No Time Lost Enterprises Presents

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

http://www.notimelost.com
http://members5.boardhost.com/SuccessManaics

Opportunity Knocks. Will You Answer?

Presenting the Opportunity Knocks EZine

Produced by

Tim Johnson
and
No Time Lost Enterprises

Volume I, Issue 5
March 25, 2001

Welcome to the OK-EZine! Presented here are ideas, concepts, strategies and tactics for those ready to embrace the New, the Daring and the Possibilities. Feedback is always welcome. Please send all comments to timj@notimelost.com. Positive and Negative are welcome.

Who are three people who would like to read this EZine? Please pass it along to them. If you have received it from a friend, formal subscribe and unsubscribe information is at the end of the message.

CONTENTS:

1.) Power Thought
2.) Recommended Resource
3.) Featured Website
4.) Main Article
5.) Advertising Info
6.) Subscribe/Unsubscribe Info

1.) Power Thought - What are Heroes?

If you watched the Oscars last night, you know that Gladiator won for Best Picture, Actor and 3 technicals. I was extremely pleased by this as I think Gladiator is one of those rare movies that inspires. Others in this class include the Patriot and Braveheart with Mel Gibson, Gettysburg and The Postman with Kevin Costner.

Each of these movies is about ordinary people that do extraordinary things. In each movie the hero or heroes struggle against great odds, sacrificing much along the way, including home, family and fortune. These heroes to me are inspirational, not because they believe the same things I do (I don't really worship pagan gods for instance) but rather because the embody principles and values that I, and many others, aspire to. These are strength, honor, bravery, courage, integrity, honesty, loyalty, family, friendship, sacrifice and perseverance.

That is what a true hero should be. Someone who has the traits and qualities that you aspire to have yourself. True Heroes pretty much always are also tragic in some way, because of what they give up or lose in order to embody those traits. That is what draws us to them.

Now, examine your "heroes" and those of your kids if you have any and ask yourself if they are people that inspire you and/or have the traits you want or you want your kids to have. Or are they just glitzy, empty flashy fluff that is attractive on the surface without any depth? Hopefully, the answer will please you, not scare you.

2.) Recommended Resource - Success for Dummies

This is a great book by one of the all time masters, Zig Ziglar. It is a manual for self-improvement for beginners and old-timers at this game. Anything by Zig is worth getting, especially on audio. I love hearing that distinctive voice. Check this one out if you haven't and give it another read or look if you have.

The Book:

The Audiotape:

3.) Main Article - Reinforcing Your New Beliefs

Last time, we discussed your frame of reference or belief system. We went through a quick exercise on how to examine that system and to identify the negative beliefs and replace them with positive ones. We did that kind of quick, so let's go over some things you can do to reinforce those new beliefs, because there WILL be times when your beliefs are tested and you fall back into the old ones.

The first thing is to go back and refresh yourself on what those new beliefs are. We wrote out the new list and are supposed to read it every morning and night. 

Another great technique to reinforce the new beliefs is to do some visualizations. Visualization has been tested and retested in the real world as a vital part of training and improvement. The top athletes today visualize in their mind every move they make, every shot, swing, putt, lay-up, pitch and sprint. Studies have shown that it can be just as effective as the actual doing. It's all in how well you can visualize it.

To visualize, you need to think about the belief. What does the new belief do to you? Are you better, faster, slimmer, more outgoing, on-time, etc.? What effect will this belief have on you and those you interact with? Are you more confident. More loving? Picture your typical day without this belief. EXPERIENCE it.

Experience the smells, tastes, touches, sounds and sights. You need to be IN the visualization. Now do the same for the new, positive belief. EXPERIENCE it! What are the differences? How do you feel? What do you do differently? Play the new scene over and over each day and when you slip.

The point of the reading and the visualizations is to get you into the BEing part of belief. Many of you have heard of the phrase Be, Do, Have. What it means is that you must BE the person who will DO the things that will get you what you want to HAVE. Some will tell you that you can DO things to cause your BELief.

I used to think that, but I think it just reinforces a fledgling BElief. DOing does not create belief. What do you think would happen if you take two people, one who believes he will succeed and one who believes he will fail, and have them do exactly the same actions.

The DO is the same. The BE is different. If DOing is what creates (rather than reinforcing) the BElief, the results should be the same. I would bet the first person will succeed and the second will fail based solely on the BEliefs held at the time of the DOing.

That said, we need to work on the DOings next. As I said, taking actions will not instill the new beliefs but they will be reinforced and that is the thing we want. So, go back to the visualizations you did. What are the things you did in the old picture that are replaced in the new picture? What are they replaced with? Of you are unsure, what COULD they be replaced with? If you are not sure still, let's play.

Play?

Sure. We are going to pretend for a moment that we already have the new beliefs and are going to act as if we do. Just pretend. Make it up. Have fun. Let loose. You see, when you pretend you immerse yourself into the scenario. Remember playing as a kid? When you were the cowboy or the princess or the race car driver or doctor, didn't you see, act and believe it? You didn't listen to the rational part of you that said there's no horse under you. You RODE that bucking bronco! That is what I want you to do here. Ride that bronco and tame it.

How would you: Walk? Talk? Sit? Stand? Eat? Dress? Drive? Play with your kids? Relate to your spouse? Spend your free time? Tip the waitress? Make friends? Work? Relax?

So do it that way now. Try it and see if your attitude and beliefs start to change.

Work on the BEliefs, then reinforce with some effective DOings. As John Milton Fogg says, we are human BEings, not human DOings. Excellent point. OK, your tools for helping to reinforce those beliefs come doing to this: think it (read them), see it (the visualizations) and do it. This by the way is essentially how you would break any bad habit. And that is what limiting beliefs can be. Just a bad habit to get rid of.

Thanks and God Bless.

Tim Johnson