“The treadmill enslaves many people who can’t conceive that life could be any different,” Harry Browne wrote in his classic How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World. “But why should it be that way? You’re a sovereign human being with numerous talents and a great many alternatives available to you.”
Join my fight for personal and financial freedom! Up the rebels!
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You might remember that I mentioned Scott Alexander, the author of Rhinoceros Success, a few posts ago.
Well, I’ve gotta share this tidbit I just grabbed off Scott’s “Rhino Revolution” blog:
“… Now we are getting closer to the real secret of success — what will you put up with to get what you want?
“My addiction is ChapStick. I must have it with me at all times. If I find that I have forgotten to put my ChapStick in my pocket, I will go to great lengths to immediately get a fresh tube. My greatest fear is going to prison and being denied having ChapStick in my cell. What objectionable behavior would I engage in to get ChapStick? I don’t want to think about it!!
“Your goals have to carry at least as much weight as a coffee drinker for coffee. You have to be addicted to success. You don’t need to peruse a magazine for motivation. You know what you want. It is on your mind all the time. You crave it!! If you have to jump through hoops to get it, get the hoops out and you jump! You will get it … no matter what.”
Two quick thoughts…
1. Scott’s absolutely right. For your goals to mean anything at all, you hafta be passionate about them. REALLY passionate. Like ChapStick passionate.
2. ChapStick, Scott? Sheesh!
OK, now a self-serving plug…
I’ll be launching a new high-octane audio-eBook package featuring Scott and me in just a few days. It’s called No-Nonsense Damn-the-Torpedoes Jungle Rhinoceros Tactics to Flatten the Crap Outta Fear, Worry, & Doubt.
If you wanna finally jump off the hamster wheel — or even if you’re already off the wheel but wanna STAY off — you’ll like this.
Watch for an announcement shortly.
End of self-promotion.
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I was talking to my friend Kathy today about public speaking.
Kathy and her husband speak to a lot of groups about marriage and personal relationships. And she told me she works best with a set of notes that remind her what ground she wants to cover in her talk.
And a light bulb immediately went on right over my head, like in the cartoons.
You see, unlike Kathy, when I speak in public, I work best when I fly by the seat of my pants.
Give me a set of notes, and I mumble, fiddle with my index cards, lose my place, and crash and burn like Iron Man on his maiden flight.
But if I just let loose, I soar.
I’ve spoken to chambers of commerce, writers groups, retirement clubs, Rotary…
And if I do say so myself, I have an uncanny ability to size up my audience
(usually during the meal portion of the event), then let ‘er rip when I’m at the podium.
Sure, I know my subject, and I know what my Big Finish will be. But truthfully, before I start jabbering to my audience, I haven’t got the damnedest clue how I’m gonna get there.
It’s kinda remarkable that I ever get invited back. But I usually do.
So what’s my point here?
I’m certainly NOT suggesting that you follow my example if you’re ever invited to lecture at your local university.
But I AM suggesting that flying by the seat of your pants not only works a good percentage of the time, it works awfully well.
Here’s the deal…
What’s keeping you from making that jump off the treadmill and into your own business? What’s stopping you from writing an eBook? What’s standing in your way to moving ahead?
You’re not ready yet?
I’ll bet you are.
Sometimes, you’ve just gotta take the leap and fly by the seat of your pants for awhile.
As Julia Cameron has advised, “Leap, and the net will appear.”
Start soaring!
Tell all of us about your Big Leaps from the past. Or what Big Leaps you plan for the future. The comment section is open…
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My favorite movie ever is The Third Man, the 1949 film noir thriller starring Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, and the incredibly hot Alida Valli.
I’ve owned the film on VHS, laser disc, DVD, and now Blu-ray.
Like I told ya, I really LOVE that movie.
So much so that I dragged Deb with me on a Third Man walking tour of Vienna a few years ago, complete with zither accompaniment.
Anyway, I watch the film a LOT.
But watching it for the zillionth time last night, something knocked me on my butt for the first time.
It’s in the famous scene where Holly Martins (Cotten) and Harry Lime (Welles) meet on the Prater amusement park’s Ferris wheel, shortly before Welles’ legendary “Swiss cuckoo clock speech.”
Lime has stolen penicillin from military hospitals, diluted it for higher profit, and sold it on the black market. The effects have been devastating to his victims.
“Have you ever seen any of your victims?” an angry Martins asks his former friend.
Replies Lime, looking at the park from atop the wheel: “Victims? Don’t be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you £20,000 for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money? Or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?”
Seems to me that these days, too many internet marketers — and even offline business people — see their prospects and customers the same way Harry Lime saw people generally.
As dots. Or numbers.
But your prospects and customers are people. With needs and wants and worries and fears.
And when you forget that, they know it. And they stop doing business with you.
Then you’re sunk.
You probably won’t end up dead in the sewers of Vienna with a bullet in your back.
But your livelihood will be like yesterday’s sewage.
So my advice today is: Go rent The Third Man.
You’ll not only love it (and get a chance to hear the unforgettable cuckoo clock speech), you’ll learn how NOT to treat your prospects and customers.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on both the film and its message! Go ahead. Leave a comment below. Don’t be afraid. 
See you at the movies!
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