Thinking Things Done

In the survey, a lot of people have been asking questions like:

• How to keep doing things instead of just thinking about them?
• How can I continuously turn a sense of "lock-up" into a flow from idea to action?
• How do I find the motivation to get started?
• How to stop reading self-help books and start doing?

So I created this little 10-minute training video to answer them.  In it, I explain how to use natural "pull" motivation to instantly turn thoughts into action... the way the thought of having some chocolate cake can quickly turn into action!

So watch, learn, and enjoy!  Oh, and don't forget to leave a comment here, to let me know what you think.

This has been the longest week of my life.

Every day, I set out to make a video.  And every day, I "failed" to do so.  So within just a few days, I felt absolutely miserable.

It took longer than I expected to work through the fears, doubts, and limiting beliefs that were in my way.  Although each was permanently banished within an hour or less, there were a whole lot more of them than I thought there'd be!

There were all sorts of beliefs I battled, ranging from the idea that I need to "work for a living" and "life is a burden" to a bizarre fear of fear itself, to worries about how the video would be received or how I'd be perceived by the people watching it.

I deleted each and every one from my brain, but when the dust cleared, something unusual happened...

I just stumbled onto this "tip sheet" from the "National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization" (by way of 43 Folders), and I thought I would share it with you...  because it's utter bullshit and completely useless.

Tip #1 is, "Remember that it is motivation that gets you started and habits that keep you going. Resolve to get started."  WTF?  How is that in any way a tip?  That's like that old stock market "tip": buy low, sell high.  Thank you, Captain Obvious!

And in the classic self-constradictory style of these nonsensical tip sheets, tip #4 tells us that what's delayed is often forgotten, but #5 starts out with "Delay until you have enough information"!

And the rest of it, of course, is either meaningless drivel or pointless twaddle that adds more things to your to-do list, instead of giving you less to do.

This is exactly the sort of crap that drove me to figuring out my own self-help methods in the first place.  People need REAL answers, not mindless pablum.  They need to know HOW to get started -- and "resolving" is definitely not how you do it.

In fact, "resolving" is a terrific way to de-motivate yourself, because it's basically preparing your mind and body for conflict.  When you narrow your eyes, grit your teeth, and generally tense up your body, you're telling it, "I'm about to get into a fight."  Not helpful.

What you want to be doing to get started is tapping into desire instead: pull motivation, not push.  More on that soon.

So, I spent the last couple of days wrestling with video equipment, scripting and F/X planning, and a bit of time on the book design.  Actually, I probably spent even more time wrestling with myself, to overcome a bunch of emotional distractions like:

• frustration with being behind (compared to my over-idealistic initial schedule)
• fear that my training videos will be too boring (or alternatively, not communicate enough)
• feeling like I can't just relax and enjoy the process...  like I had to work hard and stress, even if I'm doing what I want to be

And I'm pretty sure that's only half the real list, but I've already forgotten the rest.  (The best and worst thing about making rapid personality changes using my "mind hacking" techniques is that they tend to create amnesia for the old belief or behavior, because it seems so unnatural once you've stopped believing or doing it!)

But my brain isn't the only thing that needed a bit of cleanup.  Check out this YouTube video I just uploaded, that shows precisely how messy my office is.  (Plus, it even has a couple of productivity-related tips, because you know I can't pass up an opportunity to teach something, once I've got an audience!) 

So have a look at it, then leave me a comment below (here, not on YouTube!) and tell me what you think:

P.S. Be sure to sign up for a free copy of the book, too.  Please note that I won't be leaving that option up forever, though, because at some point I've got to stop collecting questions and start answering them.  ;-)

So, I officially started today, taking my first day off from my day job to begin the book project.  In some respects, I didn't do that much on the book: I spent most of my morning re-uploading the announcement video for my self-improvement group, after finding I uploaded the wrong version.  But finally I got it out, and before the day was over a good few hundred people had watched it, and a lot of them had signed up to get a free book.

Better still, they filled out the survey, and shared their questions about how to get their lives together and live their dreams.

So far, I've been sorting and organizing the questions into about 7 different categories.  Most are about what I expected, but one of the categories was one that hadn't occurred to me: How to succeed without...

How many times have you started something and not finished it, even if you really wanted the result?  And how many times have you felt like you should do something (like diet or exercise), but just couldn't get started?  For that matter, how much time do you spend wondering what you really want out of life, anyway?

And how many yearsof your life have passed you by, your big hopes and dreams going unfulfilled because you couldn't get yourself to...