MindMillion Part 3

MindMillion Part 3

The original MindMillion book 2005 by Silvia Hartmann - Part 3

The Joy Of Being Wrong

Phase 3

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The Joy Of Being Wrong

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Yes, you have read this correctly. Phase 3 is about the many joys of being wrong. Not just a bit wrong, at that. But totally, utterly and profoundly wrong, being proved to have been THAT wrong ā€“ and being absolutely delighted and JOYFUL that you found out about it.

99.99999% of all humanity are TERRIFIED of being wrong about things.

They dig themselves into trenches of beliefs about:

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  • Who they are
  • What they can do
  • What can be achieved
  • Who can achieve that
  • How things are achieved

... to name but a few.

They will then defend their trenches until they die, never having moved a single inch, and regardless of the suffering involved to themselves and all their loved ones.

I am one of the very few people I know who LOVE being proved wrong about things. This has given me over the years the most unbelievable competitive advantage.

This is how I see it.

There is a REAL reality, and then thereā€™s a heap of illusions, lies, misconceptions, false ideas, our old wives tails, superstitions and general nonsense that will have you running around in ever decreasing circles until youā€™re too tired to crawl, and then you die, having accomplished NOTHING of any value whatsoever.

REAL reality is totally priceless. To know about just one tiny corner of it makes you more rich and famous than you could begin to imagine.

Because when you know something about real reality, what you then do WORKS. It really works. Like a round wheel, for example. Imagine the power of having invented that!

But hereā€™s the trick.

We CAN NOT EVER invent wheels if we keep insisting that we were right about having used wooden logs for the past 40 years ourselves, and that it must be a good idea because all our venerable ancestors ALSO used wooden logs.

Until and unless we can say, ok, so we were wrong about thinking that wooden logs are THE ONE AND ONLY CORRECT WAY of moving heavy things across distances, we canā€™t get to the improvement.

This is one of these principles of reality itself that functions on all levels, from the smallest to the biggest.

It functions from your self concept, for example. You might think that you are weak. What if you were TOTALLY WRONG about that and I could prove it to you?

Would you be shocked, horrified, ā€œdestroyedā€ by this discovery, or would you be simply delighted?

What if I told you that your product you are trying to sell sucks, and you went to check that out for yourself with real market research (REAL reality!) and thought to yourself, ā€œIf Iā€™m wrong about this product being great, and I find out right now, I will save myself YEARS of wasted effort! Joy!!!ā€

Can you see what happens when you think like that?

Instead of digging yourself ever deeper into a hole, you get to stop and have a chance to use your intelligence how to get out.

Thatā€™s really priceless, and it applies to so many things.

Relationships for example.

How many people do you know have put up with appalling relationships for years and years, destroyed their own health and future in the process simply because they were too afraid to call a halt to it?

Because it would mean admitting that they had made a mistake?

How many businesses do you know do that same thing with expensive and lazy suppliers?

How many bosses do you know who do this with useless, depressing, unproductive employees?

How many stockholders hold on to bad investments that are decreasing in value with every minute that ticks away?

Do you know how much time and POTENTIAL is criminally wasted just because people are too afraid to hold up their hand, stand up and say, ā€œMy name is Steve ā€“ and Iā€™ve been wrong!ā€

Now, to err is human and it happens all the time. But when you then continue to err even though you KNOW already it is an error ā€“ then weā€™re dealing with a tragedy.

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>> Exercise ā€“ Top Ten Worst Mistakes Ever

So let us now, you and I, take a deep breath and make a list of our ten worst ever decisions or mistakes. To show you how it works, and to give you courage for your own list, hereā€™s mine.

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  1. Getting married to the first man who asked me.

  2. Running a profitable publishing business into the ground.

  3. Refusing to take a hand in the family business.

  4. Selling a house for a quick buck that would now be worth millions.

  5. Keeping a hopeless affair that drained me of all life running for TEN years.

  6. Thinking that I was incapable of accounting.

  7. Getting involved in a disastrous court case.

  8. Spending 15 years in a job I should have quit after 5.

  9. Running a franchise for 5 years instead of building my own business.

  10. Thinking that I need a business partner in order to succeed.

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I was immensely wrong about many, many things indeed ā€“ but where it always compounded was when I couldnā€™t accept that and dug my head into the sand and ā€œjust kept on going regardlessā€.

What is lost there is TIME and time isnā€™t money, but TIME.

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Time is NOT Money!

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Time is ... TIME.

And time is precious, irreplaceable and the most valuable, the only commodity we really have in this life.

Moreover, with peopleā€™s time, there is a time and place for certain things. If the time passes, if the seasonā€™s gone, you canā€™t get it back, not ever and that is FAR FAR more frightening than admitting that you were wrong and make a U turn.

Successful people KNOW this and they live it. Successful investors do not hang on to badly performing shares but ditch them INSTANTLY and cut their losses.

And what this is, is not ā€œflip floppingā€ or a ā€œlack of characterā€ but RESPONSE TO THE ENVIRONMENT ā€“ appropriate response, at that.

What we need to learn, really learn, is to not feel PANIC or FEAR any longer when we discover that something isnā€™t working out, or that we have made a mistake.

To be really successful in all things in life we need to get to a point of NOT KNOWING the answers to everything but instead:

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  • ALLOWING REALITY TO TEACH US WHAT IS RIGHT, AND WHAT IS WRONG.

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Before we get there, now you get your notepad out and you make the list of your ten worst mistakes. It doesnā€™t matter what they were because:

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WHATā€™S DONE, IS DONE.

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We donā€™t need to delve into the reasons as to why you made those mistakes. Thatā€™s looking to the past and what we need to do is to keep our eye on the NOW, because the NOW UNFOLDS THE FUTURE.

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>> Exercise: Whatā€™s Done, Is Done

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Make a list of your top ten mistakes on a piece of paper. Donā€™t put any reasons or excuses, just make a note of them like I did in the example.

My Top Ten Mistakes:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Starting at the No. 10 position, look at each one in turn. If you get stressed, emotional, fearful or otherwise upset, use the Flow Process from Phase 1. Note where you feel any tension in your body as you view the statement and ā€œSoften and Flowā€ all of that away and into the past. Then, say aloud, ā€œWhatā€™s Done is Done,ā€ and with a marker pen, make a line through the statement. Then cut the statement off the page and lay it aside.

Go through all ten mistakes until each one has been consigned to the past.

Finally, take the paper strips somewhere safe. One by one, set fire to these, and as each burns, speak the following:

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Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,

in my fair will and God I trust.

The old is gone, the new is bright,

what once went wrong, is now made right,

The future's clear and free for me,

this is my will, so shall it be.

Know that these things will no longer trouble you.

Dispose of the ash and turn your thoughts to decisions in the now.

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>> Exercise: Letā€™s Be Wrong Some More!

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Next, we are going to consider how being wrong can be a wonderful thing. One more list, and this time, things that if you were wrong about, would TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER instantly. Hereā€™s my list:

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  1. Iā€™m not beautiful enough to be successful. (Gentlemen, donā€™t laugh, this is a real issue for women and a very deep entrainment!)

  2. Iā€™m too lazy.

  3. Women canā€™t succeed in business without having a man behind them.

  4. No-one with my background or from my family has ever succeeded, so Iā€™ll fail too.

  5. Running a successful business empire is totally beyond me.

  6. Iā€™m too old now and I have missed the boat.

  7. Building a business empire is going to be frightening, hard and difficult.

  8. No-one will help you, theyā€™re just out to see you fail or rip you off.

  9. I have to make all sorts of MAJOR changes to my personality before I can hope to succeed.

  10. Itā€™s all going to be a constant uphill battle and endless struggle.

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Choose what you WANT TO BE WRONG ABOUT, and donā€™t just have ten item there on your list if you want to put a thousand on it.

Ten Things I WANT To Be Wrong About:

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1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Now, we treat this list EXACTLY as the list of our worst decisions and wrong doings before, namely to unravel and delete each item at a time with the aid of the Flow technique, until that too is burned and we have really understood that the key to acting successfully in reality is to RESPOND TO REALITY ā€“ and to respond FAST.

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  • The key to acting successfully in reality is to RESPOND TO REALITY ā€“ FAST.

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A story to illustrate the merit of response over inactivity:

We have a clever rich who isnā€™t afraid of changing their minds in fast response to the environment, and a scared muppet, both purchasing $5,000.00 worth of shares.

Our rich and muppet friend both have done some research and finally decided on a company. Both have absolutely no experience with stocks and shares and it is their very first time out on that particular gambling board of reality.

Letā€™s say the shares were 5 dollars each and soon after the purchase, the share price drops to $4.50. And here their paths and their futures divide, never to be the same again.

Our friend, the young rich, immediately sells the shares and re-invests his remaining $4,500 in another company.

Our muppet friend however watches this happen and although his stomach churns and heā€™s getting this horrible sinking feeling that heā€™s made a terrible mistake, he literally closes his eyes, gets out a lucky rabbits foot and starts praying that the company will recover.

The shares fall further - $4.00, $3.75 ...

In the meantime, our rich friend has invested in the second company and they didnā€™t do too well either. He bails out again, but he still has $4,000 of his original investment left. But ā€“ and here comes the truly important difference! ā€“ he has now started to accumulate EXPERIENCE because heā€™s had two attempts already and now, heā€™s starting his third attempt.

Our muppety friend, on the other hand, who finally capitulates to the horror of it all at $1.75 a share, is now so traumatised by the whole experience that he will never even TRY to do THAT AGAIN.

For him, it is all over now.

But for our young rich friend, who after 6 failed attempts ALSO has the same amount left, experience is building and on the seventh attempt, he begins to regain some ground as the shares rise and he sells them again, right away.

He is getting to understand some of the basic principles involved, who the real players are, how to get better rates with brokers and all sorts, and for him this is only the BEGINNING of a LIFETIMEā€™S worth of playing a fun game that will be very profitable.

This is how not just stocks and share work, but how EVERYTHING works ā€“ from poker playing to relationships, from getting to a point where you are a master salesman to being able to create franchises and open new stores at the drop of a hat.

Basically, weā€™re talking the difference between a winner and a loser here.

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Winners & Losers

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Whatā€™s the difference between a winner, and a loser?

The colour of the rosette or the amount on the prize cheque?

But thereā€™s a third variant ā€“ namely the silent majority who DO NOT PLAY THE GAME AT ALL.

They are the real losers, not the loser who played, learned, experienced, had excitement, learnings and ALWAYS THE CHANCE THAT THEY WILL BECOME THE WINNER, every single time they TAKE PART.

If you donā€™t play, there is no chance.

Then you are NOTHING AT ALL.

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The Nothing Principle

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Which brings us to the third and final consideration of Phase 3, namely the Nothing Principle.

This is it:

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Nothing is NOTHING.


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It canā€™t be improved upon.


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It canā€™t be developed.


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It cannot ever evolve into anything at all ā€“ because it is NOTHING.


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And nothing will REMAIN NOTHING for ever, and ever.


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Amen.

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A SOMETHING, on the other hand, and no matter how small, pathetic, miserable, crap and severely disappointing it may be, is SOMETHING ā€“ and being a SOMETHING, it has the potential to become something MORE.

Let me explain how this works in practice.

A lot of people THINK about writing a book, opening a cafe, giving up their 9-5s to do something, but they donā€™t do it.

Their ā€œthingā€ remains a NO-THING. It will always remain a NOTHING ā€“ until it is being actualised and produced in the Hard.

There was a man who built a huge restaurant chain and who started with a miserable second hand hotdog cart. The first book I ever wrote was a 16 page pamphlet.

Sure, these things were miserable. Pathetic. Muppets would sneer and spit at that sort of thing, especially when the hotdog man started talking about how one day, his cart would become a global empire, and I started talking about a big multi-media publishing empire that would change the world.

Yeah, so you get sneered at for your first ever miserable pathetic something. Of course. It is going to be small and not very impressive. But what the muppets donā€™t get is that there wonā€™t be ANYTHING EVER unless youā€™re willing to go through that.

The cart becomes two, then a third one and that one is new. The pamphlet becomes a bigger pamphlet, and then the first real book. Thatā€™s evolution and that is how things work.

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EVOLUTION

IS

THE FIRST LAW

OF

NATURE.

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As this is one of these completely global ā€œas above, so belowā€ principles, it works for all things, all levels.

A one line classified ad becomes a boxed ad, a quarter page and then a whole page. We learn the lessons and get our feet wet with our pamphlets and classified ads, with our hotdog carts and making furniture in the garden shed. Thatā€™s where we START TO LEARN how to do this, how to make something that will become better, greater, more, as it proceeds through its development.

As it and we both EVOLVE.

A lot of muppet style ā€œday dreamingā€ and ā€œgoal settingā€ is counter productive to these essential processes of empire building because there we start out with the immensely ā€œimpressiveā€ end result and when we compare THAT to the miserable pathetic thing we are doing right now, it can freak people out so much, make them so unbearably disappointed and hurt that they just chuck it all in and go back to working the desk at the local library.

As with the mistakes and beliefs, this is not a question of denying truth and reality but the opposite.

That first second hand hotdog cart REALLY IS PATHETIC. It really is, but thatā€™s no reason to get distraught.

It is the first vehicle to sell hotdogs from and itā€™s here, thatā€™s the only thing that counts.

That it is HERE, and that it is REAL.

Now, we can improve it. Buy a better fryer for it. Paint it up. Put it in a better location. Give our users better tomato ketchup. And free serviettes.

None of which can happen until it is here and real.

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Kaizen

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Iā€™d like to mention the concept of Kaizen or continuous improvement.

This is a fantastic device that turns dogma into movement because it comes from the basic idea that NOTHING IS PERFECT at all ā€“ but that we can make things BETTER by small incremental improvements.

A lot of young riches, especially if they donā€™t have their emotions under control or donā€™t even know how stress, fear and disappointment plays havoc with their decision making strategies are given to jumping ship too much.

They may start a restaurant which fails, which traumatises them so much that the next business they start is an Internet Company. This fails and traumatised once more, they switch to becoming Estate Agents or something that basically IS NOT any of those things which has failed or could possibly remind them of their past failures.

With the Nothing and Kaizen principles, what we do instead is to do THE SAME THING AGAIN ā€“ but this time, we do it better.

This is the only way to actually learn from our mistakes of the past and do something useful with them, because if we keep switching, we end up with a lot of mistakes but every time, weā€™re back in the same ā€œbeginners boatā€ where things OF COURSE are going to go wrong all the time ā€“ because we donā€™t know what weā€™re doing!

Muppets donā€™t like this. As they equivate failure with ā€œbeing bad or evilā€, if someone runs a building company into the ground and then starts up another one immediately and right away, they complain and say that the person has lost the right to try again.

But for riches, failure just means that youā€™re not good enough YET ā€“ there were things you didnā€™t know about, you miscalculated, you made mistakes and now, youā€™re having another go to see if you can do better, this time around.

Now Iā€™m talking about riches and muppets as though they were separate groups of people, standing on either side of a big fence but in truth, thereā€™s a muppet in all of us.

Thatā€™s where our conflicts come from most of the time, how we undermine ourselves, how we lose sight of what we want to do and how we confuse ourselves into more bad decisions.

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So, and to sum up this extremely important central chapter on Phase 3, let us remember the key principles.

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  1. Look forward to reality teaching you right from wrong.

  2. Donā€™t be afraid of mistakes. They are unavoidable miscalculations which get less with practical experience.

  3. When you are dedicated to continuous improvement, from small pathetic things great empires MUST grow.

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Posted Feb 10, 2017
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