2.5 million people.

That was the population of the United States at the time of the Revolutionary War in 1776.

During that first year of the war, the citizens of the new country were excited, patriotic and strongly supported the war.

But that didn’t last very long.

When it became apparent that the war would drag on indefinitely, popular support waned.

Most people were able to go back to life as normal and they did. The Continental Congress was weak and did little to raise troops, money and supplies.

But the small army, usually less than 10,000, marched on.

They followed their Chief even when wracked with disease, lacking shoes, blankets and even the most basics of food.

They followed him across the icy Delaware, late at night in the middle of a snow storm.

The snow was colored red by blood from their feet – wrapped in rags because they had no shoes.

Washington was furious to see his troops sacrifice so much for the nation – with so little reciprocation, acknowledgment or appreciation.

But he fought on. And his people followed him. And the world was forever changed.

Today is Washington’s Birthday.

It’s a good time for every entrepreneur to remember the story of George Washington and his small but stubborn army.

You, too, are out there every day. You know that there are many people who will benefit greatly if they’d follow your lead. If they buy your product or invest in your service.

And some do. But most don’t. And they never will.

History shows us a remarkable pattern: Leaders with character who had the best interests of their followers at heart; who sacrificed tremendously and selflessly, were almost always unappreciated and even vilified by the very people they worked so hard to set free.

Washington’s story should encourage us all.

He was a man with an idea. With beliefs about what was right and what was wrong. And he was willing to sacrifice his own comfortable home life and spend years on the battlefield for what he believed was right.

A few followed him. Most stood by and watched.

But in the end, today we recognize his greatness, foresight and sacrifice for we who came later.

Remember this:

Washington’s army was small, but his impact was monumental.

You don’t need every sale. You don’t need every customer. You don’t need every client. Most will never appreciate what you can do for them – and that you really do care.

March on.

Your guiding ideas must be clear in your own mind. What you believe is right and wrong. What and who is worth fighting against and sacrificing for.

Today let’s remember that nothing great is achieved without tremendous effort and sacrifice. You’ll be called upon to do all sorts of things that the people around you will never do.

But in the end, you’ll also have a story to tell. And your story will be told, often by the very people who failed to recognize who you really were.

I invite you to share your reflections and experiences in a comment below.

Dov Gordon

So as you may have figured out, the ‘strange’ boy I wrote you about the other day was the great Theodore Roosevelt.  And the quote is from his exceptional biographer, Edmond Morris in “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.”

One of TR’s greatest strengths was that he really didn’t care what anyone else thought about him. He believed he was here to leave a mark and he set out to do so at every possible opportunity.

And most of all – he knew that to get what you want in this world, you need to take a bit of a risk where the people around you choose “security.”

And this is where most entrepreneurs get stuck.

Often without conscious awareness, you do not jump at the opportunity before you because it scares you!

It costs more than you budgeted.

Or if you fail, you might let down your loved ones. Your ‘normal’ (read: average) friends will snicker and say “We told you so.”

If you reflect on the actions you have not taken, the investments in yourself you have not made, it almost always comes down to fear of a bruised ego. Perhaps a little discomfort or inconvenience. But not much more.

Hopefully you and I won’t need to charge up a hill into gunfire as TR famously did.

Nor do you need to strip to your birthday suit and dive, by choice, into icy waters. TR would do that, too.

The lessons from TR that apply to all entrepreneurs is you can’t let your worries about security prevent you from making your mark.

The truth, you already know, is that there really is no such thing as security.

The closest you can come to security is learning how to package and sell your products, skills and smarts.

Consistently. Predictably. Confidently. And profitably.

If a consistent, predictable flow of ideal clients is the one thing between you and the impact you were born to make – and the profit you know should be yours – go now and request a free “Consistent Flow of Customers” strategy session with me.

Each month I give away about 5 – 7 of these.

If you’re ready to cultivate the fearlessness in you, TR style, go request your session now. 

It’s your ticket to TRUE security.

If you’re over thirty, you’re accompanied daily with that feeling – life moves fast. And it gets faster with every birthday.

To deal with it, most people put their heads down and work harder. And longer. But it doesn’t seem to help.

Vladimir Vysotsky, an iconic Soviet-era Russian singer, poet and actor sang it like this:

On a rugged cliff, the very edge, above the endless chasm
I keep lashing at my horses with my whip clenched in a spasm
But the air is growing thinner, I am gasping, drowning, crying
I can sense with horrid wonder, I am vanishing, I’m dying

Slow your gallop, oh my horses! Slow your gallop I say!
Don’t you listen to my stinging whip!
But the horses I was given, stubborn and so unforgiving,
Can’t complete the life I’m living, can’t conclude the verse I’m singing

Time marches on. That we can’t control.

But riding out-of-control horses? That’s often our own making.

We whip our horses – while we yell for them to slow down.

I will perish, as a feather that the hurricane has swallowed,
In a chariot they’ll pull me through the snow in blinding gallop
All I ask of you my horses, slow your pace but for a moment
To prolong the final seconds of approach to my last comfort.

We’ve come in time: there is no such thing as being late for God, -
But why are angels singing with such fiendish scolding voices,
Or is it that the horse bell ringing in a frenzy drenched with tears,
Or is it I the one who’s screaming for my horses to shift gears?

Tomorrow I’ll share a life-altering lesson I’ve learned about slowing your horses.

For now,  watch Vysotsky singing this song.

A friend who grew up in Moscow told me that while the Soviets hated this guy, the people loved him.

You could often walk down the street and his singing, heard through open windows, would accompany you the whole way.

It wasn’t his voice they loved, I’m sure of that. It was something else.  What do you think it was?  Tell us  in the comments section below.

—

Clear thinking is your most valuable work. Period.

This means lots of things. But at it’s most basic, it means you must see things as they are, not as you wish them to be. Self-delusion makes life and business painful and frustrating.

And when deluded people are in power, they create pain and frustration for millions of others.

Yesterday a friend sent me an audio clip of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin issuing a prediction:

“The nightmare stories of the Likud are well known. After all, they promised Katyusha rockets from Gaza as well. For a year, Gaza has been largely under the rule of the Palestinian Authority. There has not been a single Katyusha rocket. Nor will there be any Katyushas.” – former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, July 24, 1995

Well, as you may know, since 2001, more than 13,000 mortars and rockets came screeching over the border from Gaza. Something no sane country would ever tolerate.

Another example:

Back when Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in early 2011, a colleague pronounced a prediction of her own. “The Muslim Brotherhood is not a force. Egypt is not in danger of becoming fundamentalist.”

Just over a year later, the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic organization, is leading Egypt.

Why do people make these predictions – and with such confidence?

It’s because they confuse the way things are – Reality – with they way they’d like them to be.

And this line of thinking isn’t limited to politics and war. It applies to business just the same.

This is why the first principle of The Alchemist Entrepreneur is:

“Embrace Reality.”

Most people see only the superficial level of what’s going on – in business or in life.

A protester in California tells the TV reporter “If Israel isn’t the aggressor, then why are more Palestinians than Israelis dying?”

That’s taking a narrow, superficial look at things.   The broadminded, open-minded thinker doesn’t look only at what is visible right now. He also looks to see what came before. And what forces are at play that may not be immediately visible.

To see Reality you need a few things:

1. You need to honestly want to. There was a time when I didn’t want to look at my bank account because I was afraid of what I’d see. That’s avoiding Reality. My account was at what it was at, whether I knew the numbers or not. That was delusional thinking and behavior.

2. You need structured thinking skills. When you go to a doctor, you expect he’s going to look to find the underlying cause of your symptoms.

In business, when you conclude “I can’t charge any more for my expertise” or “My customers don’t want to buy in this economy,” or “We don’t have enough money to run a proper marketing strategy,”  you’re not seeing what’s really going on. You’re seeing prospects turn you down, but you’re not seeing the Real reason why.

And so when you don’t see Reality, you attribute the reasons for your problem to the wrong causes. This leads you to make poor decisions about how to use your time and money. And so you continue to get poor results.

It’s as simple as this: When you misdiagnose the illness, you’ll treat it with the wrong prescription. When you treat it with the wrong prescription, you suffer side effects even as the original illness progresses.

Just as a doctor learns a thought process that helps him make an accurate diagnosis, you, the entrepreneur, need to learn accurate thinking skills.

3. You need to master timeless wisdom. 

King Solomon observed “The bird sees the net and thinks it’s there for naught.” And so he lands to eat the bait.

Haven’t we all been that bird one time or another? And doesn’t it help when you learn to spot the trap so next time you can avoid it?

Study the ways of the world, how people think and behave, the patterns that repeat themselves and you’ll be studying Reality.

I believe that Yitzhak Rabin meant well.  He would not have knowingly put millions of people in harms way.

I know that my colleague, who predicted the Muslim Brotherhood would not win in Egypt, has a good heart. She very much wants the world to be a warm and loving place. And so she’s looking for evidence to prove that it is.

Both were wrong.  Both were naive; choosing to believe things were one way when Reality was something else.

If your marketing plan isn’t working with $500, it’s not going to work with $50,000.  It’s not the money.  It’s the way you’re thinking about the whole project.

The first principle of The Alchemist Entrepreneur is “Embrace Reality” because until you know the truth about how things are, you can’t possibly hope to change them to the way you’d like them to be.

Where have you noticed people choose naivety over Reality – and what were the consequences?  Please share below in the comments.

Dov Gordon

I talk to two kinds of entrepreneurs any given week.

The first kind I can help. The second, I cannot.

The first kind has a Want and you can’t shake him from it. He’s on a journey. He has an Inner Knowing that he is destined for something.  He believes there’s a reason for everything that happens. And it’s all taking him closer to his dream.

Even when it feels like a punch in the gut.

But something is missing.  He doesn’t fully know HOW to make his dream real.

Two things are always clear:

1. The Inner Knowing.
2. His very next step.

Despite these advantages, he often doesn’t know what he’ll do step-after-next. But he has faith that as he puts one foot in front of the other, that, too, will become clear.

His Inner Knowing provides him with courage the second guy doesn’t have. And so, as long as the next step is clear, he takes it. If the next step is clearly to invest in my help, he comes up with the money one way or another.

This same Inner Knowing leads him to implement everything we do together. Fast.

The work I give my clients can be hard work. If they didn’t have that Inner Knowing and expectation that they will succeed, they’d quit. But they don’t.

Instead, our first kind of entrepreneur, puts up with pain and stress. He expects it.  It’s just the way the world is. He’s learned to see a disappointment, or a setback as nothing more than a signal. He searches the signal for it’s message and adjusts.

Pretty soon he experiences a life altering transformation.

Because nothing makes your life more fun than a simple system that brings you a consistent flow of amazing clients. Without needing to make cold calls or chase them. Or coddle and cut your prices.

Finally, he has money to travel. To take his kids to see Italy and France and his wife on a cruise to Alaska. To help out an elderly parent. To put a nephew through college. To support a community organization.

A life of options is the fruit of working hard smart.

Best part about it – all along he’s doing what he loves and leaving other happy people all around him.

–
Then there’s the second kind.

He has a Wish. Many wishes, really. He wishes for all the things our first entrepreneur wants. The travel, the options, yadda, yadda, yadda…

But he doesn’t have that Inner Knowing that it will all work out.

For him, a setback is noise. Noise that keeps him from the ease he thinks should be his.

He looks at others and wonders why they have it easy. (Of course they don’t, but that doesn’t prevent him from assuming they do.)

He wonders what they know that he doesn’t. Will things ever change for him? (He’s waiting for things to change. He’s been waiting a while…)

His thoughts are consumed with survival, with paying the next bills, with just making it. With his head down, so focused on his very next step, he doesn’t allow himself to dream.

I met with such a person recently.

I’d asked him what he’s looking for. Where he wants to be in a year. And it wasn’t easy for him to answer.

We had to slog though all the things he thought he wanted just so we could unearth what he really wanted. The lights came on and for a very brief moment, he allowed himself to dream.

But then the elephant Fear put its heavy foot down once again. “What if it doesn’t work out that way. What if you fail. Again. Think of all the additional problems you’d have then. Why, you don’t know HOW you’d make that dream happen. Maybe Dov can help others, but you – you’re different. He doesn’t understand you.

“You don’t know how you’ll cross Bridge # 6 – so what business do you have starting on such a path and crossing the bridge in front of you! That would be irresponsible. It would be…”

Faced with the snorting, stomping elephant Fear this second type quickly revised his dreams.

Now he merely spoke of things he felt he could safely achieve.

All this right before my startled eyes!

“My friend, I can’t help you,” I said.

And indeed, I can’t help him or anyone like him.

Those first types need only know the next step and they take it. What will be later? God knows the future, not man. So this man begins with WHAT he wants, and then deals with HOW along the way. Small step by small step.

The second type places HOW first. And his dreams – if you can call them that – will never outpace what he feels confident he knows HOW to achieve today.  This very moment.

And so, his decisions are motivated by what appears safe and secure. And in a futile attempt to appease his shackled human spirit he Wishes for a time when things will change.

Alas, a thousand Wishes don’t equal one burning Want.

–
Meeting this fellow was a truly sad experience for me. It’s like standing helplessly watching an accident about to happen. You could yell, but no one will hear you. The wreck is inevitable.

A life wasted trying to be safe instead of striving to be great is a wreck indeed.

My consolation is my amazing clients. People who come with a dream and the tenacity to make it happen.

People like Gabriel Madeiros, a customer and Oasis member who has a dream. He’s been working hard creating a future for himself. And there were times when I feared the high standards we demand around here would drive him to quit. But look what he posted in the Oasis forums yesterday:

“Hi Dov,

“This is HARD work. But for the first time I feel that I’m going in the right direction. Thank you!”

And indeed, he got it this time. I read through the latest version of his work and – he got it!

While the second type believe that clarity is something you wait around for, Gabriel is of the first type – he knows that clarity is something you work for. And then clarity works for you.

–
Another client I’m very proud of is Kyle Hunt. Kyle is the leading marketing consultant serving the remodeling industry in the US. He was already earning six figures before we met. But he’d plateaued and recognized he needed some outside help.

When the elephant Fear snorts and stomps, Kyle Hunt climbs up on it’s back and shows it where to go.

–
Do you have that Inner Knowing?  Is it something some are born with and others are not? Can it be acquired? Nurtured?

What do you think?  Let me know if a comment below.

Dov Gordon

PS – Kyle Hunt and I will be doing a live case study teleseminar on Thursday, July 12th, 2012 at 12 noon eastern. Put it on your calendar.

We’re going to show you how we took Kyle’s business through the Five Steps to A Consistent Flow of Customers. Kyle plans to talk freely about what it was like being plateaued, and how things have changed as a result of our work together.

If you’ve listened to any of my other work you know this will be insightful. We will keep things simple. And you will understand how to apply the 5 Steps process to your business.

All my subscribers will get the call-in details.  If you get my emails, no need to do anything.

Are you new here?:  Go get your free download of “The Five Steps to A Consistent Flow of  Customers” and you’ll also get the call-in details when we sent them.

The case study with Kyle Hunt is a great opportunity to get a sneak peak at the high caliber people who hang around here. If you’re a Type 1 entrepreneur, you need a community of like minded people to support you on your journey. If you’re looking for such a place, let me know.

Dov Gordon

High school memories can be painful.

I was not one of the popular kids. I distinctly remember wondering “Why is it that when Cool Dude cracks a joke everyone laughs? Even when it’s not funny. But if I would crack the same joke, they’d roll their eyes and snort.”

One day I had a sudden epiphany. I realized that people respond to me because of the totality of how I present myself. You relate to your friend Bob one way, and Larry another way. You are incapable of treating Bob as Larry or Larry as Bob.

Therefore, I reasoned, if I change, even a little, people will have no choice but to treat the new me differently. And so it was.

It’s been an encouraging insight ever since. Every small change forces others to relate to me differently. As I grow, there’s an equal and opposite reaction from others.

In high school, the first change I resolved to make was to never say or do anything simply for attention. I resolved that unless I had some other reason for saying or doing something, I would keep quiet.

This was a change. And the way people treated me changed. They had no choice.

All this was nice, because it helped me realize that the power lies with me.

Too many entrepreneurs fail to harness their power. They think “I need to hire a new salesperson.” Or “I need a new website.” Or “I’ll pay $5,000 a month to the nice people at the call center to set up great appointments for me.” Or “We need a killer booth at the conference.” Or… On and on.

A week doesn’t go by without me speaking to an entrepreneur who has given away his power. He’s placed his hope in some tactic or someone. And months or years later, he’s still struggling and disappointed.

Why?

Because until YOU change, you’ll keep getting the same reaction from your market.

If your message is uninteresting to them, it doesn’t matter if it’s delivered by a new website or an old one. By this salesman or that one. A fancy conference booth or a simple one. By you or by a call center employee.

Fortunately, the power lies with you. Change to a message rooted in a deep understanding of your ideal clients, and those clients will start to pay attention. They’ll call you up. They’ll send you emails.

And when they hire you they’ll follow your advice. That’s not only financially rewarding, but personally fulfilling as well.

If the clients you want most are not consistently reaching out to you, you need to change something fundamental, not just your tactics. And if you meet certain qualifications, I can help you make that change – and create a consistent, predictable flow of ideal clients for yourself.

It’s the beginning of June. Each month I give away about five free “Consistent Flow of Customers” strategy sessions. We’re now accepting applications for the June sessions.

To apply for a “Consistent Flow of Customers” strategy session, click here

Requirements:  (1) You know you should be able to add $100,000 or more to your income this year.  (2) Doing so is your number 1 priority.  If yes, then head over there and apply now.

Dov Gordon

PS – How was your high school experience?  Did you learn anything that has stuck with you? What do you think of my lesson?  Comment below…

Dov Gordon

Don’t set big goals. Big goals keep you small.

I know that’s not what you hear from many, but here at the Alchemist Entrepreneur we’ve learned that the herd is usually wrong. And every now and then they run themselves off a cliff.

Also, we’re practical. And big goals don’t work. Even when clothed in charming corpora-babble and called a BHAG – big goals keep you where you are.

For years I followed the classic advice and set big goals. And it was during those same years that I found myself spinning my wheels. And whenever someone shares their really big goal with enthusiasm and faith – I know the wine in their cask has some maturation to go through.

What does help you move fast in the direction you want is a little secret prescription called “Rapid Growth Through the Optimization of Greed.”

Sounds sinister, I know. But that’s because most people assume that greed is evil.

But is it?

The ancient Jewish sages observed that “He who has 100 wants 200.”

That’s brilliant because in one simple statement they’ve described the reality of human nature and also prescribed a process for growth.

They didn’t say “He who has 100 wants 1,000,000.”   That would simply be stating the obvious: People want more.

They also didn’t say “He who has 100 wants 110.” That would have lacked the powerful prescription I’m about to spell out for you.

We humans are wired to want more. To be more. To create more. Wanting more is neither good nor bad. It is what you make of it.

Who doesn’t want to win the lottery? Instant riches. The ability to do what you want. When you want. With people you love and care about.

We imagine that more is always better. But the statistics of lottery winners and those who inherit sudden wealth are pretty grim.

More money is only better when anchored to more maturity.

Why big goals don’t work.

Big goals don’t work because you don’t really believe you can achieve them. And so our Tragic Hero says “I’m going to earn a million dollars this year.”  But it is so far out, that he doesn’t have a clue how to make it happen.

A goal without a simple, clear-cut plan, a process, for its achievement is a mere fantasy.

And “fantasy goals” take a very tangible toll.

Since he doesn’t really know what to do, and lacks the true belief that he can achieve it, he’s afraid to act. This non-action (busyness is not action) erodes his self confidence. Which further increases his fear. So he doesn’t invest in himself and in his ideas. He says “When I get results, then I’ll invest.” But the way of the world is “When you sow, you’ll have something to reap.”

Without the guidance of a mentor and without the requisite tools, nor a clear plan for how to get to the 1,000,000, our Tragic Hero stays stuck.

He starts with 100. And he remains with 100. Such is the fate of “He who has 100 and wants 1,000,000.”

The secret prescription for Rapid Growth Through the Optimization of Greed:

Now let’s look at our Triumphant Hero – the person who has 100. And all he wants is 200.

He honestly knows it’s attainable. He also may not know exactly how. But he knows that if he commits to it fully, eventually, he’ll figure it out.

He’ll seek out and hire mentor. He’ll invest in training. He’ll make sure he has the tools – the ingredients to bake a 200 cake.

Sure, he is afraid. But fear is part of growth. And it’s a different fear. He acts in the face of this fear. He builds a real plan. And every step he implements builds his confidence.

Pretty soon he’s at 200. He’s grown. He’s more mature, too.

And here’s the magic – now he wants 400!

Our Triumphant Hero repeats the process. And before long, he’s at 1,000,000.

And that’s the Secret Prescription for Rapid Growth Through the Optimization of Greed.

Be careful who you share this with. Most won’t understand. They’re looking for something flashy and this sure ain’t flashy.

But if you ‘got’ what I’m sharing, hold it tight and live it. And as you ascend from 200 to 400, and from 1600 to 3200, you’ll attract other Triumphant Heros who are earlier in their journey. And they’ll be grateful for your wisdom.

—-

So, what do you think?  Please share below.

Yesterday, on a Q&A call for my private coaching clients, one member, “Frank,” mentioned that he’d finally began using an email marketing system.

“That’s great,” I said. “But is that the critical 10% for you at this time?”

In the world of the Alchemist Entrepreneur, we strike at the roots where everyone is hacking at the leaves. We focus intensely on the few things that will give you a big result, fastest.

Now, Frank is still testing his message with his market. He still needs to have more one-on-one conversations with the people he wants as clients. After he’s made more sales face-to-face, he’ll be ready to systematize and automate his marketing.

Our brains, and the world around us, are wired to confuse us. To fog up our lenses so we take one wrong turn after another. To get us working hard on everything besides the critical 10% that makes you look brilliant 90% of the time.

This is why it’s so important to work with a mentor and to be part of a community of people on a similar path to your own.

Look back at your week so far. Have you been working hard, with focus, on the critical 10% that rapidly brings you more clients, income and life choice? Or, do you need a bit of help?

Early next week you’ll have the opportunity to apply for one of the approximately five free “Consistent Flow of Customers” strategy sessions that I’ll be offering in March. Watch your inbox for details.

Oh, and I’d love to hear your reactions to this in the comment section below.

Dov Gordon

This is the second of “The Alchemist Papers”, written by The Alchemist Entrepreneur.  His identity must be kept silent, so we just call him “Al.”

I remind you that even though Al is alive and well in the age when millions share nonsense daily through Facebook and Twitter, he likes to write as if he were a member of Ben Franklin’s Junto.  And you know, had he lived then, he probably would have been.

Al’s essays penetrate to the very core of what matters. While everyone is hacking at the leaves, Al strikes at the root.  I’m a grateful student.  I urge you to read through to the very end.

-          Dov Gordon

The Alchemist Papers

2. Dragooned by your own perfidious mind

___

OK – I’ve got a challenge for you.  How can you square Al’s advice in Paper # 2 with the observations in Happy kids, miserable adults and a timeless, secret truth?

Share your thoughts below.   The person with the best answer wins a moment of silent calm and confidence.  ;-)

And if you agree that more people need to hear Al’s message, please share this with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.  You’re part of the signal, not the noise.

Dov Gordon

In The King’s Speech, the stammering Prince Albert, soon to become King George VI, finds himself in the cozy office of speech therapist Lionel Logue. He expects Logue to begin treating him.  Instead, Logue insists on small talk.

Losing patience, the prince takes out a cigarette.

“Please don’t do that,” Lionel says.

“I’m sorry?” replies the prince.

“I believe sucking smoke into your lungs will kill you,” Lionel says.

“My physicians say it relaxes the throat,” says the prince.

“They’re idiots.”

The prince is taken aback.  “They’ve all been knighted!” he says.

“Makes it official then,” says Lionel.

I love this little repartee. Just because someone is well known, highly regarded and has many who agree with him, doesn’t mean he’s worth listening to.

Is there wisdom in crowds?  No.  If everyone is doing it, that’s reason enough to question it.

If you’re a regular at The Alchemist Entrepreneur(TM), I’m going to make a guess about you.  Tell me if I’m right.

You have a deep inner belief that you are on this earth for a reason.  That you have an important contribution to make.  That you are capable of much more than your record reveals.

You also look around at what others have achieved.  What others say.  What others do.  Sometimes you wonder. It doesn’t seem to make sense.  Something seems to be missing.  And yet, look where they are.  They must be smarter, more charismatic, more talented…  They’re certainly richer and more famous.  They must know something you don’t…

And you wonder to yourself, “Will I ever know, have and be what they know, have and are?”

Goodness, I hope not!  They’re idiots!  They’re loud today, and they’ll be gone tomorrow.

Shut out the experts.  Quiet your mind. Allow your own native common sense to shine through the smoke and mirrors.

There were many speech therapists in London.  But there was only one Lionel Logue.  At first the prince assumed Lionel would be like the others he had already seen and dismissed.  Eventually he realized that Lionel’s difference was also his genius.

You, too, my friend have your own genius. Don’t stifle it by trying to be like the others out there. The world doesn’t need more of them.  They need more of you.

Dov Gordon

Your comments and stories are welcome below.