It's War!

Mary Jane and I were listening to a CD from Success magazine and the expert being interviewed on the CD mentioned he thought we were at war, not a shooting war mind you, but a war for our attention.  We agree.  Studies have shown that when we multitask we become much less efficient and creative.  In fact, when dividing our attention, our brains function at the same efficiency as if we were stoned!

How often do you see people in corporate America in meetings splitting their attention between their phones, ipads, etc. and the speaker?  My experience in corporate America has taught me that there are important meetings, not so important meetings, and meetings for the sake of meetings so I understand why some individuals may want to engage in other activities.  However, are the attendees missing something important?

Clearly some of our politicians have noticed an issue with individuals dividing their attention between driving and texting at the same time?  Why some jurisdictions have passed laws against such things, imagine that?  If it wasn't for the fact that distracted drivers can hurt innocent people I wouldn't vote for such a law, I'd just consider it a way to clean up the gene pool.  You've got to be some kind of foolish to be texting and driving at the same time.  I put that right up there with driving while under the influence.  It's just considerate to those around you.

Shortly after listening to the expert on the CD Mary Jane and I attended a really excellent training event.  At this event, EVERY, person teaching, except Donald J. Trump and Darren Hardy, had been where the people in the audience were not so long ago and a few years later they had built a residual income stream that allowed them to be financially independent.  Indeed to get there, they had helped others do the exact same thing.  Now these self-made millionaires were giving of their time and expertise to teach those in the audience to accomplish exactly what they have

Would you believe that people who had paid to be there, had taken the time to be there, and made the effort to be there, were paying attention to their e-mails or maybe even playing angry birds or some other such nonsense.  Some people were certainly using the devices to take notes but not all.  Here in front of us we had a unique opportunity to learn how to literally change our lives, proof that it could be done, and some attendees had there attention divided.  My guess is they won't win their war.  

Is Wolf Blitzer Hurting America?

Darren Hardy, publisher of Success magazine, provided the following article to us and because I had touched on this subject late last year I thought I would share this with you our readers.  For those who love Wolf Blitzer this is not only about him it concerns the news industry in general.  I think you may find it helpful.  Please see our comments at the end of his write up.

From Darren Hardy: During the media tour launching The Compound Effect, CNN asked me to submit an article for their website.  So, what do I have to say to CNN? Below is the article I submitted to my PR team.  Even after they begged me to neuter it, to refocus it on 24/7 news (not just CNN and not just the Wolf man), CNN still didn't have the backbone to publish the critical commentary.  So I publish it here.

(CNN-) Disaster. Crisis. Failure. Scandal. Tragic. Devastation. Danger. Emergency. Threat. Crash...

The damage these constant and repeated messages have on our consciousness and creative potential is "devastating." (see Media Madness video)

What controls your attention controls your life.

Where your attention goes, energy flows and so goes your life.  When I interviewed race car driving legend Mario Andretti, I asked him for the No. 1 success tip to race car driving.  His answer, "Don't look at the wall."  He explained, "Your car goes where your eyes go."  If you are a tightrope walker, what's the one thing you never do?  Right, look down.  Why?  Your body will follow your eyes.  Your body (your life) also follows your eyes (your attention).  If you point your eyes at Constant Negative News (there's an acronym for that), your life will also go in that direction.

Your mind is like an empty glass.  It will hold anything you put into it.  You put in sensational news, salacious headlines and talk show rants and you are pouring dirty water into your glass.  If you've got dark, dismal, worrisome water in your glass, everything you create will be filtered through that muddy mess, because that's what you'll be thinking about.  Garbage in, garbage out.

You can flush your dirty glass with clean, clear, pure water.  What is clear water?  Positive, inspirational, and supportive input and ideas.  Stories of aspiration, people who, despite challenges, are overcoming obstacles and achieving great things.  Strategies of success, prosperity, health, love and joy.  Ideas to create more abundance, to grow, expand and become more.  But it's a constant battle as we are surrounded by those who want to spew dirty water into our glass constantly.

Us again: We understand CNN is not the only culprit in the negative onslaught potentially hitting us constantly.  Late last year we recommended that you limit your time spent watching of all the negativity in the news and we have followed our own advice.  We still listen enough to stay informed but we have severely limited the time spent watching or listening to the news and increased the amount of time we are putting positive things into our brains.  We testify to you that this has definitely given us a more positive outlook on life and helped us to focus on the things we can positively impact and push aside the things we can't.  For us it is a game changer, how about you?

Laughs and Interesting Stuff 

HOW TO START A FIGHT (part 2)