Success Quote #5

Okay, anyone seen the movie Boiler Room? Today's quote comes from that movie:

"Act as if."

What do you think the power of acting "as if" can do for your self-confidence levels? How would you act if you already had what you're seeking in life? How would you treat people? How happy would you be? Hhmmm.

When we BELIEVE that we are capable of achieving our goal to the point where we can visualize it so vividly in our own minds, as a side-effect, we can experience the joy "as if" we really did.

By experiencing this joy and becoming a person with a positive personality you will actually find that you are making it easier for yourself to then go out and ACTUALLY achieve your goal.

In the end, thinking positively about yourself and your ability to achieve your goals is self-fulfilling.

Any feedback?

Onward & Upward,

JD

Success Quote #4

Okay, here's a good quote I just found today:

"Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice." - Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

So having "balls" can be used for good or for ill. Interesting. But how does one get courage if they don't have it? Can it be learned from a book? I think so. Tell me your thoughts.

Onward & Upward,

JD

Success Quote #3

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this one. It's RWE's version of "Actions speak louder than words." which we've all heard. It reminds me to not only be aware of what I'm saying to other people, I should be aware of what I say to MYSELF... knowing that our dominating thoughts decide who we become. What sayest Thou?

Escape Velocity #3

Now, on to this week's quote. It's a good one!

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

This quote is very important to the Think & Grow Balls! philosophy because it deals entirely with ACTION. It sounds pretty similar to the saying, "actions speak louder than words", which most of us have heard our entire lives. Well, it's true.

What we do with our lives is far more important and speaks volumes more that what we say to justify what we did, do, or will do in the future. See, human beings are very complex when it comes to what we do versus what we say. The complexity revolves around the concept of "the mind". The mind has two parts: the conscious and the subconscious. Each mind has two different functions with two very different drives, yet, they function seemlessly together to help us experience our lives.

All that we are and how we perceive the world is a direct result of our two "minds" working together. Sometimes, our minds do not work that well with each other as Carl Jung explained in much of his work on topics such as complexes, multiple-personality disorder, hearing "voices", and others. We don't need to be psychologists to understand this complexity in the involvement of bad habits, routines that are hard to break, post-traumatic stress disorder, and many "glitches" that our minds encounter during our lives.

What's good about this is that we can use our conscious minds to "reprogram" our subconscious mind to reduce and/or eliminate these glitches so we may begin to experience life in more positive and healthy ways. We can use our conscious minds to unlock the power of our subconscious to help us reduce fear, eliminate procrastination, increase courage, and motivate ourselves to do things with our lives that we never thought possible! All you have to do is learn how.

In my years of field research and work with my students, I have developed a method that the "average" person can use to unlock the power of their subconscious to work FOR them, instead of against them. It all starts with changing the way you think.

Once you change the way you think, you'll begin to "feel" better about life and your place in it. Once you begin to feel better, you'll begin to act differently. And, of course, this leads to results... and ultimately self-confidence. And, as you know, self-confidence is what it is all about!

However, all this change must begin somewhere and it begins when you find your own path to positive personal change.

I sincerely hope I can reduce your fear and encourage you to make the happiest life possible for yourself.

Onward & Upward,

J.D.

Success Quote #2

"The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs."

- Vance Havne

What are your thoughts on this?

Success Quote #1

What do you think of this quote by Mary Anne Radmacher?

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day, saying... 'I will try again tomorrow.'"

Escape Velocity Pep-Talk #2

As you may already know, recently I've been taking a survey on my website and many people have given me their input as to what topic is most important to them.

I can't tell if you have voted, yet, because it's an anonymous poll, but I want to thank you if you have.

This poll helps me understand what is important to my readers and also helps me validate the content of my ebooks and their ability to help motivate and encourage them to take action in their lives.

Which brings me to my topic for this week.

According to the most recent poll results, "taking action" is now in the lead by almost 10% of the total votes.

I find this reassuring because it lets me know that there are a lot of people just like me out in the world that are dealing with the same issues that have held me back in the past.

I've done a lot of research for the topics I discuss in my e-books and it just so happens that "taking action" is VERY important to MANY people and the topic came up in discussions often.

So, I'll share with you what I've learned.

Taking action isn't always about doing something... sometimes it's about NOT doing something.

And, the decision to DO or NOT TO DO something involves CHANGE.

And, since change is not absolute and the results are not guaranteed, change involves RISK.

And, anytime humans encounter risk, they encounter FEAR.

But what kind of fear?

There are many types of fear and many ways it manifests in our bodies.

From my research, I've found that our fear of taking risks is actually a fear of the UNKNOWN.

It is a fear that is innate and "wired" into our biology.

Throughout our history, fear has played a crucial role in our survival as a species.

So, how can we overcome our fear of the unknown in a modern world?

I believe I have the answer to this question and I share it with you in my e-books.

I'll give you a hint... it has everything to do with how you think.

In fact, if you can condition or "reprogram" the way you think about fear, courage, action, failure, success, and everything in between, you won't fear the unknown anymore.

You'll be in control of your own thoughts and emotions and you'll find the courage inside you to TAKE ACTION.

I promise you.

I'm so sure I can help you that I'll give you all your money back, without a hassle, if you disagree with me.

Oh yeah, as I'm writing this, I can't tell if you've purchased my e-books... so, if you have, thank you and hopefully these newsletters are giving you a little extra "pep".

I tried to write this entire program in such a way so it would feel as though you were giving yourself a "pep talk" each time you read.

I sincerely hope I can reduce your fear and encourage you to make the happiest life possible for yourself.

Onward & Upward,

J.D.

Escape Velocity Pep-Talk #1

Over the last several weeks I've been taking a survey on a new page of my website asking visitors to pick which topic is MOST important to them.

And, out of 8 possible choices, the "fear of failure" has 40 percent of the votes so far.

With this feedback in mind, I decided to dedicate this week's newsletter to "overcoming" the fear of failure.

To start, I'll use my all-time favorite quote on failure:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison

I love this quote because it clearly shows that Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light bulb, "perceived" failure in an unusual and successful way.

All of his friends and supporters were getting impatient with him... they thought he was going mad and wasting all their money.

This, however, did not stop Mr. Edison from continuing his experiments and eventually succeeding.

Think about this... if Mr. Edison DIDN'T fail over 10,000 times before he discovered how to sustain light in a glass bulb, life as we know it now would be different.

In otherwords, if he didn't have the guts, courage, or "balls" to keep trying new things over and over and over or if he "gave up" on failed attempt number 9,593, you may not be reading this e-mail on your computer screen right now.

Who knows, maybe computers wouldn't have even been invented yet?

Because he "refused" to "perceive" failure as permanent defeat and loss, and to instead "see" failure as just one step closer to eventual success, Mr. Edison not only changed his life... he changed the world!

And, it was because of the WAY HE THOUGHT about failure.

And, that's what I want to stress in this newsletter and it's a HUGE topic of discussion in my e-book...

that in order to OVERCOME fear, you must "perceive" it differently.

You must view it as "necessary" to reach your goals.

In my philosophy, I take it one step further...

instead of just "seeing" it differently, start to "expect" it.

Know that we are human and make mistakes. Know that failure will happen from time to time. It's inevitable! Nobody's perfect. Instead of seeing failure as a permanent "state", learn the lessons it's trying to teach you and move on.

And, a major concept of my Think & Grow Balls! philosophy is that MOST of the time (if not ALL the time) we don't have all the "information" we need to succeed during the first attempt.

We need the "experience" to KNOW that certain methods won't work. We must know this so we can ADAPT and try something different that MIGHT work.

And, we must keep trying until a new method DOES work.

To put it another way, you'll learn what you need to learn ALONG THE WAY!

But, you must take that first step.

Remember, even the longest journeys begin with a single step.

And, as you're beginning your journey, think of this quote from Napoleon Hill:

"Ultimately, nothing much matters very much. The defeat that seems to break your heart today will be but a ripple among the waves of other experiences in the ocean of your life further ahead."

So, in conclusion, failure is a necessary step towards success and the only thing that matters is how YOU perceive it and if YOU will let it deter you from making another attempt.

Failure can hurt sometimes and it can even be pretty embarrassing at other times... but so what?

At least you have the courage and "balls" to make the attempts that few people ever will.

Just remember that if you fail enough, you will eventually succeed! Most every person who changed the world in some way was thought to be "mad" at some point in their lives because they NEVER gave up... even when logical reasoning said they SHOULD have. But, because they followed their own path and listened to the beat of their own drummer, they made the world a better place!

I sincerely hope I can reduce your fear and encourage you to make the happiest life possible for yourself.

Onward & Upward,

J.D.

Welcome To My Blog!

Just wanted to welcome everyone to my new blog and thank everyone who has read my book Think & Grow Balls!: How To Shrink Your Fear & Enlarge Your Courage and supported me in this endeavor.