure they don’t set up ‘thought-forms’ or frameworks, ways of thinking, that aren’t in our best interests.

And make sure that others – the media, the press, the politicians, the advertisers – all those people out there who want to hack our necktop and make it part of their vision of how things should be, don’t succeed in doing that either.

Protect your necktop.

Install a firewall against all the ads, disinformation, misinformation, propaganda and ‘opinion’ that you’re bombarded with all the time.

Don’t let it in – the adware, the spyware and all the other malware – block it out.

You can do this in three ways:

  • Meditation to sort out and clean up your hard drive.
  • Transformational Therapy to remove unwanted, counterproductive, and malicious software you’ve already collected and reboot the operating system.
  • Transformational Coaching to help install your own dominant program for your future and upgrade your necktop so it will automatically defend you against all the other stuff that gets thrown at you all the time.

Clean up your necktop, reboot and upgrade

Now – before something else sneaks in!

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Tools of the Trade

I first encountered this paradigm fairly soon after I started working with Warwick Business School as a tutor for Distance Learning MBA students.

I was tutoring in Market Analysis – a complex but very well understood area. So much so that there are a myriad of ‘tools’ that analysts use to help understand the market their company, or client, is operating in.

There’s the well-known SWOT analysis, then there’s PEST (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological) external influences on your market, and Michael Porter’s ‘5 Forces’ reflecting internal influences, The ‘Boston Box’ analysis tool, and many more.

These, and a good few others, are the ‘toolbox’ of Market Analysis.

And at home we all have a toolbox – even if it only consists of a hammer and a screwdriver! We have all the tools that we need to fix stuff around the house – except of course that one tool that we don’t have, or can’t find’, when an emergency ‘fixing’ situation occurs!

Even if your tool box is simply a trusty Swiss Army knife we all have a toolbox.

And don’t forget the First Aid kit – that’s a toolbox as well.

And the make up kit, body care kit, cleaning kit, and all the other sets of ‘tools’ we surround ourselves with.

Back to what I observed with my MBA students.

During the course they were presented with some different ‘situations’ and asked either to provide a set of alternative solutions or to describe how they would approach whatever it was.

Time and time again when marking their assignments, I was presented with a detailed description of all the tools and how they worked and then they set about applying all the tools to the question in hand.

D’oh!

What we really wanted them to do was to select the one, maybe two, tools that were appropriate and relevant to the task.

Not try to put up a shelf with a hammer, a screwdriver, a chisel, a spanner and a drill – all at the same time!

The art of using tools is to know which tool to use in a particular situation.

But that’s not all, you and I also need to know how to use the tool and have some skill in using it.

Knowing ‘how’ is not enough.

You can’t suddenly ride a bike or go swimming when you only know ‘how’ – you need the skills as well.

And the skills of course, however rudimentary can only be acquired by doing.

But that’s not the only thing.

There’s something else.

This is particularly noticeable in the personal development ‘industry’ but also in marketing practice as well.

People will take tried and tested techniques of coaching, advertising, lead generation, therapy and business and personal analysis and ‘develop’ them.

This isn’t about ‘re-inventing the wheel, nor is it about improving the wheel, it’s about bolting several different sized wheels (designed to do different jobs) together to create some sort of ‘super-wheel’ that does ‘everything’!

About modifying tried and tested techniques by bolting them together, shaving bits off here and there and re-engineering the process.

Never works.

Sometimes looks good, even looks like it might work, but it never does.

Not to the extent that the original tools used separately would have done.

All people achieve by doing this is to make a set of a few simple, sometimes unrelated, talks into one complicated task.

And of course this ‘ultimate solution’ is more expensive than the simple solutions put together.

Every situation, whether that’s coaching, marketing, business analysis, personal therapy, personality analysis, lead generation, advertising or whatever is different.

They all exhibit similar issues, maybe symptoms, but they are different and need to be approached in different, specific, ways.

It’s not a ‘one size fits all’ scenario.

Hybrid therapies, hybrid coaching techniques, hybrid marketing or analysis techniques just don’t work nearly as well as the ‘original’ tried and tested processes.

Even when we deploy our Swiss Army knife we select just one tool, the right tool for the job, on that knife.

Situations may of course require different tools to be used at different times but not at the same time.

You can’t screw the screw in at the same time as drilling the hole – although you might use the same device to power both of those operations – you have to stop and change from the drill bit to the screwdriver bit.

It’s the same with everything else.

All that you and I need to know is

  • What is the ‘job’?
  • What’s the right tool for that job?
  • If we need more than one tool, what order do we use them in?
  • Do we know how to use the tool?
  • Are we skilled at using the tool?

If any of the answers is unknown, then do we know someone who can help or do it for us?

Until someone comes up with an original new way to do something, (and the do and will continue to do so) what’s out there is fit for purpose.

What you and I have to do is to use whatever is available to get the job done.

Inventing a ‘better way’ is secondary and only holds us up.

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The High End

I often encounter people when talking about marketing, referring to ‘the high end’ of the ‘market.

Hmmm . . . can’t recall anyone talking about the ‘low end’ though – wonder why?

They want their product or service to appeal to or attract the ‘high end’.

Now most people would assume that this means people of ‘high net worth’, people ‘with money’, people whose first consideration is not the price.

Or people representing businesses of that ilk.

(Remember that there’s no such thing as B to B – unless it’s all carried out by robots).

But of course, marketing isn’t all about ‘business’.

Sometimes it’s about people.

Or more to the point, you and I communicating to other people what we have to offer.

As a friend, as a partner, as a spouse, as a parent, as a child – and so on.

There’s so much confusion about what ‘marketing’ really is.

Which is not surprising.

As a marketing tutor at Warwick Business School I came into contact with lots of marketers, and lots of marketing textbooks and papers.

There is no common definition of what ‘marketing’ actually is.

Every expert and every practitioner has their own.

This is mine:

“Marketing is what you do so that you don’t need to sell.”

This of course depends on the concept of ‘selling’ as a form of personal persuasion – a last resort to get someone to buy – or buy into – some thing or some idea.

If you do the marketing well, then the ‘buyer’ will ‘sign the order’ or ‘agree to the deal’ without question.

They won’t need to be persuaded because they’ve already been convinced by the marketing that this is what they want.

(Perhaps it’s about time politicians learned a bit about marketing rather than engaging in what seems to be a constant ‘sales’ battle!)

You may think I’m talking semantics here but there is a distinct difference. Marketing does not necessarily require person to person contact – but sales does.

But what is this ‘high end’ that everyone seems to want?

Well, it’s really whatever ‘target’ market you decide to choose.

And what is a ‘target’ market?

The target market – and you’d be surprised (or maybe not) how many so-called marketers forget this – are the people (or people in businesses) most likely to want what you have to offer.

They are the people who will want it whatever the price.

They are the people who are already looking to solve the problem or provide the benefit that your offering satisfies.

They are the people who want it, whatever it is, now.

And there’s a really important distinction to remember . . .

They are not the people who need it!

Well, they may need it but if they don’t want it, that’s their problem. It’s not your job as a marketer or a sales person to persuade people to buy something they need but they don’t want.

Unless of course you’re some sort of masochist who just loves being rejected!

People will always buy what they want at the expense of things that they need.

Of course, if they want it and need it so much the better, but it’s surprising how infrequently that occurs.

The ‘high end’ are not just people with cash to spare.

If they don’t want what you’re offering they’re not going to be interested, they won’t buy it anyway just because they can. They will always spend their money on what they want.

I define the ‘high end’ as this

  • They want what you’re offering
  • They want to solve a problem that your offering addresses
  • They want a benefit that your offering provides
  • They will find the money regardless

And when you do the marketing properly you will attract the ‘low hanging fruit’ who –

  • Want what you are offering as opposed to an alternative
  • Want it now, or yesterday!

Identifying this ‘high end’ target market needs to be precise.

It’s not about people who might need your stuff, it’s about identifying the problems people want to solve and the benefits they want to get.

So what problems does your offering solve?

What benefits does your offering provide?

Here’s an exercise – just for fun, but hopefully to make a point.

Imagine you’re looking for a life partner.

  • What are the problems you could solve for him or her?
  • What are the unique benefits that you can provide them?

Who is your target market?

And I don’t want to cause any ‘trouble’, but if you have a life partner – how well did you do?

Identify your ‘market’ – the people or person you are wanting to attract in terms of problems and benefits in relation to what you have to offer.

If there isn’t a ‘match’ then you’re looking at the wrong target.

And of course, hitting the wrong target is just a waste of effort. A bit like climbing up the latter when it’s against the wrong wall.

It might get you somewhere, but probably not where you want to go.

The ‘high end’ is the bullseye in your target market.

There may be other potential ‘purchasers’, all well and good, but although they may show ‘interest’ in what you have to offer, although they (in your opinion at least) may ‘need’ what you have to offer, they aren’t who you want.

Apply the dating analogy again – it’s actually quite helpful!

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Working With the Law

In 2008 Raymond Holliwell wrote ‘Working With the Law’ later turned into an excellent audio programme by Bob Proctor and Mary Morrissey giving their interpretation and teaching about the book and these key Laws of the Universe.

You will probably have heard of the Law of Attraction, about which there are many books, notably Rhonda Byrne’s ‘The Secret’.

But you’ll probably have also heard – or even found – that the ‘Law of Attraction’ doesn’t work!

Well – it doesn’t.

It’s like the Laws of Physics.

You cannot just apply one of the Laws of Physics.

The Laws of Physics only ‘work’ when they are all put together.

You see, the Law of Attraction (LoA) is only the third Law – there are ten others.

And to make it work you and I have to apply them all.

In his book Holliwell devotes a chapter to each of them

  • The Law of Thinking
  • The Law of Supply
  • The Law of Attraction
  • The Law of Receiving
  • The Law of Increase
  • The Law of Compensation
  • The Law of Non-Resistance
  • The Law of Forgiveness
  • The Law of Sacrifice
  • The Law of Obedience
  • The Law of Success

Only when we put all these together and apply them all diligently can we achieve the outcomes promised by books like ‘The Secret’.

Only then can we achieve the outcome promised by the great ‘on stage’ speakers like Tony Robbins.

Only then does it all ‘make sense’ and lead to the abundance you and I are seeking.

But doesn’t it look like a lot of work?

Won’t it take a lot of study and learning?

Doesn’t it mean we’re going to have find other ways of doing things, doing things differently?

Yes to all.

Surely there’s an easier way?

Some people, many people, think so – because they have an alternative.

Another LoA.

It’s called the Law of Averages.

“Keep on doing what you’re doing, measure it, and eventually, according to the LoA, you’ll get the results you want”.

“If you make 100 phone calls and get 5 positive results, all you have to do is keep making the calls” – that’s the sort of thing that millions of people are told every year – especially if they get involved with Network Marketing.

“It’s just a numbers game”

Trouble is that the Law of Averages is a fake law.

It doesn’t exist.

There is no mathematical or any other basis for it.

It’s just a phenomenon of measurement.

Now there’s nothing wrong with measuring what we are doing, but it can be a little like doing our tax return – we sometimes interpret the numbers to give us the result we want.

“Lies, damned lies and statistics”

The trouble with statistics and the Law of Averages is that they come up with things, measures, ‘averages’ that are actually and sometimes physically impossible.

“The average family has 2.4 children”

I have yet to discover what 0.4 of a child is!

But that’s what the Law of Averages says – so it must be true.

But most people, and especially people engaged in ‘old school’ sales, believe that it works and that it’s true.

The thing it that it’s used as a crutch.

It’s used to make people feel better when they don’t get the results they want – “don’t worry, the Law of Averages says you’re bound to get some good results soon, just keep putting in the activity”.

And it’s used to help people feel safer – “flying is the safest form of travel – only one accident in so many million miles flown etc”.

Instead of relying on this fake law we need to do something else.

We need to apply the real Laws.

But there’s a catch.

It means change – and people hate change, or at least are not very keen on it, and would much rather avoid it.

Even to the extent of giving up on what they really want.

The Law of averages is not a ‘Law’ – it’s just a measuring device.

If what you’re doing isn’t giving you enough positive results then change what you’re doing.

Don’t wait for the results to just ‘turn up’ because the Law of Averages says they will.

Not going to happen!

You have to use the measurements of the results you get to find a way to change what you’re doing.

Test other ways of doing things – see if you get better results.

Work out other ways of doing things according to the real Laws of the Universe – all of them – the Law of Attraction won’t do it by itself.

Forget the Law of Averages – it will never make anything better happen.

It will never make anything change

Only you can do that

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Big Bang Theory

I remember astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle several years ago talking about the, then outlandish, theory that the Universe was created by a ‘big bang’ rather than somehow slowly evolving from nothing.

Now it’s pretty much accepted by most of the scientific community that a ‘big bang’ is exactly what happened.

And what’s more it lines up with the ‘creation by God’ explanation given by most religions.

Apart from the question of timing, the main argument that religion has with science though is ‘how does evolution fit in?’

Religions would say that everything was created in a ‘perfect’ state, and that includes you and I, but then there was some sort of ‘fall from grace’ where ‘we’ became less than perfect in some way – as explained in the various religious texts.

Science on the other hand, more or less proposes the opposite.

Everything was created in a big bang but the ‘first version’ was not necessarily ‘perfect’.

Things evolved to get ‘better’ in some way.

It’s going on all the time.

You and I are evolving and growing through circumstances, actions and experiences.

And we continue to evolve, or ‘upgrade’ the things we have created to make them work better or be better.

Sometimes it’s called ‘reinventing the wheel’ – although strangely some people don’t like that idea, maybe they think it means ‘recreating the wheel’.

We’ve ‘reinvented, evolved or upgraded the wheel to make it work better.

I doubt if the original wheel that was created would be much use on a Formula 1 car!

The thing is though, that there wasn’t just one creation, one ‘big bang’.

‘Big bangs’ are happening all the time.

Every birth is a big bang. Whether that’s a human, animal or plant.

Every new product or service concept is a big bang

Every new connection that we make with someone is a big bang

And most of all, every new idea is a big bang.

You see, we’re ‘creating’ all the time, every day, every hour maybe, new stuff happens.

And then it starts to grow and evolve.

It starts to ‘get better’.

People grow, relationships grow, business offerings grow, ideas grow – and as well, they all ‘evolve’.

They change and develop.

They ‘get better’.

And sometimes they don’t.

Sometimes the evolution and growth stop, for one of two reasons:

  • The creation may have developed into it’s highest and best form. It’s ‘perfection’.

It can’t ‘go’ any further.

It will ‘freeze’ in that form and ‘become part of the furniture’, or it will become extinct and just ‘disappear’.

How many ideas for example, have you and I had that have just ‘disappeared’ at some stage in their development when we realised they couldn’t ‘go any further’?

  • Or, the creation may not have fully developed because of some sort of ‘fault’ that prevents further evolution.

Again, there are two solutions to this:

It could be abandoned and ‘left to die’ naturally – as have many ‘great idea’ products that never ‘made the grade’.

Or it could be healed.

It could be fixed, repaired, reworked, cured, – it could be healed.

Healing is a process akin to decluttering, removing the bits that aren’t necessary, maybe the ‘quick fixes’ that have been added during the evolutionary growth processes.

Healing is also about repairing the bits and pieces of an object, a relationship, a body, that have been broken or damaged along the evolutionary road.

Healing makes things better – and restarts that process with the unnecessary or incorrect parts, beliefs, processes and such like removed and with the damaged parts repaired.

And obviously it can be quite complex and time consuming.

But the choice is simple – ‘bin it’ or heal it.

But when your ‘imperfect’ creation has reached that obstruction in the road, that’s the choice you have to make.

Think about it, I’ve done it, and you’ve done it.

Very few creations, if any, and that includes the Universe itself, reach perfection.

Growth and evolution continue.

“Getting better all the time”

And the ‘big bangs’ keep coming like a myriad of sparks of energy creating ‘new stuff’ all the time.

Which then gets better through the normal course of things.

Until.

Until something goes ‘wrong’ and needs fixing.

Until something needs healing.

And often that’s where it can all go horribly wrong.

Because you and I get the healing process wrong.

We use the wrong technology, the wrong energy, the wrong process.

We try to use a healing process inconsistent with the energy of the ‘big bang’ that created whatever we are attempting to heal.

To be successful in healing, the energy, process or technology used must be on the same wavelength as that of the creation of whatever we want to heal.

And not only that, we shouldn’t attempt to ‘heal’ something that isn’t the root cause of the problem. We shouldn’t attempt to heal the symptoms – the ‘paracetamol’ or ‘sticking plaster’ approach just doesn’t work.

If anything, it makes the problem worse by ‘hiding’ it.

What do you need to heal today?

What’s the root cause of the ‘problem’?

What are you going to do?

Maybe it needs another ‘big bang’ to find the answer!

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Open Goal

You and I have often heard the phrase “it’s a no-brainer” and may even have used it ourselves.

It’s something that’s said when we perceive that an opportunity is staring us, or someone else, in the face.

The ‘low hanging fruit’ ready and waiting to be harvested.

There’s an ‘open goal’ right in front of us.

So why do people (and that includes you and I sometimes) ignore it, pass it by, disregard the ‘opportunity now here’ and continue looking for the ‘opportunity nowhere’?

It’s not that we consider the opportunity, evaluate it and decide against it, it’s that we just don’t seem to ‘see’ it – even though it can be right in front of us.

It may be that we’re looking for the ‘ideal’ opportunity – whatever that might be – which unfortunately more often than not, is the opportunity that’s nowhere.

Or it may be that we do ‘have a look’ to attempt to evaluate whether or not it is right for us.

The trouble is that most people, when doing this, ask all the wrong questions.

They want to know ‘what it will be like’ if they take this opportunity.

They want to know if it will ‘work’.

They want to know how much it will ‘cost’, not just in terms of money but also in terms of the time an energy that they might need to put into it.

And then there’s the concept of ‘opportunity cost’ – what do you and I have to ‘give up’ when we take this opportunity?

How will it impact other things we are doing or want to do?

And this goes on into a long series of ‘what if?’ questions by which time the ‘open goal’ is no longer open.

And here’s the thing –

Someone will take up that opportunity, someone will ‘steal your thunder’, someone will take advantage of your hesitation or prevarication.

While we figure out all the pros and cons and agonise over all the ‘what ifs?’ someone will take Sir Richard Branson’s advice:

“If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you’re not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later”

Ideas are the same.

Ideas are opportunities that come to you ‘out of the blue’ – but they don’t just come to you. ‘The Blue’ sends them to other people as well.

There are many examples of people who have an idea, fail to act on it, and then discover that someone else has implemented the exact same idea – even though they never mentioned it to anyone!

Opportunities present themselves in all sorts of ways besides ideas. They can be products that come on the market, they can be services that are offered to us.

In fact, an opportunity is really anything that you’ve not seen or heard of before or even have previously disregarded as not relevant.

The upside is, as Branson also said, that, like buses, there is always another opportunity coming along.

But why wait for the next bus when this one is ‘now here’?

It may be to do with where that particular ‘bus’ is going, where that particular opportunity is leading.

You and I may not think that the opportunity is consistent with our overall vision of the life we would love to live, or with one or more of the goals we’ve identified on the way there.

The other day I ignored the advice from my Satnav to take a longer route and continued on my usual route which is normally shorter and quicker.

Because of that rigidity in my goals I arrived at my destination 12 minutes later than I would have done if I’d taken the opportunity offered by my device.

I ignored that open goal.

Why?

Because I was locked into a closed goal – a fixed idea of what I needed to do.

You see, we need to set ‘open’ goals.

I’ve already discussed not attaching targets to goals (when, how much etc.) but now I’m going one step further.

You and I need to be more flexible with our actual goals – remembering of course that our goals are only waypoints on the road to achieving our overall vision.

Sometimes we need or want to be able to go a different ‘way’.

To change our goals when appropriate to take advantage of opportunities that are offered.

To keep our goals ‘open’.

To allow ourselves to follow up on the opportunities that are presented to us.

But that doesn’t mean taking all opportunities that come along regardless.

We still need to evaluate them for a level of consistency with our overall vision and to ensure that taking a particular opportunity wouldn’t take us in a completely ‘wrong direction’.

This can be done quickly – we don’t have to go into all the details, examine the entrails or consult the runes – just a quick check or even a ‘gut feeling’ using our intuition is all it needs.

But we must ‘check it out’ and not ignore it.

We may never get that particular opportunity again – and it could make a huge positive difference to the way and speed with which we realise our overall vision.

What opportunity is staring you in the face today?

What’s your ‘open goal’?

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Losing the Plot

We’ve lost the plot!

As a species – as ‘the human race’ – we’ve lost the plot.

(And I’m sorry to say that, mostly, includes you and I)

We’ve forgotten.

Forgotten why we’re here

Forgotten Who We Are

Forgotten What We Are

‘Humanity’ as a whole has lost the plot.

Some individuals have forgotten, some were never aware that they had anything to forget.

Now I could spend a lot of time explaining this but it’s all been explained before.

It’s all in many ancient texts, it’s all in the Bible, its all in the Qur’an and more recently it’s all in ‘Conversations with God’ as recorded by Neale Donald Walsch.

But still very few people understand.

That we are an infinite being in a human body and that we have infinite capability.

That we are here, not to fulfil some ‘destiny’ or universal ‘cunning plan’, not to ‘play a part’ in the ‘grand scheme of things’, but simply to experience whatever we want to experience and choose to experience.

When we experience anything in any way it gets automatically recorded.

It becomes knowledge – knowledge like ‘now we know what happens when . . .’

And this knowledge becomes part of the overall ‘human experience’ – it may even influence the choices that other individuals make.

We can do pretty much anything – and if you look at the texts we’ve done it before.

We used to keep the same body for much longer in time than we do now before we transitioned to another body or another plane, we used to be free of dis-ease, we used to be free of conflict, and we used to be free of all the third dimensional ‘problems’ that afflict our lives now.

It’s all there, despite the efforts of many to suppress knowledge in pursuit of power.

So how is this relevant to now?

First, there is more and more awareness growing about the situation we are in.

Many people are realizing the truth – and now, now that we are no longer in the ‘dark ages’ they aren’t being burnt at the stake because of it – even though in some places and cultures things are still a little ‘backward’.

What’s relevant though is the idea of the Trinity.

Mind : Body : Spirit  – which has been put many ways, often through mistranslation.

The ‘Body’ is our third dimensional reality, it’s the part of us that takes the actions that we need to take to survive and grow.

The ‘Mind’ is the part of us that makes the decisions, the choices, and commands the body to do what needs to be done to support those decisions or choices.

The ‘Spirit’ is the part of us that creates the ‘vision’ or ‘dream’ for our future – even if that future is only about what’s going to happen in the next half-hour. The Spirit is where the intention to achieve or experience something is set.

Now here’s the thing.

You’ll have heard about the Law of Attraction and you may have read Rhonda Byrne’s book ‘The Secret’.

Trouble is that it’s not actually the whole secret, only a bit of it, the first bit.

This and lots of other books like it focus on one thing – creating the vision and maybe setting the intention to achieve that vision.

But then it stops.

Because setting the intention is the easy part.

It takes no effort whatsoever and it can be great fun – anyone can write a ‘bucket list’ – all the things you’d really love to do, the life you’d love to have, and the person you’d love to be.

And that’s great.

But it doesn’t get you anywhere.

You have to take the next step.

You have to choose.

You have to make the choice to realise each intention – to actually go ahead and make it come true.

Because unless you do that it will forever remain on that bucket list – as an intention.

But what does ‘choosing’, making a choice, mean?

Making a choice for one of your intentions – and you and I can only choose for one at a time by the way – means making a commitment.

A commitment to yourself – although you can get others to help, to keep you accountable for implementing your choice – as an ‘accountability partner’.

And the commitment, the choice, is to take action – real action.

It’s no good just intending to take action because it never happens.

You have to make the choice first, you cannot leave that step out.

Why, because your Spirit where the intention is set, doesn’t have control of your Body that takes the action.

Your Body doesn’t ‘report’ to the Spirit, it ‘reports’ to the Mind – and the Mind is the part of you responsible for making choices.

For each intention you make a choice.

First to implement it now or later, but when you choose to ‘do it now’ you then have to make a choice about what action to take.

And remember that the choice to not take a certain action that might be counter-productive is still a choice to take action.

Some of these choices can be really really small – maybe having one less spoonful of sugar in your tea.

Other choices can be big and may encompass several separate consequential and parallel actions – some sort of ‘project plan’.

You choose to take action and your Body deploys the effort needed to carry out that action, maybe physical effort, maybe intellectual effort, maybe emotional effort.

All action requires an effort of some sort – and different individuals find those ‘efforts’ hard or easy.

Intention – requires no effort, no stress, it’s just fun

Choice – may require a little effort, maybe not – it depends how much you ‘want’ to realise the intention that the choice is about.

Action – always requires effort of some sort

There are plenty of books, programmes and coaches who will help you with your intentions.

There are quite a few that can help you make choices

But you can’t learn action from a book, and although a coach can help they can’t do it for you.

If you set an intention to learn to swim and make a choice to get on and do it you can only learn by taking the appropriate action, getting in the water and giving it a go.

You can’t learn to swim by reading a book.

You can’t learn to DO anything other than by just doing it.

You might be able to learn how to, but that’s not a lot of use until you actually do.

What are you choosing to do today?

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The Story So Far

“I wanna tell you a story” – was one of Max Bygraves’ signature lines (if you’re old enough to remember!).

You and I are ‘always’ hearing stories, often telling stories.

Stories are one of the things that identify us as humans. Other animals can appreciate music and art, but unless dolphin language actually recounts stories, we are the only story-telling species.

Stories are really important.

Most of what we learn and most of the decisions we make are based, one way or another, on stories.

Stories we tell and stories we hear.

But what is a ‘story’?

There are lots of definitions –

The first is usually “an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment”

Then there’s –

“An account of past events in someone’s life or in the development of something”

And

“A report of an item of news in a newspaper, magazine, or broadcast.”

And I would say somewhat allied to that,

“A piece of gossip, a rumour, a false statement, a lie”.

And there are more

But that’s not the whole story!

In general, a story is some sort of narrative, maybe chronological, sometimes not, describing things that happened.

According to the writer.

Our dreams are like stories as well, and they are definitely not in any sort of order, jumping from time and place and back again as if we were switching between parallel universes – but they still usually present as some sort of story!

Also, as can be seen from the above, stories are not necessarily ‘true’. In fact, they are very rarely, if ever, “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”.

Some stories are pure fiction, some are the ‘truth’ embellished, some are the ‘facts’ with a few left out and maybe a few added.

Stories cannot be relied upon as a historical record – even the word ‘his-story’ gives it away; ‘history’ is someone’s story about what happened, someone’s opinion often coloured by political bias.

Shakespeare’s ‘histories’ are a prime example of this, written in the light of the politics of the Tudor dynasty – telling the ‘story’ that they wanted the people to hear.

The phenomenon of ‘fake news’ is not much different other than that it deals with the present rather than the past.

People with different views create stories to illustrate or emphasise their stance on any particular matter.

The thing is that we as a species just love stories.

We thrive on them.

We can’t live without them.

And that includes the people like you and I who are not addicted to the TV ‘soaps’ or ‘reality’ shows which attempt to create a ‘live’ story unfolding as you watch.

You and I use stories all the time.

We use them to promote what we do, we tell the stories of our successes and even sometimes our failures – all to make a point.

The Bible writers were expert at this, they wrote down stories or ‘parables’ to make a point, as Aesop did with his ‘fables’ before that.

We learn from stories, we form our opinions from stories, we grow and develop from listening to and telling stories.

From my work as a tutor with Warwick Business School I accumulated several very thick academic textbooks and, especially with Marketing and Organisational Behaviour, but also even with Accounting, all of these books are peppered with ‘case studies’ – stories of how particular companies resolved an issue or developed something new.

Without all those stories the books would have been very inefficient learning tools!

Without stories, you and I would probably by unable to function efficiently either.

You and I want to hear peoples’ stories and you and I want to tell our stories.

We want to tell our stories so that people know who we are, and we want to hear others’ stories so we can get an idea of who they are.

And, you know what, as we tell our stories and listen to others’ stories we get a better understanding of Who We Really Are.

But there’s something else – something really clever, and really important.

Stories are not always about the past.

We can create stories about the future – but that doesn’t have to just be ‘science-fiction’.

Although ‘SF’ has occasionally been very accurate at predicting things that have happened in reality.

You see, if you write your ‘future story’ and if you write it clearly and in detail then there is a high probability that it, or something quite close to it, will actually come to pass.

You don’t even have to write it down (although that helps) just visualise it clearly.

Be careful though what you visualise or ‘think through’ because if you’re not clear then things you don’t want might happen or you may realise your vision in an unexpected, and not necessarily ‘good’ way.

As Oasis put it in 1995 – “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory”

And in no particular order :

Where or who are you now, how did you get here, where are you going, who do you want to be?

What’s YOUR story?

Go on, I dare you, write it down!

All of it.

You never know, it might come true.

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Personal Profile

You and I are familiar with the idea of ‘profiling’, usually on the basis of a ‘personality analysis’ in a business context but we also hear about ‘profiling’ being done by the security and intelligence services to identify potential threats.

But what about the concept of a multi-dimensional profile?

You have one.

I have one

Everyone has one

A ‘dimension’ is just a concept.

It helps us to understand the Universe and how it ‘works’ – dimensions as such don’t really ‘exist’ in their own right.

The dimensions are explained in more detail in “Life Mastery Matters” which you can find on the Life Mastery UK website (lifemasteryuk.com) but here’s a quick definition.

The 1st Dimension is just a ‘point’ – an infinitesimally small point – in fact it cannot have any ‘size’ otherwise it would be two-dimensional.

The 2nd Dimension has only length and height – it is ‘flat’ such as a picture or image.

The 3rd Dimension symbolises the physical existence of ourselves and all the objects we deal with.

The 4th Dimension has been described – as the ‘space-time continuum’ or as ‘awareness’, ‘consciousness’ or ‘thought’.

The 5th Dimension is primarily to do with energy and is the first dimension of the Soul outside of time and space

Beyond this there are further dimensions but that’s another story – we can only get as far as the 5th (as far as we knew now!)

Now here’s the thing.

You and I are 3rd dimensional beings inhabited by a 5th dimensional being – our soul, spirit or conscience/consciousness, and the relationship between the two exists in the 4th dimension.

To help understand all this we can draw up three personal profiles:

Our third dimensional profile is our physical profile – it’s all about the body and all the functions of the body and how it works – it’s what you get when you go for a full medical checkup that measures everything.

Our fourth dimensional profile comes from one of the many ‘personality profile’ analyses, most of which are based on C G Jung’s theory of four basic personality types.

It attempts to explain how we think, how we ‘work’ and how we interact with others.

The only problem with this is because Jung’s theory is effectively ‘out of copyright’, there are as many different interpretations as there are analysts, ascribing different names letters and ‘colours’ to each of the four traits and also subdividing them into deeper and deeper levels.

In summary though the fourth dimensional analysis is really about how we think about things, how we perceive the three-dimensional world around us.

Our fifth dimensional profile is a bit different in that it describes in some detail who we really are, where we came from – ‘where we’re coming from’ – on a spiritual or ‘soul’ level.

This is a relatively new technique and as a practitioner I am finding that it provides some profound and really useful additional information.

Together with the 3rd and 4th dimensional profiles the 5th dimensional profile provides you and I with a complete picture of ourselves.

Which is fine if –

If we use all this valuable information as a basis for action, as a basis for achieving our visions of who we want to be and what we want to do.

If we use the tools and follow the guidance that comes along with each level of analysis.

And of course, if you and I have our visions in the first place and have set our intentions accordingly.

Now that sounds simple but sometimes, as you and I well know, it isn’t.

It’s where the difference between easy and simple comes in – it sounds simple, but it’s not always easy.

Sometimes its quite difficult to take the action required, and sometimes it’s really difficult to go down the ‘diy’ route and attempt it all ourselves – even though that can be tempting.

“I can fix this” doesn’t always work or if it does it can take a lot of time and money.

Most people are happy with the idea that if their 3rd dimensional profile shows up problems with their physical existence they can go to a ‘healer’, usually a doctor of medicine, and get it repaired, or go to an exercise class or engage a personal trainer to improve their physical condition.

But sadly, when it comes to our 4th and 5th dimensional profiles the situation is different in that there is very little awareness or understanding of how similar action can be taken.

(Besides the fact that most people don’t even know that they exist in those dimensions!)

Our 4th dimensional profile is largely a result of the network of pathways we’ve built in our brains over the years (most of them in the very early years) which determine the way we think and perceive the world around us.

Up until quite recently it was believed in the scientific community that, once set up, these pathways could not be changed, but thanks to research done into autism, this has been proved wrong.

The way you and I think can be changed, can be brought up to date and can be ‘upgraded to ‘fix the bugs’ in our thinking and perception.

But, unlike the 3rd dimension, not by ‘traditional medicine’.

It’s done by holistic therapies, including hypnotherapy, that deal with the mind and body together on the one hand and by transformational (or ‘life’) coaching on the other – and there are exercises we can do, usually involving some form of meditation.

Specialist techniques such as Energy Healing and Marisa Peer’s Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) can also be deployed.

Dealing with issues that may arise from our 5th dimensional profile is in its infancy but one thing we do know is that it’s important to clear any issues with the 4th dimension before we can work on the 5th.

The techniques used there can be refocused to deal with who we are rather than how we think but we still need some additional help.

When you have a 5th dimensional profile analysis done the practitioner will be able to clear some of the issues for you – a technique known as Soul Realignment developed by Andrrea Hess. Similarly, a practitioner in the Hawaiian ritual of Ho’oponopono as implemented by Dr Ihaleakala Hew Len, can perform a similar service. Both of these are carried out remotely but may include some exercises that you can do yourself.

In addition, Kathy Maslowski in the UK has developed a process of 5th Dimensional Healing which is an extension of the holistic therapies used in treatment of 4th dimensional issues. This is a hands-on treatment that successfully integrates non-medical treatment of issues in all three dimensions.

Most reputable life coaching programmes will also help to address ‘who you are’ as well.

Is it time for a multidimensional profile check-up?

Warning: It could ‘change’ you!

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Multiple Choice

In any ‘emerging market’ a huge number of seemingly alternative products and services start to appear.

Sometimes one of many implementations of the benefit requirement being served will emerge as the ‘leader’ and effectively suffocate the others.

Usually because it is either does the job better or does it at lower cost, or both, or because it is, although not ‘perfect’, a better all-round solution.

VCR won out over Betamax because although the latter was probably technically ‘better’, VCR was easier to produce and use.

Of course, they are both ‘obsolete’ now as people have found different, better, easier, cheaper ways of achieving the required result.

Occasionally a ‘market winner’ might be just be the ‘first ‘on the scene or perhaps the biggest player and gain a competitive advantage.

We still talk about doing the ‘Hoovering’ even though we use a Dyson to do it.

We still use ‘Sellotape’ even though we usually use some other brand of the eponymous ‘sticky back plastic’ of ‘Blue Peter’ fame.

And now, instead of ‘searching’ on the world wide web – we ‘Google’ – (other search engines are available!)

But in most markets, there are a plethora of solutions, after all, we don’t call all cars ‘Fords’ (like we do with the vacuum cleaners), we call them by their brand name.

And there are many brands and sub brands to choose from, all of which have their individual characteristics.

Generally, all the brands serving a market do pretty much the same thing. A car is a car, and it may come with different features and benefits from other cars, but it still provides the fundamental benefit of individually controlled road travel.

All the different brands in any market must provide that fundamental benefit to the members of the market, the consumers – individuals, whether they are representing their own interests or the interests of an employer.

A ‘market’ is a group of people seeking the satisfaction of a particular need or want – a particular benefit.

And just as a side comment, there’s no such thing as ‘business to business’ – unless you can introduce me to a business that doesn’t employ humans.

Maybe it would happen between two businesses entirely populated by computers and robots, where all the shareholders are also robots with no humans involved whatsoever!

Markets are composed of people, just people. Who they represent is relevant, but they are still just people.

Sometimes you get a brand who demonstrate the ‘Marmite’ principle. Unilever who manufacture it came up with an advertising campaign that people either love it or hate it – in which there is actually a good deal of truth.

And it applies to all sorts of other brands, probably the most prominent being Microsoft and Apple.

But Apple has taken it a step further – they’ve created a ‘tribe’ – a very large group of people who must have the latest Apple product, phone, tablet or computer, as soon as it is released.

They always upgrade, regardless of whether there is any real benefit enhancement to be gained.

Other smartphone brands are (sorry Apple people) just as good – they provide the same benefits, perhaps in a slightly different way, but they meet the same needs and wants of the people buying them and this is the case in all markets.

Sometimes they are looking for a solution to a problem that they need to resolve, sometimes they are looking for an opportunity to develop or move forward in some way.

One of the biggest ‘emerging markets’ has to do with just that – development.

Personal Development, Physical development, Business development (personal development in a different context), and the latest addition to the category – Spiritual development.

This ‘development’ market has been ‘emerging’ for a long time. Back in the early part of the 20th Century it was called ‘self-help’ and was serviced by thousands of books and audio recordings.

But it stagnated, it turned into ‘shelf help’ because many of the books were never read and the audios never heard.

It wasn’t until the internet and world wide web arrived that it ‘took off’ again.

A vast amount of learning materials, courses and programmes have become available on-line, and alongside that there has been massive growth in the numbers of coaches, therapists and other practitioners in the various techniques that have now become available.

There had always been coaching and mentoring going on and there had always been counsellors and therapists – but only in a limited number of disciplines and techniques.

Now, for those who want to engage with this, there are a huge number of choices they can make.

There are so many different techniques and programmes providing similar benefits, and although this is a gross generalization, like cars, they all do much the same thing in terms of the benefits they provide.

On the one hand this is good but on the other, when faced with too much choice, people generally go for the ‘do nothing’ option.

So, faced with a multiplicity of brands that seem to do much the same thing, how do you and I make a choice?

The first thing to realise is that there is no ‘right’ answer, and there is rarely a ‘best’ choice.

There is however a ‘worst’ choice.

You and I can usually spot this quite quickly, not because ‘it sounds too good to be true’ but because someone is trying hard, trying very hard, to sell it to us.

Now

Today

(You can overdo ‘scarcity’ with an offer)

Have you ever noticed that those here today gone tomorrow offers always pop up again a few months later?

The answer to your multiple-choice conundrum is simple.

  • Don’t get pushed into purchasing – or even pulled into making a decision.
  • Do your research. Look at all the options that attract you
  • Do your due diligence and check the credibility of whoever is making the offer
  • Pick out the offers that suit you best – be clear what each offer entails
  • If you’re choosing a coach or therapist meet or talk to them via Zoom or Skype first
  • Choose what and who aligns or resonates with you best

Remember the guidelines

  • Be clear what benefit you are seeking
  • There is no right or best choice
  • In any form of development, personal, business, physical or spiritual, it’s about you, not them.

Oh, and by the way, we can’t do any of this development work by ourselves, you and I need coaches, mentors, therapists and trainers – otherwise it all becomes expensive ‘shelf help’!

All really successful people have them – including the successful coaches, mentors, therapists and trainers!

Do you?

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