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by Charles Burke
Whatever goes on inside your head determines what happens
"out there" in your real world.
No surprise, I'm sure, since this idea is mentioned by
countless writers and speakers.
But over the year-end holidays I generated some extra-
convincing proof of this. I used my own self-made fitness
program to lose 6 kg (13 lb) and get more physically fit
(went from 31% body fat to 26%). And I did it mainly by
injecting certain thoughts into my own mind.
Furthermore, I did it in just 55 days. There was no
struggle, no will-power, no starving or battling with myself
in any way.
I'll tell you more about the details in a moment, but first
I should mention that the weight loss is not the real point
here. The real lesson is that the very same technique will
work on anything if you'll just apply it. Inject the
thoughts and watch the results.
Now, there are a lot of products out there to help us reach
our targets and goals. And collectively, we buy truckloads
of those products.
But we generally DON'T get truckloads of results.
C'mon... be honest now... how many real successes have you
racked up recently? Count 'em up and compare that number
with the amount you've spent on tapes and books and courses.
Is your average cost per success running more or less than
$1,000?
If you're tired of getting nowhere despite all that spending
and reading and listening, here are 6 tips for changing
absolutely ANYthing in your life within a few short weeks.
If you'll really use them, these 6 are all you'll ever need.
FIRST: PICK YOUR TARGET
You can only make progress toward a target if you know what
it is.
Need more money? Want a new love in your life? Wish you had
a boss you could get along with? First thing you gotta do is
name that desire.
Let's say you want to generate more income. First decide how
much more, and by when.
Of course, be realistic. A million bucks by next Wednesday
is not within the realm of reason, and your mind knows it,
so it'll just ignore any bogus goals and wait for you to
touch back down to planet earth.
If you will start out with believable targets, you can
expand them later. But you gotta start from where you are.
Oh, and being specific is especially important. Don't say,
"I want a new car." Instead, make it something like, "I want
a brand new, hot pink Honda with plush pink interior." (If
that's what turns you on.) It would help to go look at
Hondas and check the colors available. This makes it more
real and tangible in your mind.
SECOND: WHAT JOY WILL YOU GAIN?
What's your real, underlying payoff?
Hint - if your target is that new Honda, the payoff is not
the car itself. It'll be some kind of feeling. If you get
butterflies and thrills of anticipation when you think of
all your neighbors and friends gathered around admiring it,
that's the REAL benefit.
If you want to become a public speaker and lecturer, you
might get the biggest emotional kick when you think about
all those people whose lives you'll change. Or the crowds of
faces sitting, listening to your every word.
Of course, your first thought may be of all those vast sums
of money you'll be earning. Well, be warned, the money is
usually a secondary benefit. It's okay to use it as part of
your motivation, but it works best when it's not the primary
thing you want... because it usually isn't as exciting as
the satisfaction of impacting others' lives. Or the human
elements of acclaim, recognition and admiration.
When I decided to get fit, I fastened my mind on an image of
myself being slim, with washboard abs and great pectorals.
That was my goal. I spent a lot of time running that picture
through my mind. Over and over.
Naturally I didn't get all the way there in 55 days, but I
made a great start, and my new eating and exercise habits
are now on automatic. I don't have to do anything extra now
to motivate myself. Once started properly, the motivation
just keeps going.
THIRD: PILE ON MORE REASONS
Looking good wasn't my only motivation. I also wanted to
feel healthier.
And not be ashamed to go swimming next summer.
Yep, that's right... I appealed to my own sense of pride and
vanity. It definitely raised the emotional pitch.
In addition, I threw the program open to my subscribers, and
14 agreed to join me in the experience.
So then I had the benefit of 14 people watching me for
advice and help. That ensured I wouldn't allow myself to
slump midway through and just fade off target. I
deliberately set it up so that I felt compelled to continue.
Those were reasons that worked for me. You'll have to find
your own.
But I assure you of this... if you don't go out of your way
to heap on "reasons why", you won't get very far toward your
goal. By the way, my friend Peter Murphy, the NLP expert,
helped me with this part of it.
But this is so important, I'll repeat it.
You need to find more reasons for achieving your target -
more than you think you'll ever need - because once you get
into the middle part of your journey, where the "new" has
worn off and the goal still feels a long way away, you'll
need all the extra motive power you can hustle together.
FOURTH: FILL YOUR MIND WITH YOUR GOAL
Now we get to my secret technique. For 30 years I had been
overweight, and for all that time, I hadn't been bothered
enough by my fat to try and get rid of it.
So how did I start caring enough to lose weight? I made
myself a set of hypnosis CDs and listened to them at least
twice a day. Simple, huh?
There are a lot of tapes and CD sets out there. The best of
them are brilliant, and even the worst of them are probably
good enough to get the job done for you. Or, if you already
know hypnosis, you can simply make your own recordings. They
WILL work.
They'll work... IF you use them regularly and persistently.
As you may already suspect, nothing's going to work if you
don't use it much.
Years ago I bought some hypnosis tapes, but the narrator's
voice sounded unpleasant to me. So I stopped listening.
Today, I realize what a mistake that was. The reason I
bought those tapes was to get help. It didn't matter if the
hypnotist sounded like a shrieking magpie. The voice wasn't
the point. The words and the suggestions were the point. The
help would have gotten through, if I had stuck with it and
made myself give the tapes a chance. But no, I not only
wanted help, I insisted on being entertained, too. Ah, what
a delicate flower I was back then.
So I let myself get sidetracked by a silly little side
issue, and that kept me from taking (notice I said TAKING)
the help I needed.
FIFTH: OVERWHELM THE LOW DAYS
Will there be days when you don't feel like sitting down and
listening? Sure there will.
And days when you don't think the materials you're using are
having any effect.
And days when you're convinced that the materials won't work
for you, even if they've helped millions of others.
It happens to everybody (yes, even those brilliant successes
who never seem to have low times).
What do you do at times like that? Well, the usual tendency
is to get depressed because "it's not working" for you. But
that's not a winning strategy. Instead, I recommend
irritation. Get incensed at the HABIT of getting
discouraged. Get a little bit angry.
It's called righteous indignation, and it's an especially
useful tool for those doubting days when you're sure nothing
will ever work right for you ever again.
Yes, there are times when the intensity of anger is
appropriate, and this is one of them. Dig in and pour on the
concentrated effort. It's like stepping on the gas to power
yourself out of a mud hole. Be willing to fight for your
goal - battle those old habits that want to drag you back
down.
SIXTH: UNDERSTAND THE KIND OF GOAL YOU'RE AFTER
Some goals are like a finish line in a race. You want a new
car, and once you have it, that's it. You've reached the
goal. Or a vacation in Paris. You'll know when you've made
it there.
Other goals, however, are not races. They represent a change
of direction, but without a finish line.
Think of it like piloting an airplane. For most of an
airplane's flight, it's set on autopilot. Your fitness and
weight habits are like this. They're set for one direction,
and if you leave them alone, they'll keep you on that course
automatically, without any need for you to monitor them.
You may go on a diet or take up a fitness routine (usually
depending heavily on will power). But if you don't know how
to reset your autopilot, you'll have only temporary success.
The minute you take your attention off your new routine, the
autopilot takes control back from you, and puts you back on
your old course.
But if you know how to change your autopilot settings, then
there's no need for you to constantly monitor your daily
behavior. Now your autopilot is automatically doing the
monitoring for you, keeping you on your new course to be
slim and fit.
Just as your mind automatically kept you fat before, now it
gives you a preference for slimming foods and lots of
physical activity.
How do you reset your autopilot? You already know most of
the ways. But you may not have much faith in them.
There are:
* hypnosis
* affirmations
* meditation
* sleep tapes
* subliminal (actually subaudible) tapes
* chants
* goals lists
* and many, many others
But (you may protest) you've tried some (maybe all) of them
and had limited results.
If you didn't get results, you didn't follow the six steps I
outlined above. You left out one or more of them. You gotta
cover all the bases, or you're right, it won't work.
So if it didn't work, the problem wasn't with the method. It
was with how you used it.
Dig out some of those old products growing moldy on your
shelf. Blow the dust off of them and try 'em again. But this
time, do it right. Really go at it like you're beating a big
snake with a stick. Get enthusiastic about it. Put some real
oomph into it.
I guarantee you'll get great results if you'll just:
1. pick a specific target
2. identify your real emotional payoff
3. have more than enough reasons to do it
4. saturate your thinking with your goal
5. give lots of extra effort on the low days
6. identify your goal - finish line or autopilot
Does that seem like a lot of work? I won't kid you; it'll
probably take some effort, even some scrambling, to get it
going right. But it does lead to success.
And what about making the extra effort to listen to a CD or
tape? Even on the low days - really now - how hard can that
be?
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"How to Turn Ordinary Events into Your Richest Resource"
Most people look for success like they're driving at night
with their lights off. The weekly Sizzling Edge Report shows
you how to find your light switch and turn it on quick.
Click on http://sizzlingedge.com to learn more.
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