Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Steve Pavlina Newsletter #47 - July 18, 2012

StevePavlina.com Personal Development InsightsNewsletter

Issue #47 - July 18, 2012 - http://www.stevepavlina.com/

"How to Create Passive Income" Blog Series Continues...

The passive income series that I've been blogging is up to 22 posts now. So far we have the following articles in this series:

Soon I'll begin the walkthrough portion, where I'll take you step by step through the process of creating a new stream of passive income from start to finish.

Whether you're following the passive income series or not, I think you'll especially find the article onDissolving Limiting Beliefs helpful. At the end of that article, there's a link where you can try Morty Lefkoe's process to permanently eliminate a limiting belief for free.

Workshop Update

I'm sad to report that our October workshop plans fell through. We had agreed on most of the details with the Flamingo Hotel, and I expected this deal would close easily since we'd already done 4 previous workshops with them. But for some strange reason, their sales rep insisted on inserting new language into our agreement that was unacceptable to me. It would have added a major loophole allowing them to pad our final bill however they saw fit, and it didn't agree with what they were telling me via email. I'd have been happy to do more business with them since all of our previous workshops there went very well, but I'm not willing to invite potential billing headaches down the road to make it happen. When I told them I couldn't sign the agreement with the new language due to the problems it could create down the road, the sales rep insisted that their legal department wouldn't allow changes to it.

Given that their business is down in this economy, you might think they'd welcome repeat business from a low-maintenance client who always pays on time and has brought hundreds of paying guests to their hotel. Perhaps this is a case of bureaucracy getting in the way of common sense.

In any event, I'm still interested in doing more workshops, but it will be tough to schedule another one this year now due to timing issues. It takes a while to make the proper arrangements with a hotel, and I like to give attendees at least 3 months advance notice. I'm open to doing workshops in other cities, so maybe this is a sign that it's time to broaden my horizons and go beyond Las Vegas.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on further workshop developments...

Free Audios

Hale Dwoskin, author of The Sedona Method and one of the teachers from the movie The Secret, has created three free audios to share with you. You can play them straight from your web browser, cell phone, iPad, etc., or you can download them as MP3s. Each audio is about 20 minutes in duration.

These free audios will teach you some simple techniques for releasing blocks to success, achieving your goals, living your life purpose, and enjoying harmonious relationships.

The free audios can be found here: StevePavlina.com/sedona-method

You may find value in listening to these more than once, so I encourage you to download and save copies to your favorite digital device, so you can listen to them whenever you want. Free free to share the link with others as well.

If you like the free audios and wish to explore the Sedona Method in more depth, I invite you to check out Hale's Sedona Method Supercourse, which is a 20-CD collection of his live seminar recordings. I'm going through this course myself, and I'm currently about 2/3 of the way through it. This course, coupled with a recent phone call with Hale, has helped me make many useful distinctions.

If you're interested in the full course, we’ve set it up so you can get the Sedona Method Supercourse for a46% discount off the regular price. There’s also a free 6-minute video from Hale on that page that will give you more details about the Sedona Method.

Developing Your Character

In case you haven't heard the news, Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, passed away on Monday at age 79. I shared the details in a short blog post this week. He will definitely be missed.

Covey's books were some of my early reads when I first became interested in personal growth. In this article I'll share some insights on character building, partly from the influence of character-based books like the 7 Habits and partly from past experience.

The Consequences of a Weak Character

I didn't think much about character development until the lack of it became a serious problem for me. In my late teens, I would lie, cheat, and steal if I felt it would benefit me in some way. At first this was simply a lot of fun, and I had no qualms about living this way, but over time I could see that it was leading me in a very self-destructive direction.

In my first run at college, I used to hang out in the UC Berkeley computer lab on the night before programming assignments were due. I'd stand by the shared printer, and when a student's completed assignment rolled off the machine, I'd quickly snag it before the student got up from his/her workstation to retrieve it. These were just print-outs of computer code, so there were never any names on the pages. I'd write my name at the top and turn it in as my own the next day. This only took minutes and saved me hours of work. I completed most of the assignments this way and ended up getting a B+ in the class. With about 500 students in the class, I doubted there was much chance of getting caught. I never got caught.

When I had a chemistry midterm come up that same semester, I played poker while other students studied hard for it. I also ditched many classes. Then I prayed that the midterm would somehow be canceled. And much to my surprise, when I was getting ready to leave to take the exam, the Bay Area was struck by the Loma Prieta Earthquake at 5:04pm. I believe the midterm was scheduled for 5:30pm. The buildings on campus had to be inspected for damage, so the midterm was postponed. I crammed for it and and somehow passed. I ended up passing the class with a C+. If not for that timely earthquake, I might not have passed.

I could have excelled in these classes, but I became very lazy and did the absolute minimum to squeak by. Soon I began doing less than the minimum and eventually got expelled. It seemed that with each passing month, I was developing more of a something-for-nothing mentality. I spent more time drinking and playing poker than I did going to class. Most weeks I committed at least a few crimes; when I got caught, I took a few weeks off and then picked up where I left off.

A Character Building Environment

Only a year earlier, I had graduated with honors from high school, acing my classes all the way through. Everyone thought I had a bright future. I was accepted into many quality universities, some with scholarships.

When I was in high school -- a private Jesuit school -- there was a lot of emphasis on character development and morality. It was an all boys school, and each of us were taught to become "a man for others." It was a very disciplined environment. During my entire 4 years of high school, I witnessed only one fight, and I'm pretty sure those students were promptly expelled. I never saw any evidence of people bringing weapons or drugs to school. It was a very clean place with a hardcore focus on academics.

Because the whole campus supported this focus, it was easy to buy into it. It paid off for the students and teachers alike. Our teachers maintained excellent discipline in their classes, with students rarely talking out of turn. In this disciplined environment, we were able to learn a great deal without getting distracted. Teachers were treated with respect, largely because they were competent and deserved it.

The central theme that bound all of this together was our shared religion. All of the character and moral teachings were rooted there.

As I matured I began to question the religion part, eventually rejecting it as something that couldn't possibly be true. And so along with that, I uprooted all of the character-based teachings that were piled on top of the religious ones. If I was going to doubt the roots, I had to doubt the branches as well.

When I entered college as a newly minted atheist, I found myself free of any character code. At the time I was often reminded of a Mark Twain short story I'd read called “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut,” which is about a guy who kills his conscience and becomes free to do as he pleases. (You can download that story for free here.)

Freedom vs. Responsibility

Initially I found this way of living immensely liberating. I had no more sense of right and wrong other that what felt good in the moment. Other people seemed very stiff relative to the options I had available.

Over time I learned that society very much frowns on living this way. After several arrests and being expelled from school, I could see that my future was becoming bleaker. This is no way to live, I sadly concluded.

Turning back towards religion wasn't an option for me, but I could see the good in the character-based aspects. So I set out to study character development outside the bounds of religion.

Around that time I read Covey's 7 Habits book. He got me thinking about character development in a new way. For him it probably sprung from religion as well, but his book gave me a start in thinking about character development in more humanistic terms. Covey explained that certain character attributes were simply more effective for getting along in the world. They consistently produce better results than the alternatives.

This was easy for me to accept since I had the opportunity to see how my underlying character affected my results in life. When I was disciplined, I did very well in school, embraced leadership roles like President of the Math Club and Captain of the Academic Decathlon team. I had strong bonds with intelligent friends. When I let my disciplined slide, I got to see the inside of some jail cells. I still had many friends, but few of them trusted me.

I set about character building almost like I was developing myself as a character in a role-playing game. What attributes will I choose to develop?

At first I focused on conformity for several months because I needed to stop getting into trouble before I could advance any further. So when I felt tempted to do something reckless, I would ask myself, This could be fun, but would a normal person do this? If the answer was no, I did my best to put a leash on those impulses. Usually I succeeded.

Conscious Character Building

When I felt ready, I began searching for character attributes that mattered to me. I had a lot of courage, but I felt it wise to temper it with a sense of honor. Doing my best, even when other people weren't, was another quality I sought to develop. Embracing challenge also resonated with me. And soon, honesty became immensely important to me.

The core of this whole model was that I spent a lot of time asking and answering the question, What kind of man do I wish to become?

My past experiences taught me that my character was pliable. I didn't have to settle for the current status quo. I could make changes to my character, which would have a major effect on my results in life. But instead of merely backtracking from the results, I focused on the kind of man I wanted to become on the inside. I figured that if I really liked myself on the inside, then intelligent actions would flow out of me, and positive results would follow.

How to Develop Your Character

Think about the character qualities you consider ideal. What kind of man or woman inspires you most? What is it about those people that inspires you?

Brainstorm a list of character qualities you might like to develop. For help generating ideas, feel free to use this list of values. You can copy and paste it into a word processing document and whittle it down to those core qualities that you feel are the most significant.

Post your list somewhere you'll see it often. If you have a smart phone, type your list into a note-taking application, so you'll always have it with you.

My friend Darren LaCroix has small wood carvings of words that inspire him placed throughout his home, so whatever room he's in, one of those values is always visible to him.

Another thing you can do is memorize your list. If you sing your list to yourself, you'll find it easy to memorize, and then you'll find yourself automatically singing it in your head at certain times, like while standing in line somewhere. This will remind you to do your best to become the man or woman who exudes those character qualities.

When he was 20 years old, Benjamin Franklin wrote out a list of character qualities to develop in himself. He had 13 of them:

Temperance - Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Silence - Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Order - Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Resolution - Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality - Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; waste nothing.
Industry - Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Sincerity - Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice - Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Moderation - Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Cleanliness - Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquility - Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity - Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
Humility - Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Instead of trying to work on every attribute at the same time, Franklin would cycle through them, picking only one quality to focus on each week while "leaving all others to their ordinary chance." He still evaluated his progress for all of these attributes, but he focused on improving one attribute at a time.

In his autobiography, Franklin spent a significant number of pages going over the details of this plan. He admitted that he fell short much of the time but that the pursuit made him a better, more successful, and happier man. (You can download his autobiography for free here.)

Character development isn't easy, but it pays long-term dividends. If you can become a little more honorable, this alone could prevent major problems in your relationships and career, and it will surely boost your self-esteem. If you can become a little more disciplined, you can get out of debt and enjoy more abundance in life. If you can become a little more peaceful, you'll serve as a relaxing influence on others, helping to alleviate stress and fostering good health wherever you go.

I encourage you to give serious thought to how you've been developing your character. Are you doing this consciously and with good care, or are you allowing influences like television and social media to passively shape who you are? Do you like yourself as you are right now?

The more you strive to become the man or woman you most desire to be, the more consciously you're living. Even if you fall short of your ideals, the pursuit is a reward unto itself.

Please follow me on Twitter and Google+ for inspirational messages and quick updates.

Steve Recommends

Here are my recommendations for products and services that I've personally reviewed and which I believe can help you on your personal growth journey. This is a very short list since it only includes my top picks.

Getting Rich with Ebooks - Earn passive income from ebooks.
Sedona Method - Free Audio - Learn to release blocks in a few minutes
Site Build It! - Build an income-generating website.
Lefkoe Method - Permanently eliminate a limiting belief in 20 minutes.
Paraliminals - Accelerate your personal growth.
The Journal - Keep a secure journal on your PC.
PhotoReading - Read books 3x faster.
Life on Purpose - Discover your life purpose.

Until next time, live consciously!

This newsletter is uncopyrighted. Feel free to share it, such as by forwarding it to friends or by posting it on your blog.
http://www.stevepavlina.com/

Monday, June 18, 2012

Steve Pavlina Newsletter #46

StevePavlina.com Personal Development InsightsNewsletter

Issue #46 - June 18, 2012 - http://www.stevepavlina.com/

Ultimate You Mindfest Begins Today -- It's Free

The Ultimate You Mindfest, which I mentioned in the last newsletter, begins today. This is a free online course to help you improve your results by enlisting greater cooperation from your subconscious mind.

The Mindfest is hosted by Paul Scheele. Paul is an expert on human performance, and he's a friend of mine as well. He's very passionate about understanding how the mind works and helping people take better advantage of their natural mental abilities.

Over the course of 6 days, Paul will share the following lessons:

Day 1 – Succeed by Design: Eliminate procrastination and hesitation

Day 2 – Activate Your Automatic Pilot: Vaporize negative self-talk and self-sabotage

Day 3 – Believe in Yourself: Whisk away limiting habits of mind

Day 4 – Follow-through with Unwavering Consistency: Hardwire inner drive and amazing self-discipline

Day 5 – Feel Great about Yourself: Remove the negative influences of other people

Day 6 – Open the Flow of Prosperity: Use the immense power of your mind to attract what you choose

For each day of the course, you get two programs -- one lesson from Paul and one Paraliminal to listen to. I've been using the Paraliminals regularly since 2006 and have previously recommended them on my website. During the Mindfest you can try them out for free. Then you'll know why I like them so much. :)

The Mindfest is free, so it won't cost you anything. You'll have two new programs each day that you can stream from your computer or mobile device. If you miss a day, that's no problem since they also have free make-up days.

The Mindfest has already begun, so you can start listening right away.

I'm signed up for the Mindfest too, so I'll be listening to it later today.

"How to Create Passive Income" Blog Series Continues...

The passive income series that I've been blogging is up to 17 posts already. I expect to continue this series well into the Summer. So far the series consists of the following articles:

If learning to create passive income interests you, I encourage you to follow along with the series. My goal is to help people create and launch their own passive income streams this year. As with all of my blog posts, this series is free.

New Workshop Coming in October

Lots of people have been asking me when I'm going to do another workshop. The good news is that I'm in the process of booking a new 3-day workshop for October in Las Vegas. I expect that it will be October 26-28 (Fri-Sun) at the Flamingo Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, in the same room where we had CGWs 2, 3, and 5.

This will be a very unique workshop, unlike anything we've done before. If you're curious to know more, I've shared some details about it in the blog post on Generating Ideas.

If all goes well, I should be able to open registrations later this month. That will happen once everything is confirmed with the hotel. For now I just want to give you a heads up, so you can mark the dates on your calendar. I'll keep you posted...

Connecting the Dots

During his 2005 Stanford commencement address, Steve Jobs told a story about connecting the dots. He noted that sometimes we can't predict how we'll be able to apply our knowledge and skills later in life. For instance, Steve learned about calligraphy at Reed College, with "no hope of practical application." Years later, he used this knowledge to include advanced typography and proportionally spaced fonts in the design of the Mac's operating system.

Steve said that he couldn't have predicted this outcome in advance, but 10 years later he was able to connect these dots looking backwards. By then the long-term value of that calligraphy class was obvious.

Follow Your Intuition

Another point he stressed during that speech was that in order to set yourself up for connecting the dots, you must follow your intuition. When he first enrolled at Reed College, he had to take required courses that didn't interest him. Then he dropped out and sat in on classes that truly interested him for another 18 months. To choose these classes, he followed his intuition.

When I was 10 years old, I was exposed to my first glimpse of BASIC programming. At the time I didn't know what intuition was, but I became very interested in computers. I used to save up my money to buy programming books at the bookstore. One of my favorites when I was 13 was Dr. C. Wacko's Miracle Guide to Designing and Programming Your Own Atari Computer Arcade Games.

I had no idea where this would lead. I didn't set out to become a programmer. I was simply motivated by curiosity and wonder.

I ended up learning to program computer games before I'd really had a chance to play many of them. Most of the early games I played required typing in BASIC programs by hand. Then I could run those programs and play the games. Since I had the source code, I was able to learn how simple games were constructed. I'd try to imagine how the game would work while I was typing in the code. Since I couldn't type very well, I picked up a lot of early game programming techniques by typing in other people's code one line at a time. I learned to type in BASIC long before I learned to type in English.

I had no idea that years later I'd be writing my own computer games and selling them to people all around the world. All I knew at the time was that I was very curious about programming, and I wanted to learn more.

I went to college and picked up degrees in computer science and mathematics, but on a practical level those were largely worthless. I was already working on my first commercial game project while I was still in college, and it was selling in software stores like Comp USA shortly after I graduated. I was able to do this work because of what I learned between ages 10 and 18 on my own. I gained more practical value from Dr. Wacko's book than I ever did in college. I went to college for logical reasons, but the payoff came from following my intuition.

I don't think it's always true that we can never connect the dots looking forward. I was able to do that with public speaking. I expected I'd eventually start doing my own workshops, and so I made a commitment to learn public speaking. I practiced for 5 years before I did my first 3-day workshop. I could see that coming up from many years in advance. It was a predictable outcome.

I still agree with Steve Jobs that sometimes we can only connect the dots with the benefit of hindsight. Life has many twists and turns, and we don't always know where our paths will lead.

I believe the core lesson here is how important it is to follow your curiosity. This is a bit different than the advice to do what you love. How do you know you'll love something if you've never done it before?

I doubt Steve Jobs knew in advance that he'd enjoy typography. I didn't know in advance that I'd enjoy programming. But the curiosity to try it was there.

Let Curiosity Be Enough

When only curiosity is present, it's tempting to demand that it justify itself with the promise of practical value. But curiosity doesn't work that way. We begin with a desire to explore and experience something new, but it's merely a seed. We can't predict what will become of that seed until we plant it.

These seeds may grow into fountains of value years later. Or they may remain side hobbies or casual interests. Demanding advance validation from these seeds is like telling to baby to go out and get a job. You have to nurture the seed for years to see what becomes of it.

Recently I decided to follow my curiosity without knowing where it will lead. I've been feeling the urge to refresh my programming skills since I haven't done any serious programming in about a decade. I don't have any specific projects lined up. I just felt an intuitive nudge about it.

So this weekend I started playing around with Xcode, a development tool for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad. I learned the syntax of Objective-C and went through several online tutorials. I wrote my first little iPhone/iPad app to draw a fractal and posted a picture of it on my Google+ page. I'd never written an iPhone app before, so it was rewarding to do that for the first time. It was easier than I expected.

Where will this lead? I have no idea. Maybe I'll write an app that ties into my personal growth work. Maybe it will remain a side hobby. Or maybe I'll lose interest within a week or two and explore other interests. I'm not demanding any sort of payoff from this. It's enough to honor my curiosity.

Partly I feel that the excitement is in not knowing where this will lead. Sometimes it's nice to enjoy some mystery in life. Not all desires can be formed into goals.

When I pursue interests out of sheer curiosity, they do often lead to valuable connections and payoffs down the road. However, there's also a powerful present moment benefit to such pursuits. When you follow your curiosity, you can experience some potent psychological rewards along the way. First, you have the pleasurable anticipation of knowing that you're going to learn something new, and secondly you have the satisfaction that comes with each new insight. This helps you feel good in general, even when you're not pursuing that particular interest, and this can greatly improve overall quality of life.

What are you curious about? What would you like to learn just because it interests you?

Have you been demanding that a curiosity-based interest justify its place in your life, such as by guaranteeing a financial payoff?

What would happen if you could dive in and pursue a new interest merely to satisfy your curiosity and honor your intuition? Could you let that be enough?

Years down the road, you may indeed find that you can connect the dots, just as Steve Jobs did. But for right now, could you let go of any psychological baggage and do it just because it might be interesting in the moment?

Go

There's no need to overcommit. If it doesn't work out, you can drop it after a day or two. There's no need to turn it into a long-term goal. There's no need to expect any particular level of performance from yourself. You don't even have to be good at it.

In fact, you don't even have to love it. All you need is curiosity. You can always dump it if you truly hate it, but why not give it a try just for the sake of learning and experiencing something that calls to you?

When you pursue a new interest, don't worry about plotting a course. Don't worry about not knowing where to begin. Start with a Google search to find some web pages about your hobby. Read those, follow some links, and bookmark pages that seem interesting. After an hour you'll have plenty of resources to get you started.

What new interest could you pursue out of sheer curiosity? Why not set aside some time to look into it? How does next weekend sound?

Please follow me on Twitter and Google+ for inspirational messages and quick updates.

Steve Recommends

Getting Rich with Ebooks - Earn passive income from ebooks.
Site Build It! - Build an income-generating website.
Lefkoe Method - Permanently eliminate a limiting belief in 20 minutes.
Paraliminals - Accelerate your personal growth.
The Journal - Keep a secure journal on your PC.
PhotoReading - Read books 3x faster.
Life on Purpose - Discover your life purpose.
MySpeed - Watch online videos in half the time.

Until next time, live consciously!