Epic Real Estate Investing - The Strangest Secret | 730

Episode Date: July 31, 2019

On this episode, Matt shares a 4 step process used by the world's most successful individuals. Learn how to focus your thoughts and keep productivity every day! Additionally, Mr. Theriault introduces you to the Godfather of Personal Development, Earl Nightingale, and his landmark presentation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, this is Matt, the do-over guy, and this is your do-over. Episode 22. During an era where countless people, businesses, and organizations are feeling the pinch, running out of time, running out of money, losing confidence, feeling as if life is unfair, praying for another chance, and unless something is done, life is going to pass them by. Fortunately, in the nick of time, There is now a place where the ignored, underestimated, and unknown steps to producing results and making life work are revealed.

Save your career. Save your business. Save your health. Save your relationships. Save your life. Get from where you are to where you want to be, faster and with greater ease than you ever thought possible. Say hello to your do-over.

Welcome to Your Do-over. coming to you once again live from downtown Los Angeles, and this is the place where once a week you will hear, learn, and take action on the ignored, underestimated, and unknown steps to producing results. This is the show where I show people dissatisfied with their current situation, how to start over, and begin a new life, setting goals and objectives so they can create wealth and live life to the fullest. Easier, faster, smarter.

To get a head start and lay a solid foundation for a better life, I invite you to download the three pillars of creating the ultimate do-over, and you can get that for free at free-dover.com. It's a 55-minute MP3 audio program that I made just for you with three specific steps on how to get success as you start over, and it doesn't matter what you're starting over. They will lay the foundation for you to achieve. You can think of it as your traveling success coach, and it's yours for free at freedover.com. As of the recording of this podcast, I'm still waiting for I, iTunes to approve my new feed. As you know, you're well aware.

You're probably tired of the subject. I have moved hosts, and I'm just waiting for iTunes approval. Yesterday, the two versions of your do-over that were on iTunes were successfully removed, which is a positive sign. Now, all I'm waiting for is the new version to appear. And I have absolutely no control over this. So I'm going to just let it go. I'm going to continue to produce this podcast.

And when it appears, it appears. Maybe it'll show up today of which you'll have two new episodes to listen to. or it shows up in a month or so of which you might have a half a dozen episodes to listen to. Either way, I'm moving forward. I want to give a few thank you to some of you who have emailed me expressing your concern and anticipation for episode 21 and the your do-over contest. Your nice words and an interest in what I do it makes such a difference. I'm so grateful. So I just want to say a quick thank you to Ray and thank you to Latasha and Rocco and Kim, Rick, Sonia, Heather, Justin, Andy, Beth.

Thank you to Lisa, Katrina, and Courtney. Thank you for the great emails you've sent. Further, I'm just, I'm gratefully surprised by the anticipation and interest around the new real estate investing podcast I'm putting together. I knew there was interest in real estate investing, but once I briefly mentioned it in a couple episodes ago, now I'm getting lots of emails and lots of anticipation out there for it. So I appreciate that, and that just inspires me more to keep on going. It is taking a little longer than I expected as I'm understanding the value and creating quality content when it comes to something like a podcast or any information on the internet for that matter. I mean, I realize you have countless choices for information.

You have countless choices for entertainment sources. So I've got to make it good. No, I've actually got to make it great. And that's what I'm doing. I'm taking my time on this new podcast, the epic real estate investing podcast, because one, I want it to be of value. I want it to actually make a difference for you. There's a lot of people out there that want to learn real estate investing and everything

out there either it's too confusing or it's too expensive or, you know, you just can't put two and two together, whatever it may be. so I want to make sure that this makes a difference for you. And two, you see, if I don't, you'll likely go somewhere else for that information. So that's important for me to put something of quality together. And three, just the perfectionist within me, it just won't let me do anything less. So it's coming along nicely, though. I'm putting together a step-by-step guide for you called How to Do Deals, No Money Required.

It's going to contain literally step-by-step instructions on how to do deals with no money and no credit. I know a lot of people out there, they've heard about that before, and they might have bought some programs, that promoted that type of strategy using no money and using no credit. And again, sometimes it's too confusing or there's some sort of break or detachment between the actual instruction and going out there into the real world and doing it. And I want to put something together to where we can bridge that gap. And I'm going to show you literally step by step on how to do deals with no money and no credit, exactly how I do it in today's market.

And I'm going to show you the two fastest paths to real cash and real estate investing. and I'm including several video tutorials. I'm including all the forms, the documents, and the online calculators that I use, and I'm removing all of the guesswork from this type of investing in. And it's all going to be free. It's all for you. But I just want to make sure it's right, and I want to make sure it's of high quality, and I want to make sure it actually makes a difference for you, and it's easy to follow

and easy to understand. So you can actually take that out into the real world and implement it. Now, there will eventually be an opportunity for us to do business and work even more closely together in the future. For those of you that want to, of course, I didn't figure out exactly how that's going to look, but I want to make sure that's of value as well. Nonetheless, the initial free course will be whole and complete.

You'll have everything you need to get started. I won't hold anything back from that. And that will be absolutely free. So be on the lookout for the epic real estate investing podcast. And I will be keeping these two podcasts as separate as I can. But, you know, so much of real estate investing success, it lies within personal development. There's no getting around that. I mean, the investing part is easy.

It's literally step by step. It's not that complicated. But it's the day-to-day activities required to succeed. succeed in real estate investing where you're going to need to call on your confidence and call on your confidence and call on your self-esteem and your flexibility and your resilience and your stamina. You're going to have to call on the control of your emotions. Sometimes you're even going to have to call on your sense of humor. So if you're going to become a fan of both podcasts, you're likely going to notice some overlap. They will be great companion casts. Having said that,

if you have no interest in real estate investing, no worries. I'm going to keep the real estate conversation here at the Your Do Over podcast to a bare minimum, unless it serves a purpose in the realm of the conversations that we have here. Now, my contest, it's still going on, by the way, and you know what's funny, the day after I recorded episode 21 announcing the details of the contest, Cisco, the manufacturer of the HD flip cam that I'll be giving away, announced that it would be discontinuing that device. And I was seriously bummed. I mean, it's such an awesome piece of equipment.

And actually, I wasn't alone either. The flip cam became a trending topic on Twitter that day also. It appears there is a huge fan base of that flip cam. I mean, it is so cool. I don't totally understandable that there's a lot of people out there bummed about it. Now, I'm not sure what's going to happen or what type of support they're going to provide. Maybe it was just a publicity stunt. I don't know.

Maybe they're about to launch a predecessor. Who knows? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Also, I'll be giving away a slew of online gift cards to places like iTunes and Macy's, Barnes & Noble, Pottery Barn, gas cards, the gap. And also, I'll be giving away my book to everybody, my book, do-over. And I mean everybody that participates in this contest. There will be no losers in this contest. Everybody wins.

and as promised, it's going to be very easy for you to participate. This is all that you have to do to win. Log on to iTunes and search for the Your Doover Podcast and leave me your comment and leave me your rating. And then send me an email to Matt at the doover guide.com with I did it in the subject line. That's I did it in the subject line. What that's going to do is going to send you to a special folder in my email inbox. And be sure to include your iTunes name in the email. So I know who you are to send your prize.

At the very least, you will receive a copy of my book. do over both the ebook and audio version and you will be entered to win the HD FlipCam and any one of the other many gift cards I'm giving away and that's it and you have until the end of April April 2011 to enter and depending on when the new feed appears in iTunes I may have to extend that date we'll see

but as of right now as I'm recording this it's April 2011 the last day of April is your last opportunity to enter now I don't know if you've ever done this or not maybe once or twice you have or maybe it's a regular practice of yours as it is mine or maybe you've never done it at all but when you read the biographies and autobiographies of successful men and women, you learn extremely interesting facts about possible secrets to their success. I mean, you discover clues and you

get little hints of what might have contributed to their actual results. And it's extremely exciting when you notice patterns among these successful people. Now, a pattern that I've noticed among many is that when they begin their upward journey, when they started to really experience success, they began getting up early in the morning and spending time with themselves, quiet time to plan their day, to feed their minds with positive ideas. I mean, for example, I created the outline for this episode in the wee hours of the morning while the city was sleeping. It was just me, my computer, and a cup of coffee.

I was completely undisturbed, and I just was able to place 100% of my focus on what this episode was going to sound like. Now, I get a lot done during the early morning. And when I do it consistently, I notice I get more done during the day. I mean, it just puts my thoughts in order and it puts them focused on the right things. we all become what we think about most of the time. So it's important to intentionally focus your thoughts on what you want to become. And there's no better time to do that than first thing in the morning.

First thing in the morning before any of the distractions are able to wake up and bother you. So you get to focus and you get to place your mind on the right thing. And if you start out right, typically the rest of the day will go right as well. So here are four things that I do in the morning that might help you do this. First, I review my plans. the roadmap that I have created to accomplish my goals. And you should have one also. You know, the last few episodes, maybe the last half a dozen episodes,

we've been planning and designing your do-over. You should have your roadmap. So that's one thing that you should do first thing in the morning. You need to review your plans. You need to revisit your intentions. You need to understand what you're going to do during the day and why you're even getting up in the first place. You've got a plan and you've got a roadmap and you're just going to follow that roadmap.

Second, I'm always thinking of better or more efficient ways of accomplishing my goals. Using the empowering questions we've discussed in past episodes, that helps with this also. For example, if I had to do this in a completely different way, how would I do it? And I'm speaking of whatever goal I'm trying to accomplish. If I had to do this in a completely different way, how would I do it? Or if I had to do this in a way that would be fun, how would I do it? These are questions that are going to evoke specific answers. and maybe you get an answer of how to accomplish your goals quicker

or with more fun or with less effort or with greater ease or if I had to do this in a way and half the time that I originally planned, how would I do that? Or is there somebody I could hire to do this for me? These are all empowering questions that can help you get to your goals quicker. And every day I'm always asking those types of questions about what I'm up to because there always is a better way. There always is an easier way.

And sometimes you just have to keep on asking yourself those questions and it will be revealed. Third, I ask myself what's working, and I also ask myself what's not working. And I make a list. And I also ask, what's missing that the presence of which would make a difference? And I write the answers to these questions, and I write them down, and they give me ideas of how I can redirect my course or modify my path or modify the method in which I'm trying to obtain my goals. So that's the third thing I do. I ask what's working, what's not, and what's missing that the presence of which I'm.

which would make a difference. You get some really, really intriguing answers. If you're just up in the morning, you're all by yourself, it's really quiet, you ask yourself those questions, and you really come up with an answer. You'll be amazed by this practice. Fourth, I look at my vision board. I've encouraged you all to create a visual representation of your goals, so you can bring more of your emotions and more of your senses into what you're doing and what you're up to.

And I calmly visualize my goals as I've already achieved them. You know, I just finished my brand new vision board, by the way. you can look at it at the dooverguide.com forward slash your vision. There's also instructions on how to make one if you've never heard of it before. I give step-by-step instructions on how you can make one of your own. Now when you practice this in the morning, you do it consistently, you're going to notice a difference in which the speed of your life begins to move. I mean, all of your dreams and goals that begin with your thoughts,

of which then turn into your words and then turn into your actions and then your habits, then your character, and then your destiny. You know, some people subscribe more to this concept than others, but it's very practical and logical to me. I know the power of your thoughts can be categorized into the hokey-pokey realm of personal development, but hey, it works for me. And that's all that matters to me.

Maybe it will work for you. Maybe it won't. And that's okay. We're here to find what works for you, but we'll never know what works for you unless we try different things out. Whatever fits, keep it. If it doesn't fit, discard it.

I mean, if this was the one thing that was missing from you accomplishing everything that you want in life, would it make sense for you to give it a try? I mean, would it be worth a test run, so to speak? I mean, I guess it depends on how important your goals and dreams are to you. I began to participate in this regular practice after I heard a recording from Personal Development Pioneer Earl Nightingale, titled The Strangest Secret. It makes a compelling case as to why your thoughts are so important.

And now that this recording is in the public domain, I can share it with you. I mean, it was recorded back in 1956, but the contents are just as sound today as they were then. And if you've never heard anything from Earl Nightingale, I think you'll really really enjoy this. I mean, he's one of my all-time favorites. And if you like this, you can go to Nightingaleconant.com. I'll put that in the show notes so you can click there. But it's just a giant library, giant resource of personal development material. And that Earl Nightingale is the person that started that company that's still in existence today. And he's one of my all-time favorites. So here it is. Enjoy. Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret. I'd like to tell you about the

strangest secret in the world. Some years ago, the late Nobel Prize winning Dr. Albert Schweitzer was being interviewed in London, and the reporter asked him, Dr., what's wrong with men today? And the great doctor was silent a moment, and then he said, Men simply don't think. It's about this that I want to talk with you. We live today in a golden age. This is an era that men has looked forward to, dreamed of, and worked toward for thousands of years. But since it's here, we pretty well take it for granted. We in America are particularly fortunate to live in the richest land that ever existed on the face of the earth, a land of abundant opportunity for everyone. But do you know what happens? Well, let's take a hundred men who start even at the age of 25. Do you have any idea

what will happen to those men by the time they're 65? These 100 men who all start even at the age of 25 believe they're going to be successful. If you ask any one of these men, if he wanted to be a success, he'd tell you he did. And you'd notice that he was eager towards. life that there was a certain sparkle to his eye in erectness to his carriage and life seemed like a pretty interesting adventure to him. But by the time they're 65, one will be rich. Four will be financially independent. Five will still be working. 54 will be broke. Now think a moment, out of the 100, only five make the grade. Now, why do so many fail? What has happened to the sparkle that was there when they were 25, what's become of the dreams, the hopes, the plans, and why is there such a

large disparity between what these men intended to do and what they actually accomplished? When we say about 5% achieve success, we have to define success, and here's the best definition I've ever been able to find. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. If a man is working toward a predetermined goal and knows where he's going, that man is a success. If he's not doing that, he's a failure. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Rallel May, the distinguished psychiatrist, wrote a wonderful book called Man's Search for himself. And in this book, he says, the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice. It is conformity. And there you have the trouble today. It's conformity, people acting like everyone

else, without knowing why, without knowing where they're going. Now think of it. In America, right now, they're over 18 million people, 65 years of age and older. And most of them are broke. They're dependent on someone else for life's necessities. Now, we learned to read by the time we're seven. We learned to make a living by the time we're 25. Usually by that time we're not only making a living, we're supporting a family. And yet, by the time we're 65, we haven't learned how to become financially independent

in the richest land that has ever been known. Why? We conform. and the trouble is that we're acting like the wrong percentage group, the 95 who don't succeed. Now, why do these people conform? Well, they really don't know. These people believe that their lives are shaped by circumstances, by things that happen to them by exterior forces. They're outer-directed people.

A survey was made one time that covered a lot of men, working men, and these men were asked, why do you work? Why do you get up in the morning? 19 out of 20 had no idea. If you ask them, they'll say, well, everyone goes to work, the morning and that's the reason they do it because everyone else is doing it. Now let's get back to our definition of success. Who succeeds? The only person who succeeds is the person who is progressively realizing a worthy ideal. He's the person who says, I'm going to become this and then begins to

work toward that goal. I'll tell you the successful people are. A success is the school teacher who's teaching school because that's what he or she wants to do. The success is the woman who's a wife and mother because she wanted to become a wife of mother and is doing a good job of it. The success is the man who runs the corner gas station because that was his dream. That's what he wanted to do. The success is the successful salesman who wants to become a top-notch salesman and grow and build with his organization. A success is anyone who is doing deliberately a predetermined job because that's what he decided to do deliberately. But only one out of 20 does that. That's why today there isn't really any competition unless we make it for ourselves.

Instead of competing, all we have to do is create. You know, for 20 years I looked for the key which would determine what would happen to a human being. Was there a key I wanted to know which would make the future a promise that we could foretell to a large extent? Was there a key that would guarantee a person's becoming successful if you only knew about it and knew how to use it? Well, there is such a key, and I found it. And you ever wondered why so many men work so hard and honestly without a lot of, ever achieving anything in particular? And others don't seem to work hard and yet seem to get everything.

They seem to have the magic touch. You've heard them say that about someone. Everything he touches turns to gold. And have you ever noticed that a man who becomes successful tends to continue to become successful? And on the other hand, have you noticed how a man who's a failure tends to continue to fail? Well, it's because of goals.

Some of us have goals, some don't. People with goals succeed because they know where they're going. It's that simple. Think of a ship leaving a harbor. and think of it with the complete voyage mapped out and planned. The captain and crew know exactly where it's going and how long it'll take. It has a definite goal. Now, 9,99 times out of 10,000 it will get to where it started out to get.

Now let's take another ship, just like the first, only let's not put a crew on it or a captain at the helm. Let's give it no aiming point, no goal, no destination. We just start the engines and let it go. I think you'll agree with me that if it gets out of the harbor at all. It will either sink or wind up on some deserted beach a derelict. It can't go any place because it has no destination and no guidance, and it's the same of a human being. Take the salesman, for example.

There's no other person in the world today with the future of a good salesman. Selling is the world's highest paid profession, if we're good at it, and if we know where we're going. Every company needs top-notch salesman, and they reward those men the sky's the limit for them. But how many can you find? Someone once said the human race is fixed, not to prevent the strong from winning, but to prevent the weak, from losing. The American economy today can be likened to a convoy in time of war.

The entire economy is slowed down to protect its weakest link, just as the convoy had to go at the speed that would permit its slowest vessel to remain in formation. That's why it's so easy to make a living today. It takes no particular brains or talent to make a living and support a family today. So we have a plateau of so-called security, if that's what a person is looking. for, but we do have to decide how high above this plateau we want to wane. Now let's get back to the strangest secret in the world, the story that I wanted to tell you today. Why do men with goals succeed in life and men without them fail? Well, let me tell you something which if you really understand it will alter your life immediately. If you understand

completely what I'm going to tell you from this moment on, your life will never be the same again. You'll suddenly find that good luck just seems to be attracted to you. The things you want just seem to fall in line, and from now on you won't have the problems, the worries, the gnawing lump of anxiety that perhaps you've experienced before. Doubt, fear. Well, there'll be things of the past. Here's the key to success and the key to failure. We become what we think about. Now, let me say that again. We become what we think about. Throughout all history, the great Wise men and teachers, philosophers, and prophets have disagreed with one another on many different things. It's only on this one point that they are in complete and unanimous agreement.

Listen to what Marcus Aurelius, the great Roman emperor said. A man's life is what his thoughts make of it. Disraeli said this. Everything comes if a man will only wait. I brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a subtle purpose must accomplish it and that nothing can resist a will that will stake even existence, for its fulfillment. Ralph Waldo Emerson said this.

A man is what he thinks about all day long. William James said, The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. And he also said, we need only in cold blood act as if the thing in question were real

and it will become infallibly real by growing into such a connection with our life that it will become real. It will become so knit with habit and emotion that our interests in it will be those which characterize belief. He also said, If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it.

If you wish to be rich, you will be rich. If you wish to be learned, you will be learned. If you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must then really wish these things and wish them exclusively and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly. In the Bible, you have to be good. read in Mark 923, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe it. My old friend, Dr. Norman Vincent Peel put it this way.

This is one of the greatest laws in the universe. Fervently do I wish I had discovered it as a very young man. It dawned upon me much later in life, and I found it to be one of the greatest, if not, my greatest discovery outside of my relationship to God. The great law, briefly and simply stated, is that if you think in negative terms, you will get negative results. If you think in positive terms, you will achieve positive results. That is the simple fact he went on to say, which is at the basis of an astonishing law of prosperity and success.

In three words, believe and succeed. William Shakespeare put it this way. Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by filling to attempt. George Bernard Shaw said, people are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. the people who get on in this world or the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.

Well, that's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this for a while believed that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about. Now, it stands to reason that the person who's thinking about a concrete and worthwhile goal is going to reach it, because that's what he's thinking about, and we become what we think about. Conversely, the man who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion and anxiety and fear and worry becomes what he thinks about.

His life becomes one of frustration and fear and anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing, he becomes nothing. Now, how does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. Now, to do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind. Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good for the land. Now, the land gives the farmer a choice.

He may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision. Now remember, we're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant. Now let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand. One is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison.

He digs two little holes in the earth, and he plants both seeds. One corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes. waters and takes care of the land and what will happen. In variedly, the land will return what's planted. As it's written in the Bible, as ye sow, so shall you reap. Now remember, the land doesn't care. It'll return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants. One corn, one poison. Now, the human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant. Success? Failure.

a concrete worthwhile goal or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety, and so on. But what we plant, it must return to us. You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything. We want to plant. Now, you might say, well, if that's true, why don't people use their minds more?

Well, I think they've figured out an answer to that one, too. Our mind comes as standard equipment at birth. It's free, and things that are given to us for nothing. We place little value on. Things that we pay money for, we value. The paradox is that exactly the reverse is true. Everything that's really worthwhile in life came to us free. Our minds, our souls, our bodies, our hopes, our dreams, our ambitions, our intelligence,

our love of family, and children and friends and country, all these priceless possessions are free. But the things that cost us money are actually very cheap and can be reversed. replaced at any time. A good man can be completely wiped out and make another fortune. He can do that several times. Even if our home burns down, we can rebuild it, but the things we got for nothing, we can never replace. The human mind isn't used because we take it for granted. Familiarity breeds contempt. It can do any kind of job we assign to it, but generally speaking, we use it for little jobs instead of big, important ones. Universities have proved that most of us are operating on about

10% or less of our abilities. So decide now. What is it you want? Plant your goal in your mind. It's the most important decision you ever make in your entire life. What is it you want? Do you want to be an outstanding salesman? A better worker at your particular job?

You want to go places in your company, in your community? You want to get rich? All you've got to do is plant that seed in your mind, care for it, work steadily toward your goal, and it will become a reality. It not only will, there's no way that it cannot. You see, that's a law like the laws of Sir Isaac Newton, the laws of gravity. If you get on top of the building and jump off, you'll always go down. You'll never go up, and it's the same with all the other laws of nature.

They always work. They're inflexible. Think about your goal in a relaxed, positive way. Picture yourself in your mind's eyes, having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you will be doing when you've reached your goal. ours has been called the Thinobarbital age, the age of ulcers and nervous breakdowns and tranquilizers at a time when medical research is raised us to a new plateau of good health and longevity, far too many of us worry ourselves into an early grave, trying to cope with things in our own little personal ways

without learning a few great laws that will take care of everything for us. These things we bring on ourselves through our habitual way of thinking. Every one of us is the sum total of his own thoughts. He is where he is, because that's exactly where he really wants to be, whether he'll admit that or not. Each of us must live off the fruit of his thoughts in the future, because what you think today and tomorrow, next month and next year, will mold your life and determine your future. You're guided by your mind. I remember one time I was driving through eastern Arizona, and I saw one of those giant earth-moving machines roaring along the road at about 35 miles an hour with what looked like 30 tons of dirt. in it, a tremendous, incredible machine, and there was a little man perched way up on top

with the wheel in his hands guiding it. And as I drove along, I was struck by the similarity of that machine to the human mind. Just suppose you're sitting at the controls of such a vast source of energy. Are you going to sit back and fold your arms and let it run itself into a ditch? Or are you going to keep both hands firmly on the wheel and control and direct this power to a specific worthwhile purpose? It's up to you. You're in the driver's seat. You see, the very law that gives us success is a two-edged sword, we must control our thinking. The same rule that can lead a man to a life of success, wealth, happiness, and all the things he ever dreamed of for himself and his family.

That very same law can lead him into the gutter. It's all, and how he uses it, for good or for bad. This is the strangest secret in the world. Now, why do I say it's strange, and why do I call it a secret? Actually, it isn't a secret at all. It was first promulgated by some of the earliest wise men, and it appears again and again throughout the Bible. But very few people have learned it, understand it. That's why it's strange, and why for some equally strange reason, it virtually remains a secret.

I believe that you could go out and walk down the main street of your town and ask one man after another what the secret of success is, and you probably wouldn't run into one man in a month who could tell you. Now, this information is enormously valuable to us if we really understand it and apply it. It's valuable to us not only for our own lives, but the lives of those around us, our families, employees, associates, and friends. Life should be an exciting adventure. It should never be a bore. A man should live fully. Be alive.

He should be glad to get out of bed in the morning. He should be doing a job he likes to do because he does it well. One time I heard Grove Patterson, the great late editor-in-chief of the Toledo Daily Blade make a speech, and as he concluded his speech, he said something I've never forgotten. He said, My years in the newspaper business have convinced me of several things, among them that people are basically good

and that we came from someplace and were going someplace. So we should make our time here an exciting adventure. The architect of the universe didn't build a stairway, leading nowhere. And the greatest teacher of all, the carpenter from the plains of Galilee

gave us the secret time and time again. as ye believe, so shall it be done unto you. On paragraph number one of this recording, I've explained the strangest secret in the world and how it works. Now, on this side, I want to explain how you can prove to yourself the enormous returns possible in your own life by putting this secret to a practical test. I want you to make a test of the last 30 days. It isn't going to be easy, but if you'll give it a good try, it will completely change your life for the better. back in the 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton, the English mathematician, a natural philosopher,

gave us the natural laws of physics, which apply as much to human beings as they do to the movement of bodies in the universe. And one of these laws is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, simply stated, as it applies to you and me, it means we can achieve nothing without paying the price. The results of your 30-day experiment will be in direct proportion to the effort you put forth. To be a doctor, you must pay the price. of long years of difficult study, to be successful in selling, and remember that each of us succeeds to the extent of his ability to sell, selling our families on our ideas, selling education in schools, selling our children on the advantages of living the good and honest life,

selling our associates and employees on the importance of being exceptional people. Two, of course, the profession of selling itself. But to be successful in selling our way to the good life, we must be willing to pay the price. And what is that price? Well, it's many things. First, it's understanding emotionally, as well as intellectually, that we literally become what we think about, that we must control our thoughts of where to control our lives. It's understanding fully that, as ye sow, so shall ye reap.

Second, it's cutting away all fetters from the mind, and permitting it to soar as it was divinely designed to do. It's the realization that your limitations are self-imposed, and that the opportunities for you today are enormous beyond belief. It's rising above narrow-minded pettiness and prejudice. And third, it's using all your courage to force yourself to think positively on your own problem, to set a definite and clearly defined goal for yourself, to let your marvelous mind think about your goal from all possible angles, to let your imagination speculate freely upon many different possible solutions,

to refuse to believe that there are any circumstances sufficiently strong to defeat you in the accomplishment of your purpose, to act promptly and decisively when your course is clear, and to keep constantly aware of the fact that you are at this moment standing in the middle of your own acres of diamonds, as Russell Conwell used to point out. And fourth, save at least 10% of every dollar you earn. It's also remembering that no matter what your present job, it has enormous possibilities if you're willing to pay the price.

Now let's just go over the important points in the price. Each of us must pay to achieve the wonderful life that can be ours. It is, of course, worth any price. one, you will become what you think about. Two, remember the word imagination and let your mind begin to soar. Three, courage. Concentrate on your goal every day. Four, save ten percent of what you earn.

And five, action. Ideas are worthless unless we act on them. Now, I'll try to outline the 30-day test I want you to make. Keep in mind that you have nothing to lose by making this test and everything you could possibly want to gain. There are two things that may be said, everyone. Each of us want something, and each of us is afraid of something. I want you to write on a card what it is you want more than anything else. It may be more money. Perhaps you'd like to double

your income or make a specific amount of money. It may be a beautiful home. It may be success at your job. It may be a particular position in life. It could be a more harmonious family. Each of us wants something. Now write down on your card specifically what it is you want. Make sure it's a single goal and clearly defined. You needn't show it to anyone, but carry it with you so that you can look at it several times a day. Think about it in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you get up, and immediately you have something to work for, something to get out of bed for, something to live for. Look at it every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night. And as you look at it, remember that you must become what you think about, and since you're thinking about your goal, you realize that soon it will be yours. In fact, it's yours really the moment you write it down and begin to think about it.

Look at the abundance all around you as you go about your daily business. You have as much right to this abundance as any other living creature. It's yours for the asking. Now we come to the difficult part, difficult because it means the formation of what is probably a brand new habit, and new habits are not easily formed. Once formed, however, it will follow you for the rest of your life. Stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a fearful or not,

Negative thought comes into your consciousness, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. And there will come times when you feel by giving up. It's easier for a human being to think negatively than positively. That's why only 5% are successful. You must begin now to place yourself in that group. For 30 days, you must take control of your mind. It will think about only what you permitted to think about. Each day, for this 30-day test, do more than you have to do.

In addition to maintaining a cheerful, positive outlook, give of yourself more than you. you've ever done before. Do this knowing that your returns in life must be in direct proportion to what you give. The moment you decide on a goal to work toward, you're immediately a successful person. You are then in that rare and successful category of people who know where they're going. Out of every hundred people, you belong to the top five. Don't concern yourself too much with how you're going to achieve your goal. Leave that completely to a power greater than yourself. All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of that, of that on accord and at the right time.

Remember these words from the sermon on the mount, and remember them well. Keep them constantly before you this month of your test. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveeth, and he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. It's as marvelous and as simple as that.

In fact, it's so simple that in our seemingly complicated world, it's difficult for an adult to understand that all he needs is a purpose and faith. But 30 days do your very best. If you're a salesman, go out of as you've never done before, not in a hectic fashion, but with the calm, cheerful assurance that time well spent will give you the abundance in return you deserve and want. If you're a homemaker, devote your 30-day test to completely giving of yourself without thinking about receiving anything in return, and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes in your life. No matter what's your job, do it as you've never done it before for 30 days. And if you've kept your goal before you every day, you'll wonder and marvel at this new life you've found.

Dorothea Brand, the outstanding editor and writer discovered it for herself and tells about it in her fine book, Wake Up and Live. Her entire philosophy is reduced to the words, act as though it were impossible to fail. She made her own test with sincerity and faith. and her entire life was changed to one of overwhelming success. Now, you make your test for 30 full days. Don't start your test until you've made up your mind to stick with it.

You see, by being persistent, you're demonstrating faith. Persistence is simply another word for faith. If you didn't have faith, you'd never persist. If you should fail during your first 30 days, by that I mean suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by negative thoughts, you've got to start over again from that point and go 30 more days. gradually your new habit will form until you find yourself one of that

wonderful minority to whom virtually nothing is impossible. And don't forget the card, it's vitally important as you begin this new way of living. On one side of the card, write your goal, whatever it may be. On the other side, write the words we've quoted from the sermon on the mount. Ask, and it shall be given you.

Seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. In your spare time during your test period, read books that will help you. Inspirational books like the Bible, Dorothy Abrams, wake up and live if you can still find a copy. The Magic of Believing by Claude Bristol. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon. You have another books that instruct and inspire. Nothing great was ever accomplished without inspiration.

See that during these crucial first 30 days, your own inspiration is kept to the peak. And above all, don't worry. Worry brings fear and fear is crippling. The only thing that can cause you to worry during your test is trying to try to. to do it all yourself, know that all you have to do is hold your goal before you. Everything else will take care of itself. Remember also to keep calm and cheerful, don't let petty things annoy you and get you off course. Now, since making this test is difficult, some will say, why should I bother? Well, look at the alternative. No one wants to be a failure. No one really

wants to be a mediocre individual. No one wants a life constantly filled with worry and fear and frustration. Therefore, remember that you must reap that what you sow. If you're so negative thoughts, your life will be filled with negative things. If you sell positive thoughts, your life will be cheerful, successful, and positive. Now, gradually, you will have a tendency to forget what you've heard on this recording. Play it often. Keep reminding yourself of what you must do to form this new habit. Gather your whole family around at regular intervals and listen to what's been said here. You know, most men will tell you that they want to make money without understanding the law. The only people who make money work in a mint. The rest of us must earn money.

This is what causes those who keep looking for something for nothing or a free ride to fail in life. The only way to earn money is by providing people with services or products which are needed and useful. We exchange our time and our product or service for the other man's money. Therefore, the law is that our financial return will be in direct proportion to our service. Now, success is not the result of making money. Making money is the result of success, and success is in direct proportion to our service. Most people have this law backwards. They believe that you're successful if you earn a lot of money.

The truth is that you can only earn money after you're successful. It's like the story of the man who sat in front of the stove and said to it, Give me heat, and then I'll add the wood. How many men and women do you know, or do you suppose there are today who take the same attitude toward life? There are millions. We've got to put the fuel in before we can expect heat. Likewise, we've got to be in service first before we can expect money.

Don't concern yourself with the money. Be of service, build, work, dream, create. Do this, and you find there's no limit to the prosperity and abundance will come to you. Prosperity, you know, is founded upon a law of mutual exchange. Any person who contributes to prosperity must prosper and turn himself. Sometimes the return will not come from those you serve, but it must come to you from someplace, because that's the law. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

As you go daily through your 30-day test period, remember that your success will always be measured by the quality and quality of service you render and money is a yardstick for measuring this service. No man can get rich himself, unless he enriches others. And there are no exceptions to a law. You can drive down any street in America and from your car estimate the service

that's being rendered by the people living on that street. Had you ever thought of this yardstick before? It's interesting. Some, like ministers and priests and other devoted people, measure their returns in the realm of the spiritual, but again, their returns are equal to their service. Once this law is fully understood, any thinking person can tell his own fortune. If he wants more, he must be of more service to those from whom he receives his return. If he wants less, he has only to reduce his service.

This is the price you must pay for what you want. If you believe you can enrich yourself by deluding others, you can end only by deluding yourself. It may take some time, but just as surely as you breathe, you'll get back what you put out. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking you can avert this. It's impossible. The prisons in the streets where the lonely walk are filled with people who try to make new laws just for themselves. We may avoid the laws of men for a while, but there are greater laws that cannot be broken. An outstanding medical doctor recently pointed out six steps that will help you realize success.

One, set yourself a definite goal. Two, quit running yourself down. three, stop thinking of all the reasons why you cannot be successful and instead think of all the reasons why you can. 4. Trace your attitudes back through your childhood and try to discover where you first got the idea you couldn't be successful, if that's the way you've been thinking. 5.

Change the image you have of yourself by writing out a description of the person you would like to be. And 6. Act the part of the successful person you have decided to become. The doctor who wrote those words is a noted West Coast psychiatrist. Dr. David Herald Fink. Do what the experts since the dawn of recorded history have told you you must do. Pay the price. By becoming the person you want to become.

It's not nearly as difficult as living unsuccessfully. Make your 30-day test, then repeat it, then repeat it again, and each time it will become more a part of you until you'll wonder how you could ever have lived any other way. Live this new way, and the floodgates of abundance will open and pour over you more riches than you may have dreamed existed. Money? Yes, lots of it. But what's more important?

You'll have peace. You'll be in that wonderful minority who lead calm, cheerful, successful lives. Start today. You have nothing to lose, but you have a whole life to win. This is all right, Gail, and thank you. Okay, that's all I've got for you today. Hopefully you enjoyed that as much as I did. Don't forget, you will have until the end of April to participate in my do-over contest.

Log on to iTunes, search your do-over, and place your iTunes comment and rating, and send me an email. Send an email to Matt at the doover guy.com with I did it in the subject line. And be sure to include your iTunes name in the email so I know who you are and who to send your gifts to. At the very least, you're going to receive a copy of the book, both the ebook and the audio version. And possibly, no, probably another prize as well. Seriously, I'm giving away so much that you're likely to win the other stuff too. Don't delay, though.

Post your comment and rating before the month ends. Love you guys. I am Matt, the doover guy. And I will see you next time on your do. Do-over. Thank you for tuning in to your do-over, where the ignored, underestimated, and unknown steps to producing results and making life work are revealed. And remember, knowledge is potential power.

Take action on what you learned today. This is not your learnover. It's your do-over. To view the resources referenced in today's show and to retrieve a complete show transcript, visit www. www. The Doover Guy.com. Stay connected with Matt the do-over guy Terrio on Twitter at the doover guy and on Facebook at www.

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