Mind Revolution

When it comes to getting help from your unconscious mind to make changes in your life, there’s such a thing as dreaming too big. And make no mistake about it, you want help from you unconscious mind. Change is difficult. We need all the help we can get. And since our unconscious mind is, ultimately, what delivers our reality, it’s crucial that the unconscious mind be fully on board with any changes we want to make. This is true in the realm of finances as well as other areas, but with finances it’s easier to measure. But what happens if you set a goal -- monetary or otherwise -- that the unconscious mind doesn’t believe is attainable? If your financial goals seems outlandish, no matter how focused you are, you’re not going to get the support you need from the unconscious mind. What to do? Stop dreaming big?  No way, José! You know me better than that. Don’t quit your big dreams… But do put them on the back burner temporarily. Deciding to make a deliberate change involves marrying the conscious and unconscious

Our relationship with money involves more than just how much we have in the bank. It’s much more complicated than that. It involves more than our salary, more than our benefits, more than what’s in our 401K. We learned in previous weeks that most of our unconscious beliefs -- those around money, prosperity and many other important topics -- were handed down to us from our caregivers. What we learned in our youth -- whether good or bad, whether  favorable to or suspicious of money -- is what’s known and comfortable to us.  And it’s uncomfortable to get outside of our comfort zones, even when those zones are keeping us in less than ideal life conditions. Most of us fall into one of four prosperity comfort zones: Level 1 is about survival and scarcity. It’s a hand-to-mouth existence. Consumption and instant gratification are hallmarks of this level, and there’s little, if any, planning for the future. Level 2 is about creating financial security. This level is characterized by “corporate America,” hard work, pe

Beliefs about money -- we all have them. And they tend to fall somewhere between “Money is great, and there’s plenty of it for all,” and “Money is evil...and so are those who have it.” The thing is, no matter where we are on that belief spectrum, we probably didn’t consciously decide what we were going to believe about money. Our beliefs about money -- like so many other topics -- were handed to us. They came from our parents, our caregivers, or our culture.  Whatever your beliefs about money, are you happy with your current financial situation? Can you see that the current state of your funds reflects your inherited fundamental beliefs about finances? What is the story you have in your subconscious about money? Is it time for a rewrite? Because if you have negative feelings about money, your unconscious mind is going to make sure you don’t have too much of it. But the truth is that money is part of the fabric of our lives. We need it to survive and to have a spot in the marketplace. Money gives us options; i

When you start growing, changing, thriving, finding success, and having breakthroughs of your own, it’s only natural to want the same for others in your life, especially those who are close to you, those whom you love. It would be easy to fall into nagging, pressuring friends and family to change -- “Read this book; take this class, join this group, listen to this podcast…” But problems arise when we try to push others into change before they’re ready. Motivation to change has to come from within the individual. They are the ones who have to do the work. No one else can do it for them.  A core tenet of NLP is that every person is doing the best they can with the resources they have. Once we accept this, we’ll relieve ourselves of the felt duty of trying to fix other people. After all, the only person we can “fix” is ourselves. This next point might hurt a bit, so take a deep breath… If we’re honest with ourselves, the real reason we want friends and family to change is because their growth will benefit us in

I have several clients who have moved from phase one to phase two of the breakthrough process. Phase one happens with me in my office. That’s where I help clients release negative emotions, eliminate limiting beliefs, install strategies, and align values… It’s exciting, invigorating work. Then comes phase two -- the hard part. It doesn’t seem as dramatic as phase one, but this is the nuts-and-bolts, boots-on-the-ground work that must be done for sustained success in the real world, outside of the safety of my office. This is the not-fun stuff. It’s boring. But it’s so, so powerful, and it will impact every area of your life.  Don’t miss the implications of these truths:  The unconscious mind doesn't know the difference between what's real, imagined, or remembered. And it takes everything personally.  Having some negative thoughts about your brother? Your unconscious mind thinks those thoughts are about you.  Dwelling on a scary movie?  Relaying tragic events that happened in your town? Sorry, but your uncon

There is a presupposition in NLP that the power of our communication with others is revealed in the response that we get. Yeah, you read that right. When we speak, we tend to focus internally on what we want to say, on the message we want to deliver, on the ideas we want to share. We want to be heard.    The problem is that in focusing inwardly, we get caught up in our own thoughts and forget about those of our listeners. We’re “listening” to ourselves instead of listening to those we’re trying to communicate with. We forget that they too want to be heard and understood. Even if they’re not audibly speaking, our (at least face-to-face) listeners are sending messages through their countenance, their silence, their level of eye contact, their body language, the color and tone of their skin...  If the purpose of communication is to get all parties on the same page, learning to pay attention to these cues is vital.  It’s also important to remember that, in most cases, all parties involved want the same outcome. T

Language -- it influences more than you think.  It’s not just how we communicate with others. It’s how we communicate with ourselves. It's how we understand our world. As humans, our very consciousness -- our thoughts, beliefs, ideas -- is built around words, around language. We build patterns and strategies based on those labels, and all of this put together gives you your life experience.  Don’t like your current life experience? Change your language. Really. It’s the key to changing your beliefs, changing your thoughts, changing your experiences, changing your life. I have yet to meet a single human being who is living a life that is different than their thoughts. What you think is what you get. And if you want to change your thoughts -- guess what? You’ve got to change your words. You’ve got to change your labels. You’ve got to change your language.  It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Remember: the unconscious mind loves repetition, so you’ll need some persistence, but it won’t take long for you to see evide

You probably never expected to have a hate club. But now that you’ve started working on yourself, started growing, changing, releasing negative energy, and being the real you...well, there are bound to be some people who aren’t thrilled about changes.  This is the not-fun part of self-growth. But it’s normal and to be expected when you’re experiencing breakthroughs, growth, and change.  The people in our sphere almost always align with us. For instance, if we have a glass-half-empty mindset, those around us are going to confirm that negative attitude. If we’re into complaining about our spouses, guess what the people we keep company with will enjoy doing? You get the idea. When we begin to change and leave our old patterns behind, our old sphere of friends are left wondering what happened to us. The old negative attitude turned sunny. Instead of participating in the gossip, we’re pushing back, defending the absent third-party. Old friends are wondering, “Who does he think he is?”  “What’s gotten into her? It’

Do you know that paralyzing feeling that you’re not good enough? It’s debilitating. How did we come to feel that we’re lacking? Who said so? What do they know? Who decides how much of whatever attribute is enough? As we’ve established before, your sponge-like brain soaked in the ideas that were fed it, especially when you were young. But even adults are bombarded with and have lapped up advertisements and images of “ideals” that simple do not exist in the real world. We’ve been sold a bill of goods, and our unconscious minds soaked it up, leaving us feeling less-than, lacking...like losers. We so easily fall into the comparison trap, measuring ourselves against unreal, imaginary standards, and then wonder why we feel powerless! The sad story is that when we compare ourselves to others, we become at effect rather than at cause. We’re no longer the one in charge of our lives. We’re letting someone else dictate what we should look like, act like, have, and do, etc. But you can feel worthy, and you can take back

Body image. Probably for most people -- both women and men -- those two words bring up all sorts of negative feelings and emotions, feelings of not-good-enough, feelings of embarrassment, possibly guilt and shame. Where did those feelings, that negativity, come from? Likely from Photoshopped images of “perfect” figures and complexions that don’t actually exist in the real world. Where there is advertising, there will also be Photoshop. We need to recognize that fact and factor it into our perception of the images we see, because perfection simply doesn’t exist in our world. When we think  of our “body image” our thoughts typically go to our most “problematic” parts -- the lumpy thighs, bulging belly, and saggings arms -- instead of our assets -- the sparkling eyes, hearty laugh, good circulation, adequate mobility, the ability to breathe effortlessly on our own… It’s not wrong to want better than what we currently have. Bu we’re never going to get our bodies to cooperate with us in the change process if we’re

Have you noticed, like I have, that many people who have money struggles also struggle to maintain a healthy weight? When you get to the heart of the matter, we really shouldn’t be surprised. Both food and money struggles are likely the result of a scarcity mindset. “I can’t purchase what I really want because there might not be enough in the bank tomorrow.” “I’m already full, but I was taught to eat everything on my plate.” The processed food industry isn’t helping the problem of overeating. Because they want to sell us more and more of their wares, they add chemicals that make their junk taste great, downright addictive. Our brains respond by telling us to get another handful...and another and another. It might seem like a hopeless situation, but it’s not. The first step is to realize it’s not your fault. It’s not that you’re undisciplined or lazy or destined to be overweight. Somewhere along the way, you embraced the scarcity mindset -- perhaps from your parents, environmental factors, or difficult circums

Let’s face it. We’re not in complete control. Sometimes things happen to us -- bad things. Sometimes we are victims, and our lives are affected negatively by the actions of others. If that was the end of the story, it would be a sad, depressing one for many of us. But our lives are a journey that we can participate in. We have the power to rationalize, to learn, and to grow from the events that shaped our lives, even -- perhaps especially -- from the bad ones. In today’s episode, we talk about significant emotional events -- about what they are, why they’re so powerful, and about the link between the physical body and the memory of these events. We learn that our body brilliantly suppresses significant emotional events until we’re ready to process, integrate, and release the negative emotions. Yes, when a bad memory comes flooding back, your body believes you’re ready to let go of the negative emotions surrounding that event. I share a recent experience of the surfacing of one of my own significant emotional

Each baby comes into the world as a blank slate -- pure love and 100% human potential. Their developing mind takes in their environment like a sponge, soaking in both the obvious -- the names of objects in their world, the ABC’s etc. -- and the not so obvious things, like the emotions, behaviors, limiting beliefs, and the values of those around them. This is why most people’s values and beliefs were acquired by default rather than intentionally chosen. They were simply absorbed from the environment in which they grew up. BUT those acquired values, behaviors, and beliefs need not define who you are. They are not who you are. You are, even now, 100% human potential. Don’t believe me? Look around. There are countless stories of people who have beat the odds, turned their lives around, traded beauty for ashes. Why not you? If you don’t feel like you’re a bundle of human potential, if you’re not happy with the circumstances of your life, if you’re unhappy with your relationships or your career or your business, it

To say we all get stressed from time to time is a vast understatement,  especially in the modern, always-on world in which we live. We’re continuously bombarded with content, and that sometimes leads us to put undue pressure on ourselves to perform at a certain level or achieve unrealistic goals. 77% of people regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress. Yes, physical symptoms. Stress can be a quiet creeper. For some of us, it slowly builds, and we don’t even realize it’s there until we’re nearly at a breaking point. Then there’s another class of stress -- the stress that comes with anxiety, anxiety about things over which we have little or no control. Anxiety is really nothing more than fear of the future, the projection of which is changing day by day if not minute by minute! Sometimes the future can be made brighter by simply shifting our focus. And when the future is brighter, your stress level decreases. In today’s episode, you’ll learn a powerful tool for dealing with negative emotions and l

At some level, we’re all salespersons. All of us. If we’re in the workforce, if we have relationships, if we ever try to influence or teach others, we’re selling. We may be trying to sell our boss on a strategy, or sell our partner on the next vacation destination, or sell our kids on eating their vegetables. We sell ideas, instructions, opinions, preferences, products, services... One beautiful thing about sales is that when voluntary transactions happen, win-wins occur. All parties feel better and richer as a result of the trade. Wouldn’t it be great to create more of those win-wins? You can...by focusing on your prospect. It’s imperative that we move away form the stories we have in our own heads, away from what we think we know about our customers, so that we can glean information and speak directly to their needs, their issues, their potential fears, their desires. We need to understand the potential transaction from the prospect’s perspective. How can we do that?  Learn to effectively ask the following

When things go wrong, when we have a bad day, when we seem to be out of luck, we tend to ask, “Why? Why me?” That’s the wrong question Instead we should be asking, “How? How did I make this happen? What is going on inside me to bring about these results?” As soon as we begin to blame someone or some circumstance or some situation for what’s going on in our lives, we’ve given away our power and given up on any hope of change. This podcast is all about harnessing the power of the mind to achieve the results we want in business, relationships, and life. This podcast is about take responsibility for your life, your reactions, and your outcomes. It’s about empowering you to achieve what you want out of life, no matter what you life’s path has been like up till now. And it all starts with internal representations. Remember, perception is projection, and what you perceive in others is a reflection of what’s inside of you. Let that sink in... It’s a sobering thought. If you perceive something negative in someone else

To discount or not to discount -- that is the question. Since the Great Recession a decade ago, discounts, coupons, slashing prices, and flash sales have been the norm in many industries, so much so that some shoppers have the mentality of “I never pay full retail price” and expect to have a discount on everything, even services. It would be easy for the small to medium-sized business owner to assume that discounts and coupons are just part of doing business, that it’s what you have to do to close a sale. But there’s a downside to discounts. Once you start down the slippery slope, there’s almost no end in sight. How big of a discount is enticing enough? Should you raise your regular price so the discount won’t hurt your bottom line so much? You might be thinking, “I’ll just offer a discount to first-time customers,” but by doing so you set a bad precedent. A repeat customer who initially received a discount will almost certainly want a redo of the discount on future transactions as well. And you might find it

Did you know that people consume almost twice as much food and drink when they’re in a group of six or more? It happens for the same reason that we can mindlessly consume a bucket of popcorn at the movies or find ourselves having had one too many beers at the big game. We’re consuming unconsciously.   Of course, it doesn’t help the situation that we tend to reach for convenience foods when hunger strikes and many of those easy-to-grab, convenient-to-fix processed foods -- the boxed stuff, the canned goods, the frozen dinners -- are engineered to make you crave them, to keep you coming back for more and more more...long after your dietary needs have been met.   Another reason we tend to overconsume is that overconsumption of food and/or alcohol fires off the reward center of the brain. Plain and simple -- it feels good. We get a dopamine high when we gorge.   But food and drink aren’t the only things that can give us that feel-good high. One of the keys to overcoming unconscious consumption is to train yoursel

Many of us have unspoken desires that are bottled up and hidden away. The upside to that approach is that you’ll have no obstacles resting in your comfort zone. The downside, of course, is that you’ll never realize goals that are not acted upon. In today’s episode we talk about what needs to happen in our conscious and our unconscious mind to realize goals. We’ll learn why the two most important steps of achieving a goals are the first one and the last one. And we discuss congruency and why the alignment of our thoughts, actions, emotions, and behaviors is so important when it comes to goal setting and getting.   Perhaps the most beautiful thing about setting and achieving goals is that the person who achieves the goal is never the same person who set the goal. Why? Because growth, change, and transformation have happened along the way! Success breeds success. Fulfilling the next goal will require less effort, less neurological wiring, than the first. Thanks for listening!   To share your thoughts: Leave a n

If you are unique... If no one else can be you… If no one can do what you do in that way that you do it… then why would you ever compare yourself to someone else?   Comparing -- It’s a trap we so easily fall into, especially in the age of social media, where so much of what we perceive is not even reality! Falling into the comparison trap feeds all kinds of negative emotions. The trap is stifling. It’s certainly not a breeding ground for personal growth.   Instead of comparing yourself to others, keep it positive by focusing on being a better version of yourself. Be a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday.   In today’s episode, we learn why comparing ourselves to others is so detrimental to our own growth and happiness. We discuss the difference between comparison and modeling, and we learn how to harness the positive power of modeling to inspire and propel us into action in the direction we want to grow. I also share a few personal stories about my own comparison struggles and some words o