Enhancing The Human Experience with Mark Phillips

(Note - In this episode I said that Venice Bloodworth was Thomas Troward's student.  I was incorrect about that.  Genevieve Behrend was Troward's student.)

In this episode of the podcast I share the books I recommend to people who want to start learning about manifesting.  I should point out that these books are also the one's I recommend to seasoned students in this arena.

You won't generally find these books in the manifesting section of your local bookstore.  Why?  Because the majority of these books were written in the early-to-mid 1900's.  They simply aren't shiny and new like the current books are.  And, there isn't a lot of money to be made in them.  So publishers aren't marketing them to you.  But take my word, they are amazing.  And I'll let you in on a little secret.  All (yes, all) of the authors writing about manifesting in our day and age are inspired by, and draw upon the works of these amazing men and women.

So, in addition to picking up some current books on manifesting, pick up some of these as well.  They were written in a simpler time, and thus, they convey a simple, straight-forward message about manifesting.  I know you'll enjoy them.  And more importantly, I'm certain they'll help you understand this topic better so you can put it into practice.

Show Notes

The books I share with you here are some of my all-time favorites.

My biggest issue with modern-day manifesting books, is the amount of filler, fluff, and stories that clutter the message.

There are two factors that affect how easily you will understand a message in a book:

How succinctly the author shares the message with you.  This is a function of how well they themselves understand the information they're writing about.

How much fluff and filler is diluting the message.  In my opinion, this is a major factor in people "not really getting it".

One Sentence Summary:

Most of the manifesting books I recommend to people are from the early-to-mid 1900's, when the New Thought movement was really rolling.

Quote Of The Week:

We have the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within, and to find them automatically printed in the outer world of our surroundings." ~ John McDonald, The Message of a Master: A Classic Tale of Wealth, Wisdom, and the Secret of Success

Resources Mentioned:

I've listed these book's beginning with the author.

Neville Goddard - Anything by this man is phenomenal.  I recommend picking up a copy of Feeling Is The Secret, and The Power of Awareness.

Emmet Fox - Life Is Consciousness is one of my all time favorite books.  The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life, and The Golden Key essay are also great.

Joseph Murphy - The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

John McDonald - The Message of a Master: A Classic Tale of Wealth, Wisdom, and the Secret of Success

Venice Bloodworth - Key To Yourself

Florence Scovel Shinn - The Game of Life and How to Play it

RHJ - It Works: The Famous Little Red Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True!

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

Connect with me

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

How to review the show on iTunes - If you enjoy the podcast, it would be awesome if you'd take a minute and write a review on iTunes.  To do that, just launch the iTunes podcast app on your computer or phone.  Search for Enhancing The Human Experience.  Select the album art for the show.  Then select ratings and reviews.  Then write your review.  Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it!

All the best - health, wealth, and success!

Mark

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(Note - In this episode I said that Venice Bloodworth was Thomas Troward's student.  I was incorrect about that.  Genevieve Behrend was Troward's student.)

In this episode of the podcast I share the books I recommend to people who want to start learning about manifesting.  I should point out that these books are also the one's I recommend to seasoned students in this arena.

You won't generally find these books in the manifesting section of your local bookstore.  Why?  Because the majority of these books were written in the early-to-mid 1900's.  They simply aren't shiny and new like the current books are.  And, there isn't a lot of money to be made in them.  So publishers aren't marketing them to you.  But take my word, they are amazing.  And I'll let you in on a little secret.  All (yes, all) of the authors writing about manifesting in our day and age are inspired by, and draw upon the works of these amazing men and women.

So, in addition to picking up some current books on manifesting, pick up some of these as well.  They were written in a simpler time, and thus, they convey a simple, straight-forward message about manifesting.  I know you'll enjoy them.  And more importantly, I'm certain they'll help you understand this topic better so you can put it into practice.

Show Notes

The books I share with you here are some of my all-time favorites.

My biggest issue with modern-day manifesting books, is the amount of filler, fluff, and stories that clutter the message.

There are two factors that affect how easily you will understand a message in a book:

How succinctly the author shares the message with you.  This is a function of how well they themselves understand the information they're writing about.

How much fluff and filler is diluting the message.  In my opinion, this is a major factor in people "not really getting it".

One Sentence Summary:

Most of the manifesting books I recommend to people are from the early-to-mid 1900's, when the New Thought movement was really rolling.

Quote Of The Week:

We have the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within, and to find them automatically printed in the outer world of our surroundings." ~ John McDonald, The Message of a Master: A Classic Tale of Wealth, Wisdom, and the Secret of Success

Resources Mentioned:

I've listed these book's beginning with the author.

Neville Goddard - Anything by this man is phenomenal.  I recommend picking up a copy of Feeling Is The Secret, and The Power of Awareness.

Emmet Fox - Life Is Consciousness is one of my all time favorite books.  The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life, and The Golden Key essay are also great.

Joseph Murphy - The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

John McDonald - The Message of a Master: A Classic Tale of Wealth, Wisdom, and the Secret of Success

Venice Bloodworth - Key To Yourself

Florence Scovel Shinn - The Game of Life and How to Play it

RHJ - It Works: The Famous Little Red Book That Makes Your Dreams Come True!

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

Connect with me

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

How to review the show on iTunes - If you enjoy the podcast, it would be awesome if you'd take a minute and write a review on iTunes.  To do that, just launch the iTunes podcast app on your computer or phone.  Search for Enhancing The Human Experience.

This episode of the podcast is all about less.  Specifically, how having less (less stuff, less obligations, and less debt), can help you to have more (more time, more money, and more freedom).  Like most of the topics I discuss on the podcast, this one will definitely come up again.  Because it's such an important aspect of enhancing the human experience.

I recently watched Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things.  This is the film about Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn's experience adopting and living a minimalist lifestyle.  I've followed these two characters for years, so I knew it would be good, and it was.  If you're not familiar with these guys, I've put a link to their website in the resources section below.  They're big-time players in the minimalist movement.

I've practiced minimalism for some time now.  It's made a big difference in my overall quality of life.  I still have stuff, but I have a lot less of it than I used to.  And I'm happier because of it.  Like everything in life however, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum.  Because compared to The Happy Minimalist (a.k.a. my hero), I'm a hoarder.

Show Notes

Henry Rollins once said, "The more you own, the more it owns you."

Be conscious of what you bring into your life and your space.

By practicing conscious consumption, you'll only bring into your life what you truly want and need.  Not what advertisers tell you you want and need.

Living deliberately will make you a hard target for advertisers and marketers who aren't necessarily selling you products that will add real value to your life, but more often than not they're just pushing junk for large corporations.

There's nothing wrong with corporations, capitalism, or profit.  In fact, all of these are vital to enhancing the human experience.  The key is to learn to be a conscious capitalist and creator.  And to create products and services that are truly beneficial from both a utilitarian and spiritual standpoint.

The life cycle of stuff is becoming obscenely short.

As with all things in life, it ultimately comes down to balance.

How to wake up to your ego-mind's agenda and become a minimalist in one step:

Realize that your ego mind will try to fill the soul's need for expansion by adding more and more stuff to your life, in a never-ending cycle.

Here's a great explanation of how a chariot is a metaphor for the senses, the mind, the intellect, the body, and the soul.

One Sentence Summary:

When you wake up to the fact that your ego-mind will never be satisfied by more stuff, you transcend the illusion that things will ever give you the fulfillment and connection you're longing for in life.

Quote Of The Week:

Does this add value to my life, and if not, I have to be willing to let go of it." ~ Joshua Fields Millburn

Resources Mentioned:

becomingminimalist.com - Joshua Becker's great website about living a minimalist life.

theminimalists.com - The website ran by Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn.

Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things - The film by The Minimalists, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn.

Colin Wright - He's an author, blogger, and speaker.  He also travels full time and shares amazing pictures from around the world on his Instagram.

The Story of Stuff - An eye-opening documentary by Annie Leonard about the life cycle of stuff.

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

Connect with me

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

How to review the show on iTunes - If you enjoy the podcast, it would be awesome if you'd take a minute and write a review on iTunes.  To do that, just launch the iTunes podcast app on your computer or phone.  Search for Enhancing The Human Experience.  Select the album art for the show.  Then select ratings and reviews.  Then write your review.  Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it!

All the best - health, wealth, and success!

Mark

This episode of the podcast is all about less.  Specifically, how having less (less stuff, less obligations, and less debt), can help you to have more (more time, more money, and more freedom).  Like most of the topics I discuss on the podcast, this one will definitely come up again.  Because it's such an important aspect of enhancing the human experience.

I recently watched Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things.  This is the film about Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn's experience adopting and living a minimalist lifestyle.  I've followed these two characters for years, so I knew it would be good, and it was.  If you're not familiar with these guys, I've put a link to their website in the resources section below.  They're big-time players in the minimalist movement.

I've practiced minimalism for some time now.  It's made a big difference in my overall quality of life.  I still have stuff, but I have a lot less of it than I used to.  And I'm happier because of it.  Like everything in life however, we all fall somewhere on the spectrum.  Because compared to The Happy Minimalist (a.k.a. my hero), I'm a hoarder.

Show Notes

Henry Rollins once said, "The more you own, the more it owns you."

Be conscious of what you bring into your life and your space.

By practicing conscious consumption, you'll only bring into your life what you truly want and need.  Not what advertisers tell you you want and need.

Living deliberately will make you a hard target for advertisers and marketers who aren't necessarily selling you products that will add real value to your life, but more often than not they're just pushing junk for large corporations.

There's nothing wrong with corporations, capitalism, or profit.  In fact, all of these are vital to enhancing the human experience.  The key is to learn to be a conscious capitalist and creator.  And to create products and services that are truly beneficial from both a utilitarian and spiritual standpoint.

The life cycle of stuff is becoming obscenely short.

As with all things in life, it ultimately comes down to balance.

How to wake up to your ego-mind's agenda and become a minimalist in one step:

Realize that your ego mind will try to fill the soul's need for expansion by adding more and more stuff to your life, in a never-ending cycle.

Here's a great explanation of how a chariot is a metaphor for the senses, the mind, the intellect, the body, and the soul.

One Sentence Summary:

When you wake up to the fact that your ego-mind will never be satisfied by more stuff, you transcend the illusion that things will ever give you the fulfillment and connection you're longing for in life.

Quote Of The Week:

Does this add value to my life, and if not, I have to be willing to let go of it." ~ Joshua Fields Millburn

Resources Mentioned:

becomingminimalist.com - Joshua Becker's great website about living a minimalist life.

theminimalists.com - The website ran by Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn.

Minimalism: A Documentary About The Important Things - The film by The Minimalists, Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn.

Colin Wright - He's an author, blogger, and speaker.  He also travels full time and shares amazing pictures from around the world on his Instagram.

The Story of Stuff - An eye-opening documentary by Annie Leonard about the life cycle of stuff.

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun,

Show Notes

The challenge we all face each and every day is to condition ourselves to get and keep that winning feeling, despite any resistance (internal or external) we may encounter.

If we cultivate the losing feeling we simply won't be able to realize our goals and dreams.

The winning feeling is just the means to an end.  Feeling like a winner causes us to act like a winner.  And when that happens, we get the results of a winner.

Shifting your state of being is an art.  It takes practice.

Saying, "I am and I can", will help you align your thoughts and your actions with the goal you want to realize.

It's all about being aware of your state of consciousness, and noticing when you start to slip into that losing feeling.  When you do, take a minute and shift your consciousness back to that winning feeling by thinking as if you've already realized your desired outcome.

The key to life is this; feel like a success and a winner all of the time.

How to get that winning feeling:

Dress for success.  When you look good, you feel good.

Declutter your space so you can focus the power of your conscious mind on what's truly important.

Post inspirational and encouraging pictures and quotes around your home or office.

Wear a rubber band on your wrist.  When you catch yourself entertaining loosing feelings, flip the rubber band.  I was recently reminded of this great technique in the book Purple Crayon Confidence, by Kayla-Leah Rich (see the resources section below).

Carry yourself like a winner.  Our body and mind are connected.  Posturing like a winner will cause you to feel like a winner.

Create small pocket cards with inspiration, encouragement, wisdom, and reminders to help you keep that winning feeling throughout the day.

One Sentence Summary:

To get and keep that winning feeling, imagine you already have the circumstances you want in every area of your life.

Quote of the Week:

...if we keep our positive goal in mind and picture it to ourselves so vividly as to make it "real" and think of it in terms of an accomplished fact, we will also experience "winning feelings": self-confidence, courage, and faith that the outcome will be desirable." ~ Maxwell Maltz

Resources Mentioned:

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz - A fantastic book that talks extensively about how to get that winning feeling.

Purple Crayon Confidence, by Kayla-Leah Rich - A fantastic book on developing your confidence.  It's filled with personal stories from the author, practical exercises, biblical references, and so much more.

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

Connect with me

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

How to review the show on iTunes - If you enjoy the podcast, it would be awesome if you'd take a minute and write a review on iTunes.  To do that, just launch the iTunes podcast app on your computer or phone.  Search for Enhancing The Human Experience.  Select the album art for the show.  Then select ratings and reviews.  Then write your review.  Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it!

All the best - health, wealth, and success!

Mark

Show Notes

The challenge we all face each and every day is to condition ourselves to get and keep that winning feeling, despite any resistance (internal or external) we may encounter.

If we cultivate the losing feeling we simply won't be able to realize our goals and dreams.

The winning feeling is just the means to an end.  Feeling like a winner causes us to act like a winner.  And when that happens, we get the results of a winner.

Shifting your state of being is an art.  It takes practice.

Saying, "I am and I can", will help you align your thoughts and your actions with the goal you want to realize.

It's all about being aware of your state of consciousness, and noticing when you start to slip into that losing feeling.  When you do, take a minute and shift your consciousness back to that winning feeling by thinking as if you've already realized your desired outcome.

The key to life is this; feel like a success and a winner all of the time.

How to get that winning feeling:

Dress for success.  When you look good, you feel good.

Declutter your space so you can focus the power of your conscious mind on what's truly important.

Post inspirational and encouraging pictures and quotes around your home or office.

Wear a rubber band on your wrist.  When you catch yourself entertaining loosing feelings, flip the rubber band.  I was recently reminded of this great technique in the book Purple Crayon Confidence, by Kayla-Leah Rich (see the resources section below).

Carry yourself like a winner.  Our body and mind are connected.  Posturing like a winner will cause you to feel like a winner.

Create small pocket cards with inspiration, encouragement, wisdom, and reminders to help you keep that winning feeling throughout the day.

One Sentence Summary:

To get and keep that winning feeling, imagine you already have the circumstances you want in every area of your life.

Quote of the Week:

...if we keep our positive goal in mind and picture it to ourselves so vividly as to make it "real" and think of it in terms of an accomplished fact, we will also experience "winning feelings": self-confidence, courage, and faith that the outcome will be desirable." ~ Maxwell Maltz

Resources Mentioned:

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz - A fantastic book that talks extensively about how to get that winning feeling.

Purple Crayon Confidence, by Kayla-Leah Rich - A fantastic book on developing your confidence.  It's filled with personal stories from the author, practical exercises, biblical references, and so much more.

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

Connect with me

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

How to review the show on iTunes - If you enjoy the podcast, it would be awesome if you'd take a minute and write a review on iTunes.  To do that, just launch the iTunes podcast app on your computer or phone.  Search for Enhancing The Human Experience.  Select the album art for the show.  Then select ratings and reviews.  Then write your review.  Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it!

All the best - health, wealth, and success!

Mark

Show Notes

Not sure if now is the best time to do it?

Maybe you’ve been listening to your inner critic and you believe it’s best to wait.

Well, to help you get it going, in this week’s podcast I share 5 reasons why now is the best time to do it.

I hope these reasons will help you realize, like so many before you have, that there’s no time like the present.

Not sure what it is?  Here are some clues to help you clarify what it is, and what it isn't.

What it is:

It’s your passion.

It’s your purpose.

It’s your calling.

It’s why you came here.

It’s what makes you come alive.

It’s whats in your heart and soul.

It’s what your higher self keeps telling you to do.

It’s what sparks joy within you.

It’s what energizes you and makes your eyes light up.

It’s what your intuition has been nudging you to do.

That's what it is.

What it isn’t:

It isn’t what the voice in your head (a.k.a your intellect, a.k.a the monkey mind) tells you you should do.

It isn’t what the radio, television, magazines, books, or newspapers you read tell you you should do.

It isn’t what your family, your neighbor, or your teacher tells you you should do.

And it isn’t what you think you should do.

In fact, it has nothing to do with thinking at all.

It has everything to do with feeling.

Yes, I’m talking about your big IT.

You didn’t think I’d waste your time talking about little it’s did you?

Your big it is something you feel with your body.  It's a deep knowing.

Your body always knows what you should do.

Your mind can’t be trusted with big decisions like this.

So, now that you have an understanding of what it is, let’s get into the reasons why now is the best time to do it.

Because I’m sure you’ll want to get started on your grand adventure right away.

The 5 reasons why now is the best time to do it are:

Mastery comes with practice.  Regardless of what you feel you should do, the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll acquire mastery.  Mastery only comes with doing.  Once you understand this, you’ll want to just do and do and do.  Because you’ll know that in order to get better, you have to do it consistently, and to the exclusion of everything else.

Life is really just one big experiment.  The real winners in the game of life know this.  They know that the more they experiment, the more their chances of winning improve.  The more things they try to improve in their businesses and their lives, the more they discover what works and what doesn’t.  That’s the experiment.  The superstars of success have a long list of failed experiments.  But they don’t view them as failures.  They view them as learning experiments.  With each experiment they get closer and closer to what works.

It’s not about what you’re doing, it’s about what you’re becoming.  This is perhaps my all-time favorite reason for doing anything.  Regardless of what you're doing, realize that it's just the vehicle for the underlying process of developing yourself.  Developing your focus, your creativity, and your ability to act despite the resistant within.  In the grand cosmic scheme of things it’s never about what you’re doing.  It’s always about what you’re becoming.

The longer you wait, the harder it gets.  As we age our neural pathways become more and more fixed.  Patterns of thinking and behaving become more deeply ingrained.  In short, we get set in our ways.  This is a great reason why doing it now is a good idea.

Tomorrow you’ll wish you’d started today.  This reason is all about avoiding the pain of regret.  If you wait until tomorrow, the pain of regret will be that much stronger.  I'm a big fan of the notion that starting is where the real payoff is.  Once you start, if you've chosen the right thing to do, you'll want to do and do and do.  And when you do, you'll be well on your way to becoming the best version of you.  And that's where the real reward is.

One Sentence Summary:

Now is the best time to do it because it's not about doing it at all - it's about who you become in the process.

Quote of the Week:

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is now.” Chinese Proverb

Resources Mentioned:

None this week

Awesome Resources Created Just For You:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

Connect with me

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google+

How to review the show on iTunes - If you enjoy the podcast, it would be awesome if you'd take a minute and write a review on iTunes.  To do that, just launch the iTunes podcast app on your computer or phone.  Search for Enhancing The Human Experience.  Select the album art for the show.  Then select ratings and reviews.  Then write your review.  Thank you in advance, I really appreciate it!

All the best - health, wealth, and success!

Mark

Show Notes

Not sure if now is the best time to do it?

Maybe you’ve been listening to your inner critic and you believe it’s best to wait.

Well, to help you get it going, in this week’s podcast I share 5 reasons why now is the best time to do it.

I hope these reasons will help you realize, like so many before you have, that there’s no time like the present.

Not sure what it is?  Here are some clues to help you clarify what it is, and what it isn't.

What it is:

It’s your passion.

It’s your purpose.

It’s your calling.

It’s why you came here.

It’s what makes you come alive.

It’s whats in your heart and soul.

It’s what your higher self keeps telling you to do.

It’s what sparks joy within you.

It’s what energizes you and makes your eyes light up.

It’s what your intuition has been nudging you to do.

That's what it is.

What it isn’t:

It isn’t what the voice in your head (a.k.a your intellect, a.k.a the monkey mind) tells you you should do.

It isn’t what the radio, television, magazines, books, or newspapers you read tell you you should do.

It isn’t what your family, your neighbor, or your teacher tells you you should do.

And it isn’t what you think you should do.

In fact, it has nothing to do with thinking at all.

It has everything to do with feeling.

Yes, I’m talking about your big IT.

You didn’t think I’d waste your time talking about little it’s did you?

Your big it is something you feel with your body.  It's a deep knowing.

Your body always knows what you should do.

Your mind can’t be trusted with big decisions like this.

So, now that you have an understanding of what it is, let’s get into the reasons why now is the best time to do it.

Because I’m sure you’ll want to get started on your grand adventure right away.

The 5 reasons why now is the best time to do it are:

Mastery comes with practice.  Regardless of what you feel you should do, the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll acquire mastery.  Mastery only comes with doing.  Once you understand this, you’ll want to just do and do and do.  Because you’ll know that in order to get better, you have to do it consistently, and to the exclusion of everything else.

Life is really just one big experiment.  The real winners in the game of life know this.  They know that the more they experiment, the more their chances of winning improve.  The more things they try to improve in their businesses and their lives, the more they discover what works and what doesn’t.  That’s the experiment.  The superstars of success have a long list of failed experiments.  But they don’t view them as failures.  They view them as learning experiments.  With each experiment they get closer and closer to what works.

It’s not about what you’re doing, it’s about what you’re becoming.  This is perhaps my all-time favorite reason for doing anything.  Regardless of what you're doing, realize that it's just the vehicle for the underlying process of developing yourself.  Developing your focus, your creativity, and your ability to act despite the resistant within.  In the grand cosmic scheme of things it’s never about what you’re doing.  It’s always about what you’re becoming.

The longer you wait, the harder it gets.  As we age our neural pathways become more and more fixed.  Patterns of thinking and behaving become more deeply ingrained.  In short, we get set in our ways.  This is a great reason why doing it now is a good idea.

Tomorrow you’ll wish you’d started today.  This reason is all about avoiding the pain of regret.  If you wait until tomorrow,

This week's podcast is another in the ongoing series about winning in the game of life.  A few weeks ago I did an episode where I shared the 3 things I learned from Charlie Sheen about winning in the game of life.

Today's show is about the lesson I learned from Muhammad Ali about winning, and how we can apply it to winning the inner game of life.  I'm referring to the battles we fight every day with our own ego mind.  The ego is the inner opponent we encounter whenever we do something that is outside of our current experience.

The ego's objective is to keep us separated from our greatness, our divinity, and from living an extraordinary life.  It uses any number of tactics to accomplish this, including fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, and indecision.  These tactics can keep us stuck and cause us to lose faith in our ability to realize our goals and dreams in life.

Ali was arguably one of the greatest boxers of all time.  He also had a high level of self-confidence, which is vital to winning in the game of life.  In fact, he himself said, "I am the greatest" in 1963, before winning the world heavyweight championship.  In my mind, there is no better person to learn from than a champion.  When we learn from a champion we become champions ourselves.

I learned this lesson about a year ago as I was wrapping up the re-launch of Just Be It!: The Secret to Having What You Want in Life.  I was facing quite a bit of internal resistance in the form of doubt and overwhelm.  You know, the usual suspects that come around any time we're doing something that's outside of our comfort zone.

I was experiencing this on top of a fairly long to-do list I had to get through in order to finish the project.  At the time, I employed the strategy Ali used to defeat George Foreman in The Rumble In The Jungle in 1974.  If you haven't seen this fight you should.  It's a excellent example of a champion executing a winning strategy flawlessly.  There's a link to the fight in the resources section below.

Show Notes

In 1974 Muhammad Ali used a strategy called rope-a-dope to defeat George Foreman in one of the most hyped fights of the era.

Dubbed The Rumble In The Jungle, the fight took place in Kinshasa, Zaire October 30th, 1974.

We can use Ali's winning strategy to defeat our own formidable opponent - the ego mind - against it's tactics of negative thinking, fear, doubt, uncertainty, and indecision.

This is the resistance we face in life.

We encounter this resistance whenever we set goals that are outside of our current level of experience.

Steven Pressfield talks extensively about the resistance in his work.  If you haven't checked out his stuff out, I encourage you to do so.

The internal resistance we face is the real opponent.  Nothing outside of ourselves holds us back from realizing our goals and dreams.  Success is an inner game.  In the game of life it's us vs. ourselves.

Ali's strategy, known as the rope-a-dope, was to let George Foreman punch himself out.  Then, once Foreman was exhausted, Ali delivered a knock out punch in the 8th round that ended the fight.

Commentators said, ”The rope-a-dope was what did it.  It just tired him out."  The same thing will happen to your ego mind.

Like Foreman, your ego is a heavy hitter and a formidable opponent.  So the strategy works just as it did for Ali.  Because nothing the ego mind can throw at you will last forever.  Eventually it will tire.

When the storms of doubt are swirling around you, rather than expend your energy resisting them or fighting them, give way.  Surrender temporarily and allow their force to dissipate.

The key point to keep in mind is to allow.

Even sailors know to lower the sails and batten down the hatches during a storm.

Surrendering momentarily doesn't mean quitting.  It's actually a smart strategy, as Ali proved.

When we're allowing the storm to pass, it's a good time to think about our goal and our destination.  And to visualize the desired outcome we want, and re-focus our energy.

Once the ego mind has exhausted itself (and it will) we can begin moving toward our goal once again.

The ego is fickle and easily distracted.

We've got to always remember that we are stronger than our ego.  When we use our soul strength, the ego doesn't stand a chance.

"But Mark", you say, “I’m tough.  I can stand up to my ego and go toe-to-toe with it."  That's great.  But why would you want to expend the energy fighting when you could put that energy into creating?  Why not give way momentarily.

Here's what Ali had to say about going toe-to-toe with heavy hitters like your ego mind.  -”Staying on the ropes is a beautiful thing with a Heavy Weight when you make him shoot his best shots and you know he’s not hitting you.  I would have gave George Foreman two rounds of steady punching, because after that he was mine.” Muhammad Ali

I think that says it all.

One Sentence Summary:

To win the inner battle against the ego mind, employ Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope strategy.

Quote of the Week:

They call it the rope-a-dope.  Well, I’m the dope.  Ali just laid on the rope and I, like a dope, kept punching until I got tired.  But he was probably the most smart fighter I’ve ever gotten into the ring with.” ~ George Foreman

Resources Mentioned:

Interview with George Foreman - In this entertaining interview, George Foreman talks about that famous fight and about Ali in general.

The Rumble In The Jungle - Here's a link to the full fight.

The post fight interview - More great insights into the mind of a champion.

Additional Resources:

Just Be It! - Improve your performance and your results in any area of your life quickly and easily!

The Alchemy of Despair - 17 of the most effective techniques I've ever encountered for reclaiming your happiness!

The Magic of Being - Teach your child how to develop their self-image in a fun, entertaining way!

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All the best - health, wealth, and success!

Mark

This week's podcast is another in the ongoing series about winning in the game of life.  A few weeks ago I did an episode where I shared the 3 things I learned from Charlie Sheen about winning in the game of life.

Today's show is about the lesson I learned from Muhammad Ali about winning, and how we can apply it to winning the inner game of life.  I'm referring to the battles we fight every day with our own ego mind.  The ego is the inner opponent we encounter whenever we do something that is outside of our current experience.

The ego's objective is to keep us separated from our greatness, our divinity, and from living an extraordinary life.  It uses any number of tactics to accomplish this, including fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, and indecision.  These tactics can keep us stuck and cause us to lose faith in our ability to realize our goals and dreams in life.

Ali was arguably one of the greatest boxers of all time.  He also had a high level of self-confidence, which is vital to winning in the game of life.  In fact, he himself said, "I am the greatest" in 1963, before winning the world heavyweight championship.  In my mind, there is no better person to learn from than a champion.  When we learn from a champion we become champions ourselves.

I learned this lesson about a year ago as I was wrapping up the re-launch of Just Be It!: The Secret to Having What You Want in Life.  I was facing quite a bit of internal resistance in the form of doubt and overwhelm.  You know, the usual suspects that come around any time we're doing something that's outside of our comfort zone.

I was experiencing this on top of a fairly long to-do list I had to get through in order to finish the project.  At the time, I employed the strategy Ali used to defeat George Foreman in The Rumble In The Jungle in 1974.  If you haven't seen this fight you should.  It's a excellent example of a champion executing a winning strategy flawlessly.  There's a link to the fight in the resources section below.

Show Notes

In 1974 Muhammad Ali used a strategy called rope-a-dope to defeat George Foreman in one of the most hyped fights of the era.

Dubbed The Rumble In The Jungle, the fight took place in Kinshasa, Zaire October 30th, 1974.

We can use Ali's winning strategy to defeat our own formidable opponent - the ego mind - against it's tactics of negative thinking, fear, doubt, uncertainty, and indecision.

This is the resistance we face in life.

We encounter this resistance whenever we set goals that are outside of our current level of experience.

Steven Pressfield talks extensively about the resistance in his work.  If you haven't checked out his stuff out, I encourage you to do so.

The internal resistance we face is the real opponent.  Nothing outside of ourselves holds us back from realizing our goals and dreams.  Success is an inner game.  In the game of life it's us vs. ourselves.

Ali's strategy, known as the rope-a-dope, was to let George Foreman punch himself out.  Then, once Foreman was exhausted, Ali delivered a knock out punch in the 8th round that ended the fight.

Commentators said, ”The rope-a-dope was what did it.  It just tired him out."  The same thing will happen to your ego mind.

Like Foreman, your ego is a heavy hitter and a formidable opponent.  So the strategy works just as it did for Ali.  Because nothing the ego mind can throw at you will last forever.  Eventually it will tire.

When the storms of doubt are swirling around you, rather than expend your energy resisting them or fighting them, give way.  Surrender temporarily and allow their force to dissipate.

The key point to keep in mind is to allow.

Even sailors know to lower the sails and batten down the hatches during a storm.

Surrendering momentarily doesn't mean quitting.