Here's To Letting Go

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “All the water in the world cannot drown you unless it gets inside of you.”

 

No matter what the problem, financial situation, history or whatever difficulty is around you --let it be around you.  It's a circumstance.  It's around you but is not meant to control or determine your internal weather.

 

Our internal weather comes from our state of mind, and the state of our heart.  Let us keep our mind and our heart focused on gratitude and appreciation.  Gratitude is a harmonious vibration with abundance. 

 

All the water in the world can be around us and we can float on top of it; what we find is that the ocean delights to lift us up as we let go.  On this day, let us let go and be lifted up and supported by an ocean of abundant good. 

 

Here's To Letting Go

Make Things a Little Better

Even in the worst day, there is good. Maybe you were caught out in the pouring rain, but eventually you ended up dry, right? Perhaps even in your favorite sweat pants and curled up with a good book on the couch. It's the little things in life that make or break a day. And so we must be grateful for all the details that make our lives better. I recently was reminded of this lesson...

Craig Ballantyne

"Always be thankful for what you do have, even if it's not ALL that you want to have" - Author Unknown

---

Cure for a Bad Day

By Craig Ballantyne

The stench of wet dog was overwhelming inside the cramped interior of my rented Toyota Corolla. Alas, it was raining outside, so there was no reprieve. I couldn't roll the windows down, and the air conditioning couldn't keep up with the heat and humidity that enveloped the car.

Traffic snarled. It was the worst rush hour in the worst weather that the summer had seen. Usually I was smart enough to plan my travels earlier in the day before everyone and their dog (like me) tried to exit the city and return to their home in the 'burbs. But that day was one of those days where everything and everyone on my schedule was running late.

I wouldn't be in home in time for dinner. Worse, I wouldn't be home in time for the dog's dinner. And when I did get home (with home being the family farm where I was dropping off the dog for a two week vacation), there was still plenty of schlepping to do. As it continued to rain, there were still bags and boxes to bring into the old farmhouse, all while a famished dog ran around my legs anxious to be fed.

But that too did pass.

And looking back, I now recall it as just another interesting adventure with ol' Bally the Dog, rather than a series of frustrating events that elevated my blood pressure that afternoon.

In fact, as soon as we were settled, dried, and fed, there was one simple thing I was able to do that completely changed my attitude toward the day.

I gave gratitude for all that I had gone through.

Each day, usually right before dinner, I sit down with my Daily Documents and go through the wisdom I've collected from such (virtual) mentors as Dan Kennedy, Yanik Silver, Michael Masterson, Vishen Lakiani, Dan Sullivan, Dave Kekich, Frank McKinney, Jim Collins, and Bedros Keuilian. If you're a fan of Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", you'll recognize this as being similar to his Mental Mastermind.

My daily ritual starts with writing in a Gratitude and Achievement journal. It's a black moleskin notebook filled with page upon page of my illegible scribbles. On the left hand side of the page is the Gratitude column, and on the right is the Achievement column.

From Vishen I learned the gratitude exercise. It's where I write down the "who, what, and where" that I'm grateful for, as well as for what I'm excited to do the next day.

And from Dan Sullivan's book, "The Gap", I learned the Achievement exercise. It's where you simply write down up to five things that you achieved that day. No matter how stressful or frustrating your day, this is a pleasant reminder that some progress was made, no matter how small the achievement might seem in the grand scheme of things. Sullivan recommends teaching this exercise to your children so that they develop a habit of appreciating the abundance of achievement in their lives.

Next I went through some business reminders from Kennedy and Silver before I stumbled across one powerful phase from Bedros that completely switched my attitude from frustration to pure gratitude. It was though he was sitting beside me and giving the advice in person.

"Be grateful for what you have."

That was it.

It was this reminder from Bedros that allowed me to snap out of my funk. There I was sitting in the old farmhouse, the one full of four decades of memories, the one my mother still has stocked with enough food to feed an army for several months, and one that was warm, dry and full of all the comforts a person could need. There was absolutely no good reason to remain frustrated or annoyed with the day's events. The day was done and gone.

I realized this: You can't do anything about the past. You can't do anything about the behavior of others. You don't control them. But you do control your own thoughts.

So be grateful.

You and I take more conveniences for granted than societies from over a hundred years ago could possibly have imagined humans would ever have.

Tomorrow I'm going to take you through each one of the documents and exercises that I do that help remind me of all the abundance in my life. These Daily Documents remind me of the easy living I've been blessed with, and they have been the cure for a bad day on more than one occasion in my life.

We live in a time where the majority of North Americans live more abundantly than the Kings and Queens of over 100 years ago.

The next time you're having a bad day, cure your thoughts with gratitude. Write down what you are grateful for in your life. You'll find that it's often the little things that we take for granted, and that it is really the relationships with others in our lives that bring the biggest smiles to our faces.

I often find myself writing down the words, "This easy life", to start my list. Think about it. Even on my worst day I'm able to magically travel over 100 miles in under three hours while protected from the rain in an automobile under my control that gives me the option of listening to music from dozens of radio stations. And I get to do this while traveling with a companion that thinks I'm the king of the world (even though he stinks to high heaven).

This is an easy life. A great life. And when you understand that, when you realize the incredible abundance that you have, then you can never have a bad day again

Make Things a Little Better

Even in the worst day, there is good. Maybe you were caught out in the pouring rain, but eventually you ended up dry, right? Perhaps even in your favorite sweat pants and curled up with a good book on the couch. It's the little things in life that make or break a day. And so we must be grateful for all the details that make our lives better. I recently was reminded of this lesson...

Craig Ballantyne

"Always be thankful for what you do have, even if it's not ALL that you want to have" - Author Unknown

---

Cure for a Bad Day

By Craig Ballantyne

The stench of wet dog was overwhelming inside the cramped interior of my rented Toyota Corolla. Alas, it was raining outside, so there was no reprieve. I couldn't roll the windows down, and the air conditioning couldn't keep up with the heat and humidity that enveloped the car.

Traffic snarled. It was the worst rush hour in the worst weather that the summer had seen. Usually I was smart enough to plan my travels earlier in the day before everyone and their dog (like me) tried to exit the city and return to their home in the 'burbs. But that day was one of those days where everything and everyone on my schedule was running late.

I wouldn't be in home in time for dinner. Worse, I wouldn't be home in time for the dog's dinner. And when I did get home (with home being the family farm where I was dropping off the dog for a two week vacation), there was still plenty of schlepping to do. As it continued to rain, there were still bags and boxes to bring into the old farmhouse, all while a famished dog ran around my legs anxious to be fed.

But that too did pass.

And looking back, I now recall it as just another interesting adventure with ol' Bally the Dog, rather than a series of frustrating events that elevated my blood pressure that afternoon.

In fact, as soon as we were settled, dried, and fed, there was one simple thing I was able to do that completely changed my attitude toward the day.

I gave gratitude for all that I had gone through.

Each day, usually right before dinner, I sit down with my Daily Documents and go through the wisdom I've collected from such (virtual) mentors as Dan Kennedy, Yanik Silver, Michael Masterson, Vishen Lakiani, Dan Sullivan, Dave Kekich, Frank McKinney, Jim Collins, and Bedros Keuilian. If you're a fan of Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich", you'll recognize this as being similar to his Mental Mastermind.

My daily ritual starts with writing in a Gratitude and Achievement journal. It's a black moleskin notebook filled with page upon page of my illegible scribbles. On the left hand side of the page is the Gratitude column, and on the right is the Achievement column.

From Vishen I learned the gratitude exercise. It's where I write down the "who, what, and where" that I'm grateful for, as well as for what I'm excited to do the next day.

And from Dan Sullivan's book, "The Gap", I learned the Achievement exercise. It's where you simply write down up to five things that you achieved that day. No matter how stressful or frustrating your day, this is a pleasant reminder that some progress was made, no matter how small the achievement might seem in the grand scheme of things. Sullivan recommends teaching this exercise to your children so that they develop a habit of appreciating the abundance of achievement in their lives.

Next I went through some business reminders from Kennedy and Silver before I stumbled across one powerful phase from Bedros that completely switched my attitude from frustration to pure gratitude. It was though he was sitting beside me and giving the advice in person.

"Be grateful for what you have."

That was it.

It was this reminder from Bedros that allowed me to snap out of my funk. There I was sitting in the old farmhouse, the one full of four decades of memories, the one my mother still has stocked with enough food to feed an army for several months, and one that was warm, dry and full of all the comforts a person could need. There was absolutely no good reason to remain frustrated or annoyed with the day's events. The day was done and gone.

I realized this: You can't do anything about the past. You can't do anything about the behavior of others. You don't control them. But you do control your own thoughts.

So be grateful.

You and I take more conveniences for granted than societies from over a hundred years ago could possibly have imagined humans would ever have.

Tomorrow I'm going to take you through each one of the documents and exercises that I do that help remind me of all the abundance in my life. These Daily Documents remind me of the easy living I've been blessed with, and they have been the cure for a bad day on more than one occasion in my life.

We live in a time where the majority of North Americans live more abundantly than the Kings and Queens of over 100 years ago.

The next time you're having a bad day, cure your thoughts with gratitude. Write down what you are grateful for in your life. You'll find that it's often the little things that we take for granted, and that it is really the relationships with others in our lives that bring the biggest smiles to our faces.

I often find myself writing down the words, "This easy life", to start my list. Think about it. Even on my worst day I'm able to magically travel over 100 miles in under three hours while protected from the rain in an automobile under my control that gives me the option of listening to music from dozens of radio stations. And I get to do this while traveling with a companion that thinks I'm the king of the world (even though he stinks to high heaven).

This is an easy life. A great life. And when you understand that, when you realize the incredible abundance that you have, then you can never have a bad day again

Enjoy Every Minute

You have, in your hands right now, five hundred twenty-five thousand and change!  Just imagine that for a moment.  How would you feel if you had five hundred and twenty-five thousand and change you could spend any way you choose?

 

The truth is that every one of us, even the most successful people you know, have exactly the same amount of commodity --five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes.  If you live twelve more months, you are going to have 525,000 minutes to invest.

 

Many of us have been trained to invest a great amount of that commodity in rehearsing our past, cursing a circumstance, nursing a problem, or fueling resentment.  If we are not careful we will spend our time doing just that. 

 

Thought seeds are just like physical seeds.  Let us invest our minutes in thoughts and activities that lead to the life we want to live, rather than a life we want to avoid.  You have gold in your hands today.  Spend it on your dreams.

 

Enjoy Every Minute

Is This the Best You Can Do?

The Temptation

It is tempting for all of us - myself included - to remain in our comfort zones. But that is not where we grow, improve, and make the changes necessary to dramatically move forward.

My challenge to you is to do the opposite. Look at what you are doing to stay in your comfort zone and think, "What is the opposite action of my instinct? And would this opposite action be the better solution?" (And yes, for Seinfeld fans, this is the old "George Costanza" method.)

Finally, there is one more thing I want you to ask yourself. Are you doing the best you can do? Find out what I mean in today's essay.

Craig Ballantyne

"Expect more of yourself." - Bedros Keuilian

---

By Craig Ballantyne

I'm fascinated by obituaries.

Every Saturday morning after my workout, I buy the Globe and Mailnewspaper, take it home, and spread it out over my kitchen table. Five minutes later, after petting the dog and making my healthy post-training blender drink, I meander through the sports section. On the back page is the week's featured obituary column. That's where my reading gets interesting.

A well-written obituary, like those found on the back page of the newspaper or in The Economist or even Inc. magazine is better than any inspirational short story you can find. The tales of triumph and tribulation, heartbreak and hell, persistence and persuasion, prove that truth is indeed often stranger than fiction - or at least much more interesting and inspirational.

The obituary is the true ledger of one's impact on the world. Funerals are clouded by emotion and the inability of the full story to emerge. There it is difficult to get a full measure of the trials and tribulations that one has endured. It's not the right time to truly record one's place in the world. That is best left to the obituary. It is in the obituary, read by perfect strangers in unbiased settings that tell us whether or not a person did the best that they could have done with what they were given.

Recently, as I read through an issue of The Economist, I stumbled across an obituary of a man that "will be remembered with the giants". His faults and accomplishments were listed, and an argument made that his reputation that should live on.

"He had done the best he could," was the message. Though he was neither perfect in achieving his aims, nor in how he treated others, the end result of this man's life was that he accomplished all that he could given the life he had lived.

Will the papers say the same for us when it comes time?

Are we doing the best we can do?

Sadly, the answer is most often, "no".

How I do I know this?

Mea culpa.

For all my preaching on time management there are still hours wasted each week that could be better spent working towards my mission of helping one million men and women transform their lives. There are still many things I could be doing better.

We all have plenty of room for improvement. But the good news is that you don't have to be perfect. You can still have vices - as we all do. You don't have to be a super-mom or saint to be remembered as doing the best that you could do.

You only have to do better than what you're doing right now.

Can you do better at work? Could you arrive 15 minutes earlier each day to tackle a vital task with your full concentration before the rest of the office arrives? Is there a work relationship that you could repair that would help move a project along? Is there a way that you could better communicate your orders to subordinates so they do a better job and have greater enjoyment and focus in their work? There must be a way you can do better.

And what about when it comes to taking control of your financial independence? Can you work harder to set aside 30 to 60 minutes per day to work on your side business? Is there something you could be doing better that would get you to your goals faster?

But improvement is not limited to work. Can you do better with your health? Can you plan ahead and do a better job with your nutrition? Can you set aside 30 minutes to consistently engage in the movement that your body needs for optimal health? Can you do a better job of following the rules for better sleep, so that you don't toss and turn each night because of the alcohol and caffeine flowing through your bloodstream? Surely, we can all do better here.

And finally, and perhaps most importantly, are you doing your best when raising your family? Can you spend more time at the park with your children? Are they receiving the best experience you can provide them with given the resources at hand? Or are you spending more time on your iPhone answering email than being present for their milestones? Think about what your family deserves and find a way to do better.

We can't ask for perfection from others or from ourselves. But we can demand better.

We must take all the gifts we've been given and make the most of them. And for almost all of us, that means doing a slightly better, or in some cases, a much better job than what we are doing now.

(I'll let you decide where you belong on that continuum.)

We will have bad days. There will be days, even weeks, characterized by exhaustion, frustration, and obstacles. But we also have the opportunity to do better in these tough times than we have in the past.

Ultimately, we have the opportunity - and choice - to do our best in every given situation. And if we do, we can look back and say, "I could have done no better". This was the best I could do.

The fact that you're here means a lot. It means that you care enough about yourself and about others that you are willing to take action, to risk stumbling (but never truly failing), and to get out of your comfort zone in order to create a better world for those around you, and for yourself. You will earn it. You deserve it. And I respect that. I am proud of you for what you are doing.

And when it comes time for you to pass on to the hereafter - a day that I hope is far, far, far away - it will be said that you have done the best you can with what you were given.

The world will agree. It will take notice. And your reputation will live on.

The weather - a reflection in the energy of mass consciousness.

There are weather patterns in the world that seem to be causing things to go awry. The weather is a reflection of what is happening in the energy of mass consciousness.

People are ready to leap forward and at the same time, need to step back and make sure they are going in the right direction. This is causing mis-steps, date confusion and turmoil of different sorts.

The hurricane/tropical storm patterns are affecting the southeast and southwest and there are threats of earthquakes and windstorms and forest fires in numerous places around the globe. This has been transpiring for a couple of years now and will continue until things calm down in the energy field of the masses.

The best thing you can do as an individual is ground into the center of the earth, meditate and do what you can to be still and accept what is. Take time to journal and see what comes out of your pen that you need to be aware of. There is much coming up from people that needs to be seen and healed.

Many who have been isolating for a long time, are now longing to be with their old friends. Those who did not isolate, are glad to have time for themselves and be alone. Things are switching and a bit topsy turvy for many as balance is needed for each of us. When we balance the yin and yang energy within, then things will become calmer and more balanced in the world.

Expect these weather fluctuations to continue until we learn what we came to learn at this time. Wherever you go, there you are. Some are considering moving to better climates, but you will be drawn to weather that matches your energy and that will continue to fluctuate. Stay put until you are absolutely certain that you will not be going round in circles by moving to find a panacea that does not exist in the outer world.

To find a panacea, means to be content, happy, satisfied with your current lot in life and know that everything you desire is unfolding for you in divine timing

To The Power Of One

Helen Keller wrote, "I am only one, but still I am one.  I cannot do everything but still I can do something.  Because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something I can do."

 

I just know that wherever you are today there is something you can do; something we can each do to make the world a better place.  Whether it's a smile, a call or simply reaching out, there is something we can do right where we are. 

 

I invite you to join Helen Keller's pledge:  "I am only one, but still I am one.  I cannot do everything but still I can do something.  Because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something I can do."  Everything begins with a single effort.

 

To The Power Of One

The Talmud says this:  “It is as if every single blade of grass has an angel leaning over it whispering grow, grow, grow.”

 

A blade of grass will actually break through cement seeking the light.  You have that same pull of becoming in you.  Something great is seeking to be expressed through you today.

 

Listen for your angel; What is it whispering in your ear?

 

Break Through And Seek Greatness

The Ego Economy: Why the Freedom Economy Is Passing You By

Why You Do What You Do

We must be careful. Very careful. We have been given a limited amount of time on this earth, and that time must be used wisely. It's easy to get caught up in something that we think is important, but ultimately will not give us the real accomplishment we desire. Today, Clay Collins identifies one of these common mistakes we tend to make that will take us off track from our vision. Discover that, and his solution, below.

Craig Ballantyne

"Never before have the barriers to successful self-employment and self-reliance been so small, never before have the opportunities been so great, never before have the boundaries mattered so little, never before has so much technology been so readily available to just about everybody." - Dan Kennedy

---

By Clay Collins

Your ego is like money. In fact, I believe there is something called, "The Ego Economy" that you might be wasting your time on right now.

In this economy, your ego can be traded, bartered for, bought, and sold. I see people participating in the ego economy all the time: new business owners waste thousands of dollars on putting big pictures of themselves on billboards. Social media people and others in the web 2.0 space sacrifice entire days of vacation and family time so they can be mini-internet famous for 1,000 people and make an extra $100/month. And people get into debt buying fancy new equipment they don't need trying to impress others.

Before the Internet, money was (often) the primary means by which people participated in the ego economy; the money economy fed into the ego economy.

But social media, the Internet, and web 2.0 have given people a whole new venue for being vain and wasting their resources in exchange for ego gratification. Now you can broadcast a video blog to 500 people, become a power user on StumbleUpon, Reddit, or Digg, and start a blog and try to get thousands of subscribers. You can start and lead your own forum or newsgroup.You can be the leader of your own fiefdom of 400 people. 

But this probably isn't worth your time.

Now I'm not saying that all bloggers are ego obsessed or wasting their time. Far from it.

Please, just hear me out.

I've seen a lot of people start blogging because they ultimately want to use blogging income to liberate themselves from their day jobs. That's cool.

The problem is that one year after starting their blogs, far too many of these people are still spending countless hours on their blogs even though they're consistently losing money, freedom, and time. They've become addicted to being in the small spotlight that their blog has generated for them. It's sad. And many of those people are further away from liberation and more desperate than they were when they started.

The problem is that, although they originally started trying to liberate themselves from their day jobs, they can't let go of being famous to a teeny-tiny subsection of the Internet.

They are trading ego for freedom.

Here's the Tragedy
 
The tragedy is that so many people who've come to the Internet and this web 2.0 space to liberate themselves from dismal jobs end up not liberating themselves at all.

Instead, they end up self-medicating the worthless feeling they have at work with the ego-attention they get through their social media positions, subscriber bases, their statuses as influencers, or whatever, and as a result they end up sacrificing true liberation.

It Doesn't Stop There 

Addiction to the ego economy isn't just limited to website entrepreneurs. It applies to so many other spaces. I've seen business people, for example, waste capital by blindly giving presentations, attending conferences, doing empty networking, paying large sums of money to have their faces painted on billboards, etc.

This time, energy, and money could have been better allocated to delivering more value, differentiating themselves, improving customer support, doing market research, writing better sales letters, structuring better offers, building their email lists, testing their advertising, or so many other valuable actions.

Priorities 

If you've started a business because you crave freedom, thenreally make freedom your number one priority. Forget about billboards with big pictures of yourself. Forget about whether your peers think you're famous. Make freedom primary, and suppress your ego.

Likewise, if you're blogging, or investing, or or marketing to support your business and earn an income, then forget about how many subscribers you have. Forget about the number of comments your blog posts receive. Use only one metric for determining your success: freedom. That's it.

I choose freedom. I hope you will too. 

2 free e-books

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbGV4YWxldHRlcnN0b215ZGF1Z2h0ZXJ8Z3g6NzMyZjJiOGM5YjlmMjc0NA&pli=1

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxhbGV4YWxldHRlcnN0b215ZGF1Z2h0ZXJ8Z3g6MzY3N2I5NjJlMTRiNGY1Ng

It All Starts With You As the old saying goes, "A journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step." And in most cases, that first step occurs in your mind. It requires you to identify exactly what it is that you want. Only then can you start the journey to get there. Today, Steve Roller shows you how. I really enjoyed his essay, and I'm sure you will too. Craig Ballantyne "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain Your Declaration of Independence

By Steve Roller

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." - Thomas Jefferson

I'm a bit of a U.S. history buff.

I once stood in line for three hours to get a 30-second glimpse of the original Declaration of Independence at the National Archives in Washington D.C. I carry a pocket copy of the Declaration of Independence in my iPad case, and I can recite from memory the first 108 words of it.

Some of the most beautiful words in our country's history start with "When in the course of human events ... "

So what does one of the most important documents in U.S. and world history have to do with your career as a freelance copywriter?

Plenty.

You see, the colonists were fed up with Great Britain's control over their future. Things had been brewing for a while. First, the Stamp Act of 1765. Then the Boston Massacre. Later, the whole taxation without representation thing.

It all came to a head when the Second Constitutional Congress met in Philadelphia in early July, 1776.

You could call it the "defining moment" for the colonists.

July 4, 1776, changed the course of history forevermore.

What are you ready to kick to the curb?

Like the colonists, I believe each of us has a defining moment. That moment when we get fed up with the status quo and decide to do something about it once and for all.

It could be when you first make the decision to check out this idea of being a copywriter because your job is no longer fulfilling. Or further along when you make the leap to launch your full-time freelance business because you know if it doesn't happen now, it may never happen. Maybe you're an experienced pro and just need to redefine your niche (and bid good riddance to the old one that's no longer in demand).

No matter where you are in your journey or what your particular issue is, the exercise I'm going to describe for you in a minute will work.

The "Great Britain" I needed to separate myself from

Recently, I realized that I had been plodding along for about a year at a moderate pace. I was bringing in enough to pay all my bills and then some, and I had gotten to the point of equalling my most recent best year.

But then I hit an invisible ceiling. I think it was the idea that I was making as much as I used to, had gotten comfortable, and wasn't pushing myself like I did in the beginning.

On top of it, I was spending too much time with a client who wasn't overly profitable and hanging onto another client in an industry I didn't enjoy.

I was stuck in a rut, and I couldn't get past it.

Time for another declaration, like the one I made three years ago, stating that I would leave my job within six months.

I needed to declare my independence from the shackles of mediocrity, and I did.

I actually wrote out, in declaration form, that I was no longer going to wallow in the average income, modest lifestyle, and relative obscurity of a mid-level copywriter.

Enough of underpaying, demanding clients! Goodbye to all clients in the niche I hadn't chosen but fell into.

No more middle-of-the-road complacency. Time to bust out and move on to the next stage of my career!

It wasn't complicated to write out my declaration, and it didn't take me long.

On Walden Pond (kind of)

But first, I took three days off.

Grabbed some books, a journal, and headed for my brother's cabin in northern Wisconsin. Not quite a Thoreau experience - I had Wi-Fi, a stocked refrigerator, and a nonstop pot of coffee going. But a good head-clearing experience nonetheless.

I took a personal inventory, like I described in "What's on your Freedom Trail map?" Figured out where I've been, why I'm not satisfied, and where I'm going. When I emerged from the woods a few days later, I had crafted a one-page document suitable for framing (as long as no one else ever sees it).

And you know what?

Making that bold declaration served as a turning point! It's exactly what I needed to get the ball rolling. I wake up with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, I'm thrilled about focusing on a new niche, and I have prospects in the pipeline again.

Now, before I go further, let me tell you what this exercise is NOT. This isn't at all about ...

• setting goals
• writing down your goals
• creating a mission or purpose statement (I've never been able to figure those out)
• visualizing success
• positive expectations
• the Law of Attraction

None of those things. This is quicker, easier, and I believe, more effective in moving you in the direction of your dreams.

You won't instantly, magically hit all your goals. But it's a starting point, a catalyst to help you move forward.

A declaration, plain and simple

Your Declaration of Independence is simply declaring to the world that you are fed up with your current situation. Explaining why you've come to this boiling point ... what you're separating yourself from ... and why things are never going to be the same.

That's all.

Only, it's not really for the world.

This is one piece of copy that is for you.

Your simple 4-step action plan

The reason I love this exercise is because it packs a serious punch in a simple little document. I took three days because I needed a little vacation, but you can easily do it in three hours or less.

Here's the plan:

Step 1: Identify it.

Spend some time thinking about the chasm between where you are and where you should be.

• What's been holding you back?
• Why is it taking longer than you planned?
• What challenges are proving difficult?
• Who or what has gotten in your way?
• What are you really getting annoyed with in your current situation?
• Do you have any toxic people or things in your life that need to go?

Are you starting to get mad?! Good.

When you get frustrated with yourself and where you are right now, that's the starting point. Identify exactly what you're fed up with and what current connections you may need to break.

Step 2: Write it.

There's serious power in the sheer act of writing something down. More than writing down your goals (which I also advocate), this is making a bold declaration and making it official!

Here's a suggestion. If you want to have some fun with this, read the first two sentences and the last paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. You'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Mine starts out, "When in the course of my copywriting career, it becomes necessary to dissolve the unprofitable connections and habits I have developed, and to assume among the powers of the earth, my rightful place alongside rising copywriting greats like ... "

Craft some cool language that fits you. No one else has to ever see this, so don't worry about how it sounds.

Step 3: Frame it!

I'm serious. And put it in a place where you can see it from your desk. We're talking about a document that's going to help change the course of your career, right? Make it count!

I did this three years ago when I declared that my loyalty to King George III (my employer) would be ending soon. Somehow stating it and posting it made it real.

Step 4: Use it.

Let your bold declaration, whatever it is, change you.

First, you identify it. Then you write it out. Then you post it.

Now stake your claim on the new territory and move in.

What next?

Think of your Declaration of Independence as a starting point, a launching pad, not a goal to be achieved.

Let it be a daily reminder that you got to a point where you had to change course.

I can tell you this. When you've formally made a declaration, even just to yourself, things naturally start falling into place.

Then, in the words of Thomas Jefferson: ACT!

Have A Landmark Day

There are many landmark moments in our lives.  We get married and have a baby, a child graduates or a grandchild is born.  There are other moments that may be less significant in terms of how the world would view them, but they bubble up from inside of us.

 

At landmark moments we have a realization; a moment when we know that our life is turning here.  Inside ourselves there is a moment when we know this is so good--to be alive.

 

I invite you to open up to the possibility that today can be a landmark moment if we open up, pay attention and give thanks.  It is so good to be alive.

 

Have A Landmark Day

Is this the way to go?

Katie Holmes used a disposable cellphone to talk secretly to her lawyers, and filed for divorce in Manhattan while Tom Cruise was on location in Iceland.

Is this the way to go? Usually not—but it depends.

There are three main reasons to let your spouse know you want a divorce. First and foremost it shows respect (would you want to be blindsided?). Also:

• You set the tone. Discussing divorce ahead of time sends a message that you want to approach the end of your marriage as civilized adults with a mutual problem to solve, rather than as enemies in a war.


• You avoid the possibly nasty outcome of surprise: e.g. it could trigger an explosion at worst—ill will at best.

My husband had a colleague who came home from work to find all his furniture gone, and a note from his wife saying she had moved out and filed for divorce. He was devastated, clueless and later, really angry.

The fallout was huge; any generosity of spirit he might have shown toward his wife in the settlement negotiations was obliterated by the way she chose to start the divorce.

That said, there are important exceptions: If you’re afraid that if you discussed divorce with your spouse up front that you’d suffer physical, emotional, orfinancial consequences, then take your cue from Katie Holmes and proceed insecret

Ground Rules for a Stealth Divorce

by Margaret Klaw, divorce attorney In my post last week about whether a Katie Holmes-style secret divorce is smart, I advised against it—unless you feel you’re up against a physical, emotional, or financial threat from your spouse.

If that’s the case, and secrecy is best, here’s how to lay your plans without sacrificing self-protection. 1. Consult and retain a good divorce lawyer first, using funds that your spouse can’t trace to you (cash from a separate account, a credit card inyour name only, a loan from parents or friends). 2. If your fear is physical and/or emotional abuse, make sure you (and your children) have a safe place to stay before the complaint is served. 3. If your fear is financial, i.e. that your spouse will empty joint accounts and shut down credit cards, make a plan with your lawyer to address this. You might have to deposit funds in a separate account and get a credit card in your name prior to filing. The timing here is a delicate issue; you don’t want to tip your hand, but you will need to secure your assets. Be prepared. Have you ever been afraid to leave a relationship?

A New Way to Travel Light

You’ve seen those people at the airport—the ones who look cool, collected, and weirdly luggage free. Want to know their secret?

Power Point Despite raking in billions in baggage fees, airlines still lose or damage about two million bags a year; in 2011, 26 million bags went missing from international flights.

They ship their bags. Given what airlines are charging for checked baggage these days, you might want to consider it. There are two main options: Hired hands. Full-service luggage shipping companies offer an enticing combination of pick-up and drop-off (and some insurance coverage). At LugLess, prices start at $39 for a carry-on bag, $59 for a standard case. LuggageFree charges by weight. You pay more for international shipping (natch), and less if you can ship your bags a few days ahead (to get that surfboard to Maui before you arrive, say). Convenience aside, these companies “are really just middlemen,” says Sean O’Neill, a travel blogger. “Most luggage services rely on companies like FedEx and UPS.” Which leads to option #2: DIY. Bringing luggage to FedEx or UPS yourself might sound like a headache, but a) they will ship directly to your hotel; and b) if your bags weigh more than 55 pounds, the price might be close to what the airline will charge, O’Neill says.

Feedback (in all fields is important except relationship? STRANGE...Read ahead

Hollywood spends millions of dollars to make their films but it
also costs them millions more to place the movie in theaters across
the country.  If they know a film is going to bomb they won't
bother spending millions to market it and release it.  How do they
know it is going to bomb?  Feedback.

Athena and I regularly accepted passes to go to movie test
screenings on Tuesday nights.  We had to show up about an hour
ahead of time but it was worth the wait.  Employees from the studio
collected our passes and swapped them out for tickets.  They would
talk to us about our jobs, ages, and our movie viewing habits.  If
we matched the profile they were seeking, they would ask us if we
would be able to stay after the screening was over to talk to the
producers about the film.  We always accepted.

A couple hundred of us marched into the theater and we watched the
screening of a movie that was scheduled for release within the
next six months.  Afterwards, the film studio passed out feedback
forms while we were still in our seats.  For ten minutes or so the
audience rated the film based on various criteria including
characters, plot and storytelling.  We wrote down our favorite
scenes and the ones that annoyed us.  After most of the people
left, Athena and I and about 10 others sat in front of the theater
and discussed the film even further in front of important studio
executives.  When we were done, we were each given $20 for our
input.

Depending on the sort of audience feedback the screening received,
the film could be seriously altered or sent straight to the video
stores. On several occasions, endings have been completely changed
based on audience feedback.

No movie studio wants to see its film bomb at the box office.  They
spend a lot of time and effort to keep that from happening.  Not
only does audience feedback help them from releasing lemons,
critical input can turn a good film into a great film.

How much do you value feedback in your relationship?

At one time Athena and I had an unwed pregnant lady living with us.
While we don't expect things to be blissful, we believe that an
open dialog and honest feedback will help all of our relationships
with each other.

We instituted a weekly family forum where we ask questions to
determine how our family is doing.  It is a time for us to
determine what is working and what needs altering.  The sooner we
get feedback on something that is broken, the less damage will
occur in our family.

I believe that couples should have feedback nights too if they
aren't giving feedback on a regular basis.  Too often input isn't
given because it isn't requested.

So, go ahead and make a list and ask your mate how you are doing.
Here are just a few questions to get you started.

-       How do you feel about the cleanliness of the house?

-       Do you think we spend enough time together?

-       Are you satisfied with how often we make love?

-       Do you think I do enough of the housework?

-       Do you like my hair shorter or longer?/ Do you prefer me with or
without a beard/mustache?

-       Do you think we should try to improve our spiritual life?

-       Do you feel like I listen to you when you talk to me?

If you don't seek feedback in your relationship, it is very likely
to bomb in the future.  But remember that good feedback can make a
good relationship great

Why You Need to Start Doing This One Thing

When a trusted mentor tells you not to do something, in most cases, they are right. But when your gut tells you differently, and no matter how hard you try to suppress your instinct, sometimes it's best for you to disobey your teacher - damn the consequences. Sometimes. Today's one of those days.

Craig Ballantyne

"You must be disciplined. Go to bed early and get up early." - Frank McKinney

---

By Craig Ballantyne

It was a dark and stormy morning. Yes, morning. An irregular warm, spring morning blessed with a magnificent thunderstorm. I sat at the kitchen table at 6am, writing, faithful dog by my side, and watched nature light up the sky.

The rain kept us inside, but provided a relaxing backdrop as I continued to work on my daily ETR essays. Like each morning, no matter where my travels had taken me throughout the world, I had risen at 4am to protect my magic writing time - a period in which I am most creative and productive.

The scene of me sitting at laptop, water and notepad by my side, word document opened on screen, had been replicated this year in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Vilnius, Bergen, Stockholm, Las Vegas, New York, Denver, Austin, San Diego, and of course, Toronto. That's my modus operandi. Early to rise, early to write.

By 6am I have more quality work done than I could accomplish had I tried to do the same job at any other time of day. And by 9am I often have more done than 95% of the working population will accomplish all day.

And so let me tell you what I believe is the answer to making everything better in your life. And yes, I do mean everything.

It's something that Michael Masterson said not to do. He said it was fine to encourage you to work in your magic time, but not to insist that ETR readers get up early.

Well, there's a reason our website is not called GetUpAt2pm.com. Both Michael and I know that deep down that part of the solution to almost all of life's problems is to get up earlier.

Of course, I hear your protests. "I'm a night owl," you say. "I just can't get up early," another replies. "My brain doesn't function in the morning," says another. The rest of you chant in unison, "You're just a weirdo!"

Well, thank you, I take that as a compliment. Knowing what we know about the average person, it's better to be as far from normal as possible. But I also understand that one strange Canadian's experiences with early mornings is not enough evidence to convince a jury of my peers that getting up earlier is a) the solution for everything, and b) at all possible.

For that, we need to look at other examples. Here's one that all of our night owls will have to appreciate. It's the story of what happens when a man - one that has lived on a tour bus with Motley Crue, infiltrated the pick-up artist (PUA) sub-culture to become one of the most legendary PUAs of all time, and that has written a book on surviving the apocalypse - changes his long-time night owl schedule and gets up early.
I recently tried an experiment. I decided to see if I was a morning person. Instead of staying up all night writing, I decided to do one of my thirty-day experiments: I spent a month going to bed at 9:30 p.m. every night and waking up at 5:30 a.m. Though it meant dashing out of dinners early, turning down all nighttime plans, and going to sleep with work still unfinished, I discovered that I was much more productive this way. By the time most of my friends were waking up, I'd already finished much of my work for the day."

A recent study from the University of Toronto surveyed over 731 adults. Regardless of their age, waking up early was associated with a better mood. "Earlier risers reported feeling more positive emotions compared to night owls," explained one of the researchers. The authors suspected that the positive mood was related to the increased amount of sunlight exposure experienced by those who woke up earlier.

I hope that Neil and the research - and perhaps even lil' ol' me - have given you enough reasons to try making an earlier start to your day. First, you'll be amazed at what you can get done with a little extra alone time either at home or in the office. When it's just you and no distractions, you'll be shocked at the clear thinking you can get done.

To maximize your morning, start the night before. It all begins with clearing your schedule, setting expectations, getting your subconscious brain to begin working on the tasks overnight, and then limiting distractions during actual work time.

As Neil Strauss added in his article, "Have a plan and a direction. Know what you want to accomplish: not just for the day, but in the big picture."

With a clear schedule and mind, and a focused to-do list that has been properly seeded with preparation from the night before, you'll be able to wake up as productive as possible. The early morning is magic time. For everyone.

If you want to get ahead in life, get up early. I know it's not politically correct, and it's probably not the advice that you wanted to hear, but it's the truth. Stay in bed and you'll regret it, get up earlier and you'll have more success in life.

Your challenge: Get up and start working at least fifteen minutes earlier next week. Don't let anything or anyone pollute your mind. Attack your work first thing in the morning. I guarantee you'll get more done and get ahead. You might even be happier.

Building Wealth Little by Little

At age 13, I began my first job off of the farm. I worked for $3.10 per hour at a local greenhouse, and it began an 8-year period of hard labor, year round. Each summer, I'd start work at 8am and stay until 5pm, an extra 30 minutes later than all the other workers. Those few extra dollars I earned in that extra half an hour added up over time. That job paid for my University degree, and allowed me to sock away a few thousand dollars in conservative investments by the time I was 21. It was my first experience with getting richer every day, an important phenomenon that Mark Ford explains today.

Craig Ballantyne

"Man was born to be rich, or inevitably to grow rich, through the use of his faculties." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

---

How a $10 Bill Made Me Richer Than All My Friends

By Mark Ford

Of the hundreds of wealth-building strategies I have tried over the years, the very best one was also the simplest. It is this: Make sure you get a little bit richer every day.

It sounds simple, and it is. But I give it credit for getting me started on my personal road to wealth.

Thirty years ago, I had a net worth of zero, a salary of $35,000 a year, and college loans for both me and my wife that we were still paying off. With three small children, our expenses were gobbling up every nickel of my after-tax income... and then some.

I decided that I would do whatever it took to get out of the hole I'd dug myself into. And that decision had me reading and thinking about wealth-building day and night.

I was bathing my brain in the elixir of ideas I was coming up with. It was very stimulating. I had fantasies of getting rich in all sorts of fancy ways. But deep down inside, I knew those complicated strategies were not for me. When it came to making money, I was extremely risk-averse (and I still am). In the race to a multimillion-dollar retirement, I was a tortoise not a hare.

And so my first wealth-building goal was small: I promised myself that I would get richer by just $10 a day.

I pulled a $10 bill out of my wallet and stared at it. "I really don't need this $10," I thought. "I can brown-bag it tomorrow instead of going out for lunch." I knew that I would eventually raise the ante, but I wondered, "How much money would I acquire in, say, 40 years by just putting an extra $10 aside every day in a bank account earning 5% a year?"

I did the math and was happy with the answer: almost half-a-million dollars.

My total capital invested would be $149,650. The simple interest would total $156,950, and the compounded interest would amount to $182,061, for a total of $488,661.

Then I wondered, "What would happen if I put away $15 a day?" That came to $719,604.

And then I asked myself, "What would happen if, instead of 5% on my money, I got 8%?" That came to $1,620,592!

You can imagine my excitement! And so I started to set aside a little money every day.

But I soon realized that I couldn't consistently follow my rule to get richer every day if I invested that money in stocks. The market fluctuates too much. One day I might be worth $110,000, and the next day I'd be worth $108,000.

People who knew more about investing than I did told me not to worry about these short-term fluctuations. They said that if I kept my focus on the long term, I'd get the 9% or 10% that the market delivers over time. But even though I understood the principle, there was no guarantee that I would have the satisfaction of knowing that I was actually getting richer every day.

That was a big problem for me - a problem I resolved with a simple plan.

I put half of my set-aside money into super-safe municipal bonds, bank CDs, and rental real-estate properties. This drastically reduced the volatility of my returns but it also, in theory at least, reduced my expected ultimate return on investment (ROI). So I compensated for that lower ROI by putting the other half of my set-aside money into stocks that could reasonably be expected to return at least 10% long term. That ensured that I was always ahead of my schedule - even if the ROIs I was getting on bonds, CDs, or real estate dropped.

This simple, tortoise-paced program worked for me. Since I made the commitment in the early 1980s to get richer every day, I have never experienced a single day of being poorer than I was the day before.

Think about that.

But there is more. Making this commitment will change the way you think and feel about building wealth. It will help you appreciate the miracle of compound interest. It will make you less accepting of risk. It will make it easier to understand the benefits and drawbacks of every type of investing. And it will turn you into an income addict, which is, in my book, an essential component of "thinking rich."

We explore all these aspects of wealth-building in my newsletter, The Palm Beach Letter. For now, I just want you to consider making a commitment to get richer every day yourself.

You can begin, as I did, with a goal of putting away $10 a day. Once that becomes easy, you will find that you want to raise the ante. You could hike it to $15, as I did my first year. But soon thereafter, your addiction to income will make it possible for you to go much higher. (These days, my target is $10,000 a day - and I hit it more often than not.)

I have explained this strategy to lots of people over the years. And many of them didn't take it seriously. Perhaps it didn't seem clever enough. Or perhaps they felt they were already doing well by following the investment schemes they were already using.

But none of them ever acquired the wealth I did. They sometimes had great individual hits that they'd tell me about - or even winning streaks when the markets were favorable. But in the end, they were always beaten by Mr. Market.

Meanwhile, by following this simple rule of getting richer every day, I was able to do better than I ever expected

The Biggest Lie You Tell Yourself

What You CAN Do

The trouble with lying to ourselves is that we know we are lying, especially when we use that old rationalization, "I can't do that because...". However, over time, we convince ourselves that our excuses are not lies, but in fact, the truth. We are all weak like this. Today, I urge you to be stronger. It's time for you to discover the truth about what you can do.

Craig Ballantyne

"Rationalizations are generally convenient evasions of reality and are used as excuses for dishonest behavior, mistakes, and/or laziness." - Kekich Credo #20

---

By Craig Ballantyne

Mike Whitfield weighed 300 pounds at just twenty-eight years old. Each night, after arriving home from his corporate job and while deciding what he was going to have for dinner, he'd eat a large bag of potato chips. After sitting on the couch and playing video games, he'd then make a large frozen pizza and finish it off with a big bowl of ice cream.

Mike's weight ballooned until one day he couldn't see his shoes. All of this happened because he kept lying to himself.

"I told myself, 'I can't stop eating chips at night. That's how I relieve stress after work.' And I also said 'I can't exercise because I'm too big and out of shape."

But then one day he just stopped thinking that way - and stopped lying to himself - and decided that he could do those things.

"I overcame these thoughts by going to the gym after work instead of hitting the couch and eating potato chips. I also signed up for a 10k run months before the event so that I had a deadline and pressure to train for it," he explained.

Within days he had stopped eating junk food before dinner. By the end of the month he'd lost sixteen pounds. In 6 months, he'd shed 75 pounds of fat. Two years later, he was down 105 pounds, and he's kept that off for over nine years. At the same time he's become a rising star in the fitness industry, earning the first ever Turbulence Trainer of the Year award at my annual fitness summit.

Mike's changed his life and it all started by telling himself the truth.

He went from telling himself the "I can't do that" lie to being able to handle the "Yes, I will do this" truth.

How many times have you told yourself a similar lie? Not just when it comes to junk food, but when it comes to changing any of your bad habits in life.

How many times have you said, "Oh, I can't go without checking my email until 9am"?

How many times have you said, "I just couldn't survive without my morning coffee and donut"?

How many nights have you said, "There's just no way I can get to bed before 10pm"?

The biggest lie we tell ourselves is "I can't". I can't do this or I can't do that.

Sometimes it's not your fault. Often other people initiate the lie, telling us that we're not good at something, and then we reinforce it year after year.

Like you and Marshall, I've told myself similar lies for years.

It used to be that "I can't get up before 6am" and "I couldn't exercise before lunch". Both of these small white lies were overcome by changing my thinking and putting the lies to the test. But we often don't challenge ourselves. It usually takes the intervention of others to get us to test the truth of our lies.

One day I made the mistake of trying to pass off a big lie while in the company of ETR Publisher Matt Smith. We were talking about the importance of live events in the Early to Rise world.

"I dunno Matt," I said, preparing to deliver my lie, "I can't do that. I just don't have the energy to answer questions all day."

Matt, the human polygraph, just looked at me with his patented incredulous look.

"Really?" he asked.

And then he raised the eyebrow and said again, "REALLY?"

That's all he needed to say. He called my bluff. The charade was over. I was caught in the lie. The truth was I just didn't want to do it. It wasn't that I physically couldn't do it. In fact, I hadn't even tried to do it.

And that's how it is for all of us.

It's not that we can't get up earlier, or go to bed earlier, or make time to work on our side business early in the morning or late at night. It's just that it's easier for us to say that we can't...and to use that as the excuse, rather than to put ourselves to the test outside of our comfort zones.

The worst part about telling ourselves the big "I can't" lie is that we aren't even trying.

It's one thing to quit. At least you started. But when we tell ourselves the "I can't" lie, we do so without even having had the courage to try in the first place. And that's the ultimate weakness. Not trying.

When you combine your ultimate weakness with your biggest lie you end up with a life of frustration, a lack of progress, and the dishonor of knowing that you are avoiding self-growth in order to remain in the safe confines of your comfort zone.

We lie to protect ourselves. And it works. It saves us from social and physical discomfort...in the short-term. But in the long run, it makes us weakened slaves shackled to a lifetime of unfulfilled potential.

"I can't move to another country and learn another language even though it promises me better opportunities."

"I can't go without bread at meals or my morning donut before lunch."

"I can't follow my dreams and start my own business even though it would allow me to help thousands of other people."

"I can't tell anyone how I feel even though it would strengthen our relationship and encourage more open and honest communication."

"I can't, I can't, I can't" really means "I won't, I won't, I won't even try."

I'm going to protect myself and stay safe from harm and I darn well plan on keeping it that way. That's what "I can't" really means.

But is it true that you can't?

Really?

REALLY?

The truth is you don't want to. At least be honest. Start with that. Then see where you can go from there. Take a tiny step into the waters of Lake Cant and see if perhaps it's not as cold, dark and deep as you thought it once was.

The legends of the bogeyman in the closet and monsters under the bed are fine for children. But they are expected to grow out of these fears and excuses. And they are expected to realize that their fears are all in their minds.

It's time we learned this as well.

The next time you say, "I can't", follow that up by yelling out, "Why Not?"

Do it and answer honestly.

Is it that you can't or that you won't?

You'll realize that the invisible brick wall between you and "can" has only been erected in your mind. It is almost never a physical limitation.

Your body is capable of surviving without bread, your mind can be trained to fall asleep before 10pm, and you can learn a new language at any age. You can make time for exercise and for working on a side Internet business at home, either before or after work.

You can, you can, you can. You are not too old to change.

It all starts with saying, "I Can, I Will, I Am".

Let's stop lying to ourselves.

Really.

The Game Changer Coming to the Online World

One Thing We Must Do - And One Thing We Must Avoid

Dan Kennedy has taught me many things, but one of my favorite lessons is about resisting complacency. Being complacent and getting stuck in our ways is one thing we must avoid in business - and many areas of life. Instead, the characteristic we need to adopt is adaptation. We must be willing to change with the times. Today, Rich Schefren shows you a big change you need to make in your business. It will make a world of difference.

Craig Ballantyne

Never quit. If you stumble, get back up. What happened yesterday no longer matters. Today's another day, so get back on track on move closer to your dreams and goals. You can do it.

---

By Rich Schefren

I've been a tennis fan most of my life.

I remember watching the legendary tennis player Bjorn Borg back when I was a kid.

Back in those days, Borg used a wooden racket like everyone else on tour. And because of his immense skills, he won a lot of championships.

Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam titles... five consecutive Wimbledon titles... and six French Opens. A phenomenally successful run.

Then he retired.

In 1991, he tried to make a comeback. But by then things had changed in the game of tennis. Players had begun using better, more powerful equipment. Rackets made of metal and graphite.

Borg, however, stayed true to his wooden racket. And the results weren't pretty.

He possessed the same physical skills, had the same strategic knowledge of the game, but the game had changed around him. Because of his unwillingness to adapt, he lost to inferior players simply because their equipment was better.

The tennis environment changed around Borg. And the moment he decided NOT to adapt to that change, his career was effectively over.

This is the kind of game changer we're seeing in the online world.

And just like Borg, you have a choice to either adapt or fail miserably. (I'll give you a strategy to adapt in just a moment.)

The Change that Will Change Everything 

I predicted it would happen five years ago when I wrote my two reports, Attention Age Doctrine parts I & II.

But only now, marketers are starting to feel the effects, as they struggle to find new business and make sales.

But here's the good news... if you can recognize this change early for what it is, you can be one of the first to profit from it.

If you understand how to adapt to this change, you'll be able to get new customers more easily. You'll get free of the burden of having to scratch and claw for every new sale, every new client.

And you won't have to badger your prospects with long sales messages or email sequences to make the sale.

More importantly, you'll develop the single most valuable skill there is in marketing ... To effectively sell your products and services "cold."
In other words, you'll be able to effectively sell to a prospect on the first contact. And that will grow your business and your profits faster than any other option.
So what is this change?

I call it the "death of the big promise."

And if your business relies on a big promise to initiate your sales messages...you need to hear what I'm about to say.

The Old Tired Big Promise

In the early days of marketing, the easiest way to make a sale was to make a big over-the-top promise. It was the "wooden racket" of its day.
At the time it was a tremendously successful approach.
So if you wanted to sell your product door-to-door, or through a direct mail package you would make a big, bold promise about what your product can do.

And it worked... for many years.

So it's no surprise that the majority of marketers use the same approach online. Most online marketers start all their sales conversations with a big promise - a huge in-your-face request for your business.

I'm sure you've seen these big promises online - the companies that promise you riches or the perfect body if you buy their product.

There's just one problem. These big promises are now falling on deaf ears.

The market is too sophisticated. And your prospects are too inundated with sales messages and other distractions (emails, texts, social media etc) to give your big promises even a passing glance.

In short, these big promises are becoming obsolete. And you must adapt if you want to stay in business.

A Revolutionary Idea... that Began 40 Years Ago

The smartest marketers in the industry are already adapting.

Take Agora for example. Instead of starting sales conversations with old tired big promises, Agora trains their copywriters to use new innovative ways to draw their prospects in, and make them lean in and listen to sales messages.

In fact, they started using alternative ways to begin sales messages 40 years ago in direct mail. And the market is just starting to catch up.

As a result, Agora now has the ability to sell prospects "cold" faster than nearly anyone else in the industry.

Stansberry Research, a division of Agora, just did that with their most successful promotion of all time: End of America. This one promotion took Agora from being a $400 million dollar company to a $600 million dollar company.

This $200 million dollar marketing message didn't start with a big promise. It started with a prediction that drew prospects in.

This promotion does not even mention what Stansberry is selling until 60 minutes into a 70-minute video sales letter.

You can do the same thing in your own sales messages. Rather than starting a sales letter (or any other sales copy) with a big promise, try leading with a different angle.

For example, you might lead with a story that engages your readers. Or you might begin a sales letter with a prediction about something that's coming in your market that your prospects need to know about.

Stansberry did that with End of America. You can do the same thing. Or you can continue to use a "wooden racket," and watch your business suffer. Your choice. 

Never Feel Sorry for Yourself

One thing that makes it so difficult to drop feeling sorry for ourselves is how real it feels when we are full of self-regret. But any perception of reality that requires us to submit to any such self-centered suffering is always a lie! Here's just one of several facts to be revealed that will give you the courage to walk away from ever feeling sorry for yourself again. Study it until you suddenly smile!

The secret attraction behind self-pity -- why it's so hard to set down -- is that the part of us that feels like nothing makes the part of us that points out this nothingness feel quite special!

Negative states, in general, are part of an interior conspiracy to produce the illusion that no choice exists for us other than to cave in to their punishing presence. But, in truth, it is not we who are without choice in such moments. Rather it is the negative state that has no choice but to disappear as soon as we remember that no darkness is greater than the light that reveals it. In our heart of hearts, we know the truth of this liberating idea because we've all seen the great law that sits behind it.

We know that love is greater than hatred, courage slays fear, and that what is light, bright, and good only shines the more for anything that tries to darken its way.

The key to dismissing the parts of us that love to attend "pity parties" is to blow out the match that lights the candles of bitterness before they become inflamed.

Here is another lifesaving fact, so welcome the healing it brings by being willing to see the truth hidden within it.

There lives nothing real in our past -- regardless of how disappointing or painful it may have been -- that can grab us and make us its captive, any more than dark shadows have the power to keep us from walking into the sunlight.

Now, add to this fact the realization that there is never a good reason to go along with feeling bad about yourself, and you're on your way to living in a world without self-pity