Wednesday, February 12, 2014

The Magic of Believing Trumps Mundane Muggles' Lifestyle


(photocredit: Symphone of Love)

The Secret to Enjoying Life is in Entertainment, in the Magic of Believing.


Mundania (Piers Anthony's series) is the curse people live in. They are willing to throw it all away for someone who can invite them on a journey to hope. This is how politicians work, this is how cars are sold, how insurance makes its big bucks.

The secret is right in front of everyone - 97% or more of this planet are here for entertainment, for diversion.

This is the secret to all (e)commerce.

And how to do it is held in those old books on copywriting, and in the Strangest Secret series.

This is why people will pay for lessons - to anyone who can take them away from it all and give them hope about their lives.

People who are optimistic live longer, find more opportunities, get rich or poor to the exact degree they enthuse others in their quest. (Not too surprising even idiot politicians can fall into this "get-elected-quick" scheme.)

None of this is unknown. People want someone to hold their hand and tell them how very smart they are for making it all the way there. Now, the story goes, there is yet another journey to take. It won't be easy, it will try your very soul. But when you succeed - and everyone hopes you will - it will bring solve all your problems, it will heal all those old emotional wounds you've been inflicted with, it will make your life one of continual song and dance.

This is the reason for story, the reason why people have to be sold. People want to be invited to take the epic journey, to lose themselves in their own Star Wars or Famous Author saga - they want to go down the river with Huck Finn, they want to find romance in the deep woods of an unknown planet, they want to be the hero or heroine and know everything they went through was all worth it - they want to battle trolls and evil wizards, side-by-side with elves and fairies and dwarves, while carrying magic potions, enchanted weapons, and power rings.

This is the actual reason for existence.

You see, we seem to have picked the wrong world this time. The one we live is in full of recrimination and fault-finding. Dull, boring Matrix-like cubicles. It's no surprise that we want one filled with adventure, heroes/heroines, attainable sky-high goals, incredible danger. Beats the hell out of mundane day-to-day living with fellow Muggles.

So now, I have a different respect for marketers. Most still don't know what they are doing, but that is no surprise. The ones who are truly outstanding are the ones who are always holding out invitations to the next journey and adventure.

Those are the ones to study, learning even when they fail.

Because for us, to paraphrase Dorothea Brande - we can "Act As Though It's Only Possible to Succeed."
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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

How to process this election

In this election, there were no winners.

Because, like any sport with 2 teams, there are always at least one loser. However, these were evenly matched teams and despite record amounts of money spent, the result was no change. Both Houses and the Executive Office are the same. 

It's called a "zero-sum" game. 

There is a way to win at this - and that is to ignore the rules. Asymmetric approach. 

If you've been covering my books, you know I'm a fan of that 97%/3% split. In brief, the 3rd iteration of this (3% of 3% of 3%) actually makes the big score. (Which is the Pareto Principle on steroids...)

That's 1 in 10,000 has the knowledge and experience to slip between the gaps of what passes for "conventional wisdom" to seize the gold ring. And the rest haven't had enough "failures" (learning situations) in order to make that leap. Malcom Gladwell's "Outliers" had this as a necessry 10,000 hours (no relation in the numbers). That is about 10 years at 20 hours per week - all practice, etc. 

But the first point is kicking over "conventional wisdom" as false. 

It's widely known that the government can't move as fast as business, and that small business is far more agile than large corporations. 

Tactically, there are all the books you need right now to succeed regardless of governmental regulations, red tape, and taxes. Read Rober Kiyosaki and cross-reference T. Harv Eker ("Speedwealth"). 

A little homework will then take you into these very hot niches where a large fortune can be gotten in very little time. 

The trick is to play this cool - like running a business and not getting emotionally over-involved with it. There are a lot of global accidents waiting to happen right now. And even more people profiting off these via scare tactics. Again, the marketing in use is simply working on the "conventional wisdom" which is hardwired into most of us. That is what advertising and scams are based on and is what government relies on. 

But the technical point is to use what you know about the mind to take this all to a higher level - Maslow's hierarchy.

It means remaining detached, aloof, serene. Releasing then becomes a huge tool in this to maintain that exterior view.

Let everyone else play that game. Your approach is to win without winning or appearing to win. You appear as another "zero sum" game player. It can be done. And people are doing it daily. (i.e. Mike Dillard)

My point in this rather cryptic post on an obscure set of blogs is to offer encouragement. 

To "seize the day", you start this minute.

Good Hunting.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Where to? As my heart leads - entertainment.

Humanfind fate is writ large in self-help books.My own future is a divergent path, somewhat from what I've been doing up to this point. It has to do with where humankind is and is going.

The fate of humankind is easily understood and known.

It is writ large in the annals of self-help books. And in the application of same to actual work and what passes for accomplishment.

I have covered at various times and places (too many to look up and link here) about the bell curve and the forces at work which pull the center to and fro.

The bulk of humankind live in that center swell, more or less oblivious (by choice) to the forces at either end.

These two forces are both good and evil, but not true dichotomies. For as easily, they are named Create and No-Create. And those gray-scaled versions of each other rule the ebb and flow of survival action.

A study of Marketing reveals that all markets are simply "long-tail" minority sections. Even the top of the hump of that bell-curve is a sliding grasp - none hold the periphery long. Products reach their peak consumption and then decline in volume of use, until they reach again to that minority few of the late adopters - or again settle into a simple state of commodity.

It has been said that humankind, on the whole, would rather be slaves. And, to a great degree, this is correct. So the bulk of all peoples are lead hither and thither by the extremes, who work their skills at motivation to push, shove, pull, or lure the great "masses" closer to their side.

So it was in the foundation of this "United States", which was formed from extremists forced and cast out from England's home-base. Yet the majority of those in the Colonies didn't want to dissolve their governance by England, they simply wanted a stable way of life. A minority few "activists" were able to sway the bulk of these peoples into accepting a new form of governance.

Likewise, government has always been at the beck and call of extremes. It itself is a study in minority governance of the majority, which sleep through most election cycles. Provided that jobs are available to most, that taxes are not extreme, and the vast majority have a way of earning their living and easing their own passions, wants, and needs - then government is tolerated.

A study of humankind existence throughout history and philosophy brings these same points up: we are now, as always, simply living out a sequences of fluctuations in the scales of life. As one side adds more weight, the other compensates. But the scales do not themselves become over-stressed with their duty. For time itself, and Nature, tends to dissolve the weighted matters on each end of that balance arm.

You can study the Tao, and philosophic principles even more ancient than these. And the joke stated in the Tao was simply the same problem. You can't state what the Tao exists as or how. It can't be voiced. Yet it exists. 

Similarly, humankind has been running in this same mold for as long (or longer) than we've "walked upright." While it can be studied and learned, and even exploited, it can't readily be voiced or recorded without some sort of added slant or pitch.

There is a flow to history, to existance, which can be ridden much as a surfer does with a board - or a skier, or skateboarder, ice-scater, etc. 

And that is riding the moment of Now.

Were we to simply learn that flow, success is inevitable. Because, as you create your world - and so does everyone "else" - whatever you do is successful. All you do is a lesson which brings you new understanding. And our contribution is that conceptual understanding, perhaps nothing else, as we pass to our next adventure.

The journey is the enjoyment, not the goal or end-point. It's the challenges resolved, the vista's viewed.

For me, it's living this sequence of moments each in the greatest, most sublime peace I can find. And, as I understand the Laws of this Universe we share, is that my duty is to help others achieve their greatest peace - as their peace is inexorably tied to mine.

There is no "wrong" way to do this. Everything we do here and now is right. The trick and challenge is to do it ever more "right".

Apply that to marketing, to having a "job", to creating a family, to running a household. Seek to do everything more "right" in every way - and you will find infinite peace and freedom.

- - - -

And, with anytime you approach things from a Tao viewpoint, you can easily lose track of any goal.

My own purpose seems to have evolved from this point of open-handed help into pursuing the native peace which inspires it. Open-handed help is simply a way to achieve peace for everyone, including myself. 

This study, in marketing terms such as the "bell curve", simply is to say that I'm moving onto another research/production line - that of
entertainment (edutainment, infotainment) as a way to reach a broader number of people. Of course, this is based in the affiliate/product/social marketing studies I've mostly completed during this last decade of intensive study - and also based in no small part on the counseling training I did for 2 decades before that.

The trick is to turn that hump into buyers - and so you present the content in ways they would appreciate, which is entertainment/diversion-based.

Next studies are those elements which tend to operate as "universal solvents". Music is one, and the theme of "Hope" or "Good Wins Out" is another. While this is another study, it's simpler, as so many people have studied the "mob" to try and break through into the popular culture.

Also, as this is to be in a (long) series of short stories, I'll be able to explore motif's, plots, genres, and all sorts of things.

So this is a longer view of how to tell us how and what I'll be doing.

Hope your lives are turning out as interesting...

But, as usual, I'm still open to anyone who asks. All this huge data accumulation is just being re-interpreted agains other comparatives (clunky-sounding, I imagine.) So if any of you has a question about anything - just fire away.

Good Hunting, everyone!

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