The Bi-Weekly Ezine from Gurdy.Net - a new Personal Development Article every Wednesday + BONUS video

Issue No: 083 - March 31, 2010

This Week's Personal Development Article

Willie Horton - personal development and business success expert - creator of the Gurdy.Net Online Workshop - the Ultimate Persona Development Plan

You wouldn't leave the house nude, would you? Then why would you leave home each morning with your head totally unprepared for the day ahead? By default, we're mindless people - doing everything on automatic pilot and then wondering why our lives are "not so bad" or why we're having "one of those days". It's our own doing, it's our own fault. We need to get our minds in gear to be able to rise to each day's challenges and, more importantly, embrace each day's opportunities... Willie Horton

So-called "normal" people are crazy - so says 70 years' research. But open your eyes and you can see the nonsense all around you - most days of the week. Each Wednesday we take a peek!

Start Your Day On the Right Foot!

How did you start your day today? When you leaped – or dragged yourself – out of bed, were you ready and alert for all the wonderful opportunities that today will offer, or did you slouch, on automatic pilot, to the bathroom in the normal early morning daze. If, of course, you were awoken by an alarm clock, then your day started off on the wrong foot right from the word go, because your subconscious mind wasn’t ready to wake up. Bearing in mind that your subconscious mind runs your daily life, an unprepared subconscious means you’re completely unprepared for the day ahead – like about 96% of everyone else on this planet.

Your subconscious mind needs to be up and running or you’ll never properly get up and running yourself. Most people wouldn’t consider leaving the house in the morning, to tackle the day ahead, unwashed. And almost nobody (I do know one person!) would even think about leaving the house undressed (the person in question has left the house totally nude – but that’s another story!). So why, oh why, would you even consider leaving your home each morning mentally “nude”, mentally “unwashed” and “unshaven”, mentally totally unprepared for all that life has to offer in the upcoming day?

It’s true to say that almost everyone is a mental mess when it comes to being in the right frame of mind to tackle each day’s challenges and opportunities – a good number of universities, on more than a couple of continents, have come to the conclusion, based on decades of research, that about 96% of us are “normal” and that “normal people” are mad. I haven’t put mad in inverted commas because it’s not a joke. “Normal people’s” subconscious minds control them – not the other way around. Surely that’s a definition of madness. Your subconscious mind controls your automatic behaviour, from slouching from the bed to the bathroom mindlessly to shaving, brushing your teeth and dressing yourself absent-mindedly – you’re missing in action from the time you stumble out of bed.

Your subconscious mind dictates your reactive behaviour which, ninety-nine times out of a hundred comes flying out your mouth (or from your fist) before you have had time to think about the sense of doing it. You know what I mean. How many times do you react to some argument or problem and make it better? Normally knee-jerk reactions make things worse.

Which leads me back to where I started. If you’ve woken up this morning and your subconscious mind wasn’t ready and if you haven’t bothered to get your subconscious mind in gear for the day ahead, then don’t blame anyone else if you have another “one of those days” or if, when you arrive at work this morning and someone asks you how you’re doing that you automatically react by answering “not too bad”. Because, if you haven’t got your subconscious mind in gear, “not-too-bad” is about as good as it gets!

So, here’s a quick tip to ensure that your subconscious mind is, at the very least, given a fighting chance of being up to today’s trials, tribulations and blindingly obvious opportunities (which you’ll never notice if you didn’t wake up in the first place this morning). There are things that you have to do each morning (I assume you look after the basic hygiene!) – like brushing your teeth, shaving (only applies to some people!!), washing, getting dressed and grabbing a coffee or even a full breakfast. Each of these routine tasks, performed mindlessly in the normal course of events, provides you with a golden opportunity to get your subconscious mind in gear. So, stop yourself in your tracks and do some, or all, of those things differently. In other words, brush your teeth with the hand that you don’t normally use or shave with the “other hand”. Dress yourself by putting the “other leg” into your pants first, the “other arm” into your shirt (you may not be aware of it – because most people are aware of nothing – but you always lead with the same leg and same arm when you dress).

By doing little things, that you have to do anyway, differently you pay more attention to them and paying attention to what you are doing, feeling and experiencing in the here and now is how you turn your subconscious mind on. Not only is it scientifically proven, not only has neuro-psychology determined that your ability to be a success is correlated with your ability to pay attention, brushing your teeth with the “other hand” will change your life – starting today. It’s that simple. Try it tomorrow morning and break the habit of starting your day on auto-pilot. Paying attention is the beginning of all wisdom – and the beginning of a much better day.

This one’s hot off the presses – just happened us yesterday.

Whilst touching on the inappropriate behaviour of so-called “normal” people in one of my advanced workshops, I once recounted our experience of having self-invited house guests who brought a number of tasty treats from the “old country” for the children, ate them all themselves, constantly demanded particular types of food and then proceeded to tell us that our youngest daughter must become a doctor and that they demanded a say in her upbringing as they were her godparents! Indeed, there is a good deal more that transpired at the time which is quite un-publishable (a constant problem I have with some of the normal people that I or readers encounter!).

They – or she to be precise – called us again yesterday evening, telling us that they were booking their flights for a long weekend in May! When it was explained to her that, in May, I have back-to-back clients either here or abroad and that all three of our children are preparing for State examinations, the lady in question took offence. “We didn’t get your Christmas present last year” she immediately retorted “That’s because we didn’t send you one” Lisa (the real boss in this house – any of you who’ve visited me here know that’s the case and also know that I love it!). Lisa has been subtly trying to tell this person to leave us alone for twenty years! “And you never sent my daughter a present when her baby was born four years ago” our telephone caller continued. And so the tirade went on and on.

“Well if May doesn’t suit you, we’ll come in June!” (just when the State exams are actually on!) “That doesn’t work for us either” Lisa replied “We better leave it for a while, because after that we’ll be trying to organise the two who’ll be heading off to university at the beginning of September” – our caller agreed with the following remark “OK but I presume your youngest is going to study to be a doctor!”
Having had a heated debate about the fact that our youngest daughter has no intention of pursuing any course of study other than what turns her on, herself, the conversation continued “Now, August would suit us perfectly to come over – we could stay for whole week in August!” When it was explained, again, that August was even worse for us than May or June – but that we could organize something after that our caller replied “No, no, no – August suits us best, because we’re going on another visit to California in September” (forgot to mention that these people are serial self-invitees) – “We’ll come in August – and I’ll give you a call when we’re about to book the flights!” The ‘phone went dead!

Next week, perhaps you’d like to hear about how this lady invited herself to the Mayor’s enclosure at the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Los Angeles two weeks ago and how she was wined and dined by the State of California...

Today's "5Minute" Seminar - In Love with Your Personality?

first broadcast July 6 2009

If you like your personality, you've fallen in love with an illusion. Personality - for the Latin word persona, meaning a mask - is the creation of a number of "snapshots" you took of events and people that were important to you during your "formative" years. You need to move beyond your personality to achieve effortless success. Normal people never do - that's why normal lives are "not too bad". But everyone can achieve effortless happiness and success - and that includes you... Watch today's "personality" development video - and start getting to know the real you...

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