Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.

Yes, I paraphrased that, someone told me that definition one day (still unable to find it stated like that in a dictionary), but that’s not the point. The point is that sometimes I wonder if I’m going insane (given the definition above).

Here’s what’s going on…

Have you read my rant about “Mind Aerobics (You Can Try It For FREE For 30 Days!)” yet? I talk about how this program has changed my life multiple times. I describe exactly how it works, you have to have an open mind - I didn’t believe it at first either.

Anyways, I also talked about how I keep starting and then STOPPING. I start listening to the CD every night religiously and almost IMMEDIATELY I see amazing impact on my day-to-day. Then, as things get good again, I get lazy or I get “over confident” and I stop listening to it.

I had promised myself about a month back that I would not (under any condition) stop this time. Well, guess what? I started traveling and the laziness kicked right in.

So, What Happens To Me When I Don’t Listen To Mind Aerobics?

I figured since I screwed up again, might as well turn it into a case study for everyone.

What happens is that I get more antsy. My ability to take stress drops significantly and I become more REActive then I do PROactive.

Meaning, I start to react to everything going around me, rather than taking logical steps back and evaluating everything.

In other words, I start to lose my cool.

I recently called Allen Koss and spoke with him about this and he said that “when you’re using Holosync technology, a certain element of it never goes away, even if you stop listening to it. However, your level of stress does catch up with you. Whereas if you keep doing the CD you stay 2 steps ahead.”

Personally, to me, it feels like I end up losing everything I gained?

Either way, off I go to start again today.

A lesson in discipline - Seriously, try to learn your lesson the first time, rather than the fifth time like me?

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I want to start by apologizing for having dissapeared the last two weeks, I’ve been on the road and had not had a chance. Actually, I took my first vacation in 5 years with friends (no work, no colleagues, nothing).

We went to Las Vegas and believe it or not, I actually LEARNED something from one of my friends who’s quite a gambler, the guy has a strategy for every game!

Here’s how it goes…

I pretty much refuse to gamble, the first couple of times I went to Las Vegas in my life (I’ve easily been 10 times by now), I lost over $5,000! After that, for some reason, losing money just wasn’t fun any more

Since then every time I go to Vegas it’s for work so I’ve lucked out on not having any time for gambling. However, this time around, I was with friends and all they did was gamble!

I finally decided to plop down $300 on Blackjack and of course 30 minutes later, I was out cold and this was just the first day. The rest of the vacation I simply enjoyed the sight seeing and watched others gamble.

I started to notice a trend with my friend…

This guy was making money, he was up $1,000 at a time (he also had down times), but when he went up, he went up fast and he’d immediately start cashing out.

The one thing I noticed on him was that no matter WHAT, he stuck to his strategy. Even if it got DEAD BORING, he would not leave his strategy.

Gambling, for him, was not about the “adrenaline” of putting it all on the line, but it was more of a business - it was about leaving with more than he came in with (and he would do whatever it took to make it happen).

The one word that really hit home watching him?

Discipline!

I have never seen discipline like what I saw on him. He would sit there for HOURS at a time, doing the same thing OVER and OVER, religiously. The results showed as well, when he stuck to his discipline, he made money.

He finally got me in…

He had a very simple strategy for Roulette which meant playing the EXACT same numbers every single time. Basically this leads to the best odds of winning.

You can have either of three things happen:

1. You can lose ALL your money (but only if it hits 4 of 36 numbers).

2. You can lose $25

3. You can win $50

So chances are that it’s either #2 or #3, in which case the odds are in YOUR favor!

Anyways, he convinced me to start playing too and it was DEAD BORING at times, but bottomline, I was winning! The entire point was to STICK TO MY STRATEGY and be committed to it.

I’m not saying that discipline needs to be boring, but bottomline, it works - stick to your strategy that works!

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What you learn today: The best way to improve your listening skills almost immediately & it’s not really “active listening.”

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“Active listening” is not really “good” listening - it’s more like “regurgitation” of what someone says. Active listening says that you should re-cap what someone says after they say it.

Not only is that awkward and annoying in conversation, just repeating someone’s words does not mean you heard them.

A good listener understands the meaning behind those words, the implications and the entire scope of the message that is being delivered. A good listener doesn’t just LISTEN, but he/she watches for body movements, facial reactions and everything else.

You combine all your senses and create a full picture of what is being said - THAT is “good listening” - ironically, 50% of good listening has nothing to do with your ears.

Forget All This, Go Back To K.I.S.S - Keeping It Simple Stupid

Today, I’m not going to tell you that you should immediately start understanding people better just by watching and listening to them. This skill does not come over night, it’s far more complicated than you think.

My goal is to give you a SIMPLE tip that you can put into place immediately and start IMPROVING your listening skills (rather than solving them over night)…

The Best Way To Start Improving Your Listening Skills…

Start with this simple exercise and just work on this for an entire month. It may be simple, but it’s not easy.

Some background: By default, as humans we have an inclination to want to speak. We want to share our thoughts/feelings. Most of us are never “listening” to anyone, we’re busy getting our responses together.

Think about it, you’ll agree - observe yourself during your next conversation. I bet you spend at least 80% of the conversation making evaluations and gathering your thoughts for a response.

Simple But Not Easy Exercise - Start NOW…

Let someone finish.

That’s it, I know it sounds simple, but try it - it’ll almost hurt the first time.

Make it a point to not say a THING at all until the other party is completely finished. I mean COMPLETELY finished, not a “pause.” Heck, maybe even wait for them to say “so…why are you so quiet? what do you think about this!”

Try not to doze off during this period, but for now, even if you do - fine. The goal right now is that you should just stop interrupting and butting in. Get yourself to stop wanting to hear yourself talk.

There you go - your assignment today, every conversation you have - walk away from it having said the LEAST you can and NEVER interrupt anyone (even during a pause), let them finish.

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Sometimes I have to tell myself that more than a few times. Ever been in a situation where your mind starts to race? Good feelings, bad feelings, mixture - just a hodge podge of emotions and you feel like you’re losing control…

Happens to me every now and then and I’ve learned a great technique to STOP it dead in it’s tracks…

“Take a step back…” - Not literally, but in theory.

Here’s what you LITERALLY do…

1. Deep breath

2. Grab a piece of paper

3. Start writing down EVERYTHING going through your mind (typically this results in a “to do” list)

4. Organize the list by priority…each thing on the list should be something you take action on. If you wrote a feeling down, you need to analyze it further until you reach the ONE thing you can do to neutralize the feeling.

5. Start from top and work your way down - cross them off as you finish…

It’s amazing how quickly your mind calms back down and the sense of relief that can come over you knowing that you’ve taken control back away from your racing crazy head.

Try it some time.

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