Happy New Year With Lots More To Come!

Happy Final Year?

A lot has been made of the fact that the Mayan calendar ends with 2012. Those doom and gloomsters who like to continually predict the end of days, the end of the world, the end of civilization as we know it, have been having a field day with the so-called apocalyptic date of December 21, 2012, or the Winter Solstice in 2012, which is supposedly the date it will, or rather WE will all go down.

This all strikes me silly rather than striking me down. Many Mayan researchers have disputed even that date from the calendar that was created in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and also used by other ancient peoples like the Aztecs. The one thing all predictions of doom and the end of the world have in common is that they have all been proven 100% wrong when the supposed date actually arrives.

But I’d like to suggest that we use this as a positive instrument for change. What if you imagined that 2012 actually was the end of the world as you know it, or rather the beginning of a whole new world, a whole new paradigm, a shift in the way everything operates in relationship to you, and you in relationship to everything and everyone else in the world. In other words, to paraphrase cartoon cliche, picture a white-bearded prophet carrying a sign that reads:

The Beginning Is Near!

After all, the end of anything is always the beginning of something else. So here’s an exercise you can use to manifest this new paradigm in 2012. It’s one you can begin right now and continue for as long as it takes. There’s no hurry, you will definitely have a lot more time than just the months leading up to December 21st.  Make a simple list of 100 things you can support the end of in 2012, leading to a lot more opportunity and space and time in your life to make wonderful new beginnings, changes, and breakthroughs in your life.  You can choose any heading you like. I started mine like this:

The End Of…..

1. All restrictions I create for myself on what I can do.

2. Waiting for friends I want to stay in touch with to reach out to me.

3. Telling people I am a technical idiot.

4. Being stingy about using the words, “I love you.”

As you can see, they don’t have to be profound endings or life-changing declarations. That’s it, just four so far, but I am thinking about quite a few others. I am in no hurry, I have all year to reach 100. As I compile my list of endings which can lead to beginnings, I plan to read it over and over again. This is a big year we’re talking about. A major election in the U.S., and major continuing upheavals around the world. While no apocalypse is planned or expected or likely, those who are not willing to look at their reality in a new way could be left behind. Not by The Rapture, but by the changing world passing them by. I don’t intend to be in that group, and I don’t think you do either.

Happy New Endings and Beginnings,

Jerry

Prosperity Equilibrium

Is Cash Really Worth Pursuing?

If I were asked for a quick one word answer, I would have to say, “Yes!” We live in a world where cash is the main medium of exchange, and life with restricted cash flow can become difficult in the extreme.

At the same time, a total dedication to building wealth, excluding all other human values and joys, is a pretty empty endeavor. It isn’t the pursuit of wealth or capitalism that is the evil force in this equation, but rather the imbalance that a devotion to accumulating wealth produces in many people. Obviously, multi-billionaire Warren Buffet has his head and values screwed on straight. For him and Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs and some others of immense wealth, there is a wisdom and balance in how they handle it. But these are exceptional people, and even a larger number of the wealthy haven’t had the training, education, or upbringing that gives them the tools to maintain their prosperity equilibrium.

I just came up with that term as I was writing this, and immediately decided it was the perfect title for this post. Equilibrium is described as the condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced. Capitalism and entrepreneurship are what made our nation great, and are good forces for enriching and even ennobling. But not when they are tainted with greed, selfishness, pathological obsession, lack of human compassion and lack of any uplifting vision.

What set me off on this tangent in the first place was a question posted on a religious blog someone sent me:  ”Can cash console you at 1:00AM?”  And my answer there, too, is an emphatic “Yes!” If I am feeling lonely, depressed, upset, or anxious at one o’clock in a dreary morning, having access to lots of discretionary funds can console me a lot. And I don’t have to even go the route of that poor emotionally disturbed creature, Charlie Sheen, and buy hookers and cocaine to do the job of making me feel better. If I have piles of cash put aside, I can invite a bunch of friends to visit me from all over the world, fly them in from London and Panama and South Africa and Hawaii and all across the United States–put all of us up in a beautiful resort and just visit and play together for several days or a week or two. Or I can fly myself to a poor village in a third world nation and dispense gifts that would mean something, like a good water system, a medical clinic, computers for all the children. I guarantee, either of these expensive ventures would take me out of myself and whatever real or imagined troubles or anxieties I had. But even simpler and smaller exchanges of money could do the job. I’m sure you can think of many ways you could use some extra money to console yourself at 1:00AM no matter what was happening. And even some that wouldn’t take cash.

A basic rule of human existence that we all learn in one form or another is that if you are having a good life, money can do things to make it even better–and if you are having a bad life, money alone can’t help. But it certainly can console us in many of life’s travails.

If I haven’t convinced you of my basic premise, then I will make you a special holiday offer. In this time of generous good cheer, I will be happy to receive any extra cash you want to send to me, and I will use it to console myself in very positive, enlightened, and highly pleasurable ways–and send you a full report of how I used your cash so you might learn what to do with it in the future.

Jerry

Abundance Without Arrogance

Who Can Say What Teaching Will Work For You and When?

And that is, after all, the essential question that I don’t see fellow prosperity teachers and authors asking. I have been very fortunate in that a large number of people have seemed to have gotten some valuable information from my books and audios and even this blog. But I have always maintained that such success is to be only partially credited to the material offered. It really has more to do about whether the student is willing and ready to absorb the information; whether it strikes a compatible and resonating chord within him or her–and maybe most importantly, whether the timing is right.

This latest musing on my part was triggered by a question asked by one of my Moneylove Club audio subscribers. He has put some of the ideas from my audios into practice to great prosperous effect in his life. He wondered whether I got frustrated or upset that with such powerful stuff to share, some people just didn’t bother checking it out, or joining the club. Actually, the only thing that frustrates me, and I mean the only thing in my entire life right now, is that I haven’t figured out a way to reach the two million people who bought and read Moneylove over the past thirty years. I don’t think it would be unreasonable to expect to eventually connect with twenty to thirty thousand of them. And if I could get 500 to 1000 people, out of the original two million, to be as excited about my new audios as they were about the book or my earlier cassette programs, I would feel I had achieved a major accomplishment. And especially if those people, already predisposed to the Moneylove concepts, were ready to put some new strategies and ideas into practice right away.

But a lot of people aren’t ready to do that, even if I could reach them and tell them about what I am offering. And this is true for everyone in the information, training, motivational and inspirational business. We can be arrogant and suppose people who don’t immediately sign up or enroll in our programs are idiots, or we can accept the reality that no matter how great something is, it isn’t for everyone. And it certainly isn’t for everyone at this exact moment in time. Moreover, if we are honest and aware, what any of us offer out into the world may not be the most effective or valuable product or service or information that a specific individual can successfully use.

For whatever reason, there are millions of people out there who will respond more positively to someone else’s prosperity ideas. I’d be a fool to suppose otherwise. Or to let it bother me. This is why I never take for granted someone’s positive feedback, and cherish every compliment. If I share something I have learned or created and it makes sense for you, and you decide to try it out and it works in producing positive results, then we are joined in that moment in a very precise and mutually inspiriting way.

And while I have been spending almost all my time on producing my audios rather than promoting or marketing them, so cannot expect a very big audience yet, there is one major blessing I celebrate. My internet guru friends tell me that I have one of the lowest attrition rates in the information field. Most of my original subscribers are still members almost two years after I started the Moneylove Club. I think we can all do a lot better job of appreciating the people who stay rather than being concerned about the ones who got away, or never showed up in the first place.

Jerry

The Magic of It All

Who’s Performing The Magic In Your Life?

The idea for this post came to me in the wake of producing my latest Moneylove Club audio. That, in turn, was suggested by a set of affirmation cards I created in the 1980s called Seminar-In-A-Package. The set consisted of twenty powerful affirmation/declarations. I was excited to find how relevant they all still are, and how each one triggered some brand new thoughts and ideas on the subject of prosperity.

When you’ve spent over thirty years speaking, writing, and doing workshops–and always strived to create new material frequently, the older ideas sometimes get lost or temporarily misplaced in memory. One I hadn’t thought of for a while from that original set of positive statements was:

I CREATE

MY OWN

MAGIC

We all have the capacity for magic in our lives, and the best magic is that which we draw from some inner core of personal commitment, imagination, and power. Someone writing about magicians and the public fascination with them, suggested that at some deep level we know there are magical powers to be had, and seeing a magician perform the apparently impossible, reaffirms that knowingness for us. If someone can turn a bird into a flower, or make a person disappear, then how simple it should be to produce money and love and health and all the other human aspirations. Jesus used magic to illustrate the power of God, but he also consistently said that all of us have the powers he demonstrated.

As we approach a new year, we can all benefit from starting to get ready by having the intention that we will create more magic in 2012 than ever before in our lives. Every day from now until January 1st, say I Create Magic to yourself. Even if you don’t believe in magic, you can create it. Watching a talented magician perform requires a leap of faith, so why not give yourself the same benefit of the doubt?

For myself, it doesn’t matter whether magic is real or not; possible or not; easy or very, very difficult to accomplish. My intending to create it will make a difference in how 2012 starts out and turns out. Are you willing to manifest next year as your own experimental laboratory in making the impossible possible?

Happy Holidays and Abracadabra!

Jerry

What You Find Lives Where You Look

Thankfulness Follows Impeccable Focusing

My friend and author of The Thought Exchange, David Friedman, has a great story about a woman telling her friends at a dinner party that her husband had ruined her financially during their divorce. She said he had gotten everything, except the apartment in New York City, and she was going to have to sell that, and so she was destitute. Someone asked her what the asking price was for the apartment and she responded that it was seven million, seven hundred thousand dollars. People usually laugh at this point, but it illustrates that we all have our own unique way of looking at life and whether we consider specific events as blessings or curses.

We are often told the importance of gratitude, and around the Thanksgiving holiday each year, there is a lot of talk about being thankful, expressing gratitude, counting our blessings. But in order to see these positive events, we need to be able to focus on the good even when bad things may surround us. I had a graduate course in this during 12 years in prison. I’m now working on a memoir about how I used that time as a strengthening, empowering experience. And it was all about building my focusing skills.

In any given moment, many things are going on in my life and yours. Some are good and some are bad. If you view your life through a focusing filter of disappointment and defeat, that is what you will see as your reality. But for any negative experience, you have a hundred positive ones. These are happening in the present, in the place where you are and in all the places where you aren’t. In the time you are currently living in, and in the vastly more expansive times you have already lived in, and the many moments, hours, days, and years that lie ahead. No matter how terrible something seems in your current environment and timeframe, it is a fraction of what has gone before, what is going on now all around you, and will happen in the future. Your experience seems bad primarily because that’s the part you are seeing and thinking about and focusing on.

I know, it’s hardest to focus on good things when bad things seem to be bombarding you. But even if you are pretending, you will see a change by focusing on all the good things. After all, there’s a good chance you woke up today, that your life is not in imminent danger, that at least one other person loves you, that you will get to eat what and as much as you want, perhaps for three entire meals.

Many people exaggerate their disappointments, failures, missteps, and unrealized hopes and dreams. Imagine what would happen if they exaggerated their successes, good decisions, plans that worked out. Just by changing the focus, they could be changing their lives and core beliefs.

Longtime friends and fans and readers know that each year around this time, I make a list of Ten People And Things I Am Most Thankful For In The Past Year. A real challenge for me this year is narrowing it down to just 10, and I may expand it to 20. It’s my list after all. One of those things is the fantastic feedback I get from my blog readers, which often includes great ideas and suggestions that I can build on for future posts, or use on my Moneylove Club audios. I am very thankful that I have an audience for my creative output.

Here’s another fantastic reason to practice gratitude and thankfulness. Every time I choose to focus on a positive aspect of my life, and feel grateful for its existence, I am creating a model that I can then share with others. If it works for me, it is likely to work for others, and therefore will generate more acknowledgment coming back to me. And more people will want to read my blog, my books, and listen to my audio, which will give me even more to be grateful for. We could call this The Circle Of A Focused Life.

Jerry

Work As A Good Time

What Is Money?

A Great Question From South Africa

In addition to the audios, one of the features of The Moneylove Club is the monthly question members get to ask me directly. And these are often empowering to me, both the questions themselves and the thinking I have to do to come up with an appropriate answer. This is especially true because a large proportion of my members are leaders and teachers and mentors in their fields. The “What is money?” question came from a member from South Africa, and it had me thinking for a couple of days. After all, this is the primary subject I write and speak about, so any new thoughts I can come up with on the subject will serve me well in many venues.  My answer:

When you ask: “Is it consciousness, is it an invisible force, is it just bits of paper that we covet and kill for?” I think the narrow definition is your final one–in the physical reality, it is just bits of paper. Money is about agreement, my agreeing and your agreeing that $100 is worth a certain amount in terms of what it can purchase or be exchanged for. Without that agreement, there is no money, there is no perceived value.

For instance, when I was in South Africa in 1989, the rand was disagreed on in terms of its perceived value compared to the dollar, it was devalued because of the boycotts around apartheid–which of course was to my advantage as a visitor with dollars. But South Africa was still a rich country by African standards, it still had its industry and its natural resources, but what was missing was what you might call your “invisible force,” which I would call universal agreement as to its stability and financial future. Money consciousness, on the other hand, as I talked about during my programs in SA at the time, transcends reality and economic statistics. Just as now in the U.S., there is this contentious deficit debate going on, and it doesn’t have to impact to the slightest degree someone’s individual financial situation. Whenever you are depending on someone else or on some institution or employer for your financial well being, you are taking away some of the power of money consciousness.

In other words, to the degree that you believe money is an outside event controlled by outside forces, you will have more difficulty manifesting it as a result of your inner vision, consciousness, and belief system. Very rich people rarely see actual cash, and don’t even have to carry it around. They have cut out the middleman, money, and focus instead on what’s really important, the lifestyle and results that lots of money can produce. We miss the point when we think what we want is a million dollars–what we want is what a million dollars can buy. Though in our mixed-up beliefs about money, we might not think we are successful even if we have all the good stuff without the actual cash.

I’ve never had a million dollars, but I have often lived a lifestyle that felt like a million dollars–traveling the world, living at the beach, waking up most mornings and doing exactly what I wanted to do with my day. In fact, I have had a few millionaire friends who weren’t nearly as successful as I was in creating that personal environment. So, in that sense, money is an invisible force, or at least money consciousness is.

Money is the physical manifestation of money consciousness–but without that consciousness it can also be just those bits of paper–and pretty narrow in its capacity to bring us what we want.

Money consciousness is a more permanent asset than money can ever be. Agreement about the value of money can change, but belief about your value as an income producing person can be permanent and keep on increasing.

Jerry

Your Last Chance For Success!

You’ve Got 2 Hours To End Ultimatums!

The Longman online dictionary defines Ultimatum as: ‘a threat saying that if someone does not do what you want by a particular time, you will do something to punish them.’ The recent debt ceiling debate was an example of ultimatums run amok, and neither side was ennobled by the rhetoric.

I’ve always hated ultimatums and usually refuse to respond to them. It is a bullying tactic–”You do what I want when I want you to do it or else.” But the most insidious and annoying example out there in today’s online culture is the marketing ultimatum. And it greatly diminishes those who use it, and mildly diminishes anyone who responds positively to such an approach.

So I am suggesting an Ultimatum On Ultimatums. And two hours seems reasonable to me, but you are welcome to make up your own deadline. Here is my personal pledge, which you are free to borrow, modify, use in any way that serves you. “From now on, I will not respond to any ultimatum given me by anyone trying to talk me into or sell me or enroll me in anything.”

One thing we often see online is perhaps the most egregious use of the ultimatum, the phony deadline. This is the ploy whereby someone says an offer is absolutely going to end in one week and you will miss your opportunity forever if you don’t take advantage before that deadline. This is almost always a blatant lie. Usually, the marketing “genius” behind this campaign has already prepared the extension to the ultimatum before its first appearance. A particularly annoying form of this is the pop-up window that appears when you attempt to leave a web page or marketing email. You know the one I mean, that says something like, “Before you leave this page, here’s an even better discount if you respond right now.” And then you are almost forced to read the copy in the window to figure out how to get rid of the damn thing.

You’re right, I am being rigid in my prejudice against this practice. I find it condescending in the extreme, as if the person giving the ultimatum thinks I am too stupid to take advantage of a really interesting or beneficial or useful offer without the threat of it being withdrawn by a specific time–in other words, without an “or else.”

Let’s face it, if someone is trying to sell you something with an ultimatum attached, do you really think it’s possible they will have taken their marbles and gone home if you come back to them one day past the deadline and offer to buy their product or service?

There are, of course, some legitimate deadlines in marketing. These are usually found, however, more in retail sales than online. They often involve companies or stores having to get rid of merchandise to make room for new inventory, and are always date specific. These deadlines are usually firm, except for the fraudulent “going out of business” sales that drag on for months and sometimes years. One store in Times Square in bygone years had a GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! banner flying for over forty years.

I recently had a deadline for the Moneylove Club audio subscription series. I offered a substantial discount for three weeks, to be cut off on a specific date. And it was cut off on that date.  One of the reasons I did not extend the offer is my basic commitment: I will say what I am going to do and then do it. It’s about personal integrity and self respect. In a time and culture of less and less people sticking to their word, honoring their commitments and promises, I want to stand out. And a very simple way to do this is, again, saying what I am going to do and then actually doing it.

Not that I want to become too rigid, or be in a place where I stick to something that just isn’t working. But I think in our fast-paced, short-attention-span environment, there is much value and much to be gained by being persistent, consistent, and resistant to wishy-washy flip-flopping. And this is particularly true now that our leaders have abandoned their position as role models in this area.

So I am giving you two hours to eliminate ultimatums from your life, or else. Or else you will no longer be allowed to read this blog.  See how silly it can get?

Jerry

A Moneylove Milestone and The Price of Success

First, My Anniversary Celebration!

Friends, Readers, Prosperity Teachers, Seekers and Finders, welcome to my 100th post on this blog.  With every new essay I write, more ideas pop up and go in my notebook for future blogs, audios, and books. And I am so pleased and excited that so many people all over the world get some value, stimulation, and pleasure out of these sometimes random, and sometimes very specific thoughts. My intention has always been to share cutting edge ideas and inspiration in giving readers the most powerful and valuable prosperity strategies and concepts anyone is giving away free of charge anywhere.

A lot of you have demonstrated your satisfaction and positive results by also joining the Moneylove Club, usually after reading all the information about this subscription service at the top of this blog page. Each month, I try to do something slightly different on the audio. Sometimes it’s a prosperity dialogue with a mentor of mine, either an old friend and colleague like Jack Canfield, or someone I discover and am excited about sharing, like David Friedman or Kevin Delaney or Maria Nemeth. Sometimes it’s done with a strong dose of humor, like my July edition on The Smile of Success. Or musically, like my Songs For Success audio from June, which highlighted four songs that have motivated and inspired me, breaking down the lyrics and looking at exactly why they are capable of stimulating positive action in positive directions. And I’m as pleased and proud about the 18 brand new monthly audios I’ve created as I am about the 100 blog posts. I haven’t yet reached the audience I attracted with the two million sales of Moneylove, but my readers and listeners are often greatly superior in terms of their intention and ability to put these materials into personal practice.

Let’s Discuss The Price of Success

Let me put it in the form of a direct question:  What are you willing to pay to immediately start on a guaranteed path to more personal success in every area of your life? These blog posts may eventually form the basis for a book or even a CD, and at that time, those who are now getting it all free, will be paying the going rate, perhaps $30 for the book, perhaps $97 for the CD. If you are able to use this information now, it is already worth more than that to you. But this is not the reason I will be putting a price on it, that will be because it will then involve aggressive marketing and that can get expensive as I’m sure you know.

The Moneylove Club membership is $47 per month for a 30 to 45 minute audio, plus bonus audios throughout the year. The audio is designed to be listened to over and over and over again, and a number of members say this is its greatest value. If someone is ready to make some positive prosperity changes in their life, and the Moneylove Club audio helps stimulate that process, then it is a huge bargain. I find that people who are ready, willing, and able to use the material in their lives, can often double their income. Even if they only increased it by 10% to 20%, $47 a month would be very inexpensive. And if someone is not ready, and gets the membership just to put the audios into a file somewhere in their hard drive, then it is not worth it at all. You see, being happy about the price of something has little or nothing to do with its perceived value, and everything to do with the client or customer’s ability to use it well.

One friend of mine charges $750 for a weekend workshop. That’s a pretty fair chunk of money, and people might balk at paying it. But if you knew that taking that workshop would dramatically improve your life, wouldn’t $750 be cheap? Wouldn’t even $1500 or $3000 be cheap? What if you knew there was a very strong likelihood that your relationships would improve, your creative energy would flow more freely, your health and vitality would energize you in new ways, and you would be able to have all the  money you could possibly want doing work you really loved and felt was in complete alignment with your life’s purpose? How much would you pay for all that? And here’s a provocative question to consider:  If you paid $3000 for a workshop that would do all that, or an audio series, or some coaching sessions, would you be more likely to use what you are being taught than if you got it for nothing?

Sometimes when you put a high price on something of value, a price much higher than it costs you to produce, you may be doing the customer a big favor. For one thing, those who have to seriously consider making this investment will be putting more intention and energy into taking it in and putting it to use in practical ways. Also, people who just grab onto every self-help, motivational, inspirational course or program offered, but never put any of them to purposeful use, will be less likely to spend an amount they have to actually give serious thought to investing.

I’ve told the story a few times of the period in my life when I absolutely was tired of doing personal coaching and consultation. Book royalties and occasional seminars and lectures were more than paying my living and traveling expenses, so I preferred not using my time this way. But I still was sometimes approached by fans of Moneylove with a request for a personal session. I would tell them that my fee was $1000 an hour. And when people didn’t seem to be upset by that figure, I raised it to $2000 an hour. I expected and hoped they would run away when I named these high prices for an hour of my time. But I also felt some pride that I could command such high fees, and when I worked with these clients, I focused on giving them more than their money’s worth. Most of them had dramatic results in a very short amount of time, often doubling or tripling their income in a few months. And I am convinced that it wasn’t so much that I gave them $2000 worth of coaching, when in the past I was quite pleased to get $200. No, I feel those results were almost completely the result of their intention to get their $2000 worth.

And thus, it’s sort of prosperity paradox. Part of me loves giving things away, offering people great bargains, sending out very special bonus audios to audio club members. But another part knows I might be doing a greater service by charging more. How would you respond to this post, what ideas or actions would it trigger in your life, if you were paying $1000 a year for a subscription to the MoneyloveBlog? No, I’m not planning to start charging. Though if you wanted to send me $1000, I would be willing to receive it. Yes, I might feel a bit uncomfortable doing so–but I am very good at handling a bit of discomfort–and I might even get to write another post about how I do that.

Jerry

Fear As A Positive Motivator

Your Response and Reaction Control Your Results

Seth Godin often has interesting and provocative and useful little posts on his blog at:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

For Example:

Waiting for the fear to subside

There are two problems with this strategy:

A. By the time the fear subsides, it will be too late. By the time you’re not afraid of what you were planning to start/say/do, someone else will have already done it, it will already be said or it will be irrelevant. The reason you’re afraid is that there’s leverage here, something might happen. Which is exactly the signal you’re looking for.

B. The fear certainly helps you do it better. The fear-less one might sleep better, but sleeping well doesn’t always lead to your best work. The fear can be your compass, it can set you on the right path and actually improve the quality of what you do.

Listen to your fear but don’t obey it.

This post reminded me of two things. First, my old friend Susan Jeffer’s accaimed book, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway. I did the narration for her first audio tape on this subject, and she made an important point, that you don’t have to let fear immobilize you. The second thing it reminded me of was a lot more recent, just this month, when I scheduled the monthly film showing at Unity San Francisco and chose Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life.