You see, we spend so much time worrying about what’s outside, that we often forget to look at what’s inside!
Self-development gives us the chance to make our lives better, by looking at what we have, and figuring out how we can improve upon it. For me, that could mean discovering meditation, understanding the "rules" of life, or just figuring out how to speed-read so that you can rocket your productivity.
This thing called self-development is about improving YOU, and that’s just exciting!
I suppose that’s the one thing that distinguishes people who achieve so-called "success" from those that don’t. Some people hold on and don’t let go until they’ve gone the distance. Others release their clutch as soon as the road gets bumpy.
Carry on carrying on. That’s the key – or, at least, that’s my key.
Being raised in Yorkshire, England, however, means that such things would be termed “boasting” – and you’d soon be slapped around the ear, and sent to bed without supper for discussing them!
But there are some things that really stick with you.
Like receiving the first copies of your very first printed book. Your name on the cover. Your picture on the back. Your baby, really - the result of months of writing, just sitting there in front of you.
Or like setting up an online community to run on its own, and going back to visit after a year or two and seeing how it’s germinated into a truly living organism.
Or pulling off a big deal after months of really, really tough negotiations.
These are the things that make you proud, and that really stick with you.
There are always a million challenges along the way however. If I think back to when I started over 12 years ago, and all of the difficulties, shocks and general hard work I’ve had to deal with along the way – I likely wouldn’t have started. That’s why doing things one step at a time, one day at a time – and just plain carrying on – worked for me.
The Brain Evolution System is a six-part brainwave meditation program, designed to put your mind into a state of peak performance – in just minutes.
It can help boost your IQ, improve your thinking speed, double your ability to learn, let go of stress, sleep less, improve your energy levels – and more.
It’s really simple to use, too. Just slip on a pair of headphones, and listen to some really immersive natural sounds. All mixed with specialized audio segments, which actually influence your brainwaves and help you to meditate like a Zen monk.
The program has six levels, designed to be used once per month, each going deeper and deeper – effectively working out your brain like a muscle, making it more effective and powerful with each sitting.
People love it – and they love it, because it works. It’s backed by science, and I’d recommend that people check it out. It’s online here...
When I started out in computer development, I couldn’t find a really simple guide to programming. So, I wrote one myself. And after spending years in this industry, I never stumbled across a really genuine book on the art of self-development.
They all seemed just too full of hype. They’d make a big deal about some secret technique – and it’d end up being plain common sense. They’d claim to share methods to turbo-charge your life – but their book was more a sales pitch for their next seminar. They claimed to be Gurus – but wreaked of snake oil.
That’s why The Secret Art of Self-Development is different.
It’s basically a book about what I’ve learned in my 12 years in the self-development industry – and, I guess, in life as a whole. It contains sixteen little rules and 'mindsets" to help you figure your way through life. It doesn’t proclaim to know everything. It doesn’t sell anything. It just says: "This is what I figured – if it fits, take it with you."
"Rules" inside the book include... Rule #4 "Stop Being So Damn Sensitive" ... Rule #13 "Be a Rich Monk!" ... Rule #10 "People Are Weird, Love Them For It."
But my favourite rule of all is absolutely rule #1 – "Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself!"
Each day, so many of us complain about the cards that life has dealt us. We didn’t get the right opportunities in life. It’s unfair, because the stock market went bad at just the wrong time. It’s just plain wrong that they got the promotion, and not you, because everybody knows that you’re the better person.
And all of this may be absolutely right.
But, STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF.
Self-pity will sit in the middle of your emotional bubble and eat up everything around it – except itself. And it’ll tell you that it’s doing it for all the right reasons, and that you’re totally justified. Yet the process tastes incredibly sour, and leaves you feeling bitter and unhappy.
By breaking that habit, you’ll find yourself unable to get into a victim mindset, and will actually become almost shielded from apathetic sadness. Let go of self-pity, and you’ll become a happiness power-ball !
You won’t be able to do it all the time, and you won’t always even find it effective.
But if there’s one thing I’d really love you to take away from this interview, it’s this...
STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF – and you will find greater happiness in your life.
Listen for yourself. Some you’ll find enlightening. Some you’ll find pitchy. Others you’ll find just lovely. The idea is that you can listen, for free, and take away what you want to take away from it.
You can tune in here...
This is a similar radio site project, where I interviewed top authors about their techniques - including Bernard Cornwell, Edwina Currie, and Charles Dickens’ great-great-great granddaughter!
If anyone would like updates into the future, just signup to my e-mail list here.
But back to your compliments on the blog....
Wow – thank you very much. Your kind words are really, really appreciated.
And perhaps that there is one of the techniques to living happy.
Being APPRECIATIVE of what we have in life.
There’s one thing I know: we are living in a Goldilocks world. By some scientific miracle, we’re ALIVE. We can feel, experience, laugh, love, dance, enjoy, interact – do all of the wonderful things that humans can do. And it’s such a RARE thing – so much rarer than any of us even dare to contemplate – that we MUST enjoy it.
The odds of any of us actually being alive are so fantastically remote, it’s almost unbelievable. Our planet’s quite precise distance from the sun, our unique atmospheric make-up, the very precise heritage of biological reproduction leading to us, the fact that some phenomenally remote “chemical coincidence” created life itself... THESE are the things that we should remind ourselves about each day.
Personally, I am a believer in science, and think simply this...One day we will be dead. And we will be no more.
Is this depressing? I think not.
It serves as a reminder that each and every day holds the potential of magic and wonder and happiness of LIFE ITSELF. Our job – no, our responsibility – is to FIND that happiness, and LIVE that life.
It’s this view on life that keeps everything in perspective for me – and keeps me smiling throughout.
I hope you can share that view with me.
Back to "Interviews" Back to the "Homepage"
We respect your email privacy
