Success is living most of your life in the way you wish, experiencing and having the resources and relationships you desire, and impacting those around you in a way that makes them and the world better.
Success is a word that is so poorly defined that you’ll get many different answers if you ask many different people. The definition above is certainly not perfect but it is valid and reliable, and it and the rest of this article is not in the course itself. In other words, the course assumes you have already read this article.
The new Success Algorithm Online Course will be back for the final time in 2023 . It begins in mid-May. I have just enough time to share a few aspects of success with you that are new, or older and very important.
“I”ll pick you up at 3 pm at school kiddo.” Then the parent doesn’t show. Is her Mom a success in her eyes? If that was the general behavior of Mom, would most people consider her a success regardless of her income, charity work, cooking skills…?
What about this:
“I’ll always love you.” Then, a week later, the guy is with another person in that compromising position. Is the guy a successful person in her eyes? What about in the definition?
Imagine he makes a great deal of his money, supports his children from day one, does lots of charitable work, just like the Mom, in the example above this one. If the definition is correct a person can be a success and yet be failing in some aspect of life.
“I will do the dishes.” It turns out that she doesn’t do them but he does before he crashes for the night. Is she a successful person in his eyes? Does
What if you had no other information, what would you suggest her success rating might be?
“I’ll apply for that job tomorrow.” And he doesn’t. Successful person in her eyes?
It’s clear that success must be defined in a way similar to my definition at the top of this page. I’m always open to adaptation, but I feel this does a decent job in most contexts. With this in mind return to the brief glimpses into a couple of people’s lives we saw at the top of this page.
If I say the word, “dog” you could have many different images of what “dog” means to you vs. others. That said, most will have four legs, and a wet nose yet still be distinguishable from a cat.
Humans let other humans down every single day. And of course some people let down by others when they actually weren’t. They simply hoped for something “different” have happened. That said, I would argue that virtually all humans let down at least one other human every day. What are a few things you see on second glance, above?
1) The unsuccessful person is inconsistent with his stated word. Lesson: The successful person is consistent with his word. You say it, it happens.
2) The unsuccessful person didn’t plan well. Lesson: The successful person plans well, which means, it GETS DONE.
3) The unsuccessful person isn’t loyal. Lesson: The successful person is loyal.
There is a learning curve to achievement and success. It begins with being accurate with others and your Self. Oddly people are taught to be dishonest with themselves and others and today that changes. You’ll still make mistakes. Everyone does. The replicated research shows people lie about 3 times every 15 minutes. No one can completely overcome this.
But the general feel of moving in this direction is unquestionable.
The people with the most accurate assessment of reality are those that are likely to achieve the most in life…if they desire.
Failing is particularly important to achievement and success.
Whenever you begin something new, you can know most people are already better at “it” than you are…today. You’d be pretty surprised if the weren’t!
Whenever you set out on a new adventure or venture you are more likely to face initial failure than initial success and it just makes sense.
It sounds like “negative thinking” to a lot of people. At least before you think about it, it sounds negative.
Why not simply succeed and skip past the failure part?
After all, all you should have to do is MODEL SUCCESS and you will be a success!
And then that fails (or how they THOUGHT “modeling” worked failed). That’s pretty important, and I’ll leave that loop open for you for the moment.
It’s really difficult to think of anyone who didn’t fail…a lot…before they succeeded. (No one is coming to mind.)
Can I tell you a secret?
People ask me, “How many books have you written?” I stumble on this question.
I usually say 25, but that isn’t accurate. In other words, I’m not being correct or even truthful, in a sense. But I’m also telling the truth at the exact same second.
The “truth” is 28 or even 29.
So why would I say 25 instead of 29?!?!?
Because before I wrote my first book that hit the market, I wrote a cool fiction book (manuscript) about a virus that swept the globe only to have the most unlikely heroes save the day. I never submitted it for publication.
Even recently, I have spent as much as almost two YEARS writing a book, and never even got it to print due to unforeseeable situations!
I loved writing the last book where this situation occurred. It was a blast. It was good.
I wrote two other books as well…which were really pretty good in my own mind…but I just couldn’t get behind them enough to go to a publisher and have them put the books in print…imagining I could have gotten such a deal in the first place.
Then I wrote, The Gift.
I sold 1000 – 2000 copies of this book when it was released. Ironically it was released the same week as Kirk Douglas’s book by the same name. I did a non-book-signing at a bookstore near my home only to realize I was entering a very tough world.
The Gift is a really good book.
Once the book was liquidated I chose to not sell it anymore, but give it away instead…and I’ve given away perhaps a million copies. You’ll see it on the front page of the website at Christmas time if I decide to do such a thing again.
2000 copies is a failure. It is also normal in the United States.
Then I wrote another book, which once in print, sold 1000 copies before I pulled the trigger a year later. Yes, it was a good book. It’s actually sought after nowadays by collectors. But the book essentially did nothing.
Failure.
At this point my record was 3 books written and not published. Two books put into print that barely sold anything, as a self publisher.
That’s FIVE losses and was discouraging as heck.
Part of me felt like a loser…
…but I’ve always been bad at giving up. I can’t actually ever remember giving up at much of anything, but this was getting ugly!
My record was 0 – 5.
ZERO wins. FIVE losses.
It took over 5 years to get that record.
Then I wrote, The Psychology of Persuasion. I finished in February 1991. It took FIVE MORE YEARS to get the book published by a name publisher and it was rejected 247 times before it FINALLY hit the shelf.
The book was in print almost TWO YEARS before it sold it’s 10,000 copy…but then it sold…because I got out there and did 3 things every single day to make that book sell.
I love the book.
I hated the fact that so many publishers said I had no chance as a writer.
I was sick of failing.
But, within a few more years, it was clear that The Psychology of Persuasion would be a pretty big winner. It changed a lot of people; governments, leaders, celebrities, business professionals, teachers, etc… and their lives too.
My record was now 1 – 5.
Now I have a question for you.
If I told you it would take you 10 years of writing and rejection and failing and THEN you would succeed and in a respectable way…what would you do?
The publisher of The Psychology of Persuasion was excited about the book after it’s second year. Foreign publishers all over the world couldn’t wait to publish the book. Pretty soon the book was selling well in lots of different countries. It was pretty cool.
Since then of course you will recognize, The Science of Influence, Covert Hypnosis, Invisible Influence, Covert Persuasion, Irresistible Attraction, PreManipulation.
So my answer to the question is usually 24 and I think to myself, “not counting the first three that never were bound or available for purchase…and the last one that got hung up in a disagreement.”
Legend Point: There is a LOT of failing before success, but the story ends well!
Now. the question is, was the failure REQUIRED?! Continue reading to find out…
Page 2
I mean… was there a better way to do everything?
Could I have knocked a decade down to 3 years if I worked with someone who had done it all for their entire life?
The answer of course…. YES.
It’s a painful question to answer.
But here is the thing.
If you don’t move through failure on the game board of life, you will not experience success.
The next question: Why don’t people get what they want in life? Why aren’t they successful?
A lack of Blu Ray Clarity (UHD/5K) is the leading cause of not getting what you want in life.
Why is it that high definition clarity in setting outcomes seems to be a significant factor in getting what you want?
High Def Clarity allows you to have something you can experience in advance. It allows your brain to have something on it’s screen. When you have FINALLY achieved that “thing”, your brain can match the two pictures and note that you have a MATCH.
How to Insure Outcome Based Success…to Succeed
Why don’t most people lose weight AND keep it OFF?
How can you know that you’re going to lose weight and be certain to keep it off?
What is the key to making something like weight loss, an actual achievable outcome? It’s simpler than you think in process and more difficult in practice.
Losing weight is tough because your unconscious mind eats most of the food.
Weighing 205 and deciding you will get to 195 is a basic project.
You see the digital read out of 205. It becomes obvious when 195 is there.
Failing at the moment…
Fail
Fail
Fail
Fail
Success
Sadly, too many people write books that encourage people to celebrate small victories like getting to 202 or maybe 199.
Here’s a secret.
Your body weight can easily fluctuate by 5-6 pounds (2-3 kilos per day)!!
In a perfect and happy world, you’d see:
Progress
Progress
Progress
Progress
Success.
Sort of a “nice” and “cheery” way to see it.
But it doesn’t work.
As soon as the brain calculates significant progress to a goal has been achieved, say 199 – it will literally shut off and go get something else!
This is why it’s almost always worth seeing …
Fail……Succeed
instead of the “sounds positive and perky:”
Progress….Succeed.
If you don’t like, or preferably HATE failing, you WILL eventually succeed.
But, who doesn’t like progress….?
The Clarity Key
Let’s say you like my story about the fails but you want to get to something more tangible in your life, like money.
You can usually tell a great deal about people’s real life by listening to their use of language as it relates to desirable outcomes.
“Financial security” as a concept hoping to hit a real target… is just not possible.
“Make more money” is definitely not going to happen.
To acquire “financial security” requires defining “financial security.”
So how do you really hit the Financial Security Target?
Page 3
Blu Ray Clarity
The first time I saw BluRay images was watching The Dark Knight (Batman). It was cool. Today BluRay is almost retro. I’m curious. Have heard people describe the incredible new UHD and 5K quality video??
As you get a (inside the brain look) UHD look at your path(s) into the future you’ll see why having more than one path is important. Several can become clear and helpful.
Those differing paths give you clear video choices. The more you put out there that lead to things that you want increase your chances of success.
Three Caveats to 5K Mind Video for Success
The research is clear. You must have a dissociated position (you are seeing you in the movie) and you are receiving some kind of adoration, appreciation or applause; from one or many.
And as you and I have talked about for years, obstacles. You must see yourself overcoming the almost certain obstacles between where you are today (emotionally, mentally, physically in space, your work, your relationships) and where you want your outcome to be.
Legend Point: Find out who has made mistakes in the acquisition of what you desire, or something analogous to what you want, and set up a detailed security system against that.
This wires into the Passive Goal Guidance System you and I have talked about previously.
Let’s use money instead of time or love as an example. Money is easier to measure though very difficult to wrap your mind around at the level of abstraction. Example: I assume the government won’t return my Social Security money to me when I retire. If I assumed they would my Passive Goal Guidance System would not even bother with saving or investments in the first place. It’s really much more interested in really short term projects that the unconscious mind wants. It could be as simple as getting a few cookies, using the restroom, putting your face in a pillow or answering email. As soon as task X is done or progress has been made, the nonconscious brain literally moves along to the next thing it wants.
Therefore, I prepare for the possibility that investments won’t pan out in any way.
Unlike pension funds, successful people plan for ZERO growth on stock and bond investments. Unlike pension funds successful people fully fund retirement accounts each year.
Think of financial security like this: You want, say, 10 years of minimal life support income (a half million dollars?) at retirement and a paid off house.
Keep this in mind and your passive goal guidance system is less likely to kick in to impulsive (costly) behaviors. Consider changing your thinking from “I know I’ll get it in the end,” to “I know I’ll need more than I have today, and I don’t have it, so I will move forward until I do have it.”
The Barrier to Success is Typically…
Between people’s ears.
This isn’t always true and don’t let anyone tell you it is axiomatic. Many people live in places that don’t have a free market or worse have severe oppression.
But if you live in most places in Europe, Australia, Canada, The U.S. and in fact even in countries with economies that don’t make it impossible to thrive…
Then it is between people’s ears.
People seem to be certain they can’t succeed. Or, if they believe they can, it’s absolutely ambiguous as to how it will happen. And they immediately give up.
…which is ridiculous.
90% of jobs won’t allow you to accomplish this simple and crucial “achievement”, but a carefully selected micro-business (coffee table business is almost ideal) will.
Before going on, recognize that the PGGS will switch to tiny goals as soon as it:
a) has moved one or two steps toward ANY kind of a goal (including using the restroom, putting a dish in the dishwasher or making sandwich)
b) as soon as moving toward a conscious goal (most goals are non-conscious) has been judged too difficult.
When you do the math, remaining at most, but not all, jobs is risky.
Why?
You have almost no control over your future.
That said it’s really important that you learn in business from people who are good at what they do. You want to learn their work ethic, their schedule, their lifestyle, why they don’t dress as fancy as you think they should and on and on.
Giving your full throttle effort to a company for an extended period of time can be incredibly helpful in your life plan. When you have a job you get paid what you are worth to the company. And you have zero risk involved. If you do your job, it’s very difficult to fail in government or corporate.
The more risk you take on the more possibilities you have for higher income. This doesn’t mean greater risk means greater reward. It means greater rewards are possible.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics actually has this lined out in numeric form. If you work for yourself your AVERAGE (not median) income is dramatically higher than your counterpart in corporate.
The second barrier next to the PGGS is fear and uncertainty of that which is unfamiliar.
The basics of a micro-business, a Coffee Table business are pretty simple.
You want low expenses for your tiny business and you want a high probability of success of bringing in a modest amount of money.
Simplest Answers?
a) Online
b) ServiceThere are definitely thousands of other possible answers but this is a an excellent way to think about the Coffee Table Business.
The most impressive success stories you hear are from people who have no job and then strike it rich.
What you don’t really hear about in a similar context is the less common stories of success come from people who currently have a regular job where short term goals like paying the auto loan or credit card are consistently being met and the brain then shifts to other impulse goals several times each day.
I always tell people to keep their day job no matter how much they don’t like it, simply because training the brain to keep in mind what you don’t yet have is so counter to how humans process information.
You will need not just paths but PLANS, MAPS, GPS to the self created realities in the future.
That said, on average it will take more time to succeed for the person who has a good old fashioned job when contrasted with the person who has almost no income coming in.
This is simply because you have the choice of earning what you are worth to the world when you set out and walk your own plan.
The failure trap that nearly everyone falls into… Continue reading.
Page 4
Don’t Get Caught in the Moment – It’s a Trap
First of all, there are a couple of times where being “there” in the moment is a very good place to be!
But… when it comes to planning life, getting things done, and succeeding in general, the moment can be a trap…a big trap.
Remember: the Passive Goal Guidance System is constantly shifting your actions from impulse to counter impulse. Your body/brain is very comfortable when it perceives that it is making tiny bits of progress toward a bunch of goals or outcomes of varying importance.
The reason people don’t get what they want is because they are compelled to be comfortable in each moment as the past moment has just passed.
Because the brain is constantly moving from micro-success (made a sandwich) to micro-success (used the restroom), it feels successful all the time. It “feels” comfortable with the certainty that the brain/body are moving “forward.” In reality of course the only thing that is happening is almost nothing…or nothing.
The brain senses it deserves the comfort.
And who could argue?
A person is capable of having or experiencing most of what they think they could have in their mind…but comfort or familiarity brings a stiff message from the universe…
Anyone would prefer a vacation to, say, securing their future. Securing the future is what they say they want. They’d prefer to play than take care of their family….which is what they tell you they want.
The brain is laid out in such a way that when it “thinks about” (it really doesn’t think) achieving an outcome it then leaves that goal and moves onto a different goal (making a sandwich).
Only the mind can harness the brain to function in a more disciplined fashion.
That new behavior must come with clarity of outcome and overcoming the desire to move toward other goals.
Pinpoint Clarity
Every Olympic athlete in an event imagines themselves winning the event. 50 skiers don’t win. One does.
Visualization can be helpful in some contexts, but it is hardly the answer to success.
Knowing what you REALLY WANT, and DO NOT WANT, including all the black swans…and protecting yourself from those things… is more important than I can stress with a lot of CAPS and bold words…
Before you can get anywhere, you absolutely need to know where you are going, what’s in the way and how you’re going to get past all the messy disasters that await.
It sounds so darn simple, but when it comes to life goals or dreams, it’s not.
You might think, “I want my business to be a success,” or “I want to be happy.”
Those are nice aspirations…and…they get you nothing.
Why Defining Success and Failure Might Help…Maybe
Ask 10 different people to define success, or what will make them happy, and you’re going to get 10 different answers.
That’s why when it comes to getting what you want, the first step is to decide – specifically – what you want and don’t want in your life. Not in generalities, but in Blu Ray Hi Def Clarity.
Clarity goes far beyond, “I want to earn $300,000.”
$300,000 is difficult to comprehend for the brain. What does the brain see?
Nothing.
And what obstacles are on the way to nothing?
Breathing.
Add a date.
“I want to earn $300,000 by January 2025.
Still nothing.
Monetary values like this are almost always abstract. Definitive dates typically don’t help abstractions become concrete.
Numbers and monetary representations are valuable in life but they don’t do anything for the average human brain.
All of a sudden it becomes obvious that succeeding has one more obstacle than you considered before.
So just what is this clarity that allows you and I to succeed and not fail?
The clarity that causes success is …
QUALITY OF LIFE
There’s not much more important than the quality of your minutes.
Maybe the only thing that matters more than your minutes is love.
I suggest when defining your failure and success with clarity that you consider the number of minutes you get to love and the quality of your life when you are not loving.
In other words, I’m typing this article for you right now. I enjoy the process so long as you reap the rewards. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t giving me a higher quality of life.
Here’s a fact: When you are busily engaged in whatever it is you do all day, you are either creating Quality Life Time in your future, or you are not.
Clarity means creating a laser guided missile into your future, determining all the steps, obstacles, alternate routes and carefully defining what and where the pitfalls are.
Why would you want to succeed vs. fail?
Success buys you a quality life with time for love both today AND in 30 years. Not succeeding buys you the quality of life you have today, but secures nothing for your future.
Now.
Success and failure.
Let’s erase these abstractions and make them real. I offer you these considerations.
Success is living life YOUR WAY.
Failure is living life THEIR WAY.
Success means doing what you want to do most of the time. Failure means not doing what you want to do most of the time.
Success is the sum of the love, time and money you experience or give yourself and those you love. Failure is the amount of energy, time and money you pay someone you have no connection to.
Success is “giving” yourself time, love or money.
5K Video has proven presuppositions.
You think in your mind and on paper, you want to weigh 195 pounds. You currently weigh 205. You reduce your food intake as you get down to 195. (Or actually to 193 and then stay in that 190-195 range.)
You can match the result with the image. 195 = 195.
When do you break from relentless pursuit?
When 195 = 195.
Can you make it even more crystal clear, Kevin?
Page 5
The Critical Factor
5K is critical in outcome based planing for several reasons:
- If you only have a general idea of what you want, you can only get a general idea of how to achieve it. It’s like driving: If you know you want to drive from Duluth to Dallas, you have a general idea of how to get there – and you may end up in the Mississippi River or on the wrong side of the tracks. But if you want to see Dallas, you can fine-tune your approach to get yourself exactly to the point you want.
- 5K Planning saves time. You will intuitively be able to sort through opportunities that are presented to you and know immediately whether they are in line with your goals or not.
- 5K helps your mind create a vivid picture of what you want. Once your mind can picture it, it’s much easier to achieve it. Vivid. Crystal clear and set your brain to the task using the “UNTIL” switch. You pursue UNTIL and don’t deviate.
If you’re having trouble specifying what you want, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- What does it look like?
- How will you know when you’ve made it?
- When do you want to achieve this goal?
- What does it feel like, taste like, smell like?
- What would a day in your desired life be like, from the time you get up until the time you go to bed?
Write these answers down and revisit them as you work on projects that drive you to them. It never hurts to remind yourself of what you’re working toward!
Next, remind yourself that you have not made ENOUGH progress toward the outcomes you are choosing and that you WILL complete projects you’ve assigned for the day UNTIL they are done.
If you don’t?
You’ll get comfortable when you make a little progress. Your brain will switch to lizard mode and you’ll take “a break.”
It’s at that moment you can know one thing.
You won’t return…to the road to success.
