News By Tom Brownsword

I’ve been almost obsessed with the topic of self discipline lately and how it can really help a person in their business and life efforts. I’m of the opinion that self-discipline alone won’t be enough to sustain you in the long run, regardless of what you want to do.

Let me repeat that statement because I think it’s very important: I do not believe that self-discipline, in and of itself, will be enough to sustain you in the long run. Here’s why I think this way.

Self-discipline, according to Steve Pavlina, is like a muscle in that it needs to be developed. If you try to train with a weight that is too heavy for you, you’ll never get it off the ground and gain no benefit. If you train with a weight that is too light, you don’t sufficiently exercise the muscle and gain almost no benefit (although you might maintain your current level of fitness).

It’s the same with self-discipline. Start off doing too much and you’ll get discouraged and quit. Start off too light and you’ll never reach your potential.

There’s another comparison factor to consider here, though. Just like training the muscle isn’t usually the goal, neither is developing your self-discipline the ultimate goal. You train your muscles to compete in a competition, improve your health, etc. In the same way, you develop your self-discipline to accomplish other tasks.

And that’s why I say that self-discipline alone won’t get you to your goals. You develop your self-discipline, then USE that self-discipline to accomplish what you want to do. And just like you don’t think about your muscles when competing in an athletic competition (instead, you use them to propel yourself to the goal), you use your self-discipline to carry you to new heights and reach new goals. In other words, you don’t think about it; you just use it as a tool.

But before you can get to that point, you do need to train it. And that’s where I think I need LOTS of work.

I’m not afraid of hard work, although I sometimes find it difficult to figure out exactly WHICH hard work I need to focus on. That’s something called Purpose (you can read Steve Pavlina’s “take” on Purpose here; I like it), and if you are avoiding hard work, chances are good that you simply haven’t found your purpose. And according to Dr. Robert Anthony in The Secret of Deliberate Creation, that Purpose is known as your Heart’s Desire. It’s something that you can put 100% of everything behind. And once you find your Purpose or Heart’s Desire, there’s absolutely nothing that can stop you.

So I’m working hard to develop my self-discipline to get the “muscle” working well. I’m also going through some of the exercises in The Secret of Deliberate Creation to discover my true Heart’s Desire so that I’ll know what I need to be working on. In a way, that’s why I haven’t really been blogging much lately, and it’s also a factor (I think) in why I enjoyed last months’ break so much.

I am working on a non-IM project right now that’s going to be my focus through the end of October. It’s going to require a heavy time commitment up front but the time required should taper off as time goes on. It’s going to be a good way for me to develop my self-discipline muscle while learning new things that have the potential for profit further down the road.

Incidentally, if you want to know more about Steve Pavlina’s take on self-discipline, there should be links at the bottom of the post that I linked to earlier in this post.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

Regarding the title, Stephen Dean, copywriter extraordinare (and a pretty neat all-around guy) has announced on his blog that he is killing WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). That’s the type of text editor where you type, and whatever appears is what will show up in the final product. Think “word processor” or “overbloated HTML editor”.

Stephen apparently got tired of that and created a tool that allows him to focus on his writing (Stephen is a copywriter) instead of having to focus on keeping stuff formatted. I’m hoping to get my hands on a copy, hence the subtle plug (you might be able to get one, too, if you click on that link and read the blog post…). Unlike Stephen, I’m not a copywriter (at least not at the level he’s at), but like Stephen, I like to write without fighting a frustrating piece of bloated software that keeps on wanting to format my text in a weird way.

So I’d like to try out his “WYSIWYG Killer” software because I think it’s something that I could use. In fact, I’m writing this post from a very private, very “adapted” contact form that lets me simply type and email my blog posts without doing annoying stuff like wrapping lines and the like. In other words, I already have a kinda-sorts stripped down thing that I think is like that and would love to get my hands on Stephen’s new tool.

If I get a copy, I’ll let you know how I like it. In the meantime, click on the link above to see if you can get your copy.

And who knows? Perhaps I’ll give Stephen a run for the copywriting money some day… (of course, that would require that I actually LEARN copywriting! )

Thanks for listening,
Tom

I’ve lost money to shady characters in my efforts to build an Internet-based business. It’s a part of the risk that I have to accept. In most cases, I do make an attempt to get my money back, but simply store away lots of details and move on. Perhaps some day the opportunity will arise to get that money back (and it does happen).

In other cases, the business deal simply doesn’t work out quite the way you hoped it would. For example, I’m getting absolutely no value out of a mentoring program I paid for (which is still active) because the mentor publicly insulted a friend over something that, in my opinion, should have been kept quiet. Yes, I could raise a stink about it, but why bother? From my perspective, it’s better to simply move forward and take care of Now. The world is big enough for both of us and I’ve become apathetic to his cause (hate requires negative energy and effort; apathy is much better because it frees you to do something else).

In another case, I invested a chunk of cash in another system. That one didn’t work out at all like I hoped it would. I understood the risks going in, completely trusted the person running it (and still do), and know that I’ll get at least some of my money back if some of the issues ever get worked out. Yet I still get emails and private messages at forums asking if I still “believe” this person or telling me that I’m a fool for trusting this “scam artist”.

No, the deal just went bad. That’s all. Furthermore, in keeping with my “move forward” philosophy, if I know that the deal simply went bad, I know that I wasn’t “scammed”. In the case with this person, were she to come forward with another business proposition similar to the one that didn’t work out, I’d take a serious look at it because I know and trust the person behind it.

(On a side note, I’m still holding on to the naive hope that I might see some money some day, even though it has been several months since I stopped investing in this deal. The nature of the deal was such that I should have been paid within 3-4 months at the most… Then again, if it happens, it happens; I’m not at all obsessed with it.)

So please; STOP calling every failed business deal a “scam”. It’s not. If you can’t handle some risk (and don’t have a plan to manage it), then go get a job (of course, that’s risky, too, since you aren’t in control of your paycheck).

And above all, don’t try to draw me in to a protracted argument about the merits of a person. While I might tell you my opinion (which I tend to not do in public nowadays for a very good reason), you have already convinced yourself about the “character” of this person, and nothing I say is going to change it. Your “scam artist” is my “friend” or “business partner”, and Who They Are is completely separate from What Happened. Enjoy your opinion while I move forward and take advantage of Now. And the sooner you learn to separate people from issues, the better it will be for you.

One final word: If you can’t afford to lose the cash, then don’t invest it in your business. Period. Calling somebody a scam artist when the real problem is your inability to manage risk is only going to lead to you running into even more so-called scam artists. Stop passing the buck and take responsibility for your own actions.

Thanks for listening,
Tom

I’ve just downloaded some “next generation” anti virus software that’s recently been released by a company that I know and trust. I’ve been working with their products since 2001, and to be quite honest, I’ve been looking forward to testing this particular brand of anti virus software.

Why am I eager to test it?

• It’s getting a lot of favorable reviews in the security community.
• It combines anti virus software with anti spyware capabilities in one package. No need for two applications!
• It supposedly is NOT a resource hog. That would be very nice… From what I can tell, it was written from the ground up instead of trying to build (and bloat) an outdated engine that can’t keep up with modern malware.
• It’s “next generation” software. Hopefully this means that it not only detects malware but also guards against behavior that is typically exhibited by malware (for those times when signature based detection just doesn’t work).
• It has rootkit detection.

So I’m going to install it on my computer and test it for several days. I’ll report back — and, of course, recommend it if it works as promised (!); if not, well, I’ll tell you about that, too…

Sorry, no names for now, but I did want to alert you about something that looks to be both new and promising in the computer security world. Check back soon for the final word!

Thanks for listening,
Tom

UPDATE: Here is the link to that new anti-virus software: VIPRE Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware Software by Sunbelt Software

There. I said it. While I like helping people and enjoy life, I need to make money — and I do make money from this blog.

I just wanted to say that because some people get upset once they realize it, for some reason. So be it; I just thought that I’d save you the time and trouble of possibly reading this blog for months before you realize that I’m in it for the money (among other reasons).

So what does this mean to you?

First, the only way I’m going to make money is if I can provide my customers (hopefully you — you can become one by purchasing this computer and website security interview — see, I just tried to make money!) with more value than what they give me in exchange. Money is a universally accepted instrument that represents value. In this case, when you give me $27, I need to convince you that I’m giving you at least $27 worth of value before you’ll pay me. If I can’t do that, you don’t pay and move on.

So who got more value? I always try to ensure that my customers get more value than I.

And the next reason why I’m so self-centered is best revealed in Dr. Robert Anthony’s Secret of Deliberate Creation course (oh no, not again! ). I’m listening to it again, and just today I heard about how we are constantly creating. That creation takes on the form of positive and negative creation. And we can’t help BUT create — we were made to create.

Now if we focus on all of the bad stuff around us and try to change others, all it does is drag us down to their level. In what may appear to be a paradox to most people, the only way to really help others is to focus on improving yourself. Focus on yourself, think positive stuff (more or less; I’m glossing over a lot), and things get better for you. And guess what? Once your lot in life improves, you have something to give finally, don’t you? And there’s a universal law about giving that says you get it back — just not from the same source you give it to — and you get back much more than you give.

So I do focus on making money so that I’ll have more to give. Heck, if I didn’t make money, I couldn’t even afford to pay to host this website and you wouldn’t be reading this. In other words, how can I help you if I don’t make money?

OK, this post may be a bit strange, but it was inspired by a thread that’s currently running over at Willie Crawford’s Internet Marketing Inner Circle (Argh! Another money-making attempt!), it’s spur of the moment and entirely impulsive, and I’ll probably regret it at some point in the future. But then again, who wants to read the same old boring stuff day in and day out?

Oh, one parting random thought: I absolutely despise people who try to take advantage of me. Both my wife and I are extremely generous, but if we find out that somebody took advantage of our generosity when they could have taken care of themselves, we’ll cut you off at the kneecaps. And don’t put one hand in my wallet while the other one is stabbing me in the back.

OK, now I’ll get back to being my nice old self…

Thanks for listening,
Tom

P.S. — I’ll be posting some “before and after” pics on my raw foods blog in the next day or so. I’ve lost over 60 pounds since January of this year and some of my readers of that blog would like to see pictures… plus I like to show off… So I’ll post a link here once those pictures are posted. If nothing else, you’ll know who I am so you can avoid me if you want!