Hi,

Recently I began looking for quotes that show the power of belief.

What I found surprised me.

While I prefer to focus on the positive, these show just how powerful beliefs can be. (I'll be posting more of these on Twitter so be sure you are following me there. And of course, I'll follow you back. Just click here to add me.)

Here's a few of what I found.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895)

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." (Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943)

"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." (Ken Olsen, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977)

"The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union internal memo, 1876)

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." (Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French commander of Allied forces during the closing months of World War I, 1918)

From a persuasion standpoint, you can clearly see the problem you'd have if you needed persuade any of these people. Their beliefs would clearly need to be addressed. But it goes beyond merely addressing them. This effects their entire world view. And if others had bought into their positions, where would we be today?

But the bigger lesson here is the realization that beliefs (including values) really do run our lives. They shape what we see and what we don't see. They enable us to be rich and successful or poor and limited.

The great thing is that WE HAVE CHOICE.

Examine what you believe about why you are where you are today. Examine why you do or do not have the money you want. And examine why you are creating the life of your dreams or are manifesting the excuses as to why you don't have it. It's your choice - choose well.

Now, tell me your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you. And while you're at it, share this post on Twitter, if you would.

Kenrick

"An intense anticipation itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but precursors of the things which we are capable of performing." -- Samuel Smiles

Hi Persuader,

I've always been an instant gratification kind of guy. When I'm hungry, I want to eat. When I'm thirsty, I want some water. When I'm in traffic, I want to be moving. And when I'm persuading, I want it to work, immediately, if not sooner.

But lately, I've been understanding and even enjoying the benefits of delayed gratification and anticipation. In visiting a Latin American country such as the one where I find myself, life does not move at the speed of Starbucks. Life moves with a rhythm and tempo of the people, of the earth, of the seasons. It's taking a huge internal shift, one which I'm alternately struggling with and relishing as quite enjoyable and expansive. Letting go of the controlled chaos of the big city life of Seattle and its outskirts, and moving into the speed of this life I am now experiencing has been the biggest adjustment and challenge and has expanded my frame of the world immeasurably.

When the air is dense with humidity, the temperature is in the upper 80s, 90s, higher, movement becomes more languid, like you've just entered a steam room. You can almost imagine fish swimming by your face in the thick air as you walk through the streets like in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. Siestas become almost mandatory when the sun is at its high point. Work gets done in the morning and at night.

This is not at all a suggestion to slow down or relent any in your persuasion studies or in your work, however, as I suggested in a previous article about getting out of your comfort zone of familiarity, there are also benefits to speeding up or slowing down the tempo of your life to further embed and deepen your learning and expand the frames within which you find yourself.

I had a friend once who told me, 'I can't meditate. I've just got too much going on in my mind. I don't think it's for me to just sit there and not think.' But when I asked her what she 'thought' about when she was on her treadmill or elliptical machine, she said, 'I don't think at all.'

It's a matter of taste, I suppose. Many people are comfortable with the adrenal charged experience of a big city. Many people couldn't live any place with more than one stop sign and any sign of traffic or commotion sends them into a panic. Some people can switch between worlds and have developed a comfort in all types of settings, and I believe this versatility is the hallmark of a good persuader. Persuasion is truly about being a chameleon and experiencing the differences that places and people have to offer, even if that means slowing yourself down for a time or quickening your pace. This is most definitely a tool that will serve you well to practice with.

So as I take a little bit of my own medicine and develop a taste for anticipation and delayed gratification, I hope you too will challenge yourself with a different pace for periods of time.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

"Great wealth and the lack thereof, both provide for unbelievable experiences that we might not otherwise have had."

Is the cup half full or half empty? It's a common 'test' or indicator of what your attitude is. What's your focus -- half full or half empty?

Both are accurate. Both are absolutely accurate. The glass is half full and half empty. To that end, we have tremendous opportunities right now in this seemingly half empty economy. In light of persuasion, since some of the best minds in the world are even telling us that this is where the greatest opportunity is what we need to do first is know how to manage our expectations.

I was talking to one of my coaching groups earlier today about how it's not so much what happens to us, it's how we think about what happens to us. That's easier said than done but I'm going to give you a bit of the explanation I was giving to my class and it's simply this: the idea that we're born into the physical world, into this place, to earth, in which time is such an enormous underpinning of all that we are and all that we have, is truly amazing.

Time, if you think about it, it's something that we take for granted. It's a presupposition of all that we are and all that we have ever been, all that we've done, and time forms just an elemental aspect. However, time a bit arbitrary as well.

It doesn't necessarily exist where there's no cycles. With the earth, there's the cycle of the sun rising and setting and there's the cycle of birth and death and so, how many suns will rise and set before a person is no longer here.

Time forms an integral part of all that we are and all that we do. And so the key to having an even deeper understanding is that time is so very real and not real at all.

I think all of us would choose to have the great wealth more than anything, but the fact is, is that again, it's how we think about it. I really believe that thinking about things begins with a great understanding of where we are, an acceptance of where we are, and so to that end, it's really good if we just look at our lives and write a snapshot of where we are and where we want to be. Where are you? Where is your business?

In it really boils down to what we think of it and how do we use it to our advantage. Again, it is not that we are in any way limited by what's being thrown at us, we're limited about how we think about what's being thrown at us.

Once you've done that, and you really see clearly where you are and what you want then I would answer the question in your snapshot, how do I feel I can best use persuasion skills to get ahead?

Why do I say you should answer that question? Because it puts, as a presupposition into your mind, that you're going to be using them and if you are, you're going to be more successful than you would be otherwise.

Put these kinds of presuppositions into your head because they're going to do amazing things for you. This is something I've been thinking about an awful lot lately in my own life and how can we use it to our advantage? It all starts with what's between our ears and then it goes from there.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"Reflect upon your blessings, of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." Charles Dickens

Hi Persuader,

We're all affected, some teetering on the edge of hope, some finding the silver lining, some succumbing to fear, and some not even knowing yet how they're affected. I'm remaining in the silver lining camp. It's always the best way to raise your vibration. Finding that quiet, calm place and looking at the long term, bigger picture, the one in which I'm the creator of my universe.

I understand that it's not easy to keep the positive focus in times of trouble. I understand that when the crap hits the fan, it's less likely that one will reflect upon their plentiful blessings and not on misfortunes and the crap itself. In the midst of misfortune, it's hard to accept that what goes down, must come up.

Charles Dickens' quote above is very prescient. As a child, Charles' family was moderately wealthy, but when Charles was 12 years old, his father was arrested and brought to debtor's prison. After that, Charles had to go to work, 10 hour days with no child labor laws, and lived away from his family. Adversity overcome, focus on plenty. And still, he ended up describing these debtor's prisons in his many of his books.

I don't know if young Charles looked at his life back when he was 12 and thought, I'm so blessed. But he came to realize that there's an ebb and flow to life (clearly indicated in the above quote and his life story).

This ebb and flow is part of all of our lives. If there were no ups and downs, how would we know when we felt anything? If it all just stayed static, there would be nothing to compare.

Most, if not all of us, have experienced the death of a loved one or a break up from a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, or a financial setback, or an illness or accident that we didn't believe we could overcome. Maybe we even felt like whatever sadness or pain or fear we felt would never subside. But the fact that you're reading this right now is an indication that you survived. And maybe even realized that when one door closes another one opens, as in, maybe the change or setback was only an incubation period and helped to make us more who we are, stronger, smarter, wealthier, happier.

I often think about one of my employees who was living in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. She's told me on several occasions that it was heart wrenching and traumatic, and yet, she's happier now than she ever was in the south. She feels blessed with her friends and new town and especially with her new job.

The old cliché, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, while framed in a somewhat negative fashion, is really a very comforting thought. The current economic struggles we may be facing are uncomfortable, infuriating, frustrating, and they are not going to kill us. So the lucky outcome is that we're going to be much stronger in the future.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

I'm sure I've used this quote before while writing a blog post, but it's an incredible quote and it is worth repeating.

"While I'm sure that you're familiar with the notion that the map is not the territory, I'm wondering if you have fully realized that as human beings, we will forever experience only the map and not the territory. We but alter maps. That is, we change people's subjective experience of the world, not the world itself." -- Leslie Cameron Bandler

Let's think about that for a moment. If we don't experience the territory, but we only experience the map, then what are we?

We are walking map makers, cartographers of our own lives and in a sense, we are map makers for the people we persuade. That's an awesome and powerful place to come from.

The issue is this: when we look at anything and everything, we can only see it through our own filters. All we have is our own filters. We don't see anything directly. We see the world and each specific interaction we have through our biases, our filters, our values and our beliefs. We see them through who we are as a person. The only way that we can do anything is to see through our filters and to that end, everything we experience through sight, through hearing, through touch, through taste, through smell -- absolutely everything -- builds our maps more.

Children build maps at high speed because at that point in development, we are a blank canvas. Everything we are navigating is new. The older we get, the more detailed our maps become and to a certain extent the less we change them which can leave us stuck in a rut.

Now this is good news and bad news. It's bad news if you don't know that you or your prospect or client is in a rut and don't know how to persuade your way out of it. It's good news for anybody who knows this because you can un-stick them if you want to do it.

This is a large part of what got me into this field, the idea that I wanted to be able to smoothly get people from where they are to where I wanted them to go. I didn't want to be afraid anymore that I couldn't do it, or I didn't want them to hear no and not know why I got it or almost worse, hearing yes, and not understanding why I got it.

This isn't a simple thing to learn how to do. There's no way I can sum it up in a blog post or e-mail. It's true, some things worth having don't come easily. But with realization comes opportunity. You are your own map maker and can choose to start making that map more expansive and inclusive of so many things including say, learning how to persuade your way through the current rocky economic terrain we're finding ourselves in at this point in history.

To learn more, drop Kim an e-mail at kim@maxpersuasion.com.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

Man, there's all sorts of chaos going on out there in the world. Seems like with the elections, the bailouts, the hurricanes, the anniversary of 9/11 -- all that, and then the holidays are coming -- more chaos (no matter what you think of the holidays, they are absolute chaos).

This is the perfect time to really check in with ourselves and get some inner work done. As the world swarms around out there, having a solid inner foundation is critical in maintaining our equilibrium. This is the case in good times and bad, however it is mainly in bad times that we rely our foundations in a significant way.

When's the last time you spent a little time alone? Remove all disturbances -- television, computers, your iPhone or Blackberry and cut off the outside for just a little while. I'm not suggesting you have to full out meditate (though there's so much phenomenal benefit to meditation that's an entirely different article), I'm simply suggesting you listen to your inner voice for an hour or two.

There's a beautiful quote by Lord Byron: "In solitude, we are least alone." I think this is just amazing. It's said that we are our own worst enemies, but I've decided that's bad programming and have reprogrammed it as, we are our own best friends.

Maybe use this time to write out your universes or write in a journal. If cleaning soothes you (and I know a few people for whom this is true), then go crazy. Wash that kitchen floor or re-alphabetize your CD or book collection. Hell, why not pick up one of those books and read something inspiring.

If you're so inclined, how about a little yoga? I understand there's a yoga practice where you're moving very slowly in a very hot room. (Not my cup of tea, but I can see how it might be good for the aches and pains.)

What else can you do for yourself? Practice forgiveness and gratitude. I've written about both of these before at length and can attest from personal experience and the experience of many of my students that these are two of the most clearing practices you can perform and will garner for you untold benefits.

And how about this: say no when you don't want to do something. This is a tough one but really vital to caring for yourself. I personally don't have an issue saying 'no', but I've met a number of people who feel that it is rude or they become uncomfortable and worried that they will make someone else uncomfortable.

All of these things not only have the benefit of shoring you up and building and maintaining a strong, unflappable foundation, they will also improve your energy, your mental health, your physical health, your spiritual health, how effective you are in all aspects of your life, how happy you are overall, and it will give you a great outlook when the world outside seems to be instable.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply." -- Denis Waitley

Hi Persuader,

I've been noticing something fascinating lately that I want to share with you, my readers. I have a group of students who I've been working with, my advanced students, all of whom have been with me for over a year, and I can't tell you how incredibly proud I am of them and the progress that they've been making. I mean, it's really leaps and bounds, off the charts, unhinged progress.

I'd like to give myself a big pat on the back for being such a great teacher and really caring about what I'm teaching them on their weekly coaching club calls and twice monthly advanced calls, but I can't take even most of the credit for the advances I'm seeing despite being the common denominator ; - ).

What I'm seeing as an increase in orders of magnitude of their persuasion skills is a result of their incredible hard work and diligence. I am constantly hearing, especially on my one-on-one coaching calls, how accelerated their learning is coming to them. They are receiving incredible results in an unpredictable economy and realizing that persuasion is reaching every aspect of their lives.

One of my star pupils told me just recently that she's started realizing that persuasion is permeating all parts of her life, not just in business, not just in putting together more contracts, not just signing more deals, not just getting more listings, but all aspects of life. She told me, "(Persuasion) is in everything that I do no matter whether it's business or not. It's to make me more effective. And help me also understand myself better and understand others better. I think I'm achieving that with you."

This was kind of an 'aha' moment for her. It's something I often say to my students, but until they experience it, it's kind of an abstract idea. When you feel the results of your efforts, hard work, and study click into place and produce something quantifiable, that is an incredible achievement.

I will tell you that not only am I proud and thrilled for her, but it gives me renewed enthusiasm for doing what I do when I see the noticeable results in so many folks.

I have some other students, a husband and wife, who are in the real estate business as well, and despite the tough housing market, they are flourishing and really seeing the fruit of their labors as a solid, ever increasing number in their bank accounts and investments. They've also been really polishing their writing skills and have started a mastermind group to share the immensity of their knowledge with others.

I could go on and on with how proud I am of my students and despite it seeming like I'm bragging, I am genuinely thrilled to continue to bring the best and most up to the second persuasion material in existence.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

Hi Persuader,

I'd like to tell you a story about a student of mine who has experienced something magical as a result of the things he's learning in this course. I know, I know, this might seem kind of self serving, but I'm going to give you the key to his success for free.

This student is doing quite well financially, he is healthy, on the young side, mid to late thirties, he's got a nice house which is almost paid for, no other debt, a beautiful car, and he's a good looking guy. The one thing he felt he was missing was a really happy, reciprocal, committed relationship.

I suppose this falls under the 'seduction/attraction' heading and yet, it is pure persuasion and can be applied to any facet of life.

Here was his problem: he wasn't good at saying what he wanted, only what he didn't want in a mate. Can you see the inherent problem with this? Well, there are a few problems with this, but the main one is, he was operating out of a negative space and not coming from the pure, positive place of being in dominion.

"I don't want another person who's primarily looking for someone with money. I don't want children, so the woman I'm looking for doesn't want them either. I don't want someone who's going to cheat on me. I don't want this, I don't want that. . . '

You get the point.

The second biggest problem with this is that there was a vagueness and formlessness to the type of person he was looking for.

The strange thing is, he didn't do this with his work life or in his relationships with friends and family, he was just stuck with this one aspect and the more 'stuck' he felt, the more frustrated he became thereby causing a chain reaction. . .

So what did he do? Well, as a result of the Universe System, which I go through with all my beginning (and advanced students ongoing), he mapped out exactly what it is that he wanted in a woman. I suggested he make an exhaustive list of all the things he wanted and to keep it in a positive light.

His list included things like, 'I am in a committed, monogamous relationship with a spiritual, intelligent, funny woman around my same age who is healthy, happily without children, wants to travel, and loves what she does for a living."

It went on and on and was as detailed as he could make it.

I'm happy to say that as a result of this list making (and with the help of one of those online dating services where he very specifically outlined his wants and desires), my student has found the woman of his dreams and is planning to ask her to marry him. I couldn't be happier for him.

Of course, there's the in between part between meeting someone and falling in love and getting married, which also include aspects of persuasion (such as creating rapport, mirroring and matching, et cetera), but the first step is to be very specific and send out into the universe exactly what you want.

This holds true for every single aspect of your life. So get out there and make some lists and make them as detailed as possible, to attract whatever it is you want into your life.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Howard Thurman

Hi Persuader,

It is my belief that life is about learning lessons. Early in life we were taught lessons by adults and siblings who might have passed on incorrect information to us and maybe we've spent a long time sorting out for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, what is correct and what is incorrect, what works for us and what doesn't.

If you frame these life lessons as maps, you will see that these maps don't always lead us in the right direction because they are inaccurate; if the map doesn't agree with the reality, then the map is most certainly wrong. So many people get caught up in conflicts because they never realize that the pillars of their education, the pillars of their faith, and the pillars of their social orientation, might not have been laid out accurately for them.

Overcoming this and recalibrating is what persuasion is all about. Self persuasion, persuading loved ones, persuading our prospects and clients -- this is charting new territory and creating a new guide based on what is appropriate and true for where we are now and where we dream of going.

Learning how to persuade ourselves allows us the ability to explore this new territory. When we begin the process of self exploration and self knowledge, we become the cartographers of our lives. This can be as messy or as elegant as you want it to be, it can be a struggle or you can transform with ease. Many people operate under the assumption that change and growth are 'difficult' like child labor. I choose to operate under the assumption that change flows through me and struggle only comes in when I resist.

When I was a young man my father offered to train me to take over for him in his very lucrative business in convalescent homes. My future was laid out before me with all the money I could ever need. Of course, I had to work my way up from dishwasher through the ranks, but if I stuck with it, I would one day be the owner of this in no time.

It was a crossroad. Do I work my way up the ladder to a guaranteed spot at the top in a business that was not in my heart? Or do I go it alone in the world and create something from nothing for myself?

Obviously, I chose the latter. And it was a struggle because at that point I hadn't yet realized the key to living life with elegance and ease and still had old, outmoded information that I needed to shed.

Are you alive? If not, what do you need to come alive?

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland

“I don’t remember any mistakes, only the opportunity to overcome problems.” -- James Sorenson

Hi Persuader,

If I had only known. . . I shoulda, woulda, coulda. . . Hindsight is 20/20.

Sometimes we dwell in the past, dwell on mistakes. . . I think if I had only known that gold was going to increase in value so much, I would have invested more. If I had known in the early ‘90s that there were a few tiny startup internet companies that would soon become Amazon, Google, Yahoo, I would have bought up stock like crazy. If only I could have seen into a magic crystal ball the way the housing market was going to shake out. . .

Are these lines of thought useful or helpful? Not really. We don’t have time machines. We can’t go back and fix our mistakes or take advantage of amazing opportunities that weren’t realized at the time.

Mistakes, missed opportunities, things we should have said, should have done -- these are landmines to achieving success. As I’ve said before, what you focus on, you’ll get more of. Focusing on the mistakes only gets you caught up in mistakes. Even framing these things as mistakes or problems instead of opportunities to grow and learn, speaks to the way we set up our universes, our road maps in life.

I love overcoming adversity. I love realizing I’ve made incredible progress on this journey. These things are so much more apparent for me because I’ve made a conscious decision to chart out my goals and challenges from what I want for the new year, a five year plan, and in ultimate life goals, seeing tangible evidence of this progress.

I have a friend who likes to say what you focus on, you will grow. When you take away focus, ignore the thing and give it no attention, it will go away. She likes to use the example of a pimple. What’s the quickest way to get rid of a pimple? It’s not to play with it and fret about it. The quickest way is to absolutely ignore it.

This isn’t to suggest that we become apathetic about the important things in life that need to be changed. If there’s an issue that’s important to you -- say it’s a neighborhood or community issue regarding the building of an eyesore which no one except the developer wants built. Ignoring it will not make it go away. Focusing on the negative will not make it go away. Proactively becoming involved and engaging in the process from a positive place is the best course. And what if you fail? Well, you don’t have to regret not having taken action. And you don’t have to dwell on the negative. You have only to remember that you did everything you could and worked your hardest on something that was important to you.

My suggestion and something I’ve been exploring powerfully is the idea of living in the moment. Look for more soon on how liberating living in the moment is in all areas of life.

Until Next Time,

Kenrick E. Cleveland