Confidence: firm trust, a sense of self, appreciation someone’s proven track record

If you look up the word in the dictionary, that is not what you find.

All dictionaries are now in step with the tendency to make words vague, not matching the reality… this word is a crucial word in your vocabulary. Unless you get this right, your chances of having a self, and thus the chance for self-confidence are between zero and none.

No one takes my Starting Point Measurements Seriously. How do I know? Because I have literally haven’t had anyone ask clarifying questions about certain key words that will make or break you… Not even one.

For example, no one has asked me what is awareness, really? Or what is trust? Or goodness… etc. Continue reading →

The answer is in the values you choose to love…

I have been harping on values… and it is as if I were speaking in an auditorium where my voice doesn’t, can’t carry… there is no echo. ((My very first assignment as a newly minted architect was to create the acoustics for the rooms of the Academy of Music in Budapest. The requirements were: let the people in the room have good acoustics, while nothing to be heard outside of the room… tricky but can be done.))

Nothing and no one indicating that they are hearing me, that they are pondering, that the question is heard and taken on as a quest to answer, to ponder, to be taken with you to sleep, to your meditation, to your walks, so you eventually come up with something you value.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.

During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.

– Howard Thurman (1900 – 1981)

There are two kinds of values, temporary/transitory and eternal. Continue reading →

What you value and how much?

I am reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead for the third or fourth time.

Depending on what is the focus of my inquiry at the time, the book has different highlights.

This time it is how the divine gets through to you to provide you with guidance, substance to your life, for a lifetime.

I have been weakened by some stomach bug that makes all manner of eating distasteful to me, so I haven’t eaten for two days, and I am increasingly weak with an undercurrent of depression… sleeping, napping does that to me. So I am weepier than normal.

So here is am sitting here trying to get some work done, recalling the incident in The Fountainhead, where Mike the electrician and Roark the architect first meet.

—Roark liked the days when he was sent out to inspect buildings in construction. He walked through the steel hulks of buildings more naturally than on pavements. The workers observed with curiosity that he walked on narrow planks, on naked beams hanging over empty space, as easily as the best of them.
It was a day in March, and the sky was a faint green with the first hint of spring. In Central Park, five hundred feet below, the earth caught the tone of the sky in a shade of brown that promised to become green, and the lakes lay like splinters of glass under the cobwebs of bare branches. Roark walked through the shell of what was to be a gigantic apartment hotel, and stopped before an electrician at work.
The man was toiling assiduously, bending conduits around a beam. It was a task for hours of strain and patience, in a space overfilled against all calculations. Roark stood, his hands in his pockets, watching the man’s slow, painful progress.
The man raised his head and turned to him abruptly. He had a big head and a face so ugly that it became fascinating; it was neither old nor flabby, but it was creased in deep gashes and the powerful jowls drooped like a bulldog’s; the eyes were startling—wide, round and china-blue.
“Well?” the man asked angrily, “What’s the matter, Bricktop?”
“You’re wasting your time,” said Roark.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t say!”
“It will take you hours to get your pipes around that beam.”
“Know a better way to do it?”
“Sure.”
“Run along, punk. We don’t like college smarties around here.”
“Cut a hole in that beam and put your pipes through.”
“What?”
“Cut a hole through the beam.”
“The hell I will!”
“The hell you won’t.”
“It ain’t done that way.”
“I’ve done it.”
“You?”
“It’s done everywhere.”
“It ain’t gonna be done here. Not by me.”
“Then I’ll do it for you.”
The man roared. “That’s rich! When did office boys learn to do a man’s work?”
“Give me your torch.”
“Look out, boy! It’ll burn your pretty pink toes!”
Roark took the man’s gloves and goggles, took the acetylene torch, knelt, and sent a thin jet of blue fire at the center of the beam. The man stood watching him. Roark’s arm was steady, holding the tense, hissing streak of flame in leash, shuddering faintly with its violence, but holding it aimed straight. There was no strain, no effort in the easy posture of his body, only in his arm. And it seemed as if the blue tension eating slowly through metal came not from the flame but from the hand holding it.
He finished, put the torch down, and rose.
“Jesus!” said the electrician. “Do you know how to handle a torch!”
“Looks like it, doesn’t it?” He removed the gloves, the goggles, and handed them back. “Do it that way from now on. Tell the foreman I said so.”
The electrician was staring reverently at the neat hole cut through the beam. He muttered: “Where did you learn to handle it like that, Red?”
Roark’s slow, amused smile acknowledged this concession of victory. “Oh, I’ve been an electrician, and a plumber, and a rivet catcher, and many other things.”
“And went to school besides?”
“Well, in a way.”
“Gonna be an architect?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you’ll be the first one that knows something besides pretty pictures and tea parties. You should see the teacher’s pets they send us down from the office.”
“If you’re apologizing, don’t. I don’t like them either. Go back to the pipes. So long.”
“So long, Red.”
The next time Roark appeared on that job, the blue-eyed electrician waved to him from afar, and called him over, and asked advice about his work which he did not need; he stated that his name was Mike and that he had missed Roark for several days. On the next visit the day shift was leaving, and Mike waited outside for Roark to finish the inspection. “How about a glass of beer, Red?” he invited, when Roark came out. “Sure,” said Roark, “thanks.”
They sat together at a table in the corner of a basement speak-easy, and they drank beer, and Mike related his favorite tale of how he had fallen five stories when a scaffolding gave way under him, how he had broken three ribs but lived to tell it, and Roark spoke of his days in the building trades. Mike did have a real name, which was Sean Xavier Donnigan, but everyone had forgotten it long ago; he owned a set of tools and an ancient Ford, and existed for the sole purpose of traveling around the country from one big construction job to another. People meant very little to Mike, but their performance a great deal. He worshiped expertness of any kind. He loved his work passionately and had no tolerance for anything save for other single-track devotions. He was a master in his own field and he felt no sympathy except for mastery. His view of the world was simple: there were the able and there were the incompetent; he was not concerned with the latter. He loved buildings. He despised, however, all architects.

When you look around you, when you look at your own work, you rarely, if ever, find expertness.

If you worship expertness, like Mike, you learn to despise most people. If you don’t: you learn to despise experts.

Why is that? Because it is human nature to measure yourself in comparison. And hate everyone who makes you fall short.

No exceptions.

And while becoming an expert is the route to self-esteem that is earned, mighty few people go that route… They want the admiration of other people… un-earned.

Of course, looking in the mirror is painful. Because even if everyone is a fraud or a slacker around you, you know that you are full of hot air… and you hate yourself.

That is the bottom line. You cannot have a life you love if you have a reason to hate yourself, to despise yourself.

Read the original article: What you value and how much tells me all I want to know about you…

Touched, moved, and inspired… Let’s look at inspired… ((People are writing to me claiming that they get touched, weepy from certain values. But when you look at their lives, that is an experience that does NOT inform their lives, only their eyes…))

What is inspired? I am sure that as many people I’d ask as many responses I would get, so let’s get on the same page about it, OK? And here is another word: divine… we’ll call divine anything that is from the invisible domain of reality… nothing to do with some god, or angels, or other 4th plan human mind products.

First the verb: inspire: 1 : to move or guide by divine influence. 2 : to move (someone) to act, create, or feel emotions : arouse.

Then the adverb: inspired: outstanding or brilliant in a way or to a degree suggestive of divine inspiration

And the noun: inspiration: a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation

What is in common is the divine influence… being guided… being moved or animated by divine influence. Continue reading →

Here is a Landmark distinction in a TED talk… delivered in layman’s terms. Just listen to the explosive applause in the end… It is a missing piece for most of us. ((The distinction or principle in Landmark Education terms: “What gives your being in the present is the future you live into.” The future you live into. That future is either designed, or default. When it’s default: it is always the past… the bad past. The one you don’t want to repeat… but you unwittingly do. It is what you are afraid that will happen.

I am afraid that if I stand out I’ll get killed. really. And in spite of everything, I, somehow, make it happen in small ways, even though I barely stand out.

But to do something that would really make me stand out: I am reluctant to do.))

This is an email from Tai Lopez:

Get out of your comfort zone.

Seriously.

I see so many people stuck in their ways. A slave to their own routines.

They’re in their own heads.

If you want to be successful you have to take an outside perspective on your life. Take some time to analyze your daily routines. A lot of our routines and habits don’t serve us anymore. They probably did at one point, but they need to be updated.

I see people that are struggling to get in-shape or struggling to make money. When I ask them “did you workout today?” or “did you read a book today?” the response is always the same: “I don’t have time.”

One of my first mentors Joel Salatin would always tell me, when someone says they don’t have time, always add “for that” at the end. They don’t have time FOR THAT. People always make time for the things they really want. If someone wants to watch their favorite show they make time for it, but when it comes to something that can improve your life, they always say they don’t have time. In reality they don’t have the vision to see that a little pain today will establish a routine that will massively change your life tomorrow.

Life is too short for excuses. There are two types of people in this world, those who get things done and those who have 100 amazing excuses why they couldn’t do it.

So what do you want? Do you want more money in your account? Another source of passive income? A new physique. Whatever it is you want, make time for it. Time is the most valuable thing we have. Don’t waste it.

Another MASSIVE key is to put yourself out there. Reading books and watching videos are a great way to learn, but if that’s all you do you’re not going to get ahead my friend. Trust me.

Don’t get me wrong, I started by reading a TON of books and buying every course I could get my hands on (and afford), but I didn’t stop there. It’s important to meet mentors in-person when you can. Obviously, we can’t have a ton of in-person mentors because it’s expensive, but make it a point to go to some events and have some in-person mentors. Don’t just rely on books and videos.

Some of the greatest gems I ever learned came from in-person interactions. Whether it’s a seminar, 1 on 1 coaching or even running into a mentor at an event and chatting for 5 minutes. The key is to ask the right type of questions and just listen. Don’t interrupt. Let them give you all their nuggets of wisdom. Just sit there and download it all into your head.

Reverence:

“I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.”

– Erich Fried

USEFUL REVERENCE

Reverence is one of the most useful emotions. When you respectfully acknowledge the sublime beauty of something greater than yourself, you do yourself a big favor. You generate authentic humility and sincere gratitude, which are healthy for your body as well as your soul.

Please note that reverence is not solely the province of religious people. A biologist may venerate the scientific method. An atheist might experience a devout sense of awe toward geniuses who have bequeathed to us their brilliant ideas.

What about you? What excites your reverence? I invite you to explore the deeper mysteries of this altered state of consciousness

DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN

Don’t break the chain.

“He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”

Don’t break the chain.”

Not breaking the chain leads to momentum. And momentum isn’t mystical. Science defines it as the force that allows something to grow stronger or faster as time passes.

However, momentum isn’t the only science at work in our daily lives. Like everything else, it must have an equal and opposite reaction.
The enemy of momentum: how friction breaks your chain

Friction is the resistance caused when one object is moving at a different rate than another.

And what is life if not an infinite number of distracting meetings, ideas, goals, people, projects, emails, meetings, chores, and commitments all moving at a different rate than one another?

If you can’t kill friction, it’ll eat through your momentum like rust through a chain.

However, if you can find a way to focus on building a single goal, or “chain,” and building it well?—?the payoff might be more rewarding than you ever expected.

Read the original article: This article is all quotes… good stuff. Enjoy

I am having an interesting conversation with one of my students.

The philosophy student…

He wants to write his thesis on the Feelings book, but he needs his thesis counselor’s support, maybe even his enthusiasm, or it is going to be a tough road to hoe.

It’s a sales job, or if you are a Landmark Education graduate: and enrollment job.

Enrollment is simple speaking in a way that the other person gets “touched, moved, and inspired” and may even be ready to move in the direction you describe.

You cannot do it if your “about you” score is too high. Because you don’t know what touches, moves, and inspires others. You may not even know what touches, moves and inspires you!

Unless you let yourself be inspired, touched, moved, you are dead my friend.

What touches, moves, inspires you is always from the beyond… beyond what you want. Beyond your self-interest. Beyond your me-myself-and-I. It is beyond what makes sense. It is beyond fear and concern for yourself. Continue reading →

This post is a reprint of an article from 2005. I didn’t write it, I found it on the internet. It was the article that woke me up that the misery I was experiencing in my own sleepless nights was not unique to me: it was shared by billions of people who are not as aware as myself, yet they suffer.

Since then I made great strides in distinguishing and managing these bugs. I also share my experiences with a small community of like-minded sufferers on my membership site at www.biting-mites.com. The goal: eliminate and beat these bugs at their own game. Possible? I don’t know. Mandatory? I say so.

Update: it seems that I have found the way to manage these things and keep their population down to the number you pick up in the street, in public transportation, at work… Because don’t be mistaken, one third of humanity are carriers. It’s taken me thousand of days and thousands of dollars…

I will form a testing group to see what form people need to get what is needed so they will do what they need to do… It won’t be free. You want free and untrue and unhelpful advice? go and join the number of online forums. This solution is tried and true, but in the hands of freebie seekers it will lose its value, so I am not giving it away.

Humanity will go out of existence if we don’t stop this epidemic, if we don’t take back control. ((this bug causes cancer, adhesions, intestinal and vaginal bleeding, acne, hair loss, itchy eyes and itchy noses, sneesing and coughing, sore stomach and sore belly… and the inflicted walk around tired for lack of peaceful uninterrupted sleep.))

CDC is not interested, doctors don’t believe you, so this has to be a grass roots movement. OK, here is the article that woke me up. The author of this article is Dutch, and a world traveler. A big thank you to him… from all of us.
Continue reading →

70% of your life is made up of the things you do every day… your habits. The remaining 30% is what you don’t have control over.

Most programs you can buy make up what to teach. Given that the average truth value of programs is around 2%, what they teach must come untried, untested, and altogether not true.

Tai’s approach (Tai Lopez, 67 steps) was different. He looked at, primarily, billionaires, secondarily at famous scientists or other authors.

The truths he gleaned from billionaires: 30% truth value, the truths he gleaned from authors: 10% truth value. Hm, interesting.

Where does the difference come from? Continue reading →

I have given people driving directions in the ancient times where there was no gps and you could not google direction.

How did I do it? I drove the path several times, and took notes: what you see when you need to turn, what you see when you are still on the path, what you see when you went too far.

Looking back, decades later, and I see that this was training, preparation for what I am going to do in this article… give you “driving” directions to how to travel the path from where you are to where I am pointing you.

If that is where you wanted to get to, my directions are good. If that is not where you wanted to get to: you are reading the wrong articles.

The direction I am taking you is towards a destination where “One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.”… or more precisely a “new way of seeing things.” Continue reading →