6 Things You Can Do To Change The Economy

February 9, 2012 By

6 things you can do to change your personal economy

The past few years have seen an economic meltdown the likes of which most of us alive have never experienced. It’s all around us. The Stock market is at 1980′s lows. Companies world wide are falling like bowling pins. Millions of people are out of work or facing imminent layoffs. The news is full of grim experts like “Dr. Doom” predicting the end of the world as we know it. As I checked my yahoo e-mail this morning I was greeted with this headline:

Even ‘Dr. Doom’ Is Scared: Economy Much Worse Than Roubini Predicted

Don’t follow the link above! I only put it in here to improve my search engine ranking. :o )

So a few thoughts and some options that I am using myself to stay hopeful and positive in spite of all the gloom and doom around you.

  1. STOP LISTENING TO THE NEWS! or at least use a grim news story to improve your search engine rankings like I did above. After all that’s what the news folks are using to make their businesses prosper. Think about it! What businesses do you know are still doing really well? Who benefits if you are freaked out? The more eyeballs the News media can get the more advertising they can sell. So I’ll say it again. STOP WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE NEWS! BTW do you know what city is booming and growing in these hard times? Washington DC! Talk about thriving in a crisis!
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  2. Listen to positive, hopeful music. I‘ve created a special website to help lift your spirits it’s called: Positive-Songs.com  You can get a “Positive Song-a-day” to burn it into your Rostromedial Pre-Frontal Cortex (that’s where catchy tunes get “stuck”).
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  3. Make a list of the miracles in your life and all the abundance you have right now. I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. You did not have to mine your own salt eh? You have people who do that for you! If you are reading this that means you have a computer and access to the world wide web! You are RICH. Focus on right now. At this very moment do you have clothes? Do you have running water? Do you have enough food for today? Do you have heat? Got shoes? Socks?
    .
    It sounds simple but it’s all about shifting your focus from one of lack to one of abundance. Speaking of the internet, there are huge opportunities for people who understand the new Web 2.0 social media and how to connect to prospects and customers on line.
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  4. Say this to your self and write it out by hand 100 times (yes 100 times): “Why Does It Work Out Better Than I Can Possibly Imagine?” This will begin to re-program your unconscious mind to filter for good news rather than bad. Go ahead. I dare you. No. I double dare you. No. I double dog dare you! This is one of my own most used anti-anxiety practices.
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  5. Go to CRUSHAnxiety.com. I have some significant tips there about how to stop anxiety (even financial anxiety, or doomsday anxiety). For way less than a talk therapy session or a bottle of scotch you can discover 7 secrets to stop anxiety and panic attacks fast.
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  6. If you need serious help ask for it. Either from me or from another NLP practitioner. Sometimes a big part of making significant changes is simply the act of asking for help. I work with select clients one on one in person, over the phone or using Skype. Because of how rich we are in technology, you can work with me from anywhere in the world!
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    Many of my clients have learned how to destroy their fears and anxious thinking patterns and gone on to double, triple and even quintuple their incomes (even in these scary times).
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    If you need help I can often get people significant relief in just one or two NLP phone sessions. Some folks need more support. I charge either by the hour or a flat fee. I will also consider barter. So please do not let your current beliefs in “lack” stop you from getting help. E-mail me at mark[at] MarkShepard.com or call my office at (888)598-7709

So just a few thoughts and resources for you. Please take advantage of whatever feels right for you. Remember:

  • We can not change the world but we can change how we respond to the world.
  • We can change how we perceive the world.
  • We can change how we interact with the world.
  • We can use these challenging times as a motivational tool to think outside the box of our old patterns and routines.
  • We can use these times as opportunity triggers.
  • Are there problems you can help other people solve?
  • Are there talents and abilities you’ve always wanted an opportunity to use?
  • Now’s the time to start giving yourself permission to explore them.

I love you all and send you my best wishes and hopes for you all day every day!

Mark

 

Photo by Gerard Van Der Leun www.Flickr.com

Filed Under: anxiety, clear the fear, mass hysteria, nlp, panic attack Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brainwashing vs. Influence

July 30, 2009 By

What’s the difference between being brainwashed and being influenced?

And by the way I’m not suggesting that you totally agree with everything in this post because I’m a nice guy and have your best interests at heart.

It’s just that you know there are times when you find yourself suddenly craving a big Mac or salivating about that new GM muscle car or the new Ford mustang or just absolutely have to have those special tooth whitening strips so you’ll be more attractive…

And moments before you watched the commercial or read the ad, you weren’t even thinking about it.

The question is….are you being brainwashed? Or just influenced?

According to my secret sources in the US Military, for brainwashing to be present all 5 of the following conditions must be met. So ask yourself now

  1. Have you been removed from your normal environment of influence or confined to the “compound” and not allowed to leave no contact with “outside”?
  2. Have you been deprived of sleep getting less than 6 hours per night? (psst are your children brainwashing you?)
  3. Are you given emotional, physical or psychological pain or punishment if you disagree?
  4. Do you get pleasure or rewards if you agree to “get with the program”?
  5. Has your bio-chemistry been forcibly changed through diet or drugs?

Now maybe one or two of these elements are present in your marriage, your job, your sports team, church, chamber of commerce, fraternity or sorority, etc.

But remember, all 5 elements must be present for more than a weekend. After all it may take a bit of time to be internalized into your unconscious mind.

Now. You don’t have to think about army basic training or “bootcamp” unless of course you want to…But if you were to think about it imagine this:

  1. You are far from home and confined to some sweltering, mosquito infested “base”
  2. You are woken up at the crack of dawn every day by scratchy recording of a bugle playing reveille. When you least expect it they wake you up in the middle of the night for “drills”.
  3. If you don’t “get with the program” you are shouted at, made to do extreme physical penance (“GIVE ME 50 PUSH-UPS WORM”) and are subject to other emotional and psychological punishment.
  4. If you get along and follow orders and are a good little soldier you get praise, awards, medals, shore leave, extra dessert etc.
  5. Think about the food in the military! Just eating S.O.S and mountains of potatoes every day will change your bio chemistry.

I don’t know why but all of a sudden I’m thinking about this Christian summer camp I went to with my church youth group for a week the summer between 9th and 10 grade….

Hmmm.

  1. I wasn’t in my normal environment. It was way nicer. A beautiful camp on a pristine lake in the mountains.
  2. They kept us up late singing songs and woke us up really early. Averaged about 5 hours a night.
  3. They didn’t shout or use overt physical pain. But they made use feel guilty as hell about all the impure thoughts we were having about the opposite (or same) sex. And all the sin we were carrying around with us. It felt painful to me. Very painful. So very, very painful. Forgive me Father for I have SINNED.
  4. If you gave your life to Jesus you got applause and that special feeling of “getting with the program.” Plus some of the cutes girls were serious bible thumpers and I wanted “in” with them. ooooo more SIN for which I must feel shame and guilt!
  5. Damn! No drugs or bizarre food. The food was good. For some people it was “better than home” Nobody was made to drink actual cool-aid or eat bugs.

So even though 4 out of 5 is pretty darn close, I managed to survive Christian summer camp with all my skepticism and doubts intact. Never underestimate the power of bad food or at least very different food to tip the brainwashing scales. It’s all in the details.

Now let’s talk about TV.

  1. You are not isolated from your normal environment of influence. When you’re watching the tube you are most definitely in a zombie like trance but you are usually sitting on your own couch.
  2. You’re sleep patterns are not interrupted. In fact many people prefer to fall asleep watching TV. There seem to be few reports of people sleep walking into a Hummer dealership with a bag of cash after falling asleep in front of the telly.
  3. A really good commercial may remind you of the pain you are already in and may anchor pleasure to the idea that you can get out of pain by making a decision and taking action. Think about your hard earned dollars sneaking out your leaky, inefficient old windows… pain.
  4. A master of influence will definitely link pleasure to his or her idea or outcome for you. … now think about how wonderful the snug, tight, energy efficient thermal windows will be as they save you bushels of cash over the next 30 years…
  5. An argument could be made that McDonalds food will change your body chemistry and get you hooked. Or all those pharmaceutical ads for the weight loss drug (with the rectal leakage side effect) could get you hooked and change your bio chemistry. But you’re still in your own home and they have yet to figure out how to get the TV to dispense their stuff. Plus, the other elements of brainwashing must also be present and you can…always….

….turn….off…..the ……TV.

So in a nutshell, TV advertising, is not brainwashing. Ads may be powerful. They may be insidious. They may be persuasive. They get stuck like a sappy love song in your rostromedial pre-frontal cortex and play over and over again. They may be hugely influential. They may be hypnotic, mesmerizing and trance inducing. They may not always be a force for good in our lives.

But you can always hit the off button…so it ain’t brainwashing.

Now I know you didn’t totally agree with everything I’ve said in the past or right now or in the future so if there are other things you agree with me on feel free to leave a comment below or just think of me as a genius for the next few moments….that’s right…I know you’re wondering and it’s a good thing to wonder what NLP language patterns I’ve woven throughout this post that just might influence you to not just think of me as a genius but as someone who’s got your best interests at heart…

I’m not suggesting you leave your comments and questions below!But if you did leave a comment below what would you feel good about saying? Thanx! – Mark

© 2009 by Mark Shepard


Filed Under: nlp, nlp in business, nlp in sales Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time Line Therapy vs. NLP Swish Pattern?

June 16, 2009 By

Just got this question from one of my NLP students and clients. I’m sharing it with his permission.

Hi mark I am wondering before you do swish patterns and other NLP techniques, don’t we really have to clear our fears with the Timeline Therapy Techniques™?

When we worked together 1:1 and I was able to allow joy to come in my life for the first time, it was a good start but my other issues about living life and business issues are still coming up.

When a fear comes up should I do Timeline on myself with the issue to get it clear first?  In other words what is the checklist to follow for tools to use when a fear arises that is holding me back?  I feel at this point I  should be able to use the tools I am learning in your course and what I picked up at our breakthrough session .

I really understand that we are the only ones that can cure ourselves.  Thanks so much.

-Name Witheld

Here’s my response:

An important Key to NLP Success: As long as we’re alive stuff will come up. It’s like your Unconscious Mind  “gets” that it can release stuff now and so it keeps offering up new “layers” to be addressed. I also want to remind us all that when we do make a major shift to not discount it or negate it just because there is still more work to do. There will always be more to shift. That why it’s so cool to have a wide choice of NLP tools to choose from.

I find that when I clear something with timeline it typically stays cleared if I have gotten the root cause event. Sometimes, I’ve had to go back and clear a slightly different limiting decision that seemed to have the same root cause.

I prefer to do time line therapy techniques ® to clear the limiting decision and chain of negative emotions first. Then I’ll use the swish pattern to “program” the new response I want into my neurology. If you do a Swish pattern enough times it’s cool because the old negative “knee-jerk” trigger will now bring up the desired state or picture.

It’s hard to give a “check-list” of first do a. then b. then c. I tend to follow my intuition with what to do when.

What I love about NLP, Hypnosis, Time Line and EFT is that I can do a lot of things on my own to clear stuff that comes up at the moment it gets in my face. That’s one reason I truly believe in teaching my clients how to take charge of their own change rather than see me as the “curer” or “healer”.  That said, sometimes though we just can’t get enough leverage on our selves to shift something.  At those moments it can save a lot of time and angst to get help from a trained practitioner of NLP.

In those cases, I find it a lot easier to have someone else do it with me. That’s yet another benefit of the NLP Training because you not only learn how to do the NLP techniques on your own for yourself and for other people, but you actually get to take turns with the other students in being the “client” in our 4 day bootcamp. So you can clear a lot of your own stuff in the process of learning NLP. You also make friends with other people who “get” you and who are interested in clearing their own issues and blocks. So it makes a lot of sense to come to the training and then do trades afterward with the students you meet.

If I’m in a moment of  “challenge” and I just need to shift something immediately, I  use EFT.  I tap and speak the “set up phrase” LOUDLY! It seems the more emotion I have towards clearing something the more powerful EFT tapping is. If you’d like to learn more about EFT click here:  Get a free EFT Starter package

Here’s an example:

“Even though I thought I’d cleared this @#^&*$%!@$*%$!@# problem, I deeply and completely accept myself!”
I do a couple rounds unashamedly focusing on the problem and wallowing loudly in the whiny victim mode as much as I want while tapping the EFT acupressure points. I have so much fun with this that often that’s enough to snap me out of my funk!

Then I start feeding in positive how and why questions like:
“Even though I haven’t yet found and released the root cause event of this challenge, why do I deeply and completely accept myself?”

Finally I just tap on

“Why do I deeply and completely accept myself and why does it work out better than I can possibly imagine?”
“Why do I love myself? Why do I attract all the resources and assistance I need to clear this once and for all?”
Why do I resolve this in a way that’s even better than I can possibly imagine?”
etc.
Usually EFT clears  pretty much everything from headaches to limiting beliefs.

If it doesn’t do the job for a particular issue I will next use swish patterns and other NLP submodalities techniques to get relief.

If I’m still not shifting the issue, then I will call one of my students/colleagues and get them to do Time Line Therapy with me. Sometimes I can do Time line by myself but I tend to space out and drift off unless someone is there keeping me on track.

Depending upon the issue, when I can’t get enough leverage on my “stuff” by myself, I call Joann Dunsing or Joe Schroder or Kathy McAfee or Kim Kasperian.

Remember that Tiger Woods has a coach and Michael Jordan had a coach. One of my greatest and most humbling lessons is that sometimes it saves a lot of time and money to get with someone who can get you the results you can’t always get on your own.

I have even just handed the Time Line Therapy™ script to someone who knew nothing about it and just had them read the damn thing. It worked like a charm because it kept me on task. The script doesn’t do the clearing, we do. So as you learn various techniques approach using them on your own issues or “stuff” with an attitude of wanton curiosity and playfulness.

I hope that answered the question and was helpful for those of you who are working to “Defeat The Dark Side In Your Personal And Professional Life. Master Your Mind For A Change with NLP!” :o )

Why does it work out better than you can possibly imagine?

-Mark Shepard, NLPT
Certified Master Practitioner and Trainer of NLP, Hypnosis & Time Line Therapy™

p.s. Any questions or comments? Leave them below. Please pass this post along on Twitter, or Facebook or StumbleUpon etc.

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Modern Jedi NLP Course – Week 1 (Audio Sample)

May 11, 2009 By

For a little taste of the training play the audio mp3 below from the Modern Jedi NLP Certification Live Training audios.

I start the NLP Training program off with a number of nested story loops inspired by the teaching tales of Milton Erickson …enjoy!

Want to learn more? Since the new On-Line/Hands-On NLP course is designed for you to go at your own pace you can still join our current class! Defeat the Dark Side in Your Personal or Professional Life. Master Your Mind For A Change with NLP (For less than a latte)

Click here to discover: Modern Jedi NLP Trainings

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NLP Q & A Call Part 1

April 30, 2009 By

This is Part 1 of a Question and Answer call about Mark Shepard’s Modern Jedi NLP Online Course (recorded 4/29/2009)

Introduction to the Modern Jedi NLP Online Course

  • Convenient
  • Affordable
  • Multi-media
  • NLP Community Master-Mind
  • A few examples of Real People Using NLP Michael Guerin and Rob Bronson
  • Graduates of this course will be able to be certified NLP Practitioners or they can just use the tools and techniques to improve their lives.

Q: What is NLP?

A: Neuro Linguistic Programming is all about how you run your mind. How you interpret the external world and make sense of it internally. It’s also the study of excellence. It’s also all about how you communicate with other people.

NLP is partly modeled on the work of Dr. Milton Erickson, MD “the father of Modern Hypnosis” as well as some of best Therapists, athletes, business people, etc.

Your behavior, thoughts, reactions, interpretations of the world, etc are under our control…if we knew how to access the “programs”. People can make incredible improvements in their lives, relationships and work rapidly.

Q: Can NLP help with changes where a person knows they should eat more vegetables but just never does?

A: Yes. I give a short introduction to NLP submodalities on the recording.

Q: A question about Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic channels of communication.

A: I give an example of making a quick change with a client using kinesthetic submodalities (over the phone while in the grocery store)

Q: How young can a client be and what intelligence level is needed for success with NLP?

A: Works great with kids. Works with all intelligence levels as long as a client can access their imagination.

Q: Can you explain about how your unconscious mind doesn’t recognize the difference between what is real and what is a memory or an imagined event?

A: Explained with example

Register for the Modern Jedi NLP Online Mind Mastery Course

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Modern Jedi Launch, nlp, NLP online course, NLP submodalities Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study Part 2

April 24, 2009 By

This is Emily Bernard’s second post about the NLP personal breakthrough session we did to address the PTSD she was experiencing after having been stabbed 14 years ago. If you’re just joining the story you can get the Introduction and Part 1 here:

Emily Bernard writes:

“Mark and I began our first session with an interview. He asked me a series of questions about the problems—anxiety, fear, dread—I have experienced since I was stabbed in 1994.

His questions made me think.

They weren’t the usual “What happened? And then what happened?” kinds of queries. Mark’s questions put me in the center, if that makes sense.

Immediately, he was guiding me to reframe the event—and the enduring negative feelings created by my memory—so that I could see myself as having a role—not in what happened (the past is the past, of course), but in my subsequent reactions to it.

I once read somewhere that humans use only a small fraction of their enormous brain power throughout their lifetimes. It wasn’t that I felt my brain expanding as Mark and I talked, but his questions led me to a new doorway in my mind. Suddenly, the literature he sent me about the powers of the unconscious mind began to make sense. We have more control over what goes on inside of our heads than we often believe we do.

After more than an hour of this intensive interview, Mark and I broke for lunch. Again, I was impressed by his gentle spirit, his warmth and sparkle. He was as eager to get back to work as I was. So, after this short break, we began again.

The second part of our session involved reconstructing a timeline. Mark guided me back in time as I explored the roots of negative emotions and limiting decisions. We went further back than I was honestly comfortable with—at first. For me, I think the strength of this work is how much it pushed me to do and think things that I wasn’t comfortable with. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and all those habitual ways of understanding and narrating myself and my relationship to the world.

Mark and I went into the recesses of my memory, and I found myself able to recount experiences that I had thought I had buried. I was able to speak about things that I had talked only to a few other people about.

Mark was not judgmental; his demeanor was calm and relaxed the entire time. Because I felt safe, I went further and further back. And before I knew it, I was ready to be hypnotized.”

- Emily Bernard

In part 3 I’ll share what those questions were that I asked Emily as well as key ways what I do is different from traditional therapy.

In part 4 Emily will share her experience of being hypnotized…

In the meantime if you’d like to:

Defeat the Dark Side and Master Your Mind For A Change.
Discover How You Can Learn NLP in 17 Minutes A Day For Less Than A Latte

Filed Under: agoraphobia, anxiety, clear the fear, hypnosis, nlp, panic attack, trauma Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Protected: Reinventing NLP

April 3, 2009 By

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Panic Attacks

March 9, 2009 By

My Dad forwarded an e-mail to me today with an article from the Health Sciences Institute News letter. It was a story about a panic attack sufferer who got a major amount of relief by taking a supplement called Inositol (a natural substance found in the human body). Interestingly, she also used a specific mind control technique to take command of her thoughts.

“I came to realize the panic attacks were not uncontrollable once I understood how they started and grew. I was basically creating my own panic by bouncing back and forth between past guilts and fears, to future non-existent terrors. Back and forth, again and again.

“Now I anchor myself in the present. I force myself to think about what I’m saying, force myself to stop recalling past ‘nasties’ and force myself to stop imagining them as even nastier future outcomes. I stay right here, right now, in the present. It takes determination and effort, but it works.”

Read the Full Health Sciences Institute News Letter Article

In my experience the more tools you have at your disposal the greater your chances of drug free relief. If a small dose of a supplement can help I’m not against it. I am against the pattern in our culture of treating the symptom but doing nothing for the cause.

The work I do with clients one on one and in my “Crush Anxiety” calls is all about clearing the root cause and having a full arsenal of easy to use tools to master your mind for a change. Using the NLP and Time Line Therapy™ processes I teach as well as Self Hypnosis and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) it is often possible to eliminate phobias, anxiety and panic attacks in a very short period of time. Everything I do is designed to put the client in a place of power where you are in charge of your own mind. Another point I want to make is that by working with your unconscious mind instead of fighting it, you don’t have to necessarily use “force” to control your mind.

A recent example of this is the client I worked with on Friday. Emily had been physically attacked in a public place some 14 years ago and up until Friday, whenever she went anywhere she fully expected to be attacked and hurt. Here’s the voice mail message she left me a day later:

“I feel great! I walked to the bank today and had no feeling of fear about getting shot. And I owe this to you. The old pattern is just a distant memory. I’m feeling really excellent and really happy.”

Notice she did not say, that as she walked to the bank she forced herself to think positive thoughts. The changes we make sometimes require conscious awareness but almost never “force”. The beauty of NLP and hypnosis is that once the changes are made on the unconscious level things just become different.

BTW Emily and I had a great time doing her foundation breakthrough session from 10 am-4 pm. The way i work is relaxed and safe. She has agreed to write about her experiences working with me so watch for a several part article by her in the near future.

If you or someone you know needs help with panic attacks, anxiety, phobias, self sabotage, procrastination, PTSD etc. I can be contacted at: mark[at]markshepard.com or 203-495-8808.

I’m also doing two “Crush Anxiety” teleseminars this week Wednesday at Noon and Thursday Evening at 7:00 pm US Eastern Time

The cost is $97 and comes with my “Crush Anxiety” e-book and audio series. There are also a few scholarships available so please contact me by phone or e-mail if cost is an issue for you.

  • Register for this month’s CRUSH Anxiety Call
    Wednesday, March 11 at Noon Eastern Time

    or

    Thursday Night, March 12 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time

    For a one time fee of only $97 you get to work with me over the phone in a small group as well as get my Crush Anxiety E-book and complete audio set as my gift ($197 value). If you’ve been on one of these calls before you are welcome to come back any time or as many times as you want for free. Lines are limited so register now.

    Courage!

    Mark

    p.s. If you or someone you love is suffering from phobia, anxiety, or panic attacks please stop waiting to contact me. In light of our economic crisis I am willing to consider payment plans, barter or any other creative way to value the help I offer and create a fair exchange that is a win/win for both of us.

    E-mail: mark[at]markshepard.com

    Telephone: 203-495-8808

    • Filed Under: agoraphobia, anxiety, clear the fear, nlp, panic attack, performance anxiety, time line therapy, trauma Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Dangerous Questions

    December 29, 2008 By

    Just have a moment to share one key thought with you today:

    What questions do you habitually ask?

    The reason for asking is this – Your unconscious mind responds to questions more powerfully than any other kind of self talk. So if you want your affirmations to really create change internally, turning them into a question can make a difference. Noah St. John calls these affirmations in question form: “Afformations”.

    What happens is your Unconscious Mind hears a question and begins to activate a process that is hardwired into our neurology. For example if you ask yourself “How can I find a way?” You Mind begins to filter your reality and it begins to find ways to answer you. It begins to draw your attention to answers.

    So listen today to what you ask yourself. Are you asking disempowering questions like “Why am I such a __________ (negative label)? or are you asking powerful questions like “why am I in the right place at the right time doing the right thing for the highest good?”

    Now, if you’ve been following my posts lately you might recall that a few weeks ago I started asking myself a series of very, “dangerous” questions. I only mean “dangerous” in the sense that the answer might disrupt my comfort zone. Sometimes “danger” is a good thing. Ask any bungee jumper!

    The questions were: “If I had only 6 months to live what would I be doing? What would I stop doing? How would I spend my time?

    I got several answers.

    1. Record each and every one of the almost 400 songs I’ve written over the past 30 years.
    2. Spend as much time with my friends and family as possible
    3. Share my music with as many people as possible.
    4. I would stop trying to “be everything to everybody” (Listening to my own song “Motivation” reminded me of that. Listen to “Motivation” here

    If those were the answers, the “dangerous” challenge was to do that. Now.Not next year. Not next month. Now.

    If you really and truly acted on what you say is most important to you, how would your life change? No matter we “say” is most important, it’s what we “do” that really demonstrates it.

    Sometimes that’s that last thing I want to hear!

    For me it became clear that renting a large beautiful, expensive apartment was less important than my 3 priorities. But daring to let it go even if I didn’t know where I would be going (even if it made me sad) opened up the possibilities. One idea was to put all my extra stuff in storage and travel from friend to friend, family member to family member, connecting and performing along the way. Performing could mean a guest spot at a local church, performing at a Starbucks, or even on the street.

    All of a sudden other places to perform began to show up on my internal radar screen. At one point I performed at hundreds of elementary schools each year all over New England. Lately that has been down to just a few each month. But did it fit my criteria? Yes. So I began to ask questions about how I could re-connect with all the schools I’ve previously performed at…

    Performing at colleges is another area of immense opportunity. I had just started to break into that market 5 years ago or so when I discovered NLP and shifted my focus to that…But certainly college students would not only be open to music but they could benefit hugely from “The Way of the Modern Jedi”…

    Performing at festivals and local acoustic music venues had been something I’d been “gonna do” for a while…there’s a lot less money in that market and having a high rent made me look elsewhere. With less overhead, less pressure. Time to make contact…

    Now here’s the interesting piece, does this decision to truly “surrender” to my music and “honor” my creative work stop me from practicing NLP?

    No! It actually makes it more possible because every where I go as a performer I can share my story of how I was able to overcome my performing anxiety with NLP! AND since I have written so many songs influenced by NLP sharing that fact wherever I go and inviting those interested in learning more about NLP could easily and effortlessly spread that work in a congruent way.

    Wherever I share my story from the stage of crushing anxiety and the stories of the many people I’ve helped to overcome their own anxiety without drugs or endless therapy through NLP, people can see for themselves the result. So it just may be a more effective way to get the word out…

    So that’s just a bit of the process going on over here with me. It all started with asking some powerful questions.

    What’s more important is, what are your thoughts? What questions are you asking yourself at the close of this year?

    Please feel free to share some of your questions below.

    In case you need some help with questions try these on for size:

    • If I had only 6 months to live how would I spend my time?
    • What’s one simple thing can I do today to live fully and abundantly?
    • Why does it work out better than I can possibly imagine?
    • What resources do I need to attract to myself so that I can truly make a positive difference in the world?
    • What would be the most rewarding thing to do?
    • How can I have fun today?
    • How can I live fully today?
    • How can I ask for help?
    • Who can I ask for help?
    • What am I grateful for today?

    Please let me know your thoughts and comments below.

    thanks!

    - Mark

    p.s. BTW as a result of my last post and being willing to ask for help and willing to admit that “I don’t always have all the answers” a good friend of mine offered me a place to stay for 3-6 months. another friend offered me a place to store my stuff. Another friend appeared who has all the administrative and logistical skills/aptitudes that would enable me to truly focus on what I’m good at…Is work involved? yes. Does it scare me to move out of my comfort zone? yes. But it also feels positive and exciting!

    The question that I ask the most is: “Why does it work out better than I can possibly imagine?”

    Try it! Write it out long hand!

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    NLP Motivation Strategies – Part 2

    December 3, 2008 By

    Motivation

    An old story: there was a frog that was put in a big cauldron. Because the cauldren was large, the frog felt perfectly comfortable. So even though it could have jumped out at any time, it stayed put. As the pot gradually heated up over the fire…the frog did nothing. The water was warming gradually. By the time the water was so hot that the frog was boiled…he was well, boiled. If the water had been heated suddenly the frog would have had the good sense to jump out.

    Ever feel like that frog?

    Yesterday we explored the idea of what a “motivation strategy” is. It’s an unconscious process or “program” that enables us to move from a state of “not motivated” to “motivated.”  For some people and in some situations it may be a challenge to get out of a “procrastination strategy” and get moving towards taking action.

    Whether your strategy is working or not may determine how stuck you get in procrastination as well as how long it may take you to break out of it and get started on cleaning the garage or doing that term paper.

    By the way, we don’t need to be motivated to do stuff we enjoy. We usually need an effective strategy to get to the stuff we do not enjoy doing.

    So how do you usually break out of a stuck state? Do you move away from the bad things that will happen if you don’t finally buckle down and get to work or do you move towards how good it will feel when you accomplish your task? Or do you do some combination of both?

    If you “move away from” how bad does it have to be before you get moving?

    If you “move towards” how do you do that?

    In other words, do you need the carrot or the stick? And how much of either one do you need to get stuff done?

    In working with other people either in leadership roles as managers and team members or as parents and teachers, it helps to know how someone is wired if we want to influence or inspire them to action. Do you need to communicate the cost or the pain of not taking action? Do you need to threaten them with being fired or other dire consequences? Or do they respond much better to the promise of a bonus or a big commission check?

    If you use a stick on someone who is motivated by the carrot you risk totally losing them. If you use a carrot on someone who requires a bit of stick to get going it just won’t do the job.

    In dealing with ourselves, particularly in our careers, becoming aware of this leverage point can make the difference between success and failure.

    please help me spread the word about NLP! “Digg” or “Stumble” this or share it with a friend.

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