ACTION

THE GREAT SECRET OF LIFE IS ACTION THROUGH NON-ACTION

I am a great believe
and practitioner of eastern philosophy. I have also benefited tremendously from practices such as meditation and visualisation.

I am the first to confess that most of my BIG ideas and success ideas (Eurekas!) have come as a result of first feeding the subconscious mind tremendous input of the outcome that I want to appear in the real world, and then taking time out relaxing, letting go, and giving time for the assimilation in the subconscious (gestation) and then wait patiently for the outcome. (illumination)

This is how I solve problems of my own and of my clients, often with staggering and usually highly profitable results.

WHEN NOTHING GOES RIGHT

Wouldn’t that be a perfect world? Where you just visualise what you want and it happens? Well for most part that is exactly what happens and I know over a thirty year period I have created many millionaires, world champions and other success stories by getting clients and seminar attendees to do just that!

HOWEVER, it always pragmatic to recognise the other side of the coin. When things don’t come together, when you can’t visualise positive outcomes and when everything seems to go wrong.

I remember a specific instance in 1990 when I was doing my Australian tour, promoting Talk and Grow Rich. Unfortunately there was an air nre-fuelers strike and we couldn’t complete the leg of the jou
ey that was to take us to Perth and Darwin.

I went walkabout and got into my mind, trying to work out a strategy for getting seminars and book promotion back on track. I was trying to visualise a way out of the nightmare scenario that had brought my colleague Neal Lyster and I, to a grinding halt.

Neal wasn’t sympathetic. He said and rightly so ‘I can see what you are doing. You are waiting for a Eureka to jump and show us the way forward. But I think we should spring into action, do the best with the tools we have and keep moving forward.’

His idea was that we drive back to Melbou
e and start a series of seminars and meeting in local hotels. Neal knew that the lead time to getting bums on seat is often grossly underestimated and to this he countered, ‘We have just do a series of seminars in Melbou
e, let’s invite all those people back to another seminar, get them to bring their friends and also try some PR and other marketing. I know only a handful of people may turn up…but let’s work with those people and let’s see what we can turn it into.’

I was cringing at the thought of having to do seminars for maybe just a handful of people instead of organising properly and filling rooms. However I went along with Neal and we started promoting seminars, on the hoof. Initially one or two people turned up and I gave them the whole nine yards. At the end of the seminar we cultivated these people and very quickly a number of them lined us up with very large groups to speak to. The largest one was an Amway seminar where I spoke to over 1500 distributors and sold a huge amount of books and tapes.

As a result of springing into action and forcing ourselves into the flow of things, we created tremendous success. Yes we kept visualising and created all sort of ideas and opportunities, but give Neal credit, it was that ACTION that brought momentum into a dying project.

Your springing into action may well consist of mailing 5 or 10 letters, (not the 1,000’s you’d wish to) or making two phone or three phone calls to people you may even feel embarrassed about calling. Keep on with the action as well as the visualisation and a whole new world will open up for you.

SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO DO PLAIN PHYSICAL HARD WORK

I know the eastern gurus often get their devotees to do just plain hard work. That may be tilling the land, carrying water or chopping firewood. Just sheer plain hard work from early morning till late at night is often enough to completely lock up the left brain and allow the right brain to come up with creative ideas. You my find that by listening to classical music, jogging or working in the garden or taking a long country walk has the same effect.

ACTION FOLLOWS A DREAM

If you have a dream a list of goals you are trying to accomplish it much easier to spring to action because the mind is teleological ie it is goal seeking. If your mind knows your goals inside out and backward it will literally tell you what to do next on a daily if not hourly basis. Knowing what to do at 9am every morning is half the battle won, toward sustained success. Most people just flap around…all their lives!….don’t be one of them.